Project Management
A project initiates after the specification of a vision. For the National Institute for Vocational Education (NIVE) Campus Transformation Project, the main vision entails the construction of an excellent campus building to serve the organisation for decades to come. Thus, the organisation and planning of all activities that involve delivering of the project must be done around this main vision.
The planning phase for NIVE project needs to incorporate aspects such as budgeting, asset planning, risk examination and alleviation, forecast, and recruitment. From the context of PMBOK, cost management is a vital task in the facilitation of projects up to their completion within budgetary constraints (Duncan 39). Hence, cost budgeting constitutes an important aspect that has to be incorporated in the planning of the NIVE project. NIVE also requires the planning of resources such as materials for construction, human resource (staffing), and equipment.
NIVE project may encounter different types of hazards such as monetary risks, span risks, and failure to complete it within the set time constraints. Consequently, the planning phase requires the development of risk management strategies. Risk planning entails the identification and setting of strategies of responding to any probable risk in a project (Alexander and Sheedy 125). In case of NIVE, planning of risks is important to maximise the chances and consequences of achieving positive events while minimising the chances of experiencing adverse events.
Before the initiation of the execution process of the project, a project manager needs to organise the necessary human resource requirements. For NIVE project, a project manager has the duty of organising operations, logistics, and project administration. Organising operations entails the setting up of fabrications, engineering work, and construction resources that are necessary for the completion of the project so that it delivers the institution’s vision. While setting up the administration, a project manager needs to establish a taskforce for implementing the project. This team can comprise a project engineer, project-engineering coordinator, a construction manager, appointment of area superintendent, project accountant, cost estimator, supplies and purchase engineer, and a project controller.
Success/Failure Criteria for the Campus Transformation Project–NIVE
Completion of NIVE project in a manner that delivers its deliverables within the planned scope, irrespective of time or resources, may suggest success. However, from the project management perspective, failure to complete the project within the time and monetary resource allocation amounts to the failure of the project. This criterion is supported by previous failure of a project such as Sydney Opera House, which was planned to take four years of construction starting from 1959 at the cost of $7million. However, it was completed in 1973 at a cost of over $100 million. Project managers considered it a failure.
Procedures and Processes of Managing the Campus Transformation Project–NIVE
The success of a new project depends on the integration of human and material resources and a sound knowledge of project information support system. As the project manager for NIVE, I will manage it from an integrated approach by incorporating planning and evaluation of all aspects of areas of knowledge as enumerated in the PMBOK. For the case of NIVE project, I will incorporate three integral parts, namely plan development, execution of the plan, and an integrated change control. The plan development aims at coordinating and integrating various project plans to realise a coherent and a consistent temporary endeavour. Project plan execution entails “carrying out the project plans and performing the activities included there in” (Tolbert 59). Finally, the aspect of integrated control of project changes is the element of project integration management that aims at coordinating various changes throughout the entire project lifetime.
The case of the Victorian Desalination project best illustrates the integrated approach in managing NIVE project. The Victorian Desalination project involved financing and construction of a reverse osmosis desalination plant. Following the 2009 economic crunch, a myriad of change controls, especially on the issue of financing of the project, were adopted. The changes included the procurement of various alternatives for funding to cater for the increased costs of resources for the project and guaranteeing of debt funding. Indeed, managing the desalination project from an integrated approach fostered its completion in 2012 amid changes in budget and completion times. Just like in the case of Sydney Opera House or the Victorian Desalination project where the risk of late completion and getting out of budget were encountered, new integration formula must be sought for the NIVE project. It will be very expensive to abandon and/or terminate the project without the realisation of the vision of constructing an excellent campus building to serve the organisation for decades to come.
A Post Project Appraisal for the Campus Transformation Project–NIVE
Upon the completion of NIVE, post project appraisal must be conducted. This process involves a systematic and comprehensive review of the project’s financial, technical, environmental, and social implications in the effort to determine its capacity to deliver its objectives as enumerated in the planning phase (Cadle and Yeates 51). The NIVE project should be conducive for people who operate from inside in terms of air circulation and flow. Various facilities such as electrical designs should pass the standard tests as stated in the initial design parameters. The building should also be structurally fit. It should meet the parameters that were set in the structural design. Where change in the financial allocation to the various tasks is not made, audit reports should establish a match between the actual costs and the budgeted charges.
The cost of changes plus the budgetary allocation for any task should reflect the total cost of the task in the audited total cost of the project. When the campus, which is the client for the project, accepts the submitted audit report, the project manager needs to consider closing the project. Before making the declaration that NIVE project is completed successfully, information on the extent to which all stakeholders have been satisfied by the project must be provided. This step forms the basis of documentation of various lessons that were leant from the project in a bid to ensure that other similar projects do not incur similar challenges in the future. The process of operation and management of the project is then handed over to the client.
Managing Human Resources for the Project
Projects are temporary endeavours. They are constrained by time, scope, and monetary resources. Projects must fulfil a specific vision and various objectives as explained in the phases that constitute the project lifecycle. A project lifecycle begins with span description followed by preparation, implementation, and finally delivering of the finalised work (Cadle and Yeates 67). An important aspect of project management, which cuts across all these phases, is project assessment, direction, and monitoring. For instance, in the execution phase, the evaluation involves the attempt to establish whether various objectives and goals of the different stages of NIVE project execution process have been realised.
Managing human resources for NIVE project needs to start with the determination of the roles of the project manager at the project initiation or conception phase after establishing the project scope and objectives. This stage is followed by the determination of the number of supervisors, their professional qualifications, and the number of the employees who are required in the execution of the project. The next step entails project-planning activities such as breaking down the project into work structures and their allocation to employees depending on their professional expertise. In the execution process of a project, change always takes place (Duncan 89). Therefore, a planning management strategy needs to be developed by the project manager before proceeding to the execution phase followed by a review of appraisal and project closure.
NIVE must deliver the project stakeholder expectations. Hence, any review or change in the project parameters must be conducted in the context of known stakeholder expectations. For NIVE, major stakeholders include the students and the organisation’s administration. Since the government has interests in education as a public good, it also constitutes an important stakeholder for the NIVE project. Since compliance with stakeholder expectations needs to form the basis of any work structures that are adopted by the NIVE project, a bureaucratic hierarchical organisational structure is important. Projects cannot proceed without appropriate mechanisms of planning, scheduling, and resourcing techniques. In this extent, NIVE project can deploy preparation and resourcing techniques such as PERT and critical path analysis.
Monitoring and Controlling the NIVE Project
The process of monitoring and control of NIVE project is important to ensure that the project remains on track. One of the most crucial elements of the planning phase is the consideration of the available resources. These resources include periods and financial resources (Dessler 351). A project manager also defines the procedure that is to be deployed to realise the objectives. Monitoring ensures that the project complies with the performance thresholds as anticipated and developed in the planning phase. The main aim of controlling and monitoring NIVE project is to ensure that all deliverables assume the quality standards set for lecture hall buildings.
NIVE project constitutes different work structures. Work breakdown structures require control and monitoring to avoid delays in the project. For example, completion of the structural skeleton must precede the laying of water line and electrical lines. Without control and monitoring of the time for construction of the skeleton, it becomes hard to determine the starting time of laying water lines and electrical lines. This situation also causes delays.
The NIVE project requires control, monitoring, directing, and organisation processes, which underline the importance of project leadership. During the project execution phase, control is necessary to ensure that employees who are charged with the execution of various established work breakdown structures maintain their work morale. At each phase of project execution, monitoring is vital to enhance compliance with directions concerning the anticipated deliverable of any work structure as issued by project leaders. Hence, NIVE requires a bureaucratic leadership style, followed by an intensive monitoring and control to enhance compliance with project constraints. A project operates within a specified scope and expectation as the locus of control. Hence, during the execution of NIVE project, establishing human resource specifications is mandatory to realise the established scope.
Works Cited
Alexander, Charles, and Emily Sheedy. The Professional Risk Managers’ Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Current Theory and Best Practices. New Jersey, NJ: PRMIA Publications, 2005. Print.
Cadle, Jason, and Dickson Yeates. Project Management for Information Systems 3rd edition. Malaysia: Pearson Education, 2008. Print.
Dessler, George. “Project Management Principles and Practices.” Journal of Project Management 3.2(2007): 345-357. Print.
Duncan, Whitney. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Project Management Institute: Newtown Square, 2001.Print.
Tolbert, Lis. “Nine knowledge areas.” Journal of community academy 2.2(2008): 56-59. Print.