M2M Smart Meter Solution Projects Goals - Assignment Example

Project Management Introduction Of The Project ASB Bank has a remarkable record of accomplishment pertaining to innovation. For example, it was among the first banks in New Zealand to establish Internet banking platforms, cell phone banking, and social media platforms to interact with customers. ASB Bank realized that its energy consumption was one of the items that greatly increased the expenditure of the institution. As a corollary, the bank began deliberations aimed at espousing smart meters in all its headquarters and branch network. These deliberations gave led to the decisions that the bank would initiate the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) smart meter solution project. M2M Smart Meter Solution Project’s Goals Being one of the biggest and most innovative banks in New Zealand, ASB Bank needed to minimize energy consumption in all its headquarters and branch networks. Besides minimizing energy, cost the bank also wanted a solution that would enable a countrywide communication infrastructure, which would be reliable and secure. In addition, the bank also wanted a solution that would be independent of the bank’s data network. Finally, the fact that the smart metering technology was a new phenomenon in the New Zealand market necessitated the bank to find an experienced M2M partner. All these formed the primary goals of the establishment of the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) smart meter solution project. Scope Of The Project And The Context For The Work To minimize energy consumption, the bank aimed at installing a network of more than 200 smart meters in the in its headquarters and branch networks all over the country. The proposition of the project was to install smart meters in each ASB bank branches countrywide and around 10 smart meters in the bank’s data centre, call centre, and headquarters. The smart meters installed would collect data in a 15 minute interval, from eight power sources, and then feed the information collected to a central server in a 30 minute interval on a daily basis. This would enable the ASB Bank to monitor the data in each of its branches in a near instantaneous manner, verify the load profile, and respond to any problems in any of the branches accordingly. Smart meters would be installed in all the bank’s branches, key buildings and individual loads in bigger buildings. After the smart meters collect data from all the branches and offices, the data can be manipulated using numerous customized reports and automatically sent to the main server WBS for the project To enable successful project scheduling, the project goals must be broken down into tasks before the delivery dates, resource constrictions, or task contingencies are considered. When the project goals must be broken down into tasks a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is formed. WBS helps project managers to objectively identify and categorize all of the work necessary without subconsciously omitting the real work so as to come up with a comprehensive project schedule. The work breakdown structure (WBS) of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) smart meter solution project explained below. The key deliverables of the project have been organized as per the lead responsibility for their delivery. Every task responsibility is awarded its own phase in the project as explained below Phase One: Regulatory Policy Definition And Implementation Activities The following would be the sub-tasks that would be performed in this phase. First, would be the consumer policies and procedures, which would look into the smart metering design from the perspective of defining and modifying regulatory/customer policies and practices. Second, was data protection, which would ensure that the smart metering solution design would perform in accordance with the data protection requirements of the bank. Third, was to look into tariffs, especially the electricity time of use tariff, which is a significant element of the smart metering rollout. The forth sub-task would be the look into legal matters that would apply in the execution of the project. The final sub-task in the first phase would look into the financial issues for all work streams. Phase Two: Networks-Led Deliverables The following would be the sub-tasks that would be performed in this phase. The first sub-task would be procurement of the smart metering machine-machine solution components. Second would be establishing a distribution system operator, which would mainly concentrate on defining, purchasing, and implementing the Machine-to-Machine smart metering solution. The third sub-task would be establishing an electricity transmission system operator, which would mainly concentrate on evaluating the potential effects of the smart metering design on wholesale electricity market systems and processes. The final sub-task would be the full deployment of the smart metering Machine-to-Machine smart metering solution in the ASB bank Phase Three: Supplier-Led Deliverables The following would be the sub-tasks that would be performed in this phase. The first sub-task would be aligning market systems work streams with the changes so as to commence the process of implementing the Machine-to-Machine smart meter. The final sub-task would be the input of the Machine-to-Machine smart meter into formative employee and consumer engagement program Gantt chart Machine-to-Machine smart meter project GANTT Chart Months Task 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Beginning of phase 1 consumer policies and procedures Data protection Tarriffs legal matters Complete the regulatory policy milestone Beginning of phase 2 procurement of m2m components Establish distribution system operator Establish electricity transmission system Full deployment of the smart metering m2m Completion of the networks-led deliverables phase Beginning of phase 3 Align market systems work streams to changes formative employee and consumer engagement Network diagram Triple Constraint To The Project The triple constraint for the project, otherwise known as the project management triangle, is used to evaluate or comprehend the intricacies that associated with the process implementing and executing a project (Cuellar, 2010). Every project, regardless of its size encounters numerous constraints. Cuellar, (2010) reckons that even if projects encounter numerous constraints, these should not be obstacles for successful project implementation and for the competent decision-making. The Triple constraint of the project proposes three major interdependent constraints that are encountered in all projects i.e. time, cost and scope. Below is a discussion of the triple constraint of a project in relation to the M2M smart meter solution project Time A project’s activity can either take a shorter or longer amount of time to complete. The completion of the M2M smart meter solution project in time was contingent to several factors such as the number of employees working on the various tasks, their experience and skills, as well as the scheduling of the various phases and sub-tasks of the project. Time in any project is an indispensable factor, which is uncontrollable. If the M2M smart meter solution project would have failed to meet the deadline of one year, the effects on the ASB bank would have been dire. The project managers who were tasked with managing the M2M smart meter solution project were aware that the main reason why organizations fail in terms of time is due to being deficient in resources needed to complete the project. As a result, they prepared a comprehensive list of resources need to complete the project and warned the ASB bank of the repercussions of failing not having resources to the project and to the bank Cost Before initializing a project, it is imperative that both the project managers and the organization come up with an estimated cost of undertaking the project. The budget that was prepared for the M2M smart meter solution project would ensure that project was developed or executed below a certain expenditure. The project managers who were tasked with managing the M2M smart meter solution project were aware that, sometimes, is the duty of a project manager to assign additional resources so as to meet the project’s deadlines and that this would come with a penalty of additional project costs. As a corollary, such additional resources were budgeted for in the miscellaneous expenses Scope Scope considers the result of the project undertaken. This comprises a list of deliverables, which ought to be addressed by the project team for the success of the project. The project managers who were tasked with managing the M2M smart meter solution project were aware that then they had manage both the scope of the M2M smart meter solution project and any change in scope which affected time and cost for the project to be successful. Risk Assessment& Management Risk assessment is aimed at establishing the probable effect of the risk. According to uncertainty Thiry and Deguire, (2007) the description of the risk is hard to pin down, its dimension is contentious, and there is no consistent use of the word risk. Many a times, risk is understood in association with uncertainty and the vulnerabilities of the project. The vulnerabilities of the ASB M2M smart meter solution project were as follows. It was proposed that the through the M2M smart meter solution, elements of the electricity supply network can be turned off remotely. This meant that through the installation of the M2M smart meter solution, the ASB Bank would be vulnerable to denial of service attacks. Another vulnerability that came along with the installation of the M2M smart meter solution was that tariffs could be changed remotely or their charging switched off. This vulnerability comes if there are flaws in poor authentication, not having encryption and inadequate authorization. Another vulnerability that identified in the risk assessment of the M2M smart meter solution was that it creates an avenue for potential fraud, extortion attempts, being sued for legal breaches, or extensive system disruptions especially for financial service companies such as the ASB Bank. The project managers who were tasked with managing the M2M smart meter solution project were aware that vulnerabilities of a project are just as strong as their methods of managing and countering them. Consequently, the vulnerabilities identified in the project were to be countered by meticulously designing a smart meter system design, which took into account the end-to-end, and whole-life issues of the Banks systems. This would help to reduce the security risks that accompanied M2M smart meter solutions. Field trials and war-gaming would also be used prior to the installation of the M2M smart meter solutions to make sure that they would be not vulnerable to any kind of electronic attacks. To counter the legal issues the law firm representing the ASB Bank was informed of the decision to adopt the M2M solutions so that they could identify any legal issue, which the bank would be exposed to. The ASB Bank was also advised to have a commitment to achieving annual rollout targets in order to avert any vulnerabilities that may accompany the installation of the M2M smart meter solutions Stakeholders To The Project And Their Management Strategy Project stakeholders are persons and/or parties who actively engage in the project’s activities, or whose interests are impacted on account of the implementation of the project. They may also exert influence over the project’s objectives and outcomes. Project managers ought to identify the stakeholders, establish their obligations and anticipations, and, establish their influence with regard to the requirements to make sure the project is implemented successfully. The ASB Bank M2M smart meter solutions had several stakeholders. One of the stakeholders was the New Zealand Government. Its relevance to the project was mainly hinged on the Climate Change Response Act 2002 which was legislated by the New Zealand government so as to establish a legal framework to meet the requirements of curbing climate change by the United Nations. The M2M smart meter solutions dealt with energy, which affected the climate so, the New Zealand government was a major stakeholder in the project. As part of the management strategy, As part of the management strategy, the The M2M smart meter solutions were tailored in a way in which it would ensure save the CO2 emissions by over 1,000 tonnes every year Another major stakeholder in the M2M smart meter solutions, project was the energy company, which supplied energy to the ASB bank. The relevance of the energy company in the project was that it needs to assess a predictable market for investment in the various ASB branches which would change their energy consumption trends. The smart meter vendor i.e. Vodafone was also considered as a major stakeholder in the M2M smart meter solutions project especially because the ASB Bank wanted them partner with them in the long term to fix any meter related problems. The smart meter vendor needed to identify any legal comebacks regarding security risks and this was their major relevance to the project. As part of the management strategy, Vodafone and the ASB Bank law firm met to discuss the legal aspects of the implementation The final and most important stakeholder was the customer, i.e. the ASB Bank. The execution of the project was hinged on what the ASB Bank wanted from the M2M smart meter solutions project. As a corollary, as part of the management strategy, the project had to be tailored to suit the needs of the customer, which in this case included low costs for energy, sustainable energy supply with low ecological effects, and ensuring privacy, and security of the information being transmitted through the M2M smart meter solutions Stakeholder Communication Needs The communication need of the New Zealand Government passed the point of the significance of a climate friendly solution to the bank without seeming as if it is meddling with the bank’s affairs. The strategy adopted to deal with this need was handled through meetings between the government and bank officials to deliberate on issues of climate change where they agreed to handle them collaboratively. The communication needs of the energy company, which supplied energy to the ASB bank was to convey their worry that the energy consumption by the bank would decrease. The energy company and the bank also held meetings where it was seen that with the cut of cost in energy consumption the bank would get more capital to start more branches and this would compensate for the decrease of energy consumption, thus solving the problems of the energy consumption The communication needs of the ASB Bank and the smart meter vendor were interrelated. They were both based on lower costs for energy, sustainable energy supply with low ecological effects, and ensuring privacy, and security of the information being transmitted through the M2M smart meter solutions. The communication strategy used in this was the signing of a legal contract in the presence of lawyers from both sides, which would enable smooth working conditions between the two stakeholders Resources And Tasks Of The Project In the first phase of the project, activities performed would be mainly about formation of policy and deliberations of the most suitable courses of action. As a result, the major resources in the first phase would be conference rooms as well as materials to record and store the information such as computers, hard disks and stationery. In the second phase, the three major activities would be procurement of M2M smart meter components pre-testing M2M smart meter components before installation and the installing the components in the various branches of the bank. As a result, the major resources needed would be smart meter procurement platforms, models to enable the pre-testing of the M2M smart meter components before installation and finally human labour to enable the installation of the components in the various headquarters and branches of the bank. In the final phase the major activity would be formative employee and consumer engagement which meant training the employees to use the new smart meters. As a result the resources needed would be trainers and training avenues for the training Project Crashing Opportunities Project crashing is the act of lessening the project period by cutting down the amount of time of one or more of the critical project activities to a lesser amount than its standard activity time (Gareis, 2003). The purpose crashing is usually to minimize project duration while reducing the cost of completion of the project. The project crashing opportunities in the M2M smart meter solutions, project would have been reducing the time for the deliberations on consumer policies and procedures and data security in the first phase by one month, and reducing the time for procurement of m2m components, establishing the distribution system operator, full deployment of the smart metering m2m by two months. This would mean that the project would be completed three months before time. Assuming that costs were constant throughout the period of completion, the project crashing would save 3/12 of the entire project costs and this would result in a reduction of the cost of the project by approximately 25%. This is because the cost of obtaining the resources, which would have been used during these extra three months, would be saved. Project Milestones The M2M project had two major milestones. The milestones were supposed to show the completion of a phase and a transition into another phase. The first milestone of the M2M smart meter project was the completion of the regulatory policy definition and implementation activity phase. Achieving this milestone would mean that the deliberation and policy stage was completed and that the installation process can begin. The second milestone of the M2M smart meter project was the completion of the networks-led deliverables. Achieving this milestone would mean that the full installation of the M2M smart meter solutions had been completed and that the bank was ready to shift to the newly install gadgets References Cuellar, M. (2010) ‘Assessing Project Success: Moving Beyond the Triple Constraint’ International Research Workshop on IT Project Management 2010. Paper 13. Gareis R. (2004) Management of the Project-Oriented Company, chapter 6 in P.W.G. Morris & J.K. Pinto (Eds.), The Wiley Guide to Project Management, New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. Thiry M., Deguire M. (2007), Recent developments in project-based organizations, International Journal of Project Management, 25, pp. 649–658. Read More