Question from Your Fellow Student

1.) Is it need a introduction & conclusion for Task 1?
Not necessary

2.) As my assignment (draft - Task 1), i put the appendix after each answer / question, is it ok, or all appendix should put in 1 side only for appendix in the last of Task 1 ?
The word 'Appendix' means that you'll need to put them at the last section of Task 1.

3.) Is the Table content's wordings will calculate in?
No

Question from Your Fellow Student

Dear Sir,

Would you kindly explain what actually they wanted us to do in this part of the Task 2 question:-

"The analysis should include the skills and competencies required by the Project Manager, along with the project management process. Use examples of the concerns, stages, processes, leadership, administration & control problems associated with managing the lifecycle of this major project."

Thank you.

Answer:

On the skills and competencies required by the Project Manager (PM), remember what I said about the diagram in my Lecture Two, Slide No.7? In the slide, the PM must have the People Skills, Project Management Skills, Technical Skills, Integration Skills and Knowledge of the Organisation he is in.

People Skills refers to the ability of the PM to lead and motivate his/her project team members towards completing the project tasks and achieving the project objectives within the specified time, cost and scope. I have not cover this part with you all yet.

Project Management Skills refers to plan, implement, monitor and control all elements and resources in the project. This is similar to the skills required from a typical manager but within a project environment. If you have worked in a project before, you would appreciate want I mean by 'project environment'. A project environment is always bounded by tight schedule and limited budget, lots of unforseen problems and troubleshooting.

Technical Skills refers more specific set of skills. For example, if it is an IT project; it would be expected for the PM to have a background in IT in order to effectively manage the project. In the context of Task 2, what would you think the technical background of the PM should be?

Integration Skills refers to the ability of the PM to merge or integrate all his/her skills above in order to manage this project effectively. This usually requires the PM to have certain level of experience and maturity to do so.

As for the Knowledge of the Organisation, this is quite basic and straight forward i.e. the PM must know and understand well the organisation that he/she is working for the project. Nevertheless, this brings to the question of whether to appoint the PM internally from the organisation or to employ an external PM. Both has their pros and cos; you should highlight and discuss this in your report.

I have not covered some of the components in my lecture, will do so over the next few lectures. Don't worry too much about it.....

As for the second part, I would suggest you look for case studies in the Internet to get more insight into this part. It'll help you to develop your thoughts and ideas in this direction. As noted in my previous entry, you can go into the Project Management Institute website to look for their case studies. No need to go through all but just the few relevant ones would be enough.

Good luck!

Assignment : Case 2

Case 2

This is to continue from my previous posting (17-November) after Project Deliverables.

To recall back, Project Deliverables are specific things that you'll need to do or achieve in order to meet the Project Objectives and deliver the project to your customer.

In the context of this assignment, you have to ask yourself; what are the individual things that need to be done by your customer (Touprom) to open the 2nd depot 250 miles down south in order to meet their objective of strategic expansion?

Always remember, the depot we are talking about here does not only consist of the physical warehouse. It also involves the 'software' part i.e. various systems such as IT system, logistics system, goods handling system, management system etc. These systems are important as the company is in the business of renting construction equipment to their customers.

On top of that, the mobilisation of resources (people, office, equipment etc.) and products from the 1st depot to the 2nd depot is also a major deliverable by itself.

In your report, describe briefly what these deliverables are (say, one short paragraph for each)? How do you propose to measure the completion of these deliverables? In project management, completion of any deliverable is ususally considered a milestone in the overall project; bringing the project closer to completion. As an example, handover of the completed warehouse from the appointed contractor to the owner i.e. Touprom can be considered as milestone.

6. ) Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

WBS will be discussed with you in Lecture No.3. Nevertheless, I will briefly highlight about it here.

Here's some important points about WBS:

a.) WBS is a systematic process to 'breakdown' the whole project into small tasks or work packages.

b.) WBS is to be carried out after the Project Deliverables have been identified and described.

c.) WBS is the first thing that should be done in project planning. It should preceeds all other planning work such as project scheduling, network digramming, project team formation, project costing/budgeting etc.

c.) Each task or work packages can then be assigned to different people in the Project Team. These tasks may be carried out by the company's staff or sub-contracted out.

d.) WBS allows the whole project to be easier to plan, schedule, monitor and progress to be measured.

Web resource for you

Dear Students,

If you are looking for more materials and ideas on Project Management, you can go into http://www.pmi.org/Resources/Pages/Default.aspx.

There is a lot of published information there for your assignment.

PMI or Project Management Institute is a worldwide organisation for project management professionals. We even have our own PMI Chapter here in Malaysia.

Network diagrams

Task 1, Question 6 : Explain and discuss the purpose of network diagrams

Dear Students,

Below is something I pulled in from WikiAnswers:

The network diagram display logical relationships among the various activities that take place within a project.

It also allows the project manager to see how the various activities flow towards to completion of the project in a sequential manner.

It provides an overview as to how resources are utilized in a project for a given time period which could help the manager to perform resource leveling if necessary.

As you can see, there is much information that you can pull from the Internet. However, please take caution not to do cut-and-paste. Your examiner in UK also has the software tools to identify cut-and-paste statements. The last thing your report need is to be marked as a 'plagiarized' work. Use the information you get from the Internet to help you interpret and write your own answer to the question.

As highlighted in last lecture, 'explain' and 'discuss' are two different things. As Q.6. carries 10 marks, I would say the proportioning would be 4~5 marks for explaining and 5~6 marks for discussion.

'Explain' refers to stating the facts on what is the purpose of network diagram. This is quite direct and you should be able to get from most books and/or the Internet.

'Discuss' is more tricky as your understanding and critical thinking on the subejct is required. You may need to compare the use of network diagram with other methodologies (say, Gantt Chart, refer to my Lecture 2 slides) in project management; the pros and cons; how prevalent is it use in modern project management etc.

Here's a thought that just came into my mind - why is it that most people actually use more of Gantt Chart in planning and scheduling of projects, but not network diagram. I am sure even in your working environment, you would have seen Gantt Chart before but not network diagram. Why?

Assignment : Case 2

I will be posting regularly some guidelines for Case 2 of your assignment. However, students are encouraged to give some thought over the case and put in more of your ideas and other relevant topics into your assignment.

Case 2

1.) Executive Summary

Executive summary is a short description (about 1/4 to 1/3 page) of the whole content of your report. Write your Executive Summary last, only after you have completed your report!

2.) Problem Statement

You must state what is(are) the problem(s) that lead to the need for this project in the first place. Usually, you can find this in the first three paragraphs of the question in Case 2.

3.) Project Objective(s)

This refer to the questions; 'What is the purpose of this project?' 'What are the business results that the company hopes to achieve from this project?' Answers to this can also be found in the question in Case 2.

Project objective(s) are usually stated in more general manner. For example, in the construction of KL Twin Towers; one of the objectives specified by the project owner may be; 'To show to the world the progress and achievement of Malaysia over the last 50 years'.

4.) Project Scope

In project management, the purpose of project scope is to lay down the boundaries of the project i.e. what needs to be done and what is not; and communicated to everyone and agree d upon.

Taking further the example of the Twin Towers, the project scope may include or exclude the following items, depending on the client's requirements:

a.) Acquisition of land

b.) Design of the Twin Tower

c.) Actual construction of the Twin Tower

d.) Supply and installation of equipment and machineries

e.) Landscaping of KLCC Park

Often, projects run into trouble if the scope is not clearly specified and communicated to all the parties involved. This is because unclear project scope will lead to extra cost and overrun in the budget.

5.) Project Deliverables

Project deliverables refer to what specific things that needs to be achieved in order to satisfy the requirements and meet the objectives of the project. Project deliverables are usually very specific and preferably measurable (i.e. have targets stated in figures) so that it can be easily determined in the planning and monitoring stage whether these deliverables have been achieved or not.

Taking from the example above (construction of KL Twin Towers); in order to meet the objective of 'To show to the world the progress and achievement of Malaysia over the last 50 years', the project deliverables can be as one or both of the following:

a.) The building must be the tallest in the world, with more than 500m in height.

b.) The building must be have minimum floor space of 350,000 square meters for commercial space rental.

Your Assignment is Available

Dear Students,

For your information, your assignment is already available. For those of you who did not get it during last Sunday's class (15-Nov-2009), kindly see Christine to get your copy.

Regards,
Tang

Critical Path Network

Dear Students,

Please find on the top right the step-by-step guide for the Critical Path Network (or Critical Path Method). We shall be discussing this in Lecture Two.

Left-click on the slides for an enlarged view.

This is a very important area as your Task One in your Assignment will be based on this method.

Regards,
Tang
11-Nov-2009