Fall 2011

Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester 2 Project Management MB0049 - 4 Credits

(Book ID: B1138)

Assignment Set- 1 (60 Marks) Note: Each question carries 10 Marks. Answer all the questions.
Q.1 List and explain the traits if a professional manager.

Traits of the professional manager The following traits enable a manager to be effective in his functioning. Endowed with these it will
be easy to beeffective. The top management will look for these in a person who they want to employ for project management. (a) Leadership These managers lead by exhibiting the characteristics of leadership. They know what they should do, know why they are doing it, know how to do it and have the courage and will to do it. They have the power of taking along with them others. (b) People Relationships Any leader without followers cannot be successful. They have excellent human relationship skills. The manager builds up his team based on the core values of sincerity, objectivity and dedication. He ensures that his subordinates get opportunities for growth based on performance. He makes them a part of the decision making process, thus ensuring cooperation and commitment during implementation. He delegates freely and supports them. (c) Integrity Highest levels of trust, fairness and honesty are expected while dealing with people both within an outside the organisation. This includes the customers, shareholders, dealers, employees, the government and society at large. They ensure that functioning is clean. Their transactions will be transparent. Ethics is something they practice diligently. (d) Quality The quality philosophy should not cover only the product quality, but every process that has gone into making it. Economy of words when instructions are given, acknowledging compliance, arriving on time, remembering the promises and above all a keen eye for details and patience to make others know what they want are components of quality. (e) Customer Orientation It is now recognized that every organized two sets of customers. Internal customers are people in the organisation employees, directors, and team members any person who needs your services, whose needs of demands you satisfy. External customers clients and all members of society we come in contact in connection with our business. They need our solutions for their problems. So, the managers thinking about any problem is what can I do for him and all actions will be in that direction. (f) Innovation and creativity Professional managers think beyond the obvious. They exhibit a keenness to go behind a problem and attempt to find the root cause of the problem. They will draw from their experience from diverse fields, seek further information and consider all possible alternatives and come out with some new and

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unique solution. This happens when they have open minds. A saying goes the human mind is like a parachute, it is useful only when it is open. Such a work culture is very conducive for problem solving which is the aim of all creativity. Their persistence will reward them. Such actions observed by their team members enthuse them and a spirit of adventure will bring about better solutions faster. (g) Performance Management The professional manager not only ensures that his performance is at peak all times, but motivates his entire team to do it. This comes by appreciation and encouragement. If there any shortfalls he arranges for training them so that their performance improves. Thus the team members know that they are expected to perform, that they get help to do so and their effort is recognized. This is the simple path of performance management. The following seven step model will be useful: 1. Objectives/Performance standards are set. 2. These are communicated to the employees. 3. Review/monitor the above. 4. Check actual performance Vs. Standards set. 5. Identify gaps. 6. Jointly decide on corrective action, if needed. 7. Reset objectives for next period Macro issues a) Evolving Key Success Factors (KSF) Upfront: In order to provide complete stability to fulfillment of goals, one needs to constantly evaluate from time to time , the consideration of what will constitute the success of completing a project and assessing its success before completion. The KSF should be evolved based on a basic consensus document (BCD). KSF will also provide an input to effective exit strategy (EES). Exit here does not mean exit from the project but from any of the drilled down elemental activities which may prove to be hurdles rather than contributors. Broad level of KSF should be available at the conceptual stage and should be firmed up and detailed out during the planning stage. The easiest way would be for the team to evaluate each step for chances of success on a scale of ten. KSF should be available to the management duly approved by the project manager before execution and control stages. KSF rides above normal consideration of time and cost at the levels encompassing client expectation and management perception time and cost come into play as subservient to these major goals. b) Empowerment Title (ET) ET reflects the relative importance of members of the organization at three levels: i) Team members empowered to work within limits of their respective allocated responsibilities the major change from bureaucratic systems is an expectation from these members to innovate and contribute to time and cost. ii) Group leaders are empowered additionally to act independently towards client expectation and are also vested with some limited financial powers. iii) Managers are empowered further to act independently but to maintain a scientific balance among time, cost, expectation and perception, apart from being a virtual advisor to the top management. c) Partnering Decision Making (PDM) PDM is a substitute to monitoring and control. A senior with a better decision making process will work closely with the project managers as well as members to plan what best can be

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done to manage the future better from past experience. The key here is the active participation of members in the decision making process. The ownership is distributed among all irrespective of levels the term equally should be a\voided here since ownership is not quantifiable. The right feeling of ownership is important. This step is most difficult since junior members have to respond and resist to being pushed through sheer innovation and performance this is how future leaders would emerge. The PDM process is made scientific through: i) Earned value management system (EVMS) ii) Budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) iii) Budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) iv) Actual cost of work performed(ACWP) d) Management By Exception (MBE) No news is good news. If a member wants help he or she locates a source and proposed to the manager only if such help is not accessible for free. Similarly, a member should believe that a team leaders silence is a sign of approval and should not provoke comments through excessive seeking of opinions. In short leave people alone and let situation perform the demanding act. The bend limit of MBE can be evolved depending on the sensitivity of the nature and size of the project. MBE provides and facilitates better implementation of effectiveness of empowerment titles .MBE is more important since organizations are moving toward multi-skilled functioning even at junior most levels. Projectised Organizations This is one of the various models of organizations, which enterprises adopt to run their businesses depending on the policies they follow, the opportunities they want to exploit and the constraints that the environment forces on them. Most organizations follow some sort of projectisation of their activities be it manufacturing, development of a product, research, entering a market, acquiring of another company, training programmes, setting up a new plant etc. In some situations they find it advantageous to treat a set of activities requiring resources of different kinds for short periods to reach a particular stage. They call that a project. Projectised operations have in them some are all of the following objectives, so that this business model to be useful. Accommodate discrete projects as a group in certain organizational units to facilitate monitoring and controlling performance levels at various stages. Assign priority of divisional management efforts based on Paretos law backed by statistics or rules of thumb for prevention of problems or profit growth on a group of projects in hand. Facilitate project resource assignment and subsequent adjustment especially human and information resources among the various projects. Enumerate, evaluate and implement various procedures of standardization in the form tables, charts, manuals, templates with the abundance of data that get generated across projects. Analyses of data help in identifying opportunities of making changes in similar projects. The project management capability can be enhanced perhaps with the help of the PMO, by setting objectives and measuring them with success achieved. Each project can be measured for its maturity level. Enhancement of the levels of different projects does become a motivational factor for performance enhancement. A system of internal benchmarking gets initiated almost automatically resulting in highly efficient organisation as a whole.

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The principles of Project Management can be extended to various traditional operational type units. The main differences between the traditional and project approach are mentioned below. Here, we would like to emphasize that no one approach can be considered the better for all businesses or at all times for the same business. However, many organizations have found the project approach worth giving a try to improve productivity. Traditional organizations We have the formal organisation structure, with departments, functions, sections having an hierarchy of managers and their assistant. All of them function on a continuous basis catering to a series of requirements issued by the planning department. An assembly of various units of their production forms a products and a variety of such products make up the business of the company. No one particular member or a department or a team is responsible for the completion of any particular product. Their creativity and innovation is particular respect of jobs. Most of them do not get exposed to other areas of operations in the organisation. They will become specialists and be insular. Projectised organizations have teams comprising members who are responsible for completing one completely deliverable product. They will have all the resources required to do all jobs or operations to complete it. Most importantly, they have a time schedule within which all the elements of the projects have to be completed. It has been found that a sense of ownership of the project motivates them for being creative, cooperate among themselves to achieve high productivity. a) Reengineering This is a process by which managers redesign a bundle of tasks into roles and functions so that organizational effectiveness is achieved. By doing so dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance like cost, quality and service are expected. There will be a radical rethink about the business processes adopted. A business process is any activity like inventory control, product design, orders processing, delivery systems. No reference is taken to the existing process ignoring it, an entirely new process is adopted. The following rules for reengineering are effective i) Make changes with the outcome in mind not the tasks that result in them. ii) Make the users of the results of the process effect the change iii) Let the people on the spot decide on the solution decentralize b) E-Engineering The term E-Engineering refers to the attempts of companies to make use of all kinds of information systems, to make their functions efficient. New information systems are installed for conducting all business processes in the organisation. The use of electronic communication within the organisation enables frequent interactions between employees and results in better communication. Meetings require their presence, but with teleconferencing a lot of time is saved. Data have repositories which are accessible, transferable and updatable instantly and used by all concerned. Cross-functional workflows make it easier to coordinate activities. The increase in efficiency makes the organisation to meet customers requirements faster. All these result in widespread utilization of knowledge in the organisation. It helps in creating and making available high quality of information. The information system using intranet and internet solutions carry on their regular activities on line.

Q.2

Describe in brief the various aspects of programme management?

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Answer : When we consider the portfolio of projects as a programme, there are many aspects of the management that we need to consider closely. The main considerations will be on resources, risks, quality of the projects at every stage of the execution in terms of meeting the expectations of the client as per the contract and monitoring the change processes that get enmeshed during implementation. Let us look at each specific in detail a) Risk Management: Evaluating and mitigating the risks associated with the programme is very important. This may have impact on the planned changes to the business operations. b) Process: Process governing the delivery of the project should be well defined. They should ensure that the quality and purposes are fully met. c) Change Management: We saw in earlier chapters that change is a part of any project and hence a programme as well. This deals with keeping a track of the changes and developments external to the project environment and studying their impact on the programme. d) Personnel Management: Human resource is one of the most important resources in programme management. We need to ensure that people are adequately trained and placed at the right place. This is essential to ensure on schedule and smooth delivery of the projects. e) Support Services: We need to ensure that the support services like human resources and IT are able to adapt to the changes that take place in the projects as well as business operations as a whole.

Q.3

Compare the following: a. Traditional Vs. Projectised Organization b. Reengineering Vs. E-engineering

Comparison between traditional and projectised organisation Traditional organizations Projectised organizations They have the formal organisation They have teams comprising members structure, with departments, functions, who are responsible for completing one sections having a hierarchy of entire deliverable product. managers and their assistants. All of the managers function on a The teams will have all the resources continuous basis catering to a series of required to finish the jobs. requirements issued by the planning department. An assembly of various units of their production forms a products and a variety of such products make up the business of the company. No particular member or a department or a team is responsible for the completion of any particular product. Their creativity and innovation is in particular respect of their jobs. They have a time schedule within which all the elements of the projects have to be completed. There is greater accountability among team members and everyone is responsible for the delivery.

Most of the members do not get It is found that a sense of ownership of exposed to other areas of operations in the project motivates team members to the organisation. They become be creative, cooperative among them to specialists and insular. achieve high productivity. Reengineering Vs. E-engineering Reengineering: This is a process by which managers redesign a bundle of tasks into roles and functions so that organisational effectiveness is achieved. By doing so dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance like cost, quality and service are expected. There will be a radical rethink about the business processes adopted.

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A business process may be of any activity like inventory control, product design, orders processing, and delivery systems. No reference is taken to the existing process and an entirely new process is adopted. The following rules for reengineering are effective: Make changes with the outcome in mind not the tasks that result in them. Make the users of the results of the process effect the change. Let the people on the spot decide on the solution decentralise. E-Engineering: The term E-Engineering refers to the attempts of companies to make use of all kinds of information systems, to make their functions efficient. New information systems are installed for conducting all business processes in the organisation. The use of electronic communication within the organisation enables frequent interactions between employees and results in better communication. Typically meetings require their presence, but with teleconferencing a lot of time and money is saved. Data have repositories which are accessible, transferable and updatable instantly and used by all concerned. Cross-functional workflows make it easier to coordinate activities. The increase in efficiency makes the organisation meet customers requirements faster. All these result in widespread utilisation of knowledge in the organisation. It helps in creating and making available high quality of information. The information system also comprises of intranet and internet solutions to carry on their regular activities online.

Q.4

List out the macro issues in project management and explain each.

Answer : Macro Issues in project management: Evolving Key Success Factors (KSF) Upfront: In order to provide complete stability to fulfilment of goals, a project manager needs to constantly evaluate the key success factors from time to time. While doing so, he needs to keep the following aspects of KSFs in mind: The KSF should be evolved based on a basic consensus document (BCD). KSF will also provide an input to effective exit strategy (EES). Exit here does not mean exit from the project but from any of the drilled down elemental activities which may prove to be hurdles rather than contributors. Broad level of KSF should be available at the conceptual stage and should be firmed up and detailed out during the planning stage. The easiest way would be for the team to evaluate each step for chances of success on a scale of ten. KSF should be available to the management duly approved by the project manager before execution and control stages. KSF rides above normal consideration of time and cost at the levels encompassing client expectation and management perception time and cost come into play as subservient to these major goals. Empowerment Title (ET): ET reflects the relative importance of members of the organisation at three levels: Team members are empowered to work within limits of their respective allocated responsibilities. The major change from bureaucratic systems is an expectation from these members to innovate and contribute to time and cost. Group leaders are empowered additionally to act independently towards client expectation and are also vested with some limited financial powers. Managers are empowered further to act independently but to maintain a scientific balance among time, cost, expectation and perception, apart from being a virtual advisor to the top management. Partnering Decision Making (PDM): PDM is a substitute to monitoring and control. A senior with a better decision making process will work closely with the project managers as well as members to plan what best can be done to manage the future better from past experience. The key here is the

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active participation of members in the decision making process. The ownership is distributed among all irrespective of levels the term equally should be avoided here since ownership is not quantifiable. The right feeling of ownership is important. This step is most difficult since junior members have to respond and resist being pushed through sheer innovation and performance this is how future leaders would emerge. The PDM process is made scientific through: Earned value management system (EVMS) Budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) Budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) Actual cost of work performed (ACWP) Management by Exception (MBE): No news is good news. If a member wants help he or she locates a source and proposes to the manager only if such help is not accessible for free. Similarly, a member should believe that a team leaders silence is a sign of approval and should not provoke comments through excessive seeking of opinions. In short leave people alone and let situation perform the demanding act. The bend limit of MBE can be evolved depending on the sensitivity of the nature and size of the project. MBE provides and facilitates better implementation of effectiveness of empowerment titles. MBE is more important since organisations are moving toward multi-skilled functioning even at junior most levels.

Q.5

Describe the various steps in risk management listed below: a. Risk Identification b. Risk Analysis c. Risk Management Planning d. Risk Review

Answer : Risk Identification Risk identification occurs at each stage of the project life cycle. To identify risks, we must first define risk. As defined earlier, risks are potential problems, ones that are not guaranteed to occur. When people begin performing risk identification they often start by listing known problems. Known problems are not risks. During risk identification, you might notice some known problems. If so, just move them to a problem list and concentrate on future potential problems. As projects evolve through project development so too does the risk profile. Project knowledge and understanding keep growing, hence previously identified risks may change and new risks identified throughout the life of the project. Here we will discuss various tools and techniques available for risk identification. The best and most common methodology for risk identification is done using a brainstorming session. The brainstorm typically takes 15-30 minutes. You have to be sure to invite anyone who can help the team think of risks. Invite the project team, customer, people who have been on similar projects, and experts in the subject area of the project. Involving all stakeholders is very important. Limit the group size to nine people. In the brainstorming session, participants discuss out potential problems that they think could harm the project. New ideas are generated based on the items on the brainstorm list. A project manager can also use the process to refer to a database of risk obtained from past. Here, prior experience and learning from past project plays a very important role. The information obtained from such databases can help the project manager to evaluate and assess the nature of the risk and its impact on the project. Also to a great extent the judgment of the project manager based upon his past experience comes very handy in dealing with risks. Risk Analysis

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The first step in risk analysis is to make each risk item more specific. Risks such as, Lack of management buy-in, and people might leave, are a little ambiguous. In these cases the group might decide to split the risk into smaller specific risks, such as, manager decides that the project is not beneficial, Database expert might leave, and Webmaster might get pulled off the project. The next step is to set priorities and determine where to focus risk mitigation efforts. Some of the identified risks are unlikely to occur, and others might not be serious enough to worry about. Paretos law studied earlier applies here. During the analysis, discuss with the team members each risk item to understand how devastating it would be if it did occur, and how likely it is to occur. This way you can gauge the probability of occurrence and the impact created. To determine the priority of each risk item, calculate the product of the two values, likelihood and impact. This priority scheme helps push the big risks to the top of the list, and the small risks to the bottom. It is a usual practice to analyse risk either by sensitivity analysis or by probabilistic analysis. Sensitivity Analysis: In sensitivity analysis, a study is done to analyse the changes in the variable values because of a change in one or more of the decision criteria. Probabilistic Analysis: In the probability analysis, the frequency of a particular event occurring is determined, based on which its average weighted average value is calculated. Each outcome of an event resulting in a risk situation in a risk analysis process is expressed as a probability. Risk analysis can be performed by calculating the expected value of each alternative and selecting the best alternative. Now that the group has assigned a priority to each risk, it is ready to select the items to manage. Some projects select a subset to take action upon, while others choose to work on all of the items. Risk Management Planning After analysing and prioritising, the focus comes on management of the identified risks. In order to maximise the benefits of project risk management, you must incorporate the project risk management activities into our project management plan and work activities. There are two things you can do to manage risk. The first is to take action to reduce (or partially reduce) the likelihood of the risk occurring. For example, some project that work on process improvement make their deadlines earlier and increases their efforts to minimise the likelihood of team members being pulled off the project due to changing organisational priorities. In a software product, a critical feature might be developed first and tested early. Second, you can take action to reduce the impact if the risk does occur. Sometimes this is an action taken prior to the crisis, such as the creation of a simulator to use for testing if the hardware is late. At other times, it is a simple backup plan, such as running a night shift to share hardware. For the potential loss of a key person, for example, you might do two things. You may plan to reduce the impact by making sure other people become familiar with that persons work, or reduce the likelihood of attrition by giving the person a raise, or by providing extra benefits. Review Risks After you have implemented response actions, you must track and record their effectiveness and any changes to the project risk profile. You need to review the risks periodically so that you can check how well mitigation is progressing. You can also see if the risk priorities need to change, or if new risks have been discovered. In such case, you might decide to rerun the complete risk process if significant changes have occurred on the project. Significant changes might include the addition of new features, the changing of the target platform, or a change in project team members. Many people incorporate risk review into other regularly scheduled project reviews. In summary, risk management is the planning to potential problems, and the management of actions taken related to those problems.

Q.6

ABC Company implements got a very big project and they decided to allot the

same to a new project manager, who joined the company recently. In order to execute the project successfully, what are the various phases in which the project lifecycle

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should be divided.
Analysis and Evaluation Phase It starts with receiving a request to analyse the problem from the customer. The project manager conducts the analysis of the problem and submits a detailed report to the top management. The report should consist of what the problem is, ways of solving the problem, the objectives to be achieved, and the success rate of achieving the goal. Marketing Phase A project proposal is prepared by a group of people including the project manager. This proposal has to contain the strategies adopted to market the product to the customers. Design Phase Based on the inputs received in the form of project feasibility study, preliminary project evaluation, project proposal and customer interviews, following outputs are produced: System design specification Program functional specification Program design specification Project plan Inspecting, Testing and Delivery Phase During this phase, the project team works under the guidance of the project manager. The project manager has to ensure that the team working under him implements the project designs accurately. The project has to be tracked or monitored through its cost, manpower and schedule. The tasks involved in these phases are: Managing the customer Marketing the future work Performing quality control work Post Completion Analysis Phase After delivery or completion of the project, the staff performance has to be evaluated. The tasks involved in this phase are: Documenting the lessons learnt from the project Analysing project feedback Preparing project execution report Analysing the problems encountered during the project

Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester 2

Fall 2011

Project Management MB0049 - 4 Credits

(Book ID: B1138)

Assignment Set- 2 (60 Marks) Note: Each question carries 10 Marks. Answer all the questions.
Q.1 Write a short note on the following: a. Work Breakdown Structure b. Estimation Approach
Answer: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The entire process of a project may be considered to be made up on number of sub process placed in different stage called the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). WBS is the technique to analyses the content of work and cost by breaking it down into its component parts. Project key stages form the highest level of the WBS, which is then used to show the details at the lower levels of the project. Each key stage comprises many tasks identified at the start of planning and later this list will have to be validated. WBS is produced by identifying the key elements, breaking each element down into component parts and continuing to breakdown until manageable work packages have been identified. These can then be allocated to the appropriate person. The WBS does not show dependencies other than a grouping under the key stages. It is not time based there is no timescale on the drawing. The work breakdown structure has a number of benefits in addition to defining and organizing the project work. A project budget can be allocated to the top levels of the work breakdown structure, and department budgets can be quickly calculated based on the each projects work breakdown structure. By allocating time and cost estimates to specific sections of the work breakdown structure, a project schedule and budget can be quickly developed. As the project executes, specific sections of the work breakdown structure can be tracked to identify project cost performance and identify issues and problem areas in the project organization. Project work breakdown structures can also be used to identify potential risks in a given project. If a work breakdown structure has a branch that is not well defined then it represents a scope definition risk. These risks should be tracked in a project log and reviewed as the project executes. By integrating the work breakdown structure with an organization breakdown structure, the project manager can also identify communication points and formulate a communication plan across the project organization. When a project is falling behind, referring the work breakdown structure will quickly identify the major deliverables impacted by a failing work package or late sub- deliverable. The work breakdown structure can also be color coded to represent sub- deliverable status. Assigning colors of red for late, yellow for at risk, green for on-target, and blue for completed deliverables is an effective way to produce a heat-map of project progress and draw managements attention to key areas of the work breakdown structure. The following guidelines should be considered when creating a work breakdown structure: The top level represents the final deliverable or project Sub-deliverables contain work packages that are assigned to a organizations department or unit All elements of the work breakdown structure dont need to be defined to the same level The work package defines the work, duration, and costs for the tasks required to produce the sub-deliverable Work packages should not exceed 10 days of duration

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Work packages should be independent of other work packages in the work breakdown structure Work packages are unique and should not be duplicated across the work breakdown structure

Estimation Approach Estimation is the process of predicting the most realistic use of effort required to develop or maintain projects based on incomplete, uncertain and/or noisy input. Effort estimates may be used as input to project plans, iteration plans, budgets, and investment analyses, pricing processes and bidding rounds. There are two types of estimation approaches:1. Bottom up approach The bottom up approach consists of the following steps. i) Project manager first divides the product under development into major modules. ii) Each module is subdivided into smaller units. iii) Project manager defines a standard for manufacturing and self-testing by Identifying modules in the system and classifying them as simple, medium or complex Using either the provided standard definitions or definitions from past projects as much as possible Getting the average build effort for simple/medium/complex (S/M/C) programs from the baseline if a project specific baseline exists 1. Top down Approach The top down approach consists of the following steps. i) Getting the estimate of the total size of the product in function points ii) Fixing the productivity level for the project using the productivity data from the project specific capability baseline from the general process capability baseline, or from similar projects iii) Obtaining the overall effort estimate from the productivity and size estimates iv) Using effort distribution data from the process capability baselines or similar projects to estimate the effort for the various phases v) Refining the estimates taking project specific factors into consideration Estimation Tools a. Algorithmic model It consists of one or more algorithms that produce an effort estimate as a function of a number of variables or cost drivers. b. Expert judgment It relies on one or more people who are considered experts in some Endeavour related to the problem at hand. For example, it can be a software application or effort estimation. c. Analogy It refers to the comparison of the proposed project to completed projects of a similar nature whose costs are known. The organizations process database is a source for historical cost data. d. Top down An overall cost estimate for the project is derived from global properties of the product. This estimate will usually be based on the previous projects and will include the costs of all functions in a project like integration, documentation, and quality assurance and configuration management. e. Bottom-up Each component of the software product is separately estimated and the results aggregated to produce an estimate for the overall job. f. Automated estimation models A number of computerized models are available which estimate cost and schedule from user inputs of size and environmental cost factors. Most of these are algorithmic models that use components as the measure of size.

Q.2

List and define in Brief all the tools for Post Implementation Review

Answer: Tools for Post Implementation Review Completing a project is not the same thing as ending the project management process. Simply finishing doesnt ensure that the organization benefits from the projects outcome.

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For example, after completing a yearlong project to establish a new quality management process for your organization, you want to make sure that what you set out to do was actually achieved. Your objective wasnt to simply deliver a process but rather, to deliver the process that addresses the specific business need you intended to meet. This is the real measure of success. To make the most of the benefits that the project can deliver, however, you also need to check to see if further improvements will deliver still greater benefit. You also need to ensure that the lessons learned during the project are not forgotten. You can more effectively design and execute future projects when you take advantage of lessons learned through experience of previous projects. So how can you properly measure a projects success, and work toward continuous improvement? This is where the process of Post-Implementation Review (PIR) is helpful. It helps you answer the following key questions: Did the project fully solve the problem that it was designed to address? Can we take things further, and deliver even bigger benefits? What lessons did we learn that we can apply to future projects? The key to a successful PIR is recognizing that the time spent on the project is just a small part of an ongoing time-line. For people and organizations that will be working on similar projects in the future, it makes sense to learn as many lessons as possible, so that mistakes are not repeated in future projects. And for organizations benefiting from the project, it makes sense to ensure that all desired benefits have been realized, and to understand what additional benefits can be achieved. A good time to start thinking about the Post Implementation Review is when members of the project team remember the most shortly after the project has been delivered, and when most of the problems have been ironed-out. Start to list ideas and observations while they are still fresh in peoples minds. However, to adequately assess the quality of the implementation and complete this process, youll need to wait long enough for the changes caused by the project to truly take effect. Here are some tips for conducting the PIR: Ask for openness Emphasize the importance of being open and honest in your assessment, and make sure that people arent in any way punished for being open. Be objective Describe what has happened in objective terms, and then focus on improvements. Document success Document practices and procedures that led to project successes, and make recommendations for applying them to similar future projects. Look with hindsight Pay attention to the unknowns (now known!) that may have increased implementation risks. Develop a way of looking out for these in future projects. Be future-focused Remember, the purpose is to focus on the future, not to assign blame for what happened in the past. This is not the time to focus on any one person or team. Look at both positives and negatives Identify positive as well as negative lessons. There are various tools for post project implementation review that may be considered for improving and developing processes of the project. Reports are prepared on the same which becomes the basis for all future discussion. Some of the tools that may be considered for post implementation review are a) Final Product Evaluation: This may be done through regularly organized meetings and quality reviews. b) Outstanding Project Work Evaluation: All outstanding works of a project can be reviewed to check its output quality, its performance compared to planned and evaluate the same. c) Project Review: Review questionnaire may become important if the reviews are to be structured and group discussion may be initiated depending upon the points to be discussed. d) Process Evaluation: Evaluation of any process is one of the key issues of the project

Q.3

Define the Basic categories of performance management.

Answer: Performance Management categories

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The professional manager not only ensures that his performance is at peak all times, but motivates his entire team to perform the same. This comes by appreciation and encouragement. In case of shortfalls, he arranges training for them so that their performance improves. Thus the team members know that they are expected to perform, that they get help to do so and their effort is recognized and rewarded too. This is the simple path of performance management. Managers can follow a seven step performance management model are:1. Set Objectives/Performance Standards 2. Communicate these to the employees 3. Review/monitor 4. Check actual performance Vs. Standards set 5. Identify gaps 6. Jointly decide on corrective action, if needed 7. Reset objectives for next period h) Identification with the organization i) Empowering employees j) Coping with changes Basic categories of performance measurements include measures of efforts, measures of accomplishments and measures that relate efforts to accomplishments Basic categories of performance management are a) Measures of efforts: Efforts are the amount of financial and non-financial resources (in terms of money, material) that are put into a program or process. b) Measures of accomplishments: Accomplishments measures report what was provided and achieved with the resources used. There are two types of measures of accomplishments outputs and outcomes. Outputs measure the quantity of services provided; outcomes measure the results of providing those outputs. c) Measures that relate efforts to accomplishments: These are efficiency measures that relate efforts to outputs of products or services. They also measure the resources used or cost (for example, in rupees, employee-hours, or equipment used) per unit of output. They provide information about the production of an output at a given level of resource used and demonstrate an entitys relative efficiency when compared with previous results, internally established goals and objectives.

Q.4

Write a short note on the following: a. Professional Responsibility b. Business Orientation

c.

Personnel Productivity

d. Conflict Management,

e.
f.

g.

Answer: -a. Professional Responsibility With increasing competition, organizations have to finds new ways of customer retention and adopt innovative measures to increase their customer base. However, one common requirement is productivity improvement. Professional responsibility is very much expected by customers. They want to ensure that the project managers and executives take the baseline responsibility and follow all the codes of conduct. Managerial and executive productivity are measured with respect to zero defects and overall team

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performance. Installing Development Methodologies and Quality Systems is the responsibility of managers. h. Another area of Professional Responsibility for managers is reduction in process cycle time. This is defined as the total time taken to complete an entire single process. It is also termed as turnaround time. A few examples of high cycle time activities are: i. a) Procurement Time: This is for outsourced software and hardware. There are multiple factors which go into a procurement process. Activities like identification of the requirements, their details, verification and authorization, inputs from the company, the start of the activities by the vendors are all parts of this process. Due to extreme dependencies on various parties, procurement cycle has a high turnaround time j. b) Processing Time: This refers to the time lag which goes into and between each of the processes mentioned above. k. c) Order Confirmation Time: This refers to the time taken by the company as well as the vendors to take a final call on a particular discussion. l. b. Business Orientation m. Business Orientations is a term used by Jaroslav Tyc in his book Business Orientations published at www.LuLu.com. n. Business Orientation is the basic offer addressed by a business to its customers. o. The author affirms that there can only be four basic forms of such an offer: p. 1) The Expert (who provides individual solution for his clients) q. 2) The Product (product makers invention sold on the general market) r. 3) The Self-Service (an access to the self-satisfaction of customers needs) s. 4) The Commodity (the basic resources) t. The main point is that any other Business Orientation is just a mix of these 4 basic forms. Likewise all the mathematical calculations are based on only four basic mathematical operations. u. The author compares the 4 Business Orientations from many various standpoints and shows how the 4 Business Orientations are revealed in economic history, business competition, development of economy sectors and management decisions. v. He also shows how the quartet of Business Orientations corresponds to other basic category quartets like 4 mathematical operations, 4 types of markets, 4 forms of business environment protection etc. w. c. Personnel Productivity x. Personnel productivity is an important parameter which determines project performance. Personnel productivity can be at various levels right from top management to a project team member. y. Productivity at the junior level can be assumed and controlled only if all other supporting elements of business are well balanced. Higher productivity cannot be expected if they are not motivated enough. The ways in which you can boost their productivity is given below. They can be motivated through: z. a) Sufficient content of development activities. The work should be interesting and challenging enough. It should bring a sense of satisfaction and achievement. aa. b) Favorable working condition. Productivity decreases if the environment is not supportive. The environmental conditions should make one feel comfortable to stay at the workplace bb. c) Proper delegation of activities. It is important to have a clear line of authority and balanced delegation of work.

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cc.

d) Timely reward and recognition. Acknowledging a good task or work always boost morale of the resource. dd. e) Adequate availability of resources. If adequate resources are not present, it would lead to frustration and finally loss of focus and commitment. ee. f) Properly planned system of quality control and process control. If the process is not supportive and flexible, even the best efforts will not be enough to get tolerable quality. ff. g) Adequate maintenance support for hardware and software. These ensure that no work gets held up on this account efficiencies bring in productivity and time lag decreases it. gg. As far as productivity as well as quality is concerned, especially where projects are concerned, it is good to follow Demings philosophy, which states create conditions for performance, do not use rhetoric, pay him well and give the pride of working. hh. d. Conflict Management ii. Conflict management involves implementing strategies to limit the negative aspects of conflict and to increase the positive aspects of conflict at a level equal to or higher than where the conflict is taking place. jj. It is possible to manage conflicts in one of the following ways kk. a. Avoid the issue ll. b. Approach the problem in such a way as to obtain the solution quickly mm. c. Discuss and share the problem nn. d. Resolve any misunderstanding by means of a discussion among project members oo. e. Work on a common solution technique that will lead to a win win situation pp. f. Emphasize on collaboration

Q.5

Comment on the following a. Importance of DMAIS in project management cycle b. Knowledge areas of project management

Answer: Importance of DMAIS in a Project Management Cycle Project managers consider the five steps DMAIS as generic for any system of a journey towards excellence. Figure 9.2 lists the five steps hidden in the acronym DMAIS. DMAIS is highly relevant in Project Management for the simple reason that each step gives out in detail the actions to be taken to ensure readiness for the next step. Verification of DMAIS implementation is possible with checklists which can be prepared and used by employees at all levels. The team members can be given training to follow them. Five steps of DMAIS. 1. Define This step requires that what is sought to be achieved is identified in all its detail. The following are the inputs which will define what we are going to make: a. Benchmark: It refers to the standards achieved by the best in the industry. A companys product is set to meet them. b. Customer Requirement: It refers to the documentation of customer requirements. Proper understanding of customer requirement is of utmost importance. You should deliver what a customer requires. c. Process Flow Map: It shows the activities that take place to result in the product at the end of them.

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d. Quality Function Deployment This tool compares the quality characteristics in a companys product with those in their competitors and their relative importance to the customer. To achieve them, you find the technical specifications you have to incorporate in our product. e. Project Management Plan This includes the materials, men, activities, schedules, milestones and so on. 2. Measure In this step, we measure the outcomes of the activities. This is done using the following methods. a. Data collection You need to collect the data about the work that is done and compare as to how it corresponds with what is required b. Defect Metrics You need to capture the deviations that are in the effective potion of the work in defect metrics. Then you need to decide whether they are acceptable or need rectification. c. Sampling If the volumes are high, you need to select a few of them and inspect them to see whether the entire batch is acceptable 3. Analyze In this step, you have to analyze the data received from the preceding step by using the following tools: a. Cause and Effect Diagrams also called Fishbone Diagrams b. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis FMEA c. Root Cause Analysis d. Reliability Analysis 4. Improve In this step, you have to implement the measures to remove the defects found earlier for improving the process. This can be done using the following measures. a. Design of Experiments The effect of changing values of parameters is done in a controlled way. This allows you to experimentally determine the effect of variations determined. You can use the results for optimizing the process b. Robust Design The equipment design is made robust to reduce the variations. c. Tolerances The permitted deviations are made closer, so that the capability of process is increased 5. Standardize When improvements have become consistent, the methods adopted are standardized. Knowledge areas of project management There are nine knowledge areas consisting of integration, scope, time, cost, quality, risk, human resources, communications, and procurement. These areas group 44 Project Management Processes. All of the knowledge areas are interrelated and each should be taken care of during project planning Following are 9 project management knowledge areas. 1. Project Integration Management: Deals with processes that integrate different aspects of project management. 2. Project Scope Management: Deals with processes that are responsible for controlling project scope. 3. Project Time Management: Deals with processes concerning the time constraints of the project. 4. Project Cost Management: Deals with processes concerning the cost constrains of the project. 5. Project Quality Management: Deals with the processes that assure that the project meets its quality obligations. 6. Project Human Resources Management: Deals with the processes related to obtaining and managing the project team. 7. Project Communication Management: Deals with the processes concerning communication mechanisms of a project. 8. Project Risk Management: Deals with the processes concerned with project risk management. 9. Project Procurement Management: Deals with processes related to obtaining products and services needed to complete a project.

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In total, there are 44 processes involved in Project Management. These are mapped to one of nine Project Management Knowledge Areas.

Q.6

What are the various SCMo soft wares available in project management? Explain

each in brief.
Answer: Supply Chain Monitoring (SCMo) It is possible today to establish a monitoring system aligned with an organisations supply chain. Supply Chain Monitoring (SCMo) can be an add-on to existing ERP systems. SCMo makes it more efficient to master difficult to manage supply networks. Supply Chain Monitoring (SCMo) is an important building block for build-to-order and short time to delivery goals. SCMo makes it more efficient to master difficult to manage supply networks because it allows: a) Smooth and secure supply with minimal safety inventories b) Increased speed and flexibility of supply networks c) Reduction of non value adding cost (trouble shooting, administrative effort to Manage and control material flow, etc.) d) Reduction of premium freight e) Avoidance of scrap due to obsolescence (e.g. in case of engineering changes, end of production) f) Best practice approach from experts of the automotive industry g) Clear roadmap for software providers, marketplaces and deciders in the Automotive industry The intent of SCMo is to define the structure of the Documentation System, its content, the method of content generation and to attain common documentation of all standard processes of ODETTE. The documentation is valid for the SCM group of ODETTE. The Documentation System is intranet based to provide immediate access to current, up-to-date process documentation. The system allows users to navigate through graphical structures to relevant documentation and processes which were created with the ARIS-Toolset. There are various advantages of using such a documentation system. Supply chain monitoring can be divided in below levels Level 0: Work Package: Level 0 shows the work packages, which represent the different part projects. At present only the SCMo-processes are described in this documentation. Level 1: Process: On Level 1, the processes that belong to the work package on Level 0 are listed. They are not yet the specific processes, but rather self-contained process blocks. They represent a higher picture. Level 2: Sub-Process: In Level 2, the processes are graphically depicted in the form of process chains. The process chain-model itself can be opened via the assignment. Various SCMo softwares available in project management are a) Standard / Best Practices: Documentation system stores and presents standards and best processes to be adhered to across the industry. This also helps the organization to secure their correct applications. b) Central Repository: It also offers a central location of all processes and system related information. This includes customizing documentation to working guidelines. c) Adaptation: Adaptation is another unique objective achieved through documentation system. They allow flexible and quick adaptation in case of process changes or enhancement and provide the updated information immediately. d) Reference: It also provides easy and quick reference to the documents. They present the standard processes in the intranet, where users can look up the current processes whenever necessary. e) Availability: Process documentation system is available at every working location.