Question description

 

Please see the attached document and help me. I need this work in 12 hours timeBusiness Project Management

 

Name:

Institution:

Professor;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date:

 

BUSINESS PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project management has been in existence for a long time. Historical developments that involved the concept of project management include The Wheel, The Pyramids across the globe, The Great Wall of China, Roman Roads, Fort Jesus among other major world iconic developments. We can describe a project as a short-term work carried out to create a unique product or service. In business, a project can range from developing a new product line, effecting a change in structure, to implementing a new business procedure or process. Project management is the application of knowledge, experience, skills, processes, methods, tools and techniques to assign activities so as to realize the project goals, meet or exceed stakeholder needs; and expectations from a project (Joseph, 2003). It is the attained skills and expertise applied by use of a formal set of tools and techniques to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control and close projects. The concept of Project Management utilizes the management activities of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling resources to attain the technical, cost, and time constraints of a project.

Many scholars have expressed their understanding of what a business is. Business, as defined by Joseph, is "The production or purchase and sale of goods regularly, with an objective of earning profit and getting wealth through the satisfaction of human wants."  Dicksee defines it as "a form of activities conducted with the aim of earning profits for the advantage of those on whose behalf the activity is conducted. But according to Lewis Henry, a business is "any human activity directed towards producing or attaining wealth via buying and selling of goods." (Lewis 2006). An outstanding factor here is profit and wealth creation.  Thus, the term business means continuous production and distribution of goods and services with the aim of earning profits under uncertain market conditions.

Business Project Management can be viewed therefor as the application of knowledge, experience, skills, processes, methods, tools and techniques in a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service, whose main aim is to make profit and create wealth for the stakeholders (Lewis 2006). It is simply employing Project management in critical business activities.

Project management comes with its shortcomings too. Its primary challenge is to accomplish all of the project goals and objectives while observing the set constraints. Scope, time, quality and budget are the primary constraints (Morris 2010).  The secondary — and more ambitious — challenge is to optimize the allocation of necessary inputs and integrate them to meet pre-defined objectives.

There are two types of project management activities: Project planning and definition activities (Deciding) and Project implementation and control activities (Doing). Planning and definition activities include clear definition of goals and objectives of the project, work requirements definition, defining the quantity and quality of work, definition of necessary resources, definition of structure of organization, task sequencing and schedule planning, and last but not least, budget planning (Morris 2010). On the other hand, Implementation and control activities are: work initiation, monitoring and tracking progress, schedules and budgets to plans comparison, analysis of impact of changes and progress, Synchronizing activities and people, Making adjustments to the plan as required, Finalizing the project and Evaluating project results.

There is a significant difference between routine management and project management, but the most conspicuous ones are as follows:

·         Planning/Budgeting period – project management tend to base their budgets on the life of the project, whereas routine management’s budget usually covers one financial year.

·         Source of authority – in project management, authority is bestowed on the project manager. On the other hand, in routine management, authority comes from the CEO or the owner of the firm.

·         Resources are borrowed – routine management usually borrows resources from the project management to effectively handle some activities.

·         Functional specialization/generalist – in project management, there are so many experts and professionals all working uniquely or distinctly but with one aim of delivering the project (Lewis 2006). However, in routine management, there are few specialist mainly based at top management alone.

·         Going concern – projects have a lifespan hence at the end of their period; they are terminated and handed over to the stakeholders. Routine management is perpetual hence has a going concern.

Time Cost and Quality of Business Project Management

According to Lewis 2006, business venture into project management in order to get the following Project Management Objectives: To –

• Match up the various interrelated processes of the project.

• Make sure project covers all the work required, and only the work required in completing the project successfully.

• Complete the project in time and within budget.

• Ensure satisfaction of the needs for which the project was undertaken.

• Effectively use the people involved with the project.

• Effectively promote communication between the projects team members and key stakeholders.

• Identify, analyze and respond to the project risks.

The reason for organizing an assignment as a project is to focus the responsibility, authority, and scheduling of the project in order to attain defined goals. Clear work descriptions minimize surprises and conflicts since responsibilities and assignments for specific tasks are easily identified (Lewis 2006).  It reduces need for continuous reporting. In a project, progress can be measured against a plan. Moreover, time limits for task completion are more easily specified. Project management provides a clear project framework for achieving project specific goals and business goals. It provides a systematic approach to resolving high-risk factors associated with an objective.  It is through project management that we get an attention on team thus instructing the teamwork concept and skill specialization – passing on tasks to team members selected for their skills that match the requirements of the project, leading to specialized input into the development process.

Projects are very sensitive. As such, they should be handled with high levels of care and integrity. A project manager must also have a strong sense of ethics. Some common ethical missteps in project management are:

·         “Wired” offers and contracts (the winner has been predetermined)

·         “Buy-in” (this is low bidding with the intention of cutting corners or forcing subsequent contract changes)

·         “Kickbacks”- a percentage of the project cost is returned as a favor for winning the tender.

·         Taking “shortcuts” (to meet deadlines or budgets)

·         Using marginal (substandard) materials to cut on cost of material for selfish gains.

·         Compromising on safety of both the employees and the safety of the project as a whole in relation to human inhabitancy

PROJECT LIFE-CYCLE

The lifecycle of a project refers to the various stages/phases, activities and tasks required to successfully deliver a project (Lewis 2006).  Benefits of the lifecycle approach include Standardized process, Scaled from the key areas of project management, provision of a framework for how projects are managed; and Flexibility – not all projects are the same. A project undergoes four phases as its life cycle:

1.      Project Initiation phase

This involves six steps:

·         Business case development: A business case is aimed at defining a business problem or opportunity in detail and identifies a preferred solution for implementation.

·         Undertaking feasibility study: This is aimed at assessing the likelihood of each alternative solution option achieving the benefits outlined in the business case.

·         Establishing the terms of reference: After the previous steps, a new project is formed and at this point terms of reference are created (Morris 2010). The vision, objectives, scope and deliverables are defined by these terms of reference.

·         Appointing the project team: a project manager is generally appointed before this stage and with his help, the team is formed.

·         Setting up a project office: defining the physical environment – the place, the equipment, communication infrastructure, tools, etc.

·         Performing a phase review: This is a checkpoint to ensure that the project has achieved its objectives (at the initiation’s phase end)

2.      Project Planning phase

The following is undertaken under this phase:

Project plan: Identification of a 'work breakdown structure' (WBS) including an ordered set of stages, activities and responsibilities to be carried out to complete the project (Morris 2010). This project plan is the crucial tool used by the project manager to evaluate the advancement of the project in the entire project life cycle.

Resource plan: After the project plan is formed, the level of resource required for undertaking each of the activities and tasks listed within the project plan will need to be allocated. A schedule is assembled for each type of resource so that the project manager can review the resource allocation at each stage in the project (Futrell 2001).

Financial plan: is made to identify the total quantity of money required to undertake each phase in the project (ie the budget).

Risk plan: This involves documentation of all predictable project risks within a risk plan, and also define the actions that will prevent each risk from happening or reduce it’s impact.

Other plans are acceptance plan, communication plan, procurement plan, and at the end you conduct a phase review to ensure the project achieves its objectives as planned (Futrell 2001).

3.      Project Execution Phase

This involves:

Building the deliverables- involves physically constructing each deliverable for acceptance by the customer (Morris 2010). The activities undertaken to construct each deliverable will vary depending on the type of project being undertaken.

Monitoring and control: While the project team is physically extracting each deliverable, the implementation of a series of management processes to monitor and control the activities being undertaken by the project team is done by the project manager (Stellman, 2005). 

These alongside good time, cost, quality, change, risk, procurement, issue and acceptance managements; together with a phase review at the end completes phase three.

4.      Project Closure phase

This involves winding up the project by:

• Determination of whether all of the project completion criteria have been met;

• Identification of any unfinished project activities, risks or issues;

• All project deliverables and documentation to the customer are handed over;

• Cancelling supplier contracts and releasing project resources to the business;

• Closure of the project is communicated to all stakeholders and interested parties.

Project completion review: As a final activity within a project, the review of its success is done by an independent party (Futrell 2001). How well it performed against the defined objectives and conformed to the management processes defined in the planning phase determines the project’s success.

The Four Ps Model

The concept of “Four Ps” was developed by E. Jerome McCarthy who reduced the complexity in the marketing mix concept coined by Neil Borden (Spencer et al 1992). The four Ps model has been widely used by marketing companies, branding agencies and web design companies globally. They include:

·         Product – This is the first of the Four Ps. A product can be either a tangible good or an intangible service that satisfies a need or want of consumers. It is what is offered to the consumer at a price.

·         Price – this is the second component. It is what consumers pay for a product. Once a concrete consideration of the product offering is established, managers start making pricing decisions. Price determinations have an impact on profit margins, supply, demand and marketing strategy.

·         Promotion – This is made up of components like: advertising, social media marketing, public relations, email marketing, video marketing, search engine marketing, among others. Each of these elements must be reinforced by a well sited brand to truly capitalize on return on investment (Morris 2010).

·         Place – Most of the time, marketers tend to say marketing is about putting the right product, at the right price, at the right place, at the right time. It’s important then, to gauge what the ideal locations are to convert potential clients into actual clients (Lewis 2006). The place doesn’t have to be physical, since with the technology advancements, the web and other online platforms have become the most growing place for many businesses to sell or display their products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Lewis, R. (2006). Ireland (2006) Project Management.

Joseph, P. (2003). PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide. J. Phillips.–NY: McGraw-Hill Professional, 354.

Morris, P., & Pinto, J. K. (2010). The Wiley guide to project control (Vol. 9). John Wiley & Sons.

Futrell, R. T., Shafer, L. I., & Shafer, D. F. (2001). Quality software project management. Prentice Hall PTR.

Spencer, D. D., Robbins, R. J., Naftolin, F., Marek, K. L., Vollmer, T., Leranth, C., ... & Redmond Jr, D. E. (1992). Unilateral transplantation of human fetal mesencephalic tissue into the caudate nucleus of patients with Parkinson's disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 327(22), 1541-1548.

Stellman, A., & Greene, J. (2005). Applied software project management. " O'Reilly Media, Inc.".

 

 

 

 

 

QUESTIONNAIRE

1.      What is the name of the project?

2.      What scope, location and size does the project cover?

3.      After how long do you expect the project to be completed?

4.      What special competencies do you expect of the Project Manager?

5.      What economic, social and moral impact will the project bring?

6.      What quality measures have been undertaken to meet the quality specifications?

7.      Who are the suppliers, and what is the procedure for supplier selection?