1. ABSTRACT The success of any project is accomplished when the success criteria of that project are met. Progress measurement is a technique used to measure the success of projects by comparing the actual status of the project against certain planned parameters, which are the cost, schedule, and scope or quality. It has been noticed that several projects fail because the absence of good practices in managing small projects in part of the petrochemical industry. This study analyzes and assesses the current practice and recommends other methods that could be followed to improve the progress measurement and reporting situation. 2. INTRODUCTION 2.1. Statement of the Problem There has been always a debate about the accuracy of the reports when the progress of small projects is presented. Those projects are mainly managed by non-structured project management teams like maintenance or operations personnel. Lack of use of basic project management principles throughout the project life cycle is the main cause of this problem. In several cases, project progress is not reported at all or reported inaccurately with no basis. As a result, project status becomes unclear causing the budget to overrun or schedule to suffer. In principle, project success is defined as the completion of an activity within the constraints of time, cost and performance. However, in the absence of proper progress measurement methodologies, there is no way to measure the success of projects. That is definitely a sort of deviation from the business strategic objectives that were set by the stakeholders for capital investment. 2.2. Study Objectives This study aims to improve the viability of the project outcomes by introducing a set of project progress meas... ... middle of paper ... ...s to delays in project closure which in turn makes the project status reports look unpleasant and project team appear unproductive. 2.6. Problem Root Cause Analysis Most of the problems are caused by different factors which vary in their impact on the project cost, schedule or scope. In the discussion of section 1.5, the root causes that affect the efficiency of projects can be concluded as follows: During Planning a. Clarity of scope b. Accuracy of cost estimates c. Absence of economic analysis d. Inexperienced project team e. Absence of project schedule f. Influence of senior management During Execution g. Lack of ownership by end users h. Lack of consistency in managing projects i. Absence of unified progress measurement system j. Low accuracy of status reporting During Closing k. Accountability of project team and end users in project close-out
Phadnis, S. (2006). Selection of project metrics. iSixSigma. Retrieved on 16 August, 2006 from Website: http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c011008a.asp
The final activity undertaken on any project is a review of its overall success by an independent resource. Success is determined by how well it performed against the defined objectives and conformed to the management processes outlined in the planning phase. To determine performance, a number of questions are posed.
The project used numerous resources which included manpower and money to achieve the set targets. But evaluation upon its completion shows that there were some positive aspects and also negative outcomes of the project. Hence it is fair to compare both the negatives and the positives so as to come up with an overall verdict and conclusion on the success achieved and the failures/challenges encountered...
After a period of meticulous planning, project managers (PM) anticipate that their projects will be executed on schedule and within the proposed budget. According to Maheshwari and Credle (2010), there are internal and external factors that can impede a project’s progress. Therefore, once a project is in motion PMs often rely on tools to assist them with staying on course - and to mitigate project risk. One such tool is the Earned Value Measurement System (EVMS) that can be used to quantify a project 's progress and assist PMs with managing and controlling project costs, instead of merely monitoring costs during various stages of a project. The EVMS can also be used to forecast a project’s completion date and present an analysis of variances, which may occur due to additional or misinterpreted requirements, to determine a project’s earned value (Kerzner, 2013).
Projects are widely used by many organizations and government institutions in the course of conducting their business. One of the reasons for this is because they have been proven to be effective in initiating change and translating strategic programs into daily activities. However, it has been established that most projects fail to deliver on time, budget, and customer specifications. In most cases, this failure is caused by over-optimism by the project management team. This over-optimism commonly referred to as optimism bias can simply be defined as overestimating the projects benefits and conversely underestimating its cost and duration time. Research have portrayed that this is often caused by failure to properly identify, understand, and manage effectively the risk associated with the project therefore putting its success at jeopardy(Mott McDonald, 2002). Fortunately, this biasness can be detected and minimized during the project gateway process.
Progress- how the progress and performance will be accessed during the project and how it is determined whether it meets the planned one.
It enables managers to close the loop in the plan-do-check-act management cycle (PMI, 2005). Earned Value Management has become the most commonly used method of project performance measurement (Chen and Zhang 2012). Practitioners also refer to Earned Value Management concept as Earned Value Project Management, Earned Value System or Earned Value Analysis, but there is no much difference between these terminologies. Earned Value Management offers the project manager a tool to timely evaluate the general health of a project along the life of the project. Particularly Earned Value Management has been used to estimate cost and time to complete, identify cost and schedule impacts of known problems, accurately portray the cost status of a project, trace problems to their sources, portray the schedule status of a project, provide timely information on projects and identify problem areas not previously recognized (Kim and Duffey 2003). The description and derivation of Earned Value Management elements have been comprehensively described in many sources. (PMI, 2005) classifies the terminology into two categories: key parameters of Earned Value Management including Planned Value, Earned Value and Actual Cost and Earned Value Management measures (variances, indices and forecasts). Additionally the evolution of Earned Value Management concepts raised
The objective of conducting the analysis for this section is to determine the strategy can be adopted to complete project on time that identified from the literature review and the ranking according to their significant influence towards efficiency of strategy. Based on the eight challenges that identify, the observations of nine strategies have been proposed to ensure project complete on time.
Monitoring and reporting was not done very effectively in both projects, there was no structure in place for approval and continued monitoring of the projects to ensure quality of the project was up to
A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service. They are goal oriented, have a definite start and finish time, must be done within cost, schedule and quality parameters. Projects involve the coordinated undertaking of interrelated activities (Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage). According to Tom Peters, “Projects, rather than repetitive tasks, are now the basis for most value-added in business”. Based on this, it is clear that projects are of utmost importance to businesses in both the service and the manufacturing industries.
Project Management Critical Success Factors defining project success poses another challenge in understanding project management and accordingly assessing its performance. It is generally accepted however, that the success of a project can be well-defined through the convergence of, the ability of the process to meet the technical goals of the project while not deviating from the three constraints of scope, time and cost; the usefulness of the project as perceived by project team, sponsors and beneficiaries; and the performance of the project (Kerzner, 1992, 2001, 2003). Hence, project success or failure can only be effectively measured at the completion of the
Time, cost and quality constraints relating to project management are interdependable and mutually exclusive. Hence a company should have a well-planned project scheduling to enjoy the fruits of time and cost related benefits. Scheduling hones the productivity and performance of an organization through customized management [2].
Westerveld, E., The Project Excellence Model®: linking success criteria and critical success factors, International Journal of Project Management, Volume 21, Issue 6, August 2003, Pages 411-418. Science Direct [Accessed 10th February 2014]
When planning a new project, how the project will be managed is one of the most important factors. The importance of a managers will determine the success of the project. The success of the project will be determined by how well it is managed. Project management is referred to as the discipline that entails the processes of carefully planning, organizing, controlling, and motivating the organization resources so as to foster and facilitate the achievement of specific established and desired goals and meet the specific criteria of success required in the organization (Larson, 2014). Over the course of this paper I will be discussing and analyzing the importance of project management.
Project management is said to be completed within time when it completed within the “triple constraints”: cost, time and quality. And in a lot of causes, one them is sacrificed so as to meet the other two. Project managers prioritize which ones are the most important.