Northumbria Engineering

School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences

CM0647 Project Management and Professional Development

Assignment 2, Semester 1, 2011-12Date of submission 12 -12-2011

Name of student - MANISH ABRAHAM

Student Reference Number - 11033698

Name of Tutor - Clifford Brown, Shelagh Keogh

Northumbria Engineering (NE)

Northumbria Engineering

Enabling Creative Approach

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Abstract

NE is an International company looking at initiative with a fresh perspective. The company supports partnership development for its people, with its people and by its people.

There has been an increasing trend where core business activities are organized through projects Maylor, H. (2001).

The use of project management methodologies and techniques will be able to help organizations to face with the challenges David, I. Cleland & Roland Gareis (2006),

Purpose - After going through various strategies like risk management, new service development, innovation strategy, scope management, information and communication management etc. a series of strategies that could be adopted within Northumbria Engineering around the world to develop project managers for our future projects on a portfolio of mobile communications has been suggested.

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Table of Contents

Abstract......................................................................................3

Table of Contents.......................................................................4

Isagoge / Introduction...............................................................5

Initial Thoughts..........................................................................6

Strategies and considerations...................................................7

Cost Effective Implementation Of Strategies........................10

Conclusion................................................................................11

References.................................................................................12

Appendices...............................................................................15

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Isagoge / Introduction

What exactly is that the future project managers of Northumbria Engineering will do? PMBOK® Guide (2004) says that a project manager helps to deliver project on time, on budget, within scope and resource constraints, as per the expectation of people that ask the project managers to do, but as project managers in the mobile communication engineer department of NE the scope widens. The mobile telecommunications industry comprises a highly competitive, dynamic and uncertain environment (Lal et al., 2005); therefore high velocity of innovation introductions in the market is a key success factor for offering new value-added services in the mobile industry.Fast time-to-market of an innovation creates a sustainable competitive advantage over others (Sherman et al., 2000; Lynn et al., 1999; Griffin, 1997; Vera Blazevic et al., 2003). Bayus (1997) found that project teams have to balance high quality and low costs with fast time-to-market of an innovation. As per Vera Blazevic et al (2003) these innovations need to be introduced at a rapid pace while at the same time companies have to absorb market information during the new mobile service development. While reviewing different project management practices of various telecommunication organizations the attention was paid to main trends in project management methodologies of ITU that has the most elaborated methodologies in project management. This paper provides an overview on the project management methodologies and tools, including use of performance indicators and cost recovery practices. It was found that the primary causes for the failure of complex projects were (al Neimat, 2010):Poor planning(not conducting risk assessment);unclear goals and objectives; objectives changing during the project; unrealistic time or resource estimates; lack of executive support and user involvement; failure to communicate and act as a team.This paper is structured in such a way that it first gives outline of current situation then recommends strategies and at last discusses implementation methodologies.For a brief conclusion, the purpose of this paper is to construct a conceptual framework of strategies that could be adopted within Northumbria Engineering around the world to develop project managers for our future projects on a portfolio of mobile communications and time-to-market during new mobile service development and how could those strategies be implemented in the most cost effective manner.

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Initial Thoughts

Specific to telecommunication projects, project management consists of managing all the activities of a given project right from Site Survey to Site Integration. This helps an Operator / Client in having optimum man-power and relaying on the Project Management in executing the project successfully in time. As per Chan (1998) planners have to consider many factors when deciding how best to provide communications to communications users. For mobile situations, time is critical. Planning in such situations is becoming an increasingly difficult task, and manual methods of calculation and planning are rapidly becoming obsolete. The computerization of certain stages of the process of communications planning is one solution to the problem. The planning process is subdivided into separate functional areas. Each is supported with a module, and the modules are then integrated to form a complete communications planning system. The software produced helps to perform mechanical and repetitive tasks, do complex mathematical calculations and keep track of large amounts of information, which would put a strain on human memory. The vital decisions are always made by the user, who may have other non-technical factors not considered by the software.

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Strategies and considerations

The three recommended strategies that would be beneficial to be adopted by NE are :

1. Integrated Risk and Earned value management

A project risk is an event that disrupts the execution of a project and reduces its chances of meeting its objectives of quality, cost, or schedule Sherif, M.; 2006. The various categories of risk are strategic, operational, financial, regulatory, technological, and reputational [Orr, 2004].As per Sherif M(2006)Project managers of NE should follow following steps : a. Identify various root causes of risks.

Two common techniques to identify risks are experience-based and brain-storming based risk assessment [P. S. Royer, 2000]

b. Evaluate Risk to prioritize the treatment of various risks.c. Risk mitigation.It is recommended that the project managers at NE need to produce a risk log with an action plan to lessen each risk (HAUGHEY, D, 2010).It is also recommended that the project managers create log comparing the earned value (EV) with the planned value (PV), so that efficiency of accomplishing work can be accurately measured. We need to train project managers about earned value management. The difference is that Earned value management looks back at past performance as an indicator of likely future performance. Whereas risk management looks ahead at possible influences (risks) on future project outcomes David Hillson (2004). It is recommended that we have regular rehearsals with two or three days of war game to identify threats and weaknesses so that we can learn from our failures. (Dr. Lew Ireland 2008).

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2. New service development and Innovation strategy

Future project managers at NE need to “Stop avoiding risk and embrace the discomfort of creating” Steve jobs (2009)

New product and service development processes (NPSDP) generally take the following steps: idea generation, idea screening, concept development and testing, business analysis, product development, market testing, and commercialization (Kotler & Armstrong, 1999). Mullins and Sutherland (1998) emphasize the need to develop strategies for reducing business risks and effective uncertainty management for superior new product performance in rapidly changing markets, such as telecommunications services. Future project managers of NE should focus on

a. Idea generation and screeningAs per Lars et, al. (2011) ideas identified as attractive are more original and of higher customer value than other ideas. Ideas for the projects in NE have to be generated and screened effectively to reach the objective. As per an article in Electronics Weekly (‘Touch technologies will change user interfaces for ever' (2011)) Smartphone’s and tablets are leading the way in interface innovation, it is clear that the ability to sense a user's presence and respond to a simple, intuitive touch rather than the press of a button will affect all electronics, from home appliances to industrial control systems to automotive infotainment. We need to have the ability to make advanced human interface technology which should be easy and cost-effective to deploy power efficient and with high performance as sophisticated consumers expect more from these new interfaces.

b. Concept development and testingAs the field of mobile communication has a lot of competition the service concepts at NE needs to be tested to satisfy specific needs. As per Jae-Hyeon Ahn et, al. (2004) One strategy to address the problem would be to focus on modern means of communications emphasizing its unique value rather than vague and unrealistic expectations for service quality.

c. As per Partridge (2011) software radios will become standard commercial technology so it is recommended that at NE we focus on developing and creating ideas by using available resources efficiently towards stronger bond between the

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3. Unified Communication Strategy

Rapid developments in communication technologies have radically changed the nature of human communication between individuals and organizations in today’s workplace (H. Lee, Shin, & Higa, 2007) We have to radically change and modify the means of communication in which we interact with each other. Now days there are many ways to communicate like e-mail, teleconferencing, video conferencing, mobile phones, instant chatting, social networking technologies conventional telephones and short message service (SMS). The more number of communication channels causes an increases in the number of security risks which will affect standard and consistency in the projects undertaken by us, the wider use of the modern means of communication has caused a problem for project managers; they get thousands of mails or calls and text messages each day which is difficult to process. The issues related to modern means of communications were not discussed by most of popular power and influencing books as they were not widely available when those books were written. It is recommended that we have a unified communication system like mobile virtual private network. Unified communications which will result us in improved and streamlined project processes. The right team members can be located wherever they are, on the most appropriate channel. Communication channels can also be switched quickly as needed. Project processes can thus be routed more effectively, speeding up other tasks and reaction time, it will help the managers to get regular feedback of the progress being made in the project, as per (http://www.accenture.com/ Site Collection Documents/PDF /Accenture Brochure New_ Product Development_ Innovation.pdf) if there is unified communications team members will no longer be bound to office, therefore it will reduce facilities costs, enabling virtual teams and empowering distributed, offshore delivery using lower-cost resources. Precise communication at the right time and right place is the key success to a project. Northumbria Engineering is an International company so we have a lot of tie ups with the other companies at an international level. The future project managers will have to manage projects in which there will be a lot of interaction with the international market. It is recommended that the company initiates a training course to train the project managers how to handle different clients as well as team members from different cultures of the world.

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Cost Effective Implementation of Strategies

1. Risk management and earned value management

As per David Hillson (2004) EVM and RM provide a potent framework for managing change on a project, based on a realistic assessment of both past performance and future uncertainty. For implementing it in a cost effective manner a. We need to create the baseline spend plan (BCWS/PV)

i. This can be achieved by Developing a cost effective work breakdown structure to describe scope of work, without hidden contingency

b. Predict future outcomes (EAC)i. The project managers need to Record project progress and actual

cost spent to date and calculate earned value c. Evaluate risk management process effectiveness

i. We need to take appropriate action either to exploit opportunities and address threats and spend contingency to recover time, or spend time to reduce cost drivers.

We can minimize risks by partnering with their customers to customize configurations in order to minimize cost which can also be done by conducting surveys (Abram Castro (2011) as we will try to understand the demands of the project which we plan to undertake.We can provide training to the project managers about the risks by in the form of seminars and lectures.

2. New service development and Innovation strategy

To implement development in a cost effective manner. It is recommended that we increase our collaborations with universities as an initiative about subsidizing top graduate talent to work on specialist projects in for up to three years like the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP, 2005).At Northumbria Engineering we can create services that cross technology and network boundaries like the Service delivery platform. As per a paper from Huanget.al (2010) services are now being delivered over the Web, the SDP is based on three simple design principles: 1) user interface aggregation, 2) data aggregation, and 3) knowledge centralization. Like the present applications for I Pads and smart phones being developed and sold online we can also reduce the cost and get new ideas throughout the world.

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3. Unified Communication Strategy

The most cost effective way to implement may be to outsource the job to a company which may help to Northumbria Engineering to cut costs in many ways by implementing unified communications which will result us in improved and streamlined project processes. As per Ireland, B (2006) Benefits of outsourcing include faster customer response time, increased speed to market, and improved quality.

Conclusion

Due to high competitive, dynamic and uncertain environment (Lal et al., 2005) high velocity innovation introductions remains a key success factor in the mobile industry. We also see that there is further scope of research into the computerization of certain stages of planning. Training remains integral part of projects and the recommended three strategies, needs to be implemented by focussing on outsource as it will help to cut costs and streamline project process Ireland, B (2006). We have learnt that the future remains in Service delivery platform implementation of strategies should be focussing on Sdps like the current app market online Huang et.al (2010).

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References

Abram Castro (2011) Substrate innovations for the mobile application processor market Available at http://www.electroiq.com/articles/sst/print/volume-54/issue10/features/substrate-innovations-for-the-mobile-application-processor-market.html (Accessed on 7 Dec 2011).

Al Neimat, T. (2010), “Why IT projects fail”, white paper, Project Perfect, Sydney, available at: www.projectperfect.com.au/downloads/Info/infoit_projects_fail.pdf (accessed Dec 2011).

Bayus, B.L. (1997) "Speed-to-market and new product performance trade-offs", Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol.14 pp485-97.

CHAN, H. C. & LEE, S. L. (1998). Support for mobile communications planning. Decision Support Systems, 23, 97-110.

David Hillson (2004) EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT: A PRACTICAL SYNERGY [Online] Available at: http://www.risk-doctor.com/pdf-files/cev-b1004.pdf (Accessed on 5 Dec 2011).

David, I. Cleland & Roland Gareis (2006), Global Project Management Handbook, Planning Organizing and Controlling International Projects, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill Companies, pg. 13.

Dr. Lew Ireland (2008) future trends of project management, [Online] Available at: www.asapm.org (Accessed on 2 Dec 2011).

HAUGHEY, D. (2010). 10 Golden Rules for New Project Managers Available at: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/10-golden-rules-for-new-project-managers.html (Accessed: 1 DEC 2011).

http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture _Brochure_ New_ Product_Development_Innovation.pdf (Accessed 9 December 2011).

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pearse/morefathers/files/porphyry_isagogue_01_intro.html (Accessed: 2December 2011).

Huang, Y, Su, H, Sun, W, Zhang, J, Guo, C, Xu, J, Jiang, Z, Yang, S, & Zhu, J (2010), 'Framework for building a low-cost, scalable, and secured platform for Web-delivered business services', IBM Journal Of Research & Development, 54, 6, pp. 4:1-

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4:14, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, (Accessed 11 December 2011).

Ireland, B (2006), 'OUTSOURCING OPTIONS: Electrical contractors and maintenance staff forge a more cooperative relationship to keep plants up and running. (Cover story)', EC&M Electrical Construction & Maintenance, 105, 8, pp. 34-41, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost,( Accessed: 10 December 2011).

Jae-Hyeon Ahn, Kyoung Cheon Cha, Duk Bin Jun, Myoung Hwan Park,(2004) Bridging telecommunications service: its concept and related management strategy, Telecommunications Policy, Volume 28, Issues 9-10, October-November 2004, Pages 733-750, ISSN 0308-5961, 10.1016/j.telpol.2004.04.001. [Online] Available at:(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596104000655) (Accessed 2 DEC2011).

Knowledge Transfer Partnership KTP, (2005) "UK companies profit from Knowledge Transfer Partnerships: University talent that's young, gifted and backed", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 19 Iss: 5, pp.29 – 30.

Kotler & Armstrong (1999) P. Kotler and G. Armstrong, Principles of marketing, (8th ed.), Prentice Hall, London (1999), (Chapter 9).

Lal, D., Pitt, D.C., Beloucif, A. (2005) "Restructuring in European telecommunications: modeling the evolving market", European Business Review, Vol.13 No.3 pp152-6.

Lars Witell, Martin Löfgren, Anders Gustafsson, (2011) "Identifying ideas of attractive quality in the innovation process", The TQM Journal, Vol. 23 Iss: 1, pp.87 – 99.

Lee, H., Shin, B., & Higa, K. (2007). Telework vs. central work: A comparative view of knowledge accessibility. Decision Support Systems, 43, 687-7004.

Maylor, H. (2001), “Beyond the Gantt chart: Project Management Moving”, European Management Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 92-100.

M. Jablonowski,(2000) Prioritizing disaster recovery plans using risk maps, Disaster Recovery Journal 13(3):58–60, 2000.

Mullins and Sutherland (1998) J.W. Mullins and D.J. Sutherland, New product development in rapidly changing markets. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 153 (1998), pp. 224–236.

Orr,(2004) Move to reduce costs can also lose customers, Financial Times, Special

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report on risk management, June 2, 2004, p. 5.

PARTRIDGE, C (2011), 'Realizing the Future of Wireless Data Communications', Communications Of The ACM, 54, 9, pp. 62-68, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 10 December 2011.

PMBOK® Guide (A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge), 2004.

P. S. Royer,(2000) Risk management: The undiscovered dimension of project management, Project Management Journal 31(1):6–13, 2000.

Sherif, M, (2006)," Managing Projects in Telecommunication Services , vol., no., pp.500, [Online] Available at : http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/servlet/opac?bknumber=5201437 (Accessed: 28 Nov 2011).

Sherman, J.D., Souder, W.E., Jenssen, S.A. (2000) "Differential effects of the primary forms of cross functional integration on product development cycle time", Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol.17 pp257-67.

Steve jobs (2009) http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/09/ whatstevejobs_taught_ me_abou Html(Accessed 11 Dec 2011).

Touch technologies will change user interfaces for ever (2011), Electronics Weekly, 2479, pp. 12-13, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, (Accessed10 December 2011).

Vera Blazevic, Annouk Lievens, Evelien Klein, (2003) "Antecedents of project learning and time-to-market during new mobile service development", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 14 Iss: 1, pp.120 – 147 [Online] Available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=851757 (Accessed: 27 NOV 2011).

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Summary of steps to integrate EVM and RM

As Per David Hillson (2004) we can integrate by utilizing the following steps

1. Creating the baseline spend plan (BCWS/PV)

a. Develop costed WBS to describe scope of work, without hidden contingencyb. Produce fully costed and resourced project schedulec. Assess estimating uncertainty associated with initial time/cost estimatesd. Perform risk identification, risk assessment and response developmente. Quantify time and cost risk exposure for each risk, taking account of the effect of agreed responsesf. Create integrated time/cost risk model from project schedule, reflecting both estimating uncertainty (via 3-point estimates) and discrete risks (via stochastic branches)g. Perform Monte Carlo simulation on integrated risk model to generate “eyeball plot”h. Select risk-based profile as baseline spend profile (BCWS/PV); it is most common to use the “expected values”, although some other confidence level may be selected (say 80%)

2. Predicting future outcomes (EAC)

a. Record project progress and actual cost spent to date (ACWP), and calculate earned value (BCWP)b. Review initial time/cost estimates for activities not completed, to identify changes, including revised estimating uncertaintyc. Update risk identification, assessment and quantification, to identify new risks and reassess existing risksd. Update integrated time/cost risk model with revised values for estimating uncertainty and discrete risks, taking account of progress to date and agreed risk responsese. Repeat Monte Carlo simulation for remaining portion of project to generate updated “eyeball plot”f. Select risk-based calculation as estimate of final project duration and cost (EAC), using either “expected values”, or some other confidence level (say 80%)g. Use risk-based profile as updated expected spends from time-now to project completion.

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3. Evaluating risk management process effectiveness

a. Determine threshold values for CPI and SPI to trigger corrective action in risk process (or use default values of0.75, 0.90 and 1.25)b. Calculate earned value performance indices (CPI and SPI), plot trends and compare with thresholdsc. Consider modifications to risk process if CPI and/or SPI cross thresholds, enhancing the process to tackle opportunities more effectively if CPI and/or SPI are high, or refocusing the process on threat reduction if they are lowd. Take appropriate action either to exploit opportunities (high CPI/SPI), address threats (low CPI/SPI), spend contingency to recover time (high CPI/low SPI), or spend time to reduce cost drivers (high SPI/low CPI)Consider need to review initial baseline, project plan or scope if CPI and/or SPI persistently have unusually high

Relationship between EVM indices and RM process effectiveness(http://www.risk-doctor.com/pdf-files/cev-b1004.pdf )

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Appendix 2

Risk Classification (Risk management strategy)

Risk Category Description ActionUnacceptable High frequency and high loss Bring the exposure to a man

through acombination of prevention andprotection including avoidance

Frequent High probability of occurrence and low loss

Reduce the occurrence throughpreventive steps

Manageable Average probability of occurrence,and average loss

Protection through crisis management redundancy, partitioning, etc

Extreme Low probability of occurrence andhigh loss

Disaster recovery, also use Extreme (freak event) value theory

Negligible Low probability of occurrence and low loss

Consider it as part of assumptions and constraints

(M. Jablonowski, Prioritizing disaster recovery plans using risk maps, Disaster Recovery Journal 13(3):58–60, 2000)

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Appendix 3

The whole chart how the project should be going (J-H Ahn et al. (2004) telecommunication policy 28 Page 739)ELEMENT PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

1. Prepare to manage a project

1.1.Develop a project proposal, including specific project management processes

1.2.Determine the role of major stakeholders and implications for the project

1.3.Develop a risk management strategy and present to stakeholders for agreement

1.4.Check for technical compliance of project with relevant standards

1.5.Select project management computer software 1.6.Conduct a skills audit of personnel and identify

additional training requirements

2. Apply project management processes

2.1.Determine participants' responsibilities using critical path method (CPM) to draw a network diagram

2.2.Sequence and coordinate activities required for a specific project

2.3.Determine the critical path to optimize timing of the project deliverables

2.4.Assess the viability of project estimates by preparing a budget

2.5.Perform risk analysis to determine factors that may hinder the project deliverables

2.6.Assess the progress of the project with contingencies to manage risks

2.7.Determine any updates and recommendations in agreement with the customer

2.8.Prepare contract variations if required

3. Complete work and document activities

3.1.Select procedures for commissioning if required and finish the project

3.2.Produce final documentation with recommendations and present to customer

3.3.Document and archive project documentation3.4.Obtain sign off

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Appendix 4

New service development and Innovation strategy for Northumbria Engineering

Stages of New product and service development process

Major telecommunications service

Northumbria Engineering

Idea generation and screening Need to screen ideas which can play a major function in the service portfolio of a company

Ideas for the projects in NE have to be generated and screened effectively to reach the objective.

Concept development and testing

Develop and test service concepts to satisfy the general needs of a mainstream market

Concepts at NE need to be tested to satisfy specific needs.

Business analysis Analyse service concepts financially to take advantage of large installed base and network externalities

Minimize investment by real options.

Market testing Test the general needs of a mainstream market

Test in the specific market.

Commercialization Focus on developing large customer baseDevelop customer lock-in strategy

Take advantage of the time window between the services.Transfer strategy in order to have future focussed services

(J-H Ahn et al. (2004) Télécommunication Policy 28 Page 739)

Appendix 5

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Key Performance Indicators in Monitoring and EvaluationNorthumbria Engineering (NE) is an international company so it has already established itself so it needs to look forward

No. Strengths Possible Weakness Recommendations

1 NE has experience in project management and execution.

Outdated project management tools.

Need Project execution planning and new project management tools. Need a fresh perspective.

2 Qualified and dedicated project staff.

Coordination between the staff.

More training on new project management tools

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