Project methodology for Museum Victoria
The paper analyzes the PRINCE2 methodology with a process based approach for managing the e-procurement software system for the Museums Victoria. It is one of the largest public museum organizations in Australia. The organization is responsible to provide multi-venue educational and cultural institution, providing cultural and science programs for the people of Victoria as well as visitors from interstate and overseas. As the organization is using the PRINCE2 methodology into their business process, therefore this methodology breaks down the project into seven processes. The seven processes are described as start up of the project, initiation, and directing, controlling, managing delivery of product, implementation and closing the project. This particular methodology provides with easy as well as scaleable methods to manage the project work (Kerzner 2013). Each of the seven processes of this project is described with its inputs as well as outputs with consisting of particular objectives to achieve success so that the work is carried out effectively.
The paper is based on analyzing the project management methodology that is used to describe the entire project plan for e-procurement software system of Museum Victoria. The project manager describes each of the processes briefly so that finally the system is implemented into the business.
In the start up phase, firstly the business case on an e-procurement software system for Museum Victoria is developed with details such as strategies of the company, use of the system, availability of the resources, budget and project timeline. Therefore, after getting the tender of this project, the project manager decides to work on the project based on the project management methodology like PRINCE2 (Saad et al. 2013). In this phase, the methodology describes the background of the project organization. The strategic directions of the museum organization are deep connections; invest into knowledge, expertise as well as collections. The organization also directs their business into digital transformation, organizational resilience and build of cultural capital (Sanjuan and Froese 2015). The project manager identifies the key issues within the organization and therefore they take the decision of implementing the e-procurement system. At first, the organization consists of manual paper-based requisition system for the procurement of goods and services (Tomanek and Juricek 2015). However, they faces issues such as inefficient tracking of goods and services, delay in obtaining of signatures, venues, loss of paperwork, duplication of data and inaccessible audit trail. In order to address the issues, the organization proposes to implement the system.
In the second phase such as project initiation process, a document of project initiation is to be composed of. The document is used to generate the project boundaries of the project (Turner 2016). It consists of the details such as project scope, aims and goals, dependencies, constraints and assumptions. The document also consists of planning, assessment of the risks, stakeholder details and project governance. Final part of this process is to get approval for this implementation of system and the document should obtain of available resources such as time, human resources as well as money (Warner 2014). The request of tender (RFT) document consists of the proposal for the plan. The Closing Time and lodgement of Tenders are also mentioned in the RFT. Evaluation criteria are mentioned so that the system should meet as per its detailed specification, plus technological fit into the environment of Museums Victoria. All the information, data and documents are kept secured with regard to commercial-in-confidence (González-Marcos et al. 2016). Museums Victoria will regard the tender as business in-certainty. The tenderers are prompted however that Museum Victoria is liable to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and subsequently is not ready to give an affirmation that the substance of the tender will be kept classified in all conditions. Then, after getting approval from the project manager, the project work starts to work on the procurement project.
Start up Phase
After the project initiation phase, there is requirement to start with directing the e-procurement application. It is required to grow near into the purchasing strategy (Karaman and Kurt 2015). The project manager at first examines where their museum is now and on how much level they want to go. Before implementing the system, it is required to get knowledge on total budget, size of transactions and its type (Turner and Hartley 2016). This project should wok based on the three specifications the problems, goals as well as setting of project boundaries. These specifications are useful to guide the proposed system. With use of IT value sourcing framework, the system’s functions are not theoretically specified but it is functionally précised based on the project goals (González?Marcos et al. 2015). All the core requirements of the system are specified into details. The three specifications are described into the tender document that is distributed to the e-procurement suppliers.
The project work is controlled by organizing an information session for the suppliers to discuss the procurement process and its requirements into the museum Victoria. During the session, the suppliers can ask any questions (Martinelli and Milosevic 2016). Finally, the supplier should be invited to provide a detailed project plan based on the tender document for implementation of e-procurement tools. The detailed information is such that the system will supply configured in order to meet with requirements of the “out of the box” with no require customizing (Marcelino-Sadaba et al. 2014). The project manager describes the system architecture and use of technology. It is then compared with the virtualisation technology. The system should run on latest version of Windows software. Functional requirements of the system are described. When all the project team members are satisfied with the project plan, then a contract is signed with the supplier to supply the e-procurement software (Schwalbe 2015). A service level agreement should be required to make before going to the next stage such managing of product delivery.
In the product delivery stage of the e-procurement system, the suppliers should provide the e-procurement software. The suppliers consist of three phrases to manage the products (Walker 2015). In the first phase, the e-procurement supplier forms a detailed design of the system. The detailed design should provide with the procurement process of the museum. The steps are also described in each of the IT system within the network. The system is to provide with detailed IT systems such as financial to integrate with each other. Security measures are also taken to secure of the application (Verzuh 2015). In the second phase, the e-procurement tools are configured. The tools are set up based on various system parameters. Then the project suppliers provide the system as well as interface with other systems like the financial system in collaboration with the IT department (Boud, Cohen and Sampson 2014). In the final phase, the e-procurement tools are tested to observe if it is running properly or not and if the proposed system is meeting with the business and client’s requirements. There is unit testing, it is done to check the errors into the system. System integration testing is done to test the entire system to check if the system is working together. If none of the errors are found, then acceptance testing is done (Mir and Pinnington 2014). It is testing if all the system requirements and specifications are correct. If the system is working properly and the users can able to use it.
Project Initiation Process
In the implementation phase, the e-procurement system is implemented into the business operations of Victoria museum. In this process, all the employees, managers and other workers are informed about the new implemented system (Seymour and Hussein 2014). The suppliers as well as business partners are also informed about the implementation of the system. The implementation document describes the installation as well as configuration process of the E-Procurement system. There are 184 workflows are configured, which are required for implementation- providing average cost to create the individual workflows. The system users should require to train about use of the system so that they can handle it properly (Basu 2014). Without training to use of the system, the return on investment of the system becomes lower as compared to trainer team. Apart from the training, support documents are created for processing the e-procurement system (Karaman and Kurt 2015). The support documents consist of Australia-based helpdesk and call centre with telephone as well as email support. The support calls are being logged into the call tracking system which is hosted by the vendor. A system administrator is required to monitor as well as interact with the support requests (Krysi?ski and Miller 2016). It is helpful and required as each of the organization has different rules to implement the system. Then, it is easier to use the system and understand the documents.
In the close up phase, the e-procurement system is evaluated properly so that it can be use by the users of Museum Victoria. It is required to evaluate the proposed system and then described the lessons learned from the success as well as failure factors. On-site training is also provided to the system users so that it helps them to understand the basic functionality of the system (Kerzner 2013). Training is provided to the 50 users. After evaluation of the project work, it is time to finish the project work and then complete it. Finally, the project manager checks if the project plan completes within schedule time as well as budget. With use of IT value sourcing framework, the system’s functions are not tentatively particular but it is functionally outlined dependent on the project objectives (Boud, Cohen and Sampson 2014). The project design is considered as a transitional phase where a theory is created at the pre-designing phase will increase as well as modify into solutions to direct the implementation process, maintenance as well as operations of the business.
After analyzing the PRINCE2 methodology for e-procurement software system, additional requirements are also analyzed from the tender document. Museum may consider cloud or remote server options for their system. In order to overcome with the security issues, Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS) is used to authenticate the data and kept it secured (Tomanek and Juricek 2015). After approval of the project proposal, the suppliers estimate that the total value of procurement does not rise above $150,000 within the financial year. Roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders are mentioned in the project. A valid procurement process is also mentioned in the document so that the superintendent, Project Manager as well as successful tenderer can identify the implementation process. Among the team members, proper communication such as face-to-face communication is to be required for the software project. This particular project is built to get support from the side of management team so that the implementation process becomes easier.
Directing E-Procurement Application
Conclusion
It is concluded that this particular business case on e-procurement system for Museum Victoria is created with points of interest, for example, procedures of the organization, utilization of the framework, accessibility of the assets, spending plan and project course of events. The document is utilized to create the project limits. It comprises of the points of interest, for example, extend degree, points and objectives, conditions, requirements and assumptions. Before executing the framework, it is required to get information on proposed project plan, size of transactions and its sort. The work is controlled by sorting out a data session for the providers such as suppliers to talk about the obtainment procedure and its prerequisites. The providers comprise of three phrases to deal with the items. In the main stage, the e-procurement provider shapes a point by point plan of the framework. In the second stage, the system is designed. In the last stage, the system are tried to watch in the event that it is running appropriately or not and if the proposed framework is meeting with the business and customer’s necessities. The e-procurement framework is executed into the business operations of Victoria exhibition hall. It is required to assess the proposed framework and afterward depicted the lessons gained from the success as well as failure factors. The detailed design should provide with the procurement process of the museum.
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