UNIT 17 – Project
planning
,
,P2, p3
People (Human resources)
Labour is important as if there was no labour there would be no human resources to work on the project. Labour will be done by people who are working on the project
specifically. An example would be a project making a supercomputer; the human resources working on creating the supercomputer would be known as labour. Labour is usually
referred to as the human resources of the project.
Equipment
Equipment is important if there were no equipment then the project would not be able to be carried out. The project manager should know what equipment would be required to
complete the project. For example, if there was a business creating supercomputers, the business should have equipment such as motherboards and power supply units to create
the supercomputer, the project manager may also want to consider having a bit more equipment in-case incidents occur such as the motherboard not working e.g.
Facilities
The project manager should use software such as project management tools, for example, Microsoft project to keep himself informed about the project and note down any issues,
and the progression in the project to show the shareholders how the project is doing, and if more funding were to be required the shareholders would make a decision on how the
project is doing, and the project management tools would show how exactly it is doing to help with their decisions. Hardware will also be required, for example, the parts of a
computer to have a computer running; another example would be if the project was based on creating software, the project manager would then require much hardware in order
to have enough computers for all the employees.
Finance
The project manager should know how much money is required. Without money, the project would not be able to complete the project out and pay for costs of the project, such
as rent. The client would decide the amount of money you will have to work on the project, and you will have a budget to make sure you can complete this, you will have high
quality, time and money balance. This element is vital as if there would not be a way of knowing the budgets, for example of the material, as well as the budgeted cost of the
entire project. Starting a project and not having enough funding will cause issues, such as not having the full amount of materials and such, which could cause the project manager
to be fired, or the project to be cancelled.
Changing external factors
The project manager needs to consider external factors. For example, where the project will take place? Would it be worth doing the project in another country? This could be due
to reduces costs in another country, for example, if a project required a lot of labour work, it could be worth going to another country where the minimum wage is lower which will
reduce costs. Another example is if a project required raw materials, and deciding a country to go where the raw materials are the cheapest at.
Monitoring progress
, The project manager needs to monitor the project; this is important as will let the project manager interact with stakeholders, sponsors, team members and such. As the project
makes progress, it is essential for the project manager to monitor the progress and also to take criteria’s, times, costs and performance into consideration. Potential issues or the
possibility of issues should be known. Therefore, the project can get back in place by finding solutions. Usually, the sooner the problem is known, the sooner the problem can be
resolved and will usually have less of an impact than finding out and dealing with the issue later, there have been projects in which possible issues have been ignored, and the
project fails.
Corrective actions
For example, if the project manager had many methods of completing the project. The project manager may have been required to make the best decision from the list of
methods, but if the choice didn’t go according to plan the project manager would then be required to correct the action, which could be costly financial wise, or non-financial wise,
an example of financial would be requiring more employees to get back on track and meeting the deadline, a non-financial example would be requiring more time to complete the
project, but this would could cause issues you are competing with competitors, which could also damage the business's reputation.
Communications
Problems in communication can ruin a project. For example, if the project relies too much on the internet to communicate between teams, and the internet goes offline one of the
teams will no longer be able to communicate which can cause delays. An example of this would be grand theft auto V, which is programmed from many different countries, such as
USA and UK. In which the project manager would have to attempt to resolve this issue.
Guidelines and legislation
Legal issues could affect a project. For example if a project was being done in another country to reduce costs and the minimum wage was increased to a much higher rate, this
would mean increased costs, and because this is the law, you wouldn’t have much of a choice as you would be required to pay the minimum wage to the employees. Another
example where it would be more severe is a project on medicine, if a business was researching on a drug in a specific country, and the law decides to make it illegal than the
project would have to be relocated in another country which would be very costly, in which there may not be enough funding for this all to occur and the project failing.
Conflict
During a project, there could be issues, for example, if a project was going to trademark their new project name, there could be an existing trademark for the name already, which
would be a conflict which could be resolved by buying the trademarked name which can be expensive. Another alternative would be the business could also attempt to sort it out
in court. Otherwise, the project would require a new name to a trademark.
Impact of the project outputs on other systems
The project outputs will affect systems within the business, which will affect the organisational structures and possibly the amount of staff. For example, if the project was to
create software to do processes, then staff which were initially doing the task would not be required anymore. A designer makes a newer version of the system with already
created computer systems.
planning
,
,P2, p3
People (Human resources)
Labour is important as if there was no labour there would be no human resources to work on the project. Labour will be done by people who are working on the project
specifically. An example would be a project making a supercomputer; the human resources working on creating the supercomputer would be known as labour. Labour is usually
referred to as the human resources of the project.
Equipment
Equipment is important if there were no equipment then the project would not be able to be carried out. The project manager should know what equipment would be required to
complete the project. For example, if there was a business creating supercomputers, the business should have equipment such as motherboards and power supply units to create
the supercomputer, the project manager may also want to consider having a bit more equipment in-case incidents occur such as the motherboard not working e.g.
Facilities
The project manager should use software such as project management tools, for example, Microsoft project to keep himself informed about the project and note down any issues,
and the progression in the project to show the shareholders how the project is doing, and if more funding were to be required the shareholders would make a decision on how the
project is doing, and the project management tools would show how exactly it is doing to help with their decisions. Hardware will also be required, for example, the parts of a
computer to have a computer running; another example would be if the project was based on creating software, the project manager would then require much hardware in order
to have enough computers for all the employees.
Finance
The project manager should know how much money is required. Without money, the project would not be able to complete the project out and pay for costs of the project, such
as rent. The client would decide the amount of money you will have to work on the project, and you will have a budget to make sure you can complete this, you will have high
quality, time and money balance. This element is vital as if there would not be a way of knowing the budgets, for example of the material, as well as the budgeted cost of the
entire project. Starting a project and not having enough funding will cause issues, such as not having the full amount of materials and such, which could cause the project manager
to be fired, or the project to be cancelled.
Changing external factors
The project manager needs to consider external factors. For example, where the project will take place? Would it be worth doing the project in another country? This could be due
to reduces costs in another country, for example, if a project required a lot of labour work, it could be worth going to another country where the minimum wage is lower which will
reduce costs. Another example is if a project required raw materials, and deciding a country to go where the raw materials are the cheapest at.
Monitoring progress
, The project manager needs to monitor the project; this is important as will let the project manager interact with stakeholders, sponsors, team members and such. As the project
makes progress, it is essential for the project manager to monitor the progress and also to take criteria’s, times, costs and performance into consideration. Potential issues or the
possibility of issues should be known. Therefore, the project can get back in place by finding solutions. Usually, the sooner the problem is known, the sooner the problem can be
resolved and will usually have less of an impact than finding out and dealing with the issue later, there have been projects in which possible issues have been ignored, and the
project fails.
Corrective actions
For example, if the project manager had many methods of completing the project. The project manager may have been required to make the best decision from the list of
methods, but if the choice didn’t go according to plan the project manager would then be required to correct the action, which could be costly financial wise, or non-financial wise,
an example of financial would be requiring more employees to get back on track and meeting the deadline, a non-financial example would be requiring more time to complete the
project, but this would could cause issues you are competing with competitors, which could also damage the business's reputation.
Communications
Problems in communication can ruin a project. For example, if the project relies too much on the internet to communicate between teams, and the internet goes offline one of the
teams will no longer be able to communicate which can cause delays. An example of this would be grand theft auto V, which is programmed from many different countries, such as
USA and UK. In which the project manager would have to attempt to resolve this issue.
Guidelines and legislation
Legal issues could affect a project. For example if a project was being done in another country to reduce costs and the minimum wage was increased to a much higher rate, this
would mean increased costs, and because this is the law, you wouldn’t have much of a choice as you would be required to pay the minimum wage to the employees. Another
example where it would be more severe is a project on medicine, if a business was researching on a drug in a specific country, and the law decides to make it illegal than the
project would have to be relocated in another country which would be very costly, in which there may not be enough funding for this all to occur and the project failing.
Conflict
During a project, there could be issues, for example, if a project was going to trademark their new project name, there could be an existing trademark for the name already, which
would be a conflict which could be resolved by buying the trademarked name which can be expensive. Another alternative would be the business could also attempt to sort it out
in court. Otherwise, the project would require a new name to a trademark.
Impact of the project outputs on other systems
The project outputs will affect systems within the business, which will affect the organisational structures and possibly the amount of staff. For example, if the project was to
create software to do processes, then staff which were initially doing the task would not be required anymore. A designer makes a newer version of the system with already
created computer systems.
