Group Assignment
Project Management
Materials Management and Planning System
Names:
AMIT AGRAWAL (TP014919)MOHAMED MAIZ (TP015392)
DORCAS JORI TITUS (TP016390)
Assignment Title:MMPM Project Course AssignmentModule Code:
CE00348-3-PMGTLecturer:
S. MOHANARAJAHIntake Code:
TP3F0812CSETable of Contents
Table Of Contents .....2
Introduction ...3
Management Summary And Assumptions ....4
Selection Of Methodology .6
Group Work - Amit Agrawal ...7
Integration Management ..8
Scope And Quality Management .11
References ....16
Group Work - Mohamed Maiz ....17
Cost Management .18
Human Resource Management ........20
References ....23
Group Work - Dorcas Jori Titus ..24
Risk Management .25
Procurement Management ...31
References ....34
Conclusion .35
Individual Journal Reflection - Amit Agrawal ........37
Individual Journal Reflection - Mohamed Maiz .....40
Individual Journal Reflection - Dorcas Jori Titus ......43
Appendix A - Project Charter ....46
Appendix B - Summary Of Budget .......53
Appendix C - Organizational Chart .....54
Appendix D - Department Information And List Of Equipment
...55
Appendix E - The Impact Category ...56
Work Load Matrix ......57
INTRODUCTION
Project management skills and selecting the right methodology is
important to manage a project. This project requires saving a
current project that is running out of time. The project team will
choose an appropriate methodology and use that methodology to apply
in the knowledge areas of project management to solve the current
situation.
There are many problems occurred in current situation by the
previous project team and we will need to categorise the problems
into few types of management in order to solve it. Research will
need to be done about various types of management.
This assignment as it base on real world problem, we learn to
improve the way we think about the solutions and experience what
kind of problems we might have to face in a project. It gives us
knowledge and understanding about how the outside working life
style would be.
Management Summary and Assumptions
Satyam is a leading global business and information technology
services company, delivering consulting, systems integration, and
outsourcing solutions to clients in 20* industries and more than
65* countries.
Satyam leverages deep industry and functional expertise, leading
technology practices, and an advanced, global delivery model to
help clients transform their highest-value business processes and
improve their business performance. The companys 52,865* Associates
excel in engineering and product development, supply chain
management, client relationship management, business process
quality, business intelligence, enterprise integration, and
infrastructure management, among other key capabilities.
Satyam development and delivery centers in the US, Canada,
Brazil, the UK, Hungary, Egypt, UAE, India, China, Malaysia,
Singapore, and Australia serve 690* clients, including 185* Fortune
500.[1] Recently the regional head office of Satyam in Malaysia has
embarked on a new project which will assist the manner in which
materials and services are contracted and procured within the
various departments in the office. Previously this was manually
done and delays were experienced in the service and contract
selection, approval and award processes. It is aptly called
Materials Management and Planning System.As the project progressed,
it was meeting its high-level milestones for the first 9 months,
and with 3 months left, it was now deemed as failing to meet its
target dates, not doing what it was supposed to do and was
unreliable. This documentation contains a revised charter and a
recovery strategy to address those issues.
The cause of 6 problems was lack of proper project management
methodology with appropriate processes. As project was failed and
needs to re-done, steering commit has request us to get handle on
this project by using formal project management methodology with
appropriate processes so that it can solve the 15 problems which
are mention in case study.Below are the assumptions weve made:
1. Project team is a loose matrix or Functional.2. The project
procurement plan was used improperly, its being mix up with the
Material department in the organization. According to our
discussion Material department should lead the business case of the
organization and should formulate it. But, as the procurement plan
was in charge of it, it messed up the major case.3. The project
payment system for procurement & the organization payment
system are the same as the project is not a very large project and
hence can be handled by the organization payment system.
4. Previous team estimated the time poorly and didnt do a
critical path analysis.
5. Involvement of staff and other department were dynamically
changing the requirements.
6. Previous team got fired due to their poor project
management.
7. Our group are the manager above of the project manager of our
company. We are a new team including the development team to solve
the problem.
Selection of Methodology
Everyone in our group had a discussion of choosing between two
methodologies which is PMBOK and PRINCE2. We have done some
research about the two methodologies and after the research and our
discussion session we decided to choose PMBOK as our development
methodology.
The entire group members at last agreed on using PMBOK is
because the management and knowledge area in PMBOK is more familiar
to us. Since the project has only 3 months left, if we are choosing
a methodology that we are not familiar with, it might affect the
time we need to spend to understand the flow of the methodology.
When we try to categorise the 15 problems into the knowledge areas
of PMBOK and PRINCE2 methodology, we found out that PMBOK 9
knowledge areas are easier to be categorised and implemented than
the 8 from PRINCE2.
PRINCE2 and PMBOK methodology, both starts with planning and
after that planning goes to different processes. There are some
similarities in both in terms of processes and knowledge area such
as risk management, quality control, etc. The knowledge area in
PMBOK is more suitable for us to categorise the 15 problems
comparing to the 8 problems in PRINCE2. From our past experience in
developing project, PMBOK methodology will be easier for us to
implement as we got some experience in some of the type of
managements. There are some dilemma occur when we are trying to
categorise the problems using PRINCE2 so the entire group strongly
suggested PMBOK as the methodology.
We as a team of three members each one of us as a Project
manager has chosen PMBOK.
For categorizing the given problem we have used Project
Managements knowledge area where all the problems possibly fit into
the scenario.
Integration Management
According to the problem scenario faced, the project approval
was not formally documented. Furthermore there was no clear
designated sponsor for the project. The PC and server hardware
technical specifications were constantly being changed to suit new
or added requirements. And above all there is no evidence that a
proper project management process was followed.
Assumptions:
The role, task and responsibility were not assigned properly to
staff members.
Another important loophole was that the organization spent a
huge amount of money without looking into the legal matters which
was really important to meet changes.Project Integration Management
includes the process required to ensure that the various elements
of the project are properly coordinated. It gives the overview of
the following major processes:
(Willian R. Duncun, 1996)Project Plan Development taking the
result of other planning processes and putting them into a
consistent, coherent document. Here, for having a good planning of
project the well organized management process should follow, as
there is no evidence that a proper project management process was
followed. It leads to unorganized planning of the project.
Moreover, the development plan was not coherently documented. There
was no properly formal documentation which was approved for project
initiation.
1. Project Plan Execution carrying out the project plan by
performing the activities included therein. The main activity here
was to sponsor the project. Though, project plan development was
followed improperly which later on resulted in to wrong execution
of project plan. The project was flowed wrongly from the scratch
itself. The execution of planning couldnt take place because of
undesignated sponsor. There was no clear structure of sponsors. So
the activity which involved executing and processing the project
plan leads to unsuccessful criteria.2. Overall Change Control
coordinating changes across the entire project. Well the starting
two phases of the integration management were not followed
accordingly thus change couldnt control appropriately. The PC and
server hardware technical specification were constantly being
changed to suit new or added requirement. The major lesson learnt
from this failure is that when a project is undertaken then the
task and the responsibilities must be assigned clearly to the staff
members and if the people are hired from outside the organization,
then there should be clear definition of the roles and the
responsibilities.There should have been a contingency plan for the
case when the system didnt work out properly as its being
constantly changed to suit new requirements. There should have been
a monitoring of the performance of the system after the
implementation and the necessary steps should have been taken when
the things didnt work out well.
The steps should have been followed to accomplish the task:
Overview of Integration Management- taken from A guide to the
project management body of knowledge, P 41
Now one thing we need to do as the project team is to make sure
that the project is integrated into the workings of the company not
only when it is being developed (allocation of resources and
manpower to the project without negatively affecting the operations
of the company or other projects) but also at completion by
ensuring the project outcome actually does end up integrated into
the company. A project charter has to be developed. A project
charter is a document issued by senior management that formally
authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project
manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to
project activities. Share this with everyone you think may be
affected (all stakeholders) so that everyone acknowledges the
existence and importance of the project.
By creating the Project Charter, an analysis has to be carried
out and understand the scope of the current status of the system
and why was it a failure. This includes the project requirements,
criteria, assumptions, constraints, and others which are related to
the project and how each will be managed. Each specific are of the
product requirements has to be documented. Through this the work
breakdown structure can be prepared. Appropriate actions can be
taken to have the project performed in accordance with the project
management plan, the panned set of integrated processes and the
planned scope. One of the most vital phases is to measure and
monitor project status, and the processes.
Scope and Quality Management
Upon observing the critical factors required to ensure the
success of the system, following factors were responsible to the
scope and quality of project:
there was a weak business case the current network
infrastructure needed a major upgrade to support the PCs and
servers for the new system (see section VII)
Assumption:The project scope which covers the business case was
not clear enough to ensure the deliverable of the project. And it
results in incompletion of the project.
The network infrastructure which is the main factor to show the
project size and its complexity under scope management was not
upgraded to ensure its quality.
Problems and the action being taken:PMBOK as guide provides five
major project scope management processes - Initiation, Scope
Planning, Scope Definition, Scope Verification and Scope change
control. (William, 1996)According to this, we need to elaborate the
business case in order to meet the process.
A business case is a formal document which serves the following
main purposes [2]:
a. The Business Case is used to obtain management commitment and
approval for scope in business change, through rationale for the
quality.
b. The Business Case provides a framework for planning and
management of the business change.
The ongoing viability of the project will be monitored against
the Business CaseThe purposes as stated above clearly addresses the
problem stated in the case study. If the organization would have
had a well defined business case then the problems mentioned would
have not occurred.
Why business case?
Business case is an important document and ignoring it or taking
it lightly can result in big disasters and blunders. One of the
most recent examples of the project failure due to a weak business
case is the failure of the project ADVISE [Richard L Skinner, June
2007] which was under U.S Department of Homeland security. The
managers for the project did not write a formal business case and
apparently they didnt define scope properly and spent $42 million
on a gut feeling without a business plan.
Thus it is evident that the business case carries a lot of stake
with it and thus a well defined business case can really help the
project managers to refrain themselves from committing big blunders
and errors. Here comes the project charter. If project charter is
formally documented by fulfilling its era such as project sponsors,
project description, project requirements, project justifications,
milestones etc it can lead to strong business case. Project charter
mainly covers following area thoroughly shown in the diagram:
Further down on the list of problems indicate that, at a later
stage the project team found out that the current network
infrastructure needed a major upgrade to support the PCs and
servers for the new system (section VII). Based on the scope of the
project, it is clearly evident that there was a major
miscalculation on part by the development team. Addition of 360 PCs
and 2 new servers, coupled with added software that would need
network resources obviously requires a major upgrade to the network
especially if the current network consists of slow components such
as Network Hubs. In any case an addition of new PCs would require
additional hardware to connect them to the network with added
bandwidth issues that may be needed to solve. Hence the whole
scenario suggests that resources are not adequately calculated. The
project team should have included upgrading the network as part of
the project scope. Possible reasons it was omitted could have been
that a WBS was not formulated and the project team was not familiar
with such projects.
Another major problem faced in management of Scope is the scope
creep evident from the fact that requirements were constantly
changed. Two major problems identified were that proper scope
control procedures were not adopted and the organization structure
being not a projectized (as indicated by that the project manager
does not have enough power) also contributed to make it very
difficult to control the scope as the project manager was
constantly overridden by managers of individual departments.
Remedial Actions
Formulate a project charter and redefine the scope of the
project which includes the weak business case and the upgrading of
the network as well.
Implement Scope verification and controlling techniques which
the project lacks at this point as per PMBOK guide on section 5.4
and 5.5.
Overview of Scope Management- taken from A guide to the project
management body of knowledge, P 48
Scope verification
Scope verification includes formalizing the acceptance of the
project scope by the stake holders (Willian R. Duncun, 1996). It
requires reviewing the work product to ensure that all were
complete and satisfactory. This needs to be duly signed by the
company manager to formally approve the project and to clearly
identify the project sponsor as the Materials Department.
Key procedures to be implemented for scope verification:
1. Inspect the work already done, and formally document what is
being done and what needs to be done.
Scope control
A proper scope control procedure needs to be adopted. This will
ensure to identify when scope changes are required and possible
impact on the project and the final finished product too.
Key procedures to be implemented as per PMBOK guide.
1. Scope change control system which includes a framework of
paperwork, tracking systems, and approval levels needed for a scope
change to occur. This would work in conjunction with the
reorganization of the project team.
2. Performance measuring techniques such as trend analysis,
variance analysis or EVA (earned value analysis) to assess the
impact of scope changes.
Reference
[1]. Unknown, ud, Company profile retrieved on February 20, 2009
from
http://www.satyam.com/about/about_us.asp[2].unknown, ud,
Business Case retrieved on March 22, 2009 from
http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_business_case.asp.
Richard L Skinner, June 2007,ADVISE could support intelligence
analysis more effectively, retrieved on March 23, 2009 from
http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_07-56_Jun07.pdfWillian
R. Duncun, 1996, A guide to the project management body of
knowledge, Project Management Institute
Cost Management
Cost management of the pervious project was not efficiently
executed. As we know from the introduction of this project that the
necessary funds were allocated for a 12 month period. But as 9
months passed the project was already running out of funds, while
so many costs were pending. Such as the hardware and software which
were still being negotiated, and network upgrade for the new
systems.
If proper cost calculations were done for tasks and resources
calculated earlier in the project and by chance if there were
funding issues, it should have arisen at the end of 12 months, not
after the end of 9 months.
The fact that two of the main costs have not been covered
indicated that the funds were not adequately calculated and proper
cost controlling procedures and techniques were not enforced
throughout the project.
Considering all facts, the project needs to allocate resources
for the new systems and additional hardware which is needed to
upgrade the network infrastructure. Hence a new estimate for the
next 3 months is needed and it requires imposing of an adequate
cost controlling procedures. This costing must comply with the
resources needed and the new organization structure attached in the
appendix.
Remedy Solutions
A Work Breakdown Structure should be produced from which cost
and recourses can be adjusted. The adjusted estimates have to
include outsourcing the development effort as per the new project
team is put together. This should also include formerly unaddressed
costs such as network upgrading. Based on the estimates a financial
plan is formulated (attached in appendix B) that needs to be
obtained for the next 3 months to successfully finish the project
on time.
Enforce cost controlling procedures using tools and techniques
as defined by PMBOK guide section 7.4.
Overview of Project cost management - taken from A guide to the
project management body of knowledge, P73
Key actions include.
Adopting a cost change control system which includes a framework
of paperwork, tracking systems, and approval levels needed for a
cost change to occur.
Performance measuring techniques such as trend analysis,
variance analysis or EVA (earned value analysis) to assess the
impact of cost changes.
Human Resource ManagementManaging human resources is often
overlooked in projects. It needs to identify the people to do the
job, defining their roles, responsibilities, and reporting
relationships, acquiring those people, and managing them as the
project is executed. PMBOK methodology mentions that these skills
are necessary, but does not attempt to document them. These are the
important skills that a project manager should have, to be able to
lead the team well.
In the previous project the project manager changes frequently
hence no person was assigned to take the responsibility of the
project manager. This indicates that there was no clear
organizational structure to manage the project. This is the one of
the major problem which might lead to project failure. This is
occurred due to lack of leadership and planning.
Project team members were assigned without following any
standard procedure. The tasks of the team members were assigned
without identifying their capabilities. There was no communication
between the team members. The team members were given the choice to
do whatever they wanted to do. This gave the wrong impression that
the department heads felt that their department was the most
important user of the system and focused on their needs only.
A project manager should be able to make decisions. The project
leader should be able to give proper guidance to team members. The
project team should understand clearly the objectives and goals of
the project. Roles and responsibilities of each member of the group
should be clearly documented. But no evidence of this was found.
This indicates that the project managers authority was constantly
overridden by the department head /Mangers. It is clear that
management has failed in hiring right person to the right
position.
There are people lacking with required capabilities such as
technical skills especially lacking in the network and security
areas. Lack of communication between the senior management, team
members and the stakeholders is one of the reasons of failing the
previous project. To overcome the above mentioned problems, special
focus needs to be given to Human Resource Management.
Remedy Solutions
Handling people in a team is not easy as they may have their own
personal skills and some of them might not be able to work well as
a team. One of the processes in project human resource management
is to make most effective use of the people involved with a
project. There are three major processes we need to take note in
human resource to prevent the current problem occur again which are
organizational planning, staff acquisition and team development. If
these three aspects are handled well, the project can progress
smoothly without major human resource issues.
According to PMBOK, an organizational structure will influence
the project. As a project manager, he/she must be given a certain
level of authority to ensure that he/she can control the team. The
table below is an organizational structure about project
manager.
(Organizational Structure influences on Projects- Taken from A
guide to Project management Body of knowledge, P18)
To encounter the current human resource problems, we will start
with the organizational planning. First thing we will do is to
create the organizational chart. Remedy solutions will be applied
to this organizational chart and it will help in managing the
project in the next 3 months. This chart will state our project
managers and the people or departments working under them. This
will prevent the authority of the project manager being overridden
by the departments head. The project team is projectized and he/she
will have the most authority to manage his/her department. All the
department managers will be working under the project manager so
this will ensure that the project managers authority will not be
overridden by any department managers. When there is only one
person who has the full authority to be in charge of the
department, all decisions will be made by the project manager so
there will be no conflict of authority occurring. The project
manager will be chosen by us and he/she will choose the team of
people who will be working under him/her as a department. We will
try our best to get the best combination from our previous working
experience as a team, to develop a good team to complete the
project in the remaining time.
With the organizational planning, we can prevent authority
overridden and the department heads will not feel that their
department is the most important department because we are
assigning the tasks in the work definition and assignment process.
Each department are equally important and have their own type of
tasks, none of them are special from each other.
Staff training comes under human resource management. Hence as
for the lacking of technical skills in network and security area,
we will provide them a 3 month course to train them up in these
particular areas. We will get lecturers to train the staffs
simultaneously with the progression of the project; they will be
able to learn up most of the things in 3 months time.
REFERENCES
Books
Willian R. Duncun, 1996, A guide to the project management body
of knowledge, Project Management Institute
Kathy Schwalbe, 2000, Information Technology Project Management,
Course Technology.
Websites
Dr. Paul Dorsey, 2000, Top 10 Reasons Why Systems Projects Fail
[online], Dulcian, Inc., Available from
http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:sMsARAV8yrQJ:www.dulcian.com/Articles/Dorsey_Top10ReasonsSystemsProjectsFail.pdf+%E2%80%98Top+10+Reasons+Why+Systems+Projects+Fail%E2%80%99&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=my
[Accessed: 25th May 2009]
Risk Management
The risks associated with the project, although documented, had
no detailed action plans and were not categorized in terms of
impact or severity.
Proposed Solution
According to Clifford, Erik (2008), Risk is an uncertain event
or condition that, if it occurs, has positive or negative effect on
project objectives. Any decision that we take generally carries
some amount of risk, and as such may result in a gain or loss for
us. Risk taking entails making a choice; it actually involves some
level of change of some sort, like a change in place, a change in
profession and change in opinion. The same is applicable to
project, as it also entails strategy.
Reactive
Proactive
Reactive strategy waits till the problem occurs before it is
been applied to tackle the problem. That is to say, when the
problems crop up, the team members goes into action and takes the
initiatives to solving the problems.
Some of the threats inherent here basically is the lack of
technical skills observed in the network and security areas. The
material management and planning (MMPM) system is a project of 12
month, but in the course of that 12 month there were a lot of
incompetent team members reflecting from the inconsistency being
exhibited. The firm never accounted for the fact that any may
leave, it simply took the continuance of the team members. However
some of the team members left the company and invariably the
project without any giving prior notice. In such a situation, the
entire burden falls upon the very few remaining crew. Due to the
shortage of time, the company might not be able to hire new staff
immediately, and the project then suffers massive set back,
abandonment or unnecessary delays.
Reactive strategy will mean hiring and training new staff after
the earlier staff has quit. Had the problem been foreseen, the team
members who plan to quit could be made to train the new staff
before they leave.
Proactive means taking the initiatives before the problem
becomes a menace. This strategy with respect to MMPM will mean
acting in advanced, that is predicting that a problem may arise,
and taking precautionary measures for it. Identification of risk
may occur, therefore prioritizing them, and planning solution
strategies to deal with these risks are part of proactive
strategies.
RiskCategoryProbabilityImpactRMMM
Technology will not meet ExpectationsTE30%1
End users resist SystemBU40%3
Size estimate may be significantly lowPS60%2
Larger number of users than plannedPS30%3
Source:Aptech(2005),Software Project Management Fig 1 Risk
Table
1. Risk Identification
Generic Risk
Product-Specific risks
2. Risk Assessment
Determine the average probability of occurrence for every risk
component
Complete the risk table and analyze the results
Determined the impact for each component using the table in
AppendixA
3. Risk Response
Contingency Plan ActivityProject ManagerSystem
DeveloperTestersRisk Mgmt Team Members
Identify RisksMSJJ
Analyze RisksMSJJ
Plan Risk ResponseMJSJ
Take ActionMJJJ
Constant Risk ControlMJSJ
Legend:
P=Primary/Major responsibilityJ=Joint/Shared responsibility
S=Support/Involved
Work Breakdown Structure
With the Risk Management Plan (RMP), risk management will be
systematic and easier to perform. The next step would be to
identify the risks. As stated in the plan, it is very difficult to
identify all the risks for the whole project at once. This is why
the project should be broken down into manageable bits, and then
the risks for each component can be identified.
The team members were able to identify some of the threatening
risks with the help of work break down structure. Listed below:
1. Software Development
A. Investigation
No methodology
Data enter wrongly
Methodology was applied wrongly
B. Users requirement were not met
Poor requirement documentation
Lack of communication between the user and the developer
2. System Design, Requirements Gathering & Implementing
Design not Friendly and poorly documented
3. System Building and Coding
Codes were not developed well
4. System Testing & Test Plan
Test Plan incomplete and was not properly followed
5. Hardware Implementation
Hardware failure(wrong Configuration)
6. System Installation
Installation and verification
These are basically the identified threats, which were just
identified and no action were taken by the previous team members.
The next step is to analyse the seriousness of each risk in order
to prioritize them. Risk prioritization is based upon the concept
of risk exposure,risk exposure is determined using the
relationship:
RE =P*C
Where:
RE= risk exposure
P=Probability of occurrence of risk
C-cost to the project should the risk occur
Risk identification only 70 percent of software component for
scheduled for reuse will be integrated into the application,
remaining functionality will be custom developed.
Risk probability 80% likely
Risk impact 60 reusable software component were planned. If only
70 percent can be used, 18 component would have to be developed
from scratch (in addition to other custom software that has been
scheduled for development) since the average component is 100 LOC,
and the local data indicate that the software engineering cost for
each LOC is $14.00, the overall cost impact to develop the
component will be: 18*100*14 = $20,200
Risk Exposure = 0.80*25,200~$20,200
Risk exposure can be computed for each risk in the table in
fig1, once an estimate of the cost of risk is made. the final
estimate MMMP can be adjusted once the total risk exposure for all
risk (above the cutoff in the risk table) is calculated
A risk referent level must be defined for risks based on
performance, cost, and schedule.and support. A risk reference level
has breaking point or reference points, which indicate whether the
project may be continued or terminated.
After a careful identification of all high threats to the
project, an effective risk Response can be considered:
Transfer: This option would involve insurance thereby making the
insurance company responsible for the consequences of any such
identified huge threats.
Contingency plan: This would be the primary option the project
manager and team would employ as it has specific actions that would
be taken for potential problems identified with this failing
project. This step comes into picture when risk avoidance has
failed and risk has become a reality.
The teams contingency plan would address system planning for
every critical system and also include specific trigger dates i.e.
implementation dates while including alternative solutions to
critical services provided by outside parties. Consideration would
also be made for system compatibility and alternate systems
provided. Project staff issues would also be addressed as well and
alternate solutions derived.
After carrying out the risk analysis and management exercise,
the team would carry out regular reviews as these would involve
formal reviews of the risk analysis, testing systems and plans
appropriately
The project manager and team would manage inherent variability
by acknowledging and accommodating the possibility of risks through
recognizing, evaluating, estimating, and communicating its
existence to management and other stakeholders as appropriate.
Project Procurement Management The hardware and software
delivery was still being negotiated while there were only 3 months
to complete the project
It was generally felt that the in-house developed system was not
very different from vendor developed software, e.g. SAP PROJECT
PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT SolutionProject Procurement Management is
the process that acquires goods and services from external
suppliers. Base on the case study, the previous team members were
still negotiating the hardware and software and they had just three
months to complete the project. Complication occurred because the
PC and server hardware technical specifications always changed to
suit the new and added requirements.
Secondly, it was generally felt that the in-house developed
system was not very different from vendor developed software, e.g.
SAP
Due to time constraint developer has decided to apply some sort
of critical analytical concept, the developer has decided to
request for the PC and Server specification to suit the new or
added requirements for future. Project Procurement Management is
the process that acquires goods and services from external
suppliers. Base on the case study, we notice that the current
project are need large amount of hardware for different departments
and the entire hardware and software delivery date keep postpone
although it was negotiated for last few months. The problem occurs
because the PC and server hardware technical specifications always
changed to suit the new and added requirements.
With the higher specification quote from the supplier, when
their is a need for upgrade ,the developer will just use the
specification instead of buying and fresh installation of PCs and
Server which will consume time and money.
Secondly, it was generally felt that the in-house developed
system was not very different from vendor developed software, e.g.
SAP.Introducing new software is not totally a bad idea, but looking
at the time and sending the crew (Group member) for training is not
a wise thing at this injury time, The project is already running
out of cash. With procurement management, it will be able to
effectively overcome the current problem.Procurement management
will redefine the project scope statement and product description
that know what exactly the projects needs, for instance the
hardware and software requirement and a suitable server for the
system
Secondly, solicitation planning that using the previous
procurement plan and statement of work to produce procurement
documents and evaluation criteria. Developer has to define a
specification requirement and establish a deadline for supplier to
ask for offers because the amount of hardware and software is
already listed in the case study. The hardware specification is not
only requirement for now but must support future use. The minimum
requirement must be support up to 5 years to run the daily task.
Within the 5 years must have a good after sales services such as
warranty and services for the hardware and software. In current
market, there are a lot of suppliers provide a good after sales
services example like Dell, IBM, HP and etc. ((Rory Burke,
2000)
Next step is solicitation that uses the prepared procurement
documents and chooses the qualified suppler lists. Now they have to
request the quotation or proposal from the qualified supplier.
Developer should request from different supplier to receive
different proposal and compare the price and services that supplier
will provide. They are not list the entire hardware specification
for supplier but let the suppliers specialist team to purpose the
best hardware requirement for different departments and developer
going to consider it.
for purchasing the hardware and software. The contract is a
mutually binding agreement which the supplier to provide the
specified product and obligates such as after sales services,
warranty, deliver deadline and etc. And they have to make sure the
hardware have included 5 years after sale services. It is important
if we found some problem to the hardware and the supplier will give
a good after sale services.
With the contract, they can confirm the prospective supplier to
deliver the hardware and software within the deadline given and
check is the hardware requirements from us is same with the
proposal. The supplier must include the invoice so that we can
check on the price too. If developer unsatisfactory with the
deliverable, they can request change of the product. If the project
management team cannot agree on compensation to the product, they
can claims, disputes or appeals to the supplier. If everything
works fine and agree
Office of Information Technology Services(2006)More so, The Team
members have decided to use the in-house developed system, due to
time and cost constraint. Since the resources needed are not what
can be produced in-house , the Project Manager is required to Make
a buy decision which will require a list of the Suppliers and
vendor list(all potential suppliers and vendors need to be
identified and pre- qualified according to the product quality
plan.). After which invitation of tender will be made (compilation
of bid package for suppliers having all the information needed for
the quotation). (Rory Burke, 2000)Finally, it to closing the
contract which similar to administrative closures in that it
involves both product verification and administrative close-out.
The project team should determine the entire project was correctly
and satisfactorily. Before close-out must make an audits to the
procurement that was make is previous step and then prepare a
complete final projects records. And the project manager has to
responsibility to provide a formal written notice that the contract
and requirement are all acceptable and the project has been
completed.
ReferencesClifford .F, Erik W.(2008),Project Management the
management process 4e, 4th ed,McGraw-Hill,Newyork.
Aptech(2005),Software Project Management,Aptech Limited,
Mumbai.
Project Procurement Management, [online], Available from
http://www.itworld2.com/pmpprocure.aspx [Accessed 25 May 2008
Burke R., 2000, Project Management Planning and Control
Techniques, 3ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 3rd avenue, New York,
NY.
PMBOK Guide, 2004, A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge 3rd ed,Project Management Institute, Four Campus
Boulevard, Newtown Square USA
Office of Information Technology Services(2006),Guidelines to
Establishing a
Project Procurement Plan, State of North Carolina.
ConclusionProject management is a wonderful domain and the
importance that it holds in terms of the success and failure of the
project is immense. The six issues that were part of the case study
made us touch various facets of project management and it was a
great experience leaning to solve these issues using the project
management tools and techniques.
The selection of the project management methodology was the
first challenge and based our research we learnt how PMBOK
methodology scored over other methodologies such as PRINCE2. We
learnt how PMBOK has dedicated components for all the tasks and how
they helped us to solve the problems by decomposing them based on
these components.
The problems were discussed in the group and all the group
members gave their comments. We had brain storming session for all
the problems and it was really heartening to have that spirit in
the group. We were really amazed to find out how even the small
things can make a huge difference in project management. We are
referring to the solution of problem of Scope Management. We never
thought that a well defined business case could be so important in
project management. A good formal business case is really important
for the success of the project.
The infrastructure had also affected the scope of the project.
The project team was mainly responsible for it. But by following
steps of Project Scope Management processes, we were able to
conclude the appropriate solution.
Another important aspect that we got to know through this case
study is that only planning is not enough for a project. It is
necessary to monitor and control that plan and also to re assess
and re plan things after a time period. A consistent monitor and
control strategy allows for finding the errors and flaws early and
thereby allows for more time and flexibility to mitigate them.
Human resource management is an integral part of any
organization. Great stress is laid on implementing an effective
human resource system in an organization. There are lots of
department in an organization that makes use of human resource to
setup strategic planning and means to process officials
assignments. The companies that do not have a proper human resource
department suffer from official disorders and lack of management in
office activities.The power of Cost Management is in its
simplicity. Prioritization through effective communications leads
to more effective use of resources. The result is higher
productivity and ultimately, the optimization of IT processes. A
standardized, scalable Cost Management methodology provides
long-term, sustainable benefit to organizations across industries
because it ensures that the tools, processes and desire are in
place for high IT productivity.Procurement and the management of
the entire supply chain have emerged from being sets of functional
skills to being recognised as a driving corporate business
philosophy - a profit creation centre, rather than simply a cost
saving function.In this project there were high risks but no
appropriate actions were taken. So we gave appropriate solutions to
overcome this.
All and all it was a great learning experience for all the group
members, we learnt many project management techniques and then we
were able to apply them to appropriate tasks and issues. When we
did the research for the solution we came across many astonishing
facts such as reasons for failure of IT projects and also the
amount of money that has been wasted so for in failed IT projects.
These facts us made us feel special that we were learning project
management and also it reflected how important project management
was and how it could be used to save and rather successfully
utilize millions of dollars that are invested in IT projects.
By following basic project management processes and by using a
little bit of common sense many potential failures could be turned
down and we are all set to do that now.
Individual Journal Reflection
Member name: Amit Agrawal
It was a good learning curve for me to work with my group
members Mr. Mohemad maiz and Ms. Docras. We have never worked
together before and thats why it was a challenge for all of us to
come up with the goods.
The first major challenge for me was to set up a communication
plan for the team to report to each other. We decided to report to
each other after every fortnight and the members were given free
license to consult with each other at any moment if there was some
problem which needed immediate attention. It was also decided that
in case of any queries that needed the attention of the faculty, it
would be me who would meet the faculty to clarify doubts if there
were any.
In our first meeting we just discussed the case study and looked
at the requirements of the assignment was all about and soon we
divided the problem areas among ourselves. Mr. Mohemad maiz and Ms.
Docras wanted me to do the division part and that has been
reflected in the workload matrix. This was really encouraging as
the team members believed in my leadership and were ready accept my
decision without any pressure. It was nice to get trusted by
them.
We then sat together in the syndicate room of the institute and
discussed the methodology that we were going to follow for the
assignment. We all had researched beforehand about the
methodologies and there were two suggestions from three of us and
those were PMBOK and PRINCE2. We had a decent amount of discussion
and while I and Mr. Maiz were in support of PMBOK, Ms. Docras was
in favour of PRINCE2 but we pointed out a certain differences and
familiarity about PMBOK and then we all agreed to it.
Then we all met to discuss the lessons learnt section and this
was a real brain storming session. We discussed one point at a time
and the my first issue was that of the scope and Mr. Maiz and Ms.
Docras advocated that it was a clear case of integration but
according to me it was not so. It was related much more to the
commitment of the management and the scope area of the project and
thats why I presented the concept of business case. Next problem
under me was that to categorised those specifically defined 15
problems into 6 major categories. But Mr. Maiz gave one very
important point and that was to categorized 15 problems using
project management knowledge area. It was a good piece of
observation.
In this project, I was responsible to solve the Scope, Quality
and Integration management. Before I start provided the remedy
solution to the problems, I started with doing the research from
many of reference book in library and internet to understood what
is scope, quality and Integration management and what information
must prepare for that. I also tried to look up on some diagrams and
business case example to support my documentation part.The best
part which we have decided was that we had to research before any
meeting as the agenda was set before and this helped in coming with
some really reasonable suggestions. Every time we had something to
show, something to support our work, our discussion. As a group we
discussed every problem and suggested each other with number of
solutions. To conclude I would like to thank Mr. Maiz and Ms.
Docras for being so corporative, supportive and open minded
throughout the project. Working with them during this project was
an enjoyable experience and we have learnt many things from each
other especially as the project is designed such a way that the
same problem could be resolved in different ways based on the
assumptions we made.
I also would like to sincerely thank Mr. S. Mohanarajah for his
invaluable lessons and guidance given to us during the lecture
sessions and especially in making the tutorials sessions enjoyable
and interesting.
Individual Journal Reflection
Member name: Mohamed Maiz
This project is challenging in terms of finding a suitable
methodology and the categorising the 15 problems into 6 categories
and finding the solution for it. We need to find a suitable
methodology that enable us to complete the project as good as
possible in the remaining 3 months time and provide remedy solution
for the problems occurred. This assignment is very important for me
to complete, since in the future I can apply the project management
skills in other projects and different areas in my life.
During the development of this project, I knew that the
importance of project management and how it will affects the output
of the project. There are a lot of aspects we need to look at in
order to complete a project. First thing we need to choose an
appropriate methodology. We are comparing PMBOK and PRINCE2. Dorcas
supported PRINCE 2 while me and Amith supported PMBOK. After doing
researches about the two methodologies, we had found out that PMBOK
is the best suitable methodology to be implemented. Compared with
PRINCE2, PMBOK is easier to be implemented and we are all more
familiar with the managements inside PMBOK. This is where Dorcas
agreed with us. Selecting an appropriate methodology is very
important to any project. This is the start where we can based on
the methodology plan and develop the project. Many projects have
failed because they didnt choose and follow the right
methodology.
After deciding to use PMBOK, I had read some books about PMBOK
and some research on the internet to understand more about the
methodology. After going through all the research about PMBOK, I
learned that managing a project is not an easy task. I also learned
that planning of the project is very important before executing the
project. Planning is the most important aspect that will affect the
whole project flows.
One of the key areas where we faced difficulties was agreeing
upon where a particular problem would fit in the 6 knowledge areas
of PMBOK. The problem definition gave enough room to think in
different ways as it was not exactly clear how the initial 9 months
work was carried out nor there were any documentation kept of the
work as defined by the problem context. Therefore assumptions were
taken on those unknown parameters to decide where a particular
problem fits. And it goes around that if we had taken a different
assumption the same problem could have been argued in a different
perspective.
The problems that I solved are human resource management which
is problems no 4, 5, 6 and 13 and the cost management which is
problem no 11. In problems 4, 5 and 6 I found out that the
organization planning is very important. The task assignment and
organizational chart is really important to be developed so there
will be no conflict of task and authority. The problem will occur
when there are conflicts between the project team. Every individual
will have different knowledge areas and expertise, it is not an
easy task to identify and assign the right person for the right
task and making all of them to work as a team.
While doing the cost management I figured out that prices keep
changing all the time. They are never fixed. It can increase and at
the same time decrease. We cannot predict what will happen in the
market within 12 months. Hence we have to make some assumptions and
we have to fix every deal we need to make as soon as we fix the
budget. For example we shouldnt wait till the middle of the project
duration to start purchasing the systems or software. We have to
finish it as soon as possible while the prices keep constant as it
is show in the budget.
This assignment is a group assignment and the group is selected
by the lecturer. Luckily I knew one of my group members before
this, nevertheless there is a challenge to cooperate with both of
them to complete this assignment. We have good communication and we
can work as a team to solve the problem. I would like to thank both
of them and we enjoyed working as a team to finish this assignment.
We used msn and yahoo messenger so that we can discuss online and
share our opinion and the tasks wed done. Were not only working as
a team in this assignment, but we also have built up our friendship
during the development of the project. We had fun times and enjoyed
working together so we never felt stressful in doing the
assignment. Well at least not till the last minute.
As Amith said to conclude I would like to thank Mr. S.
MOHANARAJAH for helping us, teaching us, and guiding us thorugh
this project. And I would also like to thank my colleague CHEA
VICHHEKA for he have made it so interesting arguments in our
classes. Finally I am very confident by doing this project I have
made it so easy for myself to do my upcoming project management
exam. Thank you.
Individual Journal Reflection
Member name: Dorcas Jori Titus
The project was really an eye opener to a lot of things that
will be considered to the developer as irrelevant in most project.
The developer had a lot of experiences, and one of the experiences
is working in a group. This group assignment gave The developer
lots of new experience especially at the discussion part. At this
part we did lots of discussion about the project and come out with
a project plan with a possible solution which help us to finish the
assignment on the time, even at the course of the discussion their
were a lot of argument on the 15 problem areas, on how to digest
and summarize it to six (6) Problems. The developer also came to
realize how Team member could make project a waterloo by sheer
negligence and irresponsibility. The major benefit of group work is
the idea generation in the course of brainstorming as a group. As a
group the MMPM project was achieved basically by breaking down the
task to individual responsibility in other to make MMPM a
success.
It took me awhile to comprehend the case study, while I embark
on research trying to figure out what the project is expected of me
and what project management is as a whole. A lot was learnt through
thorough research and the concept of project management eventually
made meaning as it was actually my very first experience and
research into that field of study so the thrill and enthusiasm to
probe deeper surged in and I managed to gather a lot of information
within the scope of the case study before commencing work.
After carefully building my arguments through the assumptions
stage to the choice of project methodology, I noticed some very
clear similarities which raised doubts in my mind. The realization
was that for the case study in question and most projects, the
PMBOK guides nine project management knowledge areas complimented
each other. This made finding optimum solutions to the stated
problems quite a challenge as an issue which may be classified
under a specific knowledge area by my group could possibly be
included in another and the only difference would be the
justification for including it under that knowledge area.One of the
factors that the group members achieved by making this project a
success is the constant communication amongst them selves, due to
the time constraint and many other factors that could make it not a
reality.My own personal experience as a developer, was basically
trying to comprehend the methodology PMBOK and it majors Knowledge
areas, and how to apply it to MMPM projects.
As a group of three the 15problems was merged to six problems,
and was shared to each and every member of the group. Each of the
group members had two of the problems to discuss.
The two problems given to me as a developer to use to come up
with a solution as a developer, which will be a great favor to the
crumbling projects, are basically:
Risk Management
Procurement
Using PMBOk as a guide methodology to use in handling such a
problem and to give solution where applicable, PMBOk is use as a
guide with a lot of scenarios on similar projects. The most
challenging aspect of my problem area is the risk Management, which
is one of the alarming factors of projects, most projects are not
insured that is why when threats shows up, most projects will be
put on hold and when they decide to continue the project, the
projects becomes an old. And at the end of the day the money we
were scared of losing, we will not only loss, but their will time
wastage
I have gained a lot of experience about critical success factors
for most projects, what causes project failures and how to revive
ailing projects. Even though I acknowledge that there might be more
scenarios out there that might require a totally different approach
to them, the knowledge gained from this project would serve as a
terrifying foundation for much more learning and experience in the
project management world.
The attitudes of accidental project managers and their team
members should be aligned to the success of the project by
satisfying and delivering the needs and wants of the intended users
of the system. Such a positive attitude would in turn influence the
entire project and give it that boost it would need to propel the
project team through the project lifecycle.
Project management as a career will be suggested to every
individual who was to successful either in team work or in every
aspect of our live, decision APPENDIX A -PROJECT CHARTER
Project Name: Materials Management and Planning (MMPM)
Project
Document Version no: 2.0
Current Phase: 2 (Project Recovery)
Project Number: 04/2008
Project Sponsor: Materials (Contracts) Department, Satyam
Corp.
Project Manager: Mr. Amit/ Mr. Maiz / Ms. DocrasDate: 03 January
2009Project Description
Satyam is a leading global business and information technology
services company, delivering consulting, systems integration, and
outsourcing solutions to clients in 20* industries and more than
65* countries.
Satyam leverages deep industry and functional expertise, leading
technology practices, and an advanced, global delivery model to
help clients transform their highest-value business processes and
improve their business performance. The companys 52,865* Associates
excel in engineering and product development, supply chain
management, client relationship management, business process
quality, business intelligence, enterprise integration, and
infrastructure management, among other key capabilities.
Satyam development and delivery centers in the US, Canada,
Brazil, the UK, Hungary, Egypt, UAE, India, China, Malaysia,
Singapore, and Australia serve 690* clients, including 185* Fortune
500.[1] Recently the regional head office of Satyam in Malaysia has
embarked on a new project which will assist the manner in which
materials and services are contracted and procured within the
various departments in the office. Previously this was manually
done and delays were experienced in the service and contract
selection, approval and award processes. It is aptly called
Materials Management and Planning System.
As the project progressed, it was meeting its high-level
milestones for the first 9 months, and with 3 months left, it was
now deemed as failing to meet its target dates, not doing what it
was supposed to do and was unreliable. This documentation contains
a revised charter and a recovery strategy to address those
issues.Project Requirements
The project involves a system that will be used by 9 departments
distributed over 18 floors of the building. The following
requirements are identified for the project.
1. Development of Materials Management and Planning (MMPM)
System was using in-house with existing staff from the company for
the first 9 months. But based on the analysis of the problems, a
new project team is brought in for the next 3 months.2. A central
storage is required in order to store and access information to
approve the various department services and contracts.
3. All employees must have access to this new system (access
privileges will vary)
4. 360 new PCs are to be installed as per Appendix B.
5. 6 new servers are to be installed as per Appendix B.
6. Current Network infrastructure is to be upgraded to
accommodate the new PCs and servers and the software being
developed.
7. The cutover - (old manual system to new automated system)
must be in parallel.
8. A software needs backup and recovery capability to ensure
stability and integrity
Project justification
The new system will revolutionize the way in which materials and
services are contracted and procured within various departments.
With the development of the MMPM the Contacts department will be
able to fully automate procurement processes such as contract
selection, approval and award processes and at the same time
monitor the procurement requirements of all the departments in the
office while individual departments will have completely new tool
with which they can communicate with the Materials Department in
all matters related with procurement. MMPM will enable individual
departments to track the status of their procurement processes, how
far it has gone without much hassle.With the development of the new
system delays experiences in the current manual process will be
totally eliminated and the communication gap between the Materials
Department and other departments will be minimized.
Project Manager Authority Level
The project manager has the support of the project sponsor for
the following.
A Budget of RM 1,030,920.00 which includes the actual
construction of the software, salary of the team members including
overtime and equipment cost.
A total duration of 1 year, from the date of commencement of the
project. The total remaining duration to complete the project is 3
months.
Execution of project after the project plan has been
approved.
Direct and coordinate the work of the team members and schedule
overtime hours if required.
Request services from all departments and coordinate activities
to meet the deadlines and requirements.
Monitor schedule, cost and performance of MMPM Project.
Enforce adequate controlling procedures as described in the
problem solutions.
Summary Milestones
Milestones have been divided into two phases. Phase 1 includes a
high level milestones that are achieved in the past 9 months and
phase 2 starts from where phase 1 ends and includes milestones that
need to achieved in the next 3 months
Phase 1
Project kickoff0 days1/Apr/2008
Project team acquired2 days3/Apr/2008
Requirement analysis complete3 weeks24/Apr/2008
MMPM 60% complete69 weeks30/Dec/2008
Phase 2
Problem Scope identification and formulating recovery plan 6
days3-Jan-09
Takeover new Project Team2 days5-Jan-09
Procure 360 PCs, 6 servers, 2 backup devices, and networking
devices required for upgrade including operating systems and
software [procurement process start]1 month9-Jan-09
MMPM 90% complete56 days26-Feb-09
Upgrade the network infrastructure to accommodate the new
software and hardware complete4 weeks2-Mar-09
Install PCs, servers, and the backup devices complete4
weeks12-Mar-09
MMPM software 100% complete (Beta testing stage)15
days12-Mar-09
Preparation of User manual complete2 weeks17-Mar-09
User training start2 weeks18-Mar-09
MMPM Data migration from manual system complete3
days21-Mar-09
MMPM parallel running with manual system and stabilizing start9
days24-Mar-09
MMPM official launch (Handover)0 days3-Apr-09
Manual system cutoff30 days1 month parallel running
Stakeholder Influences
Stake HolderInfluences
WTF consulting (PM 19) Plan and monitor the recovery of the
project for the next 3 months.
Project ManagerExecute, and Monitor schedule, cost and
performance of MMPM Project. Coordinate and direct work among the
team member. (Refer to section on Project Managers
Responsibility)
Unknown Vendor (yet to be determined)Supply the PCs, Servers,
networking equipment and backup devices
Materials (Contracts) Department, Satyam Corp. (Project
Sponsor)
Controllers (Accounting and Finance) of Satyam Corp.Finance the
project according the finance and cost plan. Additionally release
payments to project procurement processes through appropriate
channels.
Project Development TeamExecute, and monitor schedule, cost and
performance of MMPM project according the schedule and instructions
from Project Manager.
All departments in Satyam Corp.Assist and corporate with the
MMPM project team in the work related to the development of MMPM
providing information where required.
Assist the project team during the testing phase of the MMPM
system.
Functional Organizations
The new project team will includes a project manager and 9 team
members grouped in four departments. The four departments are the
procurement, development, training and installation department. All
of 10 members will be working in Satyam Corp. for the next 3 months
to complete the project. All the department staffs will be
reporting to the department head and all the department heads will
be reporting to the project manager.
Business case
Materials (Contracts) Department, Satyam Corp needed a system to
manage the way in which material and services are procured. The
system being developed is tailored to the exact requirements of the
company allowing the software to fully integrate, helping to meet
key business objectives. The software being bespoke is scalable
which is a positive factor compared to off the shelf systems such
as SAP as it is able to accommodate the changing requirements of
business growth and could evolve with the company to provide an
ongoing perfect fit for the company.
Once software is developed, the organizations IT staff could
handle the maintenance of the software without added fees which
maybe imposed by off-the-shelf software.
Appendix B - Summary of Budget
The budget has been prepared to address the current problems at
hand which contain upgrading the network infrastructure which has
not been identified at the initial stages of the project. It also
accounts for the additional man-hours required to finish the
project within the next 3 months.
The project team was part of the Satyam for the first 9
months.
The next three months will be done by external project team
working inside the Satyam. 900 Man-days is based on 10 people
working for the next 3 months.
Hence the total budget consists of
APPENDIX C- ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
APPENDIX D - Department Information and List of EquipmentThe
table below details the various departmental requirements for PCs
and Servers that needs to be installed for the functioning of MMPM
System.
DepartmentDesktop PCsServers
Information System (IS)95Production
Web Server = 2
D/B Server =1
File Server =1
Backup
D/B Server =1
File Server = 1
Controllers (Accounting and Finance) 72
Engineering109
Materials (Contracts)38
Law7
Public Affairs12
Payroll11
Human Resources10
Planning6
Total3606
The departments are distributed across 18 floors in a building
which has a data centre and all the Desktop PCs are connected using
structured cabling best practices (vertical and horizontal cabling)
which is scalable where growth and expansion is possible.APPENDIX
ERisk Projection, is also called risk estimation rates can be
carried out in two ways; the probability or likelihood that the
risk is real, and the consequence of the problems associated with
the risk, should it occurs.
CategoryComponentsPerformanceSupportCostSchedule
Negligible1Failure to meet the requirement
Would create inconvenience or non-operational impactError
results minor costs and/ or schedule impact with expected values of
less than a certain limit
2No reduction in Technical PerformanceEasily supportive
softwarePossible budget under runEarly achievable delivery date
Marginal1Failure to meet the requirement would result in
degradation of secondary missionCosts, impact and or/ recoverable
schedule slips with expected value between certain limits
2Minimal to small reduction in technical performanceResponsive
software supportSufficient financial resourcesRealistic achievable
schedule
Critical1Failure to meet the requirement would degrade system
performance to a point where mission success is questionableFailure
results in operational delays and/or increased costs with expected
value between certain limits
2Some reduction in technical performanceMinor delays in software
modificationsSome shortage of financial resources, possible
overruns Possible slippage to delivery dates
Catastrophic1Failure to meet the requirement would result in
mission failureFailure results in increased costs and scheduled
delays with expected values in excess of $500k
2Significant degradation to non-achievement of technical
performance Non-responsive or unsupportable software Significant
financial shortages, budget overrun likelyUnachievable delivery
date
The Impact CategoryWork Load Matrix
Project Cost Overrun
Project schedule Overrun
Fig 3 Graphical description of referent levels reference from
Aptech (2005)
Referent point (Cost value, time value
Request for Proposal
I.Purpose of RFP
II.Organizations Background
III.Basic Requirements
IV.Hardware and Software Environment
V.Description of RFP Process
VI.Statement of Work and Schedule Information
VII.Possible Appendices
A.Current System Overview
B.System Requirements
C.Volume and Size Data
D.Required Contents of Vendors Response to RFP
E. Sample Contract
Example of Request for Proposal Template ()(Office of
Information Technology Services)
Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology
2