Project Management

Time

1. Activity Definition

The implementation of the seven new applications is the main objective of our project. Since many tasks are involved in the project, we have divided the project into specific activities. We used the system development life cycle model as the basis of identifying main activities. Then we will subdivide the main activities further into minor activities so that the whole project will be more manageable and better controlled. All the activities which are need to perform in the project are clearly listed out to form an activity list. For the detailed activity list, please refer to the attached MS Project File.

2. Activity Sequencing

Activities must be sequenced accurately in order to support the development of an achievable and realistic project schedule. We arranged all the activities in the activity list to produce network diagrams so that we know the order of tasks. This is a schematic display of the project's activities and the dependencies among them. For the detailed sequence diagram, please refer to the attached MS Project File.

3. Activity Duration Estimating

Carefully and accurately estimating of the activities' start and completion dates is very important to the whole project since it develops the fundamental schedule of the whole project.

In this project, we have decided to build only the participant management system and the data gateway system. For the remaining five applications, we have planned to purchase. For the two build in-house applications, we will estimate the time required by using the line of code (LOC) method and the function point method. Since we have got the statistic records of previous projects, they can provide the basis for identifying the relationship between key measures of importance and other factors of importance.

4. Schedule Development

Schedule development means determining the start and finish dates of activities in a project. For the detailed schedule diagram, please refer to the attached MS Project File.

In order to find out the early and late start and finish the activities, we will use the critical path method (CPM). CPM is rather easy to understand and it is also widely used to develop a project schedule. From the CPM, we can find out the critical path, that is, the chain of activities with zero slack that must be completed on time for the project to meet its scheduled completion time. Slack is extra time that is available for accomplishing a task later than the time scheduled but still allows the project to be completed on schedule. We can also find out the slack times by using the CPM. For some critical activities, e.g. the testing of the whole system, we can add buffers to the schedule to protect against unanticipated delays of other activities.

5. Schedule Control

Schedule control concerns about the guiding of project toward the attainment of completing the project on schedule.

We will control all the activities progress by setting up milestones. This can signify the completion of a series of tasks. Besides, we will try to insist the assigned deadlines for completion of each task to avoid project postponement.

Moreover, we will ensure the work activity time do not change without authorization. It means that no extension of activity deadline will be allowed without prior managerial approval.

In order to monitor the whole project progress, data will be collected regularly, such as from time card and surveys. Staffs will also need to hand in detailed progress reports to the project manager periodically. This can avoid some activities being lagged behind the planned completion date as this will delay the start date of some critical activities which may not only disrupt the subsequent project progress, but also be detrimental to the whole project.

Moreover, the project manager will need to visit the operations of activities to see what is actually going on for the project. This can also allow the project manager to know whether the progress report can reflect the actual situation. For example, whether the staff are working on schedule or not.

Furthermore, we will have a high change threshold and will not change plans until it is absolutely clear that they need to be changed. However, we still will have our approved schedule change control system. In case there are any schedule changes, we will follow the defined procedures. This schedule change control system will be integrated with the overall change control system.

1. Cost Control

 Work package

Cost control works most effectively when it is tied to work package. Work packages include work descriptions, time-phased budgets, work plans and schedules, resource requirements, and assignments of responsibility. Therefore, we will use the work package as the control method. Besides, we will also identified the testing stage, and provide a progress report in the project. It will be considered suspect unit actual completion which is the principal point of the milestone concept.

 Project evaluation

For the project evaluation, formation evaluation method will be used. Formation evaluations are those that are use to control the project. Because projects involve so many interrelated activities, and are undertaken with limited resources, there can be many apparent reasons that a particular activity or work package is not going well. Thus, it is very easy for management to think there is a problem well there really is not.

 Group support system

Meetings are very important in project control. So we will have regular meetings during the project. We will use Group support system in our meetings. It is an application of technology to hold meetings in variety of forms, allowing project activities to progress more efficiently by decreasing participation. Our meetings must be in face-to-face environment, with computer software displaying comments as we are entered and allowing participants to score each comment. These scores can be used to sort ideas so that those receiving the most support can be considered first.

Project quality management

*Project quality policy and objectives

For the quality of the system, we will develop a standard of business