Tools and Techniques Used for a Project (for the Peters Company Project)
In order to initiate the scope verification procedure, specific attention should be given to the inspection process, particularly to the product review. Because the primary purpose of the project management lay in defining the correct material to be used in the rubber product delivery, the project manager should carry out a number of tests to review whether some of the tests were marginally acceptable. Constant product review, therefore, could allow both the project manager and the in-house representative to make the possible shifts to the project management plan. The product review can ensure appropriate communication, as well as define pitfalls at the first stage of the test accomplishment.
Applying Tools and Techniques for a Project
The product review should be carried out through quality audit and process analysis. These two aspects can be successful if both the project manager and the client use a transparent reporting system. With regard to the Peters Company order, specific emphasis should be placed on constant interaction and information exchange for the project team to be able to change the scope verification procedure at the early stages of testing (Corwin Corporation, n. d.). The main mistake of the Corwin Corporation lay in a failure to undertake the procedure due to the lack of personnel and efficient R & D managers who could have provided constant support (Project Management Institute, 2008).
This is of particular concern to proper documentation of the process. The point is not all members of the project realized the actual scope of the research and, as a result, Mr. West failed to cooperate and negotiate the results with the in-house representative. Lack of communication and inappropriate reporting was the main cornerstone in this situation. In addition, Mr. West should not have completed the test before the arrival of Mr. Ray who ignored the results. Alternatively, Dan West could also provide Mr. Ray with the necessary documentation concerning the initial results, as well as the steps that had already been taken to accept the situation. Miscommunication and ignorance on the part of the in-house representative also contributed to the reporting because most of the received test results were misinterpreted. In addition, Mr. Ray should have expressed more confidence in the project, as promised by Mr. Delia because the VP of marketing had been warned about the scarce capabilities of the Corwin Corporation in terms of their R&D strategies. In fact, their marketing orientation was another serious barrier to the project’s accomplishment.
Required Inputs and Others Tools Necessary to Improve the Project
In order to save the situation, both the project manager and the customer should have resorted to large-scale techniques. In particular, the company should apply to work breakdown structure, performance reports, change scope request, and scope management plan. To begin with, a work breakdown structure (WBS) should involve such aspects as planning, controlling, procurement, risk management, communication, design, and product development. With regard to the case under analysis, not all chains of the project were successfully overcome. This is of particular concern to the controlling, risk management, and communication because these stages became a serious obstacle to the Corwin Corporation. The first problem concerns human resources management, specifically the lack of talents and personnel to accomplish the project successfully.
Because the company managers were more focused on marketing-driven techniques, they lack people who are technologically competent for assembling new product lines. Second, the risk management strategies were not justified either because the budget failed to consider possible risks and failures. The contract terms, therefore, did not foresee any complications because of the full reliance on the lab workers’ competence and professionalism. As a result, the identification of raw materials led to significant financial losses on the part of the Peters Company. Finally, communication was another challenge for the parties concerned. In particular, the project manager lacked experience in making decisions and arranging meetings. He did not manage to inform regularly Mr. Ray about the changes and problems that a company faced. At the same time, Mr. Ray was less concerned with the problems that the company experienced, although he realized that the R & D department was the main weakness of the organization. In this respect, proper documentation, weekly reviews, and close-up meetings should have been implemented to eliminate the situation.
The performance report is an essential part of project management. In the case study, the Corwin Corporation should have applied a transparent reporting system to make sure that information delivered to the Peters Company’s VP marketing corresponds to the actual results, but not to the ones interpreted by the in-house representative. In this respect, specific attention should be given to high-quality software that would ensure efficient information exchange between the customer and the producer.
Dan West realized that the project procedures were not successful, but their lack of experience did not allow him to understand how contingencies could be managed within the established project scope. While introducing the change effect into the process, the focus should be made on the possibility of failure in defining the scope because of the pitfalls either in the telecommunication system or in the design.
Inconsistence in steps taken by the project team lied in failure to introduce the correction plan immediately after the main testing procedures. Therefore, much of the concerns are connected with a scope management plan, which was totally removed from the project procedures. Lack of assistance and research was also due to Corwin’s personnel ignoring the subsequent steps of checking the raw material.
Quality Control Performed before Scope Verification
Because the scope verification process implies formal acceptance of the procedures, the quality control must be performed because it relies more on the correctness and change of the results. The possibility of changing before acceptance is significant for preventing further possible risks. However, Dan West failed to use this possibility to rearrange the project immediately and reach a consensus with Mr. Ray. In this respect, before ordering materials, the project manager should have negotiated this with the in-house representative and the client directly to alleviate further inconsistencies and assure that future loss are due to the clients’ initiative, but not because of Corwin’s decision. During the monitoring process, the project team should have checked every deliverable to measure whether these materials correspond to the quality standards. It concerns both the product and the project stage. In case of any defect, the company should have enough ground to correct the problem.
Changing requests should also correlate with the quality of materials and products introduced into the project. The correction procedures should be predicted before the implementation stage for the stakeholders to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings. Because Corwin Corporation failed to do that, Dan West could not appeal to the accusations forced by the Peters Company. Finally, quality management is successful if all the quality principles have been applied, including human resource management, project planning, budgeting, and scheduling (Project Management Institute, 2008). However, the project manager did not have enough experience in handling external projects and, as a result, not all of the above-enumerated principles were efficiently introduced. In particular, West failed to introduce efficient cost management because no predictions had been made about the potential risks and failure during the testing procedures. Therefore, if the company worked on a new rubber product, it should introduce new quality products tested and verified by experts in the field.
Alternative Roots of Improving the Scope Verification Procedure
Scope verification procedure could be carried out by means of decomposition. For instance, Dan West should divide the overall project steps into smaller components until all the deliverables are defined in enough detail to promote future project activities, including planning, controlling, executing, and closing (Project Management Institute, 2008). In this respect, Dan West should, first of all, define the main components of the project. Second, the project management must estimate the approximate costs and duration of the project. Third, the variables should be pointed out in terms of constituents to promote performance management. The verification process is also revealed through the work accomplished. The results are checked and monitored through status reporting and weak reviews. With regard to the above-presented control systems, the Corwin Company should not resort to the fourth and the fifth testing procedures until the previous results receive the first three results.
Algorithm for Introducing a Different Process to Obtain Formal Acceptance
In order to obtain formal acceptance, specification/requirements forms should be introduced from the Peters Company to defend Corwin Corporation from possible financial losses. In particular, the specification form can contain the list of raw materials that should be approved by the client and confirmed in the agreement. The agreement should also discuss in detail the technical description of the future products. The case fails to mention the specifications and requirements of the product, which complicated the project implementation procedure. What is more important is that Dan West should have had open access to the product documentation delivered to the marketing vice-president to make sure that the report rendered accurate and adequate data about the testing procedures.
The project sponsors must be aware of the product specification because it will serve as a powerful incentive for them to invest money into the project accomplishment (Project Management Institute, 2008). With regard to the case, Corwin Corporation failed to inform the Peters Company about the first testing results, which contradicts the established requirements of the agreement. In addition, the company should have provided a review of the results immediately to the client. Second, the company members should conduct research on the validity of the results to define whether the R & D department is able to introduce new product lines with no shifts made to their structure and marketing ideology. Overall, the entire process of scope verification procedure depends largely on the quality of the project planning and communication. The case brightly illustrates the problems and inconsistencies that are not acceptable for successful accomplishment.
References
Corwin Corporation. (n. d.). Case Study. pp. 141-152.
Project Management Institute. (2008). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. US: Project Management Institute.