Project Managment Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT Project singapore - Case Study Example

Project Management Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT Project Singapore Project management Introduction Project management is an art of planning and carrying out an analysis of the resources necessary to complete a certain task. A project is a task which aims at achieving an objective within a given duration of time. The project manager is responsible for this process. He organizes all the resources and controls them so that the team is able to achieve the project in a given period of time. Projects are very essential to every organization; hence, the need to ensure their success. Completing a project does not necessarily mean its success. There are several challenges that come with project management. Project managers face the challenge of time, working within the budget, meeting its quality standards. Therefore, it is important for a manager to manage the above crucial resources (Harrison & Lock, 2004). This ensures success of the project. Resources, scope of the task, funds and time have a relationship. Every organization has projects; therefore, it is important that project managers are aware of the above challenges and how to handle them. This paper seeks to broadly analyze all the essential elements of a project. The four aspects should be applied in every stage of the project. The case of Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT Project Singapore clearly shows the collapse of a project and challenges engineers faced. 1. Project scope Project scope defines the objectives of a project in terms time and budget on monetary terms. It should give the size of the project, its objectives and requirements for accomplishing it. It states tasks to be accomplished given a certain time range and money. The two aspects should precise, for instance within a duration of two months given an amount of money. A budget is allocated siting all the resources necessary with specific values. A scope management plan is essential so that the project meets set goals and objectives (Venkataraman& Pinto, 2011). A project scope documents includes all the above elements. However, it does not list things that are not part of the task. This document outlines expected results of the project and conditions under which to carry out the task. The document includes some important information like justification. This gives reasons for carrying out the project and how you came up with it. It also explains how it affects the external and internal environment. Objectives of the project are important information in the document. It is also known as deliverables which gives results expected from the task. Constraints or challenges of achieving the objectives are also included in the document (Harrison & Lock, 2004). It includes the challenges expected in the process and how to handle them so that the goals are accomplished. Assumptions give guidelines of handling uncertain information unknown that may arise in the course of the project. Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT Project collapsed due to poor planning. It was a construction accident in Singapore due to collapse of a tunnel by the use of MRT trains. It resulted to d3eaths of about four people and injuring about three others. Failure to have a well detailed plan was a major reason of the collapse. The plan did not include a clear statement of the scope. It did not state conditions and challenges they expected to face in the construction; hence, were not prepared with necessary resources. One of the important conditions not included was Top-down condition. 2. WBS It stands for work breakdown structure. It is a deliverables decomposition of a project scope which gives what a project creates to customers. Most projects fail because they tend to confuse WBS with a list of activities, which is a misconception. It helps resolve miscommunication problems, organize the deliverables. The WBS dictionary shows the cost, information that is relevant to each item and time. It requires so much time to prepare; hence, making it more reliable due to its accuracy (Haugan, 2002). Estimation here starts from bottom to top. This means accounting for the cost of the project starts from zero up to each single detail of the items. It accounts for the cost of each item that the project purchases, creates or delivers during the process. It has a variance ranging from -5% to around +10% which arises from actual costs and estimated costs. It is accurate because it is easy to make estimates of the costs of items. This method is complex; hence, the project manager and other stakeholders require some training on it (Venkataraman& Pinto, 2011). Managers are usually on a tough spot because it is easier to get more time to complete a project than to get more money for the completion (Haugan, 2002). They liaise with customers and the project team in the completion of the client’s project. For instance, in the case of Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT; this used technology to construct the tunnel. The project manager of the construction did not carry out good estimates of the tunnel which made use of MRT technology. 3. Project cost It entails measuring cost and the productivity in the life cycle of the project. This element shows the cost of a project, its profit and contingencies in all the levels of the task. It is an estimate of what the project will cost the organization. It makes use of technology to make estimates of the productivity (Schwalbe, 2010). Various software used for project cost estimation to ensure accuracy. They should meet the accounting requirements so that they ensure success of the project. It has tools to ensure entry of data, easy reporting to the project manager and powerful project management. A costing sheet is essential when carrying out a cost analysis of a project. It gives the costs of each level of the project. Some columns in the sheet include part number which shows each of the level acting as the reference number. Quantity of materials required for the project. For instance in the case of Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT Project they needed to make an estimation of MRT trains to be used in the construction of the tunnel. The sheet should also contain description of the products or materials, unit cost of each material. In case of discounts given when purchasing materials, they ought to be included in the sheet. It also has the total cost after calculation. Project managers also rely on some basic estimate types which include ballpark estimate. It has the basis of high level objectives. However, a project manager should not rely so much on this method. The second one is the budget estimate. It is more reliable than the three types. This is because of its accuracy levels (Schwalbe, 2010). The manger works from top to down in terms of the task details. The third type is the definitive estimate which works from the bottom to top of the project. It uses the work breakdown structure (WBS). Cost management for management entirely focuses on money matters of the project which is a vital part in the process. 4. Project financial It involves financial planning and forecasting for all projects including contract and indirect projects. It acts as the bridge between management of a project and planning the finances of a project. It is an essential part in the lifecycle of project. A financial project manager is responsible for all the financial responsibilities from the start to the end of the project. It reduces reliance in the manual systems and processes; hence, improving the impact of finances on the project (Khatta 2008). Project financial also ensures an accurate report and forecast results on the current project being undertaken. This is possible because it helps track financial results which assist managers correctly estimate future results of the task and portfolios. Project financial plays an important role in the integration of planning the finances of a project and forecasting. It also improves project management and project portfolios. This is through its effective way of documenting all costs and revenues incurred throughout the project. This helps the manger to have a clear insight of the impact on the finances of the organization in the project. With this information, they are able to improve the evaluation methods and funding process of the project (Venkataraman& Pinto, 2011). The manager responsible for this carries out an accurate calculation of the portfolios in the project to carry out the estimates. Every member of the project team should be responsible for the finances of the project and not only the financial manager. There are various people who play this role depending on the nature of the project. For instance, a project may have an auditor, credit manager or a controller for the same project (Khatta, 2008). The complexity of a project determines the number of financial managers of a project. In the case of Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT Project the project financial manager had the responsibility of analyzing the construction costs and the portfolios. 5. Risk management. Risk management is a process of identifying possible risks in a project and carrying out an assessment of the risks. Risks vary from one project to another depending on the type of project. For instance, in the Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT Project risks were many because it involved constructing an underground tunnel. Project managers analyze the risks to enable them plan on how to carry out the project on the basis of the possible risks. In this particular project, the risks were high due to the use of dangerous materials to construct the tunnel. Risk management does not eliminate risks; on the contrary, it assists in reducing risks by preventing their occurrence. This helps in defining the needs of insurance. It has activities which are involved in project management which include planning the management of risks in the project. The plan includes responsibilities and activities. Assigning a risk manager is the second activity of risk management in a project (Conrow, 2003). The officer is a member of the project team but not the overall project manager who has the duty of managing the risks. The officer has the responsibility of maintain risk database throughout the project. He also creates a reporting channel to the project manager on the risks that the project experiences. The other activity is coming up with a summary of the planned risks together with the actual risks faced in each level of the project. An effective and reliable solution to the problem of managing risks in a project is the use of software. They are known as risk management software which provides easy procedure for managing risk to a risk manager of the project. Various companies offer this software; therefore, making it easily available in the market. It also assists nonprofit making organizations in managing risks and resources for their projects (Conrow, 2003). It is important to manage risks because it helps in saving resources like time, property and people. Another benefit that comes with this is protecting the team from possible harm and protecting the reputation of the organization. It also comes with the benefit of protecting both the internal and external environment from any danger, therefore, reducing liabilities. Conclusion Almost all organizations have a project to carry out with different objectives depending on the nature of the organization and project. This means that project management is an important for accomplishment of a project successfully. The various elements of project management above give the responsibilities of a project manager. All the aspects of project are correlated, which means that poor management of one element leads to failure of the entire project. For instance buying low quality resources may lead to completion of the project but its quality will be low. On the other hand, poor allocation of funds for a project will lead to delay in its completion. The collapse of the Nicoll Highway Circle Line MRT Project is as a result of poor organization of the aspects of project management. The project was a failure because it claimed the lives of people injuring several others (Conrow, 2003). Possible reasons of its failure include poor risk management by failing to clearly analyze the risks involved in the construction and finding possible ways of dealing with the risks.Research also shows that the construction collapsed because stress of the tunnel on the retaining wall. This led to weakening of the wall; hence, forcing it to collapse. Therefore, proper planning of a project and allocation of necessary resources by each member of the team is important. References Conrow,E. H (2003): Effective risk management: some keys to success: AIAA. Harrison, F. L & Lock, D. H (2004): Advanced project management: a structured approach: Gower publishing Ltd. Haugan, G. T. A (2002): Effective work breakdown structures: Management concepts. Hulett, D. T (2011): Practical cost risk analysis: Gower Publishing. Khatta, R. S (2008): Risk management: Global India Publications. Miller, D. P (2008): Building a project work breakdown structure: visualizing objectives, deliverables, and activities: Taylor & Francis Group. Schwalbe, K (2006): Introduction to project management: Cengage learning. Schwalbe, K (2010): Information technology: project management: Cengage learning. Sears, S . K, Sears, G. A & Clough, R. H (2008): construction project management: a practical guide to field construction management: John Wiley &n Sons. Venkataraman, R. R & Pinto, J. K (2011): Cost and value management in projects: John Wiley & Sons. Read More