Process of Project Management - Coursework Example

Project Management Project management is innovative; it produces new ideas and new products,similarly, project management is also geared towards accomplishing a specific goal as set out by the project initiators, in some instances, in any business the customer should be the ultimate benefactor. Project management is always aimed at customer satisfaction. When using project management one is able to provide known dedicated resources. Additionally, project management has also proved to be a good tool to know the future of a company. Through project management future company leaders are found. It shows an individual’s ability to manage both human challenges and technical challenges. 2. Expectations as a process manager: As process manager one should do the following; 1. Motivate the workers to do the job as required. Motivated workers are more productive. 2. The process manager provides the leadership to other workers by leading by example. 3. Process manager should also ensure that the project resources are used efficiently to maximize utility while minimizing wastage through their misuse. 4. The process manager should also facilitate communication between the workers. Efficient and easy communication between the workers ensures a conducive working environment for the workers. 5. The process manager should be able to negotiate conflicts between the workers. Conflicts emanating from the production process should be negotiated to maintain commitment in the workers 6. The process manager should be a force of influence in the company through good work ethics and participation. Expectations of a project manager if the production process is to undergo radical change: The project manager should be the one who communicates the new changes to his team-members. In the process of change within a project confusion may arise on what is expected of the workers the manager should be the one who guides the workers through the transition period of the project. In order to promote commitment among the workers the project manager should motivate workers who are able to implement new changes faster. The project manager is expected to oversee smooth transition on resource utilization. To avoid chaos during the transition period the project should plan for the project’s change. With good planning chaos will be avoided and will bring about an orderly schedule for the project. 3. A project life cycle is the process that takes place from the start of the project to the closing of the project. A project life cycle consists of 4 phases. -The first phase is; define: at this phase a preferred approach is determined for a solution in an academic or a business opportunity. A team undertaking a project decides what it intends to produce and defines the level they will know that the project has been completed. -Plan phase: The agreed to concept by a team in a project is confirmed and then developed into a workable portfolio for implementation. The core project team is formed in this phase. All the team members are identified. Consultations within and outside the project framework are made. Task groups and advisory committees are identified and made. -Do it, phase: the plan deliberated on during the planning phase is carried out. A plan is undertaken with reference to the agreed on project outcome. The priorities of the project are understood and carried out into the activities in progress. The project’s environment is monitored to point out and solve any problems that may affect the project. -Closing phase: in this phase the project is completed and documented. The finished outcome is transferred to the control of the owner. The closing report is written down and lessons learnt from the project are pointed out. 4. Organizational structures determine the hierarchy within an organization. There are three types of organizational structures discussed in the text, namely: functional, project and matrix. The functional structure is whereby employees are grouped together based on the functions of their jobs within the organization. The project structure groups employees within an organization in the criteria of specific products produced by a company. The matrix structure combines the best of both the project and function structures. Matrix structure is the most complex of the organizational structures. Four approaches to project screening discussed in the text. Advantages and disadvantages The checklist approach; a checklist is a list of criteria applied to possible projects in project management. The checklist approach requires an agreement on the criteria and assumes all criteria in the model is equally important. The checklist model of approach is good for recording opinions. It is also advantageous in encouraging discussion. Simple scoring method of approach: in this approach each project receives a score which is a weighted sum of the grade it belongs to on a list of criteria. A simple scoring approach requires; an agreement on weights for criteria, it also; requires an agreement on the criteria to be used, lastly there should be a score assigned to each criterion in the basis of ∑ (score × weight). A limitation of the simple scoring approach is that relative scores can end up misleading the progress of the whole project. The analytic Hierarchy Approach: the approach has four steps: Step 1: Construct a hierarchy of sub criteria and criteria. Step 2: assign weight to criteria. Step 3: Allocate numerical values to evaluation dimensions. Step 4: The scores are then determined by summing up the products of the numeric weights and evaluations. In comparison with the simple scoring approach the scores in this approach are comparable. -The financial models. This model is based on the time value of the money principle. It consists of the payback period, the net present value, the internal rate of return and the3 options model. All the models under the financial model use discounted cash flow. Written Assignment 3: Steps you would take to assemble a project team 1st. stage: forming- this is where the team is built. The individuals in a planned team meet and learn about the challenges and opportunities and then agree on the teams’ goals and begin to tackle the teams projected tasks. A team leader should motivate the team members to ensure good performance. A team leader should be directive to the team members during this phase. 2nd phase: storming: this is whereby different ideas from the team members and compete for consideration. The team addresses the issues such as what are the problems they are supposed to solve and how they will function independently and together the leadership model they will use. This stage is necessary to the growth of the team. It is at this stage that conflict resolution in a group is formulated. 3rd phase: Norming- At this stage that the mutual plan for the team and the goal of the team is reached at. At this stage some team members have to give up on their own ideas and agree on other people’s ideas and the team has to get past this stage smoothly. 4th stage: Performing: the high performing teams are able to get to this stage. At this stage the high performing teams are able to function as a unit and are able to do the job smoothly and well without inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision. 1. i) The project team leader should be the chief communicator between the team members. He/she should communicate the team’s goals and objectives to the team members. ii) If problems arise within the team members the team leader should be the impartial negotiator between the conflicting team members. iii) The team leader should motivate the team members for them to work effectively. . Written Assignment 4 1. Complete problems 1,2 and 3 DCL 45 ∕100×120= 54. 54+120=174. 174×$40= $6960. Ii Sandy: time. 40×1.12=44.8. Charge. $17×1.35= 22.95. dcl= 44.8×22.95= 1028.16 Chuck: time. 100×1.12= 112. Charge. $31×1.80=55.8. dcl. 112×55.8=6249.6 Bob: time 80. Charge $9×1.35= 12.15. dcl = 80×12.15= 972. Penny: time 65×1.12= 72.8, Charge. 34×1.80= 61.2. dcl=72.8×61.2=4455.36 Overall dcl. 1028.16+6249.6+972+ 4455.36=12705.12 iii) Employee is assigned overhead charge of $200/wk. at 160 hrs. at $8.50 charge. 160×8.5=1360+200= 1560. 3. With this information as background, do Problems 4, 5 and 6 Problem 4: Tn =T1C. =Tn=100000×0.8= 80000. Payment= 80000×$35= $2800000 Problem 5: It takes the 5th drill, 100000×0.8 hours to complete. It will take 5 drills, 100000×0.8×5= 400000hours to complete. Problem 6: 1st iteration is 200000 with 0.7 learning coefficient. The 20th iteration coefficient is 0.7/20= 0. 035. Man hours for 20th iteration= 200000×0.035=7000 hours. Cost of the 20th iteration= 7000×60= 420000. The 40th iteration. 0.7/40= 0.0175×200000=3500×60= 210000 Written Assignment 5 a) Critical path; the critical path is longest route through the network of a project.. b) Path; A sequence of activities defined by the project network logic. c) Activity: the process that takes place in the implementation of a project d) Early start: this is whereby a project is started earlier than projected during planning e) Early finish: the completion of a project earlier than projected f) Late start: the commencement of a projected later than projected g) Late finish: completion of a project later than it has been deliberated on. h) Forward pass: the postponement of an activity to a higher phase than it should be in a particular project. i) Backward pass: carrying out an activity earlier than planned before getting to the phase the activity is scheduled to be in. j) Node: Defining point of a network; a junction point joined to some or all of the others by dependency line. k) AON: Activity on node l) Float: Amount of time which a task in a project network can be delayed with no delay to subsequent tasks or project completion. m) PERT: program evaluation and review technique 2. Concurrent activities can be performed at the same time while serial activities are those activities carried in a certain specified sequence. Concurrent activities save time since they are undertaken at the same time, saving time that would instead have been wasted on multiple activities happening different times. 3. a) Expert judgment: estimation of activity duration is difficult hence expert judgment with a guidance of historical information is important. Another strength is due use of historical information estimates or records of previous projects can be used for estimation making the estimation more precise. The experts handling the estimation have extensive knowledge on the particular project being estimated. b) Analogous estimation: Benefits -Uses historical information thus the estimators have a background from experience of previous projects. -Can be used when limited amount of information on the project is available Disadvantage -It is inaccurate since not all information on the project is available. -Unreliable if the present information is not similar to previous activities. -Expertise is required for one to use analogous estimation, thus it is expensive. c) Three point estimation Benefits More accurate since the average provides a more accurate activity than a single point Disadvantage It is time consuming. 4. The Gantt chart uses the horizontal axis where each task is given its own horizontal line with a calendar timeline for the length of each task. A PERT chart is more compact than the Gantt chart but the time resources of a task are not given graphically but numerically. An advantage of using Gantt chart is that time is explicit. Also all tasks are visible in relationship to other tasks. Deadlines are also shown in Gantt chart while in a PERT chart its not shown. Project status is also shown and progress is shown by filling in the task boxes. Ways in which the PERT chart may be advantageous: the PERT chart uses nodes to show the timeline. The order of the tasks is also orderly and flows from left to right. The PERT chart may also be good for multiple tasks since they all start at the same node with each task having its duration, name and the initials of the names of the people involved in it. 5. Under what circumstances might you wish to crash a project? -If the initial schedule proves to be too optimistic and the initial outcome projections are not met, the existing resources productivity can be improved. -Another reason to consider crashing a project is when a project slips behind schedule considerably. -If the market needs some change and is demanded earlier than projected, one should consider crashing the project. -If the contract provides more motivation to avoid the spillage of the schedule one should crash the project. Written Assignment 6 1. The four components of any control model are discussed. Apply these four components for a simple project such as paving a driveway. Four components for a simple project such as paving driveway are: a. Setting a goal b. Measuring progress c. Comparing actual with planned performance d. Taking action 2. Gantt charts can of course be used as a means to measure performance. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Gantt charts as a means of measuring performance? Advantages of using a Gannt chart -They are easy read, create and comprehend thus, they are easy to use. - They allow for control and updating as the project is continuing. - Gantt charts are useful when identifying resource needs and assigning resources to tasks. - It’s good for identifying the schedule baseline and the project network. Disadvantages. Gantt charts cannot show the progress of two activities. They only show the progress of one activity. 3. Provide an example, either from your experience or using your imagination, that illustrates the four principal types of project termination. Four types of project termination: a. Termination by Extinction- If all the scheduled activities in a project are completed a project is terminated. For example when all the tiles have been laid, compacted and painted in the construction of a parking lot. b. Termination by Addition- c. Termination by Integration d. Termination by Starvation.- This is termination of a project if the needed resources are depleted. For example, the incompletion of a building if the building material are depleted before the completion of the house Read More