Project Planning and Project Management at IT Solutions - Case Study Example

? Project Management “Project management involves planning coordinating and controlling the complex and diverse activities of modern industrial, commercial and management change and Information Technology projects” (Lock, 2007). Projects are formulated by projecting ideas and results of an activity. There are numerous risks that face the performance of a given task and thus it is a requirement to make projections to reduce risk uncertainty. It is common for projects to exceed its costs, finished late or even being abandoned before they are finished. Despite the risks, project management ensures that tasks are completed successfully to their full requirements. Project management should be started earlier before committing resources and continue to the completion of the task. Companies face numerous opportunities to make their projects viable. There are also numerous techniques that can be used in making the project a success. However, successful project management requires the application of good principles rather than implementing available techniques. The principles are normally derived from experience and are valid across all projects. The success of any project is dependent on how a company applies the principles of projects management. The principles of project management include: a) Identify your business and mind your own business. Sigma has its business of providing information technology solutions across the world. The company should then make a selection of projects that are viable to the business. According to research studies, half of project management is about paying attention. Sigma should learn and apply the best practices. b) Understand customer needs and requirements and put them under version control. Sigma should gather comprehensive information on customer requirements and document the requirements under version control. Managing requirements is the most significant factor for developing project systems. c) Designing a viable plan. A plan describes the scope, cost, schedule and the overall approach to the execution of the project. Sigma is expected to include all the stakeholders in developing the plan to enhance success and buy-in. the plan should be broken down into tasks to minimize unplanned work. d) Create a competent team with clear tasks. The projected team should include trustworthy and competent members. The team should have their tasks well defined and provided with the necessary working tools. Sigma is expected to offer training to team members to ensure that the project is carried out according to plans. The team should have a team leader and any misfits within the group should be removed. e) Make a follow up on progress and conduct reviews. Projects may have faults and this can only be identified by tracking the progress of the project and review the progress frequently to identify potential loopholes that may be present in the project. The progress should be viewed in a very wide spectrum and pay attention to indicators in order to identify problems before they go out of hand. f) Use baseline controls. Managing the project requires a cost and schedule baseline tracking in handling changes. The changes should be managed deliberately. Sigma is expected to measure problem areas and apply quantitative methods in tracking the progress of the project towards providing solutions to the identified problems. g) Note down important information and share it among team members. It is important to record requirements, design and management structure and the plan for the project to ensure the improvement of concepts and ideas. Proper documentation ensures that the project has baseline controls and a process that can be revisited. Decision and their rationale should be recorded for future application. h) Conduct tests on various cases. A project work requires decisions that have been tested and their potential outcome known. This reduces uncertainty in conducting some activities. Sigma is expected to develop test cases early enough in order to understand and verify the requirements of the project. i) Keep in mind customer needs and requirements. Sigma is required to always consider customer needs when developing the project. This will enhance the relevance of the project in the market for goods and products. j) Persistence and activity. Team members should be proactive in applying the principles of project management and identifying problems whenever they arise and seeking to solve them. The team should often address risks and confront them openly. All problems should be addressed and none should be left out. The team should avoid tendencies of being overwhelmed by daily tasks and concentrate on making the project a success. Project Success Factors According to a Standish CHAOS report on project management, the factors for success in a project are included in the table below. The top four factors for success include user involvement, executive support and supervision, comprehensible statement of necessities and appropriate planning. The main success contribution to the success of the project involves meeting customer needs. The project is carried out to meet the needs of users and it would be a complete failure if it did not meet the needs of clients. The support and supervision of the project by the organization management ensure that the project is allocated all the necessary requirements and that the organization is collectively working towards making the project viable (Ozsu, Ozsu & Valduriez, 2011). Clear statement of requirements refers to the minimum requirements that a project relies on to be viable. Minimum base level requirements ensure that the organization is able to reduce the effects of change. Proper planning is the first task that a management team undertakes when carrying out the project. Project failure factors Many projects fail because the project team was unable to plan for the project before its inception. Planning acts as a guide on how the project will be carried out to maturity. In most cases, plans contain financial estimations and the objectives to be achieved at the end of the project. Lack of a plan results in the plan lacking a direction and eventually ending up failing or stalling (Nicholas & Steyn, 2008). Another cause of project failure is lack of user input. The organization may have inadequate information on the needs of consumers that are required to be incorporated into the project. Changing requirements are also a major course of project failure. Skill is a relevant factor in managing projects. When the project manager lacks the experience and technical knowledge in running the project, the result is a poor execution of the project. software The most convenient organization structure is the process of function structure. Such a structure focuses on the various functions of the organization in providing database solutions to Wal-Mart. The two organizations will mix their teams in order to improve the expertise when carrying out the project. Team members will be able to share ideas on how to make the project a success. The project requires a team of specialists that will provide a comprehensive database solution. An executive committee will oversee the whole project and the steering committee will be responsible for the day to day running of the project. The steering committee will report directly to the executive committee by holding regular meetings (Callahan, Stetz & Brooks, 2007). The executive committee will be headed by the chairman whereas the steering committee will be headed by an independent individual. There will also be a project director reporting to the steering committees and a project manager under him. The project manager will head the project office and will have functional and technical team leaders reporting to him. The role of the project director will be to make decisions on the course of the project in consultation with the relevant executive bodies concerned with the project. He is responsible for the success or failure of the project and his performance will be monitored by executive bodies within the Sigma Technologies (Nicholas & Steyn, 2008). The executive committee will represent the overall authority of the organization in carrying out the project. The steering committee will monitor the daily progress of the project. The committee will constitute of departmental heads within Sigma Technologies. The project manager will be responsible for the daily operations of the company and will be controlling all the resources of the project. Other roles will include a project accountant that will be responsible for the procurement, expenditure and financial reporting of the projects’ costs. A team will be responsible for coaching other team members. The project will also require an organizational change manager who will be responsible for the identification of problems and aligning the organizational structure to the needs of the project (Morris & McWhorter, 2008). The most suitable project manager is an Information Technology specialist who has an experience in providing database solutions and an added experience in project management. The manager will be able to steer Sigma Technologies towards excellence by providing high IT solutions. The manager will be able to provide guidance on the best methods of carrying out the project. The project requires Enterprise Resource Planning software that will provide an interface between management practices and modern technology in executing the project. The two components of management practices and technology are also combined with the objectives of the business (Lock, 2007). The software will allow Sigma Technologies to distribute information from Timbuktu to the US in an effective and efficient manner. The software will enable the collection and centralization of data from different geographical areas and in turn distribute information from the collection points. Sigma will have an easy task supplying information to Wal-Mart using a universal platform. The software will also enable the project team to collect and integrate information from different functions of the organization involved in project planning. The system has a central depository database from where the information is collected and used for decision making. The following is an estimate of the project costing and the comprehensive budget. The project will cost an estimated 30,000 sterling pound on IT consultancy and 15,000 sterling pounds on employee salaries every month. Other expenses include 100,000 on the purchase and installation of EPR software. An additional 70,000 sterling pound will be used in installing computer hardware and 50,000 sterling pounds will be used for the supply of computer software. The company incurred a cost of 35,000 on legal fees for the project. Item cost (sterling pound) Information Technology consultancy 180,000 Employee salaries 90,000 Purchase and Installation of EPR 100,000 Computer hardware 80,000 Computer software 60,000 Legal fees 45,000 Total cost 555,000 The project on IT solutions is expected to last a period of six months and will involve serving Wal-Mart supermarket. Sigma Technologies is located in Timbuktu whereas Wal-Mart is located in the US. This results in a geographical barrier to the provision of IT solutions. The firm has adopted the function organization structure that utilizes the expertise of team members that improves team spirit and sharing of new ideas. Sigma has set aside 500,000 sterling pound for the completion of the project but the budget projections amount to 55,000 sterling pounds. Based on the costs, the project is not viable because the cost is in excess of the available capital resources. The company has spent the largest part of the capital resources on consultancy services. It is recommended that the company hires experienced professionals to guide the project management team in its implementation process in order to save on costs that would be incurred when a consultant is hired. However, on the outlook the project is a success due to the adoption of and EPR software that will ensure the collection and dissemination of information across geographical boundaries (Ozsu, Ozsu & Valduriez, 2011). References Bragg, S. (2010). The New CFO Financial Leadership Manual. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Callahan, K, Stetz, G & Brooks, L. (2007). Project management accounting: budgeting, tracking, and reporting costs and profitability. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Lock, D. (2007). Project management. New York: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Morris, R & McWhorter, B. (2008). Project management that works: real-world advice on communicating, problem solving, and everything else you need to know to get the job done. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Nicholas, J & Steyn, H. (2008). Project management for business, engineering, and technology: principles and practice. Chicago: Butterworth-Heinemann. Ozsu, M, Ozsu, M & Valduriez, P. (2011). Principles of Distributed Database Systems. 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