Triple Constraints in Project Management - Case Study Example

Introduction: Information and communication industry is the major driver of the economic development of a country. A country's economic development is always accelerated by the technological advancement of that country. In this scenario information and communication industry plays a major role. Information and communication industry is composed of software, telecom and mass media companies of the country. Success of this industry is very much essential for the betterment of the country. This project is focused on examining the information and communication technology projects undertaken by public sector undertakings of UK. Objectives: As mentioned the objectives of this project is to examine the success rates of information and communication projects undertaken by the public sector undertakings of UK. The major objectives of the project are given below. 1. To examine the success rates of the technological projects, 2. To analyze the reasons for its failure, and 3. To suggest measures for avoiding failures in the future. The scope of this study is wider. Better technology in information and communication will help to improve the communication speed and accuracy. Similarly the information is made available to the people of the country very easily. Public sector undertakings have more roles in the income of the country and as such the success and failure of the projects has great relevance on the economic perspective. Main body: In this portion of the project report detailed information regarding project management and the projects in technology and communications are given. Project: A project may be defined as a set of activities focused on a common goal. A project may be the construction of a building, installation of new software systems in the organization etc. A project is a combination of many complex activities. A project is a one time activity. It has a stated objective and the project is over when that objective is accomplished. There is a specified time within which the project has to be completed and that time limit is called deadline. A project has a definite starting time and an ending time. It is a planned effort by a group of people. The major resources of a project are men, money, machine and material. "A project, by definition, is a temporary activity with a starting date, specific goals and conditions, defined responsibilities, a budget, a planning, a fixed end date and multiple parties involved. You know what you have to do, do it, once, and that's the end of it." (Project definition. For all the right reasons. 2007). Project management refers to the act of effectively carrying out a project to accomplish the objective in the specified time. Project management not only refers to accomplishing the project within the specified time but also refers to total efficiency in all the sub activities of a project. Project management involves careful planning of the project, framing clear objectives and roles, planning the financial requirements, setting the time period, bringing together the resources and other sundry activities associated with the project. Proper management of a project will enable its completion in before the deadline with minimum resource wastage. Project management is a well organized activity that travels through different phases. The different phases or process of project management are planning, feasibility study, project implementation, project evaluation and project maintenance. Project planning: Planning is the first process in a project management in which an outline of the project is made. Factors like necessity, purpose, deadline, resources required, etc. are decided at this stage. The efficiency of the whole project depends upon the quality of the project plan. Feasibility study: In the next process that is the feasibility study the feasibility of the project for the organization is analyzed. This includes conducting a market survey for calculating the benefits that the organization will receive through the implementation of the project. It will also project the financial outlay of the project and the man power required. Project implementation: In this phase the project is brought into reality. The main project is split into different activities and a time schedule is fixed for each activity. Different project management techniques like PERT and CPM are employed for monitoring the project. Project evaluation: During the implementation of the project the progress is reviewed at specified intervals say monthly or quarterly. Based on the results of evaluation remedial actions are taken so that the final target is achieved. Project maintenance: Project maintenance involves attending to problems that arise on a day to day basis and also a planned maintenance programme to avoid frequent breakdowns. Characteristics of a successful project: The factors that characterize a successful project include planned approach, total commitment and a good balance among time, resources, results and customer satisfaction. A proper planning enables systematic performance of the project. A proper plan regarding the activities to be done at each stage will avoid chaos and confusion. Total commitment refers to the proper contribution of all the employees and other persons involved in the execution of the project. The employees should be well motivated so that they contribute their best for the project. A proper balance between time and resources is to be maintained so that the project cost is well controlled within the framework of the time schedule for the project. The ultimate goal of any project is customer satisfaction and therefore the project should fulfil the aspiration of the customers. Triple constraints of a project: The three major constraints for any project are scope, time and cost. "It is inevitable in a project life cycle that there will be changes to the scope, time or cost of the project." (Hutchings 2008). Usually constraints occur when either the cost or time fluctuates. When any of the factors fluctuate the others are to be properly balanced. Cost should not be incurred in excess in order to complete the project ahead of time. Similarly quality should not be sacrificed to meet the time constraints. Benefits of public sector information and communications technology projects: Public sector ICT projects are very much helpful for the effective functioning of the public sector companies as well as the government. "For government and the public sector, ICT provides tremendous opportunities to deliver services more efficiently." (Technology in Government & the Public Sector. 2007). The benefits of public sector ICT projects are as follows. Helpful for improving the competitiveness of the public sector undertakings: In the new era of globalization public sector has to compete with the private sector undertakings. The key sectors of information and communication which were the monopoly of the Government are now thrown open to domestic private enterprises and multinationals. Usage of most modern technology will enable the public sector undertakings to provide equally competitive products and services to the customers at large. Enable the Government to establish better relations with the citizens: The cost efficiency that is being achieved by way of employing technology is being passed on to the citizens in the form of tax reduction. This will help the Government to maintain a better relation with the citizens. Quick service in the Government departments: The procedures at the Government departments are streamlined and thus a smooth functioning of the governmental activities is assured. The traditional delays in the postal services are minimized. The grievances of citizens are sorted out through email service. Transparency: People have an access to the activities of the government through the internet coverage. Therefore the citizens are made aware of the different activities that are carried on in the government departments. Development of rural areas: Public sector ICT projects will concentrate on rural areas which are underdeveloped. This will even out the imbalance in development of different regions of the country. Success and failures of public sector ICT projects: The ICT projects that are undertaken by public sector undertakings succeed as well as fail to serve the purpose. However it is found that most of the public sector ICT projects fail. The factors that contribute to the success and failure of public sector ICT projects are enumerated here. The factors that contribute to the success of public sector ICT projects are as follows. Accountability to the public: Since the public undertakings are accountable to the common man they will manage the project efficiently so that better results are achieved. There will be high degree of audit, financial as well as social. Availability of limited resources: Since there is limited fund available the public sector undertakings will be very cautious in financial management of the project. They will ensure better implementation of the project with the available limited means. Most statistical information reveals that majority of the public sector Information and Communication (ICT) projects are failure. It is estimated that 70% of the public sector ICT projects are failures. "One of the most frightening statistics in public sector ICT is to look at the number of failed ICT projects. Over 70 per cent, according to some sources, of ICT projects fail." (Why do so many Public Sector ICT Projects Fail 2007). The reasons for the failure of ICT projects in UK are many. Some of those reasons are listed below. Frequent change in Government: There is no continuity of policy and political will to implement the project against heavy odds. Projects that are already begun during the tenure of a Government will be abandoned by the next Government. This will lead to the wastage of resources that were employed for the commencement of the project. "the frequently changing political environment can result in important IT changes, a potentially serious problem during a major project." (Spotlight on Failure. 2003). Changes in technology: Technology in the project is being handled by the politicians who may not have the expertise in the project. Therefore sufficient changes during the event of any change in the technology cannot be incorporated in the project. Therefore the project will become obsolete. Excessive publicity: The success and failures of public sector projects are given higher publicity by the media. Therefore any shortfalls in the implementation of the project will lead to furor among the public and so the executives of the public sector projects are not willing to take risk. Therefore they lag behind the private sector in terms of efficiency of the project. Strict initial procedures: The strict initial procedures and formalities will consume more time and so the project cannot be completed in the specified time schedule. The hierarchy of authority in Government is complex which will result in delay in decision making. Political interference: Political interference is another factor that contributes to the failure of a project. Technically feasible projects are turned down due to political reasons. Example of ICT projects in UK One of the examples of failure of ICT system is that of the NHS's 20bn computer systems project. The project was aimed to store the patient record in a central computer system and to allow the patients to book appointments. The new project is expected to speed up the activities in the organization. The patients need not wait longer for getting an appointment for consulting the doctor. "Labour's multi-billion- pound project to create the NHS's first ever national computer system "isn't working and isn't going to work", a senior insider has warned." (20bn NHS computer system 'doomed to fail'. 2007). The project did not reach up to the expectation and was a total failure. The project failed due to two main reasons. They are as follows. Improper estimation of cost and time: The management was not able to make proper estimation of the total cost and duration of the project. The project cost was actually underestimated by the management and the project incurred more cost. This created an imbalance in the cost structure. The time of the project was also underestimated and the project took longer time period for completion. Less control over the progress: There was less control over the progress stages of the project. Due to the lack of control the expected progress at each stage were not achieved properly. Due to this the quality of the project were suppressed. When the quality was reduced the project was unable to deliver proper results. An example of the successful ICT programme is Worcestershire Health ICT Programme. This new system is integrated inorder to speed up the processes in the organization. Under this system the nursing staffs are supposed to categorize the patients into different groups based on the intensity of their disease. The three different groups are emergency, urgent or less urgent. This grouping has made the organization to focus clearly on every patients depending upon the intensity of their disease and the system was thus a success. Recommendations: The methods that can be adopted to overcome the problems that lead to failure of public sector ICT projects are as follows: Focus on technical management: The decisions regarding the public sector ICT projects are mostly taken at the political level. The decisions may not be taken by the experts. This should be avoided and the decision making has to be assigned to the executives who are experts in the concerned field. Accelerating initial procedures: The initial procedures that are involved in the project have to be accelerated so that the commencement of the project is not delayed. Usage of modern management techniques: Modern management techniques are to be used in the project planning as well as the implementation stage. If a better plan is drafted for the project it will succeed. A balance between quality and resources has to be maintained. Conclusion: The public sector undertakings of UK are a major contributor for the development of the economy. Due to excessive competition development of Information and Communications technology became inevitable for the success of every organization. It is found that the public sector undertakings have undertaken many ICT projects for competing with the private sector companies. But due to obsolete technology and outdated procedures the public sector undertakings are less successful in implementation of ICT projects. The presence of public sector ICT project is very essential for the removal of regional imbalance in the economy of the country. Bibliography Project definition. (2007). For all the right reasons. [online]. softwareprojects.org. Last accessed 11 March 2008 at: http://www.softwareprojects.org/project_intake_reasons22.htm HUTCHINGS, Rod (2008). Triple Constraints in Project Management. [online]. Project Management. Last accessed 11 March 2008 at: http://www.projectmanagement.net.au/triple_constraints Technology in Government & the Public Sector. (2007). About the technology in Government and the public sector Sydney Summit 2008. [online]. Association and Communications Events. Last accessed 11 March 2008 at: http://www.acevents.com.au/ausgovtech2008/ Why do so many Public Sector ICT Projects Fail (2007). [online]. Public Servant Daily. Last accessed 11 March 2008 at: http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.aspid=7622&topic=e-government Spotlight on Failure. (2003). [online]. Kable. Last accessed 11 March 2008 at: http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/KNBetterSearchView/494F054DC085410180256D6C005BFA2DOpenDocument 20bn NHS Computer System 'Doomed to fail. (2007). [online]. Telegraph.co.uk. Last accessed 13 March 2008 at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtmlxml=/news/2007/02/13/ncomputer13.xml Read More