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ASSIGNMENT
SEMESTER – 2
MBO033
Project management
Set-1
SUBMITTED BY:
Gyanendra kumar
MBA
ROLL NO:-
520941253
1) Initiation
In this first stage, the scope of the project is defined along with the approach to
be taken to deliver the desired outputs. The project manager is appointed and in
turn, he selects the team members based on their skills and experience. The
most common tools or methodologies used in the initiation stage are Project
Charter, Business Plan, Project Framework (or Overview), Business Case
Justification, and Milestones Reviews.
2) Planning
The most important issue in this phase is to ensure project activities are properly
executed and controlled. During the execution phase, the planned solution is
implemented to solve the problem specified in the project's requirements. In
product and system development, a design resulting in a specific set of product
requirements is created. This convergence is measured by prototypes, testing,
and reviews. As the execution phase progresses, groups across the organization
become more deeply involved in planning for the final testing, production, and
support. The most common tools or methodologies used in the execution phase
are an update of Risk Analysis and Score Cards, in addition to Business Plan
and Milestones Reviews.
4) Closure
In this last stage, the project manager must ensure that the project is brought to
its proper completion. The closure phase is characterized by a written formal
project review report containing the following components: a formal acceptance
of the final product by the client, Weighted Critical Measurements (matching the
initial requirements specified by the client with the final delivered product),
rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing project resources, and a
formal project closure notification to higher management. No special tool or
methodology is needed during the closure phase.
Q2. Examine the Tools used in project planning.
Ans2. Here are examples and explanations of four commonly used tools in
project planning and project management, namely: Brainstorming, Fishbone
Diagrams, Critical Path Analysis Flow Diagrams, and Gantt Charts. Additionally
and separately see business process modelling and quality management, which
contain related tools and methods aside from the main project management
models shown below.
The tools here each have their strengths and particular purposes, summarised as
a basic guide in the matrix below.
Matrix key:
B = Brainstorming
F = Fishbone/Ishikawa Diagrams *** -main tool
C = Critical Path Analysis Flow Diagrams ** - optional/secondary tool
G = Gantt Charts * -sometimes useful
B F C G
Project brainstorming and initial concepts, ideas,
*** **
structures, aims, etc
Gathering and identifying all elements, especially causal
* *** **
and hidden factors
Scheduling and timescales ** ***
Identifying and sequencing parallel and interdependent
* *** *
activities and stages
Financials - costings, budgets, revenues, profits,
* * ** ***
variances, etc
Monitoring, forecasting, reporting * ** ***
Troubleshooting, problem identification, diagnosis and
** *** ** *
solutions
'Snapshot' or 'map' overview - non-sequential, non-
** ***
scheduled
Format for communications, presentations, updates,
* * ***
progress reports, etc
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is usually the first crucial creative stage of the project management
and project planning process. See the brainstorming method in detail and
explained separately, because it many other useful applications outside of project
management.
Unlike most project management skills and methods, the first stages of the
brainstorming process is ideally a free-thinking and random technique.
Consequently it can be overlooked or under-utilized because it not a natural
approach for many people whose mains strengths are in systems and processes.
Consequently this stage of the project planning process can benefit from being
facilitated by a team member able to manage such a session, specifically to help
very organised people to think randomly and creatively.
Fishbone diagrams
Fishbone diagrams are chiefly used in quality management fault-detection, and in
business process improvement, especially in manufacturing and production, but
the model is also very useful in project management planning and task
management generally.
Within project management fishbone diagrams are useful for early planning,
notably when gathering and organising factors, for example during brainstorming.
Fishbone diagrams are very good for identifying hidden factors which can be
significant in enabling larger activities, resources areas, or parts of a process.
Fishbone diagrams are not good for scheduling or showing interdependent time-
critical factors.
Fishbone diagrams are also called 'cause and effect diagrams' and Ishikawa
diagrams, after Kaoru Ishikawa (1915-89), a Japanese professor specialising in
industrial quality management and engineering who devised the technique in the
1960s.
For each project the main categories of factors are identified and shown as the
main 'bones' leading to the spine.
Into each category can be drawn 'primary' elements or factors (shown as P in the
diagram), and into these can be drawn secondary elements or factors (shown as
S). This is done for every category, and can be extended to third or fourth level
factors if necessary.
The diagram above is a very simple one. Typically fishbone diagrams have six or
more main bones feeding into the spine. Other main category factors can include
Environment, Management, Systems, Training, Legal, etc.
The categories used in a fishbone diagram should be whatever makes sense for
the project. Various standard category sets exist for different industrial
applications, however it is important that your chosen structure is right for your
own situation, rather than taking a standard set of category headings and hoping
that it fits.
At a simple level the fishbone diagram is a very effective planning model and tool
- especially for 'mapping' an entire operation.
Where a fishbone diagram is used for project planning of course the 'Effect' is
shown as an aim or outcome or result, not a problem.
This model, and the critical path analysis diagram are similar to the even more
complex diagrams used on business process modelling within areas of business
planning and and business process improvement.
Critical Path Analysis is also called Critical Path Method - it's the same thing -
and the terms are commonly abbreviated, to CPA and CPM.
Critical Path Analysis flow diagrams are very good for showing interdependent
factors whose timings overlap or coincide. They also enable a plan to be
scheduled according to a timescale. Critical Path Analysis flow diagrams also
enable costings and budgeting, although not quite as easily as Gantt charts
(below), and they also help planners to identify causal elements, although not
quite so easily as fishbone diagrams (below).
First note down all the issues (resources and activities in a rough order), again
for example:
Note that some of these activities must happen in parallel - and crucially they are
interdependent. That is to say, if you tried to make a fried breakfast by doing one
task at a time, and one after the other, things would go wrong. Certain tasks must
be started before others, and certain tasks must be completed in order for others
to begin. The plates need to be warming while other activities are going on. The
toast needs to be toasting while the sausages are frying, and at the same time
the bacon and sausages are under the grill. The eggs need to be fried last. A
Critical Path Analysis is a diagrammatical representation of what needs done and
when. Timescales and costs can be applied to each activity and resource. Here's
the Critical Path Analysis for making a fried breakfast:
This Critical Path Analysis example below shows just a few activities over a few
minutes. Normal business projects would see the analysis extending several
times wider than this example, and the time line would be based on weeks or
months. It is possible to use MS Excel or a similar spreadsheet to create a
Critical Path Analysis, which allows financial totals and time totals to be planned
and tracked. Various specialised project management software enable the same
thing. Beware however of spending weeks on the intricacies of computer
modelling, when in the early stages especially, a carefully hand drawn diagram -
which requires no computer training at all - can put 90% of the thinking and
structure in place. (See the details about the most incredible planning and
communications tool ever invented, and available for just a tiny fraction of the
price of all the alternatives.)
Gantt charts are excellent models for scheduling and for budgeting, and for
reporting and presenting and communicating project plans and progress easily
and quickly, but as a rule Gantt Charts are not as good as a Critical Path
Analysis Flow Diagram for identifying and showing interdependent factors, or for
'mapping' a plan from and/or into all of its detailed causal or contributing
elements.
You can construct a Gantt Chart using MSExcel or a similar spreadsheet. Every
activity has a separate line. Create a time-line for the duration of the project (the
breakfast example shows minutes, but normally you would use weeks, or for very
big long-term projects, months). You can colour code the time blocks to denote
type of activity (for example, intense, watching brief, directly managed, delegated
and left-to-run, etc.) You can schedule review and insert break points. At the end
of each line you can show as many cost columns for the activities as you need.
The breakfast example shows just the capital cost of the consumable items and a
revenue cost for labour and fuel. A Gantt chart like this can be used to keep track
of progress for each activity and how the costs are running. You can move the
time blocks around to report on actuals versus planned, and to re-schedule, and
to create new plan updates. Costs columns can show plan and actuals and
variances, and calculate whatever totals, averages, ratios, etc., that you need.
Gantt Charts are probably the most flexible and useful of all project management
tools, but remember they do not very easily or obviously show the importance
and inter-dependence of related parallel activities, and they won't obviously show
the necessity to complete one task before another can begin, as a Critical Path
Analysis will do, so you may need both tools, especially at the planning stage,
and almost certainly for large complex projects.
Gantt chart example
Project planning tools naturally become used also for subsequent project
reporting, presentations, etc., and you will make life easier for everyone if you
use formats that people recognize and find familiar.
Q3. Describe the various steps involved in monitoring and controlling a
project
Ans:- Project Monitoring and Control: Any project aimed at delivering a product
or a service has to go through phases in a planned manner in order to meet the
requirements. It is possible to work according to the project plan only by careful
monitoring of the project progress. It requires establishing control factors to keep
the project on the track of progress. The results of any stage in a project,
depends on the inputs to that stage. It is therefore necessary to control all the
inputs and the corresponding outputs from a stage. A project manager may use
certain standard tools to keep the project on track. The project manager and the
team members should be fully aware of the techniques and methods to rectify
the factors influencing delay of the project and its product. The various steps
involved in monitoring and controlling a project from start to end are as follows –
Preliminary work – the team members understand the project plans, project
stage schedule, progress controls, tracking schedules, summary of the stage
cost and related worksheets. All the member has to understand the tolerances in
any change and maintain a change control log. They must realize the need and
importance of quality for which they have to follow strictly a quality review
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
communicate the same to other related members of the project. They must
monitor and control project progress, through the use of regular check points,
quality charts, and statistical tables, control the quality factors which are likely to
deviate from expected values as any deviation may result in changes to the
stage schedule. The project manager ensures that these changes are made
smoothly and organizes review meeting with the project management group.
Stage Control – The manager must establish a project check point cycle. For this
suitable stage version control procedures may be followed. The details are to be
documented stage wise. Project files have to be frequently updated with suitable
version control number and revision status should be maintained for each
change. Team members are identified who will exercise controls at various points
of 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 possible
if the project members follow the quality charts and norms very strictly.
Agenda for quality review – create and distribute a quality review agenda
specifying the objective, products, logistics, roles, responsibilities and time frame.
Conduct quality review – the quality review is to be conducted in a structured and
formal manner. Quality review should focus on product development and its
quality factors. Focus on whether it meets the prescribed quality standard.
Review quality control procedures – verify that the quality objectives for each
product are appropriate and that all participants are satisfied both with the
process and its outcome.
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 the
task, elapsed time in hours to compete the task, any miscellaneous costs
incurred during a stage. These inputs become the base to monitor the
performance of the project and its stages.
b) Update Schedule-Update the schedule for actual start date for tasks started,
actual finish date for tasks finished, actual hours worked per task, latest
estimated work in hours to complete the task.
• Update costs - Update the stage cost summary worksheet with actual
costs incurred this period, estimated remaining costs. Miscellaneous costs
will be automatically updated from the scheduler, since they are calculated
from actual work.
• Re-plan stage schedule-Review the tracking Gantt and Cost workbook
and identify any deviation from the baseline. Establish why the deviation
has occurred. Refer back to the project control factors to help determine
the appropriate corrective action and adjust the schedule accordingly.
Determine if the stage has exceeded the progress, cost and quality
tolerance levels agreed with the project management team. Review status
of open issues and determine any further action required on these issues.
Review the status of any outstanding quality reviews Review any new
change requests.
• Conduct team status review- Conduct a status meeting with the project
team. Items for discussion are achievements this period planned activities
that are incomplete or overdue, activities for the next period, new issues
identified this period, issues closed this period, summary of results of
quality reviews , summary of schedule and cost status, suggested
revisions to the plan.
• Create status report – The status report provides a record of current
achievement and immediate expectations of the project. The status has to
be effectively communicated to all interested parties.
• Create Flash report - summarize the accomplishments for the month,
schedule status, upcoming tasks for the month and any major issues.
Distribute to the project team and project management team
• Project Status Reports - As discussed earlier, the status report provides a
record of current achievements and immediate expectations of the project.
- Any predicted slippage to the stage schedule, along with cause and
corrective action.
- Any predicted cost overrun along with cause and corrective action.
Approvals – Project stage reviews and the decisions taken and actions planned
need to be approved by the top management. The goals of such review are to
improve quality by finding defects and to improve productivity by finding defects
in a cost effective manner. The group review process includes several stages like
planning, preparation and overview a group review meeting and rework
recommendations and follow-up.
Change Control
Controlling the changes in the project is possible through a proper change
management process and using necessary tools for controlling the change.
Change control is necessary to control the increase of work at various stages of
project and to manage effectively the disruptions in the stages, if any. These
factors may affect the progress of the project, resulting in deviations from the
stage schedules, project and stage cost and project scope.
ii. Identify Alternate Solutions – Evaluate the change request and identify several
alternative solutions. Assess the alternatives with respect to the functional scope,
schedule, effort and cost.
iii. Decide on the Actions for the change – Present the change request,
alternative solutions and recommendation to the project management team. The
project management team is required to accept the recommendation, choose an
alternative solution, or request further investigation.
iv. Implement change – make appropriate schedule and other project plan
adjustments to accommodate the change, communicate these to team members,
monitor progress and execute quality control on the changes.
There are various tools which can be used to bring about a change in a process.
All such tools can be mainly classified into the following two types-
To Understand The Post Closure Activities Along With The Way Of Reporting
And Documentation
Project Closure
Any project that is planned properly and executed as per the plan will also close
successfully. For successful completion of a project every aspect of the project
should be monitored and controlled.
a) Final product review – The product obtained after every stage must meet the
requirements of that stage. If it completely meets the stated objectives then focus
on the issues of maintenance of the processes and product performance. If the
final product does not completely meet the objectives then identify the variations
in the product and analyze the variation. Study the factors responsible for the
change and evaluate each one separately.
b) Outstanding project work review – many a times it is found that there may be
some item of the project which is still not in its stage finished form. It may be
insignificant as it may be a byproduct of that stage not required immediately for
the next stage. Then the items that are open should be resolved and necessary
steps be taken to close such open items.
c) Project Review- Every aspect of a project from start to end has to be reviewed.
The objectives, performance criteria, financial criteria, resource utilization, slips
and gains of time, adherence to the project definition and plans have to be
reviewed. All such review details and reports have to be well documented for
future use.
d) Process review – Every process is important in any project. One may review
the process to see if any changes can be made to improve its performance.
Q4. Explain the term ‘knowledge factor’.
Ans4.
Data base with technical or personal data in order to produce some useful
information for a certain task. However, analyzing the requirements of problems
CEOs have when they like to apply knowledge management as a technology
leads to the fact that the terms data, information and knowledge are used
synonymously, that there is usually more than one source from which the “useful
information” is extracted, and that there is no architectural structure which may
be used to describe neither the requirements nor the realization of the problem.
One major problem with knowledge management is the fact that despite of the
intensive academic discourse on the terms data, information, and knowledge, in
industrial practice they are used in an uncoordinated way. In the classical
interpretation data is associated with syntax, information corresponds to
semantic and knowledge takes the pragmatic part. I.e. data per se has no
meaning and may be seen as raw material for information. Information is context
sensitive and meaningful in the sense that it is interpreted data. Since context is
user (application) dependant information then may be enhanced by its use, i.e.
the pragmatic.
knowledge.
The semiotic correspondence of data, information, and knowledge thus interprets
information as being the result of the transmitting knowledge and data as being
the result of gathering information.
An example may be digital pictures: While on the data level only bit streams are
represented the information level may contain additional format descriptions
(especially those which identify the data as being a picture). Several and different
information may be derived from the same data. On the knowledge level there
may be semantic descriptors identifying the type of the picture (e.g. a landscape).
Now searching for landscape pictures in the data base would have no result. The
information system may select pictures from the data base and only on the
knowledge level a landscape painting could be distinguished from a portrait.
The Idea
The aim is to develop a generic architecture for knowledge management systems
and processes which should
knowledge processes
The architecture introduced in the previous section uses objects and methods or
from the view of abstract data types data and operations in the traditional sense.
Since the knowledge management architecture should be used in different
contexts and by various people, it would be worthwhile to extend the presentation
by incorporating the “agents” who will use the tools. Hence, there is a change
from the rigid architectural description to a more vivid picture which we call the
“knowledge factory”. It extends the traditional view of having material and tools to
work on in a natural way. Like in a factory beside the production there are the
people who produce. In our scenario these are the “knowledge workers” and they
will be incorporated into the framework by adding one more dimension. The
following figure shows the new structure of the knowledge factory.
The first column shows the hierarchical structure of the different types of basic
objects: Knowledge bases are built on information bases which are built on data
bases. With each level are associated the operator or tools used to work on the
basic objects. Connecting the two columns with the arrows mirrors the simple
parts of the operator definitions, namely Local (forth and back on the same level)
and Lift (diagonal up). The Combi operators are implicitly presented with the third
column. It represents the worker who use the tools of the second column. So the
information worker applies tools of the data level and tools of the information
level in order to produce new information or knowledge units. In contrast to the
first and second column there is also a cooperation between the workers. Notice
that we choose a hierarchy respecting model, i.e. it is not allowed to skip a level
neither vertically nor horizontally. It may be a matter of discussion whether this
strict proceeding is necessary. However, theoretically all missing cases can be
constructed by combining the possible activities and on the practical side it is
more secure if not everyone can do everything.
Q5. What roles do cross functional teams play for project efficiency?
Explain with examples.
Ans5. The most simple definition of cross-functional teams (or CFTs) is teams
that are made up of people from different functional areas within a company—
marketing, engineering, sales, and human resources, for example. These teams
take many forms, but they are most often set up as working groups that are
designed to make decisions at a lower level than is customary in a given
company. They can be either a company's primary form of organizational
structure, or they can exist in addition to the company's main hierarchical
structure.
Cross-functional teams have become more popular in recent years for three
primary reasons: they improve coordination and integration, span organizational
boundaries, and reduce the production cycle time in new product development.
Bringing people together from different disciplines can improve problem solving
and lead to more thorough decision making. The teams foster a spirit of
cooperation that can make it easier to achieve customer satisfaction and
corporate goals at the same time.
Team Characteristics
Leadership
Although fading in popularity, matrix structured organizations still exist. In a
matrix environment, team members report directly to both their functional
manager as well as one or more project managers: literally a multi-manager
scenario. Teams in a weak matrix environment, especially where the project
manager’s influence on team members is less than the functional, are frequently
mislabeled as crossfunctional teams. However, they are not truly so because of
the reporting structure. This situation causes priority conflicts and animosity that
result in inefficiencies to both functional groups and project teams. Teams with
project managers that are lower on the organizational chart than the rest of the
core members, are also frequently mislabeled as a cross-functional team.
Common results include biased scope, poor implementation of project
management standards, and a lack of true leadership. Just as each member of
the project team is an expert in their subject matter, the project manager is the
subject matter expert in regards to project management methodology, and most
likely one of the members who best understands the projects interdependencies.
Planning
Frequently in an effort to appease the timeline and cost expectations of business
sponsors, project teams move into the design phase with inadequate
requirements or even into development with deficient design specifications. The
amount of rework needed, which adds to cost and timeline, will almost if not
always out-weight the time and money saved on planning. The correct response
to a decreased timeline is to increase the efficiency of the planning phase; the
most important phase of the project. This may include a business analyst and IT
Lead role to efficiently document requirements and design. But always requires
the roles and responsibilities of the core project team to be clearly defined.
Estimating
A key piece of planning is the estimation of cost and timeline. It is vital to have an
idea of where you are going before you can decide how you are going to get
there, how long it will take, and how much it will cost; time, scope, and budget
balanced justly. Estimation tools based on high-level scope and historical
performance can be developed to not only get ballpark figures in the infield, but
give a better start toward maintaining cost and timeline during the execution
phase. Estimation tools tuned by each department provide accountability to
project teams and functional departments, as well as increase project efficiency.
Project Kick-off
The invite list to project kick-off meetings should be based on both the perceived
importance and true priority of the project. Projects of high importance would
have large kick-offs that enable the high-level scope and timeline to be
communicated throughout the organization. This not only establishes the core
team as described earlier, but brings up possible issues outside the core team,
allows cross-functional communication of key project issues and tasks, builds
teamwork across divisions, and increases employee buy-in to the corporate
strategies being met by the project.
Organizational Characteristics
Project Management Office
Enablement
The number one dynamic that fosters success is enabling cross-functional teams
the ability to succeed or fail. Micromanagement leads to less buy-in, less
creativity, and groupthink; leading many individuals to focus on making sure the
project is simply not a failure and where to place blame if it does fail. Instead,
management should support cross-functional project teams with the ability to fail;
to have the ability to take risks, to be creative, and to develop team based
solutions that increase buy-in, productivity, and success. Management that
continually second guesses team decisions demonstrates a lack of trust and will
decrease motivation. This enablement is not a license to proceed with reckless
abandonment either. In fact, it will increase accountability.
Accountability
The first step of project accountability is to have agreed upon project
management processes. For example, a document controls process that
includes review and sign-off by key personnel at stage gates of a project. These
mutually agreed to processes are under constant improvement and tuning from
the feedback and review of project outcomes, resulting in further accountability.
The next step is the shared accountability of project outcomes to those within the
cross-functional teams and all functional areas involved; including the PMO and
business areas. Often functional areas will (intentionally or not) limit project
involvement or allow business decisions to be made by I.T. and then hold them
responsible for any failures. It is human nature to push off accountability, and it
takes effort to control the natural impulse of focus on oneself. Teamwork
improvements, group rewards, enablement, and cultural shifts; do what it takes to
improve accountability and at the same time maintain or increase buy in to
teamwork.
Proactive Vision
Too often organizations react to unfavorable situations. They experience a real
loss before making any sincere change. Then, because of the loss, there is a
demand for a timely and sometimes very rushed and under thought answer to
the issue. The fact of the matter is, many risks can be avoided and efficiencies
can be realized when organizations proactively adapt to coming change. This
requires proactive leadership with a vision of turning risks into opportunities, who
are willing and able to take educated risks. Individuals, who contend for the
success of the corporation and the survival of all, should be encouraged and
rewarded.
Information Technology
It is surprising that in this technological age, some organizations still view
information technology as little more than a necessary evil. Information
Technology is not just a service department, a supporter of those who do the real
work, but a viable part of the development and execution of the business
strategy. The I.T. vs. “The Business” mentality does not stem from an inefficient
IT Department, but inefficient cross functional teams and a lack of accountability
on both sides of the table. Information technology takes the brunt of the blame
and the solution is not for senior management to micromanage I.T., but to
become more actively involved in the development of the cross-functional teams
that execute business strategy.
Organizational Structure
Communication of the corporate strategy is frequently too vague and hard to
quantify at both the functional and project level. Projects exist for corporate
strategy to be realized; simple concept but frequently overly complicated. It is the
job of management to ensure that corporate goals are communicated to the
entire organization. Companies must turn strategic priorities into assigned,
measurable action plans for not only project teams, but for each functional
department.
Rewarding
Organizations of course need to support the time and effort required for
development of team skills. One frequently missed medium for accomplishing
this objective is through a reward system related to project work. Rewards should
be based on strategic results: both short-term and long-term successes.
Conclusion
Change is the only constant, and the key variable to effectively meeting
corporate objectives is proactive responses to threats and opportunities. Most
organizations support the project management process, however a strong focus
on project team efficiency is still a significant cultural shift, and most are
reactively addressing the coming changes. With global commerce, approaching
workforce shifts, industry transformations, and economic downturn, organizations
must proactively create and align efficient cross functional project teams with
corporate strategy to stay competitive.
Example:
Cross-functional teams are similar to conventional work teams, but they differ in
several important ways. First, they are usually composed of members who have
competing loyalties and obligations to their primary subunit within the company
(for example, a marketing person serving on a cross-functional team has strong
ties to his or her home department that may conflict with the role he or she is
being asked to play on the CFT). Second, in companies where CFTs are being
used on a part-time basis as opposed to a permanent organizational structure,
they are often temporary groups organized for one important purpose, which
means group members are often under considerable pressure. On these
temporary teams, the early development of stable and effective group interaction
is imperative. Finally, CFTs are often held to higher performance standards than
conventional teams. Not only are they expected to perform a task or produce a
product, but they are also expected to reduce cycle time, create knowledge about
the CFT process, and disseminate that knowledge throughout the organization.
For cross-functional teams to succeed, several factors have been identified that
are imperative:
Without any one of these elements, any cross-functional team will be fighting an
uphill battle to succeed.
Q6. Do core groups enhance the performance of projects?
Ans6. The scope of the joint project will be the development of a new video
coding standard and the assessment of its performance at the completion of the
work using formal subjective testing procedures.
Joint Group
The work of the project will be conducted by a jointly-constituted experts group
which will be known as the Joint Video Team (“JVT”).
JVT will operate as a joint group under the ordinary policies and procedures of
both organisations. In the event of differences between policies of ISO/IEC and
ITU-T not covered by these ToR, the JVT Rapporteur|Chair will decide the issue,
based on the consensus of the experts and if necessary in consultation with the
parent bodies, in the best interests of standardization.
Dissolution
The joint group will dissolve when the approval process for the new
Recommendation and International Standard in both organisations is completed.
The joint group may also be dissolved at the initiative of one or both the parent
bodies if unexpected conditions materialise that require one or both of the parent
bodies to take this action.
Potential new joint work beyond the duration of this project (e.g., extensions,
corrigenda, amendments, etc.) will require the agreement of the two parent
bodies. It is anticipated that such agreement would be reached in case the need
for a corrigendum is discovered.
Meetings
JVT meeting venue and dates will be proposed by the JVT Rapporteur/Chair,
and authorized by the parent bodies under the customary practices of both
organisations.
JVT meetings will be held as an entity that is separate from the two parent
bodies, and will operate under rules set forth in Annex 3 of this ToR.
The meeting dates and locations should be co-ordinated with those of meetings
of the ITU-T SG16 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11 (e.g. on an alternating
basis if feasible for the progress of the project) in order to reduce the amount of
travelling for participants and will be preferably co-located with a parent body
meeting and held immediately before, during, or after the corresponding SG16
meetings or during the corresponding WG 11 meeting dates.
Management
The management of the JVT will consist of a jointly-appointed Rapporteur/Chair
and two Associate Rapporteurs/Co-Chairs (one each as appointed from the
parent bodies with joint consent), reporting to the parent bodies. Changes in the
management team must be agreed by the two parent bodies.
Working Methods
General Policies and Procedures
All group decisions will be made by the consensus of the JVT experts as
determined by the JVT Chair|Rapporteur. All contributions related to the joint
project must be addressed to JVT for the duration of the joint project, rather than
to the individual parent bodies. Additionally, these may also be submitted to any
of the parent bodies (according to their specific document submission
procedures), if the author of the contribution so determines.
JVT will consider the inclusion of these inputs in its work, also considering the
impact of such inputs in the other parent body’s requirements. JVT will report
back to the originating organisation on the action taken.
Document Control
JVT will maintain a single master draft document and a single reference software
codebase for the developing video coding standard, each under the control of a
single editor, appointed by the JVT
Meeting Reports
A meeting report will be provided by the JVT management shortly after the
conclusion of each meeting and will be submitted to ITU TSB and ISO/IEC JTC
1/SC 29/WG 11, posted on the group’s FTP sites, and distributed to the experts.
\
SMU
ASSIGNMENT
SEMESTER – 2
MBO033
Project management
Set-2
SUBMITTED BY:
Gyanendra kumar
MBA
ROLL NO:-
520941253
3. Review/monitor the above – Review helps in resetting the goals when they
cannot be achieved for various reasons – shortage of resources, time etc.
By monitoring, the shortfalls can be made up with the allocation of extra
resources, or even diverting the operation.
4. Check actual performance Vs. Standards set – This is the evaluation phase.
Comparison on every detail is made. Differences are recorded. Particular
areas are chosen for improvement.
5. Identify gaps – Gaps mean the shortfall in performance standards. The
immediate supervisor is also involved. The extent to which they affect the
functions of the job itself are identified
7. Reset objectives for next period – The targets are revised either upward or
downward depending on the conclusion of the appraisal process.
Identification with the organisation – A sense of pride and belonging goes with
the “ownership” of the job, the project, team members and organisation. This is
brought about by the culture and communication system in the organisation.
Information sharing brings in trust and promotes belongingness. The tendency
seen is that most managers strongly identify with their own departments, units or
divisions and they lack a sense of organisation.
Coping with changes: It is often said – ‘The only constant in this world is
change’. A professional manager has the ability and capacity to cope with
change. He accepts the fact that change is inevitable and is ready to implement
change at the workplace. To implement change successfully, it is essential that
employees are involved in the implementation of change. Further the positive
and negative consequences of change need to be discussed and understood
before implementation. Thus a professional manager has the attitude to accept
change as a way of life and takes it in his stride
Q2. Is substitution necessary?
In the same way, a wide variety of subsystems for commercial and industrial
uses have many components which are used by the manufacturing
organizations. It is well known that many of them find military applications and
are made especially for them. However, these are superior than those used for
industrial purposes for obvious reasons. With some minor improvements they
can be used for superior performance when such requirement can bear a little
higher cost.
Q3. In what ways can an ERP package be utilized? Explain
It contains details about all materials that go into the project at various stages
and has to be continuously updated as all members of the project depend upon it
for providing materials for their apportioned areas of execution. Since information
is shared by all members, there is an opportunity for utilizing some of them when
others do not need them. To ascertain availability at some future point of time,
information about orders placed, backlogs, lead times are important for all the
members. A proper MIS will take care of all these aspects. ERP packages help in
integrating data from all sources and present them to individual members in the
way they require. When all these are done efficiently the project will have no hold
ups an assure success.
Q4. How is a risk analysis done?
Ans:- Learning Objective-2 : Analyze The Risk And The Steps Necessary To
Manage The Risks
Risk Analysis
The first step in risk analysis is to make each risk item more specific. Risks such
as, “Lack of Management buy-in,” and “people might leave,” are a little
ambiguous. In these cases the group might decide to split the risk into smaller
specific risks, such as, “manager Jane decides that the project is not beneficial,”
“Database expert might leave,” and “Webmaster might get pulled off the project.”
The next step is to set priorities and determine where to focus risk mitigation
efforts. Some of the identified risks are unlikely to occur, and others might not be
serious enough to worry about. During the analysis, discuss with the team
members, each risk item to understand how devastating it would be if it did
occur, and how likely it is to occur. For example, if you had a risk of a key person
leaving, you might decide that it would have a large impact on the project, but
that it is not very likely.
In the process below, we have the group agree on how likely it thinks each risk
item is to occur, using a simple scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is very unlikely and
10 is very likely). The group then rates how serious the impact would be if the
risk did occur, using a simple scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is little impact and 10 is
very large). To use this numbering scheme, first pick out the items that rate 1 and
10, respectively. Then rate the other items relative to these boundaries. To
determine the priority of each risk item, calculate the product of the two values,
likelihood and impact. This priority scheme helps push the big risks to the top of
the list, and the small risks to the bottom. It is a usual practice to analyze risk
either by sensitivity analysis or by probabilistic analysis.
Ex : Now that the group has assigned a priority to each risk, it is ready to select
the items to mange. Some projects select a subset to take action upon, while
others choose to work on all of the items. To get started, you might select the top
3 risks, or the top 20%, based on the priority calculation.
Learning Objective-3 : To Understand The Processes Needed To Review A Risk
Situation And The Risk And Its Causes
Second, we can take action to reduce the impact if the risk does occur.
Sometimes this is an action taken prior to the crisis, such as the creation of a
simulator to use for testing if the hardware is late. At other times, it is a simple
backup plan, such as running a night shift to share hardware.
For the potential loss of a key person, for example, we might do two things:
Plan to reduce the impact by making sure other people become familiar with that
person’s work, or reduce the likelihood of attrition by giving the person a raise, or
by providing day-care.
Q5. Why is support software required in project management process?
Explain some of them
Having learnt the basics of Application software, students would have a fair idea
of how & to what extent PM Processes could be automated. However, the
challenge of “making things work” remains unchanged. While Software Vendors
are confident of “making it work”, two yawning gaps still remain – Business
Processes which are not covered in such Software & Integration of Multi vendor
supported software applications.
ARROW
FEDORA
VITAL
PILIN
Why Fedora?
ARROW wanted a robust, well architected underlying platform, a flexible object-
oriented data model to be able to have persistent identifiers down to the level of
individual data streams. It accommodates the content model to be able to be
version independent.
VITAL
What is VITAL?
ARROW specified software created and fully supported by VTLS Inc. built on top
of Fedora that currently provides:
• VITAL Manager
• VITAL Portal
• VITAL Access Portal
• VALET – Web Self-Submission Tool
• Batch Loader Tool
• Handles Server (CNRI)
• Google Indexing and Exposure
• SRU / SRW Support
• VITAL architecture overview
Solution
Business Benefits
IT Benefits
Ans-
The Microsoft Project family of products offers tools to work on a Project from
management point of view. Microsoft Project is designed for people who manage
projects independently and don’t require the capability to manage resources from
a central repository. Microsoft has a team project management solution that
enables project managers and their teams to collaborate on projects.
After creating a fairly complete final project plan it is a good idea to create a
baseline to compare the original project plan with actual events and
achievements.
Tracking Progress
After creating a baseline, if the project has begun, it is necessary to enter actual
dates that tasks are being completed and the resource utilization used to
complete them. Again review different views and the cost and summary tables
before proceeding to the next section. Return to the Entry view of the Gantt chart
before proceeding.
Balancing Workloads
At times people and equipment can become assigned more work than they can
complete in normal working hours. This is called over allocation. Project can test
for this condition and reschedule (or level) their workload to accommodate
completing tasks during a normal day.
Monitoring Variances
After a baseline has been established and the project has begun, it is desirable
to determine if tasks are being accomplished on time and /or if cost over runs are
occurring.
Creating Reports
Project has many different built-in reports and has the capability building custom
reports and exporting data to other MS Office applications for integration into
other reporting venues.