Scope Validation, Stakeholder Management - Coursework Example

Name Class Unit Table of Contents Scope Validation 2 Stakeholder management 4 Progress monitoring (time and costs) 5 Risk 7 Quality 8 Procurement 9 Project closure 10 Project communication/information management 12 References 14 Scope Validation This is a process that involves determining the deliverables whether they meet the customer requirements and presenting them to the customer or stakeholders for a formal acceptance (Ibbs & Reginato, 2002). Scope validation is implemented through the use of audits and trials. Once the deliverables are approved, it should be documented. In case differences exist between the deliverables and the requirements, a formal document to show non-compliance is produced. When deliverables are not acceptable, change requests are made which are aimed at making deliverables meet the customer requirements. Inputs for this process are project management plan, requirements traceability matrix, requirements documentation, verified deliverables and work performance data. The outputs are accepted deliverables, work performance information, change requests and project documents updates. Tools and techniques used are inspections and group decision-making techniques (Guide, 2001). Inputs Tools and techniques Outputs Project management plan Inspection Scope management plan Requirements Group decision making techniques Project documents updates Documentation Accepted deliverables Requirements stability matrix Work perfoamcne information Verified deliverables Change requests Work performance data Change requests Fig.1, Scope validation (Guide, 2001) Based on the case, the project deliverable is patient Administration Solution (PAS). After the project is implemented, project validation will be carried out through the use of trials, audits and detailed testing in all functions of the system. If the project meets the deliverables, it’s documented. When any of the functions of PAS fails to meet the requirement of the scope, change request is generated. RPH and the state government take the change requests since they are the main stakeholders as the users and sponsors. RPH and the state government are expected to review PAS and address the change requests. This may involve changing the project scope or improving PAS. Stakeholder management Stakeholders management involves being able to identify people, organisations or groups that will be impacted by the project being implemented (Guide, 2001). Once completed, PAS deliverables must meet the stakeholders’ expectations for it to be accepted. The stakeholders in this case are; State Government, IHCS, ITPG and RPH. State government- PAS project is sponsored by the state government. The government have come up with the strategic plan to roll out the PAS system and invested funds in it. The state government main requirement is to have the project provide flexibility and convenience in the state health facilities. The expected successful outcomes by the state governments are better support for the clinical decision-making and enhanced customer satisfaction. International health Care System (IHCS) - is the supplier of the PAS project through a government tender. IHCS have a major responsibility for implementing the PAS system across the state. IHCS specific requirement is to complete PAS and ensure that the project can meet the expectations of the stakeholders through achieving the deliverables. The specific outcomes are PAS system being able to meet the stakeholders’ requirements. Central IT Policy Group (ITPG) which is owned by the state government and operated by the health Department is a stakeholder. ITPG is involved with advising and coordination of the entire project. The specific requirement for the ITPG is to reduce the changes to the core PAS system to minimise the maintenance costs and make it easier for the suppliers to upgrade the system. The successful outcome for ITPG is PAS system to be implemented successfully in the state based on three main constraints that are scope, time and costs. Royal Prince Hamlet Hospital (RPH)-the hospital is playing the role of a pilot hospital where PAS was first implemented. RPH is a user of the system since it has already used PAS. RPH specific requirement is to test the functionality of PAS and determine whether it can meet the deliverables. The successful outcome for the RPH is successful completion of PAS. Progress monitoring (time and costs) PAS is made up of sub-projects that combine to make the complete project. This makes it vital to track main milestones in the subprojects. The three main milestones in this project are; Getting feedback from the RPH pilot study and amending the system interface- the deliverables are the results from the pilot study. Coming up with the process and plan for rolling out the PAS. ICHS are expected to come up with the plan and process that will be used in rolling out the project. Implementing PAS state-wide in all hospitals- this will be carried out by ICHS after the success of the pilot project. Project monitoring ensures that a project does not deviate from the initial plan (Kerzner, 2013). Earned value (EVM) analysis is involved in looking forward. EVM uses worker hour as a method to measure the value of one activity in respect to others. To use this method in PAS project, the first step is measuring the percentage of completion in every activity involved. The results from the calculation will give earned value. This implies that in order to apply EVM in the PAS system, actual cost (AC), earned value (EV) and the planning value (PV) have to be found. This will help to apply the formulas used for EVM (Kim,Wells & Duffey, 2003). Fig. 2, (Kim, Wells & Duffey, 2003) When cost variance (CV) is negative, the task is over the budget. The main method that can be used if PAS costs overrun the budget is increasing the contingency cost. A negative Schedule Variance (SV) implies that the task is delaying from the original schedule. The project manager has to act to make sure that the task is on schedule to avoid delaying the entire project. PAS work will have to be broken down. This will help in optimal planning, execution and control. EV must be measured for each task with tangible outcomes being measured. After PAS project has been completed with the accumulated costs accurately recorded, the project manager has a role to report the EV and related metrics (Kim, Wells & Duffey, 2003). Risk PAS project is exposed to several risks during its implementation. The main risks in the project are; communication risks, risks related to the deliverables, problems with the technology and schedule flaws (Guide, 2001). Communication risks- The project has several stakeholders who are state government, IHCS, TPIG and RPH. Communication breakdown occurs when the channels of communication used are not adequate (Wallace, Keil & Rai, 2004). This may lead to stalling of the whole project or project going beyond schedule. The project manager has to ensure adequate channels of communication are availed. Risks related to deliverables- This involves poorly prepared deliverables. This risk can be mitigated by enhancing project communication channels and giving assistance to the project partners (Wallace, Keil & Rai, 2004). Risks related to issues with background technologies- The project components and technologies will determine the quality of the deliverables. When technology used is not reliable or mature, the project is at risk. Mitigating this risk involves analysing the relevant of the technology used and its maturity. Costs incurred involve analysing and replacing old technology (Yee & Oh, 2013). Schedule flaws-this is a common risk in IT project management. This involves low unrealistic estimates for time and costs (Kutsch & Hall, 2009). The schedule risks are caused by poor understanding of the project. To control this risk, appropriate risk analysis must be conducted. A realistic and achievable schedule has to be drafted and involve the people doing the work. Quality Quality control in a project is carried out at the end of the project phase (Guide, 2001). The main aim is to ensure that all the quality standards have been achieved. In a project, all deliverables have to be met, validated and accepted (Kousholt, 2007). If the deliverables are not attained, a change request is used to enforce recommended changes. In PAS project, two major quality controls are testing and reviewing. PAS project deliverables are supposed to be tested. After testing the deliverables, all stakeholders are supposed to review the obtained results and compare them against the requirements (Jones, 2004). The phases in which the project should be tested are; Planning phase- this involves testing PAS plan and scope. This process will determine whether the plan used to implement PAS can attain better support for the clinical decision-making and customer satisfaction. Monitoring in this stage can be carried out by comparing with the customer satisfaction needs and impact on the clinical nursing decisions. Design phase- the deliverables that are involved in this stage are a well detailed PAS system designed by the supplier based on the feedback gained from RPH pilot study. The method of monitoring in this phase is testing whether a designed system meets stage government specifications. Build phase- the supplier, has a responsibility to build the PAS system. This involves selecting the site, determining the materials required and coming up with the interface. In this stage, the functions of the PAS system will be used as the monitoring criteria. Implementation stage-in this phase, trial and testing is supposed to be utilised as part of the quality control. All system functionalities and its performance are supposed to be tested and determined whether they can meet the stakeholder’s specifications and expectations. This stage involves approval if PAS meets the expectations and specifications. If the system does not meet the expectations and specifications, change request should be carried out. Procurement When dealing with suppliers, there are legal contracts that are mutually binding. The contract obliges the supplier to provide the specified products and services and the buyer to pay for them (Guide, 2001). The state government owns the projects and IHCS are the suppliers under the tender document. To ensure that there are clear roles and responsibilities for the suppliers and timely delivery of the components, there are actions to be taken. This involves control procurements. This is a process in project managers manage a relationship with the sellers, monitors the signed contract, takes corrective actions and controls change. It involves monitoring the supplier performance against the terms of the contract. The manager has to analyse whether goods are delivered in time, quality is maintained in the supplies, contract conditions are met and whether the relationship is well managed. Fig.3, (Guide, 2001) Project closure This is the final phase of the project lifecycle (Guide, 2001). PAS project is made up of several sub-projects which represent the implementation of the project in every hospital in the state. After implementation of each program, there is the trial run and test. After each trail and run, the lessons learned will be used at the closure stage of the sub project. The feedback from the closure stage is a vital source of information that will be used when implementing the project in the next hospital. The data obtained on one implementation will be used as a source of an estimate for the next. The information gained from PAS system in one hospital can be used for improving the next implementation. The project manager will conduct a lessons learned session and provide the contacts of all project team leaders and main stakeholders. Other tasks required to close out the project The project closure involves three categories of activities; closure of the procurement, internal closure and external closure. Internal closure This focuses on quality analysis and quality control. The activities involved are confirming that all processes defined are completed and the project meets the criteria. All financial records and unused resources are returned to the sponsor. All project documents are archived in PMIS. External closure The project is delivered to the sponsor. In this case, PAS system is presented to the state government. The contractor is given final acceptance if the product meets the specifications. Closure of the procurement All procurement activities are terminated. This involves all agreements in the project. This task may be conducted earlier than the project closure. Fig.4, (Zwikael, 2009) Project communication/information management Failure of communication is a major threat to IT projects. Communication binds team members together in a project. The aim of the project communication/information management is to ensure that there is a well-defined collection, storage, dissemination and generation of information in the project. According to PMBOK guide, an effective project manager must spend most of their time communicating (Guide, 2001). Project Management Office (PMO) which has same tasks as the Central Program Office have a task to help the organisation to plan and execute projects successfully. The data required by the PMO to monitor and manage the implementation of various parts of PAS project are; status reports, project management plan, progress reports and work performance reports. The PMO also requires program charter, work plans, WBS, communication plan and risk analysis. In this case, PMO has to collect information from all hospitals and document it. PMIS is used to manage the information that is collected by PMO. PMIS provides the manager access to an automated tool for any information related to the project. The PMIS used to store this information must be able to correspond with all phases characteristics of the PAS project life cycle. The PMIS used by PAS must be timely, accurate, precise, reliable, accountable and show integrity in information (Zwikael, 2009). References Guide, A. 2001, Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® GUIDE), In Project Management Institute. Ibbs, C. W., & Reginato, J. 2002, Measuring the strategic value of project management. In Project Management-Impresario of the Construction Industry Symposium. Jones, C. 2004, “Software project management practices: Failure versus success,” CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering, Vol.17, no.10, p.5-9. Kerzner, H. R. 2013, Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling, John Wiley & Sons. Kim, E., Wells, W. G., & Duffey, M. R. 2003, “A model for effective implementation of Earned Value Management methodology,” International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 21, no.5, p.375-382. Kousholt, B. 2007, Project Management, Nyt Teknisk Forlag. Kutsch, E., & Hall, M. 2009, “The rational choice of not applying project risk management in information technology projects,” Project Management Journal, Vol.40, no.3, p.72-81. Wallace, L., Keil, M., & Rai, A. 2004, “Understanding software project risk: a cluster analysis,” Information & Management, Vol.42, no.1, p.115-125. Yee, J. T., & Oh, S. C. 2013, Technology Integration Project Planning and Execution. In Technology Integration to Business (pp. 169-236). Springer London. Zwikael, O. 2009, The relative importance of the PMBOK® Guide's nine Knowledge Areas during project planning, Project Management Journal, Vol.40, no.4, p.94-103. Read More