Managing Successful Projects - Example

Project Management Name: Course: Instructor: Date: African Virtual University (AVU) ‘ICT assisted Education Project in Africa’ Introduction Managing a project to its success or failure has been a subject of study that researchers have delved in. The criterion that should be matched to ascertain the success levels of a given project have varied due to different expectations of the stakeholders who carry out these projects; as well as the beneficiaries who get to benefit from the services that the projects would offer. In many times, to the managers of projects, how successful the project is often tagged on how the project has met its pre-determined goals. The goals are often are related to the time the project was to take place, the cost that was to be incurred, the impact that the project was to have on the target community in a given period of time, and how smooth and logical have been the developments on the project. A number of project managers judge the success of a project solely on the user satisfaction. All in all, regardless of the criteria that are embraced in determining if a project is successful or has failed; a combination of the product (result, service, or outcome) success and project management success plays a big role in making a project to be said to be successful (Thomsett, 2002, p. 48). Project Management Criterion Project Management Criterion may be looked at as a set of standard that may be established and used to determine whether a project should be termed as a success or a failure. A number of such criterions were that make a project a success or failure is outlined in this paper. This has helped me to study the project by the African Virtual University, which whose focus was to establish and promote ICT Assisted Education’ in Africa. African Virtual University (AVU) ‘ICT assisted Education Project in Africa’ This project was carried out in a number of African countries by the African Virtual University (AVU). AVU is an educational university organization whose main aim is to provide world-class quality education, as well as educational training programs to professionals and students in Africa. It also supports economic development through investing in education of the citizens, and developing competencies of the professionals who provide workforce to the different countries in Africa. The AVU Multinational Project Concluded in February 2011 (Jimenez, 2006, p. 61). The project had an objective which includes; strengthening its capacity as well as its network of institutions that it coordinates. This is intended to improve the delivery and management of the ICT Assisted Education project. The project was instituted in the year 2005, and has been highly valued by the AVU. This project was funded to a larger percentage by the African Development Bank (AfDB); this is alongside partial funding by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project by October, 2010 was said to have been at 95% physical execution. This project was implemented in various African countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Senegal, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The AfDB which periodically assessed the project from the onset to its completion often found it was on course, and tye goals that were established were still found to be on course, and valid. The components, the activities, as well as its objectives were found to be valid, its components’. In addition, the bank’s assessment report indicated that and the resources that were set aside for the projects implementation from its onset to its completion were well appropriated, and used for eligible activities. The final assessment found that the procurement was well undertaken, for the project managers kept to the Rules of procedures of the AfDB as outlined in the Appraisal Report. The objectives of the Project included: Increasing Africa knowledge. Promoting gender balance in Africa’s educational Capacity Establishing at least 50 modules of ICT –Integrated Teacher Education Program The assessments that were conducted brought forth positive results, even as AVU strived to meet the objectives that were set before the project was launched, alongside developing good and mutually benefiting relationships with its partners considering that the project involved other partners such as the UNDP. The project achieved the following: The opening of 10 Open distance and e-Learning (ODeL) Centres, Opening of 459 University Academics trained, Establishment of collaborative development Modules which totaled to 86 modules; 13 of the modules of AVU were capacity Enhancement Programs, while 73 remaining modules were ICT –Integrated Teacher Education Program Finally, there was the development of 4 working documents that are instrumental to the Universities beyond the project activities. These documents include; a Baseline Survey on Education in all the countries, policy framework and curriculum conceptualization for development of consortium programs; A quality Assurance Framework; and A gender Mainstreaming Strategy. The project came to an end with the establishment of the Teacher Education Virtual Consortium in February 2010, which is mandated to sustain the project through the Teacher Education Virtual Consortium (Jimenez, 2006, p. 51). Though the project began in 2005, the period 2009-2010 recorded great successes for more than 600 students were awarded scholarships, with female beneficiaries getting more scholarships. Most of the beneficiaries of this project came from Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Somalia, Zambia and Tanzania. The assessment conducted by AfDB indicated that the project was successfully implemented and its positive impact is realized in Africa. The management and stakeholders of this project includes; the African Development Bank, and it’s staff, 12 partner institutions in the 10 countries that participated in the project, the AVU Management who were the main policy makers and implementers, and finally the board of Directors of the Project which was led by its chairlady Ms Catherine Wangeci. In my opinion, this was a successful project, due to the criterion that I was able to embrace, and they include; i. The outcome of the Project In this regard, this is a successful project for the desired outcomes began to take shape well before the project came into completion. According to the assessment report that was conducted by the AVU, the project had built up, and more than 600 students were able to be given scholarships by the university. This means that the successes of the project’s outcomes were progressive. These students were given scholarship by October last year, and thus they were able to enroll to the University through the projects opening, and the implication is that more people were able to build their knowledge base. Considering that one of the key objectives of the project was to build up Africa’s knowledge, and then the realization of the students accessing scholarship for higher education clearly indicates that they were given an opportunity to explore more knowledge through accessing the educational facilities that were provided by the University. The scholarship further meant that there was an increased amount of individuals in Africa who had there not been this project may have missed the opportunity to access higher education. Thus putting these factors into consideration, and tallying them with the main objectives of the project, I find that the project was very successful. The other key outcome of the project was handling the issue of gender balance in education and educational opportunity among men and women in Africa. One of the key objectives of the project was to promote gender balance in Africa’s educational Capacity. This objective mu7st have been developed following the gender discrimination of women with regard to accessing education in Africa. This has been a problem that traces its roots to the historical period where women were considered to perform household chores, therefore higher education for them was not relevant. I find this project to be a success because of all the students who were awarded the scholarships, 70% of them were female applicants, and this means that the project managers heed to the objective of building up the capacity of access to knowledge and education by people from the different genders. In the real implementation of awarding the scholarships, the female applicants benefited more from the project, for the project managers ensured that the women were given more priority over their male counterparts. This showed that the project was successful with regard to addressing the issue of gender balance, and meeting the second objective of the project. ii. Project Management As much a project may be referred to as a single entity on its own; we may not separate a project from the people who run the project. Indeed, a successful project means that there was efficiency in managing the processes involved in running the project, so as to attain the desired goals and objectives (Cooke-Davies 2008, p. 47). Projects are not run for a short period, often they would take a long time, and an error in the processes as the project takes place may result in the downfall of the whole project. In this case, this project ran from 2005 to 2011 February when it was completed. I find the project successful because of the hierarchical roles, as well as the team spirit that was given by the different stakeholders who took part in it. Indeed, this was a unique project for despite the project being owned by the Africa Virtual University (AVU), the project was made a success through the cordial relationship that the management embraced with the supporting partners. The project being a mega project that involved many partners, it means that there will be a lot of expectation from the partners particularly those who funded the project. The project has over ten partners including the African Development Bank, which was the main funder supported by United Nations Development Programmes, and other partners. The management, particularly the board of directors led by Ms. Catherine Wangeci was able to coordinate the activities well. This is evidenced by the assessment report which indicates that the required procedures that were demanded by the partners were met to satisfactory levels. This is a clear indication that the project was a success (Turner & Muller, 2005, p. 44) Different stakeholders will use different measures. The health and safety officer wants no injuries. The manufacturing manager wants a product that is easy to build. The ISO 9000 compliance team cries "success" if the documentation is complete. The VP of Marketing will be delighted if you get to market before your competition. iii. Time taken by the Project This was a five year project that was to kick start in end of 2005 to the end of 2010. However the project due to logistical issues extended by two months and completed in February. As much as this was costly to the organization since the extra time accounted for the extra labor cost of the managers who were managing the project. The project may not be looked at as a failure because of the outcome (Lim & Mohamed, 1999, p. 188). I may say that the outcome justified the short period in which the project was extended. We cannot justify lateness, however in my opinion we can look at the opportunity cost of trying to hurry up a project and mess up results. Ultimately the project ended up well, the extra two months was a period that was used to make structures for the establishment of the Teacher Education Virtual Consortium in whose mandate is to sustain the project. This is such a significant area that could not be left out, so that the established project can smoothly run. In fact, on this basis we can additionally say that the extra two months added value to the project, and thus the project was successful for structures were put in place to ensure that it can run after being established. Project teams are known for defining schedule success as on time taken by the project, however this should be contrasted after tallying the time taken and the outcome of the project. If the relation is positive, as the case is in this project, then the project is a success. iv. Cost of the Project Often, many project managers have a tendency to rate the success of a project with regard to the money spent, if it was beyond the budget or it was within the budget. This is often compared t the time taken by the project (Belassi & Tukel, 1996, p. 33). I view this project to be a success for it was not reported that monies were misappropriated, instead they were well put to use, to the level that the cost was still enough to establish a system that would sustain the operation of the completed project. This project was majorly funded by the African Development Bank, as well as with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), alongside other small partners. The cost of the project did not go overboard, since in the assessment report that was provided by the AVU indicated that there was appropriate spending of the resources to the purposes that they were set for. Most of the expenditure was spent in setting up the infrastructure that would support AVU to meet the objectives of the project, as well as some being spend on the scholarships that were provided by AVU. v. Stakeholder satisfaction. Larger projects often have challenge of meeting the stakeholder’s satisfaction because they often have many stakeholders involved in the management and funding of the project (Baguley, 1995, p. 34). In most cases, the stakeholders often have their terms and conditions as they partner in the project, this is alongside the expectations they have at the completion of the project. In this case, the main stakeholders of the project were the African Virtual University project team, the African Development Bank which was the major party that funded the project, the United Nations Development Program, as well as other ten partners who supported the project. The expectations of the AVU as captured in the established goals of the project before it was implemented were achieved. The goals of the project may be used to define what they expected at the completion of the project. These goals included promotion of African knowledge, promoting gender educational capacities, and establishment of at least 50 modules of ICT –Integrated Teacher Education Program. The expectations were met for more female students got scholarships, 73 modules of ICT –Integrated Teacher Education Program were established, and more students in Africa were able to access knowledge. The report by VAU also indicated that the African Development Bank, went through the project and the processes involved, and they went on to appraise the project and the management team for having appropriated well the money that was spent in the project. vi. The organization Finally, the support of top management as well as the management team in running the project is another criterion against which a project may be said to be a success or a failure. In other words, a project cannot be said to finish successfully without true support from the top and operational management. This is because, it is against this support that project succeeds or fails (Cleland & Ireland, 2002, p. 44). This is a successful project from the fact that there was good organization from the top management team led by Ms. Catherine Wangeci., who was identified to work with zeal and commitment towards the success of the project. Conclusions All in all, from the criterion discussed, I find the project to be a successful project. The project also scored highly for it was; * Complete—the project ran smoothly from when it was established t its end. * Relevant—the project targeted the persistent educational needs in Africa. * Valid—there was no compromise of the objectives set in the first place. * Timely—the outcome of the project justified the time taken by the project managers to implement the project. References Baguley, 1995, Managing Successful Projects: A guide for every manager, Pitman Publishing, London UK, p. 34 Belassi & Tukel, 1996, A new framework for determining critical success-failure factors in projects, International Journal of Project Management Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 141-151. Cleland & Ireland, 2002, Project Management: Strategic Design and implementation, McGraw-Hill Professional, USA Cooke-Davies, The "real" success factors on projects, International Journal of Project Management Vol.20, pp. 185–190. Jimenez, E., 2006, World development report 2007: development and the next generation, World Bank Publications, New York. Lim & Mohamed, 1999, Criteria of project success: an exploratory re-examination, International Journal of Project Management Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 243-248. Thomsett, 2002, Radical Project Management, Prentice Hall, New York. Turner & Muller, 2005, The project manager’s leadership style as a success factor on projects, Project Management Institute, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp 49-61 Read More