Task 1 Network Diagram
Information systems process the data and information in a certain company. It provides value to users through the interchange of messages. It makes information be accessible to people in an organization when such need arises. Information system is being used in different kinds of applications. One application is project management. The importance of project management is much more known in business institutions today. Organizations have realized the importance of project management and how it changes the operations of a business. Project management makes sure that needed changes can be done so that the company has a better chance of achieving its goal. One method to manage the project is to draw a network diagram. The network diagram helped in analyzing the activities that can be done so that the project’s goal will be accomplished. The network diagram gave probable completion dates for a certain activity in the project.
Task 2 project management
Skills and competencies required of the project manager
A review of the traits of the ideal project manager demonstrates that great demands are placed on project managers. In fact, they are traits that people do not even expect the CEOs of certain great corporations to possess. No project manager scores strongly on all the desirable traits. The great majority of them are quite weak on most of these traits, and this contributes to the problems encountered on so many projects. But the more desirable traits project managers possess the more effective the managers will be. Salaries of average project managers are not particularly elevated (Frame 2002). They are typically in line with salaries offered to middle managers occupying responsible positions. However, salaries of high-performing project managers are generous, occasionally higher than salaries paid to company vice presidents. These top-gun project managers typically have a ten-year track record of successful delivery of large and complex projects. What the high wages are buying is confidence that the selected project managers will carry out their chores effectively on high-value projects (Frame 2002).
As projects grew more complex an interesting phenomenon arose rather than entrust the project to one person some organizations established co responsibility teams. The rationale underlying the creation of co responsibility teams is simple no project manager will have a grasp of the knowledge needed to bridge the technical and business issues today’s complex projects encounter. The chief concern of adopting this approach is that it goes against the management principle that in carrying out work efforts, responsibility must reside in one person (Decarlo, Lewis & Wysocki 2001). Experience shows, however, that once the co managers get beyond the question of who’s really in charge and learn to trust each other’s abilities and appreciate that they can achieve more collectively than when working alone, the co responsibility teams work well. The idea that all responsibility must ultimately rest with a single individuals is one of the most cherished principles in management thinking. This is particularly true in project management, where project managers are seen as the key to delivering successful solutions. However as organizations gain more experience using cross-functional teams to carry out projects, they may also develop skills in sharing responsibility among multiple players. If this happens, then the rise of co responsibility teams appears inevitable (Decarlo, Lewis & Wysocki 2001). Project managers need to have perseverance and diligence in making sure that all aspects of the project will push through. They need to have the drive that will help them finish the project no matter what happens. Project managers need to make sure that they can relate well with all the personnel that will be involved in the project. They need to have enough patience in dealing with various kinds of personnel. Project managers need to make sure that they are responsible and are willing to do the best they can to finish the project. They need to plan wisely their actions and take full responsibility once the project fails. Project managers should be prepared for the criticisms and intrigues that will be hurled towards them. They need to be ready for all people that will try to discredit them or the improvements they have done in the project.
Project management process
Project Initiation
Projects are fraught with risks of many kinds. When the project contract is finalized, many factors will have been considered and an agreement about the risk assumption will have been reached. There are three prime risks associated with project construction and completion. Generally, they are described as cost overrun risk, risk of delay, and technical risk. Cost overrun risk refers to the fact that many projects are finished significantly over estimated cost (Hines 1997). To avoid cost overruns that must be financed from additional capital from lenders or investors, the contract should provide incentives for project completion by or before the targeted completion date and within the estimated cost. Some contracts contain bonuses for completion at or below estimated cost and penalties for completion over budget (Hines 1997). The initial thing that Renton Clothing should do is to check for the competitors in the new area. The company should know if the area/region has high cost and whether that cost is worth it. The company should check for the expenses that they will have to make in renting a place of distribution, the operating expenses, the taxes that will be paid, the minimum wage, the cost of supplies and other initial expenses. The company should determine the policies in the area and the laws that might serve as a hindrance in their operations. The company should make sure that the potential barriers for the company’s growth in the region will be known ahead of time. The company should conduct surveys and researches to know the environment in the region. After gathering the data the next thing to do is plan how the project will push through.
Project Planning
The apparel industry has several interesting features. Traditional apparel production is an extreme example of a classic mass production approach in which processes are divided into minute tasks, each to be carried out by one operator who specializes in that task. Therefore, apparel factories are loaded with in-process buffer inventories. Time and motion studies are still widespread in the industry, and beginners can reach standard proficiency in most tasks within a few weeks. Moreover, apparel is considered an important source of jobs for Americans with lower educational levels, a first step up the employment ladder for recent immigrants and workers living in rural areas. However, the low skill levels and moderate capital requirements also make the industry vulnerable to low-wage offshore competition (Cappelli 1999). In the apparel industry, many firms have traditionally produced many styles, even before the development of high-involvement innovations that have received so much attention in the last decade. Therefore, a recent increase in the number of styles produced in apparel, independent of the absolute number of styles produced, may offer unfreezing opportunities for innovation in the apparel industry. In the apparel industry, the modular production system corresponds most closely to the general high-involvement model (Cappelli 1999). The plan for the firm is to find a location for the business, gather enough budgets, hire and train the personnel, establish the operational processes, establish the supply system and determine the barriers to the company’s growth. In this plan the goal is to establish the company in the new market.
Project Execution
One major responsibility of many project managers is developing and adhering to a budget for the project. Often they will be rated a success or failure as project managers according to whether the project comes in under, on, or over budget. Overshooting the budget can have serious consequences for project managers and the organizations in which they work. Consider a project that is funded through a contract: a cost overrun may lead to litigation, penalties, and financial losses for the performing organization (Frame 2003). If the project is funded internally, an overrun may lead to a serious drain of scarce organizational resources. In view of the importance of budgeting, it is not surprising that many organizations focus much of their management attention on that area. Consequently, many organizations have well-developed budgeting techniques that are custom-made for the organization’s particular environment and operating. Project costs are typically composed of four components: direct labor costs, overhead, fringe benefits, and auxiliary costs. Direct labor costs are determined by multiplying the workers’ hourly wages by the amount of time that they are expected to spend on the project. In most service projects, which are not capital intensive, direct labor costs are the largest component of project costs (Frame 2003).
Project controls have two components to it: analysis and action. Up until now, people have been talking only about the analytical aspect of control. People have seen that by using planning and control tools such as Gantt charts, cumulative cost curves, and resource histograms, they were able to determine the extent to which the project is achieving its schedule, budget, and resource targets. If the variances between what was planned and what is actually transpiring are small, then the project is seen to be under control. If the gaps are large, then planning targets are not being achieved and steps might need to be taken to bring the project under control. The action aspect of control has people taking steps to handle unacceptable variances. If schedules are slipping, they need to figure out how to get the project back on schedule. Or if cost overruns are being incurred or insufficient resources are being employed, they need to take steps to get back on target (Digiovanna, Lee & Markusen 1999). The first step in the project is to put the business in a location that is visible and accessible to clients. The location is either on the mall or any crowded area. The second step for the project is to acquire from the parent company the necessary budgets to fund the operation. The budget will be used to pay for all expenses in the project. The third step is to look for worthy personnel and train them on the company’s policy and operational procedures. In this step the company will make sure that the personnel will be trained to be assets and not liabilities to the firm. The next step is to establish the operational processes. In this step the company adjusts the operational processes according to the situation in the new environment. The next step features the need to establish the supply chain system or the system that will be used to manage the supply of materials used in making the companies products. In this step the company will organize its supply system to ensure that there will be no delays in the creation of products.
Project control and validation
The first of factors for success is a group of External ones like government, community, general economic conditions, ecology, and so on. The second set of factors affecting the viability of project definition is that the project offers a sense of cost-benefit relationship and that the terms of the Financing of the project make sense (Earl 1998). The last factor affecting the project definition is the project’s Timing. Curiously, this aspect is often totally ignored in the project management literature which tends instead to dwell on scheduling methodologies. Timing means the pace at which the project is developed: its urgency, its phasing, and the placing of the strategic review points (Earl 1998).The project itself must then be implemented using a range of concepts, tools, and techniques which have traditionally been thought of as the province of project management. These include matters of organizational structure responsibility and contract strategy, terms and conditions; issues of personal leadership and management style, resourcing, systems, and procedural conflict management and industrial relations, team-working, and matters of control and communication (Earl 1998). The project will be constantly monitored to check its effect on the company and the changes it has done on the new region. The initial problems on the project will be known fixed to reduce the emergence of other problems. To control the project communication systems will be used between the members of the organization. The communication systems will assist in monitoring the project. The project will be validated via its effect on the company and the industry.
Project evaluation
In a business setting there is a chance that projects might fail. Projects are not perfect it will contain certain flaws. If these flaws merge wit forces within the environment the result would be the failure of the project. Project failure can be due to the lack of preparation or planning wherein the manager became too concentrated on the end result rather than the specifics of the project. Project failure can also be due to lack of cooperation between the manager and his subordinates. When there is no teamwork between the manager and the subordinates’ aspects of the project will not be completed. Another cause of project failure is when the manager does not take risks. The risk may have given the project a better chance for success. Moreover a cause of project failure is the lack of alternative strategies that should be used whenever there are small problems or irregularities seen when the project is being undertaken. Lastly a cause of project failure is the inability to use the approved strategies. There are certain times that project managers fail to make use of strategies set by the organization, this results to an altered direction for the project and in the end failure of the project. To avoid project failure, the project should be constantly checked and evaluated to see if it still performs according to standards. Evaluation will focus on checking how the firm has adjusted to the new environment and how the firm has grown after expanding into a new region. Evaluation will be used to determine the things or issues that should be changed within the project and determine the next courses of actions that should be taken to achieve success.
Resources and Timescales for each activity
The first stage of the project will take around 1 to 2 weeks. The first stage focuses on the initiation on the project. This part focuses on the initial part of the project. The resources for this activity includes different sources that can provide information on how the business can grow and achieve its goals; the other resource for this stage includes different notes and information that will provide the different changes that needs to be done with regards to the employees and the initiation process. The second stage of the project includes the planning stage. The second stage of the project will take one week so that proper planning, testing and analysis of the new system can be made. The resource for this stage is a prepared system and testing group that will ensure that before the project will be fully implemented it underwent proper planning and testing. The third stage of the project will take three to four weeks for proper adjustments. In this stage the project is on the full implementation stage wherein the goal is to slowly start the business on the new market. The resources for this stage are proper information and training tools for employees. The fourth stage of the project will take two weeks. This will involve the control and validation of the project. The resource for this stage included informative materials that will be distributed to the different project managers that will be used to understand the changes the project has done to the company and what are the current problems of the initiated project. The last stage of the project of will focus on evaluation of the project. This will check how the project succeeded in its goal and how the project should change. The last stage of the project will take around one week.
References
Cappelli, P 1999, Employment practices and
business strategy, Oxford University Press, New York.
Decarlo, Lewis, JP & Wysocki, RK 2001, The world class
project manager: a professional development guide. Perseus
Books, Cambridge, MA.
Digiovanna, S, Lee, Y & Markusen, AR (eds.) 1999, Rapid
growth beyond the metropolis, University of Minnesota
Press, Minneapolis.
Earl, MJ 1998, Information management: the organizational
dimension, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Frame, JD 2003, Managing Projects in organizations: how to
make the best use of time, techniques, and people, Jossey-
Bass, San Francisco.
Frame, JD 2002, The new project management: tools for an age of rapid change, complexity, and other business realities, Jossey-Bass,
Hines, MA 1997, The development and finance of global private power. Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Johnson, J 1996, Information seeking: an organizational
Dilemma, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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