Master of Business Administration - MBA Semester 2 MB0049 Project Management (4 credits)

Q1. Define project management. Discuss the need for project management. Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end (usually time-constrained, and often constrained by funding or deliverables),[1] undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives,[2] typically to bring about beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast with business as usual (or operations),[3] which are repetitive, permanent, or semi-permanent functional activities to produce products or services. In practice, the management of these two systems is often quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies Q2. What is meant by risk management? Explain the components of risk management. Risk assessment is a step in a risk management procedure. Risk assessment is the determination of quantitative or qualitative value of risk related to a concrete situation and a recognized threat (also called hazard). Quantitative risk assessment requires calculations of two components of risk (R):, the magnitude of the potential loss (L), and the probability (p)that the loss will occur. In all types of engineering of complex systems sophisticated risk assessments are often made within Safety engineering and Reliability engineering when it concerns threats to life, environment or machine functioning. The nuclear, aerospace, oil, rail and military industries have a long history of dealing with risk assessment. Also, medical, hospital, and food industries control risks and perform risk assessments on a continual basis. Methods for assessment of risk may differ between industries and whether it pertains to general financial decisions or environmental, ecological, or public health risk assessment Components are: Risk assessment is the process of examining a project to identify areas of potential risk. Risk identification can be facilitated with the help of a checklist of common risk areas for software projects, such as the brief lists presented in this chapter. You might also study an organizationwide compilation of previously identified risks and mitigation strategies, both successful and

unsuccessful. Risk analysis examines how project outcomes might change as a result of the identified risks. Risk avoidance is one way to deal with a risk: dont do the risky thing! You might avoid risks by not undertaking certain projects, or by relying on proven rather than cutting-edge technologies when possible. In certain situations you might be able to transfer a risk to some other party, such as a subcontractor. Risk control is the process of managing risks to achieve the desired outcomes. Risk management planning produces a plan for dealing with each significant risk, including mitigation approaches, owners, and timelines. Risk resolution entails executing the plans for dealing with each risk. Finally, risk monitoring involves tracking your progress toward resolving each risk item. Q3. Describe the various steps involved in monitoring and controlling a project Ans:- Project Monitoring and Control: Any project aimed at delivering a productor a service has to go through phases in a planned manner in order to meet therequirements. It is possible to work according to the project plan only by carefulmonitoring of the project progress. It requires establishing control factors to keept h e project on the track of progress. The results of any stage in a p r o j e c t , depends on the inputs to that stage. It is therefore necessary to control all theinputs and the corresponding outputs from a stage. A project manager may usecertain standard tools to keep the project on track. The project manager and theteam members should be fully aware of the techniques and methods to rectifyt h e f a c t o r s i n f l u e n c i n g d e l a y o f t h e p r o j e c t a n d i t s p r o d u c t . T h e v a r i o u s s t e p s involved in monitoring and controlling a project from start to end are as follows P r e l i m i n a r y w o r k t h e t e a m m e m b e r s u n d e r s t a n d t h e p r o j e c t p l a n s , p r o j e c t stage schedule, progress controls, tracking schedules, summary of the stage cost and related worksheets. All the member has to understand the tolerances inany change and maintain a change control log. They must realize the need and i m p o r t a n c e o f q u a l i t y f o r w h i c h t h e y h a v e t o f o l l o w s t r i c t l y a q u a l i t y r e v i e w schedule and frequently discuss on the quality agendas. They must understand the stage status reports, stage end reports, stage end approval reports. Project Progress The members must keep a track of the project progress and c o m m u n i c a t e t h e s a m e t o o t h e r r e l a t e d m e m b e r s o f t h e p r o j e c t . T h e y m u s t monitor and control project progress, through the use of regular ch eck points,quality charts, and statistical tables, control the quality factors which are likely tod e v i a t e f r o m e x p e c t e d v a l u e s a s a n y deviation may result in changes to thestage schedule. The project m a n a g e r e n s u r e s t h a t t h e s e c h a n g e s a r e m a d e smoothly and organizes review meeting with the project management group. Stage Control The manager must establish a project check point cycle. For thissuitable stage version control procedures may be followed. The details are to bedocumented stage wise. Project files have to be frequently updated with suitablev e r s i o n c o n t r o l n u m b e r a n d r e v i s i o n s t a t u s s h o u l d b e m a i n t a i n e d f o r e a c h change. Team members are identified who will exercise controls at various pointsof the project. Resources Plan the resources required for various stage

of the project. Brief both the project team and the key resources about the objectives of every stage,planned activities, products, organization, metrics and project controls Quality Control This is very important in any project. Quality control is possibleif the project members follow the quality charts and norms very strictly.Schedule Quality Review It is recommended that quality review be scheduled at the beginning of the stage and also ending of every stage.A g e n d a f o r q u a l i t y r e v i e w c r e a t e a n d d i s t r i b u t e a q u a l i t y r e v i e w a g e n d a specifying the objective, products, logistics, roles, responsibilities and time frame.Conduct quality review the quality review is to be conducted in a structured andf o r m a l m a n n e r . Q u a l i t y r e v i e w s h o u l d f o c u s o n p r o d u c t d e v e l o p m e n t a n d i t s quality factors. Focus on whether it meets the prescribed quality standard.F o l l o w u p - Q R c o m p l e t e p r o d u c t s t a t u s r e v i s e d from In progresses to QRC o m p l e t e . F o l l o w u p t h e a c t i o n s p l a n n e d i n s t r i c t m a n n e r w h i c h e n s u r e s conformity to the standards.Review quality control procedures verify that the quality objectives for eachp r o d u c t a r e a p p r o p r i a t e a n d t h a t a l l p a r t i c i p a n t s a r e s a t i s f i e d b o t h w i t h t h e process and its outcome. The Control Of The Project Process And Project Progress Control a) Monitor Performance: The team members log in details of actual start date,actual finish date, actual hours worked per task, estimated hours to complete thet a s k , e l a p s e d t i m e i n h o u r s t o c o m p e t e t h e t a s k , a n y m i s c e l l aneous costsi n c u r r e d d u r i n g a s t a g e . T h e s e i n p u t s b e c o m e t h e b a s e t o m o n i t o r t h e performance of the project and its stages.b) Update Schedule-Update the schedule for actual start date for tasks started,a c t u a l f i n i s h d a t e f o r t a s k s f i n i s h e d , a c t u a l h o u r s w o r k e d p e r t a s k , l a t e s t estimated work in hours to complete the task. Update costs - Update the stage cost summary worksheet with a c t u a l costs incurred this period, estimated remaining costs. Miscellaneous costswill be automatically updated from the scheduler, since they are calculatedfrom actual work. Re-plan stage schedule-Review the tracking Gantt and Cost w o r k b o o k and identify any deviation from the baseline. Establish why the deviationhas occurred. Refer back to the project control factors to help determinet h e a p p r o p r i a t e c o r r e c t i v e a c t i o n a n d a d j u s t t h e s c h e d u l e accordingl y. D e t e r m i n e i f t h e s t a g e h a s e x c e e d e d t h e p r o g r e s s , c o s t a n d q u a l i t y tolerance levels agreed with the project management team. Review statusof open issues and determine any further action required on these issues.R e v i e w t h e s t a t u s o f a n y o u t s t a n d i n g q u a l i t y r e v i e w s R e v i e w a n y n e w change requests. Conduct team status review - Conduct a status meeting with the project team. Items for discussion are achievements this period planned activitiesthat are incomplete or overdue, activities for the next period, new issues i d e n t i f i e d t h i s p e r i o d ,

issues closed this period, summary of results of q u a l i t y r e v i e w s , s u m m a r y o f s c h e d u l e a n d c o s t s t a t u s , s u g g e s t e d revisions to the plan. Create status report T h e s t a t u s r e p o r t p r o v i d e s a r e c o r d o f c u r r e n t achievement and immediate expectations of the project. The status has tobe effectively communicated to all interested parties. Create Flash report summarize the accomplishments for the month,schedule status, u p c o m i n g t a s k s f o r t h e m o n t h a n d a n y m a j o r i s s u e s . Distribute to the project team and project management team Project Status Reports - As discussed earlier, the status report provides arecord of current achievements and immediate expectations of the project.- A w e e k l y s t a t u s report includes:-Accomplishments during the periodItems not completed during the period-Proposed activities for the next period-Any predicted slippage to the stage s c h e d u l e , a l o n g w i t h c a u s e a n d corrective action.- A n y p r e d i c t e d c o s t o v e r r u n a l o n g w i t h c a u s e a n d c o r r e c t i v e a c t i o n . Approvals Project stage reviews and the decisions taken and actions plannedneed to be approved by the top management. The goals of such review are toimprove quality by finding defects and to improve productivity by finding defectsin a cost effective manner. The group review process includes several stages likep l a n n i n g , p r e p a r a t i o n a n d o v e r v i e w a g r o u p r e v i e w m e e t i n g a n d r e w o r k recommendations and follow-up. Change Control Controlling the changes in the project is possible through a proper changemanage m e n t p r o c e s s a n d u s i n g n e c e s s a r y t o o l s f o r c o n t r o l l i n g t h e c h a n g e . Cha nge control is necessary to control the increase of work at various stages of p r o j e c t a n d t o m a n a g e e f f e c t i v e l y t h e d i s r u p t i o n s i n t h e s t a g e s , i f a n y . T h e s e factors may affect the progress of the project, resulting in deviations from thestage schedules, project and stage cost and project scope. Q4. What is Project Management Information System (PMIS)? What are the major aspects of PMIS? A project management information system (PMIS) is a part of management information systems (MIS) and manages information of a project centric organization. These electronic systems "help [to] plan, execute, and close project management goals."[1] PMIS systems differ in scope, design and features depending upon an organisation's operational requirements. Risk assessment is a step in a risk management procedure. Risk assessment is the determination of quantitative or qualitative value of risk related to a concrete situation and a recognized threat (also called hazard). Quantitative risk assessment requires calculations of two

components of risk (R):, the magnitude of the potential loss (L), and the probability (p)that the loss will occur. In all types of engineering of complex systems sophisticated risk assessments are often made within Safety engineering and Reliability engineering when it concerns threats to life, environment or machine functioning. The nuclear, aerospace, oil, rail and military industries have a long history of dealing with risk assessment. Also, medical, hospital, and food industries control risks and perform risk assessments on a continual basis. Methods for assessment of risk may differ between industries and whether it pertains to general financial decisions or environmental, ecological, or public health risk assessment A i n f o r m a t i o n s y s t e m s i s mainly aimed at providing the management at different levels with information relatedto the system of the organization. It helps in maintaining a discipline in the system.A system is prone to malfunctions if not properly maintained. An information systemdealing with project management tasks is the project management information system. It helpin decision making in arriving at optimum allocation of resources. The information systems is based on a database of the organization. A project management information systemalso holds schedule, scope changes, risk assessment and actual results. Usual informationsystems are not designed for projects. Norm al information systems tell managers if they are working within the scope of the budget. The info rmation is communicated tomanagers at different levels of the organization depending upon the need. Upper managers need to know information on all projects regarding progress, problems, resource usage, costs and project goals. This information helps them takedecisions on the project. They should review the projects at each milestone and arrive atappropriate decision. Project manager and department managers need to see each projectschedu le priority and use of resources to determine the most efficient use across theorganization. Project team members need to see schedule, takes lists and specification sothey know what needs to be done next. The four major aspects of a PMIS are :(a)Provide information to the major stakeholders ie the right i n f o r m a t i o n a t the right time. (b) Assist the team members, stakeholders, managers with necessaryinformation and summary of the information shared to the higher level managers. (c)Assists the managers in doing what if analyses about p r o j e c t s t a f f i n g , proposed staffing changes and total allocation of resources. (d) Help organizational learning by helping the members of the organization learnabout project management. A good PMIS is possible to be developed from the team members and notfrom the systems administrators of the company. Organizations tend to allocate suchresponsibility by rotation among members with a well designed and structured data entry andanalytical format Q5. What is PERT chart? What are the advantages of PERT chart?

A PERT chart is a project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project. PERT stands for Program Evaluation Review Technique, a methodology developed by the U.S. Navy in the 1950s to manage the Polaris submarine missile program. A similar methodology, the Critical Path Method (CPM) was developed for project management in the private sector at about the same timeA PERT chart presents a graphic illustration of a project as a network diagram consisting of numbered nodes (either circles or rectangles) representing events, or milestones in the project linked by labelled vectors (directional lines) representing tasks in the project. The direction of the arrows on the lines indicates the sequence of tasks. In the diagram, for example, the tasks between nodes 1, 2, 4, 8, and 10 must be completed in sequence. These are called dependent or serial tasks. The tasks between nodes 1 and 2, and nodes 1 and 3 are not dependent on the completion of one to start the other and can be undertaken simultaneously. These tasks are called parallel or concurrent tasks. Tasks that must be completed in sequence but that don't require resources or completion time are considered to have event dependency. These are represented by dotted lines with arrows and are called dummy activities. For example, the dashed arrow linking nodes 6 and 9 indicates that the system files must be converted before the user test can take place, but that the resources and time required to prepare for the user test (writing the user manual and user training) are on another path. Numbers on the opposite sides of the vectors indicate the time allotted for the task. The PERT chart is sometimes preferred over the Gantt chart, another popular project management charting method, because it clearly illustrates task dependencies. On the other hand, the PERT chart can be much more difficult to interpret, especially on complex projects. Frequently, project managers use both techniques. Advantages:some tasks can have some slack time without affecting the project completion time. they are used to determine and avoid surprises and minimize wastages. Q6. Write brief notes on the following: (i) Re-engineering and (ii) Re-structuring Business process re-engineering is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization. According to Davenport (1990) a business process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. Re-engineering is the basis for many recent developments in management. The cross-functional team, for example, has become popular because of the desire to re-engineer separate functional tasks into complete crossfunctional processes.[citation needed] Also, many recent management information systems developments aim to integrate a wide number of business functions. Enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, knowledge management systems, groupware and collaborative systems, Human Resource Management Systems and customer relationship management

Systematic starting over and reinventing the way a firm, or a business process, gets its work done. Defined by Michael Hammer and James Champy (in their 1993 book 'Reengineering The Corporation') as "Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business process to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance such as cost, service, and speed." See also Business Process Reengineering. restructuring refers to the phenomenon of Western urban areas shifting from a manufacturing to a service sector economic base. This transformation has affected demographics including income distribution, employment, and social hierarchy; institutional arrangements including the growth of the corporate complex, specialized producer services, capital mobility, informal economy, nonstandard work, and public outlays; as well as geographic spacing including the rise of world cities, spatial mismatch, and metropolitan growth differentialsBringing about a drastic or fundamental internal change that alters the relationships between different components or elements of an organization or system