Projects in Controlled Environments and Project Management Body of Knowledge - Assignment Example

PORTFOLIO by Student’s Name Course code + name Professor’s name University name City, State Date of Submission Part 1: PRINCE2 The PRINCE (Projects In Controlled Environments) methodology is a method of project management covering the organization, management, and control of a project. The second edition of PRINCE is referred to as PRINCE2, which was founded in 1996. PRINCE2 is also a registered trademark of the Cabinet Office. It is currently in its fifth edition which is commonly referred to as PRINCE2 2009. In fact, the PRINCE methodology was originally established in the 1980s for managing IT projects. The methodology was reviewed and updated in the year 1996 by project management specialists to make it more widely applicable to different industries. Hence, the PRINCE2 methodology was developed. This method has become very popular, and it is currently used as the standard for project management in the United Kingdom[Pro15]. PRINCE2 gives a description of procedures for coordination of activities and people in a project, how to supervise and design the project, and the next step to take if adjustments are needed in the project when it does not develop as planned. In this approach, every process is defined with its key outputs and inputs and with specific activities and goals to be executed, which provides an automatic control of a deflection from the plan that might occur. Since this method is subdivided into manageable stages, it facilitates a well-organized control of resources[Hin12]. Through close monitoring, the project can be performed in an organized and controlled manner. As a structured method, which is widely understood and recognized, it provides all the people taking part in a project with a common language. All the management responsibilities and roles that are carried out in a project are completely described and are flexible because they can be adapted to befit the skills of the organization and the complexity of the project. The PRINCE2 methodology is in some cases falsely considered not suitable for very small projects because of the work needed for generating and maintaining documents. However, this mainly occurs as a result of poor implementation: PRINCE2 is completely scalable. It is a process driven methodology which uses the following seven processes: 1) to start a project, 2) to initiate a project, 3) to direct a project, 4) to manage a project, 5) to control a project, 6) to manage product delivery, and, 7) to close a project[Hin12]. In starting up a project, a project mandate is submitted, which is a request for a new project. The project mandate is then assessed to ensure that the company can take on the project. After approval, the one who initiated the project can now submit a detailed project brief, which will cover everything required to execute the project. In the directing a project process, the project briefs are reviewed and evaluated by the project board based on business viability and justification in order to approve or disapprove. The board then decides what should be done to organize and execute all the approved projects and how they are going to involve the project manager. During the initiating a project process, project initiation documentation is created by the project manager and these documents are forwarded to the project board for approval. When the board is satisfied with the project plan, they give it go ahead, and the project begins. In the controlling a stage process, the project is subdivided into smaller “work packages” by the project manager. These packages are then passed to the team managers and teams for execution. The project manager supervisors the progress of the work packages in all the stages and offers help when necessary. Team managers manage the detailed daily work and serve as the mediator between the individual team members and the project manager, ensuring that everything continues as planned. In the managing product delivery process, the project manager ensures that the project’s progress is in line with the project brief and makes sure that the deliverables have met the expected quality. The board also assesses the completed work packages and they can either approve them or ask for changes. During the managing stage boundaries process, the project board, and the project manager review all the stages to ensure that the project is progressing as per the plan, and it has met project assurance requirements. During the reviews, the board bears the responsibility of deciding whether to go on to the next stage or to discontinue the project completely. The project managers hold an ex-post facto with the project team to document the lessons learnt and amend the next stage. Finally, the project is complete during the closing the project process where the manager wraps up and loose thread. Projects based on PRINCE2 have to support the following seven principles[Pro15]: The project ought to have business justification with a clear need, realistic benefits, a detailed cost assessment and a defined customer. The involved teams should learn in every stage where lessons being sought should be recorded in every step of the process and later used in improving future work. Roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined indicating exactly everyone’s’ responsibilities, as well as what is their teammates' roles and responsibilities. All work must be planned in stages where projects should be broken into individual work stages; periodical reviews should be carried out to ensure the project has not diverted from its original plan, and it will meet its intended requirements. The teams should continually focus on quality where deliverables are constantly checked against the requirements by using a quality register. The PRINCE2 method ought to be adjusted to befit the needs of every project. Projects that are based on PRINCE2 should have seven themes. These themes are features that ought to be constantly addressed for a project to succeed. The seven themes include business case, plans, organization, changes, quality, risks, and progress. The PRINCE2 methodology has three major roles namely the project team, the project manager, and the project board. However, there are other additional roles that assist in ensuring that standards and requirements are adhered to and that the project runs smoothly. Some of these supplemental roles include[Hin12]: The customer pays for the projected being completed. The user will use the project deliverables or be impacted by the outcome of the project. In many projects the user and the customer can be the same person. The supplier being the subject matter expert, he is expected to provide the required knowledge for completing the project by building or designing the end result. The project manager organizes, plans, and oversees the project. The team manager and project team must cooperate and make sure the project tasks are done. The administrator has the role of setting up meetings, keeping everyone updated and tracking documentation, among others. However, these roles are taken by project managers, but in the case of many projects running together, or the project is complex/large, a project support officer is appointed to manage these duties. The project board as one of the major roles involves several people: the customer being the senior executive, the end user or a representative, and the supplier. The project broad assures project assurance in the following perspectives[Pro15]: The customer should ensure that the project is viable from a business sense of view The user should make sure that the user needs are being fulfilled The supplier should ensure that the project is working toward a realistic, practical outcome. Part 2: PMBOK In practice, there are ten PMBOK knowledge areas in a project plan, which provide an important checklist for planning, periodical project management critical reviews, and final project evaluation. The key knowledge areas are integration, agreed quality, cost, the time and the scope. The five represent the key constraints of managing a project and some benefits associated with them include shortening development times, lowering costs, higher quality and dependability, and better control of internal resources. 1. Project Integration Management This knowledge area mainly has to do with the integration of all the other nine knowledge areas. It is also concerned with re-planning, and managing issues and changes as required. This process is associated with two main tools: the use of project management software and Earned Value Management (EVM)[Sta13]. There are six processes in this knowledge area, which include developing a project charter, developing project management plan, directing and managing project execution, monitoring, and controlling project work, carrying out integrated change control, and closing project or phase. 2. Project Scope Management There are two aspects to this knowledge area; one is concerned with the project scope, and the other one is concerned with the product scope. The project scope has to do with the how – the work required to attain the project scope, and also shed light on the boundaries of what should be and should not be included in the project. Product scope is concerned with the what – required functions and features that characterize the deliverable[Sta13]. This knowledge area has five processes, which include collecting requirements, defining scope, creating work breakdown structure (WBS), verifying scope, and controlling scope. 3. Project Quality Management The quality management area has to do with creating the deliverable to the required standard of performance and functionality as laid out in a product specification, as well as the quality of the project management process. This knowledge area has three processes: planning quality, performing quality assurance and performing quality control[Sta13]. 4. Project Cost Management Cost management knowledge area is concerned with the estimation of the required resources and determination of the project budget. Resource costing is not only concerned with people, but it also involves other types of resources such as facilities, equipment, plant, materials, and services associated with the project such as letting contracts[Sta13]. The key processes in this knowledge area include estimating the costs, determining the budget, and controlling costs. 5. Project Time Management Time management is not only concerned with personal time management, though important, but it is also mainly concerned with the estimation of tasks durations, determining the project schedule, and the completion date of the project. It is also involves monitoring and controlling the project schedule during the course of the project. There are six processes in this knowledge area, which include defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity resources, estimating activity durations, developing a schedule, and controlling schedule[Sta13]. Part 3: Managing a Project In this analysis, the main stakeholders that were involved in the engineering project were interviewed, and all accessible business records and project records were interrogated. The various stakeholder views that will be highlighted in this analysis were expressed from the perspective of a contractor informing other stakeholder's views instead of other stakeholder views of a contractor. The main focus of this analysis is the completion of the project, although actions taken and decisions made during project implementation affects the project status. The engineering in question is related to electrical power generation industry, and one contractor undertook it. The project was in the United Kingdom based on supply, design, and put to work with the turnkey responsibility. Although completion of the project was considered as a critical indicator of failure or success, different stakeholders assigned different meanings to it. Different stakeholders were interviewed concerning various aspects of project implementation and project completion. Notion of Success and Failure within the Project Unsurprisingly, most stakeholders used the criteria of “close-out agreement/satisfactory completion,” which was recognized by project contractor, customer, and partners. “Final costs equal to or less than budget” and “claim for damages” were the criteria used by both contractor and customer. However, winning a claim was a success for the contractor and rebuffing a claim was a success for the customer. Therefore, the project management outcomes with a huge impact are changes in specifications, engineering advisors going wrong in controlling project engineering, and project delays. The criteria relevance to consultants/third parties and suppliers are not dependent of the other stakeholders. Project Management Impact on Success and Failure In most cases, customers abused the power of influence. In other words, customers considered themselves as having a superior ranking with the project structure. For instance, it was noted that a customer could claim equipment deficiencies in contrast to the project specification as a way of forcing concessions from a contractor. In this project, the customer was able to obtain gratis project benefits successfully beyond the project specification. For the customer, this represented a success but for the contractor, it represented a failure. As noted in the PMBOK analysis, this falls with the project scope knowledge area, where all the stakeholders need to understand the scope of project work. The project was considered successful at the signing of the close-out agreement or the point of completion. Nonetheless, the financial outcome of the project also provided the notion of failure or success. As noted above, it is the function of the contracting parties and the influence they have on each other that might shape the financial outcome of the project. In most cases, projects are “customer oriented” and customers have a great influence on the project. Although the contractor in this project may have contributed to the extended project schedule as a result of re-engineering, customer obstructed the project progress and led to the delays and disruption. Some factors that may contribute to project delays and disruptions include client change orders, contractual issues where terms are ambiguous, and the nature of client knowledge[Rae02]. As indicated above, however, the financial outcome of the project depends on the level of customer’s influence on the project. Some of the ways the customers used their power of influence against other stakeholders in this project included: Interpreting areas of ambiguity in the project specification Holding back the payments Intimidating to cash stakeholder project performance bank guarantee Making a decision on whether the project was completed to their satisfaction Lessons Learned From the Project The customer’s power to influence a project has been underestimated and little is documented about how to fight the abuse of customer power over other stakeholders. Many factors have been noted to be the cause of project failures but in most cases uncontrollable project environment forces are considered to be the biggest contributor. However, the causes of project failure for this project were ineffective organizational practices, procedures, and the project management system. From this project, it appears that the framework for a project success would be an equal influence on all the contracting parties or equal stakeholder influence on the project. Customer and organizations should come up with ways of sharing the benefits from improved project performance[Rae02]. From this project, one can also learn that the framework for project success can be attained by transparency or openness of full understanding of the project objectives, project risk allocation, and project risks. In order for such a project framework to function, it is advisable to involve the right individuals. Right individuals are those who are seasoned performers from project management organizations, well-suited in an environment of change and uncertainty, and committed to project success[Rae02]. Reference List Pro15: , (Prosis Solutions Limited, 2015), Hin12: , (Hinde, 2012), Sta13: , (Stackpole, 2013), Rae02: , (Rae & Eden, 2002), Read More