Project Management

Discuss in length what is Project management?……….

MegTech is an automotive parts production company that is currently in the global market competing with other global suppliers. The company transitioned from a predictable, stable market with relatively good customer loyalty, due to its growth rate, future projection and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), to a global competitor.

According to Heerkens (2009) Project management as a business function has become one of the most important aspects of a company. The company has had to shift tactic so as to not only compete with the other players in the market but also succeed in its industry. It therefore chose to recreate itself into a project-based company. This refers to a company that runs projects for external clients (Rietiker, 2006-2010). The company has also become more customers focused. For MegTech this has meant structuring the organization in a way that current and future technology and product advancement are managed by project teams. This has ensured that the company’s decision to have frequent product updates is enhanced.

The Concept

Currently there is a proposal from the company’s project development team fro the development of modern central locking system. The system will, among other things, be voice activated. The system is mean to further ease the experience of a motor vehicle owner as well as do away with some of the problems brought about by older and outdated systems. The concept development is targeted at auto-manufacturers and is mean to ease the vehicle owner’s experience.

The Business Case

Have you eve locked your car keys inside your car and had to call your car service company to unlock it for you either manually or remotely? Have you ever been in a situation where you forgot your baby in your car and lost the keys to your car or just could not find the m first enough to unlock the doors to your car? Well these are just some of the problems the voice proposed new central locking system aims at alleviating. As scarce as these problems seem, they are actually quite often in this day and age when everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere.

The system also seeks to improve the vehicle owners’ experience. This may vey well also be with regard to security. There are instances when you have to hurriedly get into your car. Wouldn’t it therefore be quit convenient to just ‘talk’ to your car and it responds?

The system is also proposed to integrate mobile-phone services where simply by sending a short message service (SMS) with a particular designated code know only to the vehicle owner, the system is activated and can open or lock itself. As a security measure with regard to the voice activation, the vehicle owner is expected to, prior to initial activation of the system, enable it s as to ensure that the voice signature recorded is her voice and no one else’s. This is important as it ensures that no one else can deactivate or activate the system with their own voice. It would also be necessary to incorporate sounds sensitive microphones on the vehicle an on the car key holder.

Over the proposal development period, the project development team considered the option of a having a central locking that had a biometric device where one would only need to place his/her finger, possible positioned on the car door, to unlock it. The implications of this option wee dire. Settling on the choice of a voice activated central locking system was therefore considered as the most viable option.

The rationale behind this choice was considered to be rather obvious. There has been a lot of cases lately regarding security of the owners of their vehicles, their children where they sometime forget their children in the vehicles, or even people who cannot get into their vehicles fast enough when in a security situation such as a mugging. The team therefore saw if fit to help solve this problem.

With regard to necessary policies to follow, it was considered that this type of system fell within the already stipulated laws of most if not all countries. This feature in a vehicle would be regarded as a necessary improvement towards the safety of vehicle owners, something that most countries are looking to improve.

The cost to the company would be catered for from the Research and development kitty that the organization created to handle such developments. There would however be additional costs incurred for training the various vehicle manufacturers on the use and proper installation of the system onto the vehicles.

The anticipated outcomes and benefits of this system would be increased security for the business owners and other occupants. Reduced extra costs spent by motorists for manual or remote unlocking of vehicles would be realized. For aesthetic and bragging purpose, it would hurt not one bit.

The only risk with regard to implementation of this proposal would be not to implement it. This is due to the fact that with the current rate of technology advancements in the world, it would only be a matter of time before someone else can come up with something similar, that is, if they aren’t already.

Project Constraints and Assumptions

Finance would be one of the major constraints since it has been projected that with the strict funding by the organization, additional funding would be required. For the development of the system, more specialized experts would have to be brought in, a venture that would also require a considerable amount.

Time is of the essence since it is only a matter of time before someone else comes up with such idea. Indications form the auto-market and prototypes of futuristic vehicle designs suggest that MegTech might not be the only company thinking along such lines. It is therefore prudent from the company to approve the development of this system and facilitate its production in the shortest time possible.

The assumption that this type of system had however not been produced by anyone else, though for a vehicle, enabled the development team to properly brainstorm on a product that could not only have a significant impact on the company’s turnover, but also one with very many more implications and applications.

Project Charter

The development team was constituted of five project development managers that were part of many other development managers within the organization, charged with the responsibility of developing new technology and Ideas for the company. It also had various other staff members that were picked by the managers from various departments of the organization and who had been regarded as having specialized skills in one sector or another.

The senior authority of the group was vested on one of the development managers. The authority for the development of a new technology was however on rotational basis among the five project managers. This was because prior to their grouping, they were regarded as experts in various fields. This therefore makes it necessary to have them o a rotational basis a decision decide upon by top management of the organization.

Communication among the group members as based on an already structured system which was a horizontal system of communication. This facilitated communication as it allowed everyone to have access to everyone else factor that made brainstorming very easy. However, between the development group and top management, only the leader of the group could freely communicate with them. This was not meant to lock out the other members from communicating openly with top management but was meant to ensure consensus on information that could be vital to final decision making with regard to the project proposal.

The project according to the studies carried out if highly viable with the potential to be very lucrative for the company. As such the project has been approved by top management The issue on return on investment for the project is therefore considered to be a non-issue.

Scope Statement

Project: Development of a Voice activated vehicle central locking system.

Owner: MegTech

Sponsor: Citi Bank, and Toyota

Objectives:

1. Business development – This is the main objective of the company and of keen interest to its shareholders.
2. Product development – Making sure that the product being developed to the desired specifications is very important to the organization since this would be make the difference between them and their competitors.
3. Customer satisfaction – At the end, when various vehicles had been fitted with this device, the satisfaction derived from the final consumer is just as important as the turnover made by the company from development of this system.

The project is expected to have an initial prototype development cost of Two Million dollars. This is estimated to be the cost of consumables, necessary specialized manpower, marketing the product. Subsequent cost with regard to various economies of scale is however estimated to reduce considerably.

Stakeholders’ Acceptance Signature:

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Communication matrix

The Communication Matrix, also referred to as the Project communication Management is the area or process by which employees of the organization will generate, collect, distribute, store, retrieve and dispose of project information (Project Communication Handbook, 2007).

STAKEHOLDER	OBJECTIVE	COMMUNICATION TOOLS
Sponsors	Ensure that necessary funding is available. Approve product development	Through Top Management: Internet, Telephone
Top Management	To ensure that funds are available and Authorize the project proposals	Telephone, Internet, Internal Memos,
Development Managers	To ensure that there’s constant Brain Storming, and content development. Oversee and Participate in project development	Internet, Telephone, Word of Mouth, Memos, Briefings
Support Staff	Day to day development of product and content information.	Telephone, Face to Face, Internet.

Figure 1.1 Communication Matrix

RAM Matrix

Responsibility Assignment Matrix is a chart that indicates the contribution of each involved individual. It helps clarify what each individual is responsible for and how they correlate with other stakeholders and their responsibilities.

WBS Element	Project development Members
WBS Element	Team Leader	M. 2	M.3	M.4	M.5	Support staff	Top Management	Sponsor
Project Proposal	R	R	R	R	R		N	N

Information Gathering	C					R
Information Dissemination		S	S	S	S	R
communication of Information	R						A

Financing							A	A
Go Ahead decision							A
Design Formulation	R	R	R	R	R	R
Prototype development	R	R	R	R	R	R

Key : R-responsible, C-Must be consulted, S-Support Required, A-Approval Required

Figure 1.2 RAM Matrix

Work Breakdown Structure

A work break down structure indicates the work to be carried out in the project development (Project Management Docs). The figure below indicates the first level in the activities to be carried out in the project.

Work Breakdown Structure

Level	Element
Level 1	1.1 Information Gathering
	1.2 Information Dissemination
	1.3 Communication of Information
	1.4 Design Formulation
	1.5 Prototype Development
	1.6 Presentation of Prototype

Figure 1.3 Work breakdown Structure

Project Network Diagr

Figure 1.4 Project Network Diagram

Gantt Chart

Gantt Chart for the Commencement and Progress of the Project

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5
Information Gathering
information Dissemination
information Communication
Design Formulation
Prototype Development
Prototype Presentation