Project Progress - Essay Example

Project Progress Project Progress of the Advanced Security System Introduction The risk management processbasically starts with the objectives, budget plan, allocated resources, list of functional responsibilities etc. (Rad, 2010). The project risk reviews and reports played the most significant role in the project life cycle of Advanced Security System at Flayton Electronics. Although risk management plan clearly defined the project with different aspects however, after two months of the project initiations following events have occurred: The top-two threats including unavailability of funds and incorrect cost estimate have been identified.

The Advanced Security System has increased the marketing opportunity for Flayton Electronics. The project’s risk budget has already been exhausted which means that company would have to allocate additional finances for the security system project. The risk management schedule has been shortened by two months i.e. the project has to be completed within 4 months now. 1. Analyze the impact of those events on the project. Analysis One of the major challenges in risk management is analysis of risks.

This is usually based upon the relationship between risk and risk factors (Lazzerini, 2011), for instance, the cause and effects of a particular risk and the subsequent response strategies. All four events have significant impact over the effectiveness, efficiency, functionality and progress of the Advanced Security System Project. Risks such as the unavailability of funds and incorrect cost estimation were already discussed in the risk register. The primary cause for recognition of these threats is budget constraint while on the other hand these threats will delay the project to a considerable time period.

Hence it is important to immediately mitigate the issues regarding unavailable funds and incorrect cost estimations. The Advanced Security System has also brought a significant marketing opportunity for the Flayton Electronics. The company has been able to strengthen its marketing strategy due to increased public exposure during the implementation of the project while on the other side it has augmented the quality services of the organization. Flayton Electronics has to sustain this marketing opportunity through attracting entirely new range of customers.

Since two of the major risk threats have been identified after two months of project initiation therefore the overall risk budget for the project has been disturbed and exhausted. This subsequently requires a strong mitigation activity. Moreover, due to the lack of finances the manager is now required to complete project within 4 months in order to save resources and seize the risk opportunity. 2. Determine if any mitigation activities are required and explain why. Mitigation Activities Risk mitigation is a comprehensive process which involves number of critical activities, for instance, testing the risk evaluation, risks assessment landscape etc.

(Insights, 2012). Mitigation activities are extensively required to deal with the above mentioned situations. This will be helpful in removing risk threats while also coving up the delay in time, cost estimate and quality reduction. Risk threats can be mitigated through following actions: Unavailable funds: The Advanced Security System Project can be divided into different phases with significant funding options in the contracts. This will help the manager is allocating funds as per the particular phase’s requirements.

Incorrect cost estimates: This risk can be mitigated through applying different cost accounting tools and techniques. Moreover, it would be feasible to use graph and charts to correctly interpret cost estimates. The issues pertaining to the exhausted risk budget can be mitigated through using the revenues generated from new marketing opportunities. This will actually facilitate the project manager in finishing the task within the significant time reduction of two months. 3. Determine if budget / schedule changes are necessary and explain why.

Budget and Schedule Changes Budget and schedule changes are necessary if in case the exhausted budget cannot be covered with revenues generated from new marketing opportunity. The unavailability of funds and lack of budget schedule will actually damage the overall functionality of Advanced Security System Project hence it is vital to determine changes in both the schedules. Moreover, the project manager would not be able to achieve the project and risk management objectives if necessary steps for budget allocation are not taken before hand.

Following are the recommended changes in this regard: The finance department would have to allocate a new budget of $25,000 for the Advanced Security System Project. This additional amount can be acquired through the new marketing opportunity or otherwise the company would have to cut down some of its sales expenditures in order to balance the budget requirement. The managing team would have to make an extra schedule in order to identify future risks and the capacity bottlenecks. The workshops and risk registers must be up dated on short intervals of 15 days.

Moreover, the process of achieving 100% PCI compliance must be completed by the end of this month. The project team can also be increased considering the budget so as to meet the schedule constraints (Portal, 2001). 4. Update the risk register and highlight the changes made. Provide the justification for the changes. Risk Register The risk register for Advanced Security System Project was formulated along with the Risk Workshop. However, now after identifying the top two risk threats, one risk opportunity, risk budget exhaustion and the shortage in time for completing the project it is significantly necessary to update the former risk register.

Hence following changes are made: Risk Threat S. No Status Risk Category Risk Threat Cause Effect Objective Response Strategy 1 Identified External Funds not available Budget constraints Project delay Time Mitigate 2 Identified Design Incorrect cost estimate Economic recession Project cost increases Cost Mitigate 3 Unidentified Construction unrevealed utility impacts Unidentified utilities Project cost increases Cost Transfer 4 Unidentified External Permit delays Agency issues Project penalties Quality Mitigate 5 Unidentified Construction Differing technological conditions Natural or human errors Increased project costs Cost Transfer 6 Unidentified Design Incorrect Project Implementation Computational and human errors Project delay Time Mitigate 7 Unidentified Project Management Inefficient team Management errors Project delay Quality Mitigate Since top two risk threats are identified therefore the risk register is has been up dated with two additional threats which might be recognized at a later stage.

The highlighted part shows the changes made. Justifications through Probability and Impacts S. No Status Threat Probability Impact Justification 1 Identified Funds not available High Very high It will cause harm to project progress 2 Identified Incorrect cost estimate Low High Addition finances required 3 Unidentified Unrevealed utility impacts Low Low Indirect relation with the project 4 Unidentified Permit delays Medium Low Indirect relation with the project 5 Unidentified Differing technological conditions Medium High Security system is based upon technology 6 Unidentified Incorrect project implementation Low Very high It will cause project delay and loss of resources 7 Unidentified Inefficient team Medium High It will damage the quality of performance Risk Opportunity S.

No Status Risk Category Risk Opportunity Cause Effect Objective Response Strategy 1 Identified Project Management Increased Marketing Public exposure New customer Quality Sustain 2 Unidentified External Decline in competition Economic recession Increased market share Market value Take Advantage 3 Unidentified Design Advanced technology Research and development Quick project progress Progress Take Advantage 4 Unidentified Design Increased budget New marketing activities Smooth project implement Time Sustain Since the top risk opportunity is has been identified therefore the risk register is updated with an additional opportunity which might be recognized in future.

The highlighted part shows the changes made. Justifications through Probability and Impacts S. No Status Opportunity Probability Impact Justification 1 Identified Marketing High High Reduced marketing cost 2 Unidentified Competition Low Low Substantial competitive advantage 3 Unidentified Technology Medium Medium Reduction in project completion time 4 Unidentified Budget Low High Increased marketing References Insights. (2012). Risk Mitigation: Fixing a Project Before It Is Broken. Cognizant.

Lazzerini, B. (2011). Analyzing Risk Impact Factors Using Extended Fuzzy Cognitive Maps. Systems Journal, IEEE , 288 - 297. Portal, SAP. Help. (2001). Project Progress. SAP. Rad, A. (2010). GOES-R Series Risk Management Plan . Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.