Project Overview
Project management plan (PMP) refers to the formal, approved document which explains the way in which project is executed, reviewed and controlled. PMP is a detailed document having baselines, subsidiary management plan, risk management plan, quality management plan and other planning documents. Project management is the process of initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing the entire work performed by the team members of an organisation for accomplishing some specific goals and objectives in the decided period. It is necessary to have different technical skills and management strategies for achieving the aim of the project. One of the significant challenges regarding the project management is to meet all the project objectives within the decided constraints. It is necessary that PMP should be available for all the project members for providing them essential information regarding the project (Chauhan and SRIVASTAVA, 2015).
For the current study, Project Management Plan for ACIC Project is taken into consideration. This project includes two elements: Brokerage Account Opening application on the company’s website and account opening and maintenance of the application. With respect to this, the file consists of proper analysis and evaluation of the taken Project Management Plan. The study consists of project background which explains the project, its aim, purpose, different components, etc. Along with this, contents of the PMP critically analyse each significant section of the project and provides the theoretical framework. This section of the file informs about the quality and accuracy of the PMP. In the end, recommendations are added to the file for improving the loopholes and enhancing the quality of the PMP.
Project Management Plan for ACIC project is a real life project which is executed by the commercial firm. All Canadian investment corporation (ACIC) is a USA based Investment Company which needs to develop Brokerage Account. The PMP is based on the development of the application with two components. The first component of the application includes Brokerage Account Opening application on the website of the company for allowing any user to open Brokerage Account with ACIC (Chauhan and SRIVASTAVA, 2015). On the other hand, the second component is account opening and maintenance application which is for the representatives of the ACIC for opening accounts for the applications received in the paper format. Along with this, the project of developing an application is based on the intranet. Apart from this, the application of the company includes features like account history, viewing and account balance, status and activity information and many more. With respect to the Project management plan, the document regarding application development includes project planning, change management process, resources required, risk management plan, quality management plan and many more. This represents that entire plan is developed effectively with the help of proper analysis and evaluation (KARAMAN and Murat, 2015).
Project Planning
The application development allows the company to change its way of serving and handling customers with the help of the application. The project plan is developed according to the need and requirement of the project and by considering all the relevant criteria. This project is an enhancement of the present application which was produced by Infosys. This project is also done by the Infosys which will result to enhance and strengthen the relationship between both the companies (Jeon, Park and Jung, 2015).
The project plan management of ACIC Company is developed for enhancing its present application by including the features of account history viewing, status and activity information, viewing account balance and opening Brokerage account. This project will make firm to serve its customers more effectively and efficiently. Facility of the opening account via the internet will increase the number of users for the firm and provide them with a better way to manage their account and communicate with the company from anywhere at any time (Bhuiyan, 2015).
With respect to the PMP of ACIC Company, it includes all the necessary and significant sections which helped in completing a project accurately on decided time and by using decided constraints and resources. The PMP of the organisation is created by proper analysis of every sector such as objectives and scope of the project, resources required, team formation, change control plan, risk plan, communication plan, quality plan and many more (Ertl, 2014).
Project Overview: According to the Gasik, (2015), “The project overview of PMP provides a summary of the overall project which helps in offering a small overview of the project at the beginning”. In context to this, project summary section of the considered PMP includes brief information about the project, its aim and objectives. Along with this Deantonio Monroy, Bermúdez and Alexander, (2017), have stated that “It is necessary to have some information regarding the company for understanding its work, market status and many more within the project overview”. However, the information regarding company ACIC is not given correctly. The overview keeps unaware of the functioning of the firm, its products and services, locality and performance in the market. Apart from this, the detail of project, i.e. enhancement of the existing application by adding some features is appropriately given. The information helps in understanding the aims and objectives of the project.
Apart from this, the overview also includes project start and end date, i.e. 3rd April 2000 and 3rd November 2000. In addition to this, type of project, platform required and some phases of completion lead to provide all the necessary details of the project plan Udhayakumar and Karthikeyan, (2016), have demonstrated that “Project Overview provides highlight of project objectives and related information adequately with the help of Project Management Plan”. In context to this, the manager or leader of ACIC can understand the overall project, its requirements and needs with the help of project summary given in the plan. On the other hand, project scope like allow the user to access the information, enhance the intelligence of the update process, ability to close and reopen the account and many more be described correctly.
Project Management Plan
In addition to it, the value-add to the customer and objective of Infosys are also added to the plan which provides a better view of the project. The commitments made to the customer provide information regarding the milestone date, milestones and deliverables. Thus, all the information contained in the project summary is accurate and represents the overall view of the ACIC’s project. Apart from this, before starting the planning of the project, it is necessary to make some assumptions; these are made by ACIC as well. The premises of the project plan provide the main points on which the firm conducts overall planning (Roudias, 2015).
Project Planning: As per the view of Arcos-Medina, Oñate-Andino and Pástor, (2018), “Project Planning is one of the crucial phases of Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Without proper planning, it is not possible to develop and implement a project effectively”. With respect to the considered PMP, Project process is adequately described as it helps in understanding which Infosys will use method for enhancing the application. Along with this, there are some areas which need to be modified as per the requirement of the project and its objectives. In context to this, tailoring notes of the PMP gives all the information about the areas in which company will modify the process. Appropriate reasons for alteration are also provided in the tailoring notes. This helps in better understanding of the project and its requirements. Change Management Process is also discussed in the project planning for avoiding any delay or failure within the process. On the other hand, there is no proper information given about the requirements traceability. The area only includes the name of the tool, i.e. Requisite Tool. Some information concerning the apparatus needed to be added for providing better information to the senior.
Apart from this Hosseini, (2016), has discussed that “Project planning needs a stable and well analysed plan for guiding the team and keeping the project on time and budget”. With respect to this, the planning stage includes estimated size, efforts, use case, phase wise efforts, schedule, and people with skills, experience and role. All these sub sections of the stage provide information about the project. All the information is represented in the tabular form which makes understanding easier and consumes less time. In contrast to it Cruz, (2017). has argued that, “Theoretical information in the plan need to be added for providing precise and in-depth details on the project plan to the senior authorities”. With respect to this,sometimes tabular representation keeps individual confuse and less aware of the requirements. Every information about the resources, development environment, tools and techniques are provided in the tabular form without any description which can result in misunderstanding. This format of the PMP is also not much creative and attractive. It looks like the plan is developed roughly and presented as it is in front of the manager without any formatting, creativity and editing.
Recommendations
The phase-wise effort estimation informs seniors about the number of phases, required person-days and percentage of the total efforts. Similarly, people by role and skill represent the needed talent, i.e. expertise in Java and DB2 for implementing the project. Along with this, the experience is also added to the table which needs to be minimum of 2 and maximum of 7 years. This information will help top management of ACIC to select the team members accordingly. Cardona-Meza and Olivar-Tost, (2017), have suggested that “Role and responsibility play a significant role in the project plan as it provides a clear overview of the work and related duties to the project team members” The role of employees like Project leader, module leader, developers, onsite co-ordinator, etc. represents the designation of the workers. However, the responsibility of the workers is not defined within the project plan.
The plan also includes required resources which will help in meeting the objectives of the project. Both hardware and software resources are described within the PMP of ACIC. This table contains the item description, number of resources required and date. Apart from this, no tool is used by the project team for developing the application for the company. Generally, the training plan is not defined within the PMP but this PMP of ACIC posseses effective training plan with training area, duration and waiver criteria. Gasik, (2015), has said that “It is essential to provide necessary training to the team members for developing and enhancing skills, knowledge and information with respect to the subject”. According to the plan, the project team will get training in technical, business and process field. Detailed information about the practice and its period represent the proper analysis of the project and its requirements. The overall plan shows the effort and adequate performance of the team members of ACIC in developing PMP for the development of the application. The proper training plan will also lead to decrease the chances of occurring risks or issues during the development of the project.
Vargas, (2014), has stated that “Quality management refers to the act of reviewing all the activities and tasks which required maintaining a desired level of superiority”. Project planning also includes effective quality management and risk assessment plan for maintaining the high quality of the product by handling the risks accurately. This section of the PMP includes identification of the quality policy, development and implementation of the quality planning and assurance and strategies for quality control and improvement. With respect to this, the quality plan of the Project Management Plan of ACIC includes goals and objectives which it wants to accomplish by maintaining and managing the quality of the resources and project processes. The Project Quality Goals include objectives, value, the base for setting goals and organisational norms. The goals include productivity, schedule, cost of quality, the total number of defects injected and quality.
Kim, Jeon and Kim, (2015) have discussed that “Selection of right strategy results to achieve the desired goals of the project otherwise lead to failure or a big loss to the company. Risk management is one of the effective strategies which managers use while developing PMP”. The plan includes estimates for the defects to be detected. This table represents the analysis of risks which can be occurred at the time of project development and implementation. This review of the flaws will keep the team aware and make them follow the solutions ready from the beginning for avoiding delay and occurrence of risks. The plan not only explains the estimated defects but also represents the strategies for meeting the quality goals. In context to this, policies need to be decided effectively by discussing with the project leader and other team members.. Expected benefits represent the success of the suggested strategies.
On the other hand Spudeit and Ferenhof, (2017), have found that “Review of processes results to evaluate their quality and improvement. Project team members need to review their procedures of the project development for avoiding any mistake to the project and its outcome”. In context to this, the reviews are added to the PMP of ACIC which consists of Review Point, Review Item and type of analysis. This plan will help project team members in monitoring their processes on the decided point with the help of suggested methods.
Risk management plays a vital role in project management plan as it helps in handling hazards and also in decreasing them with the help of appropriate strategies. According to the. Tavan and Hosseini, (2016), “Effectual risk management plan leads to provide a better way to manage mistake or risk efficiently within the project. This also leads to preventing wastage of time, money and resources”. With respect to this, the risk management plan of the PMP of ACIC includes a table with columns of risk, probability, the impact of risks, risk exposure and mitigation plan. The probability, incidence and risk exposure are represented in the form of a number. In contrast to it, no detail about the number and their meaning is provided in the plan which can lead to creating misunderstanding and confusion among the senior authorities. All the information needs to be adequately described within the program for providing a clear and actual picture of the project. Thus, lack of information regarding the numbers used by the team within risk management plan keeps the info unclear. Similarly, the responsible person within the method is also not described by the team. Thus, from this, it is clear that risk management plan of the PMP is not developed correctly and possess mistakes (Luiz, Souza and Luiz, 2017).
Thus, the project planning section of the Project Management Plan of ACIC with respect to development and expansion of the application possess all the necessary information about the project, its requirements, scope, objectives and many more. A well written and adequately presented plan guides collecting the resources, acquiring financing and procuring the required materials But in the present scenario, the information is not displayed in the appropriate manner which leads to developing misunderstandings. At some points like risk management plan, there is lack of necessary information. However, the tabular presentation of the entire sub sections make easy to understand the policy, but some detailed description is also needed for better realisation. Apart from this, overall budget of the project, which plays an essential role, is also not described in the project plan. Lack of budget evaluation can keep the top management of the firm confused. It is necessary for the plan to evaluate the overall budget of the project, i.e. development of the application (Snyder and Dionisio, 2017).
Project Tracking: As per the view of Richter, (2015), “Project Tracking includes project monitoring and control factor. Monitoring and control stage of the PMBOK sometimes link with the execution stage due to their occurrence at the same time”. With respect to this, the project tracking section of the PMP of ACIC includes different sub areas which need to be focused on completing the project on time.
Along with this Gonçalves and et.al., (2015), have found that “Proper monitoring and control results to maintain the quality of the project and also reduces the associated risks. It is the responsibility of the team members to monitor each task adequately for preventing any scope creep”. The measurement plan comprises a unit of measurement, tools used for measuring the performance and monitoring the process and metric which needs to be gathered. Along with this, task tracking consists of the activities and their procedures to track. The task tracking table is not created correctly as it lacks information about the time duration and appropriate strategies for monitoring the different tasks.
On the other hand Simonette, Magalhães and Spina, (2016), have suggested that “Review of all the processes results to measure the key performance indicators and track the variations from the decided cost and time. This steady action tends to keep the project moving forward without any delay and other issues”. The issue tracking is described correctly by including the type of problem, where logged, who can register, who will review and when and when escalated. It provides all the necessary detail on the kind of problem and how it will handle and by whom. This information will help team members in monitoring the processes closely and managing the issues properly if occurs any.
Apart from this Yates, (2017), has said that “Customer feedback matters a lot for the growth and development of a firm. By collecting the reviews of the clients, organisations can improve and enhance the quality of their products and services”. With respect to this, it is also essential for ACIC to take customer feedback for their application. For tracking the success of the project, i.e. application, ACIC will seek input from its clients. The company will also provide a feature for filling complaints if customers have any with the new application. Both the features, i.e. customer feedback and criticisms will help in monitoring the progress of the application. This will also lead to improving the quality of the project by making necessary and demanded changes.
Brioso, (2015), has demonstrated that “Quality of the project also needs to be monitored for maintaining it until the end”. In context to this, quality tracking plan is mentioned by the team members. This quality tracking includes quality activity and relevant actions for handling them. This information will help project team to maintain all the needed quality at every stage of the project development process. However, more information can be provided by the team members like time duration, the result of handling quality, etc. for presenting better and clear picture to the top management of the organisation. Apart from this, review from the senior management is also included within the PMP for better monitoring and control. The sub section of review by senior management comprises items for review and frequency of inspection. This subject explains the role and responsibility of the top management in reviewing the project progress and processes. The principal function of the senior authorities is to examine the schedule, project plan, and budget and milestone report. In contrast to it, the budget is not added by the team in the respected PMP which can affect the progress, performance and quality of the project management plan. Lack of budget evaluation is one of the major mistakes of this PMP of the ACIC (Richter, 2015).
Nasir and et.al., (2015), have identified that “Team members should be aware of their reporting time for representing the status of the project to the senior members”. With reference to this, the plan includes status reporting feature which consists of the report and frequency factors. According to this, the team will report to the business manager and customers within the given period. Apart from this, the tracking and controlling section of the plan also includes deviation limits at the milestone, reporting to the customer and senior management and procedure for escalation.
Thus, from the above, it is clear that team members of ACIC have taken all fields which need to be monitored and control for accomplishing the objectives of the project. The primary issue is the information not presented in the appropriate manner. Along with this, there is no format followed by the team for the tracking section. Lack of proper detail makes the plan incomplete and unclear. Along with this, different tables are used by the team for representing the various functions which took more time and space. Instead of this, representation of the tracking plan with all the factors in one table like activities to be tracked, methods, impact, time duration, responsible person, results, etc. will provide better understanding and presentation.
Project Team: According to the Bayona, Bustamante and Saboya, (2018), “Project Team section of the project management describes role and responsibilities of the team members”. In context to this, the PMP of ACIC includes organisation of the team members which also represents the flow of information. The plan consists of the project team, responsible person, starting date and expected end date. Initials of the employees are used within the program for better understanding. Along with this, responsibilities of the employees are also explained within the program..
Similarly Eastham and et.al., (2014), have found that “Project team helps team members in understanding their work, function and duty with respect to the project”. The team includes the developer, module leader, defect prevention team, configuration controller, software quality, onsite co-ordinator, software quality advisor, project manager, account manager and business manager. In contrast to it, the company can represent the project team more effectively by describing the role and responsibility of each member individually. This will provide a better understanding of the task and duty of the employee. Along with this, the name of the team members can also be added for removing confusion and adequate representation. Apart from this, the team can also add project team management to the plan for explaining the importance of cooperation, coordination and communication among the team members. It will also provide information about reporting status, assigning work and many more.
From the above, it is clear that project team section includes all the information regarding the work, role and responsibilities of each team member. However, project management team needs to be added for explaining the project team management effectively. On the other hand, the plan does not include communication plan which can affect the interaction among the team members. It is essential to add communication plan to the PMP for explaining the flow of information among the workers with the help of appropriate mediums (Han and Kim, 2016).
Conclusion
From the above study, it is clear that the Project Management Plan of ACIC includes proper analysis of each field. The plan consists of all the sections of the PMBOK for appropriate development of the project. All the information is adequately evaluated for better project planning, evaluation and monitoring of the application development. The team represents detailed analysis with respect to the project as it includes scope, requirements, resources, quality plan, risk plan, schedule, project processes and many more. On the other hand, the presentation and format of the program are inadequate and needs to improve. However, tabular form makes plan easy to understand and explain, but lack of relevant information can keep manager confuse and unclear. Along with this, the plan includes various segments in a single section which can be presented in the better form. The PMP of the company does not include budget overview which is one of the major mistakes of it. Without budget calculation, it is not possible to allocate resources and processes for accomplishing the aims and objectives of the project. In addition to it, a communication plan is also not discussed within the research which can affect the flow of information among the project team members.
There are some suggestions which ACIC needs to follow for developing a better Project Management Plan. These suggestions are as follows:
- PMP is the formal documentation of the project which needs to be adequately presented. In context to this, ACIC needs to follow particular format and better way to introduce the researched information (Mesquida and Mas, 2014).
- For better performance and accomplishing the objectives of the project, it is necessary to have secure communication among the team members. With respect to this, the plan should have proper communication plan by including communication medium, purpose, frequency, distribution, escalation and many more (Cheng, Malik and Sorooshian, 2017).
- In a project, schedule, budget and resources play a most crucial Lack of any single factor can affect the quality of the project. In context to this, the team should include project budget overview for providing all the information about the actual budget needed for completing the overall project. The budget needs to be formulated by adding resources, requirements, workforce and other factors (Varajão, Colomo-Palacios and Silva, 2017).
- The plan should have a section of approval including the list of name that will approve the project for further process.
- The project team should revise the policies, procedures, guidelines and manuals related to the project management and project requirements for avoiding any mistake at the time of project management plan (Chaves and et.al., 2016).
References
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