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ASSIGNMENTS – Set 1 Q. 1:-Define project management, resource, process and project cycle. Explain the life-cycle of a project. Ans:-Project management:It is an art of controlling the cost, time, manpower, hardware and software resources involved in a project. as “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements”. Project management is accomplished through the application of and integration of the project management processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
The project manager is the person responsible for accomplishing the project objectives. Need for project management:Project management is necessary because:- (a)A project requires huge investments which should not go waste (b)A loss in any project would have direct or indirect impact on the society (c)Prevent failures in projects (d)Scope of the project activity may undergo a change (e)Technology used may change during the course of project execution (f)Consequences of negativity in project related problems could be very serious (g)Changes in economic conditions may affect a project
Resource:We discussed earlier that the most important step to arrive at the relationship between the four constraints is to make an accurate assessment of the resources required, and the costs thereof. At this stage, we shall broadly classify the resources required under four categories. (a) Manpower refers to all the man hours required from various personnel working directly or indirectly on the project. (b) Materials refer to all materials that become part of the project.
In the case of a building this will include cement, steel, aggregates, doors & windows, mechanical electrical/instrumentation equipment and materials, finishing materials like tiles water proofing, ironmongery, consumables utilized in the construction etc. In summary all materials that become part of the building structure. (c) Tools and Plants are those items that are deployed to aid the construction of the project like lifting equipment (cranes etc. ), concreting equipment, welding machines, dozers, transport vehicles and all machineries deployed as construction aids.
They do not become part of the project, they are utilized for the implementation of the project, and they are transferred to other projects after such utilization for the ongoing project. The owner may own some of these tools and plants in which case he will need to apportion an internally predetermined hiring cost of the same to the project. For the tools and plants deployed for the project and not owned by the owner, hiring costs charged by the external agencies shall be apportioned to the project. d) Infrastructure refers to temporary arrangements that need to be provided for project implementation and dismantled at the end of the project. Examples are labor camps, electric power and water supply systems built for the construction of the project, dedicated telecommunication facilities during construction at project sites etc. Each one of the abovementioned resources has a cost associated with it and the sum total of these costs will form a part of the project cost. It should however be noted that several additional cost elements contribute to the total project cost like financing costs, insurance costs, overheads etc
Process:PMBoK organizes Project management processes into five groups, defined as the Project Management Process Groups, each group comprising one or more processes. This grouping helps in understanding the relevance and significance of the sequence of, and interaction between the various processes in project management. However, a process group is not a totally discrete phase occurring in isolation from another process group, and the processes have inherent interactions between themselves throughout the implementation of a project.
We will briefly define these process groups as under, while a more detailed explanation of each process group follows subsequently. Initiating process group defines and authorizes the project or a project phase. Planning process group defines and redefines objectives and plans the course of action required to attain the objectives and scope that the project was undertaken to address. Executing process groupintegrates people and other resources to carry out the project management plan for the project.
Controlling process group regularly measures and monitors progress to identify variances from the project management plan so that corrective action can be taken when necessary to meet project objectives Closing process group formalizes acceptance of the product, service or result and brings the project or a project phase to an orderly end. Broadly, the process groups tend to be deployed in the sequence listed as the project progresses. In the event that a project goes off-course, re-planning comes into play, and if a project is found to be in serious trouble, it may have to go all the way back to the initiating process to be restarted.
To summarize, the result or output of one process group often becomes an input to another. In the central process groups planning, executing and control), all the links are looped i. e. the links of these central process groups are iterated – planning provides execution with a documented plan early on, and then provides documented updates to the plan, as the project progresses. Fig. 2A illustrates this. Process Groups in a PhaseAlso, though these process groups are presented above as discrete, one-time events; these events overlap and take place at different levels of activity across each phase in the project life cycle.
Fig. 3-2 illustrates this overlapping. Project Cycle:A project cycle basically consists of the various activities of operations, resources and the limitations imposed on them. Project Life cycle:Collectively, the project phases are known as the project life cycle. Thus the project life cycle serves to define the beginning and end of the project. For example, when an organization identifies an opportunity, it will conduct or authorize a feasibility study to decide if it should undertake the project.
The project life cycle definition will determine whether the feasibility report is treated as the first project phase, or as a separate standalone project. The phase sequence defined by most project life cycles generally involves transfer of deliverables (or technology) such as: (a)Requirements to design (b)Design to production or construction (c)Production to distribution (d)Construction to operation The Project LifeCycle:A life cycle of a project consists of (a)Understanding the scope of the project, (b)Objectives of the project, c)Formulation and planning various activities, (d)Project execution and (e)Project monitoring and control the project resources. Deliverables from preceding phase are usually approved before work starts on the next phase. The requirement of speedy completion of the total project will often necessitate overlapping of phases i. e. a subsequent phase is begun prior to approval of the previous phase deliverables, when the risks involved are deemed acceptable. This overlapping is termed fast tracking. Q. 2:-What are the roles and responsibilities of a project manager?
Ans:-The Project Manager:A project manager is a person who manages the project. The project manager is responsible to carry out all the tasks of a project. Responsibilities of the project manager •Budgeting and cost control •Scheduling tasks •Allocating resources •Tracking project expenditures •Ensuring technical quality •Manage relations with the customer and company Life cycle of a project manager overlaps with the development life cycle in the middle. Roles and Responsibilities of a project manager starts before the development and continue after delivery of the product.
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. The project manager and the project team to complete projects on schedule within budgeted cost and in full accordance with project specifications. At the same time, they help achieve the other goals of the organization, such as productivity, quality and cost effectiveness.
Hence the objective of project management is to optimize project cost, time and performance (includes quality). Today large and small organizations recognize that project management, with its structured approach to planning and controlling of projects, is a necessary core competency for success. Like general management, project management also involves all aspects of planning, organizing, implementing and controlling . However, it has its own techniques like work breakdown structure, critical path analysis, PERT (Program evaluation & review technique), which will be discussed in later units.
The project manager needs to be proactive in striking a balance between these constraints by making the client aware of the limitations pertaining to time, budget, technicalities etc. In striking this balance, he needs to plan the deployment of resources in sufficient detail. Issues are made clear by the project manager to avoid as many surprises as possible. Bottom-up project management can also be viewed as a way of coping with the increasing gap between the information necessary to manage knowledge workers and the ability of managers to acquire and apply this information.
The project manager’s expectations are clearly communicated to each project participant. Following this approach, ambiguity opens the door for potential failure, and the managers should be as specific as possible when communicating their expectations. Process formality is very important for this approach. Examples of the top-down approach applications can be found in many organizations. One of such example is the New York Times, a leader in the newspaper industry. Several years ago, American Journalism Review (www. ajr. om) reported that The Times’ executive management felt that they were far from what was necessary for creation of a vibrant workplace and a successful organization. Power was centralized and masthead editors experienced overall control. Team members very often have read-only access to the project plan and cannot make any contributions or changes. The employees send their updates to the project manager in disconnected files via e-mail. The project manager then has to collect all the data and put the information manually into the project plan.
After that, he or she has to communicate the changes to the corporate executives. All these routine procedures lead to a situation where the project manager’s talents often are buried by the routine work. The huge amount of mechanical control/synchronization work often leaves little very time for leadership from the project manager. The project manager is the one to conduct the work of his team and choose the right direction for the project development, based on the information received from the individual employees. Thus, the role the project manager plays in the project changes.
Project managers should be familiar with, and be able to use or direct the project team, to use the appropriate tools to ensure that estimates provided during the planning process are reliable. Estimation tools are driven by historical data and many can serve as a parametric model which can be scalable based on the size of the project. Once the Project Management Review has been conducted, follow up with program/project managers on any issues or concerns requiring attention, the status of open items from the review, and CIO reporting actions, e. g. reports to the CIO Council. The CIO may also recommend quality assurance analysis be conducted. The project manager is responsible for raising issues or concerns that require assistance or guidance to the attention of the CIO. These items should be communicated whenever they become known, and not held to the next Project Management Review. The CIO will assign appropriate OCIO staff available to help resolve open items. The program / project manager should communicate the status of these items in each quarterly review until the items are resolved / closed.
The program/project manager is responsible for tracking the open items from the review and communicating the status in each quarterly review until the items are closed. The supporting the scheduling of reviews will coordinate with the program/project manager after the quarterly reviews to help ensure that new items have been captured for tracking and action by the program/project manager. The project manager should make it a habit of expressing appreciation openly for any good work done. Cross Functional Teams have become a necessity and the synergy they generate would be lost if interpersonal behavior is not of high standard.
As members are from different functions, understanding the requirements or compulsions of others is difficult. This fact should be impressed upon all the members and requesting them to cooperate is vital. An experienced project manager and his team may manage more than one project at a time. The project team is responsible for ensuring that the project upon completion shall deliver the gain in the business for which it is intended for. The project team has to properly coordinate with each other working on different aspects of the project. The team members are responsible for the completion of the project as per the plans of the project.
Q. 3:-Explain the various steps in the identification process of a project. What are the tools used in project planning? Ans:-Project:A project may be stated as: •A programme of non routine work bringing about a beneficial change •Guided by at least one well engaged sponsor who has both adequate authorities •resources to charter the project effort •Has a start and an end date •A multidisciplinary team brought together for the project •Scope of work that is well defined •Constrained by cost, time and quality Project Processes:A project process is a series of activities to achieve the target.
Project process is classified into two main categories: (a)Project management process Project management process is defined by the organization. It describes and organizes the work of the project. (b)Product oriented process Product oriented process is defined by the life cycle. It specifies and creates products and related works. Process Groups:It consists of the following: (a)Initiating processes: recognition to start and establishing commitment. (b)Planning processes: devising and maintaining a workable scheme to accomplish the business need (c)Executing processes: coordinating people to carry out the plan d)Controlling processes: monitoring and measuring progress and taking remedial action (e)Closing processes: Formalizing acceptance and bringing project to an orderly end. Process Interactions Initiating Processes Every process is initiated by management group decision which results in the next phase of the project. (a)Planning Processes •Planning has the major importance •Plans are nothing planning is everything •Planning processes are highly interdependent •If the cost is unacceptable, scope and time may need to be redefined (b)Executing processes •Interactions depend on the nature of the work They are dynamic & dependent on Team Innovations (c)Controlling processes •Measuring project performance [time, cost, quality] •Identifying variances from the plan •Updating project plans •Taking corrective action (d)Closing Processes •Review of the project •Findings •Analysis of the project performance with respect to various processes (e)Customisation •Large projects may need details A detailed project management plan might be necessary to indicate every detail in the initial stages. •Smaller projects may need relatively less details A detailed plan may not be required in the initial stages.
Project PlanningThe purpose of project planning is to first identify the areas of the project work and identifying the forces affecting the project and then to define the boundaries of the project. Also the scoping has to be explicitly stated on the line of the project objectives It also has to implicitly provide directions to the project. The planning and scoping should be such that the project manager is able to assess every stage of the project and also enabling the assessment of the quality of the deliverable of the project at every stage.
The various steps of project scoping and its characteristics are: (a)Identify the various parametric forces relevant to the project and its stages. (b)Enable the team members to work on tools to keep track of the stages and thereby proceed in the planned manner. (c)Avoiding areas of problems which may affect the progress of the project. (d)Eliminating the factors responsible for inducing the problem. (e)Analyzing the financial implications and cost factor at various stage of the project Planning Tools The tools which may be necessary for coordinating a project successfully are as follows:- a)Project organization Process Skills and activities Initiation •Prepare an outline project justification, plan and project Budget Selection and briefing of the project team, assigning roles and organization •Feasibility study risk and key success factors Planning •Project definition and project plan •Communicate to the team Execution •Allocating and monitoring the work and cost • Ensuring work and team cohesion •Reporting progress Control•Monitoring progress and managing changes •Helping the team to solve project problems Close Satisfactory delivery •Compiling lessons from project experience (b)Project structureDevelopment plan, project tracking and oversight (c)Project Key personnel Identify those business areas that are within the scope or directly interface with the scope boundary and list them in the “Business area” column of the project assignment worksheet Identify the key personnel for each area and list them in the “Person” column of the project assignment worksheet. (d)Project management teamIt is a senior management team, which will be accountable for the project.
Identify project sponsor, client representative and technical representative. Stage managers who will plan and manage the project on a day-to-day basis for this stage (e)Project coordinators Client coordinator and technical coordinator clearly define these coordination, control activities and identify the brief suitable personnel to carry them out. Q. 4:-What is Risk Management? How can risks be prioritized? Ans:-Risk Management Risks are those events or conditions that may occur and whose occurrence has a harmful or negative impact on a project. Risk anagement aims to identify the risks and then take actions to minimize their effect on the project. Risk management entails additional cost. Hence risk management can be considered cost effective only if the cost of risk management is considerably less than the cost incurred if the risk materializes. There are different types of risk involved in a project. The main types are:- (a)Project risks it is the risk arising out of a change in the scope of the project, changes in the work quantities, changes in the resource requirements, estimation error or unexpected developments in a project. b)Market risks it is the risk arising out of a change in any of the following marketing parameter – price change, changes in market regulations, economic changes, competition, competitors product changes, etc. (c)Industry risk it is the risk arising out of a change in scientific instruments used in business activity, changes in companies policies because of changes in the industry. (d)Social and political risk it arises out of changes in labour situation, labour laws, environment law, etc.
The risk process, described below, should be performed at the beginning of a project, at the beginning of major phases in a project (e. g. , requirements, design, coding and deployment) and when there are significant changes (e. g. , feature changes, target platform changes and technology changes). At the end of this unit, we have provided you with a copy of our risk process. It is simple, effective, and takes 90 to 120 minutes for projects that are 1260 personmonths. Projectssmaller than 12 personmonths take 4060 minutes.
You can control the length of the sessionby controlling the scope you pick. Most sessions usually take less than two hours. There are four steps to manage a risk: (a)Risk Identification:-To identify risks, we must first define risk. 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.
Risk identification can be done using a brainstorming session. The brainstorm typically takes 15 30 minutes. Be sure to invite anyone who can help you think of risks. In the brainstorming session, people call out potential problem that they think could hurt 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. 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.
Example of risks are: “We may not have the requirements right. “The technology is untested,” “Key people might leave,” “The server won’t restart in situation X,” and “People might resist the change. ” Any potential problem, or critical project feature, is a good candidate for the risk list. (b)Risk prioritization: Risk prioritization focus on the highest risk. Prioritization requires analyzing the possible effects of the risk event in case it actually occurs. This approach requires a quantitative assessment of the risk probability and the risk consequences.
For each risk rate the probability of its happening as low, medium or high. If necessary, assign probability values in the ranges given for each rating. For each risk, assess its impact on the project as low, medium, high or very high. Rank the risk based on the probability. Select the top few risk items for mitigation and tracking. Refer to a list of commonly used risk mitigation steps for various risks from the previous risk logs maintained by the PM and select a suitable risk mitigation step. The risk mitigation step must be properly executed by incorporating them into the project schedule.
In addition to monitoring the progress of the planned risk mitigation steps periodically revisit the risk perception for the entire project. The results of this review are reported in each milestone analysis report. To prepare this report, make fresh risk analysis to determine whether the priorities have changed. Q. 5:-What is Project Management Knowledge Areas? Explain briefly PMIS. Ans:-Project Management Knowledge Areas and Relationship:It comprises of various techniques needed to manage projects, the practical methodologies adopted in formulating a project and managing the resources which would affect the project completion.
Relationship with other management disciplines is essential for a project to be successful. Supporting disciplines includes law, strategic planning, logistics, human resource management and domain knowledge. Need for project management:Project management is necessary because:- a)a project requires huge investments which should not go waste b)a loss in any project would have direct or indirect impact on the society c)prevent failures in projects d)scope of the project activity may undergo a change )technology used may change during the course of project execution f)consequences of negativity in project related problems could be very serious g)changes in economic conditions may affect a project Project Management Information System (PMIS):A information systems is mainly aimed at providing the management at different levels with information related to the system of the organization. It helps in maintaining a discipline in the system. A system is prone to malfunctions if not properly maintained.
An information system dealing with project management tasks is the project management information system. It helpin decision making in arriving at optimum allocation of resources. The information systems is based on a database of the organization. A project management information system also holds schedule, scope changes, risk assessment and actual results. Usual information systems are not designed for projects. Normal information systems tell managers if they are working within the scope of the budget.
The information is communicated to managers at different levels of the organization depending upon the need. Upper managers need to know information on all projects regarding progress, problems, resource usage, costs and project goals. This information helps them take decisions on the project. They should review the projects at each milestone and arrive at appropriate decision. Project manager and department managers need to see each project schedule priority and use of resources to determine the most efficient use across the organization.
Project team members need to see schedule, takes lists and specification so they know what needs to be done next. The four major aspects of a PMIS are:- (a)Provide information to the major stakeholders ie the right information at the right time. (b) Assist the team members, stakeholders, managers with necessary information and summary of the information shared to the higher level managers. (c)Assists the managers in doing what if analyses about project staffing, proposed staffing changes and total allocation of resources. d) Help organizational learning by helping the members of the organization learn about project management. A good PMIS is possible to be developed from the team members and not from the systems administrators of the company. Organizations tend to allocate such responsibility by rotation among members with a well designed and structured data entry and analytical format. Q. 6:-List out the macro issues in project management and explain each. Ans:-Macro issues (a) Evolving Key Success Factors (KSF) Upfront: In order to provide omplete 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 done to manage the future better from past experience. The key here is the active participation of members in the decision making rocess. 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 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 multiskilled functioning even at junior most levels. ASSIGNMENTS –Set 2 Q. 1:-Providing adequate resources is key to productivity – Comment. Ans:-Resource It refers to manpower, machinery, money and materials required in the project. During the course of executing the project, it is seen that the resource requirement increases from start to an intermediate stage of the project.
It further increases at rapid rate and becomes constant while the project is during its 80 to 95% progress stage. Thereafter the resources requirement decreases to zero i. e when the project comes to a finish. Refer the Characteristic chart. Plan the resources required for various stage of the project. Brief both the project team and the key resources about the objectives of every stage, planned activities, products, organization, metrics and project controls. Key elements of a Productivity Improvement Program: 1.
Obtain Upper Management SupportWithout top management support, experience shows a PIP likely will fail. The Chief Executive Officer should issue a clear, comprehensive policy statement. The statement should be communicated to everyone in the company. Top management also must be willing to allocate adequate resources to permit success. 2. Create New Organizational Components A Steering Committee to oversee the PIP and Productivity Managers to implement it are essential. The Committee should be staffed by top departmental executives with the responsibilities of goal setting, guidance, advice, and general control.
The Productivity Managers are responsible for the day-to-day activities of measurement and analysis. The responsibilities of all organizational components must be clear and well established. 3. Plan Systematically Success doesn’t just happen. Goals and objectives should be set, problems targeted and rank ordered, reporting and monitoring requirements developed, and feedback channels established. 4. Open Communications Increasing productivity means changing the way things are done. Desired changes must be communicated. Communication should flow up and down the business organization.
Through publications, meetings, and films, employees must be told what is going on and how they will benefit. 5. Involve Employees This is a very broad element encompassing the quality of work life, worker motivation, training, worker attitudes, job enrichment, quality circles, incentive systems and much more. Studies show a characteristic of successful, growing businesses is that they develop a “corporate culture” where employees strongly identify with and are an important part of company life. This sense of belonging is not easy to engender.
Through basic fairness, employee involvement, and equitable incentives, the corporate culture and productivity both can grow. 6. Measure and Analyze This is the technical key to success for a PIP. Productivity must be defined, formulas and worksheets developed, sources of data identified, benchmark studies performed, and personnel assigned. Measuring productivity can be a highly complex task. The goal, however, is to keep it as simple as possible without distorting and depreciating the data. Measurement is so critical to success, a more detailed analysis is helpful. 7.
Quality Control This is very important in any project. Quality control is possible if the project members follow the quality charts and norms very strictly. 8. Schedule Quality Review It is recommended that quality review be scheduled at the beginning of the stage and also ending of every stage. 9. Agenda for quality review Create and distribute a quality review agenda specifying the objective, products, logistics, roles, responsibilities and time frame. 10. Conduct quality reviewThe quality review is to be conducted in a structured and formal manner.
Quality review should focus on product development and its quality factors. Focus on whether it meets the prescribed quality standard . 11. Follow up QR complete product status revised from ‘In progress’ to ‘QR Complete’. Follow up the actions planned in strict manner which ensures conformity to the standards. 12. Review quality control procedures Verify that the quality objectives for each product are appropriate and that all participants are satisfied both with the process and its outcome. Q. :- Explain the relevance of Work Breakdown Structure in determining responsibility area. Explain in detail GDM and its key features Ans:-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). A typical example of a work breakdown structure of a recruitment process is indicated below : This is the technique to analyze 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 o the drawing.
GDMThe Global Delivery Model (GDM) is adopted by an Industry or Business such that it has a capability to plan design, deliver and serve to any Customers or Clients Worldwide with Speed, Accuracy, Economy and Reliability. The key Features of GDM are • Standardization • Modularization • Minimum Customization • Maximum Micro structure Adoption of a Combination of the Greatest Common Multiple and the Least Common Factor of a Large Mass of Microbial Components. (a) Standardization Ingenious Design and Development of Components and Features which are like to be accepted by 90% of Worldwide
Customers. Global Standards of Design focusing on highly standardized Methods and Processes of manufacture or Development. Adopt Plug and socket Concepts with minimum adaptable joints or Connections. (b) Modularization Product or Solution split up into smallest possible individual Identifiable Entities, with limited Individual Functioning Capability but powerful and robust in Combination with other Modules. (c) Minimum Customization Minimum Changes or Modifications to suit Individual Customers. ) Maximum micro structuring Splitting of the Product Modules further into much smaller entity identifiable more through characteristics rather than application Features. Approach through Standardization of these Microbial Entities even across Multiple Modules. Application of these Microbial Entities to rest within multiple Projects or Products or even as addons suit belated Customer Needs. Special Features of GDM • Cuts across Geographical and Time Zone Barriers • Unimaginable Speeds of Response and Introduction. • Common Pool of Microbial Components Largely Independent of Skill Sets required at Delivery Stages • Highly automated Processes • Quality Assurance as a Concurrent rather than a Control Process • NearShore Development, Manufacture and Delivery for better Logistics • Mapping of Economical Zones rather than Geographic Zones • Continuous Floating virtual Inventory to save Time and Efforts. Q. 3:-What do you understand by Resource Smoothing? What is the significance of reviewing ROI? Ans:-ROI – Return on Investment (ROI) is the calculated benefit that an organization is projected to receive in return for investing money (resources) in a project.
Within the context of the Review Process, the investment would be in an information system development or enhancement project. ROI information is used to assess the status of the business viability of the project at key checkpoints throughout the project’s lifecycle. ROI may include the benefits associated with improved mission performance, reduced cost, increased quality, speed, or flexibility, and increased customer and employee satisfaction. ROI should reflect such risk factors as the project’s technical complexity, the agency’s management capacity, the likelihood of cost overruns, and the consequences of under or nonperformance.
Where appropriate, ROI should reflect actual returns observed through pilot projects and prototypes. ROI should be quantified in terms of dollars and should include a calculation of the breakeven point (BEP), which is the date when the investment begins to generate a positive return. ROI should be recalculated at every major checkpoint of a project to se if the BEP is still on schedule, based on project spending and accomplishments to date. If the project is behind schedule or over budget, the BEP may move out in time; if the project is ahead of schedule or under budget the BEP may occur earlier.
In either case, the information is important for decision making based on the value of the investment throughout the project lifecycle. Any project that has developed a business case is expected to refresh the ROI at each key project decision point (i. e. , stage exit) or at least yearly. If the detailed data collection, calculation of benefits and costs, and capitalization data from which Return on Investment (ROI) is derived was not required for a particular project, then it may not be realistic or practical to require the retrofit calculation of ROI once the project is added to the Review portfolio.
In such a case, it is recommended that a memorandum of record be developed as a substitute for ROI. The memorandum should provide a brief history of the program, a description of the major benefits realized to date with as much quantitative data as possible, and a summary of the process used to identify and select system enhancements. Some of the major benefits experienced by sites that installed the information system that would be important to include in the memorandum are: (a) Decommissioning of mainframe computers (b) Reduction/redirection of labour (c) Elimination of redundant systems d) Ability to more cost effectively upgrade all sites with one standard upgrade package. In each case above, identify the specific site, systems, and labour involved in determining the cited benefit. Identify any costs or dollar savings that are known or have been estimated. The memorandum will be used as tool for responding to any future audit inquiries on project ROI. For the Project Management Review, it is recommended that the project leader replace the text on the ROI document through – (1) A note stating which stage of its cycle the project is in; 2) A bulleted list of the most important points from the memorandum of record; (3) A copy of the memorandum of record for the Review repository. In subsequent Reviews of the information system, the ROI slide can be eliminated form the package. There is one notable exception to this guidance. Any internal use software project in the maintenance phase of its lifecycle that adds a new site or undertakes an enhancement or technology refresh that reaches the cost threshold established by Standard will need to satisfy capitalization requirements.
It requires all agencies to capitalize items acquired or developed for internal use if the expected service life is two or more years and its cost meets or exceeds the agency’s threshold for internal use software. The standard requires capitalization of direct and indirect costs, including employee salaries and benefits for both Federal and Contractor employees who materially participate in the Software project. Program managers are considered to be the source of cost information for internal use software projects.
If capitalization data is collected for the project in the future, the project would be expected to calculate and track its ROI. Q. 4:-Explain the concept of concurrency in High Technology Development. Ans:-Concurrency in High Technology DevelopmentAs the application of technology has become critical for the survival of organisation it has become imperative for organizations to initiate measures for the development of high technology to be ahead of competition. No doubt, there are many specialized Research and Development firms which offer their expertise to their clients’ problems.
However, their services are available to the competitors and many technologies developed by the company’s own research personnel cannot be shared with outsiders. So the strategy would be utilize the services of external resource to the extent they are suitable for our purpose, but with a strong base of R and D of our own. This will really differentiate the best companies from other ordinary ones. The following give some guidelines in the form of rules which would help organisation to be strong in this area. Building concurrency into every activity is essential to reduce the development cycle time and to counter the technology obsolescence.
Many of the tasks that are normally done in a serial fashion can be done in parallel by synchronizing the flow of information. The practices of the concurrent engineering where the design of the product and all its associated processes are carried out simultaneously based on team work and participation. Would not only help in reducing the development cycle time, but also improves the product functionality with regard to requirements. Concurrency can be accomplished in many ways both for product development as well as technology transfer, user evaluation and production.
Example – Tactical Aircraft: Concurrency in Development and Production of F-22 Aircraft Should Be Reduced (Letter Report, 04/19/95, GAO/NSIAD-95-59). Because the F-22 fighter plane is not urgently needed and the Defense Department (DOD) has discovered engine and software problems with the aircraft, GAO urges that the F-22 be thoroughly tested before large numbers of these expensive aircraft are acquired. Concurrency between the development and production phases of F-22 means that independent testing of high-tech features of the aircraft will not be completed before the Air Force makes a significant commitment to producing the F-22.
Among other things, the F-22 boast an advanced architecture for the integrated avionics system, a propulsion system that will allow cruising a supersonic speeds without the afterburners that current fighters needs, and low observable technologies. The military has already disclosed engine and stealth ness problems, and the potential for avionics and software problems underscore the need to demonstrate the aircraft’s capabilities before committing to production. Q. 5:-What are the main utilities of an ERP package?
Ans:-Enterprise Resource PlanningManufacturing management systems have evolved in stages over the few decades from a simple means of calculating materials requirements to the automation of an entire enterprise. Around 1980, over frequent changes in sales forecasts, entailing continual readjustments in production, as well as the unsuitability of the parameters fixed by the system, led MRP (Material Requirement Planning) to evolve into a new concept : Manufacturing Resource Planning (or MRP2) and finally the generic concept Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
The initials ERP originated as an extension of MRP (material requirements planning then manufacturing resource planning). ERP systems now attempt to cover all basic functions of an enterprise, regardless of the organization’s business or charter. Nonmanufacturing businesses, nonprofit organizations and governments now all utilize ERP systems. To be considered an ERP system, a software package must provide the function of at least two systems.
For example, a software package that provides both payroll and accounting functions could technically be considered an ERP software package. However, the term is typically reserved for larger, more broadly based applications. The introduction of an ERP system to replace two or more independent applications eliminates the need for external interfaces previously required between systems, and provides additional benefits that range from standardization and lower maintenance to easier and/or greater reporting capabilities.
Some organizations -typically those with sufficient inhouse IT skills to integrate multiple software products – choose to implement only portions of an ERP system and develop an external interface to other ERP or standalone systems for their other application needs. For example, one may choose to use the HRMS from one vendor, and the financials systems from another, and perform the integration between the systems themselves. Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include:
Manufacturing Engineering, Bills of Material, Scheduling, Capacity, Workflow Management,Quality Control, Cost Management, Manufacturing Process, Manufacturing Projects, Manufacturing Flow Supply Chain Management Inventory, Order Entry, Purchasing, Product Configurator, Supply Chain Planning, Supplier Scheduling, Inspection of goods, Claim Processing, Commission Calculation. Financials General Ledger, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets Projects Costing, Billing, Time and Expense, Activity Management
Human Resources Human Resources, Payroll, Training, Time & Attendance, Rostering, Benefits Customer Relationship Management Sales and Marketing, Commissions, Service, Customer Contact and Call Center support Data Warehouse and various SelfService interfaces for Customers, Suppliers, and Employees Enterprise Resource Planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource planning that followed material requirements planning . MRP evolved into ERP when “routings” became a major part of the software architecture and a company’s capacity planning activity also became a part of the standard software activity.
ERP systems typically handle the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing, and accounting for a company. Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software can aid in the control of many business activities, like sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production, inventory management, quality management, and human resource management. ERP systems saw a large boost in sales in the 1990s as companies faced the Y2K problem in their legacy systems. Many companies took this opportunity to replace their legacy information systems with ERP systems.
This rapid growth in sales was followed by a slump in 1999, at which time most companies had already implemented their Y2K solution. ERPs are crossfunctional and enterprise wide. All functional departments that are involved in operations or production are integrated in one system. In addition to manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and information technology, this would include accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management. The Ideal ERP System An ideal ERP system is when a single database is utilized and contains all data for various software modules.
These software modules can include: a. Manufacturing: Some of the functions include; engineering, capacity, workflow management, quality control, bills of material, manufacturing process, etc. b. Financials: Accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, general ledger and cash management, etc. c. Human Resources: Benefits, training, payroll, time and attendance, etc d. Supply Chain Management: Inventory, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, claim processing, order entry, purchasing, etc. e. Projects: Costing, billing, activity management, time and expense, etc. . Customer Relationship Management: sales and marketing, service, commissions, customer contact, calls center support, etc. g. Data Warehouse: Usually this is a module that can be accessed by an organizations customers, suppliers and employees. ERP Improves ProductivityBefore ERP systems, each department in an organization would most likely have their own computer system, data and database. Unfortunately, many of these systems would not be able to communicate with one another or need to store or rewrite data to make it possible for cross computer system communication.
For instance, the financials of a company were on a separate computer system than the HR system, making it more intensive and complicated to process certain functions. Once an ERP system is in place, usually all aspects of an organization can work in harmony instead of every single system needing to be compatible with each other. For large organizations, increased productivity and less types of software are a result. Q. 6:-Explain three levels of SCMo documentation. Explain PILIN. Ans:-Requirement of Documented systems in Supply Chain Monitoring (SCMo)
It is possible today to establish a system aligned with an organizations supply chain. It can be an add-on to existing ERP-systems. The main objectives are i)Prevention of stock-out and over supply ii)Early warnings, elimination of bullwhip effect iii)Optimized allocation in bottleneck situations due to network-wide inventory and demand transparency The main Principles behind is the Integration of supply chain participants, Exchange of demand and inventory information, transparency & Visibility of inventories and demands for multilevel supply chains.
It also eliminates time lags in the information flow and ensures synchronization of demand information. SCMo set up (Initialization) The main steps for the set up are : a) Determination of the potentially critical part of the supply network Criteria: b) Mapping of Structures a) high shortage risk and effect, long lead and reaction times, high total inventory cost, frequent engineering changes. Main Features – The main features of such system are – i) Releases and Iterations planning – It is a simple way to create project plan. i) Dashboard – It is a quick project status reporting tool. iii) To-Do lists – Identify and list the Integrated assignments. iv) Integrated QA – Bug Tracking, Test Cases management, user story-to-bugs Trace-ability, QA stats and charts. v) Time Tracking – Create more accurate estimates of time. Significance of Documentation It might sometimes be difficult for an organization to straightaway launch into a Project Management exercise, even if they are well equipped, particularly if the project is too large – for e. g. development of a new product, expansion of capacity, modernization of facilities, diversification into a totally new business area, getting into a Joint venture etc. In this case, the core project team itself might feel the need to have some major inputs before even a tentative plan could be drawn up. A well-drafted Business Plan would ideally serve this purpose, provided it is handled systematically & professionally. •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. •The content of the process Documentation System includes the area supply chain management from the Odette supply chain Management Group. The system includes graphical process documentation, in the form of process chains, as well as the entire range of documentation related to the processes. •The Process Documentation System gives, according to its objectives, as overview and a detailed view of the relevant processes for SCMo. The entry point in the documentation system is the model “Process Overview SCMo”. This model is the starting point for the navigation to other models. •The vertical navigation is the navigation on different levels. The horizontal navigation is the navigation on one level. •Microsoft has a team project management solution that enables project managers and their teams to collaborate on projects. The Microsoft Project 2002 products in this solution are Microsoft Project Standard 2002, Microsoft Project Server 2002, and Microsoft Project Server Client Access License (CAL) 2002.
PILIN – PERSISTENT IDENTIFIER AND LINKING INFRASTRUCTUREAs the FRODO and MERRI projects have matured, there is a growing realisation that sustainable identifier infrastructure is required to deal with the vast amount of digital assets being produced and stored within universities. This is a particular challenge for e-Research communities where massive amounts of data are being generated without any means of managing this data over any length of time.
The emphasis in the PILIN Project will be on building identifier management infrastructure based on a technology (Handle) that is now under development through the auspices of CNRI to underpin sustainable global identifier infrastructure. PILIN aims to meet a specific need common to e-Research communities, the proposed work to be undertaken will be transferable to other communities, such as the VTE sector, the Le@rning Federation and the TILIS Project. The project aims to take advantage of existing governance and consultative mechanisms within the ARROW environment to ensure relevant and sustainable outcomes and optimal return on investment.
The project will be run in partnership between ARROW and the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), specifically through the RUBRIC Project. Aims and Objectives •Support adoption and use of persistent identifiers and shared persistent identifier management services by the project stakeholders. •Plan for a sustainable, shared identifier management infrastructure that enables persistence of identifiers and associated services over archival lengths of time. Project Outputs 1. Best practice and policy guides for the use of persistent identifiers in Australian e-learning, e-research, and e-science communities. . Use cases describing community requirements for identifiers and business process analysis relating to these use cases. 3. E-Framework representations of persistent identifier management services that support the business requirements for identifiers. 4. A “pilot” shared persistent identifier management infrastructure usable by the project stakeholders over the lifetime of the project. The pilot infrastructure will include services for creating, accessing and managing persistent digital identifiers over their lifetime. The pilot infrastructure will interoperate with other DEST funded ystemic infrastructure. The development phase of the pilot will use an agile development methodology that will allow the inclusion of “value-added” services for managing resources using persistent identifiers to be included in the development program if resources permit. 5. Software tools to help applications use the shared persistent identifier infrastructure more easily. 6. Report on options and proposals for sustaining, supporting (including outreach) and governing shared persistent identifier management infrastructure.