Project Management plan Assignment

Project Management Assignment Question:

Seven important principles of project management which are needed to be considered while undertaking a project?

Project Management Assignment review:

There are seven important principles of project management which are needed to be considered while undertaking a project:

(1) Justification of project: every project undertaken by a team or management must have a specific and focused objective that can justify the investment of some significant amount of money, time efforts within a project.

(2) Roles and responsibility: As per this principle of project management, project is a team activity in which, different team members must have a specific role and responsibility.

(3) Management by Exception: The responsibility of accomplishing project must be accomplished by project manger not by product sponsors.

(4) Management by stages: The principle implies to break the project down in different stages and subsections so that different project activities can be accomplished easily.

(5) Focus on result: Every project must be result oriented as different business activities undertaken within the project must be focused to attain the predefined results or standards.

(6) Learn to previous mistakes: this is the prominent principle of the project management which drives the project manager to keep records of different previous projects so that the mistakes done in the project previously would be avoided this time.

(7) Tailor to suit the environment: As per this principle the project manager needs to undertake the strategy which is the most suitable to the project and able to fulfill the need of the project specifically (Kerzner 2009).

Importance of defining success/failure criteria when managing projects

The management of the project is the phenomena in which all the project related activities are aligned in the manner so that the project can be able to achieve its desired objectives. In this regard, there is a need of having some specific factors on which the success and failure can be evaluated. Different success/failure criteria are quite crucial for the project manager in order to evaluate the progress of the project. As there is a need of making some significant investments in the project, it is quite crucial for the mangers to evaluate the project effectively. In this regard, success/failure criteria act as a benchmark for the successful project. The performance of the project should be monitored under the lights of such different criteria so that the success of the project can be ensured (Barkley 2008).

Comparison of the benefits of different systems of managing projects

Project management systems are the software which can be used for the purpose of having better management of different elements and aspects of the project management. The comparison among some of prominent system on the basis of advantage can be presented as below:

Project initiation document

 Planning of a project using planning techniques:

There are a number of different planning techniques that can be used for the purpose of managing the project, in the quite effective manner. Different planning tools like PERT, graphical methods, Prince, Prism and so on can be used for the purpose of having proper planning of the project. These different techniques used by a project manager allow him to plan different activities which are to be done within a project. With the help of different techniques, a systematic process of gathering different important information regarding the project is taken into account. After this, proper scheduling of different project activities can be done. Such different planning methods categorize different assumptions and constrains related with the project. After this, proper execution plan for the project is projected with the help of such different project planning techniques.

Estimation of Risks to on-line completion of a project:

In order to assess different risks to on-line completion of a project, a proactive approach towards the risk and probable outcomes of the project should be taken into account. For this purpose, the project manager is required to keep continuous monitoring of every activity and its related outcome should be taken into account. Proper monitoring of every step of the process will allow the manager to have information regarding real time conditions of the overall process. In addition to this, there is a number of different software and techniques available for the project manager that allows him to find different faults in the process that can become quite risky in future (Rad, and Anantatmula 2005).

Communication of the project plan to stakeholders

For the purpose of accomplishing a successful project proper support and commitment from the side of different stakeholders of the project is quite essential and crucial. In order to get full support from the side of different stakeholders, there is a need of establishing an intensive and direct communication with different stake holders of the project. In this aspect, frequent meetings of stakeholders would be taken into account. In the meeting proper information regarding the progress of the project will be discussed with the present stakeholders of the project. For this purpose, different techniques like Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, and projector presentation can be given during the meeting, In addition to this, regular progress report will also be sent to all the stakeholders of the project with the help of different measures like E-mail and printed report of the project (Campbell 2009).

Answer 3

Implementation of a project according to a project plan

For the purpose of making the project more specific and intensive, there is a need of some planning. There are a number of different activities undertaken within an effective project plan. In order to implement the project, different steps of a project should be considered quite significantly.

Setting of the objectives:

For the purpose of implementing the project, some crucial and precise objectives of the project are set so that span of different project activities can be made shorter.  

Assessment of existing needs and resources

In this step of plan, an intensive assessment of different needs and requirements of the organization that drives the organization to undertake different project will be taken into account. Along with this a proper assessment of the existing resources will be done.  

Acquisition of new resources

In this step, the acquisition of the resources which is required for the project is done for the purpose of accomplishing the project effectively.

Implementation of the project

In this stage, the proper distribution of different roles and responsibilities of every member of the team will be done so that implementation process can be accomplished.

Monitoring and evaluation of the project  

After the implementation of the project an effective and regular monitoring of different activities done in the project and their outcome will be assessed (Richman 2002).

Usage of project monitoring techniques to monitor the project:

Project monitoring techniques can be used for the purpose of monitoring different activities undertaken within a specific project. Monitoring of the project can be done with the help of the application of different project techniques. Different project monitoring techniques provides some specific standards for each of the stage of the project which is essential for the project to achieve for being successful. In this direction, at the end of the each of the stage, such techniques measure the actual performance of the project. After this, an intensive comparison between actual and standard performance of the project is taken into account with the help of different methods in different techniques. In this way, the performance of the project at every step of the project is monitored and evaluated with the help of different project monitoring techniques (Schwalbe 2006).

Contingency plans to ensure on-time completion of a project:

For a successful project it is essential that there is contingency plan for the purpose of coping up with different risky and unexpected situation. There are a number of different constrains related with money, human resource, technical resource, legal implications, and so on which can provide contingencies or obstacles in front of the project managers. For the purpose of preparing a contingency plan, the project manger should have a deep understanding about the past conditions and trends related with the project, that can hinder or help in the success of the project. On the basis of such past experiences, the project manager can anticipate the future contingency and risks and prepare a counter plan for addressing such unexpected problems in completion of the project (Shenhar, Shenhar, and Dvir 2007).   

Answer 4

Evaluation the outcomes of a project

The outcome of a project can be evaluated with the help of benchmarking method. In this method, a specific standard of the project outcomes and its success is decided. This benchmarking is done on the basis of past experiences and other similar types of projects undertaken by other companies. This standard performance will be served as a benchmark performance of the project. For the purpose of evaluating the project outcome, the existing actual outcomes of the project is compared with the benchmarked outcomes of the project. In this context, the condition of surplus or deficit can be retrieved with the help of this method that can be helpful for the organization to have a future strategy.  If the actual performance of the project is lower than the standard one, the identification of the problematic areas is done. Along with this, different aspects of the project which are performing well are also identified so that such aspects can be promoted (Harris, Roussel, Walters, and Dearman 2010).

Report of the progress of the project:

Executive summary:

The report will be aimed to present the current status of the project and the outcome of the project which have been achieved till now. For this purpose, existing status of the project and positive and negative aspects related with the project will be presented.  

Objective of the project

The objective of the project is to replace manual record keeping system with automotive and computerized system for record keeping.

Where we are now

In existing scenario, the project has accomplished quite effective manner. As per the outcome of the project, the record keeping system of the company has become fully integrated and automotive. For this purpose new systems and IT infrastructure will be installed within the organization.

1. Positive outcomes

As per the positive outcomes of the project, the speed of searching and retrieving of a specific file or information has been enhanced which leads to enhance the efficiency of the project.   

2. Negative outcome

            As per the negative outcomes of the project, initially there was some resistance showed by different employees because the new technology was proved quite hard for them

to understand at the initial level.

 Recommendations for improvements to a project

For the purpose of improving the existing performance of the project, some of the crucial recommendations can be given to the project managers, which can be listed as below:

·       There should be some well defined and well elaborated objectives of the project. Such objectives should be framed for the purpose of long term success of the organization. These objectives should be quantified and achievable (Shenhar, Shenhar, and Dvir 2007).    

·       In order to accomplish different set objectives there is a need of having better and effective communication within the organization so that every employee can be well aware about his roles and responsibilities in that particular project. This can avoid any complexities and conflicts in successful completion of the project in the most effective manner.

·  Proper training and development to the employees who are participating within the project regarding their specific assigned responsibilities is quite necessary for the success of the project. Some specific training to employees will allow employees to put their best of efforts and efficiency in the project (Meredith, and Mantel 2011).

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