Iscg8022 Managing Information Technology Projects Assessment Answers

Questions:

Answer:

Introduction

The report is based on implementation of new cloud based integrated system in Star Car Rentals so that their business operations are improved and it leads to increase in market share of the company. There are various issues in the current system of the company which are required to be improved on scheduled time. This particular report analyzes the business case of Star Car Rentals with its business needs and benefits. It also analyzes the project cost to determine the budget for implementation plan. An organization structure and work breakdown structure is analyzed to determine the project team and work activities in this project. The paper analyzes the project schedule to determine start and end date of project, earned value analysis to determine various project cost analysis and risk to identify possible risks in the plan.

Business case of Star Car Rentals

Business needs

Star Car Rentals attained a market share of 45% of New Zealand car rental market with implementation of IT systems to cover its operations in areas such as customer relationship management, vehicle pick up, returns management, accounting, payroll, reservation management and others. The major problem with its existing applications is lack of integration. The current system has problems related to incorrect information about availability of vehicle, poor vehicle maintenance, incorrect invoicing and others. Those problems provide effect on rapid decline in revenue as the customers are moving away from the company. In the year 2018, the market share of company is stood at 20%. There is also reduction in sales as well as fall in the market share of the company. In order to overcome with those problems, the company decided to upgrade its existing systems and integrate a new cloud based integrated system.

Benefits

Star Car Rentals will benefit from the new cloud based integrated system. The proposed system connects different application, system as well as IT environments for real time exchange of the data as well as processes. The system improves connectivity, visibility and optimization of the business operations. This system eliminates existing issues of data duplication as well as manual business work. The system will automate the entire business operations to make it time consuming, faster and efficient. It allows using of cloud applications without installation, access private as well as business files from whichever location throughout a remote internet access. It can improve computing efficiencies by centralization storage, memory as well as processing. It helps to configure of on-premise as well as cloud applications to share of data over cloud. The system is provided up-to-date information related to various business activities. Change into manual segments to automated system improves accuracy of level of business operations such as customer relationship management, vehicle pick up, returns management, accounting, payroll, reservation management and others. The system is also secured as username and password is being allocated to each employee to verify and gain access to the cloud.

From the financial point of view, the implement of new cloud integration system is required of total one-time cost for setting the proposed system is $510,000 with recurring cost per month is $35,000. It is estimated that the company will save an amount of $650,000 per year by means to eliminate lost sales as well as improve operating efficiencies.

Project cost

The one-time cost for setting the systems are:

Implement of new Cloud based Integrated System 

Project organization structure 

Following organization structure shows roles of the members those are involved in the project work throughout implementation of new cloud based integrated system in Star Car Rentals.   

Project deliverables

Following are the project deliverables which are provided while implementation of new cloud based integration system in Star Car Rental:

1. Project charter:It defines statement of objectives in the project. It provides detailed project goals, roles and responsibilities, stakeholder list, level of authority of the project manager, timeline and project cost.
2. Project management plan:It is an approved document used to manage the project execution work. PMP documents coordinate the planning activities and define the project execution, monitoring, controlling and closing. Each roles and responsibilities of project member is analyzed in this document.
3. Requirement analysis document:This document provides details on success and failure of the system project. The system is described in terms of functional in addition to non-functional requirements. It serves contractual basis among customer as well as developer.
4. Budget analysis report:It is a financial plan for defined period of year. It is included with sales volumes, revenue, cost and expenses, liabilities and cash flows. This report provides cost for networking of system across the project lifespan.
5. Testing and implementation plan:This plan provides details of system features which are required to test, entry and exit criteria. The test cases are written to keep track of the software implemented, and the test analysis report will record results of tests.
6. Risk management plan:It is a document prepared by the project manager to foresee the project risks, estimate its possible impacts and define the responses to project issues. It provides negative and positive effect on the project objectives.
7. Lessons learned report:It provides details of learning gained from process to perform the project work. It provides insights of how project processes are to be improved.

Project activities with estimation of person efforts per hours

High level project schedule

risk analysis and mitigation  

Quality control 

Communication plan 

Project Name: Implementation of Cloud based Integrated System for Star Car Rentals

Prepared by: Project Manager

Position: Project Manager

Date: 28^th October, 2018

Version No: v1.0

Document Change Control 

The following is the document control for the revisions to this document.

Definition 

The following are definitions of terms, abbreviations and acronyms used in this document.

Introduction

The main purpose of this communication plan for Star Car Rentals is providing the stakeholders with information related to the project. The plan defines who should provide information, when the information is delivered and what communication channels used to deliver the information is. The plan is policy driven to provide the stakeholders with the information. This document is primarily for the stakeholders, sets out how Star Car Rentals plans to communicate regarding the implementation of new cloud based integrated system in the business processes. It is included with key group of stakeholders those are required to transfer information to other related to project work. The communication plan accomplishes work with support as well as cooperation with each stakeholder groups. The main goal of communication plan is to maintain control of project as well as ensure that the stakeholders can receive required information. Schedule of weekly project meetings keep the participants updated regarding the project progress. 

Communication Objectives 

The main objectives of communication plan are as follows:

• Creating awareness among the project team members about the project requirements
• Creating messages required to maintain public image of the company
• Determining analysis for each media outlet to reach specific target market
• Avoiding confusion which affects morale and business productivity
• Encouraging collaboration in addition to transparency
• Communicating results of process to broader public audiences
• Providing timely information and message related to project 

1. Communication Purpose and Target Audiences

This section provides details regarding the target audiences those are involved in the communication plan along with purpose of communication among the project team members. The below table provides the list of audiences and communication purpose with them.  

Communication Message and Delivery

This section provides details on targeted audiences, key messages to the audience, delivery method, frequency for delivery of message and communicator.

5. Communication Message Contents

This particular section provides details of message contents of key communication which are performed among targeted audiences such as:

• Providing update on project findings and development of proposed system
• Implementation related to next project phases and timeline
• Business case for project consultation
• Changes in the business case
• Executive decisions and project phases
• Current and future project plan for implementation of proposed system
• Project status report, summary and status of schedule and budget
• Goals of the project management plan
• Project issues and mitigation
• Project checklist
• Accomplishment of the project activities

Earned value analysis 

The earned value analysis (EVA) is a method to measure progress of project at given period of time, forecast the completion date, final cost as well as analyze the schedule and budget variance as the project proceeds. It is analyzed by calculating three main elements:

1. Planned value (PV)- It is first element of the earned value management. It is value of work to complete at provided time. It is authorized budget assigned to project work for accomplishment of an activity or component of WBS.

Earned value (PV) = planned % completed work * budget at completion

1. Actual cost (AC)- It is second element of the earned value management. It is total cost incurred for actual work complete to date. It is total cost incurred in accomplishment of work performed for an activity or component of WBS.

Actual cost (AC) = hourly rate* total hours spent

1. Earned value (EV)- It is third element of the earned value management. It is the value of work completed to date. It is the value of work performed in terms of budget assigned to work of an activity or component of WBS.

Earned value (EV) = % completed work * budget at completion  

In order to estimate Earned value analysis, following terms are used and its respective formulas such as:

1. Cost variance (CV) -It is difference between cost of actual amount and budgeted or planned amount.  It is completed work cost as compared to planned cost. Therefore, it is difference between earned value and actual cost.

CV= EV-AC

When there is positive cost variance, then the project is under budget and when there is negative cost variance, then the project is over budget. 

1. Budget at Completion (BAC)- It is total budget allocated to project work. It is plotted over the project time.

BAC = Baseline Effort-hours * Hourly Rate  

1. Estimate at Completion (EAC) – It is calculated by dividing budget at completion by the cost performance index.

EAC = Budget at completion / cost performance index

Following table shows the earned value analysis for the project work:

It is analyzed that the cost variance of this project is negative; therefore the project is over budget. There is an increase in cost as compared to actual cost and planned cost.   

Conclusion

It is concluded that the cloud system implementation plan is consisted of various benefits in the business process of company so that there is increase in market share, increase in business productivity. Therefore, the business is benefited due to implementation and received positive project outcome. The project activities are followed of proper schedule to finish the work on scheduled time. After analyzing earned value analysis, it is estimated that there is negative cost variance; therefore the project plan is over budgeted. Communication plan helps the project stakeholders to interact and cooperate with each other to make a successful project plan. Risk management plan determines the project risks which are occurred due to implementation of proposed system in cloud computing environment. Mitigation steps are also taken to make the project risk free so that there is no possibility of project failure within scheduled time as well as budget. Quality is also analyzed for the project to deliver quality products and services to client for meeting with the business requirements. 

Bibliography

[1] Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R.. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.

[2] Turner, J.R. Handbook of project-based management (Vol. 92). New York, NY: McGraw-hill, 2014.

[3] Larson, E.W. and Gray, C.F. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK (®) Guide. Project Management Institute, 2015.

[4] Binder, J. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge, 2016.

[5] Hornstein, H.A. The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.291-298, 2015.

[6] Joslin, R. and Müller, R. Relationships between a project management methodology and project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project Management, 33(6), pp.1377-1392, 2015.

[7] Muller, R.,. Project governance. Routledge, 2017

[8] Karaman, E. and Kurt, M. Comparison of project management methodologies: prince 2 versus PMBOK for it projects. Int. Journal of Applied Sciences and Engineering Research, 4(5), pp.657-664, 2015.

[9] Saltz, J., Hotz, N., Wild, D. and Stirling, K. Exploring Project Management Methodologies Used Within Data Science Teams, 2018

[10] Marcelino-Sádaba, S., Pérez-Ezcurdia, A., Lazcano, A.M.E. and Villanueva, P. Project risk management methodology for small firms. International journal of project management, 32(2), pp.327-340, 2014.

[11] Harrison, F. and Lock, D. Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge, 2017. 

[12] Marchewka, J.T.. Information technology project management. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.

[13] Martens, M.L. and Carvalho, M.M. The challenge of introducing sustainability into project management function: multiple-case studies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 117, pp.29-40, 2016.

[15] Kerzner, H. Project management 2.0: leveraging tools, distributed collaboration, and metrics for project success. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

[16] Leach, L.P., 2014. Critical chain project management. Artech House, 2014.

[17] Kendrick, T. Identifying and managing project risk: essential tools for failure-proofing your project. Amacom, 2015.

[18] Bourne, L. Stakeholder relationship management: a maturity model for organisational implementation. Routledge, 2016.

[19] Newton, R. Project management step by step: how to plan and manage a highly successful project. Pearson UK, 2016.

[20] Ramazani, J. and Jergeas, G. Project managers and the journey from good to great: The benefits of investment in project management training and education. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), pp.41-52, 2015.