Learning Outcomes:
The new Royal Adelaide Hospital project is based on the public-private partnership model (Liu, Yu & Cheah, 2014). This new Royal Adelaide Hospital project is the biggest infrastructure project in the Australian healthcare department. Following the properties of the PPP projects, the Australian government has done a partnership with the SA Health Partnership Pty Ltd. for this project. The new Royal Adelaide hospital will accommodate a total number of 800 beds with standardized inpatient rooms (“RAH | Royal Adelaide Hospital”, 2018). Some of the emerging technologies will also be integrated with this new system, and this will manage the efficiency of the supply chain. After the project completion total, 40 numbers of technical suits will be installed. Improvement in the supply chain will make the clinical equipment and the biomedical equipment more efficient.
In the sector of healthcare, this project is very much important because it will bring sustainable development in Southern Australian healthcare field. The partnership has been done between the government and SA Health Partnership Pty Ltd as this will help to execute the project faster. The government determines the project lifecycle in this case. The project lifecycle is important in this context because it contains the project specifications and the project timeline. The project specification includes the project governance, project organizational structure, planning for the business, assurance process, potential risk management, procurement management and the contract management. The project is presently in a critical phase as the whole project is shifting to operational stage from the design stage.
At the initial stage of the project the complexity of the project was less, but with the time the complexity of the project increased. The main reason behind the increased complexity of the project is the delay in the project (Tawil et al., 2013). Though the project delay is the main reason for increased project complexity, it is not the only reason behind the increased project complexity. Other reasons behind the increased project complexity are the incomplete development of the health enterprise system and insufficient training of the new project workers. Also, complexity increased due to not maintaining the standards of a PPP project.
In the context of the project environment, this project is currently running through a critical condition. This critical phase or the condition implies the project shifting from the constructional stage to the operational stage (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017). In this case, the project has been delayed, and the budget of the project increased rapidly to $2.1bn dollars.
Introduction of the Project
The main organizational aspects are the project contract value, assessed risks, risk minimization strategies, procurement budget, project resource and the project timeline.
The positive impact is reflected through the project governance. The governance structure of the project assisted in the case of solving the accountability issue and the responsibility issue (Muller, 2017). Interrelation of all the small projects is very much important for the completion of a big project. In this governance structure of the project, all the small projects which are required for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is interrelated properly. Thus it helped in the successful operational commissioning.
In the case of the leadership impact it a combined attribute for most of the projects (Shenhar, 2015). For the case of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, the project leadership has the same impact. This strategies for the perfect leadership can help in this case to convert the operational board of the project into the operational commissioning. This operational commissioning of the project will ensure that all the components and the systems of the building tested, maintained and operated according to the operational requirements.
The risk management technique is very much important in the aspects of every project as this ensures the successful project completion (Burke, 2013). In this case, some of the common risk factors are the project scale, allocation of the resource, project cost and complexity of the project. As the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project is based on the PPP project model, some of the risk factors are the design related risk and construction-related risks. All of the risks have impacted the project negatively, but the main risk of the project which is project overrun, has impacted the project most. Due to the delay in the project, the budget of the project has been increased, and financial risks occurred in the project (González et al., 2013). When the new Royal Adelaide Hospital will be completed, the patients and the medical instruments of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital will be relocated to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. This relocation must be done perfectly and for that coordination among the project team is very much important. Otherwise, there will be problems with the normal services of the hospital.
The risk mitigation strategies are very much important for every project to ensure the successful execution of every project (Webster, 2016). A good risk mitigation strategies can efficiently manage the risks. For this project, there are some selected risk mitigation strategies. In this case, consistency in the project data sets are required, and for that key changes in the project, information needs to be improved. This will mitigate the information related risk of the project. The main project risk is the delay in the project schedule. The risk of the project delay can be mitigated by hiring new workers and by boosting the process of the construction. Also, implementation of the clinical equipment, ICT works and some additional infrastructure works which are related to the project can help to mitigate the project delay risk successfully (Kendrick, 2015). Due to the project delay, the budget of the project has also been increased and for that financial risk has been occurred in this project. This type of financial risks can be mitigated successfully by budget analysis with the major stakeholder of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. In the budget analysis, a specific spending limit can be determined for the equipment and the labours of the projects. For the relocation related problem, the coordination among the project team members is very much important. It can help to successfully relocate to a new location.
Complexity of the Project
From the risk mitigation strategy, some of the learnings have been assessed from the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. Form the learnings the importance of the risk mitigation strategies has been determined. A brief discussion of the project implies that delegation can help in this type of PPP projects to complete it successfully. It has been learned that the negotiation with the project materials suppliers is a big factor as this increases the project value by reducing the price of the raw components (Meredith et al., 2016). Also, it has been assessed that effective team management is very much important in the PPP projects.
The learnings from the new Royal Adelaide Hospital implies that some changes are required in the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project to make it successful. The first change which need to be done is change in the steering committee of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital as most of the decision for the RAH project is taken by this steering committee and to bring changes in the steering committee changes need to be made in the strategic advisory team (Wang & Hsu, 2013). Also, to implement the delegation process which has been assessed earlier, changes need to be made in the operational board of the new RAH project.
The dependencies of this type of construction based PPP is based on the programs of the ICT enterprise (Kotelnikov, 2014). By using this detail of the plan can be assessed. As this is a construction based project, the strategic acquisition is very much important as this help to procure the ICT services constantly. Resource utilization will be better in this way.
From both sides of the public and the private, the common theme is projected deadline meeting. It has become a common theme for both because the project is already running behind the schedule of the project. With the deadline meeting of the project it also needs to be ensured that the new RAH project does not contain a single dispute in the project.
From this article, it has been assessed that the public-private partnership projects are very much effective for the construction based projects and as the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project is a construction project, the PPP model has been selected in this case (Engel, Fischer & Galetovic, 2013). Though the implementation of the initial requirements for the project was right with the time the project goes behind the actual schedule of the project. The main reason behind that the project execution was not right. As the project goes behind the schedule, the budget of the project increased, and this has become the main reason for the financial issues of the project. This financial issues reflected a negative impact on the Australian economy as the main funding of the project was provided by the Australian government (Deegan, 2013). The SA Health Pty Ltd has implemented a project governance structure to execute the project of the new RAH properly, but still the project missed its actual schedule.
Mitigation Strategies and Learning Strategies
From the project of the new RAH, some of the best practices for procurement management has been assessed. Government supply chain establishment and aligning the chain of the supply with the project staffs is one of the best practice for the procurement management. Also, for the procurement management alliance establishment and with important vendors and implementation of more technological equipment is another important practice. Focusing on the project cost is another important practice for procurement management (Tai, 2013). This will ensure high efficiency of the project.
There are various practices assessed for the contract management in this case. The practices of the contract management are used for efficient management of a project (Garrett & Rendon, 2015). To save the contracts from the external threats, the contracts can be stored in a cloud repository, and this will also help to efficiently manage the contracts. Implementation of the automation process is another best practice for efficient contract management. The process of the automation can help to effectively manage the processes of the project. Also, in the aspect of the contract management implementation of the performance monitoring system is one of the best way or the practice for effectively implementing the highest efficiency.
The role of the procurement manager is very much important in the aspect of the successful delivery of the project. Directing the process of purchasing is a key role for a procurement manager. This is done by the procurement manager by negotiating the supplier and vendors of the project materials. Also, in this case, this is done by supplier evaluation, managing the contracts with the vendors and suppliers and by evaluating the suppliers. The procurement manager have some other roles also in this project which are the producing the delivery report, purchase report and the spending report which are used for project performance determination.
The project manager role is the main crucial role in the context of project management. Every project manager must follow and implement the standards of the project management to ensure the perfect and desired outcome of the project which is same for this public-private project of new RAH project (Harrison & Lock, 2017). Production management is another big role for the project manager to ensure successful project delivery. The project manager is also liable for risk management, interdependencies management and for the process management which makes the role of the project manager most important in the project management context. Also, the project manager can assist in the implementation of the technical services also can provide a recommended plan for better execution of the project.
Identification of Changes in the Learning Process
The brief assessment of new Royal Adelaide Hospital project implies the importance of the public-private partnership model which has been used in the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project. From the project, I have assessed that the project of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital was very much complex and for a project which is complex it is very much important to manage the financial risks and the procurement. This is because I have seen the financial risk in this project due to the extended schedule of the project. The main financial risk which remains in the context of completion of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project which is overrun of the budget risk as the project is running behind the determined schedule. For mitigating this type of financial risks first a quality control test needs to be performed. The other possible way of mitigating the financial risks are the credit checks and monitoring and the consistency of the project. These actions are related with the practice guidelines which are published by the state procurement board of Southern Australia. These guidelines include the supplier selection, acquisition planning and contract management which are the basics of the quality control test. Form this assessment I have also learned that negotiations of the vendors and suppliers are very much important for the successful completion of the contract as this can increase the value of the project.
I also understood the importance of the procurement manager and the project manager form this assessment of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project. It is determined that the procurement managers are very much important in this type of complex project as they are able to evaluate the suppliers and vendors and can perfectly negotiate with them which is the basic requirement for the successful contract management. The role of the project manager is another important aspect of successful project delivery. The project manager takes important operative decision for the project and for that the project manager is so much important for the project. The project is running behind the actual schedule, and for that, I believe that the implementation of the performance-based contracting is the optimal solution. I believe this because it can help to get the measurable supplier performance and by achieving that project, execution will be much faster that is the exact requirement for the project in this critical phase of the project. Also, I believe the assessment of the teams in the project is another way to ensure the better execution of the project. The project team can consider some of the project issues which need to be mitigated for better project execution. These issues are the gradual increment of the project cost and the complexity of the project. The role of the project teams are very much important in this case and for that better collaboration among the project team is needed and to ensure that the communication problems must be mitigated.
The findings of this project can help me in my personal development as a project manager. This is because I have learned several things which are really needed for a successful project manager. I have learned the importance of the project deadline from this project, and I know as a project manager this is the most important part of any projects. Further, this project has strengthened my knowledge area about the public-private partnership projects.
References:
Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Deegan, C. (2013). Financial accounting theory. McGraw-Hill Education Australia.
Engel, E., Fischer, R., & Galetovic, A. (2013). The basic public finance of public-private partnerships. Journal of the European Economic Association, 11(1), 83-111.
Garrett, G. A., & Rendon, R. (2015). Contract management process maturity: The key for organizational survival. Contract Management, 55, 78-87.
González, P., González, V., Molenaar, K., & Orozco, F. (2013). Analysis of causes of delay and time performance in construction projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 140(1), 04013027.
Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge.
Kendrick, T. (2015). Identifying and managing project risk: essential tools for failure-proofing your project. Amacom.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kotelnikov, V. (2014). Small and medium enterprises and ICT.
Liu, J., Yu, X., & Cheah, C. Y. J. (2014). Evaluation of restrictive competition in PPP projects using real option approach. International journal of project management, 32(3), 473-481.
Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Mantel Jr, S. J., & Sutton, M. M. (2016). Project management in practice. Wiley Global Education.
Muller, R. (2017). Project governance. Routledge.
RAH | Royal Adelaide Hospital. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.rah.sa.gov.au/
Shenhar, A. (2015). What is strategic project leadership?. Open Economics and Management Journal, 2(1).
Tai, Y. M. (2013). Competitive advantage impacts of direct procurement management capabilities and Web-based direct procurement system. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 16(3), 193-208.
Tawil, N. M., Khoiry, M. A., Arshad, I., Hamzah, N., Jasri, M. F., & Badaruzzaman, W. H. (2013). Factors contribute to delay project construction in higher learning education case study UKM. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, 5(11), 3112-3116.
Wang, T., & Hsu, C. (2013). Board composition and operational risk events of financial institutions. Journal of Banking & Finance, 37(6), 2042-2051.
Webster, L. R. (2016). Risk Mitigation Strategies. In Controlled Substance Management in Chronic Pain (pp. 163-180). Springer, Cham.