Sample MITS5001 IT Project Management Assessment 2

MITS5001 IT Project Management Assessment 2 Sample

Assignment Brief

Objective(s)

This assessment item relates to the unit learning outcomes as in the unit descriptor. This assessment is designed to improve student presentation skills and to give students experience in researching a topic and writing a report relevant to the Unit of Study subject matter.

The following ULOs are assessed in this assessment.

LO2 Critically analyze project parameters and identify the key processes from the available project management book of knowledge in practical case scenarios.

LO5 Carry out research studies to provide expert judgement on the project progress and strategize contingency and fallback plans to ensure project deliverables are met as planned.

INSTRUCTIONS

For this component you will prepare a report or critique on an academic paper related to IT Project Management. The paper you select must be directly relevant to one of these major topics:

Project Life Cycles, Integration Management, Scope Management, Schedule Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Resource Management, Communications Management, Risk Management, Procurement Management, Agile Project Management, Change Management, Earned Value Management, Resource Management and Stakeholder Management.

Your report should be limited to approx. 1500 words (not including references). Use 1.5 spacing with a 12 point Times New Roman font. Though your paper will largely be based on the chosen article, you can use other sources to support your discussion. Citation of sources is mandatory and must be in the IEEE style.

Your report or critique must include:

• Title Page: The title of the assessment, the name of the paper you are reviewing and its authors, and your name and student ID.

• Introduction: A statement of the purpose for your report and a brief outline of how you will discuss the selected article (one or two paragraphs). Make sure to identify the article being reviewed.

• Body of Report: Describe the intention and content of the article. If it is a research report, discuss the research method (survey, case study, observation, experiment, or other method) and findings. Comment on problems or issues highlighted by the authors. Discuss the conclusions of the article and how they are relevant to what you are studying this semester.

• Conclusion: A summary of the points you have made in the body of the paper. The conclusion should not introduce any ‘new’ material that was not discussed in the body of the paper. (One or two paragraphs)

• References: A list of sources used in your text. They should be listed alphabetically by (first) author’s family name. Follow the IEEE style.

• The footer must include your name, student ID, and page number

Submission Guidelines for assignment help

All submissions are to be submitted through turn-it-in. Drop-boxes linked to turn-it-in will be set up in the Unit of Study Moodle account. Assignments not submitted through these drop-boxes will not be considered.
Submissions must be made by the due date and time (which will be in the session detailed above) and determined by your Unit coordinator. Submissions made after the due date and time will be penalized at the rate of 10% per day (including weekend days).

Solution

 Introduction

This report aims at finding out the importance of project management in terms of time, cost and quality assurance. The chosen article speaks about Agile Project Management technique, its advantage over traditional PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) when looking for innovation and change management. The use of agile technology and its effectiveness is discussed in the case study of a Brazilian Pharmaceutical Company’s IT Project. The disadvantages of using a traditional approach are analyzed, and the SCRUM framework is utilized for implanting Agile Technology in designing the new software.

Research Method

The research method used in the research paper is a qualitative exploratory research method. In this research, a case study of the pharmaceutical industry is considered [7]. The case study aims at investigating the current phenomenon where the context and phenomena are not categorized. The process of the case study includes data collection, both qualitative and quantitative.

Project Management knowledge areas

Project management knowledge areas are existing that includes risk management, change management, Human resources management, stakeholder management, quality management, time management, cost management, and many more. As per the [7] higher competition rate in the market forces various companies to consider change management in terms of project management in order to address those changes that can impact the company both positively as well as negatively. However, various studies are present which showcases other requirements for adopting the change management process during the conduction of project work. In the view of [1], the intention of the authorities of a company regarding internal change provokes companies to adopt change management principles in delivering prosperous project work. Often it is found that the requirements of project work cannot be addressed by project stakeholders by just considering the principles of project management. In this regard, it can be contradicted that the project manager of specific project work should consider a change management approach along with the project management approach in order to address the drawbacks of the ‘one-legged approach.’ On the other hand, [2] opined that the demand for global software development rise significantly due to which companies have to consider the aspects of Requirements Engineering and Change management for managing rich communication level among every stakeholder. Henceforth, it can be argued that the argument of [2], [1] and [7] is entirely different from each other. Lastly, from the concern of [4], it is found that the approach regarding Change management helps to increase the effectiveness of a project work significantly. Thus, it can be asserted that the change management approach is of utmost crucial and relevance in terms of accomplishing a project work properly. Although, every people have their own point of view regarding the utilization of change management principles.

Key Project parameter

The critical project parameters considered for any project include time, cost, quality and quantity of the products or deliverables. The project considered in the research paper was completed in 100 days (approximately about four months.) The total project cost was $US 145, 000, including the backlog changes [7]. The changes were incorporated after the completion of every Sprint, and the whole process ended in five Sprints. The information gathered, and knowledge gained in every Sprint was used to induce changes and proper decision making of the project. The traditional approach estimated seven months for completion, and the budget was Us $ 291, 000 [7]. The project team members were satisfied as the project’s testing was done in a real-time environment after subsequent phases. The changes were immediately incorporated and not waiting for the completion enhances the quantity as the products are delivered at every phase. Using SCRUM framework was helpful.

Project deliverables

A deliverable is tangible or intangible goods or services that need to be delivered. They can be documents, report, software product, a server upgrade or any other building blocks of the project [5]. The project deliverables were considered using the Product Backlogs and then estimating the items based on their priority which defines the requirement according to the Sprints of the project. The organization’s primary tangible deliverable was lowering down the need for stock as the expiration of medicines leads to loss. The XYZ project was designing an inventory module for considering the medicines with a shorter life span. It was necessary to apply filtration of medicine with batch numbers with shorter shelf life [7]. Arrange them by date, create a proper log, analyze the acquisition cost of storing and transport from inventory and total. The intangible products include the organizational reputation by meeting consumer demands and take decisions accordingly.

Project monitoring

The project was based on SCRUM framework where the stakeholders were the SCRUM team, the product owner and the Scrum master. The whole project was divided into Sprints, and the activities are described accordingly. Constant monitoring was done by meeting conducted by the Scrum Master where the report was taken from each member regarding their activities. The initial Sprint was to gather information regarding the stock of the existing drugs, their shelf life. The primary aim was to reduce damage and decrease the need for stock as the medicines were not allowed to be solved after their expiration date. The next Sprint was regarding speculation where Product Backlogs were created by the owner. From this stage, a Sprint backlog was created, which identified the product requirements that are required to be delivered in each subsequent stages of sprints. The Exploration phase covers the activities that were to be conducted in each Sprint. The meetings were held to ensure that the scope of the project is maintained. The next phase was the Adaptation Phase where the changes were incorporated according to the requirements gathered in previous stages. A retrospective approach is taken for considering the situation and how the requirements changed. But in later stages, more realistic decisions were taken.

Contingency Plan

Contingency plans are used to fight against any adverse incidences that may occur. The likelihood of risk is considered, and proactive measures are taken to combat the risk [6].

Table 1: Contingency plan
Source: (Developed by the author)

Research Findings

The research aimed to consider the positive aspects of using Agile Technology in SCRUM framework and its increased effectiveness as compared to the traditional approach. According to the research findings of the chosen paper, it is observed that a quantifiable benefit was observed in terms of time (80% increased performance as the project was completed in 100 days which was estimated to be seven months for traditional approach). In the case of cost, it got reduced by 50% [7]. The deliverables were produced after the first phase of the project life cycle, which motivated the employees as they could see the product even before the completion of the whole project. However, as per the consent of [3], every project manager needs to categorize the phases of a project work in short frequency that can provide the feeling of short-term wins to everyone associated with the project work.

However, the findings of the chosen research paper did not showcase the existence of such an aspect. Constant communication among the team members created the right working environment. The significant benefit was the project control in terms of scope. The results are analyzed, and changes were incorporated according to the requirements. According to [4], a communication plan must be deployed during the conduction of project work in order to cross-check the procedure of every step of that specific project work. However, the findings of [7] do not represent the utilization of such a communication plan. Aggregation was also initiated as the clients can instruct changes after using the products during the completion of the first phase [7]. Customer satisfaction is the major success as the change was initiated according to their demands. The major drawback of the research was to consider only a single case study of a Brazilian pharmaceutical company. It cannot be used as a generalized result, although exploratory research helped in gaining knowledge that can be used in real scenarios of business [7].

As per the above discussion, it can be argued that the project work was critically measured and delivered by the project team, although some gaps are present which could be addressed during the conduction of project work. Different authors represented different approaches for enriching the outcome of a project, which should be taken into account by authorities of project work in order to increase the effectiveness of the project. Hence, not only the aspects of Agile but also the principles of change management, appropriate communication need to considered by project stakeholders for managing change as well as to deliver a prosperous outcome by finishing the project work.

References

[1] G. O’Donovan, "Creating a culture of partnership between Project Management and Change Management", Project Management World Journal, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-11, 2018. Available: https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/pmwj66-Jan2018-ODonovan-creating-culture-of-partnership-project-management-and-change-management.pdf. [Accessed 3 January 2021].

[2] M. Shafiq et al., "Effect of Project Management in Requirements Engineering and Requirements Change Management Processes for Global Software Development", IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 25747-25763, 2018. Available: 10.1109/access.2018.2834473 [Accessed 3 January 2021].

3] M. Fraser-Arnott, "Combining Project Management and Change Management for Project Success in Libraries", 2018. Available: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0732-067120180000038005 [Accessed 3 January 2021].

[4] F. Shirazi, H. Kazemipoor and R. Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, "Fuzzy decision analysis for project scope change management", Decision Science Letters, pp. 395-406, 2017. Available: 10.5267/j.dsl.2017.1.003 [Accessed 3 January 2021].

[5] D. Danda, "Greycampus", Greycampus.com, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.greycampus.com/blog/project-management/what-are-project-deliverables. [Accessed: 02- Jan- 2021].

[6] K. Hughes, "How to Make a Contingency Plan - ProjectManager.com", ProjectManager.com, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/contingency-plan. [Accessed: 02- Jan- 2021].

[7] A. Terra, "Agile Project Management with Scrum: Case Study of a Brazilian Pharmaceutical Company IT Project", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 121-142, 2016. Available: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJMPB-06-2016-0054/full/html. [Accessed 2 January 2021].