To develop a mobile healthcare station that provide high-quality, convenient and affordable telemedicine services within 12 months and budget of $250,000.
Saturday, May 28, 2016
I chose chapter (6) resource utilization because it is directly connected to the company profitability, project success and customers satisfaction. The various types of resources are mandatory to produce the end deliverables. It constrains the accomplishment of the objectives by delaying the schedule if it is not utilized optimally. Many projects are suffering from exceeding the level of available limited resource which negatively affect the implementation of the project schedule. At that point, a special previsions might be taken to speed up the work such as hiring additional resources or contractors. From the real work life, adding additional resources might not be approved easily by the client or the upper management (CEO or CFO) due to the overall cost strategy.
Here where this chapter helped me to understand more in depth the resources optimization techniques that will prevent the possible conflicts that will affect the deadlines of accomplishing the projects. Those conflicts might happen because of twofolds: the over or under allocation of resources and the fluctuated utilization of the resources especially when they are limited.
Technically it is possible to move forward on several tasks at the same time, but if we can’t apply the same resources for all of those tasks simultaneously, then the work will not be done. In this case, the Resource Leveling and Resource-Limited Scheduling methods can be applied to adjust the activities starting and finishing dates based on available resources. These methods help to balance the project's needs with resource supplies. When those techniques applied, the critical path length extended as one of the result, but that reflect the reality of the project environment not because of the delay in any manner, rather because only certain resources are available and can’t work on the same activities at the same time. By creating the expanded timeline with taking into account the available resources, this may provide a space for schedule compression by having resources work overtime in order to make up the expansion of time that might happen because of the limited resources.
Technically it is possible to move forward on several tasks at the same time, but if we can’t apply the same resources for all of those tasks simultaneously, then the work will not be done. In this case, the Resource Leveling and Resource-Limited Scheduling methods can be applied to adjust the activities starting and finishing dates based on available resources. These methods help to balance the project's needs with resource supplies. When those techniques applied, the critical path length extended as one of the result, but that reflect the reality of the project environment not because of the delay in any manner, rather because only certain resources are available and can’t work on the same activities at the same time. By creating the expanded timeline with taking into account the available resources, this may provide a space for schedule compression by having resources work overtime in order to make up the expansion of time that might happen because of the limited resources.
On the previous lecture’s lab, we learned how the project management information systems can provide a powerful management features. It helps to consolidate the resources to show who does the work and when. It gives the ability to use resources effectively by assigning the resources to the tasks.
I chose chapter (9) closing project because it is necessary for a project manager to wrap up the project, evaluate it, get everyone paid and move on to new one. A few years ago, I experienced several projects that never ended because of different reasons such as:
- A project that has been initiated then turned to be a business process because of the ambiguous objectives or infinite ending date.
- A project has been terminated by the client and the performance bond liquidated because the contractor ran out of cash liquidity.
- A design-build project stayed for more than 5 years in design phase because of feature creep.
- A contractor who have been terminated because of conspiracy between the sub-contractor and client, then the project failed.
- A contractor who have been in reimbursement mode and was not able to complete the project because the mother company bankrupted.
The above cases drove me to learn more about how the projects should move smoothly into the final phase of the project life cycle in order to be officially closed and signed off by the client.
Once the problems are cleared, there are several activities that need to be performed in order to get the project closed. One of the most important actions that I learned from this chapter is how to identify and document the lessons learned. I would consider it as the greatest gift that the project manager can have not just at the end of the project but through out the entire duration of the project.
In every project, there are positive results of the lessons learned that we want to continue doing it in future works and negative results that should never happen again. It typically impacts the cost, time, work scope, quality, process and moral of the team. The lessons learned must be documented during the entire project by establishing a real time log to document the lessons and provide a smooth access to distribute, reassess and discusses the lessons by the project’s stakeholders.
In every project, there are positive results of the lessons learned that we want to continue doing it in future works and negative results that should never happen again. It typically impacts the cost, time, work scope, quality, process and moral of the team. The lessons learned must be documented during the entire project by establishing a real time log to document the lessons and provide a smooth access to distribute, reassess and discusses the lessons by the project’s stakeholders.
The other important key for the project manager is to keep the project alive through measuring and monitoring the client satisfaction in order to avoid the termination of the project. No matter what, the project manager must close the project.
Friday, May 20, 2016
In this ever changing world, the multilevel enterprises that manage a group of companies and activities are facing various internal issues that need to be addressed, and external opportunities that need to be considered. Defining those business problems and opportunities will have a significant influence on project identification process. The careful effort and time to recognize the needs are essential to initiate the project lifecycle and to answer practically how to identify and select projects. The upper management is facing massive challenges to decide which project must go first based on priority, greatest benefits and available resources.
B1W Project, a unique - state of art - mixed use development located in prime waterfront downtown of Abu Dhabi in the UAE, has been identified through a strategic plan between the owner and the master developer of major tourism destinations in Abu Dhabi. The focus was to foster a lifestyle that is occurring in the city, and to meet the social needs of the young and active people in a dynamic, stimulating and also leisurely environment. The projected financial outcomes indicated project IRR in excess of 15% after the end of year 1 of operation and increasing in subsequent years.
The B1W project is owned by a diversified conglomerate that owns and manages a substantial portfolios of companies in various business disciplines. Each company has its own on-going and future projects that should focus on and have it completed. The headquarters decided to develop an evaluation criteria to assess the tangible and intangible benefits of the projects. Deloitte was hired as a consultant to evaluate and study the impact of each project in different criteria. The overview estimates and financial analysis indicates that B1W Project is highly ranked among others as a profitable project with the highest overall benefit. The Chairman (owner) and his experienced committee decided to select the B1W and to give it a high level of priority to move on first. Hence the owner authorized the program director to invite the top 10 contractors to bid for B1W by sending them a request for proposal.
Saturday, May 14, 2016
In the past few years, the demand on getting things done professionally became an absolute need in everyone life. Mastering the art of managing the sequence of unique and interdependent set of activities toward achieving a clear objective within a finite life span and certain budget by utilising diverse resources is a practical answer to How Things Happen in any project.
Accomplishing specific objectives using a formal project management will have a significant impact on the quality and satisfaction. Projects that are driven by technologies and performance are changing the shape of the business in terms of reliability and automation.
Project management is generic and not limited for a specific business discipline, and is implementable in different discipline regardless the scale or the purpose. To host a dinner, plan a wedding, develop a web-based applications or build a skyscraper can all be considered as projects.
Who Let Things Happen? The project manager and his team are playing a vital role to the success of the project. However, the successful project manager finishes the project and closes it for a primary high level client within estimated budget and certain period of time. In order to maintain the constraints and avoiding the scope creep, project manager is responsible to define the work scope and to structure the baseline plan on certain assumptions of time and cost, and to identify the resources and risks. Project Managers lead, communicate, coordinate and collaborate with the insource and/or outsource stakeholders who are involved and keen to complete the project and meet the acceptable standards.
A smart project manager takes the advantage of utilising the tools and techniques such as Gantt Chart, Work Break Structure and Cost Estimates, to plan, perform, control and evaluate the project’s processes with the assistance of computer softwares. Enriching knowledge and developing skills through Project Management Associations Programs such as PMI will positively influence the project manager ethics and performance.
What happen once a project is Done? Successful project managers have a clear vision about their objectives, and better understanding of the prevailing culture and the economic forces, therefore they are capable of accomplishing their projects. Their great achievements allow them to gain more confidence, reputation and experience which enables them to start newer and more advanced projects.
