TASK 1:

1.1. What Is A Project?

A project involves a single, definable purpose, end item or result, usually specified in terms of
cost, schedule and performance requirements. (John .M. Nicholas; Project Management for
Business and Technology; Second Edition; 2009; Pearson Education, Inc; Pearson Prentice
Hall)
What is Project Management?
The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet
or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project (Project Management Body of
Knowledge, 2004:8)
Project Management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of company
resources of relatively short-term objectives that has been established to complete specific goals
and objectives. (Harold Kerzner; Project Management; 2
nd
Edition; 2004)
Project Management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of company
resources of relatively short-term objectives that has been established to complete specific goals
and objectives. (Harold Kerzner; Project Management; 2nd Edition; 2004)
A Projects Background
A Projects Background is a formal document containing a vulgar description of what is
required to be executed inside the project, what essentials for the venture are, and how to make
the normal standard of employment. The document is to be made prior to the execution process
to create a base for further goal setting and implementation
(http://www.mymanagementguide.com/project-background/)

Setting of the Waduge Woodworking Company and the Project Background
The Wood working Company is a family-owned, small-to-medium-sized company.
That produced custom furniture and cabinet making company, with head-office and a spacious
plant site at Industrial Estates, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. It was begun in 1974 by Mr. Chaminda
Waduge. He and his wife moved to their present location in 1979. Its Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer is Chaminda Waduge now in his late-sixties. His wife Mrs. Soma Waduge
Over the long time they had a good reputation among the customers and the doers. The
fellowship is mostly recognized as "Wadoo's" Chaminda, The Company quickly won a
reputation for attractively designed and well constructed furniture, using imported hardwoods
and indigenous softwoods for its merchandise. Its produces custom furniture to order, various
lines of furniture for wholesaler/retailers, and a number of variations of standard kitchen and
bathroom cabinets, including units made to ordain. Over the years the Chamindas business
continued to prosper and built up a loyal staff and workforce.
More recently their son, Namal Waduge, has linked the company's management, after the
Namal Wedges insistence, lured by longer production runs and higher and more consistent
markups, the company has embarked on a project to subcontract work supplying and installing
countertops, storage lockers and similar fixtures for new commercial construction.
Wadoo's Corporate Profile
Head Office: Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Business: Furniture manufacturing, custom Millwork, and hardwood importer; privately held;
number of employees approx. 850. Major Shareholder: Soma Waduge Holdings Ltd. At
December 31, 2013, total assets were Rs. 181,000,000. In fiscal 2013, sales were Rs.
93,250,000 with net earnings of Rs. 6,540,000.
In general within the region the above project they accept to deal with bellow project
management principals.
Although projects can be very different in nature, there are some general rules and procedures
that can be given to most tasks. Different instruments and techniques are employed to help
project directors and squad members carry out these processes accurately and effectively.

The three constraints in the project management triangle are time, cost and scope (sometimes
quality). An understanding of the constraints in the project management triangle (cost, time and
scope) can help all managers to implement change in business.











Figure 1. Project Management Triangle Are Time, Cost And Scope

Time constraint (schedule)
Time is the most difficult constraint to control in a project as deadlines are usually ensured
efficient working and often the required resources are not available when needed .All the
activities in a project take time and each activity can take a shorter or longer amount of time
depending on factors such as the experience of the personnel completing the task, the number of
people working on the task and the availability of workers in the given time period.
Cost constraint
All projects have finite resources available that are measured in terms of cost. There is a limited
budget and the project manager must plan how to spend the budget on the resources needed to
complete the project. Reducing the cost of a project will have an effect at the time the project
will take and changing the time available to a project will impact the cost of the project.
Project scope constraint
The scope defines the expected deliverables of the project. The project manager has to manage
the scope of a project as any change in scope will impact both cost and time. If more items are
added to the scope, then both time and cost may increase, and even a subtle change in the scope
can have noticeable impacts, because of which change control is vital to project success.
The following principles have to be considered for the project management for the Waduge
Woodworking Company.
Business justification: every project should contribute to a worthwhile return on investment. In
other words, we need to understand the benefits that a particular project will bring, before
committing ourselves to any significant expenditure.
Set roles and responsibilities: everybody working on the project needs to interpret the nature of
their involvement: for what is each person responsible, and to whom are they accountable.
Manage by exception: project sponsors should avoid becoming overly bogged down in the daily
running of projects and instead let the project director to centralize on this field.
Focus on products: it is vital that clients and customers think carefully about the merchandise,
or deliverables, they command, before the project starts.

1.2 Assess the viability of the project, Develop success/failure criteria matrix
The project validity study can determine the chance of project success. The procedure is
guaranteed before the actual project starts and it is primarily used by the project director and the
management team to determine whether a particular project worth it or not. Granting to the
Washington State of Information Services (Holtzman, J. (1999),


The validity of the Waduge Woodworking Company is as follows:
Streamline the creation of the validation study in order to add value to the decision-making
process based on the results of agency planning and design efforts.
Introduce the concept of time value of money by incorporating Net Present Value, Internal
Rate of Return, and Breakeven Analysis financial measures in the suggested format of the
Cost/Benefit Analysis.
Provide formats for clear and concise, cost and benefit rationale to assist in the investment
evaluation process.
There are two elements of project success:
Success criteriaHow we will judge the project to be successful.
Success factorsthe elements of the project we can influence to increase the chance
of success.
Different stakeholders judge the project to be successful in different ways. It is important
To achieve a balance of those different criteria, meeting the needs of the different
Stakeholders.
The Critical Success Factor is the agent or an activity needed for guaranteeing the success of
your business, whereas failure results, where the project is not up to ones prospects.
Whatever its size, a projects success is founded on three primary criteria as established aside the
following triangle:
Outcome




Time Budget
Figure 2. (ProjectMinds Quick Guide to Project Management By Manjeet Singh)

According to my analysis the success criteria for the Wadoo's Corporate overall project is
increasing the production of the factory and the client satisfaction adding capacities to the different
departments and new manufacturing. Also, they have built up a loyal staff and workforce with
completion of deadlines met and the teammates delegating and doing the tasks well, completing
at the appropriate time by using subcontract work supplying. However the failure of the
company is the net earnings are low; according to the sales thus product quality will be less
because of the subcontract work.

These are some success and failure criteria

Major Causes of Project Failure Major Causes of Project Success

The project is a solution in search of a problem Stakeholders are identified
But the task team is interested in the outcome Stakeholders expectations are recognized and
touched
There is no project structure Management support
The project has insufficient budget and/or
resources
Goal and objectives are understood and
communicated
Lack of team communication Technically competent team
Effective (and committed) team
Table 1. Success and failure criteria (by author)




1.3 Basic Principles of project Management
Project management rules are most often well-read from practise, and they have world-wide
validity for all ventures. This is people own recognition how he/she might perform those. It is a
critical issue. Guideline Based Project Management starts with these measures

There are basically there are 7 principals in project Management
Project structure
Definition phase
Clear goals
Transparency about project status
Risk recognition
Managing project disturbances
Responsibility of the project manager
(Source: Article; 7 Basic Principles of Effective Management (Online) (Updated on 2014)

1) Project Structure: Project Structure, function is to define standards the team will utilize
during the project. These include communication standards, certification standards and change
control procedure standards, which has been explicated in detail in the second query.

2) Definition Phase: In project management there are 5 stages
The PMBOK5 categorizes project management processes into five groups. These categories are
known Project Management Process Groups.
Initiating Process Group:
o It is the initial time that the project goal is grounded
Planning Process Group:
o where the project manager creates a specific list of things that needs to move on in
parliamentary procedure to achieve the goals
Executing Process Group:
o The tertiary stage is execution phase where the plan is put into running condition
Monitoring and Controlling Process Group:
o Monitoring and checking where the project manager makes sure that the work is
going according to the project plan
Closing Process Group:
o where the project manager has to provide detailed summary reports of everything
and the amount of money spent during the project and how the information
matches with the original project design
4) Transparency on project status enables the task director to obtain a clean sight of the
progress.
5) Risk Recognition: Each project has lots of risks. A project manager should identify those
risks and evaluate them regularly.
6) Managing Project Disturbances: It is hard to place each individual risk that may occur in
project management. It is sufficient to distinguish the greatest dangers and develop specific
strategies to distract them.
7) Responsibility: means assigning the total responsibility for the success of a project. It
motivates as it represents a trust a management has into project manager.




1.4 The key elements of terminating a project and conducting the post-project appraisal.
Terminating a project is no less important than any other project activities. The process of
terminating a project is so critical that it can determine whether, ultimately, the project is
deemed a success or failure.

The Essential key Elements are
Assure that all payments have been collected from the customer
Assure that all payments for materials and subcontractors have been paid
Prepare a written performance evaluation of each member of the project team
Hold post-project evaluation meetings
Have individual meetings with team members and a group meeting with the project team
Hold soon after the finishing point
Individual meetings allow team members to give their individual impersonation
Develop a plan for a group meeting
Group meeting should talk about performance and recommendation for enhancement
Issue a brief written report to management with a summing up and recommendations