Management of e-Discovery Procurement Project

A basic definition for the procurement is “the way the building is realised” and “involves assembling and organising the skills and services of a team of construction professionals”. (the Construction Round Table, 1995). More precisely, the construction industry describes procurement as “a system that establishes the roles and relationships which make up a project organisation”; hence the overall organisation and communication structure for the management, administration and control of a project is established by the procurement system. (D.C.H Coles, 2010)

According to the Project Management Institute (2013), plan procurement management is the process of documenting project procurement decisions, specifying the approach, and identifying potential sellers. This step helps the organization determine whether or not they should acquire outside support. If done correctly this step should help the organization know exactly what they need to acquire, how to acquire the appropriate services or products and finally how much it will cost the organization. For example, in the above case study Providian Trust has determine that they would benefit from an outside vendor, they have also decided to go with the Access Plus software to help them achieve their goals. Additionally, they have determined the price and timeframe; the project was to last for 20 months and cost $18

The paper is divided into three sections, the first of which will establish a timeline of events. This project background will serve as a case study for the analysis in the following section that will be structured such that each of the previously mentioned facets will be independently analyzed and contrasted with project management principles. Finally the paper will conclude with a summary of the analysis and recommendations based on

The procurement life cycle can be made up into 13 key stages. The stages I am going to follow the CIPS stages of procurement and supply management. (Cips.org, 2017)

The needs of a project must be carefully identified, sourced and acquired to have a successful procurement process. Procurement planning is essential to the overall success of a project. It involves identifying the materials and services, finding the suppliers, and properly documenting the transactions.

In the current business environment, the demand for project managers is ever growing. In short, project management is a provisional project constrained by time, cost and scope (A guide to the project management body of knowledge, 2013). Between the immense organization, optimization, and communication assets skilled project management brings to a project, it is easy to see why project management is a booming field of study. Furthermore, project management can be both financially and personally rewarding when long term milestones and goals come to fruition.

This Project Charter describes the purpose, scope, objectives, estimated cost/ effort/ duration, risk and constraints, assumptions, approach and organization.

The most valuable output of the Plan Procurement Process is the Procurement Management Plan. As is the case with almost every aspect of the project management process, it is essential and imperative that the project management team implement an effective and concise plan when it comes to the various components of procurement throughout the project’s life cycle. Specifically speaking, the procurement management plan refers to the plan that has been put into place that is meant to dictate and describe the entirety of the procurement process and how it is means to relate to and with the developing procurement documentation, and how contract closure will relate to all. The procurement management plan should be implemented and developed as early in the project life cycle as possible to assure that the procurement process is consistent throughout, however, in some cases the plan may be altered once the project begins, particularly if budgetary reasons dictate.

Projects are used today as a way of achieving a variety of outcomes in local or international locations for new constructions, new product development, product improvement, process design, process improvement, utility installation, theory and technology development, and many more. Bringing a project to a successful conclusion requires the integration of numerous management functions like controlling, directing, team building, communication and others. It also requires cost and schedule management, technical and risk management, conflict and stakeholder 's management, and life cycle management.

Project Management Institute. (2000). _A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (4th ed.)._

Procurement intends to explore supply market opportunities and to implement resourcing strategies that deliver the best possible supply outcome to the organization, its stakeholders and clients (Kidd, 2005). Therefore, construction procurement exists to purchase a construction project as requirement of firms or organizational entities to achieve its goals. However, the choice to use external resources is the part of firms’ decision-making

In terms of business, outsourcing can be defined as the process of assigning company’s business processes to external agencies in order to develop the firm’s performance and to avoid business’s high expenses. These expenses may include energy costs, production and labour costs, high taxes and excessive government regulation. From strategic management point of view, outsourcing is used to reduce the operational costs so that the organisation can focus more on the core business and gain competitive advantage. The outsourcing principle was fundamentally applied by PRCM in order to fund the mine design and operation processes. This sort of strategy had large impacts on the company’s performance hence, the next paragraphs will highlight some of these influences.

During the project initiation phase, I can work collaboratively with the project sponsor in the development of project charter and lead up to the formal authorisation of the project/ new phase. From the sponsor’s project SOW (Business need, product scope), Business case etc., I can identify measurable project objectives, high level requirements, risks, summary milestones and budget and approval authorities. The key deliverables in this phase are project charter and stakeholder lists.

All projects involve the need to determine whether the project work will be done in-house, external to the organization (outsourced), or a combination of the two. This is called “make-or-buy analysis” and is an essential part of project planning, as well as a tool/technique integral to procurement planning

As a Project manager it is critical to be on the forefront of technological changes and opportunities that will improve project procurements. The opportunity to reduce cost and improve the speed and accuracy of procurement can be found in Electronic Procurements (E-Procurement). The chance to reduce cost is very tempting; however, the risk associated with the opportunity must be considered as well. Project managers have an opportunity to conduct a procurement analysis, which takes a closer look at the advantages and challenges of this new method. “What we now call E-Business arose through the proliferation of the internet as a platform for inter-organizational systems (IOS) in the late 1990s and has had a particularly significant impact