Patterns of Benefits Realization in Project Management Information Systems Training - Assignment Example

Table of Contents 1.0.Question 1: Project Management 2 1.1.Part Two: Activity H (Site Installation) 2 1.2.Part Three: Critical Path Method 3 2.0.Question Two: Plant Location 6 2.1.Part Two: The Limitations of the Approach 6 3.0.Question Three: Transportation Problem 8 3.1.Part Two: Transportation Methodology 8 1.0. Question 1: Project Management 1.1. Part Two: Activity H (Site Installation) First, the fact of this case that needs consideration is that the project is costing more every week there is a delay and this is to mean that project costing is affected. Consequently, we are moving towards project crashing and time-cost trade off. The option of offering the project to a different company even for additional cost of $80,000 is preferable and advisable not because the duration of the activity will be reduced to 3 weeks instead of 7 but because of inherent factors that will be dire when not offering. We are taking a case that the 7 weeks duration was the normal activity time needed to complete activity H (Site Installation). Therefore it is true that the cost required in completing the activity H (Site Installation) would be X (the original cost if it were to be completed on time) which in this case is considered as the normal activity cost. However the cost will escalate by $30,000 x (number of weeks delayed). Therefore what we are trying to avoid by offering the project is to incur crash time cost which would be cheaper than allowing ourselves to engage in unfeasible ‘normal activity time.’ That is disrupted operations will lead to more expenses than the additional $80,000. We are finding that the cost of continuing with the project and offering it to another company is not linear. Therefore offering it to another company is feasible as the company will not be crashing it by any amount which is higher than what it would have been by incurring $30,000 for every week that has been delayed. Practically, if the new company decide to crash the project by 4 weeks (doing it within 3 weeks) the crash cost would be $30,000x4weeks ($30,000 per week ∞ 4 weeks). The linear relationships between crash cost and crash time and between normal cost and normal time therefore make it possible to decide that the project should be offered to the company. In other words, one of the roles of system managers in such case is to recognize that the scope of their role relates to cost scheduling and task structure. These functions are strategic towards the success of H (Site Installation) now that there is variability (Mir and Pinnington 2014). That is, giving the project to another company offers more flexible systems. In order for the project to be sustainable and suitable in terms of performance, offering it provides risk management plan early in the project planning stages; which will mostly, be possible through a well-developed project management systems (Archibald and Archibald 2016). Success of any project should be seen as a temporal group of activities that are designed to produce a unique product service and results and offering it to another company is a typical scenario (Bhatija et al. 2017). 1.2. Part Three: Critical Path Method Beginning with advice on this technique, Critical Path Method helps in planning as it defines task of the work, the estimation of the needed durations and resources of specific task in project success. Unlike a number of analytical techniques used in the overall project planning methodology, Critical Path Method ensures that there is interaction between different work tasks. That is, Critical Path Method helps project managers in understanding every phase of project and what is required in these steps. During planning for instance, Critical Path Method helps the planner to begin with a design of the project recognizing and synthesizing steps needed to generate the results. The necessary factor in project planning includes the use of Critical Path Method in the generation of the needed activities, using it to analyse the implication of activities and the choice among different alternative methods of performing the project activities (Appiah 2017). In the development of a project plan Critical Path Method is essential in giving either the schedule or the cost. Specifically, in some projects the programme can be used in dividing the project into expense categories with linked costs factored in each category. For example, Critical Path Method distinguishes cost oriented planning where there can be distinction between cost incurred indirectly in the performance of the project and those incurred directly in the accomplishment of the project. System managers and project managers have shifted focus from other analytical techniques used in the overall project planning methodology by establishing the effectiveness of Critical Path Method in planning, scheduling and tracking (Badiru and Osisanya 2016). Taking a case of a project where time is a critical, Critical Path Method is essential in proper project predeceasing and that the software can able to plan the project against time and available resources so that monitoring, planning and record keeping can be done in different dimensions. Specifically, different managers agree that Critical Path Method helps in budget scheduling, allocations and estimations. Managers who have been concerned with the effectiveness of Critical Path Method in scheduling have noted that the software helps project managers in determining the timing of project events. Specifically, when and which tasks project managers will deal with first within the project. While these reviews have focused on the effectiveness of Critical Path Method in project plan, reflection and detailed task structure, they capture how Critical Path Method can be used as a communication tool between the project manager and stakeholders of the project (Archibald 2017). On the other hand, tracking is the process of collection, entering and analyzing of actual project performance values like work on tasks and real duration which is necessitated by Critical Path Method. Thus Critical Path Method is required in project tracking since tracking is one of the major phases of project management which if well executed helps in the success of project. Managers and system developers have indicated that Critical Path Method helps project tracking in the sense that the software helps in the development and communication of different details of project plan before commencement of the actual project work. Tracking is the process where the project managers are able to record project details concerning the kind of work done by a particular worker, when and how the work was done. These elements have been integrated in Critical Path Method thus facilitating project success in real time. Recent project development and planning have observed that Critical Path Method is able to effectively track actual work and compare its progress against original project plan which according to the managers is essential in the identification of actual plans against progress (Kerzner 2013). Implementation of Critical Path Method follows different steps as follows: The first step: Specification of Each Activity The company will be required to use work-breakdown structure by also identifying each activity that will be involved in the project. However, in this case, the task structure will require having high-level activities because incorporating detailed task may make critical path analysis complex and expensive to manage and maintain. The figure below illustrates a case of task specification and how it can be applied in critical path method. The second step: Identification of activity sequence This step will entail the following questions: Which task should take place before this task happens? Which tasks should happen right after this task? Which tasks should be finished at the same time as this task? The third step: Drawing the Network Diagram 2.0. Question Two: Plant Location 2.1. Part Two: The Limitations of the Approach One challenge or limitation with the approach cited above is that it ignores logistic costs. A consideration on logistics cost help firms ascertain efficiency of the logistics and supply chain management operations from the time a product is manufactured to the time it reaches suppliers. According to McCarty and Skibniewski (2017) integration of systems such as Multi-Facility Manufacturing ERP software from IQMS will help in solving limitations related to logistics. Specifically, the technique ascertain the extent to which logistical costs is a significant performance indicator and how it helps in assessing supply chain agility and efficiency when it comes to sustainable supply chain management practices. The second limitation that comes with the approach suggested is its integration with perfect order metric as far as suppliers are concerned. Wagga Class Furniture will be considered as a sector that manufactures products that are urgently needed by customers. Highlighting important plant location information relative to the suppliers means considering perfect order metric because it is a higher level performance indicator or measure formed by a combination of different performance markers of Wagga Class Furniture. In this case, plant location information relative to the suppliers cannot integrate with perfect order metric as a unique and dynamic performance indicator for Wagga Class Furniture. Therefore means that if a new approach is not adopted the company may not establish various factors in supply management. As a recommendation, there is need for a comprehensive perfect order metric to determine different factors regarding their sustainable supply chain management (McMullin et al. 201). Thirdly, factors they have considered in locating the plant site may not ensure that the company achieves their strategy of responsiveness to customer need and unsurpassed quality because the plat site may not guarantee on time delivery. Parameters that are used to locate plant site should be designed to create an understanding of the process of the sustainable supply procedures, guides the process of collaboration efforts and in general, these indicators should optimizes supply excellence so that there is on time delivery. What matters here is not how Wagga Class Furniture will meet the demand based on their location but the approach did not consider deliveries in terms of time. 3.0. Question Three: Transportation Problem 3.1. Part Two: Transportation Methodology In this particular case, creating a more realistic mathematical model would mean that we are concerned with finding the minimum cost related to transporting a single commodity from a given source to a given number of destination rather than focusing on the cost of moving cars from one depot to another. The first factor in this case would be to consider operation management practices that are involved in moving cars from one depot to another. Operation management practices will be essential in creating a more realistic mathematical model since it fosters the following: first, the model developed will assist in laying focus on four primary strategies for the sustenance of its constant and growing demand in the market. These strategies include: Availability, Affordability, Acceptability, and activation of the cars moved (Lee et al. 2006). The strategies adopted by the firm (transportation methodology is directed only at costs, and in this case, the cost of moving cars from one depot to another) comprises of activities that cannot form a chain of supply extending beyond the physical walls of the company to the active involvement of the supplier and the customer. Therefore ensuring that the model incorporates operation management practices will in turn ensure that the business can compete in a complex market system not by just laying focus on expert finances, innovative marketing, and supply of new products, but also by sui generis competency in the manner in which it performs its transports its cars (Ali et al. 2008). Affordability means that the customers can manage to purchase the brands of the company (cars from one depot to another). If products are excellent yet not affordable to most people, then they will stay in the stores for an extended period. Creating a more realistic mathematical model would therefore consider affordability of the cars since the current model is focussing more on costs thus escalating the market price of the products. The organization can establish a transport competitive advantage sustained by initiating an individual channel of strategic priorities. The suggested arrangement is quality, dependability, flexibility and cost but not focusing entirely on cost. Application of best business performance enables the organization to produce products and brands of high quality when quality, dependability, flexibility and cost is the central focus of their mathematical model (Basu et al. 2016). Affordability model if integrated allows the firm to be competent on reliable and fast delivery, making the products available to the target clients. Affordability further improves efficient and flexible business operations management which in turn, will give the organization the capacity to deliver on some products and new brands (activation). Efficient operations performance in cost as it is the case only makes the company to address on time delivery. However, we propose the following model as a consideration: The level of supply at each source and the amount of demand at each destination The unit transportation cost of the commodity from each source to each destination As a result the technique to be used to draw up the recommendations follows the figure below: The figure above as the suggested technique is a representation model where m represents sources of their cars and n representing the destinations of their cars. In such cases, their focus will not be entirely on cost but quality, dependability, flexibility and cost. Furthermore, the route between one source and one destination is thus represented by an arc that joins the two modes to facilitate quality, dependability and flexibility. Furthermore, with this technique, the company will be able to tell the amount of supply that is available at source i and the demand required at different destinations including j and b. The cost of transporting one car between sources i and destination j can be quantified as well. Reference List Ali, A. S. B., Anbari, F. T., & Money, W. H. (2008). Impact of organizational and project factors on acceptance and usage of project management software and perceived project success. Project Management Journal, 39(2), 5-33. Appiah, N. A. (2017). Assessing the adequacy of construction planning and scheduling data utilized by construction firms in Ghana (Doctoral dissertation). Archibald, R. D. (2017). Inter-Relationships between an Enterprise’s Strategic Management Process and Its Program/Project Portfolio Management Process. In Project Portfolio Management Strategies for Effective Organizational Operations (pp. 39-60). IGI Global. Archibald, R. D., & Archibald, S. (2016). Leading and Managing Innovation: What Every Executive Team Must Know about Project, Program, and Portfolio Management. CRC Press. Badiru, A.B. and Osisanya, S.O., 2016. Project management for the oil and gas industry: a world system approach. CRC Press. Basu, B. K., Bandyopadhyay, A., & Khajuria, R. (2016). Information Technology Powered State-of-the Art Project Management of Large Infrastructure Projects. Sankalpa, 6(2), 90. Bhatija, V. P., Nithin, T., & Dawood, N. (2017). A Preliminary Approach towards Integrating Knowledge Management with Building Information Modeling (KBIM) for the Construction Industry. International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 8(1), 64. Kerzner, H.R., 2013, Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling, John Wiley & Sons. Lee, S. H., Pena-Mora, F., & Park, M. (2006). Dynamic planning and control methodology for strategic and operational construction project management. Automation in construction, 15(1), 84-97. McCarty, A., & Skibniewski, M. (2017). The Impact of PMIS Training: Patterns of Benefit Realization in Project Management Information Systems Training. Journal of Engineering, Project, and Production Management, 7(1), 2. McMullin, J. P., McVeigh, W., Warner, M., Rimmele, T. R., Craig, S. C., Ferayorni, A., ... & Johansson, E. (2016, August). Project management and control of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). In SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation (pp. 99110K-99110K). International Society for Optics and Photonics. Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), pp.202-217. Read More