Task 01

Definition of project Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to deliver a unique product or service. A project must be usually able to bring benefits to the intended organization or people. A project must consists many things like a unique purpose, resources to develop the project, a primary sponsor etc. There are some attributes/aspects, which will be able to define a project in a very clear and understandable manner. A project has five main phases, which are initiating process, planning process, executing process, controlling process, and closing process. Attributes of a project These attributes will help to define the project in a very detailed manner. The attributes are unique purpose, temporary, resources, primary sponsor and uncertainty. Unique purpose- A project must have a unique aim and a welldefined objective so that it can meet its unique goals. It is very important that the aim of the project must have a definite meaning so that it makes to understand the project very easily. Temporary- A project must have a definite beginning and an end. It is very important that the project goals must be achieved in the given or in the organized time limits.

Resources- Usually resources are very important for a project to achieve its intended goals. The resources can be anyone or anything. The resources can be people, hardware, software and other assets But mostly people are considered the most valuable and important resource of the projects.

 Primary sponsor- To succeed in a project a main sponsor is very essential. Without the main sponsor, we cannot be provided any directions and any funding to the project too. The main sponsor can be anyone like customer, senior management. The primary sponsor is the one who gives directions to the project and the one who has invested a good fair deal of amount too.

Uncertainty- One of the most attribute of project is uncertainty. Most of the time it is very hard to define the project objectives and the time and the cost taken to complete the project will be hard to estimate too. This brings uncertainty to the project.

To successfully complete a project the triple constraints of the project is very essential. The triple constraints play an important role in contributing to the projects success or failure because if the triple constraints were not planned and executed perfectly the entire project will be in jeopardy. Therefore, if we define the triple constraints of a project in detail the triple constraints are scope, time and cost. These three aspects decide the success or the failure of the project. I would like to explain these three constraints in a very detailed manner. Scope- the projects aim/purpose is been defined by its scope. Scope tells us what the project is trying to accomplish. Time- This is considered as an important aspect of the projects success. This usually tells how long it will take to complete the project. Cost- Before we start any project the important factor we always look upon is that how much it will cost to complete the project. Therefore, these three aspects play a vital role in bringing out a projects success.

Relationship between the triple constraints The triple constraints time, cost, scope are dependent to one another because if one constraint goes wrong the other one of the two will be altered or both will be altered to keep the project in a successful going. The triple constraints are often drawn in a triangular form to represent the relationship between them. By achieving these triple constraints, not only the success of the project will be achieved but the quality of the project also will be depending in these three aspects. Quality is been achieved only by achieving the triple constraints successfully. Here are some examples that will make us understand the relationship between the triple constraints. For example, if the cost increases, it is logical to assume that the scope and time will increase as well. The same thing happens if the cost decreases, the scope and time will decrease too and if the planned costs do not meet the project budget, the project manager will have to change the scope or finish date (time) of the project to meet the budget constraints.

triple rely on for the success. project and time well executed the and aspects.

These constraints each other projects To create a successful scope, cost must be planned and to balance project procedures other

Project management Project management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to project activities in order to satisfy the stakeholders expectations and needs of a project. In detail, we can explain as if project management is the discipline of planning, organizing and controlling resources to bring about the successful completion of specific projects goals. Project management involves many activities like planning, organizing, staffing, controlling, monitoring and representing.

Project manager Project manager is the person who is responsible for accomplishing the stated project objectives. He is also the one responsible for the overall success of the project. A project manager should be able to cover all three constraints of the project. Skills of a project manager A project manager must be able to have prominent skills to bring out the success of the projects. It is very evident that a project manager must have personal, interrelated, and intellectual skills to accomplish the stakeholders need and expectations and complete the project successfully. A project managers skills can be divided into many parts. In detail we can say that a project manger must have these below given skills to manage It projects effectively. Defining the scope of the project

A project manager must have a clear understanding of the objectives of the project and must be able define and explain the purpose of the project. Creating a work breakdown structure A project manager must be able to break down a large project into smaller manageable sub activities. This will help to complete the project in a very easy manner. Estimating project costs A good project manager must be able estimate the project costs and ensure that an accurate and realistic estimate is produced.

Estimate the time requirements A project manager must be able to estimate the time taken to complete the given project and must finish the project accordingly before or at the given time. Identify stake holders, decision makers and procedures A good project manager must be able to identify stakeholders involved in the project and must be able to make accurate decisions involving the project. Identify and evaluate risks A project manager must be able to identify the risks involved in the projects and must be able to confront them and evaluate the risks in a proper manner. Identify and track critical milestones A project manager must see and track the critical milestones involved in the project because it is very essential for the projects success.

Evaluate the project requirements A project manager must be able to calculate project requirements precisely. Develop initial project management flow chart Before starting the project a project manager must be able to plan and develop the project by drawing appropriate flow charts for the project so the work will be much easier to understand quickly. Prepare contingency plan

When things have not gone correctly in the planned way a project manager must have a contingency plan to convert the failures into success. A good project manager must set up a contingency plan for every task so that if anything goes wrong the project manager will be able to provide with the backup plan. Secure needed resources A project manager must be able to secure requires resources and use them in a very effective manner. Participate in project preview phase A project manager must participate in project preview phase for the betterment of the project. Report project status A project manager must report project status daily.

Task 02
As suggestions which are been brought up in the meeting whether which project to be implemented I think that it will be very appropriate to compare all these three projects so that we can get a clear detailed view of these projects. The three projects which are been suggested in the meeting are Attendance recording system Intranet Mini ERP system I think it will be very useful to compare all these three projects in a very detailed manner. Attendance recording system- This is very useful because it can use time and attendance processes to gather information about the amount of time employees spend on the job. This system will clearly capture of an accurate time of each employees reports to work and the actual hours they spend on their job. There are some advantages and disadvantages regarding the attendance recording system. Advantages 1. It helps to maintain records of each employee. 2. It allows the company to manage, monitor and produce reports of employees. 3. Provide authentication.

Disadvantages 1. 2. It is not an error free system. There might be some errors. It is not that much reliable because it can be misused.

Intranet- It is a private computer network that is used to securely share any part of an organizations information or operational systems within the organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network within an organization. It is very similar to the internet because as if on the internet all machines in the intranet has an IP address. Intranet is very useful to business organizations because it is very easy to do applications and more within the organization. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of the intranet. Advantages 1. 2. 3. 4. Disadvantages 1. 2. 3. 4. Loss of control can happen in the management. Hidden or unknown complexity costs might be there. Unauthorized access. Denial of service may happen. The same software we use in the internet is been used Access cant be gained by someone in the outside. It is fast, easy and easy to implement. It provides access to the internal and external information.

Mini ERP system- ERP in actually in detail is called as the enterprises resources planning and it is a system that is used to combine all

of the information of a company into a single unit. Actually it will utilize both computer hardware and software in order to achieve this. The object of ERP is to unify the various functions of an organization. ERP is so powerful because it reduced the need to have an outside interface available for two systems. The cost of maintenance is also very low and a very good quality standard is created. One of the important parts of ERP system is the central database. This database will help to store information from various modules. The best part of ERP is that it combines the whole functions together.

There are advantages and disadvantages of ERP system Advantages 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. It is used to combine/unify all functions together. It is used to order tracking It is used to design engineering To ensure proper communication, productivity. The income cycle, from invoice through cash receipt Managing inter dependencies of complex processes bill of materials. 7. ERP systems connect the necessary software in order for accurate forecasting to be done. This allows inventory levels to be kept at maximum efficiency and the company to be more profitable.

Disadvantages 1. Customization of the ERP software is limited. 2. Re-engineering of business processes to fit the "industry standard" prescribed by the ERP system may lead to a loss of competitive advantage. 3. ERP systems can be very expensive. 4. ERPs are often seen as too strict and too difficult to adjust to the specific workflow and business process of some companiesthis is cited as one of the main causes of their failure. 5. The blurring of company boundaries can cause problems in accountability, lines of responsibility, and employee morale. 6. Resistance in sharing sensitive internal information between departments can reduce the effectiveness of the software.

Project Appraisal NPV analysis

NPV analysis in detail is called the net present value analysis. NPV is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows. It is also sensitive to the reliability of future cash inflows that a project will yield. Always the project with a high NPV is considered to be taken in to the motive. To know the Net present value first you must get to know the discount factor of the project. To know the discount factor this formula is been used. Discount factor = 1/ (1+R) T Discount factor is the ratio by which in each year the project cash flow needs to be finding out the present value. Discount rate(R) is the cost of capital which usually the present interest rate. To calculate the NPV you should subtract the total discounted costs from the total discounted benefits. NPV = Total discounted benefits - Total discounted costs

Return on investment
Return on in investment shortly ROI is calculated by the following formula ROI = (total discounted benefits total discounted costs)/discounted costs *100% Actually, ROI is calculated by dividing the NPV by discounted costs and multiplying it by 100%

Requirement analysis

I have selected Net present value analysis as the evaluating technique to select the most suitable project to implement for this company.

Evaluation of the NPV for selecting the most suitable project to implement

The suggested three projects for this company are intranet, attendance recording system and mini ERP system. It will be very clear at the end that if we do NPV calculation for all three projects and select the best one is at the end.

NPV calculation for the intranet Discount rate for the intranet is 5% Assuming the project will be completed in 3 months Calculating the discount factor for month 0 = 1/ (1+R)T = 1/ (1+0.05)0 =1 Calculating the discount factor for month 1 = 1/ (1+R) T = 1/ (1+0.05)1 = 0.95 Calculating the discount factor for month 2 = 1/ (1+R) T = 1/ (1+0.05)2 = 0.9

month 0 cost discount factor Discounted costs Benefits Discount factor Discounted benefits 50000 1 50000 0 1 0 1 45000 0.95 42750 20000 0.95 19000 2 35000 0.9 31500 30000 0.9 27000

total

124,250

46,000

Discounted Benefits - Discounted costs

50,000

-23,750

-4,500

-78,250

So the NPV value for the intranet is (78,250)/=.

NPV calculation for the Mini ERP system Discount rate for the Mini ERP system is 8% Assuming the project will be completed in 4 months

Calculating the discount factor for month 0 = 1/ (1+R) T = 1/ (1+0.08)0 =1

Calculating the discount factor for month 1 = 1/ (1+R) T = 1/ (1+0.08)1 = 0.92

 Calculating the discount rate for month 2 = 1/ (1+R) T = 1/ (1+0.08)2 = 0.86 Calculating the discount rate for month 3 = 1/ (1+R) T = 1/ (1+0.08)3 = 0.79

month 0 cost discount factor Discounted costs 60000 1 60000 1 60000 0.92 55,200 2 60000 0.86 51,600 3 60000 0.79 47,400

Total

214,200

Benefits Discount factor Discounted benefits

0 1 0

90000 0.92 82,800

90000 0.86 77,400

90000 0.79 71,100 231,300

Discounted Benefits - Discounted costs

-60,000

27,600

25,800

23,700

17,100

Therefore, the NPV value for the Mini ERP system is in positive value and a very high one too. The NPV value is 17,100/=

NPV Calculation for the Attendance recording system

Discount rate for the Attendance recording system is 4% Assuming that the project will be completed in 2 months

Calculating the discount factor for the month 0 = 1/ (1+R) T = 1/ (1+0.04)0 =1 Calculating the discount factor for the month 1 = 1/ (1+R) T = 1/ (1+0.04)1 = 0.96

month 0 cost discount factor Discounted costs 70,000 1 70000 1 70,000 0.96 67,200

Total

137,200

Benefits Discount factor Discounted benefits

0 1 0

40000 0.96 38,400 38,400

Discounted Benefits - Discounted costs

-70,000

-28,800

-98,800

The NPV value is negative and the value is -98,800/=

Selecting the most suitable system As we have choose one project from the three projects that are being suggested I think that it is very evident after doing the NPV calculation for intranet , mini ERP system and attendance recording system I can say that mini ERP system gives more benefit to the company rather than the intranet and the attendance recording system. The NPV value for the mini ERP system is in positive compare to the other two projects NPV values are in negative. Therefore, the mini ERP system will give more benefit to the company and comparing to the costs of the ERP system the benefits we get from it will be very high. Further, if I illustrate though the ERP system has disadvantages we can see that the advantages we get from it is very highly useful to the company. Mainly the problem is that if I select the intranet it will only able to take care of the communication problems and if I choose the attendance recording system it will only solve the attendance problems but if I choose the mini ERP system it will solve all these problems and more precisely we can get the utter satisfaction from it. Therefore, I think it is very appropriate that I choose the mini ERP system as the project to be implemented for this company.

Justification I think selecting the mini ERP system is very appropriate as it could act as the problem solver for both the intranet and attendance recording problems. The mini ERP system will solve all the communication problems and the attendance problems that the company has and more likely, it will combine all the functions of the company into a single unit. This will help the company to increase their effectiveness and efficiency. Therefore, I think by selecting the mini ERP system the company will gain more benefits than losses.

Task 03
Project Management Knowledge areas

Project management has nine knowledge areas in common. The following diagram explains the nine knowledge areas.

The nine knowledge areas of project management are scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, HR management, Communication management, risk management, integration management and procurement management.

I would like to describe all these nine knowledge areas in a very detailed manner.

Project Scope management It explains in a brief summary about the processes that are responsible for controlling project scope. It consists of Scope planning, Definition, Verification and Control. Project Time management This includes processes concerning the time constraints of the project. It deals with Activity definition, Sequencing, Resource estimating and Duration estimating. It also deals with schedule development and control. Project Cost management This includes processes concerning the cost constraints of the project. Some of these processes in this management are Cost estimating, Budgeting and Control. Project Quality management This describes the processes that assure the project meet its quality obligations. It consists stages like Quality planning, Quality assurance and Quality control. Project HR management This includes the processes that deal with obtaining and managing the project team. It is more like Planning, Acquiring project team, Managing the project team and Developing it. Project Communication management This describes the processes concerning the communication mechanisms of a project like Communication planning etc. Project Risk management This describes the processes concerned with project related risk management. It consists of Risk identification, Quantitative and Qualitative risk analysis, Risk response planning and Risk Monitoring. Project Integration management This describes the processes that integrate different aspects of project management. This knowledge area deals with developing project charter, Preliminary project scope and project management plan. It also deals with monitoring and controlling project work, integrated project control and closing a project. Project Procurement management This describes the processes that deal with obtaining products and services needed to complete a project. It consists of Plan purchases and contracting, select seller responses and Contract closer.

Challenges that project manager face controlling project knowledge areas

It is always a challenge for project managers to control the nine knowledge areas but by overcoming those challenges successful projects are implemented and produced. I think it will be better to list out separately of the challenges that the project manager faces in each knowledge areas so that we can have better understanding of it.

Project Management Knowledge Challenges that the Project Manager faces areas to meet project objectives

Project Scope Management

There are number of challenges that the project manager face in the scope management. Here are some of the problems Scope Creep Scope creep is the tendency to make the project bigger and longer and because of this, the project team gives additional them additional work without any too much thought of the main purpose. Because of this, the project team is made to realize that they had taken too much care on extra work and can no longer make its budget and delay commitments. Project team accountability Since the project team interacts with the client, they must understand the requirements of the client and must be ready for any situation if the client makes any scope changes. The project must understand the importance of scope change management and must give feedback to the project manager. If they try to take the extra work on themselves, it is a very good chance that they will jeopardize the whole project.

Project Time Management

Unrealistic deadlines Here is the challenge to the project managers is that to find alternate approaches to the tasks and schedules in order to finish it on time. Nevertheless, mostly projects slip out of the timeline and become a failure. This can happen due not to planning the project very well, Not identifying the critical milestones in the project etc.

Project Cost Management

Wrong Estimation If the Project manager incorrectly estimates and continues to do the project, it becomes a very big problem at the end if there is not enough money to finish the project and unfortunately, the project will end up unsuccessfully. No Contingency, Management Reserves If the project faces budget risks, the project must be able to provide with contingency reserves. It is very important that the project keep extra money saved for unexpected and as well as foe unexpected situations.

Project Quality management

Unsatisfied needs The project is not that much up to the quality as the stakeholder expected and because of this, the project tends to become a failure. A good project must have a quality based on conformance to requirements and fitness for use .A project must have these two essential aspects in order to satisfy the stakeholders needs and expectations. Using appropriate quality tools A project manager must be able to identify and use proper quality tools for the intended project to achieve success in it. Using inappropriate tools can deal to failures

Project Human Resources Management

Choosing the correct personnel The main challenge that the project manager face in HR department is to find the appropriate person to do the intended tasks. This is one of the crucial challenges in doing IT projects. Understanding the employees A project manager must able to understand the employees difficulties and mentor them so that he/she could get the most work out of them. The project manager must also be able to organize talents of the employees and use it in most effective way.

Project Communication Management

Proper communication among group members Project manager must provide proper communication flows for group members and develop a checklist of what information needs to be conveyed to project participants.

Project Risk Management

Failure to manage risks Once the project team has assessed risks they can either reduce the chance of risk occurrence or act towards responding to the risk occurrence after it happened. Use appropriate techniques to reduce risks Before starting the project, the project team must use appropriate techniques and tools to reduce the risks. Methods like brainstorming and having interviews with the members could help to minimize the risks in the project and will help in the success of the project.

Project Integration management

Anticipating potential issues In project integration the project manager must make choices of where to concentrate resources and effort on any given day , expecting risks and dealing with these risks before they become critical and coordinating work for the overall project good.

Project Procurement management

The challenges in the suggested projects

There will be numerous challenges in implementing the three projects. It will be very challenging and the project manager will be able to come over these challenges if he is able to manage the nine knowledge areas in a very effective way. Here are some challenges given below in implementing the all three projects. 1) Scope changes Scope change control is concerned with influencing the factors, which create scope changes to ensure that changes are beneficial and there is always the problem of scope creep, which will change the main purpose of the project too. 2) Unrealistic timelines Here sometimes the project could not be finished on time and because of this, it tends to become a total failure. The project must be finished in time and the timeline must be very realistic so that the project could be finished on time or before that even. 3) Cost changes Sometimes as we go along doing the project, we can see that the budget that is estimated for this project is not enough and the total cost of the project exceeds the estimated project. This will become a very big problem because the project will be dropped in the latter stages and the project and the hard work that was put on will become unsuccessful and unnecessary. 4) Quality changes Sometimes the stake holder will not be satisfied with the quality of the project so he/she will intend to make some changes in the stages of building the project and at that time the project team must be able to satisfy the stake holders by changing the project to a quality that the stake holder expects and at the same time satisfy the needs too. 5) Employee problems Sometimes the employees could not cope with the work or will not work until they get the salary wanted and more other problems. At that time the company must be able to fulfill the employees requirements or more often come to an understanding and start with the projects in hand.

6) Communication problems Sometimes the communication between the project manager and the group members will not be that much efficient and because of this, mostly the project gets jeopardized. The group members and well as the project manager must be also to communicate freely and have a same way of understanding the requirements of the project. 7) Technology problems If the wrong technology been added to the project which mostly the project members is not familiar with it could affect the triple constraints of the project and will end up in disaster.

8) Managing risks The project team must be able to manage risks and over come those risks by working together or by reducing those risks to very little.

9) Resources problems Maybe there will be a chance that there is not enough resources available for a certain project and in that case the team must be able to report to the organization about the extra resources they want and get the resources as soon as possible.

Task 04
Selecting the suitable project team Selecting the suitable for the project is very important for the success of the project. Selecting the best group for the project will give expected good results. Here are the group members that are being selected for this project. The project team consists of: 1. Project Manager 2. Deputy project manager 3. Systems engineers 4. Independent test group 5. Quality assurance engineers 6. Configuration management 7. Software development group 8. Hardware development group 9. Test engineers 10. Training team

I think this project team will definitely help the organization build the mini ERP system and will help to train others in knowing about the functions of the ERP system.

Justification

Stakeholder analysis report Stakeholder analysis

I think it is very important to prepare a stakeholder analysis report for the project. Stakeholder is a person or organization that can be positively or negatively impacted by the actions of a company or an organization. Before I talk about stakeholder analysis, I think it is very prominent to start from the beginning by telling about the stakeholder management. Stakeholder management is an important discipline that successful people use to win support from others. It helps them ensure that their projects succeed where other fail. There are two major elements of stakeholder management, which are stakeholder analysis and stakeholder planning. Stakeholder analysis is the technique used to identify the key people who have to be won over and then you use stakeholder planning to build the support that helps you succeed. The first step of stakeholder analysis it to identify who your stakeholders are and the next step is to work out their power, influence and interest. The final step is to develop a good understanding of the most important stakeholders so that you can work out how to win their support. In detail we can explain it in this few steps. First, you have to identify the stakeholders and state it in a tabular form so that it could be easy to recognize. The second step is to prioritize the stakeholders according to the power or how much care they have in the project and later plot this on a power or interest grid. Well the power if the stakeholders can be divided like high power interested people, high power less interested people, low power interested people and low power less interested people. High power interested people- People that the project team must fully engage with, and make great efforts to satisfy. High power less interested people Put enough work in with these people to keep them satisfied, but not so much that they become with the instructions. Low power interested people Keep these people adequately informed, and talk to them to ensure that no major issues are rising. These people can often be helpful with the detail of the project. Low power less interested people- Monitor these people but do not bore them with excessive information.

The next step is to understand your key stakeholders of how they feel about, react to the project, and get an understanding what motivates the stakeholders and how you need to win them around. After doing the activities mentioned above we must create the stakeholder table and include all the things, which are mentioned. This stakeholder analysis report will be in use for the project team in many ways. The project team can use this information in various ways to remind themselves of the desires of the stakeholders. By this stakeholder analysis, we get to know the stakeholders who are influencing in this project and we get to know of their importance too. Usually there are three kinds of stakeholders.

Stakeholder

Stake in the project

Potential impact on the project

What does the project expect the stakeholder to provide

Stakeholder management strategy

CEO

In charge of the organizations success and failures

High less interested

Select the suitable project team for the project

Have occasional meetings with the project manager and the project team.

Project Manager

In charge of all project activities.

High interested

Experienced staff to be involved in the project. Commitment to implementing changes.

Involvement in the project. Regular update meeting with group members.

Board of directors

Head of the project.

High interested

Select best project members to fulfill the project successfully.

Have regular meetings with the project manger about the project.

System developing members

In charge of developing the ERP system.

High Less interested

Create the system with the best quality.

Have regular meeting with the project team understand the requirements.

Engineers (SE In charge of the and QAE) system coding, testing and validation.

High Less interested.

Expected to show more concern about the coding and provide an error free system.

Show regular reports to the project manager.

Hardware system maintainer

Maintains the hardware parts of the system.

Low interested

Expected to provide best maintainability for the hardware parts.

If there are any disruptions with the hardware parts quickly inform the project manager.

Programmer

In charge of programming the system.

High less interested

Program the Successfully run the system without any program to the errors. project manager and the project group.

Accountant

In charge of keeping accounts to day to day activities

High less interested

Make perfect record of all dealings.

At the end of the project show the accounts to the directors.

Suppliers (ISF In charge of company ) giving system parts and material.

Low less interested

Give all hardware Clarify themselves parts of the system. about the system from errors before buying the system.

HR manager

In charge of helping the project manager to choose suitable persons for the project.

Low interested

Choose the best project team members.

Help choosing project members for the project.