Engineering Project Management Portfolios Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays

ENGINEERING PROJECT MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO (Student Name) (Course No.) (Lecturer) (University) (Date) Engineering Project Management Portfolio Part 1 – PRINCE2 Overview of the Prince 2 Project Management Methodology PRINCE 2 is one of the commonly used project management methodology internally. The methodology was originally developed to manage IT projects by the UK government. However, with increasing level of technology, its application has been widened to large projects of any kind and currently used internationally in many countries with the public and private sectors. The common sectors are police forces, banks, telecommunication companies, large commercial enterprises, and in resource planning implementation. PRINCE 2 is initials for Projects IN Controlled Environments 2 developed when the UK government was outsourcing a lot of its work. Moreover, the methodology integrates the best practices of incorporating both internal teams and external agencies. The major focus of the methodology is business since it describes the rationale and justifies business project. PRINCE2 approach has its foundation on the original PRINCE system developed by the UK governmental agency in the 1980s whose original work was to provide framework of managing IT projects. The methodology was formed based on seven principles: to continue with business justification, learn from the experience, defined roles and responsibilities, management guided by stages, exceptional management, and tailored approach that suit project management (Harris, 2010, 122). The outstanding characteristic of the methodology is its capacity of wrapping around other approaches of management. Besides, it is possible to integrate the methodology with waterfall management approach to ensure provision of necessary project governance required for steering the project into success. Project Initiation Every project management approach has its initial stage including PRINCE2. The idea has to be first mooted. The idea developer often assembles the project team for the individual-oriented projects or through leadership within team-oriented institutional projects. Then the project board draws information regarding the project containing the objectives, project significance, and determines the viability and worthwhile of the project. The steering factors of the project are within the initiation stage. In PRINCE2 methodology, the project board oversees and controls the project. Consequently, it is significant that project board make critical decisions involving the project to achieve the required accountability target. According to Creswell, in the PRINCE2 approach, the role of the project is to supervise the project and not manage which is the responsibility of the project manager. Project planning In PRINCE2 methodology, project planning is within the initiation process activities. With such reference, there is development of the brief prepared within the initiation stage into business and executable case covering all important aspects of the business. Project planning involves a series of activities including identification of the project control measures and strategies, methods of establishing quality related issues, and specification of the project. An effective project plan needs to incorporate different teams under the board with an aim of achieving the desired common objective as listed in the project. The available resources and time schedule often guide the planning phase. In PRINCE2, the planning phase needs to define critical aspects: project reporting and control measures, time and cost budgets, and risks through reviewing daily activities. Planning is the responsibility of the project manager. Depending on project’s complexity and structure, the manager forwards the plan to the supervisor for review. Execution and control Upon approval and authorization, the project board often gives the nod for the project initiation process, which involves each team member irrespective of their roles. In PRINCE2, the execution process requires different elements of project management plan and control systems that work together to achieve a give set of objectives. Within the approach, some control measures adhere to the management plan, effective and efficient utilization of the allocated resources, and time schedule for implementation of different activities (Murray, Bennett, Bentley & Great Britain, 2009, 105). During the process, the board needs to monitor dependencies, risks, and project issues. Since execution and control measures often run concurrently, PRINCE2 often require definition of teams and responsibilities, possible risks, dependencies on the deliverables, and communication, which is core in the methodology. The objective of the project execution process is to ensure successful delivery of the deliverable, on time, and within the set costs, which might vary depending on the guideline within the project plan in PRINCE2 methodology. Directing a Project The project board needs to oversee the project as described in within the execution and control phase. They play such roles through their decision making process to meet the objective of accountability Controlling a Stage Stage-by-stage execution model is one of the principles of PRINCE2. According to the principle, it is important to have effective control measures of controlling a stage with an aim of realizing the deliverable stage. The aim of the controlling processes is to determine how the important work packages are authorized and controlled. Therefore, it is the role of each project manager to control as stage and manage subsequent processes through overseeing the progress of executing and delivering the objective at each stage. Consequently, there is need to submit the progress reports and exceptions to the project board. Important processes involved in controlling stage are determination offstage status, assessing the progress, identifying and analyzing the issue, and authorizing work packages. Management of Product Delivery In projects considered complex, the project managers often have the team leaders in charge of foreseeing the execution of various packages. Such process determines the manner in which the project manager connects team leaders. Management of the product delivery provides formal needs for the execution, risk acceptance, and delivery. The objective of this process include authorization and agreement mechanisms for work before allocation, creation of common platform for the team members and suppliers to ensure that they are aware of the required deliverable, ensure delivery of products within specifications, and appraising the project for effective management. Management of Stage Boundaries The significance of this stage is to determine that needs to take place at the end of each stage. After stage controlling, management of boundaries determines the next stage. Moreover, the process allows the project managers to measure the progress of the project as outlined in the plan. If the stage moves out the planned activities, this process offers an opportunity of what the management needs to do. Closeout and Evaluation Upon the achievement of the project objectives, PRINCE2 offers a formal process of bringing the project to close. Nonetheless, most projects overlook such significant process. The process requires reallocation of other resources and personnel. Evaluation involves reviewing the project and auditing it at every stage. Part 2 – PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) Project Scope Management Projects often involve a series of steps. Project scope is a subset of project management including the processes desired to guarantee that the project covers all the required aspects. Omitting a stage could lead to achievement of the undesired results. Scope management ensures that the project not only covers all the required work but also accomplishes the outlined activities successfully. Scope management involves a series of activities; initiation, scope planning, definition, verification, and change control. Initiation requires authorization; planning involves writing scope statement for the basis for future decisions; definition requires subdivision of important deliverables; and verification involves formalizing the scope acceptance. Project Time Management Time is an important factor in project management. Project time management requires timely completion of all the outlined activities within the projects. Poor allocation of time to project activities could lead to poor coverage of certain activities due to pressures, disorientation of the project budgets, and inefficient resources management. Project time management involves activity definition, sequencing, schedule development, and control (Project Management Institute, 2004, 99). Activity definition involves identifying specific activities that needs to be performed to produce desired objectives; sequencing is identifying and documenting interactively the dependencies; activity duration estimation involves estimating the number of work periods that each activity would have to complete. Schedule development involves analyzing the sequence of activities, durations, and resources required for creating the schedule. Project Cost Management Each project activity needs to be performed within the budget boundaries to ensure the achievement of the desired results and coverage of all projects activities. Project cost management is a subset of project management, which includes all the processes required to ensure the completion of the project within the approved budget. The subset involves a series of activities critical to the achievement of the project: resource planning, cost estimation, budgeting, and controlling. Resource planning determines the needed resources and quantities to perform the activities of the project; cost estimation involves development of approximate cost of the resources to complete the project, and budgeting which is allocation of the overall cost estimate to individual task. Project Quality Management Quality outcome is the objective of every project. As a subset of project management, project quality management requires that every process meet the requirements for which it is undertaken. To achieve such objectives, there is need for quality planning, assurance, and control. Quality planning involves identification of relevant quality standards and determining their satisfaction; quality assurance requires project managers to evaluate the performance of the project on regular basis to ensure provision of confidence that the project would satisfy relevant standards. Additionally, quality control involves measuring specific results to determine their compliance with quality standards and determining methods of eliminating the causes of unsatisfactory performances. Project Human Resource Management Finding the right people for the project is the key to ensuring the achievement of the desired results. Project human resource management is a subset that requires the processes to make the most effective and efficient use of the people within the project. To achieve the desired results, the management needs to undertake organizational planning, staff acquisition, and team development. Organizational planning involves identification, documentation, and assigning project responsibilities and reporting relationships; staff acquisition involves getting the required human resources to undertake various project activities, and team development require development of individual and group skills to increase their performances. Part 3 – Managing and Project The case study focused on Ericsson Services Ireland in Dublin, which used PRINCE2 to improve its Customer Management Solution Business Unit. The company is a worldwide provider of telecommunication infrastructure, strategic supplier of fixed, mobile and data network, and services solutions to Eircom, Eircell, and others operators within the deregulated Irish market. The company develops software for its digital mobile systems and network management solutions. As a large company, Ericsson has several project management activities that it undertakes which, considers geographical, language, custom, and several issues to realize the success. However, the different methodologies within the company are meant to manage large projects and implementing complex telecommunication infrastructure to the customers, which defines its milestone approach, rather than inflexible approaches, which are difficult to use, by people outside the company (Ericsson Services Ireland, 2016). The specific problem for Ericsson Services Ireland was the non-existence of methods fitting its project types especially the iterative software development project within Customer Management Solutions Business Unit. The challenge involved finding appropriate and flexible methodology to deliver various business software products. Several reasons led to the application of PRINCE2: inflexibility of the old methodologies for the projects within the group; old methods failed to cater for the dealings with sub-contractor management; the rid milestones and rules failed to deal with the iterative and overlapping phases within the project. Moreover, the old methods delayed the projects since they imposed rules, improvement of the old methods was taking much time, and business decisions taken by the company were inappropriate milestone. As a result, most of the methodologies used by the company experienced failures. The company used different phases of PRINCE2 methodology to yield some of its desired methodologies. Investigation Phase Ericsson undertook an investigation of the business, the project types, outlined the problems associated with the project management within the business and benchmarked its current approaches to project management with aim of collecting the cost and quality metrics for its current projects. The company reviewed the available project management methodologies and selected the most appropriate method that fits its business and projects. Although PRINCE2 does not cover interpersonal skills like PMBOK, a toilerable method provides practical advice on how to manage a project to fit the requirements. The company presented the business case and timeliness to the board. Implementation Phase Ericsson kept the people with up to date information on the progress of the project through its weekly business unit management meeting to review various management aspects. The company also emphasized on secure project management training. Furthermore, it assigned project roles, re-organized, and amended the job descriptions require to ensure the project has effective team. The company documented, signed off, and controlled the descriptions through configuration management. However, the company had some precautions like using PRINCE2 for the project but tailor it as required, benchmarking before, during, and after the project, and ensuring local standardized methods of using the methodology. Tailoring PRINCE2 The company had to establish the benefits and weaknesses of the methodology through making comparisons. No methodology can satisfy all organizational needs, but PRINCE2 can be tailored to suit organizational needs. The company began by setting up the templates for PRINCE2 products including project initiation document and plan and monitored on weekly basis while comparing with other methods. Ericsson used Product Based Planning since its existing technique uses UML (Unified Modelling Language). The company’s projects are software development projects; as a result, it focuses on engineering tools like UML and RUP such as Rational unified Process. To guarantee the quality of its software, the company uses CMM (Capability Maturity Model). Success PRINCE2 is an important tool for effective management at the Ericsson Services Ireland. Through the application, the company assisted the staff to be more-oriented, improved satisfaction of the customers, and controlled risk. Moreover, there have been improvement in time-to-market, quality of the offered products and services, and reduction in the cost. PRINCE2 methodology also clarified the roles and responsibilities of the management, customers, and staff. Particularly, application of PRINCE2 with qualified practitioners assisted in risk reduction and enhanced customer relations, led to improvement in software development project metrics such as quality, cost, and time, and PRINCE2 methodology fits properly with software development quality processes such as capability maturity model. Generally, the company’s project management activity improved significantly especially project initiation, which is smooth since business decisions takes into account appropriate points. Failures While dealing with leadership issues within the company, it was impossible to codify PRINCE2 methodology with the leadership, motivational, and interpersonal skills, which are important segments while managing the project. PRINCE2 failed to address such aspects of project management directly since leadership styles vary considerably and working in different situations. In the planning process, the methodology states the significance of identifying the activities and indecencies. Several products within the organization utilize PRINCE2 but do not explain the effect on other products. In such way, there is generation of more work, which strain the budget cost. References Ericsson Services Ireland. (2016). Case Study: Ericsson Services Ireland PRINCE2. Retrieved April 29, 2016, from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwim7cuIgLTMAhWEWxQKHc_dDsIQFgg-MAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trainingbytesize.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F08%2Fericsson.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEXQHMFUcRkwkHHK6MXRG8JW9sNZw&sig2=8XgQvfrhOEsLyMyhMcaivQ&bvm=bv.120853415,d.d24 Harris, P. E., & Harris, P. E. (2010). PRINCE2 2009 planning and control using Microsoft Project 2010. Victoria, Australia: Eastwood Harris Pty. Ltd. Murray, A., Bennett, N., Bentley, C., & Great Britain. (2009). Managing successful projects with PRINCE2, 2009 edition manual. London: TSO (The Stationary Office. Project Management Institute. (2004). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide). Newtown Square, PA: Author. Read More

Engineering Project Management Portfolios - Case Study Example

Extract of sample "Engineering Project Management Portfolios"