Roles and Responsibilities in Project Management - Essay Example

Running Head: ROLES & RESPONSIBILIITES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT Roles and Responsibilities in Project Management This paper takes a look at an information systems project for Rick Auto Enterprises (RAE). RAE requires a web-based version of its Billing System which is projected to reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction and reduce the number of days of accounts receivable. This web-based version is supposed to be developed as an upgrade of the existing mainframe legacy system which also needs a concurrent upgrade. In the project’s initiation phase, a Project Manager has been assigned to define the responsibilities of the project steering committee and the project team in line with their involvement in the different phases of the project management life cycle, as well as with their contributions to the different knowledge management areas of project management. With available staff, personnel are chosen to perform key roles in the project as end-user, business analyst and team leader. The paper concludes with emphasis on resource allocation for the different project phases. Introduction Rick Auto Enterprises (RAE), has a legacy billing system in place, which was installed over ten years ago, with upgrades according to the vendors schedule. Today, RAE is embarking on a major upgrade for the new web-based version of the system, which will function in addition to the mainframe legacy system update. The project will involve significant changes to current business processes and jobs. The web-version will allow customers as well as auto brokers to view and pay their bills on-line, and access a billing customer service agent when needed. It is expected that the implementation of the web version will reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction and reduce the number of days of accounts receivable. However, the changes will affect the billing, sales, and customer service departments. The requirement for the Project Manager is to determine the project sponsor, the steering committee structure and the participants for this project, which should be done during the initiation phase (Case Resource). Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific goals or objectives. It involves developing a project plan with goals and objectives defined, how these will be achieved, resources needed and timetables for completion. Project management also includes implementing the plan with controls to ensure that project goals are achieved (FML, 2008). Project management usually has major phases such as initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing. The requirement for the Project Manager for RAE’s major upgrade of its Billing System is to conduct one of the tasks of the initiation phase of project management. Project Management Life Cycle The project management processes can be organized into five phases or process groups. Each process group necessarily interacts with the other process groups within a system development phase or across phases. As earlier mentioned, these phases or process groups are initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing. The conduct of each phase is not a linear or sequential process, such that one completes a phase and then proceeds with the next. Process may be repeated as in the case of the planning phase which is always interacting with the other phases in the project management cycle. This ensures that the project is focused on the goals, costs, schedules and performance objectives. Project management in its entirety is an iterative process (Mentz et al, 2005). The Initiation Phase is the conceptualization stage of project management. It includes sub-processes or tasks that need to be performed to get the project started. That is why the determination of project sponsor, the structure of the project steering committee and the participants who will be assigned to the project need to be determined during the initiation phase. It is critical that those who will deliver the project, those who will use the project, and those who have a stake in the project reach an agreement on during project initiation. Generally, involvement of all stakeholders in the project phases improves the probability of project success due to shared ownership of the project by the stakeholders (Mentz et al, 2005). For RAE, the project sponsor assigned during the initiation phase will significantly contribute to defining business needs, determining project objectives, high level deliverables and resource requirements, as well as obtaining project initiation approval. Determining the structure of the steering committee and identification of project participants contribute to facilitating input data gathering for the project plan and identifying roles and responsibilities of key participants. The success of the organization and the project team depends upon starting with complete and accurate information, management support, and the authorization necessary to manage the project (Mentz et al, 2005). The Planning Phase is one of the most important phases in project management. It defines major tasks, estimates the time, resources and cost required, and provides a framework for management review and control. Participants in the initiation phase interact with the participants in the planning phase. The project sponsor has to be involved in defining the goals, and time and cost estimates. Other steering committee participants have to be involved in identifying specific work to be performed; detailed estimation of schedules, resources and costs; and identifying processes for project tracking and control. The Execution Phase is when the define work activities during the planning phase are actually executed. Here, the participants of the initiation phase interact with those involved in the execution phase through observation, analysis or even participation in the work being done. Project coordination, quality assurance, and risk and change management have to involve the steering committee formed during the initiation phase. The project Control Phase involves comparing actual performance with planned performance and taking corrective action to yield the desired outcome when significant differences exist. Examples of control processes are performance reporting and change control which are tools for achieving project progress and stakeholders’ expectations in unison (Mentz et al, 2005). Steering committee involvement in project control is therefore mandatory. The Closing Phase is the last phase in the project management life cycle. It is done after all defined project objectives have been met and the end-user has formally accepted the deliverables. Processes within the phase include completion and closeout of contractual agreements with suppliers; final project financial report; final project review; archiving project records and celebrating project success (Mentz et al, 2005). Especially in the closing phase, involvement of the participants in the initiation phase is most important since they were the ones who originally formulated the parameters for the entire project. Roles and Responsibilities Projects necessarily involve people and there are many groups of people involved in different phases of the project management life cycles. The Project Team is the group responsible for planning and executing the project, consisting of the Project Manager, Team Leaders and team members. The Project Sponsor is a member if the organization’s management echelon whose interest in the project stems from the fact that project outcomes fall under his or her responsibility. This person should be responsible for securing spending authority and resources for the project, as well as signing off on project approvals. He or she provides support for the Project Manager, especially in the resolution of major issues, policy conflicts; removal of obstacles; and approvals for proceed to the different project phases. The Project Sponsor generally chairs the steering committee. The Steering Committee assists the project sponsor in the approval of project deliverables, resolution of issues and policy decisions, and in providing direction and guidance to the project. End-users comprise the business units that identified the need for the product or service that the project will develop. End-user participants in a project are those identified and made available to the project so they can accurately specify business unit needs to the project team. They are also responsible for testing the developed product or service throughout the development process to give feedback to the project team (CIT, 2007). End-User Role The End-User Role in a project management is responsible for communicating the end-user’s needs that have to be served by the project. The role is also responsible for verifying that requirements have been met upon project completion. Jan will be assigned to perform the End-User role. Her responsibilities and functions are the following: 1. articulate end-user requirements, 2. validate that project requirements are met, 3. formulate and support staff training programs as required to make certain that the staff shall be ready to accept the new product, and 4. be the proponent of the new product to the user organization. During the initiation phase, she will be responsible for clearly defining customer needs and requirements to the Project Manager and the project team. During the planning phase, she will be part of group which will review and approve the project plan, as well as determine and assign user personnel as required for project points of contact and provide input into deployment planning. During the execution phase, she will be part of the group which reviews project status reports. During the control phase, she will help develop corrective action plans to address time, cost or quality concerns, communicate identified issues related to project or product performance, validate quality assurance of deliverables. During the closing phase, she will be involved in final project evaluation and documentation of lessons learned (Mentz et al, 2005). The End-User role requires the following skills: 1. expertise in the subject matter, in this case the billing system as well as a web-based billing function, 2. communication skills, and 3. analytic skills. Jan is an appropriate choice for this role because she was previously a consultant, had been involved in process re-engineering projects and most importantly, she had previously worked with the web version of the vendor’s competitor. Although she can only be available 24 hours a week, it is acceptable because the end-user role would not require full-time engagement. Her being new to the IT department would also not be a disadvantage as long as she brings with her all the previous skills and experiences that she has accumulated in her past experiences. Business Analyst Role The role of the Business Analyst in project management is to ensure successful assessment and documentation of the user’s business processes. Terry will be assigned to perform the Business Analyst role. Her responsibilities as Business Analyst are the following: 1. oversee the business process review for all identified departments and functional areas, 2. interview and document interviews with the user team, 3. identify and document business processes, 4. identify and document requirements for system design, implementation & training, 5. create data and information flow diagrams, 6. support the creation of test plans and training materials related to the user’s business processes, and 7. help ensure that system design reflects the defined business processes (Hansen, 2005). The Business Analyst role requires the following skills: 1. well-grounded IT skills, 2. experience as a team member in projects of similar nature, 3. business analysis or project management experience, 4. ability to conform to shifting priorities, demands and timelines through analytical and problem-solving capabilities, 5. ability to understand communication styles of team members and users who come from varied disciplines, 6. experience in project implementation, and 7. communication skills (Hansen, 2005). Terry is appropriate for this role because she has proven IT skills having taken both developer and tester roles in the past. She also has business analysis experience for other systems which should provide her the necessary skills for this job, especially since she was involved with the RAE billing system from its original installation as well as in every upgrade. Moreover, her enthusiasm with web-based applications and the functionalities they provide will give her impetus at analytically looking into the functionalities of the web upgrade for the billing system. This enthusiasm will also help her design staff training programs for those who are as yet not computer savvy. Although, like Jan, Terry is available only 24 hours a week, this is alright because the business analysis role is also not a full-time function. Team Leader Role The Web Team Leader role works closely with the Project Manager to accomplish objectives for his/her part of the project. Robin will be assigned to the Web Team Leader role. Her general function in this project lead position should focus on the entire system development life cycle for the web-based version of the Billing system. Her responsibilities are the following: 1. create the related web project plan with details on levels of effort and time required, 2. executes the plan through proper communication with team members and other staff, 3. provide leadership to the team for successfully meeting project goals, 4. create detailed specifications based on requirements, and 5. delegate work to team members, review work of members and determine training requirements as needed (CPCC, 2008). The Web Team Leader role requires the following skills: 1. knowledge and skills in the related areas of web-based systems, system administration, analysis, design and database management in terms of concepts, techniques and operating principles, 2. ability to operate, install, maintain, configure and troubleshoot computers and network equipment, 3. project management skills, 4. ability to lead and motivate other employees, 5. ability to maintain effective working relationships, 6. ability to efficiently manage time and organize work, and 7. communication skills (CPCC, 2008). Robin is appropriate for this position because of her current IT skills, as well as her business analysis skills which she used during previous upgrades of the Billing system. She has also been very active in other systems and other business areas. Moreover, she has sufficient web-based application development knowledge because of her active involvement in a similar project. More importantly, she is available 40 hours/week for a full-time engagement which is required in the team leader role. Although her web programming skills are not strong, this is alright since she will not do detailed programming. Project Team The entire Project Team is responsible for performing the project activities. The responsibilities of the Project Team are: 1. complete the project within budgeted cost, schedule and quality requirements, 2. adhere to project plans and control procedures, and 3. help identify, mitigate, and monitoring project risks. During the initiation phase, the project team should help forecast deliverables, review user requirements for feasibility and availability of resources, and analyze requirements for clarity, completeness and consistency. During the planning phase, the project team develops the technical approach, helps develop the project plan, identify tools needed for the project, and identifies staff training needs. During the execution phase, the project team creates the product and process solutions, participates in reviews, provides quality assurance support, manages work effort to maintain on time, on cost and on quality results, identifies risk events. During the control phase, the team monitors the project execution and submits status reports, maintains project and product quality requirements, and acts on risk events. During the closing phase, the project team helps identify lessons learned, identifies ways to improve project processes, and turns over all project related documentation to those in concerned (Mentz et al, 2005). Project Management Knowledge Areas The nine project management knowledge areas are integration management, scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, human resource management, communication management, risk management, and procurement management (Mentz et al, 2005). The project steering committee, ideally, should be involved in all the areas, but more specially so in integration, scope, cost, risk and procurement. The project manager should be involved in all areas. Team Leaders should be involved in all areas to the extent of scope for the project parts they are responsible for. Members of the project team are more especially involved in time management, quality, and communication. Conclusion Project Management is a carefully organized effort, from initiation, to planning, to execution, to control, and finally closing. Various knowledge management areas come into play which all contributes to a project’s success. Conceptualizing, planning, and actually using resources have to follow systematic procedures that define objectives and processes for attaining objectives. Additionally, plans for contingencies must also be formulated to minimize risk and prevent project failure. At the initiation phase, the allocation of manpower resources is crucial because the outputs of this phase directs project thrusts and influence the conduct of the other phases in the project management life cycle. Reference List CIT Cornell (2007). Project roles and responsibilities. Retrieved August 31, 2008, from CPCC. (2008). Information systems project lead. Retrieved August 31, 2008, from Free Management Library. (2008). Project management. Retrieved August 31, 2008, from Hansen. (2005). Business analyst. Retrieved August 31, 2008, from Mentz, G., King, B., Thong, C., Leo, D. & Mataev, M. (2005). Project management guide. Executive study manual. Retrieved August 31, 2008, from Read More