Question

You are the System Analyst for VIP Transport Company Ltd. The company wants to develop a computer-based accounting information system for use and you have been appointed as the project manager for this project.

(i). Discuss, in detail, the following:

(α). the specific things that you will do on this project as the project manager;

(β). problems you may encounter on this project; and

(γ). how you can possibly solve each of the problems you discussed in (β) above.

(ii). Describe, in detail, how your project team will execute activities during the Initial Investigation phase of this project.

Answer 1

(α). the specific things that you will do on this project as the project manager:

As a PM or the project manager for this project which is to develop and implement a computer-based accounting information system for the VIP transport company, I would first segregate the entire project into various phases and work on the project in this phase-wise manner.

Next as a PM my roles and responsibilities would include the following :

Project activity and resource planning: This project would require the completion of various activities and many resources in the form of technical manpower and other resources will be required in order to execute it, as a PM, I will be responsible for planning the activities and make a list of the resources required for the project.

Selection of the project team: As a project manager, I would be requiring a team of people who will be responsible for the various activities, this project team will help me execute the project and will comprise of the people who will be needed according to the activities that are planned in the project. As this particular project is related to the development of the computerized accounting system, I would be needing a team of professional software developers and testers who are experienced in developing financial systems.

Controlling the time management of the project: The most important part and aspect for any project are to maintain the project deadline and meeting them accordingly since we will be bound by the various time constraints . as a project manager I would be required to gauge and follow the deadlines. This would involve the development of the project schedule, the network schedule, the estimation of the project duration, etc.
Cost estimation: Any project which requires resources would need an estimation of the total cost that would be incurred in the development of the project, as a project manager I would be responsible for reviewing the budget and planning accordingly in order to avoid overruns.

Other activities that I would be responsible for are: Ensuring customer satisfaction, managing the uncertainties, preparing the reports, and the final documentation, etc.

(β). problems you may encounter on this project &  how you can possibly solve each of the problems:

The various problems that I may encounter in this project as a PM are :

• Stakeholder Confusion: Sometimes the stakeholder is not able to clearly identify and state their requirements and this can lead to confusion in the further stages of the project, many times the stakeholders change their needs and expectations from the project while the ongoing development of the project causing complexities. Making a note of this we need to understand that this is totally normal and need to keep a buffer for any changes in the project at any phase of the project. We need to ensure flexibility in our project. For example, in this case, suppose the accounting department give their needs abut due to the introduction of a new rule or tax we are required to make changes in our developed system and hence we need to ensure that our deveoloped system should accommodate these changes easily even after the project has been completed.   

• Budget Overrun: IN this case for example if we have planned to develop an accounting system for a cost of 100,000 $ including everything, however at the end of the project the total costs comes out to be 250,000 $, it will lead to client dissatisfaction.This is a typical case wherein the total cost of the project often overshoots the budget, in this case it is necessary to review the budget every now and then in order to get a clear idea over the destination. The review is really crucial part of the project because although effective, the project will be considered as a failure if it overshoots the budget by a huge margin.

• Time Uncertainty: Many times we will have issues with the time constraints and will often skip the crucial deadlines leading to further issues in the project's completion time and our project might get extended further. As a project manager for this company we need to understand the importance of time as the development of the accounting system is crucial as the more we delay, the more dissatisfied will be the client. In order to overcome this, we need to plan effectively and if some of our activities get delayed by some time, we need to make sure that we make up for that lost time by expecting the remaining process while ensuring the quality and efficiency. We can do this by recurring more manpower and resources for the project. Also, we can plan some activities in parallel.

(ii). Describe, in detail, how your project team will execute activities during the Initial Investigation phase of this project.

Any project consists of the following phases :

Phase 1 : Initiation or the investigation

Phase 2: Planning

Phase 3 : Execution

Phase 4 : Closure

As a PM for the particular project the Initiation stage or the investigation stage is really important, in the initiation stage :

Step 1: Meeting with the stakeholders

A stakeholder is an individual or a group of individuals who is directly affected by the result of our project. The stakeholders can include the project sponsors and the end-users.Here for our accounting information system, the stakeholders include the managerial decision-making body at VIP Transport, the accounting department at VIP transport, the administrative team at VIP transport. Meeting the stakeholder si really important as it is essential to know their requirements, what they want as an output from the particular project, what are their aspirations and their needs. Understanding their needs will help us guide our project more easily.

Step 2: Setting and Prioritising the Goals :

Setting the goals and prioritizing them according to the needs of the stakeholders would be the next step as a project manager and these goals should be evaluated on certain pre-defined metrics in order to evaluate their performance

Step 3: Defining the project Deliverable :

The identification and definition of the key deliverable of the project and what is expected from the project is essential. This step also includes setting up the due date or the deadline for each deliverable, for example in our case the deliverable can be researching the accounting habits and needs of the stakeholders , developing a software program, etc.

Step 4: Project Scheduling :

Next in the initial investigation comes the process of making a project schedule, this project schedule will include the time for completion, the resources required, and the key person who is responsible for each deliverable or task. This will help segregate the tasks accordingly and set up an approximate time for completion of the project. This step often involves the Gantt chart and the network diagram.