Project planning

Project planning is output-oriented .it focuses on project completion within a specified period during planning. It is a management function that accomplishes project hierarchy levels. Project planning identifies the scope, details, and magnitude of projects (Dvir, Raz, and Shenhar, 2013). The purposes of project planning are;-

Having realistic projects

 This ensures proper expectation towards projects being delivered. Without project planning, budgets and delivery timeline can be mishandled and thus lacking analogous on project estimates. Project managers are effective in project planning as they negotiate reasonable budgets for projects during the planning process. They also set achievable deadlines

Project managers, through the plan, analyze, and balance resources to be used in projects. They ensure times are met, and realistic schedules are met .scheduling in project planning is essential as it enables objectives to be met

Quality control

 Project planning provides quality control as they are required to deliver quality projects .with immense pressure that the project manager receives during project completion; it would only be fair if they delivered quality. This is achievable through planning .planning will ensure proper allocation of resources and time, thus improving quality assurance (Ahmed,  Sang and Torbica, 2013).

Strategic alignment

 The purpose of project planning is to ensure that projects are planned effectively .this is ensured through rigor in architecture projects. Planning ensures that project goals are aligned with effective business strategies. Strategies in planning ensure that projects are defined, implemented and achieved

Defines Project Clear objectives 

 Project planning ensures that the project objectives are clearly defined. Project planning achieves this by measuring and monitoring project performances, establishing project details, analyzing project requirements, and defining project milestones. Due to risks associated with projects, it then the purpose of project planning to define its objectives towards the projects clearly.

Purpose and Importance of Business Case

A business case is the center of a project charter. It explains the purposes, values, and goals of projects. A business case provides stakeholders, the public, and decision-makers with management tools for projects. It is a delivery framework and a performance monitor towards project policies and strategies (Gambles, 2019). 

Project strategies are aligned

The business case ensures Budgets and people are a scarce commodity in most organizations .therefore; projects must be aligned to the organization’s strategy and goals. This leads to compelling reasons for the allocation of time and money towards the project. If business case doesn’t align strategies, then the projects turn out to be an unworthy while. Alignment of strategy, by business case, helps in ruling out unnecessary projects .it becomes easy for senior managers to focus on significant projects. However, in some cases, the goal and objectives may not be aligned .this could be due to difficulties by sponsors not seeing beyond the project, thus clouding the decision process. Purposes of the project are documented, thus allowing the scope to be reviewed against strategies .this prompts them to make informed decisions (Willard, 2012). 

Thinking through the project

 Business case process creates levels of discipline and vigor towards project approvals. For a project to be presented, sponsors are required to submit logical thoughts with business case, thus needing to complete levels of analysis of critical aspects in a project. This makes it easy to identify issues early enough. Through the projects can save money before starting the problems of the project can be solved before projects start (Krauss and Boss, 2013)

Reviewing project rationale and proposals

 It can be unhealthy for senior managers to approve their proposed projects without being Peer Reviewed. For this reason, business case allows for reviewing and understanding the project’s rationale to make informed decisions. Projects are unlikely to be approved if their strategies do not align, as this could be considered a weak business case (Yates, 2014).

In summary, projects have to agree on realistic and signed off business case to ensure; projects are aligned to strategies and goals; projects are though through to identify issues; reviewing and rationale of projects are reviewed.

Design Management

Design management is an area of study that focuses on design strategy, project management, and supply chain techniques to make creative processes. Their main objective is to maintain an efficient business environment in an organization to ensure strategic goals are achieved through design. Design management is comprehensive as it involves all business levels, from operations to strategies, from phase discovery to the execution phase. Design managers are responsible for the coordination of design activities by stakeholders. This includes design managers. Design management is essential as it helps in kick-starting a project. Budgets, schedules will be planned for the design outlined (Chapman, 2014).

Various documents should be communicated and controlled before the manufacturer makes any changes. This is necessary because, before, there existed a laid out plan and a budget that was being used. Documents needed for the change management are;-

Change Management

Change management project scope statement;-this will stipulate the scope of the project, how defined it is. The scope will provide details of the project, thus ensuring it will be achievable.

Project plan

Once change management project scope has been done, a change management plan will be created.ths is a way for preparing change that will occur on the project. A risk assessment should be conducted to measure risks towards the project; this could include increased budgets and time to be taken in the project. The risk assessment will be included in the plan. The change management manager will define how the project will be structured and the implementation process. a schedule will also be included in the change management plan (Lee, Peña-Mora and Park, 2015)

Risk management and communication plan

This can either be separate documents or one document depending on once selection. The communication plan will outline stakeholder’s history. It will also state how and when stakeholders will be informed. The risk management plan is carried out every time change is to be implemented in a project.ths is because when change management projects are implemented, chances of failure are usually very high. This could mean that the cost of the project is more than the previous; thus, carrying out a risk assessment will enable some issues to be identified to prevent further damage.ths can be achieved by the use of foresight (Loch, DeMeyer and Pich, 2011). 

Progress update report

The use of status repost weekly is essential when a change management project is taking place .this allows everyone to be informed on the current state of development. This provides everyone to see management is committed to implementing the changes successfully.

Project closure report

Closure report is an essential step at the end of project .closure means that the change manager looked over completed projects and issues that arose and what worked for the project. The report is essential so that in the future, change management projects can not repeat the same mistake. This allows for projects also taking advantage of benefits that came with implementing change.

Procurement of construction projects

The manufacturing organization should choose a procurement process that will ensure the use of low cost and deliver high quality standards. This can be achieved when the procurement department follows the procurement process. However, the process could be complicated, but using it will develop and implement a successful strategic plan (Rendon, 2018).

Conducting internal needs analysis 

Involves the collection of data on performances, used resources, and cost of departments on the organization and projections of the current growth. The internal analysis is done for purposes of benchmarking .benchmarking are essential as it helps identify the need for construction.

Conducting assessments on suppliers markets

Strategic procurement plan identifies the potential of suppliers with feasible resources required, raw materials, finished goods, and services. If specific requirements are needed, it may limit the number of suppliers needed (Miehlbradt, 2012). For example, if the material needed for a particular function is only available in a specific country supplier, the options become narrower. Therefore assessing suppliers enables one to understand the accessibility and affordability of materials needed for construction. One can estimate the cost of the materials.

Collecting supplier information

The manufacturing organization needs to have suppliers’ information. This will enable evaluate the capacity of the supplier to supply affordably. The inability of a supplier not to meet the selection criteria of the organization will lead to an increase in prices on materials. Thus it is essential to understand the reputation and performance of suppliers the organization is engaging with. This also enables the organization to pick the best supplier that will supply well without disruption involvement.

Developing a sourcing /outsourcing strategy

After the above steps are carried out, the organization is now able to develop a strategic sourcing /outsourcing .this can be carried out through;-

• Direct purchasing of materials;-can be conducted by sending a Request For Proposal (RFP) or Request For Quote (RFQ)  for supplier selection.
• Acquisition;-purchasing materials from desirable suppliers
• Strategic partnership;-entering into agreements  with selected suppliers

Developing the right strategy will determine the supplier marketplace competitors and risk tolerance of the organization sourcing/outsourcing (King, 2017).

Implementation of sourcing strategy

This will include details on materials, delivery requirements, pricing structures and financial methods to be used

Supplier negotiation and select winning bid

Responses from suppliers are evaluated, and through selection criteria, the needed supplier is shortlisted and award the building contract.

Conclusively, when the steps, as mentioned above, are followed by procurement, the organization ends up having a reliable supplier with affordable materials that are of high quality. In construction, the manufacturing organization will end having used materials that are not expensive, thus saving on cost. At the same time, materials used are of high quality, and thus the project ends up being of high quality standards.

References

Ahmed, S. M., Sang, L. P., & Torbica, Ž. M. (2013). Use of quality function deployment in civil engineering capital project planning. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 129(4), 358-368.

Chapman, R. J. (2014). The controlling influences on effective risk identification and assessment for construction design management. International Journal of Project Management, 19(3), 147-160.

Dvir, D., Raz, T., & Shenhar, A. J. (2013). An empirical analysis of the relationship between project planning and project success. International journal of project management, 21(2), 89-95.

Gambles, I. (2019). Making the business case: Proposals that succeed for projects that work. Willard, B. (2012). The new sustainability advantage: seven business case benefits of a triple bottom line. New Society Publishers. Gower Publishing, Ltd.

King, W. R. (2017). Developing a sourcing strategy for IS a behavioral decision process and framework. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 48(1), 15-24.

Krauss, J., & Boss, S. (2013). Thinking through project-based learning: Guiding more in-depth inquiry. Corwin Press.

Lee, S., Peña-Mora, F., & Park, M. (2015). Quality and change management model for large scale concurrent design and construction projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 131(8), 890-902.

Loch, C. H., DeMeyer, A., & Pich, M. (2011). Managing the unknown: A new approach to managing high uncertainty and risk in projects. John Wiley & Sons.

Miehlbradt, A. O. (2012). Assessing Markets for Business Development Services: What have we learned so far?. Small Enterprise Development, 13(3), 54-66.

Rendon, R. G. (2018). Procurement process maturity: Key to performance measurement. Journal of Public Procurement.

Yates, J. K. (2014). Design and construction for sustainable industrial construction. Journal of construction engineering and management, 140(4), B4014005.