Southern New Hampshire University | Week 1 Written Assignment | In Partial fulfillment for MS Operations and Project Management | 1-14-2012 |
Name and briefly describe the primary goals of a project?
According to Figure 1-1 of our text book, the three primary goals of a project are: 1) Performance: One has to ask themselves during a project if you have met the objectives of the project. Performance can be measured by evaluating the processes such as scope verification, quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control. The initial performance goals should be outlined in the initial Scope of Work. 2) Time: All projects will have a deadline, whether it is tied to an event (e.g. Olympics) or an arbitrary deadline set by
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A project creates a capability to perform a service. A Project is always developed in steps and continuing by increments – Progressive Elaboration.” (Project Management Guide, 2011) There are 7 main characteristics of a project: 1) Importance: The project must have the senior management buy in, without this a project will fail when problems first arise. 2) Performance: A project should have a comprehensive SOW. With a clear indication of performance objectives one can measure the success of a project. A project must coordinate and control all of the tasks needed. 3) Lifecycle: According to the definition of a project characteristic they are temporary and have a definite beginning and a definite end. At the end of the project one needs to transition the project to normal business operations. 4) Interdependencies: Project usually are coordinated with normal business operations. Activities must be fluid between the temporary endeavor and these operations to be successful. 5) Uniqueness: Project management is used when a new goal that has not been tried before is taken on. The development of the moon rover in the Apollo Program is an example of this type of uniqueness. Project should not be used for normal business operations such as cutting payroll checks. 6) Resources: Projects typically have a limited amount of resources. These resources need to be carefully managed as to not overextend them (e.g. Budget,
1) The difference between projects that fail and those that are ultimately successful has to do with:
Project ____ may be defined as a test of whether a project has met scope, time, and cost goals.
‘A project is a connected sequence of activities involving a range of resources, designed to achieve a particular outcome and frequently used as an instrument of change. It takes place within a defined period of time and is the responsibility of a single individual or agency’ (CMI p17)
(Project definition: Planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within certain cost and other limitations)
Performance measurements are used to characterize and define performance in a project. They are used to track and manage progress toward achieving specific project goals. Performance measurements help determine how decision-making processes of a project led to its success or failure, understanding these can help organizations make future improvements. It is a project manager's responsibility to measure performance based on the triple constraints of time, budget, and quality of a project. There are many performance measurements a project manager can use based on the type of project at hand, this paper compares and contrasts the following measurements -
Considering the enormity of the different projects and activities needed to be completed for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, in order for the organizers to achieve the time dimension, they had to adopt strategies such as holding frequent coordination meets with the different parties delivering other required item, setting target dates well in advance and as well designing test
The implementation of any type of Information Systems Project needs to be properly looked over, in order to make sure its success. There are five major variables of project management that can help with the success of any project, which are scope, time, cost, quality, and risk. It could be the deciding factor for getting it done correctly, or possibly not getting it done. With any project, it could cost your company money by leaving you without the information you are counting on.
The project life cycle consists of the conceptualization phase, the planning phase, the execution phase, and the termination phase.
The project priorities are in regards what should be prioritised in the project. What is to be taking in regards in terms of cost is (budget), time (schedule), and performance (scope) of the project. What is important to emphasise on here is how these three correlate with one another. In a case where time is important it would be necessary to perform faster, which will prevent a quality outcome, hence lead to reduced costs. The importance of a project manager is to control the trade-offs between budgets and scope. The project managers functions as a link between upper management and project customers. The project manager needs to have keen understanding of project scope in order to fulfil the requirements for the customers and how prioritize the demands. The customer can also add requirements and then the manager needs to prioritize the requirements in regards to the project. An important method is to use the priority matrix to identify what is worth prioritizing more. The constrain is stick and have to be obliged to the first agreements made between the customer, this includes, the specifications and scope of the project or the budget. The enhance includes time and costs. The enhance is an essential factor seeing where to emphasize on either on reducing costs or
Projects have a defined start point, a single definable purpose and a well- defined end state
The clear definition of the project boundaries will prove to be important for all phases of the project management, such as: managing and controlling the
List down and briefly describe the outputs to be produced for the achievement of each of the project objectives. Outputs are results or products that are “delivered” in order to ensure project success. Several outputs may be necessary to attain an objective. In this section, and for each desired output, specify performance indicators. Performance indicators spell out the desired quality, nature and/or content of the expected output.
All projects are defined by the purpose, objectives and deliverables. Properly defining these, as well as the other aspects of the project management plan will
The concept of project scope may be one of the most ample in project management. It involves objectives, limits and intentions. Every requirement in a project as well as its characteristics must be dealt with when planning the scope. Even though it 's reasonable to say that every project is unique, the causes for which it fails are generally the same. And if you already know what these causes are, you can minimize the likelihood of problems being repeated and thus increase the chance of success.
Project Management is the essential part of an organization to take necessary efforts to create a product or a result. As the organization grows large the complexity and the risk factors goes high. Each project has a project manager. Managers have to monitor and coordinate different projects at the same time and it is an art or skill to getting things done by others. Every project has its life cycle that means a start and end point. Some may be successful and some may not. There are some critical factors which restrict from success and eventually lead to project failure. Apart from the critical factors, all organisations should have clear understanding of why particular project is important. Is this project is prioritized? .WHAT to achieve, WHEN and HOW to complete the project (Sara, Amaya ,Angel,Pedro,2013). Primary analysis of these questions are necessary for the success.For a project “requirement and specification” plays a vital role. Design, planning, use of resources and cost estimation of a project are done based on the requirement and specification. A project with well defined objectives with efficient definitions shows the way to success.Functions of Project Management includes activities such as planning, cost control, quality control, risk management and safety management in order to achieve project goals (Sara, Amaya ,Angel,Pedro,2013) .