Project Management: a Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling - Case Study Example

Northwest Rapid Transit Project Name: Class: Unit: Executive Summary This report is based on application of project management principles and methodologies on Northwest Rapid Transit which is under construction at Sydney Australia. The report is aimed at critical analysis of management practices based on PMBoK. The main part which has been analysed is the first phase of the project which is Sydney Metro Northwest. The phase 1 of the project is almost complete and is set to be opened in 2019 while phase 2 is on the early stages. This is the largest public project to be undertaken by the NSW government. From the PMBoK knowledge area, the project has been implemented in accordance with the accepted practices. This is despite the few challenges which included demonstrations by some members of the community and structural failure at the Skytrain section. From the critical analysis of this project, it is evident that there is need for comprehensive stakeholders’ engagement and continuous quality management. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 List of figure 3 List of tables Y 3 Introduction 4 Project environment / context 4 Project delivery progress to date 6 PMBoK Knowledge Areas 8 Project Integration Management 8 Project Scope Management 9 Project Time Management 11 Project Cost Management 12 Project Quality Management 13 Project Human Resource Management 15 Project Communication Management 15 Project Risk Management 16 Project Procurement Management 17 Project Stakeholder Management 18 Key Findings 19 Conclusion 21 References 22 List of figure Figure 1 Progress of Northwest Rapid Transit showing work sites (NRT, 2017) 8 Figure 2 cracks in the Skytrain 14 Table 1 Project delivery timelines 7 Introduction Sydney Metro Northwest is the first phase of the Northwest Rapid Transit. This is Australia largest public transport project at the moment. The fully automated metro system is scheduled to be opened in the first half of 2019. The second stage of the project is expected to extend the metro rail under the Sydney harbour to Bankstown. The project is a major boost in the number of trains across Sydney. The $8.3 billion will provide a 60% increase in the number of trains catering for an extra 100,000 customers. Northwest Rapid Transit (NRT) a consortium formed in Hong Kong won the contract on the operations, trains and systems for Sydney Metro Northwest. The scope of work for this project includes and not limited to: building the new railway and commuter car parks, delivering new generation metro trains, building and operation of Sydney Metro Trains Facility, installing 23 kilometres of tracks and rail systems, converting the existing rail into metro status and maintenance and operation for the Sydney Metro Northwest for next 15 years (NRT, 2017). This project report will cover the environmental context in which the project is being delivered, project delivery progress to date, and the PMBoK knowledge areas in relation to project management. Lastly, the project report will look at the lessons learned and provide a conclusion based on project assessment. Project environment / context Sydney Metro Northwest is based in Sydney Australia. The project is funded by the New South Wales Government (NSW). The project is the largest public private partnership ever carried out in NSW. This is the first stage of Sydney Rapid Transit which is in line with the government plan to modernise Sydney railway system (NRT, 2017). The demand for large projects such as Sydney Rapid Transit is driven by the economic development. NSW economy has been stable with the construction industry growing. NSW economic growth has been outpacing the rest of Australia due to a diversified economy. Despite this, the region has experienced loss of jobs in the recent past with a decline in employment rates. The annual growth in jobs has declined to 0.4% from a peak of 3% in 2013 (NSW Treasury, 2017). Despite this, the growing construction industry may lead to job creation hence a reduction in the unemployment rate. This will have an impact on the project as they look for labour. The number of experienced workers who can participate in the project is adequate based on the region construction industry growth. Despite the importance of the project, it has faced several protests in the region. In 2014, there were protests by communities whose properties were affected by the construction. The project required compulsory property acquisitions led to resistance (Saulwick, 2014). The community had initially lost confidence in the project leading to plans to win public support by the government. The government had to spend $12.6 million with consultancy firms to help in managing community relations. Sydney Metro Mega project has also led to a lot of environmental concerns despite the government promise on sustainability. Several iconic landmarks have also been under risk due to tunnelling. This includes the Melbourne Town Hall building, City Baths and the Prince Bridge. These are iconic structures which are unsound to withstand tunnelling (Lucas, 2016). The tunnelling has been a major area of contention due to the impact that it has on the environment. This includes permanent damage to public parklands in the region. There are also concerns that vibration during the work has an impact on the structures around. Hundreds of trees will be removed from the St Kilda Road for the metro rail tunnels leading to more concerns. Based on the environmental impact report, about 900 trees will be removed during tunnelling with 223 of the trees in close proximity to the Shrine of Remembrance where an underground is set to be built. It is important to note that St Kilda Road is lined with trees and their removal will change the landscape (Tomazin, 2016). All these issues were identified in the environmental impact report before the contract was awarded. Project delivery progress to date The project for the 1st phase is made up of 16 worksites with three main overarching core work zones. The core work zones are: Epping to Bella Vista Station, Bella Vista Station to Rouse Hill Station and Rouse Hill Station to Tallawong Road. The deliverables included the construction of tunnels involving installing of the track slab, installing rail tracks, ventilation systems, installing cable equipment, lighting, safety and emergency walkways. Above the ground, the work for stage one included: construction of the Skytrain, constriction of work stations and precincts, constriction of service facilities, construction of pedestrian bridges, installing rail track within the Sydney Metro train facility and lastly installing high voltage power supply. The construction work on the ground is not yet finished with most of the areas complete. Tunnelling is already complete leaving the main work to be on the stations, fit out and the precinct works (NRT, 2017). Table 1 Project delivery timelines 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Station construction, ventilation, fill-out Epping services facility fit-out Cheltenham services facility fit-out Track work Tunnel system fit-out Services and viaduct systems fit-out Testing and commissioning Operational readiness System integration Figure 1 Progress of Northwest Rapid Transit showing work sites (NRT, 2017) PMBoK Knowledge Areas Project Integration Management According to Project Management Institute (2013), project integration management is based on making choices on resource allocation, managing trade-offs, and the existing interdependencies among the project knowledge areas. Sydney Metro Northwest was able to utilise project integration management adequately. First, the project started with development of a project charter. This is the document that authorised the existence of the Sydney Metro Northwest project. Through the charter, NSW government was able to establish a partnership with the contractor. The project manager was awarded the authority to apply the organisational resources in the project. To come up with a project charter, there are several inputs that have to be considered as stated in Project Management Institute (2013). In this case, Sydney Metro Northwest had to ensure that all inputs were taken care of. First all the subsidiary plans in Sydney Metro Northwest were prepared defined, coordinated and integrated into a comprehensive project management plan. It is clear that the project management plan was developed before the project was started. As the work started progressing, there was control and monitoring by the contractor and the NSW government. This was aimed at ensuring tracking, reviewing and reporting the progress for Sydney Metro Northwest in accordance with the targets. As the project progressed, there have been several changes which have been implemented. This is in accordance with the integrated change control (Project Management Institute, 2013). This was communicated in time. The project phase 1 which is the Sydney Metro Northwest is almost complete. The closing of this phase will be done in 2019 according to the set timeline. Project Scope Management Scope management involves ensuring that the project caters for all work required and it is completed successfully (Project Management Institute, 2013). Sydney Metro Northwest scope was controlled appropriately based on the success of phase 1 progress to date. It involved coming up with a scope management plan which documented how Sydney Metro Northwest scope was defined, validated and controlled. This is based on guidance and direction of scope management for the entire project (Project Management Institute, 2013). A successful scope management starts with a project management plan (Turner, 2014). The entire approved subsidiary for the project management plan was used at this strategy to come up with the scope of project management plan. The project charter acted as an input to provide the project context required (Project Management Institute, 2013). It is through the project charter that high level project description is possible. Plan scope for Sydney Metro Northwest was affected by the enterprise environmental factors. The scope was also affected by the policies and procedures as well as historical information from other projects. Sydney Metro Northwest is a project phase which is based on expert judgement. During the scope, plan scope management, there were inputs from the experienced parties. This includes the management authorities, government bodies and construction professionals (Project Management Institute, 2013). There were regular project meetings which were aimed at the plan scope management. This included meetings with the project sponsors, team members, community and other stakeholders. Due to the environmental concerns, it was prudent for the project to meet all stakeholders at this stage. This started with the facilitated workshops by the NSW government, contractors and the affected members of community. Despite this, the involvement of the community was not a success. This is an area that the project performed poorly. The result was demonstrations once the project plan was released. Future projects which have an impact on the community should use various means to involve all stakeholders. This would involve use of brainstorming, nominal group technique, idea mapping and affinity diagram (Turner, 2014). Although there were some challenges in scope defining, the scope used by this project was detailed. The scope inputs and outputs were all well-defined. Sydney Metro Northwest is based on a well-designed work breakdown structure. This is a project that is divided into small manageable components as evidenced in the project deliverables. This is a WBS which is based on expert judgement. For the project to come up with deliverable timelines, the scope had been validated (Turner, 2014). Project Time Management The time spent on the project was well managed leading to the project deliverables being achieved in time. The phase 1 which is Sydney Metro Northwest is on the right schedule and all deliverables have been attained based on timeline. This can be associated with a deep understanding of the activities that are involved in the project and their sequence and timing. For the project to be on the set schedule, a good project schedule is required. A project time schedule starts with activity definition (Project Management Institute, 2013). It involves documenting the activities that must be carried out to come up with the deliverables and sub deliverables. In the Sydney Metro Northwest, the activities are all defined and documented through the WBS. The success can be attributed to the fact that all activities which were required to meet phase 1 and 2 requirements. The second area to look at is activity sequencing. This is through identification of all interactivity logical relationships (Zwikael, 2009). The activities have to be sequenced in a logical and realistic manner. This is evident in Sydney Metro Northwest project. The sequences were designed using the computer and published. The next area is activity duration estimating. Since the start, the project duration was given estimates. Phase 1 was executed to be opened in 2019 and it is already on schedule. These estimates were based on experts’ opinions and the availability of the input data. This is an area that the project was able to excel on. Schedule development is based on start and finish of dates of the project (Kerzner, 2013). This are required to be realistic to ensure that the project is finished on time. Sydney Metro Northwest started in 2015 and the first phase was to be opened in 2019. The schedule development process was iterated to ensure success in the designed schedule. Schedule control is based on influencing factors that leads to changes in to ensure consensus. It involves managing the actual changes as they occur (Project Management Institute, 2013). It is evident that Sydney Metro Northwest was able to use integrated change control to attain the level of efficiency. Overall, Sydney Metro Northwest time management was highly successful. The project tasks were attained at the right time as phase 1 progressed. The management was able to determine the time taken by the project accurately. Project Cost Management Measures should be taken to ensure that a project is completed within the approved budget. This is only attainable if there is resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting and cost control. These processes interact with each other in other knowledge areas (Project Management Institute, 2013). For Sydney Metro Northwest project phase, the costs were well managed. This is evidenced by the fact that the phase was completed within the budgeted cost. The prediction and analysis of the costs was done outside the project. The information needed by the stakeholders was included. The ability of the project to stick with the set budget can be associated with use of proper cist control and management (Turner, 2014). All revisions on the costs were done at the right time and budget updates made. The 8.3 billion which was set at the beginning of the project has not overshoot. Thus, the project costs were well handled at all stages. This can be associated with preparing a proper budget which involved looking at the cost of each task to determine the overall budget (Zwikael, 2009). The budget was well in line with the project ensuring that there was no over expenditure. Project Quality Management In most projects, this is the smallest knowledge area which covers only three processes (Project Management Institute, 2013). The main aim is to ensure that the project is able to meet the needs for which it was undertaken for. It involves quality planning, quality assurance and quality control. For project phase, it is important to look at each of the three areas in isolation and determine its implementation success. Quality planning for Sydney Metro Northwest involves identifying whether the project meets the standards relevant in building rail line. According to the quality report Sydney Metro Northwest was able to meet the ISO 9000 series. This included setting a quality policy and ensuring that it was implemented. Through the quality assurance department, Sydney Metro Northwest was able to gain has quality assurance before development of ISO 9000. Actions were taken with an aim of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the entire project. Quality control is based on monitoring of the project (Zwikael, 2009). This is to ensure that the project is able to conform to the quality standards and determine what can lead to poor results. This is an area that the project did not perform satisfactory. There have been reports on the lack of safety on Skytrain which is part of Sydney Metro Northwest. This led to the halting of the $20 Skytrain section due to concerns. The elevated section which is one of the longest bridges in Australia started to buckle and show cracks. This is a major concern in the Roads and Maritime on quality assurance. For a project of such magnitude, the safety of public is of great concern. This is an issue that raises doubts on structural soundness of the viaduct where passengers train are supposed to run every two minutes. Despite this, the quality of the section has been strengthened to ensure safety. Figure 2 cracks in the Skytrain Project Human Resource Management This involves making the best use of the people involved in the project. This is all stakeholders who include the project sponsors, customers and partners. The main processes that are involved includes: organisational, staff acquisition and team development (Project Management Institute, 2013). For Sydney Metro Northwest, all these processes interact with each other and other knowledge areas. Sydney Metro Northwest started with organisational planning while deploying their staff. This is through identification, assigning jobs, roles and responsibility (Zwikael, 2009). The contractor had to ensure that all the staffs involved were aware of their input in the project. This is what led to coordinated implementation of the project and was done at the earliest phase of the project. Through staff acquisition, an organisation is able to get the required human resources (Zwikael, 2009). The contractor for Sydney Metro Northwest had already satisfied NSW government on the capability to provide experienced human resource to undertake the project. To undertake the project of Sydney Metro Northwest magnitude, team development is vital. The stakeholders’ contribution and team work are highly needed. In this case, Sydney Metro Northwest is a project whose progress is based on team work. This was attained through team development. The project has thus been able to excel in team development. Project Communication Management Communication is very vital for the project success. It is a critical link that ensures people, ideas and information are connected. The main processes that are involved in this knowledge area are: communication planning, information distribution, performance reporting and administrative closure (Project Management Institute, 2013). These are processes which are interaction with each other and the rest of the knowledge areas. Sydney Metro Northwest communication planning was well executed in the early stages. The results were reviewed on a regular basis. This was linked with the organisational planning. All stakeholders were informed at the right time through the information distribution (Kerzner, 2013). For example, any changes in Sydney Metro Northwest have been communicated to all in the right time. When the construction faced challenges from the protestors, there was timely and effective communication through use of consultancy firms (Saulwick, 2014). Moreover, Sydney Metro Northwest has been educating stakeholders in schools and community meetings on the importance of the project and the positive impacts it will have on their lives. This is based on a well implemented communication management plan (Zwikael, 2009). Administrative closure has not yet been attained. This is due to fact that Sydney Metro Northwest which is phase 1 will be opened in 2019. At this point, there is still working going on. Despite this, there is continuous closure of sections and small phases which are properly closed to ensure the information is not lost. Project Risk Management The minimisation of adverse impacts from the project is very important. It involves having the right approach to risk management. The first step in this case is planning the risk management work (Project Management Institute, 2013). This is followed by risk identification. Through involvement of several contractors, it was possible for the project to gain a comprehensive risk management. This included involvement of Metropolis Advisory. The involvement of all stakeholders and participants makes the approach by Sydney Metro Northwest effective. All risks which might impact the project were identified and documented (Kerzner, 2013). Despite this, the fact that there were cracks in a section shows that it is possible for some risks not being identified. There is to lack qualitative risk analysis despite the efforts by project manager. The risks are supposed to be prioritised based on their potential impacts. This seems to have been poorly followed. Through quantitative risk analysis all risks are numerically analysed. The project used Monte Carlo simulation and decision analysis which is highly used in project management (Zwikael, 2009). Actions to reduce threat from risks are not well developed in this project. For example, after a failure in the ducts, the contractor tried to hide the issue until it was exposed. The risk response planning failed to be developed in such a way that it can meet the challenge successfully without making the issue worse. Through risk monitoring and control, it is possible to use information to come up with effective decisions before the risks occur. This is not a one off activity and includes the entire project lifecycle (Project Management Institute, 2013). Since the project is still ongoing, there are still chances for the contractor to improve on risk management. Project Procurement Management To build a large project such as Northwest Rapid Transit, procurement is a vital area. This can be looked based on the buyer in the seller relationship. In this case, the seller acts as the supplier or subcontractor. The delivery of phase 1 involved a lot of suppliers and subcontractors. For example, tunnelling was carried out by a subcontractor. The management of the suppliers and subcontractors was commendable. The contractors were able to adhere to the set rules and buying the required quality supplies. As the project in phase 1 progressed, the performance of the contractors was continuously managed. This is through plan procurement management (Project Management Institute, 2013). The contractor was able to conduct the procurements, control them and close them when needed. The NSW website kept the list of the required goods and services to be procured. When the first phase was complete, the procurement stopped. During the entire project in phase 1, there have been no complaints on the suppliers. This is due to appropriate control and ensuring that the source for the supplies is ethical (Zwikael, 2009). This should be replicated in the second part of the project. Project Stakeholder Management Sydney Metro Northwest is a project that had a lot of impact on stakeholders. There were impacts on the local businesses, communities, environmental groups, and the government (Sydney Metro, 2017). The stakeholders had their expectations and management was aimed at engaging the stakeholders’ during the project lifecycle. It involved addressing the conflicts as they occur and addressing issues (Project Management Institute, 2013). The main aim is stakeholders’ satisfaction by the project outcomes. Despite this, poor stakeholders’ engagement at the start of the project led to protects. This is despite a proper stakeholders’ identification. Stakeholders’ management was not well executed at the beginning. Stakeholders whose property and business were affected had not been well engaged by the project management. Some did not see the need for the project and feared losing their property. This was rectified as the project progressed with meetings and using consultancy groups to talk with the stakeholders (Sydney Metro, 2017). The overall engagement process was well monitored through the lifecycle of the project (Turner, 2014). From the project website, Sydney Metro has been doing a lot of efforts to ensure that all stakeholders are involved. This is aimed at eliminating conflict with the stakeholders and ensuring that the outcome benefits all. The project stakeholders’ consultations started in 2015 when the project was being initiated. This included collection of feedback from the stakeholders and community with the main focus on the tunnelling and track work. The project management held meetings with the NSW government, Australian government, peak bodies and associations. In the community sessions, it is claimed that about 800 people attended while 10,000 people participated in the online feedback forums. There were more than 1500 submissions (Sydney Metro, 2017). Based on these claims, it is clear that the approach used in stakeholders’ management was comprehensive (Zwikael, 2009). In fact, the determination of the preferred stations location from the Chatswood to Sydenham was based on stakeholders’ ideas. Key Findings From the analysis, Northwest Rapid Transit is a project which has not been faced with a lot of challenges during implementation with phase 1 almost open. Apart from the initial strikes and a case of structural failure, the project progressed smoothly since 2015 to the current state where the phase is almost complete. This is due to fact that the project strived to follow the best practices in project management. The overlaps between the knowledge areas went on smoothly (Project Management Institute, 2013). Sydney Metro Northwest is a proof that when the knowledge areas are followed well, the project chances of success are high. It shows the importance of experts’ opinions in designing and implementing the project as well as stakeholders consultations (Zwikael, 2009). The project also shows the importance of having a realistic schedule to ensure project success. It also shows the importance of having support from the top management in the project execution. A project should be able to manage the expectations from the top management using the PMBoK to enhance the project success. This is through influencing their expectations. A successful project requires user involvement. This is through identifying the user and involving them through the stakeholders’ management plan (Project Management Institute, 2013). In future, it is would be important that projects engages in deep stakeholders consultations. This is due to fact that stakeholders have a great impact on the project progress. For the Sydney Metro Northwest, lack of comprehensive user involvement in the initial stages led to strikes. This was later resolved through consultations and involvement. Communication is vital for project success. A project should use the PMBoK processes which ensure effective communication. A project should have a committed and motivated team. This should be developed based on the PMBoK guidelines to enhance productivity (Turner, 2014). Good quality management is what determines the ability of the project to meet the needs. A project should be able to manage quality in the best way possible in accordance with the guide knowledge areas. Conclusion To sum up, the phase one of Sydney Metro has been a success despite the challenges in the project. The metro is one of the largest projects by the NSW government which is aimed at enhancing public transport. With a project of this magnitude, appropriate project management is critical. Based on the PMBoK knowledge areas, the project had a good integration through teamwork. The project teams were well aware of the scope and the problems being solved. On time management, Sydney Metro Northwest has performed well since it is on schedule. There have been issues on quality especially on the Skytrain section. The defects have already been addressed. Communication as evidenced in this project is very vital where all team members are on the same page. The trend on excellence management is also seen in procurement management where products and services have been procured in a transparent and effective manner. This has been a successful project so far with phase 2 being undertaken at the moment. References Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. London: John Wiley & Sons. Lucas, A. (2016). Melbourne Metro rail: Iconic landmarks at risk from tunnel works, council warns. The Age. Retrieved 15 May 2017, from http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-metro-rail-iconic-landmarks-at- risk-from-tunnel-works-council-warns-20160629-gpuorz.html NRT (2017). Northwest Rail Link - Home. NRT. Retrieved 15 May 2017, from http://www.nrt.com.au/ NSW Treasury. (2017). About the NSW economy. Retrieved 15 May 2017, from https://www.treasury.nsw.gov.au/nsw-economy/about-nsw-economy Project Management Institute (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK (®) Guide. Project Management Institute. Saulwick, J. (2014). Sydney protest groups line up against road and rail projects. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 May 2017, from http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-protest-groups-line-up-against-road-and- rail-projects-20141031-11e1u4.html Sydney Metro. (2017). Stakeholder and community engagement | Sydney Metro. Retrieved 15 May 2017, from https://www.sydneymetro.info/citysouthwest/stakeholder-community Tomazin, F. (2016). Hundreds of St Kilda Road trees to get the chop as part of Metro tunnel project. The Age. Retrieved 15 May 2017, from http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/st-kilda-road-to-lose-hundreds-of-trees-as- part-of-metro-tunnel-project-20160624-gpqujx.html Turner, J. R. (2014). The handbook of project-based management (Vol. 92). New York, NY: McGraw-hill. Zwikael, O. (2009). The relative importance of the PMBOK® Guide's nine Knowledge Areas during project planning. Project Management Journal, 40(4), 94-103. Read More