Project Management for ERP and Supply Chain Consultancy - Case Study Example

Project Management for ERP and Supply Chain Consultancy Table of Contents Introduction 3 Challenges in Developing/Managing the Glycerol Supply Chain 4 Solutions (Tasks and Processes) 8 Project Plan 14 Conclusion 15 References 17 Introduction Combined Heat and Power (CHP) signifies reliable as well as cost effective technology that produces electricity along with practical heat. It is also possible to provide essential opportunities for high reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emission. Moreover, the partners are promoting the sources of renewable fuel, which have direct influences on the sustainability of the environment. Ecotec 21 also has an impact on the criteria of social sustainability (Hilst & et. al., 2013). From this project, the people or residents can have the benefits as well as receive some support to cope up with the cost of living in their daily lives. One of the major objectives of this project is to combat poverty of fuel and deliver assistance to the resident who mostly needs it. CHP is not widely used in channel area. Therefore, Ecotec 21 wants to discourse the deficiency by promoting CHP as a reliable and cost-effective technology. The project partners will investigate how to facilitate the implementation of CHP in the current buildings as an energy efficient alternative to the usual centralised system (Tallaksen, 2011). The Ecotec 21 project has long-term effects on the environment. CHP is one of the important methods for improving the efficiency in the EU countries. The uses of large as well as mini CHP system already have proven an effective technology in the EU countries. The engines of CHP can be fuelled from variety of sources along with oils, natural gas and biofuels, which are derived from biomass or water materials. CHP still now used as a technology and it cannot be used in the programme area. There are lot of problems in the CHP plant in relation to system and therefore, the partners of the project has to diminish these problems with the aim of managing the project i.e. sustainable biofuel supply chains in University of Greenwich (UoG) (You & et. al., n.d.). The aim of the project is to address the deficiency of the CHP. To attain the aim of the project, several objectives are developed and evaluated for a biofuel supply chain based on renewable fuel glycerol. A risk management strategy for biofuel fired CHP system has been also discussed. Other objective is to assess the uses of glycerol as an innovative biofuel benefiting as a source of energy. Challenges in Developing/Managing the Glycerol Supply Chain Biofuel have expanded in the market quickly as the basis of energy. The rising prices of oil, scarcity of oil and necessity for better security of energy as well as eagerness to reduce the price of oil are the major impact on the development of the biofuel. The reason of using biofuel in the place of fossil fuel is that energy developed from biofuel has been used for transportation in a low carbon emission level. The improvement of biofuel has many problems that can create difficult in the biofuel development project (Anggara, 2009). These problems can be the bad structure of transportation, ordinary disaster and social fights. These issues disrupt the production of biofuel, increased cost and decrease sales among others. Supply chain plays a vital role in the improvement of the biofuel industry. The major role of supply chain is to develop a co-ordination in the network, which is based on different elements. Other roles can be making arrangement for meeting the satisfaction level of the customers along with the sustainability of the overall competency through the supply chain. Most of the biofuel companies belong to small creativities (Anggara, 2009). Therefore, the biofuel companies only have consciousness about risk along with supply chain, but biofuel industry has not framed any risk management framework. Inadequate knowledge related to the framework of risk management in the supply chain can be the cause of unmanageable state for the biofuel industry. Therefore, through adequate knowledge and implementation in the supply chain, the problems of the biofuel industry can be reduced. Accordingly, UoG can be able to accomplish a sustainable biofuel supply chains with the aim of offering CHP energy in Medway. Supply chain is one of the important processes of building biofuel industry. Therefore, the partners of the UoG project should have accurate knowledge about supply chain and how to implement it in building biofuel system (FAPESP, 2013). Energy is one of most important aspects for sustaining as well as developing social, economic, environmental and cultural activity to support national sustainable condition. Medway generally depends on fossils fuel rather than any other renewable energy sources and currently those energy resources are decreasing for increased consumption rate and emission of GHG. Therefore, Medway has to import overseas crude oil and finished petroleum products from overseas to fulfil the national demands. However, it is not possible for the government of Medway to import fuels for longer time because of rise in the prices of fuel as well as crude oil. Hence, UoG Medway campus has planned to develop an alternative energy to fulfil the national demand (Anggara, 2008). These renewable energy sources can be useful to strengthen the security supply of energy and can also enhance the quality of air, water as well as land condition. Due to the crisis of energy, UoG has introduced a plan for the development of renewable energy especially biofuel. The development of biofuel was formulated for two major objectives such as to overcome energy crisis as well as to diminish energy crisis and extensive emission of GHG. The development of biofuel depends on mechanism and proper policies of public. Biofuel is essential to minimise emission of GHG, enhance jobs rate, profitable action as well as energy safety (Anggara, 2008). On the other hand, public policies are important to improve agro-industrial expertise for biofuel as well as to implement financial and regulatory measures, which support in the production and use of biofuel. Environmental and socio-economic influences of bioenergy supply chain depend on biophysical as well as socio-economic situations of the production area and features of supply chain. Biofuel energy supply chain is also important to integrate design, planning, scheduling and inventory control decision to fulfil the demands of the nation. The reasons to plan for building biofuel supply chain are to analysis the risks for the management and uncertainties related to the project of the UoG. The project plan of building a biofuel supply chain can be to reduce the risks associated in the project (UNEP, 2013). Better uses of biofuel in the place of fossils fuel due to high prices of fossils fuel and crude oil would ensure in generating energy for various purposes with the area. The development of the project would also assist in overcoming the issues that are associated with activities causing huge impact on environment. In a project management, biofuel supply chain has been used in various ways to achieve the objectives of the project such as it can be used as the multiple scale modelling and optimization. It can also be used as multi objectives optimization and risk analysis as well as uncertainty quantification (UNEP, 2013). The major aim of building biofuel energy is to preserve fossil fuel energy resources and modification of climate change as well as sustainability of economic situations. Biofuel energy resources can also be used for determining the production cost and costs of transportation and conversion. In this respect, the development of a sustainable biofuel supply chains would assist in providing required renewable energy for heating as well as lighting purposes. In addition, the success of the project would aid in delivering energy through the existing transportation network to the consumption units. In this context, the project plan of UoG will be an effective medium based on which GHG emission level can be reduced (FAPESP, 2013). Project Management Phases Source: Method123 Ltd., 2003) Several risks may arise in different stages of the project i.e. sustainable biofuel supply chains based on glycerol. Several stages of the project include planning, executing, closing and controlling. In the planning stage, the risk can be the devising an appropriate project plan, which will be suitable for this project. Wrong plan can adversely affect the performance of the entire project (Perry & Simon, 2014). Therefore, the project manager is needed to discuss with other staff members of the project and adopt ideas accordingly at the time of formulating plans for the project. Executing the plan is the most important step of the project, as in this step, the project manager has to execute the entire plan as per their discussion. If any problem arises at the time of plan execution, then it can affect the project. Therefore, the project manager and other staff members should be very vigilant at the time of the project execution plan. In the project execution plan, demand forecasting, data management, logistics and distributors and product life cycle management are involved, which can control or manage the project properly (Perry & Simon, 2014). In the controlling step, if the project manager cannot control the project properly, then the entire work of the project cannot be executed or implemented properly and it cannot be completed on time. It will also take more time and money to complete the project. Monitoring as well as observing is one of the essential steps of project management. ERP and supply chain management is important to improve the efficiency of the project and to expand the market. In the monitoring step, the project manager has to scrutinise that the entire work of the project has been running properly or not (Galeway, 2004). Execution step of the project is the major step, as in this step, the project manager has to think about how to execute the project, so that the project can be run properly without any problem. In this step, the project manager has to plan out for the total budget cost on the completion of the project. The sources of data collection relevant to the project can also be implemented in the execute step (Zou & et. al., 2015). Therefore, the sources of data collection should be right sources and the data should be accurately applicable for the project. Therefore, several risks of this step can be reliability of data or information. The project manager is needed to have the capability to handle and control the project and complete the project on time (Galeway, 2004). Solutions (Tasks and Processes) The project manager has to find out possible solutions to manage these risks of the project related to UoG. The project manager plays a significant role to plan, execute and controlling the entire project and complete it on time. Therefore, the project manager has the capability to handle the team and support the team in every step of the project. The project manager along with other staff members of the project should obtain the acquired knowledge regarding the project. They also should have the knowledge to implement ERP and supply chain management in the project to improve the efficiency of developing biofuel energy (Migilinskas & Ustinovicius, 2008). The project manager should select the team members based on the criteria such the ability power to perform the work, co-operation and ability to learn. The managers should guide the junior staff members in every step of their work and encourage them to perform well. The manager should discuss with the entire staff members who are involved in the project related to the procedure of the project (Migilinskas & Ustinovicius, 2008). The project manager should use advanced technology to identify the risks of the project and implement innovative idea to overcome these risks. The risks can be mitigated by managing the team properly, so that they are able to perform the entire work properly as well as manage the operation cost of the project. The manager also should observe the entire work performed by other staff members and try to identify the mistakes made by them and help them accordingly with the intention of ensuring that the operations of the project are conducted on the basis of the objectives (Yodmani, 2014). Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Supply Chain Management Source: (Williams, n.d) The above graphical representation depicts the project management process in UoG Medway campus. Project management process is considered as the procedure involved in planning, controlling as well as execution process of the project. It is one of the important processes of project management and it involves several phases. Project management process related to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) involves in the stages of demand forecasting, customer relationship management, data management, financial and HR department. The several stages of supply chain are supply chain strategy and planning, logistics & distribution, product life cycle management, procurement and integrated forecast. Enterprise resource planning and supply chain consultancy is important for any project management and both are connected with each other (Williams, n.d). Enterprise resource planning has been used in project management to identify the risks of project management for the success of the project. Enterprise resource planning also helps project managers collecting adequate data for the success of the ERP project. For the successful of ERP project, the managers should have the knowledge of the strategic goals and how to implement the several stages of the ERP system. The ERP system also involves in the finance and HR department of the project. A successful ERP project can cut the total operating cost by producing more accurate demand forecast and production cycles as well as improve the customer’s service process (Williams, n.d). A successful ERP project always focuses on the customer relationship management to maintain the total operating cost. The first or the initial stage of the ERP project is the demand forecast, which is important for the successful of the project. Through demand forecast project manager can identify the cost of the products or services, which is purchased by consumers or customers. Through demand forecasting activity, the project manager can also maintain the operating cost of the project properly. The second stage is the maintenance of customer relationship. Customer relationship management is also essential step for the successful of ERP project. ERP system is able to solve the major problems of recent trends such as competition, fulfilment level of customers, and market expansion among others (Umple & et. al., 2003). The next step is to collect accurate data for the success of the ERP project. Data management stage helps to collect or gather data, which are relevant to the project and implement this data whenever required to perform the work properly. Wrong data can raise problems in the entire ERP project, which is needed to be mitigated through proper implementation of strategies. Financial department involves in estimating production cost, operating cost, cost management and forecasting among others. A successful project needs to maintain the cost and also analysis the profitability of the project. HR department is also a major step in the ERP project. The project manager has to have best team members to plan, execute and control the project properly (Umple & et. al., 2003). Supply chain management or consultancy is also essential for the success of the project because supply chain management related .to develop a sustainable supply chain for generating biofuel energy with the use of glycerol is essential for reducing GHG emission. The first stage of supply chain management is formulation of strategy and planning. This stage helps the project managers to set the plan for maintaining the project properly and complete within the desired time period. After that the stage is the logistics and distributors. Logistics is an important activity, which includes in distribution of biofuel energy from the production centre to the consumption units (Basu, 2012). The following step is product life cycle management. Product life cycle management can be referred to as the process through which the entire life cycle of energy generation can be managed. Therefore, product life cycle helps the project manager to manage the total life cycle of the product such as the product inception through design and engineering (Basu, 2012). The next step in the project management is procurement. This step involves in obtaining information, which are relevant for the success of the project. This step helps the managers to gain knowledge about the importance of sustainable supply chain and the procedure based on which biofuel energy can be produced and distributed. The last step of supply chain project management is integrated forecast. The information provided by integrated forecasting is essential for project management. The entire stages of supply chain management project are associated with each other as well as essential for the successful of the project (Zigiaris, 2000). Project manager has to devise some steps through which planning and execution of the project can be possible in an appropriate manner. These steps also help to identify the risks of the project and find out best solution to reduce the risk of the project. Therefore, ERP and supply chain management both are important for the success of any type of project and for enhancing the efficiency of energy resources. Biofuel energy resources can assist in overcoming the crisis of energy and improve the quality of life of the residents (Zigiaris, 2000). Table (Process Name) Process Name Executing Inputs Process Elements Output Process Definition Project planning, project execution and project closure Approaches and Techniques The approaches and techniques are ERP and Supply Chain Management. PM Shortcomings Addressed The shortcomings of project management are project complexities, time duration and procurement of material SCM Maturity SCM will mature in the project controlling phase Terminology The terminology of project management is to reduce GHG emission by using biofuel supply chain in the place of fossil fuel Stakeholder Stakeholders are shareholders, investors and owners of the project Project Plan Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be comprehended that project management process in relation to developing a sustainable biofuel supply chains of UoG is identified to be complex. Moreover, biofuel energy is needed to be developed from glycerol and accordingly, different factors are to be considered that include availability, supply reliability, cost and security. In this regard, the project is needed to be conducted in a planned manner for successful completion of the project within desired time and cost. Supply chain management helps in movement of biofuel energy from production unit .to consumption unit effectively. Supply chain management also helps in ascertaining the cost structure as well as profitability of the project. In addition, it can be comprehended that in recent trends, biofuel energy is useful than fossil fuel in terms of reduced cost and minimum GHG emission. The prime objective of biofuel energy is to reduce the crisis of energy. Due to the high cost of crude oil, biofuel energy has been used more than fossil fuel because the cost of biofuel energy is economical. Biofuel energy has also been used to determine the production cost as well as transportation cost. In the project management phases, different risks can be witnessed with the supply chain by the project manager that include lack of competent team members, inadequate knowledge as well as information and in effective formulation of plan. In this regard, the implementation of ERP and supply chain management is essential aspects for project management. ERP system plays a vital role to identify the risks of the project and find out the possible solutions to overcome these risks. Project management process has several stages through which the work of the project can be done effectively for effective completion on time Therefore, the project manager should have the ability to complete the project on time and work together with the team members to achieve the objectives of the project successfully. The project manager should be very conscious about their work and also should be active as well as have leadership capability for managing the operations of the project effectively. In this respect, it can be concluded that biofuel supply chain is most important aspect for the improvement of the project, because it helps to determine the cost of project. Through the biofuel supply chain the objectives of the project management can be fulfilled with proper management from the end of the project manager. References Anggara, A. R., 2009. The Development of Risk Mitigation Framework in Supply Chain Risk Management. Manchester Business School, pp. 1-78. Anggara, A. F., 2008. Implementation of Risk Management Framework in Supply Chain: A Tale from a Biofuel Company in Indonesia. Manchester Business School, pp. 1-31. Basu, R., 2012. Managing Project Supply Chains. The Role of Supply Chain as a Value Driver, PP. 1-20. FAPESP, 2013. Flight Path to Aviation Biofuels in Brazil: Action Plan. The Sustainable Aviation Biofuels for Brazil Project Governance and Team, pp. 1-58. Galeway, L., 2004. Quantitative Risk Analysis for Project Management. Rand Corporation, pp. 1-37. Hilst, D. V. F. & et. al., 2013. Impacts of Biofuel Production. Case Studies: Mozambique, Argentina and Ukraine, pp. 1-41. Migilinskas, D. & Ustinovicius, L., 2008. Methodology of Risk and Uncertainty Management in Construction’s Technological and Economical Problems. Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, pp. 789-795. Perry, J. & Simon, P., 2014. Project Risk Analysis and Management. The Association for Project Management, pp. 3-10. Tallaksen, J., 2011. Guidelines for Developing a Sustainable Biomass Supply Chain. University of Minnesota, pp. 3-28. UNEP, 2013. Global Assessments and Guidelines for Sustainable Liquid Biofuel Production in Developing Countries. Executive Summary, pp. 1-16. Umple, J. & et. al., 2003. Enterprise Resource Planning: Implementation Procedures and Critical Success Factors. European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 146, pp. 241-257. Williams, R. M., No Date. Project Human Resource Management. Illinois State University, pp. 1-18. You, F. & et. al., No Date. Regional Optimization of Biofuel Supply Chains. Biofuels, pp. 1-2. Yodmani, S., 2014. Disaster Risk Management and Vulnerability Reduction: Protecting the Poor. Asian Development Bank, pp. 1-27. Zigiaris, S., 2000. Supply Chain Management. Report Produced For the EC Funded Project, pp. 1-27. Zou, W. X. P. & et. al., 2015. Identifying Key Risks in Construction Projects: Life Cycle and Stakeholder Perspectives. Pacific Rim Real Estate Society, pp. 1-14. Read More