Managing A Budget And Schedule For A Multi Million Dollar Project

In order for an organization to remain successful, it must be able to fulfill its day-to-day operations without mistakes. If these demands cannot be met, a new project must be created in order to stay in business and ahead of the competition. If an organization has a problem, they can benefit from fixing it by following a formal process for identifying, selecting, initiating, and planning projects (Valacich, 2009).

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

This course provides the foundation for successful project planning, organization, and implementation within the realm of information technology. The course uses real-world examples and identifies common mistakes and pitfalls in project management. Topics covered include project scoping, estimating, budgeting, scheduling and staffing, tracking and controlling, and software tools for project management.

With the exceptional growth in technology, the present day projects are often large and complex involving a significant risk. So, a Project Management Methodology enables the delivery organization to handle these projects comprehensively, systematically and in an integrated manner, which results in strategic, tactical and operational benefits.

However, when IT projects fall behind schedule, these efficiencies can quickly evaporate and lead to cost overruns, glitches and bugs. (3) Due to their inherently complex nature, IT projects are susceptible to many types of failures; mainly caused by a lack or risk management and flexibility. Many of the risks present in IT projects are unrealistic goals; inaccurate estimates of needed resources; badly defined system requirements; poor reporting of the project’s status; poor communication between developers and users; adoption of immature technology; inability to cope with project complexity; sloppy developed practices; mismanagement of the project; stakeholder politics; and commercial pressures. (4) With so many potential risks, it is not surprising that IT projects that are completed on time, and on budget, are more the exception rather than the rule. Additionally, before IT projects begin, clear objectives and the allocation of time and resources need to be defined; all of which are usually lacking for one reason or another. The result is a high failure rate associated with IT projects overall, which puts a spot light on the need for organizations to improve their risk management abilities and design processes that will allow them the flexibility to reallocate resources when unexpected problems when they

Beijing EAPs Consulting Inc. (BEC) is a rapidly growing consulting company whose number of employees has increased from six to 16 in just one year. BEC has adopted a new project management system, using project managers to coordinate several employees from various departments. Due to the heavy workload, most employees must work on multiple projects. Collaboration between projects and department managers is not very smooth. The chief executive officer must decide how he can improve the collaboration efforts across the company 's different departments. This particular project plan, like other project plans, has both strengths and weaknesses which the plan should put into action in order to ensure that it is completed on time, safeguarded and insured.

Gray, C. F. & Larson, E. W. (2008). _Project Management: The Managerial Process_. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hills Companies, Inc.

There is an old adage which insists “time is money.” While simple, in concept, it has been proven true, in fact. In a global, technologically driven society, however, the very idea of time has changed. Having once implied a spanning space between the hours of “nine to five” relative to the person or organization from whose vantage money was viewed, time is now irrespective of person, organization, or location; it is, literally, “24/7.” With this shift in perception, organizations, especially, have taken on the greater challenge of ensuring efficiency in their operations, allowing their customers the

Planning is a key for a successful project. It sounds like the Tiger Team project slipped the schedule and ran over budget because of a large project scope or may be because of keep changes in the project scope.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements (PMBOK Guide, 2008). Using this definition, it is made evident that the parties involved in the Denver International Airport (DIA) Baggage System project in the 1990’s failed at applying basic organizational practices towards managing the triple constraint of scope, time, and cost goals. The combination of inherent risks, uncertainties, and dysfunctional decision making geared the project towards disappointment while simultaneously designating it as a text book example of what not do when taking on a complex project. By looking at the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats we can

Placing the events in a Gantt chart will help clarify and organize the events, the order in which they will occur, as well as any preceding activities that must be accomplished. Table 5 shows the project 's normal conditions, their timeframes and associated costs. As noted, normal conditions require 50 weeks to complete and therefore, cannot be used. Table 6 is a similar chart showing the project under ultimate crash conditions. As mentioned earlier, the project can be accomplished in as little as 42 weeks if every activity is crashed. This scenario is not desired however, because the project 's budget then approaches $5 million in associated costs, over 50% beyond the original allotted expenditure.

In this paper, the author will introduce a failure case of K-Mart 's IT modernization system project. In 2001, K-mart took $1.4 billion dollars into this project with the purpose of competing with its rival Walmart. The dream is beautiful, but the real work is cruel. After 18 months, the project was failed because of lacking of cash. What happened in the detailed for this project? $1.4 billion dollar is huge numbers, why it was still not enough to pay and distribute for this project? How did its project manager do in this project? What are the project problems? How can we learn from the failure of this case? The paper includes the case background introduction, the project development process, the problems in the project, analysis and

While projects can be similar in some instances, no two projects are ever the same. For this reason, management of projects requires the application of tools and techniques to meet the goals of the temporary endeavor. Project managers apply these tools and techniques to determine what is required for project delivery such as the list of activities to completed, the time required to complete the activities, resources needed and the various risks associated with the deliverable and efforts. A multitude of tools and techniques are employed by the project manager based on the need of the effort to organize, identify and communicate the various aspects of the project. While in contrast, the repetitive nature of operations activities

Project management is an essential part of businesses and industries in order to advance ahead and add value to products. Project management enables companies to innovate, plan strategically, and for the economy to progress. The important parts of projects are often values such as team working, planning, innovation, time and budget management, and leadership. In the modern society, some projects can be pharmaceuticals (inventing new drugs), IT solutions (new technologies), energy and environment (other sources of energy such as solar), and military (new weapons and machines). The similarities are such that these projects are undertaken to improve the lives of

According to an accounting textbook, cost is defined as a resource sacrificed or foregone to achieve a specific objective. It is something given up in exchange. It is necessary for project managers to understand project cost management since project costs money and consumes resources.