Example of Variance in Home Renovation Project
The project of renovation of house into a smart home might see a variance in the cost of implementation of the project. The actual cost of the project might vary from the planned cause and there are high chances that this project might face this variance. The cost variance can affect the quality of the project as well and therefore, it is essential to identify and mitigate this variance in the initial stages of the project.
The variance can be identified by tracking the project progress. If the actual project cost is less than the planned cost of the project then the variance is considered to be favourable. However, if the actual cost of implementation of the project is greater than that of the planned cost, the variances in the project is unfavourable. Thus by tracking the project progress, the variances, be it positive or negative can be identified.
The project of home renovation might experience an unfavourable cost variance. In such cases, the quality of the project might be impacted. If there is a budget shortfall, the expected project quality might not be achieved. However, in renovation project, it is necessary to achieve the standard quality of the project and therefore, this type of variances should be avoided.
In order to mitigate the risk of cost variance in the project, it is essential to identify the actual cost of the project in the project planning stage. The project implementation should be according to the cost specified for the project in order to eliminate the risk of this variance. A planned approach of project implementation can eliminate the risk of variance in the project.
- Quality Management system has an important role to play in implementation of the project. The purpose of a quality management plan is to deliver a standard quality project (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). The quality management system of a project can be managed by appointing a quality control manager who will be responsible for tracking and managing the standard quality of a project.
- In order to manage the quality management system of a project, it is necessary for the project manager or the functional manager to follow a planned approach of project implementation. The first step for managing the quality management system of the project is to establish an implementation team. Followed by that, the second step is to provide trainings to the teams members. The final step for managing a quality management team is to commit to the top management.
- The three steps that are discussed in the previous paragraph indicate the crucial need for successful management of the quality management system of the project. The quality management system will be responsible for tracking the project progress and testing the quality of the project (Marchewka 2014). Fir accurate management of the quality management system, it is essential to establish a team who will be in charge of managing the quality of a project. Apart from that it is essential to train the project team in accurate handling of quality management system of a project. In appropriate management of the quality management system, it is essential to commit to the top management for accurate project implementation and maintaining the standard quality of the project. Thus the above mentioned three steps will helps in easier implementation and management of quality management system for the chosen project.
It is important to establish quality objectives for a project before its implementation. It is particularly important for projects that involve renovation of homes and development of smart home. The quality objectives and the requirements of the project are as follows-
- It is essential to deliver the project within the set implementation time. This is one essential requirement of the project. For ensuring accurate quality of the project it is essential to track the project progress.
- As an essential part of quality management plan, it is needed to employ a quality manager who will take the responsibility of regular checking of the quality of each project activity that is being delivered.
- Another quality requirement of the project is that a fully functional smart home will be delivered in the set budget of the project. It is essential part of quality management is to ensure that the project will be completed with the set budget of the project.
- Before the initiation of the project, it is essential to identify the set project deliverables and to identify the major milestone of the project. This will help in easier completion and delivery of the major tasks of the project.
- Another major requirement of the project is to recognise the project stakeholders as the stakeholders are needed to be kept informed about the status and progress of the project. A stakeholders’ management plan is needed to be developed that will help in easier management of the associated stakeholders of the project.
The above discussed quality requirements are needed to be analysed in order to identify the long term and short term goals of the project (Beringer, Jonas and Kock 2013). The long term goal of the project is to ensure that no problems arise in the smart home after its delivery. The short term goal of the project is to deliver the project within the scheduled time.
The project aims in renovation of a house to develop a smart home. The project will be making use of modern technology in order to ensure a high quality product.
The aims of the project are as follows-
- The main aim of the project is to deliver a smart home with latest technological features (Schwalbe 2015).
- The aim of the project is to deliver the project within the scheduled time (Larson et al. 2014).
- The project is not expected to experience any variation in the project.
The project will work in a planned approach. The project will be implemented by following an appropriate project management methodology for successful project execution and control. A risk management process will be followed in this project to eliminate the major risks associated with the project.
The main deliverables of the project are as follows-
- Understanding and identification of the major requirements of the project.
- Development and approval of project plan
- Risk Management
- Project implementation
- Project evaluation
- Project closure
Apart from that, there are certain other values that are needed to be followed. It is essential to set up a skilled project management team for better project implementation.
One of the essential parts of quality management is to regularly track the project progress and follow a systematic review process (Harrison and Lock 2017). The Gantt chart for the project is prepared using a scheduling tool MS project to track the activities and their completion. This will help in planned implementation of the project.
One of the essential aspects of project management is to ensure that the project processes and the project progress, issues and weaknesses are communicated to the team members (Walker 2015). In order to effectively communicate the weaknesses of the project to the project team, it is essential to develop a communication plan that will be followed by each team members of a project. A communication plan is developed at the beginning of the project and is communicated to all the team members of the project (Kerzner 2017). Apart from that, regular team meetings will be held to discuss the weaknesses and the concerns of the project. Discussing the weaknesses of the project with the team member will help in easier management of similar issues in future.
References
Beringer, C., Jonas, D. and Kock, A., 2013. Behavior of internal stakeholders in project portfolio management and its impact on success. International Journal of Project Management, 31(6), pp.830-846.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Larson, E.W., Gray, C.F., Danlin, U., Honig, B. and Bacarini, D., 2014. Project management: The managerial process (Vol. 6). Grandview Heights, OH: McGraw-Hill Education.
Marchewka, J.T., 2014. Information technology project management. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Walker, A., 2015. Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.