OTC Project Management Analysis - Essay Example

Project Management Report Introduction Globalization, Corporate downsizing and rapid developments in the Information Technology have forced organizations to review even the minute details their business in order to extracts opportunities of competitive advantage. The latter part of the 20th Century saw a wide array of research conducted in evaluating the significance of employee development to organizational success. Ultimately a number of theories were put forward by Organizational Behavior Specialists like Mclleland, Alfered etc that considered employees at the centre of organizational effectiveness and rated their satisfaction as the most important aspect of strategic improvement. In this regard employee training is an extremely imperative trend that has recently grasped a great deal of attention in the corporate world. Business leaders like Accenture Ltd. and Macquere Bank have specifically focused on educating their employees, in the meantime a number of firms that provide training facilities to businesses have also developed, thus creating an entirely new faction of organizational structure, that is, Human Resource Management. Technological Advancements and progress in Information Technology have made computer proficiency a requirement of the modern business. These developments simultaneously entail employees to be skilled in IT in order to effectively compete for career improvement. With the above objectives in sight a Postgraduate Professional MIS course was designed to train IT consultants the art of Systems Development and Mechanism so as to enhance the IS efficiency within the organization and to simultaneously reap advantages through research and development. Project Description The Project designed under the title of 'Organizational IT Change (OTC)', is an eighteen-month comprehensive training course. OTC has been specifically developed to address some extremely important aspects of current corporate requirements. It will comprise of coaching in the following modules A Complete Review of High-level languages and their application in some successful Information Systems of the Industry. A Comprehensive study of Oracle ERP Data Communication and Networking Information System Design and Analysis Information System Development Guidelines to Successful IT consultation OTC would involve a provision of complete theoretical knowledge pooled with practical exposure and a close analysis of the recent patterns of IT development in the industry with a particular emphasis on research and consultancy. The project would aim not only at developing the technological skills of the individuals but simultaneously nourishing their communication and critical expertise so as to enable them to effectively apply the abstract knowledge to realistic circumstances. Classes for the course would be held within the organizational premises while the lecturers will be outsourced from some of the leading universities in the Computer Science Departments. Accenture Limited has also been contacted and we are expecting a regular supply of Guest Speakers who would frequently relate the growing trends and IT solutions to employees. Project Scope OTC was the result of a detailed analysis and was gauged on the basis of SMART objectives before outlining its final design. It was extremely vital to design a specific, tangible and measurable scope in order to clearly define the deliverables to the stakeholders and to facilitate a successful achievement of the objectives. OTC has been specially designed for skilled IT professionals who are at least acquainted with the fundamental IS knowledge and possess a bachelor's degree or under any circumstances a minimum diploma in Information Systems. For the function of testing the capacity of the employees has been fixed to twenty initially and these individuals will be entirely selected from the IT department. A basic 20 minute test would be conducted to serve as the source for selection. The purpose of OTC is to convey skills that enhance the system designing and development skills of the individuals and at the same time impart problem solving techniques that would enable them to provide IT solutions within the organization and to the industry at large. As stated earlier OTC has been particularly designed for the IT professionals and it therefore limits other employees from applying for this training course. However the project has been intended to meet the organization's current year's mission statement that specifically aims at developing the IT structure of the business in order to effectively to compete within the industry. The Organization will have to incur a high preliminary cost but a feasibility analysis has been conducted and it reflects potential for huge returns. Moreover it would also assist the business in exploring an entirely new branch of commerce, that is, consultancy and it would be able to provide IT solutions not only to the firms within the industry but even to corporations encountering technology issues outside the Industry. Implications of OTC to Stakeholders OTC is a comprehensive training module that has been predominantly designed considering the organizational objectives and goals. A successful project depends on the effective management people, resources, rewards and risks. Moreover it is critical to balance a variety of different features, persistently examining progress and status, and addressing the stakeholders concern. Management, Board of Directors, Employees and Shareholders are the key stakeholders in this project and it was thus significant to attend to their benefits in drafting the project. It is an obvious fact that all the above stated categories are interested in the prime goal of organizational success hence it was important to develop a proposal that would boost corporate performance. OTC offers huge prospects for the organization as it primarily offers the competitive advantage of being the foremost in introducing a customized training track for its employees. This fact would be beneficial in inspiring employees which is tremendously vital from the management's point of view. Despite the fact that OTC focuses on IT professionals only but it would as an important factor in instigating from other departments as well as they would now expect targeted measures for themselves in the future. The notion would influence the employee mood and consequently their performance would improve. Strategic importance of the assignment stems from the fact that it conforms to the current year's organizational mission of developing the IT sector. A step in this regard would be an encouraging factor to both the shareholders and the employees and there trust levels would improve as they would acknowledge the fact that the organization is strictly moving towards pursuit of its conceived goals. Such a positive outlook would further escalate the firms share market position and we would be able to welcome investors and shareholders. Considering the merits offered by the project towards technological enhancement it has been already stated that OTC promises to revolutionize the IT as well as the organizational structure of the business. It would develop employees with necessary problem solving skills that would enable them in providing necessary technological solutions to business problems and at the same time would help the business save on the consultancy that it used to incur previously. The IT wave that would be introduced to the firm would initiate a chain process as these trained professionals would then be able to convey their knowledge and experience to the young professionals and this would further decrease the training expenditure in future. Furthermore OTC training structure ensures developing analytical and research expertise in the employees which would enable them to engage in continuous study of the modern trends and would keep the organization up-to-date with enhancements in technology. Management on the other hand will be aided in achieving their goals and would help them in drafting long term objectives as OTC surely offers great future prospects. Factors Critical in the success of OTC For any project to succeed, irrespective of its size and scale, a number of factors bear significance and without efficient management of these aspects a venture cannot achieve its conceived purpose. Many observers assume that success or failure of a project is entirely due to the nature of the project, but in reality, 95% of a plan's success or failure is in the hands of the company implementing the scheme or the project. Focus on business needs and procedure Very frequently, companies get tied up in the technical capabilities or platforms that a particular program offers without analyzing in detail whether the implementation of that specific program will be beneficial or no. Such a mistake has no been made in OTC's case it is extremely imperative for the organization and its effectiveness to the business process is the foremost critical aspect. Focus on achieving a healthy ROI (Return on Investment) It is critical before selecting or proposing any project to such certain criterion for assortment. One of the most important tools of feasibility is the Return on Investment measurement. ROI accompanied with the NPV was calculated and the results were positive. Hence it is critical for the project management to effective in order to attain the expected objective. Efficient project management and Employee commitment Even after selection and implementation of the project its success and failure lies greatly in the hands of the project manager and the trainees. It is therefore exceptionally important for the management to be faultless, to do efficient staffing, employee motivation etc. Employee commitment is another critical aspect of the success of OTC. It is vital for the trainees to be focused and willing to acquire coaching as it is only under these circumstances that the project would bear fruit. An uncommitted individual no matter how good the training and mentoring is will not be able to reap advantage. Dedication from Stakeholders Any project without sustenance from the influential elements of the organization will fail. Regardless of how well managed and designed a project is, troubles such as conflicting business needs, arise so the CEO and the entire staff needs to be keen to drive some of the issues and in fact the entire crew of Stakeholders needs to be willing and dedicated towards the goal of the project in order to lead it to accomplishment. By ensuring you the control of the above stated success factors the organization will be much more likely to make the most of the Corporate benefits of OTC. Risk Assessment Once the project was identified it was tested for feasibility and its net Present Value and Return on Investment ratios were calculated. These procedures were followed up by a detailed evaluation of the other frontiers of the project. And it was analyzed with regards to its effectiveness to business and the employees who will be trained. This was followed up by a risk assessment session and various questions were asked regarding the project's technical requirements, design, quality, schedule, budget and testing. Budget and schedule were identified as the two probable risks that are facing these projects. Management and mitigation of these risks would greatly depend upon the employee performance during the course. As constraints, in time and budget would result only when conditions an employee would fail to cope with the course. A response of these risks is under development and would be soon presented alongside risk severity matrix and pert charts in the presentation that will follow up the submission of this report. Time Line It has already been stated earlier that budget and time are two principal constraints that would be encountered in the event of this project. It was therefore necessary to carefully design a time frame. Despite the fact that this time line is tentative and may be subjected to any changes due to any misfortune. This is the best timeline that takes into account the known mishaps and offers cushion for those limitations. Each of the courses in the project would comprise of two course tests, a final exam and a dissertation and marks allotment and promotion to next level would thus be based on this in the respective course Conclusion OTC offers great prospects to the technological advancements of the organizations and would be a positive move towards the human resource development and efficient application of the Organizational Behavior Principles. Bibliography 1. Australian IT. 2007. [Online]. [Accessed 26th July 2007 Available from World Wide Web: http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21756795- 15334,00.html#tools- 2. The Story of an Australian Dot com. [Online]. [Accessed 27th July 2007] Available from World Wide Web: http://www.jrpit.acs.org.au/jrpit/JRPITVolumes/JRPIT35/JRPIT35.3.179.pdf 3. Maitland, C. & Tapia, 2007. A.H. Can We Talk Innovative Responses to the Data Integration Challenge, Journal of Information Technology for Social Change. [Online]. [Accessed 27th July 2007] Available from World Wide Web: http://www.gilbert.org/Journals/JITSC/ 4. Shanks, G. & Parr, A. 2000. A model of ERP project implementation, Journal of Information Technology. 15, 289-303 5. Iacovou., C.L., 1999. The IPACS project: when IT hits the fan, Journal Of Information Technology, 14, 267-275 6. Kawalek, J.P. & Hart, D. (2007). Managing e-learning group processes using teleological enquiring principles. Journal of Information Technology, 22, 133-151 Read More