1. BUSN7024 Project Management Principles
Semester 2, 2010 – Major Assignment
Project Management Plan
Algae Nursery System
Azim Khan U4009419
Emma Shaw U4924015
Osama Nasir U 4786695
Ruoying Liang U4638781
Stephanie Mutiara U4820179
Word Count: 21,310
Due Date: Friday, 22 October 2010
E-copy: via email to walter.fernandez@anu.edu.au
Paper copy: assignment box, ABIS School Office
File Name: project-management-plan11514.doc
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Team Number: 7
By signing on Table 1 each member acknowledges his or her agreement with the
stated contribution to the overall assignment made by each team member.
Name Student No Contribution Signature
Azim Khan U4009419 A
Emma Shaw U4924015 A
Osama Nasir U4786695 A
Ruoying Liang U4638781 A
Stephanie Mutiara U4820179 A
Table 1: Membership and Individual Contribution.
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Use the following convention to state each member contribution to the total effort
• A = very good contribution, the team member went above the expected
participation level.
• B = good contribution, the member participated as expected and was diligent
in performing the assigned tasks.
• C = less than satisfactory contribution, the member participation and
contribution was less than the average for the team.
• D = the member had minimal participation on the team effort, shown lack of
commitment to the team and significantly increased other members’
workload.
• E = the team member did not contribute at all to the team.
The team shall discuss and agree on the contribution level for each team member.
Your signature on Table 1 indicates your agreement with the assessment of
contribution. A lack of signature will indicate dissatisfaction with the attribution.
Please note, if half or less than half of the team sign the contribution assessment, a
penalty of 5% will apply to the assignment’s mark.
To encourage the teams to strive to perform as a team, penalties will be assigned to
students that perform below the minimum expected level (see Table 2).
Individual contribution to the team’s effort. Penalty to be applied to the assignment’s
mark for the particular student
A 0%
B. 0%
C 15%
D 50%
E 100%
Table 2: Human Resources Mismanagement Penalties.
This page is confidential and will NOT be seen by the class. The lecturer will
delete this page before releasing the document for class access on the web site.
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Acknowledgement
Walter Fernandez is grateful to the author of this
template, David Tuffley, who generously allowed him to
modify the template and to use it at ANU.
Plagiarism
✍ Plagiarism will not be tolerated. It is the responsibility of
the team to ensure that proper citation and quotation
conventions are followed. Failure to observe this rule will
result in a zero mark for the entire assignment, regardless
of the magnitude of the infringement. Further action(s)
might be considered on a case-by-case basis.
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5.4.2. Schedule Management Plan................................................14
5.4.3. Resource Requirement Update............................................15
5.4.4. Constraints and Assumptions...............................................15
5.5. Schedule Control.........................................................................15
5.5.1. Schedule Updates ...............................................................15
5.5.2. Corrective Actions................................................................16
6. Project Cost Management................................................................17
6.1. Resource Planning......................................................................17
6.1.1. Resource Requirement........................................................18
6.2. Cost Estimating...........................................................................20
6.3. Cost Budgeting............................................................................26
6.4. Cost Monitoring, Controlling and Reporting................................26
6.5. Other considerations...................................................................29
7. Project Quality Management............................................................30
7.1. Scope...........................................................................................30
7.2. Quality Objective.........................................................................31
7.3. Quality Control.............................................................................31
7.4. Organisational Structure and Responsibilities............................33
Quality Management Process............................................................35
7.4.1. Quality Planning...................................................................35
7.4.2. Quality Assurance................................................................40
7.4.3. Quality Control......................................................................41
7.5. Other Considerations...................................................................43
7.5.1. Quality Cost Monitoring and Reporting................................43
7.5.2. Leadership............................................................................44
7.5.3. Organisational Influence, Workplace Factors and Quality..44
7.5.4. Expectations and Cultural Differences.................................44
8. Project Human Resource Management..........................................45
8.1. Human Resource Planning..........................................................45
This human resource plan is created to identify and document
project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships involved
in the project. The Organizational Chart, Roles and
Responsibilities Assignments, RACI Chart, Staffing management
plan in this plan are used to ensure project success.....................45
8.1.1. Organizational Chart............................................................45
8.1.2. Roles and Responsibilities Assignment...............................46
8.1.3. RACI Chart...........................................................................48
8.1.4. Staffing Management Plans and Resource Histogram........49
8.1.4.1. Resource Histogram.....................................................50
8.1.4.2. Staffing Management Plan............................................51
8.2. Staff Acquisition...........................................................................51
This section sets forth the acquisition strategy, defines the efforts
required to implement it to ensure coordination of the project
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manager and the human resource department to get the right
people to fulfil the project’s needs..................................................51
8.2.1. Resource Assignment..........................................................51
8.2.1.1. Staff Pooling Description..............................................52
8.2.1.2. Recruitment Practices...................................................53
8.2.1.3. Project Staff Assigned...................................................54
8.2.1.4. Project Team Directory.................................................55
8.3. Team Development......................................................................55
The main goal of this team development plan is to help people
work together more effectively to improve project performance and
achieve the project goals................................................................55
8.3.1. Training.................................................................................55
8.3.2. Team Building Activities.......................................................55
8.3.3. Input to Performance Appraisals..........................................55
8.3.3.1. Employee Self-Evaluation Assessment........................56
Employee Information....................................................................56
Goals..............................................................................................56
Risks and Expectations.................................................................56
Comments......................................................................................56
8.3.3.2. Employee Performance Review....................................57
8.3.4. Performance Improvements.................................................57
8.3.4.1. Improvement in Individual Skills...................................58
8.3.4.2. Improvement in Team Behaviours................................59
8.4. Team Management......................................................................59
Team management is essential in Human Resource Management
Plan. The Project Manager is required to do the followings to
motivate and manage his/her team members in case changes are
requested to the project..................................................................59
9. Project Communication Management.............................................60
9.1. Communications Planning...........................................................60
9.2. Information Distribution...............................................................61
9.2.1. Introductions to New Stakeholders and Negotiation............62
9.2.2. Meetings, Presentation and Reports....................................65
9.2.3. File Management..................................................................68
9.3. Performance Reporting................................................................71
9.3.1. Communications Hierarchy..................................................74
9.3.1.1. Top Down Communication............................................75
9.3.1.2. Bottom Up Communication...........................................76
9.3.1.3. Middle Out Communication...........................................77
9.4. Administrative Closure.................................................................79
9.5. Other techniques for information and communications
management.......................................................................................81
10. Project Risk Management..............................................................82
10.1. Risk Management Planning......................................................83
10.1.1. Organisational Risk Management Policies........................83
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10.1.2. Risk Planning Meetings and Analysis................................84
10.1.3. Risk Management Plan......................................................85
10.1.4. Methodology.......................................................................86
10.1.5. Roles and Responsibilities.................................................86
10.1.6. Risk Categories..................................................................88
10.1.7. Project Risks.......................................................................88
10.2. Risk Identification ....................................................................92
10.2.1. Tools and Techniques........................................................92
10.2.2. Risk Register......................................................................94
10.3. Qualitative Risk Analysis..........................................................94
10.4. Quantitative Risk Analysis........................................................95
10.5. Risk Monitoring and Control.....................................................96
10.5.1. Monitoring...........................................................................96
10.5.2. Controlling..........................................................................96
10.5.3. Reporting............................................................................97
10.6. Risk Response Planning..........................................................97
10.6.1. Negative Risks....................................................................98
10.6.2. Positive Risks.....................................................................98
11. Project Procurement Management..............................................100
11.1. Procurement Planning............................................................100
11.2. Solicitation Planning ..............................................................101
11.3. Solicitation..............................................................................102
11.4. Source Selection.....................................................................103
11.5. Contract Administration..........................................................104
11.6. Contract Closeout...................................................................105
12. Conclusion.....................................................................................106
13. Appendix A - Project Gantt Chart................................................107
14. Appendix B - Table 6.3. Project Cost Baseline..........................108
15. Appendix C - Monthly Project Financial Performance Report
Template...............................................................................................109
16. Appendix D - Year to Date Project Financial Performance Report
...............................................................................................................110
17. Appendix E - Labour Cost Analysis Report...............................111
18. Appendix F – WBS........................................................................112
19. Appendix G – WBS Dictionary.....................................................113
20. References.....................................................................................117
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1. Executive Summary
The Nursery System Project will automate the early
cultivation of micro-algae. Automation of this process is
needed in order to prepare commercial quantities of
micro-algae which can in turn produce commercial
quantities of bio-fuel. The Nursery System will monitor
and control the growth of micro-algae from the laboratory
to the large tanks in which the micro-algae is grown.
This project will be considered successful based on
stakeholder acceptance of the project, with all changes
noted and documented and stakeholder acceptance of
these changes, as well as a working nursery system that
endures an allotted amount of time without technical
failures.
This project management plan details each phase of the
project the project manager must complete in order to
deliver a successful product. This includes project cost,
time and scope management, project quality
management, communications, risk, procurement and
human resources management, and overall project
integration management procedures and methods for the
successful project manager.
The project will cost $$$ and will take 271 days to
complete. The project has been planned to produce a
product of high quality, ensuring the commercial viability
of the Nursery System. The project will be complete when
key stakeholders from the ANU BioSolar Program are
satisfied that the Nursery System meets their
requirements.
The major risks for this project include:
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2. Project Introduction
The Australian National University has developed bio-
technology which allows crude oil to be sourced from
micro-algae. The development of this technology allows
for a renewable source of energy. In a world of finite non-
renewable energies, the uses for this renewable source
of energy are many and varied.
However, the micro-algae needs carefully grown and
monitored. The environment in which it is grown must be
carefully regulated for light, pH, temperature and water to
ensure that the algae do not die. Current processes for
encouraging the growth of algae involve transferring the
algae by hand from a series of smaller ponds into a
series of larger ponds, to ensure that the algae does not
die from overexposure to water.
The Nursery System project will automate this process.
By automating the process, the project will not only
reduce the time and effort required in growing algae into
commercial quantities for oil production, but create an
exportable system in which any business can use the
nursery system to develop its own algae for bio-fuel
production.
The nursery system project includes the development of a
user manual, which will enhance the marketability of the
system, and also ensure that the technology can be
widely used.
By creating the nursery system, the project team will be
contributing to the transfer from reliance on fossil fuels to
a more environmentally friendly use of renewable bio-
fuels.
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3. Project Integration Management
Project integration management is key to ensuring the
overall success of the project. It involves coordinating all
of the other project management areas throughout the
project’s life cycle.
3.1. Project Plan Development
The Project Plan has been created following the nine key
project management principles – cost, time, scope,
quality, communications, risk, procurement, human
resources and project integration – so that project
management plan provides a comprehensive overview.
This project management plan provides consistency
across all nine areas to ensure that all aspects of the
project have been planned for.
Please, refer to the table of contents for a full list of
all the plans and documents that have been designed
for this project.
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3.2. Project Plan Execution
3.2.1. Project Initiation
The project will be initiated at the instigation of the ANU
BioSolar Program. The project will be selected by key
stakeholders from the ANU BioSolar Program, who will
also consider the development of the business case,
determine scope, time and cost constraints, identify the
project sponsor, and select a project manager.
3.2.2. Project Direction
The project will be directed by the project manager, under
whose authority all decisions will be made, in conjunction
with the Change Control Committee. The project
manager’s decision will be final. The project manager
alone can endorse and initiate each of the work activities
under the Work Breakdown Structure.
3.2.3. Project Planning, Monitoring and Controlling
Cycle
The project planning, monitoring and controlling Cycle
will be performed through constant communication, both
oral and written. Formally, monitoring and controlling will
be managed through written documents which include the
weekly progress report, exception reports for
management on issues of particular interest that arise
during the project, and the final lessons learned report.
The planning, monitoring and controlling cycle will
constitute a ‘feedback loop’ in which any deviations from
the project schedule, budget or scope are fed back into
the planning and executing phases so that any changes
are accounted for and absorbed, ensuring that the project
will meet its deliverables.
Documenting ensures that all project team members and
management have a full record of the execution phase of
the project.
3.2.4. Project Closing
The closing phase of the project includes formal acceptance of
the nursery system, administrative activities associated with the
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end of the project, and the preparation of reports for
stakeholders and the wider community.
3.3. Integrated Change Control
Integrated change control will be performed in this
project. Any change requests will be considered by a
Change Control Committee, consisting of the project
manager, project sponsor, and key stakeholders such as
the head of the ANU BioSolar program. Any change will
be considered in the light of its impact on project
schedule, cost, quality and overall potential improvement
of the Nursery System. All rejected and approved
changes, and the reasons for rejection or approval, will
be documented in a Change Management document,
which, together with the original scope statement, will
form the project scope baseline. For more detail about
integrated change control, please see section 4.5.
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4. Project Scope Management
The scope of this project is described below. It has been
compartmentalized into the following areas: initiation;
planning; definition; verification and change control.
4.1. Initiation
The project has been authorized by Dr. Walter Fernandez
as a part of the bio duel solar energy program. The
reason for its authorization is the ultimate need of an
automated system for the early cultivation of algae before
pouring it to the large ponds. The business need that this
project has been developed is to automate the process of
early cultivation algae in the nursery considering all of the
factors that affect the cultivation. This is important to the
industry because it will minimize the human effort. In its
early stages, micro-algae need to be carefully cultivated
to ensure it does not die. The micro-algae are sensitive to
fluctuations in water quantity, temperature, light, pH and
nutrients. The survival of the micro-algae in its early
stages is vital to ensuring commercial production of the
micro-algae later.
This is the plan for the initial planning phase of the
project, it is anticipated that once the project enters
execution phase a new or modified plan will be
established updating the various changing criterion.
The main purpose of the project is to automate the
process of micro algae early cultivation that helps in the
production of bio fuel.
4.1.1. Product Description
The product that will be produced at the end of this
project will be a nursery system that can be supplied to
any where required. The nursery system will consider all
the important factors that affect the cultivation of algae
and its quality i.e., temperature, pH and nutrients etc. The
nursery system will consist of number of tanks with
different sizes. Since, algae grow initially in smaller tanks
and then need a large area to cultivate; nursery system
will monitor and control the flow of algae in these tanks
with considering the factors affecting it.
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4.1.2. Strategic Plan
This project is congruent with the strategic plan and long-
term objectives of the organisation. This is reflected
particularly strongly by the will to enter the bio fuel
production markets.
4.1.3. Project Selection Criteria
This project has been selected because there was a
severe need of an automated system to control the flow
of algae in the early cultivation of algae. This project is
also an integral part of the overall bio fuel solar energy
program to assist the production of bio fuel.
The product of this project is a nursery system that can
be transferred to anywhere it is required and control the
early cultivation of algae.
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4.2. Scope Planning
4.2.1. Product Description
For a description of the product of this plan, please refer
to topic 4.1.1.
4.2.2. Project Charter
• The Business Need
The business need of the system is to minimize
the amount of human effort in the early cultivation
of algae. This is important to the business
because large number of human efforts require
large amount of money. With the automated
system human effort will be decreased and this
system will be one time investment.
• Product Description
The product that will be produced at the end of this
project will be a nursery system that can be
supplied to anywhere required. The nursery
system will consider all the important factors that
affect the cultivation of algae and its quality i.e.,
temperature, pH and nutrients etc. The nursery
system will consist of number of tanks with
different sizes. Since, algae grow initially in
smaller tanks and then need a large area to
cultivate; nursery system will monitor and control
the flow of algae in these tanks with considering
the factors affecting it.
• Product Manager
The project manager for this project is to be Mr.
XYZ. XYZ will have the full authority over the
budget and resources allocated to this project. No
further seeking of resources will be accepted
unless it is presented by XYZ.
• Constraints
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• Budgets and time
• Availability of Human Resources
• Assumptions
It is assumed that:
• There will be constant easy access to
the Program Director;
• Bio fuel will not be superseded by
another type of technology before
production begins;
• No member of the project team will
leave the team before the end of the
project.
4.3. Scope Definition
4.3.1. Scope Statement
The scope of the project is to develop a project
management plan for nursery system project. The
Nursery System Project Management Plan will provide a
project plan for the development of a Nursery System
which can be exported anywhere around Australia. The
business need of the system is to minimize the amount of
human effort in the early cultivation of algae.
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4.3.2. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Please, refer to Appendix F – WBS.
4.4. Scope Verification
This section seeks to identify the critical success factors
and evaluation of those factors upon delivery of the
strategic plan to the stakeholders.
4.4.1. Critical Success Factors
There are number of critical success factors that will
decide whether the project has been successfully
completed. They are described as follows:
1. The nursery system is completed meeting all the
required specifications;
2. The project is completed in a time as was planned;
3. The nursery system is in a working condition with
ease;
4. It is easy to train a person with all the functional &
technical specification of the system; and
5. The system meets all of the quality standards as
were planned.
4.4.2. Evaluation Measures
Stakeholders can check the quality by deploying the
prototype system on a small scale. The output of the
system can be analyzed. After testing the prototype
system, the system will be deployed on the production
site where the output can be further analyzed.
After testing this, stakeholders can decide whether
system is meeting all of the requirements or is it missing
few of the features as planned.
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4.5. Scope Change Control
This section defines how planning and management of
changes to the scope, via change request, is carried out.
This section also details how any scope management
plans; corrective actions and lessons learnt
documentation should be completed.
4.5.1. Scope Changes
Any change requests will be considered by a Change
Control Committee, consisting of the project manager,
project sponsor, and key stakeholders such as the head
of the ANU BioSolar program. Any change will be
considered in the light of its impact on project schedule,
cost, quality and overall potential improvement of the
Nursery System. All rejected and approved changes, and
the reasons for rejection or approval, will be documented
in a Change Management document, which, together with
the original scope statement, will form the project scope
baseline.
For any change requests that come during the project, a
proper path of communication will be required to
communicate the change to the respective authority. The
request must include the strong justification and grounds
for implementing the change. The request should be
submitted to and approved by the project manage. If the
project manager feels that this change request is of any
worth, then he may approve it and forward to the program
manager. Both project and program managers will
reserve the right to contest the change based on
practicalities and delays caused, costs incurred and
quality effects. Once approved, the requested changes
will be integrated in to the project plan, which will be
disseminated to each stakeholder, including the effects
on costs, timeliness and quality. The base line should
remain the same and the changes should be mentioned
separately.
4.5.2. Corrective Action
Where a scope change request has been submitted and
approved, the following corrective actions shall apply.
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1. It will be integrated into the project plan in a
separate section;
2. New costs, timeframes and quality effects will be
detailed;
3. All new tasks will be integrated into the WBS and
assigned;
4. All cost increases will be factored into phasing and
overall budgets; and
5. The scope verification adapted to suit new
deliverables.
If there is any change or delay in the timeline, which is
not caused by any scope change, it has to be reported to
the project manager. The program manager has to be
informed about this delay by project manager. If the delay
can be recovered through additional hours, the overtime
can be paid to the employees who will work on it.
In the event of a major delay, a corrective action report
(CAR) will be created giving options of how to proceed.
This will include the amount required to get back on time,
the quality drop that will be required to get back on time
or the time that will be lost. This will be disseminated to
the program manager and internal stakeholders.
4.5.3. Documentation
All changes, the efforts required to work on those
changes and the communication done for the change
requests are to be documented and approved by the
project manager. The documentation has to be shared on
Google Docs so that the whole project team has access
on it. (Refer to Project Communications Plan for further
description.)
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5. Project Time Management
This section describes all the strategies that have been
adopted to manage the time, which affects one of the
most important aspects of a project, i.e. Schedule. The
section will start from the activity definition, continue with
defining the duration of activities, the resources used in
the activities, schedule development and will end with
explaining how to manage control the time management
process in schedule control section.
5.1. Activity Definition
Please see below the activity list for this project. All
constraints and assumptions are listed in the project
charter, in the scope initiation section (4.1.1).
Please, refer to the Appendix A – Project Gantt chart,
Appendix F – WBS and Appendix G – WBS Dictionary.
5.2. Activity Sequencing
We have used Network diagram to show sequencing of
activities. Network diagram is a schematic display of the
logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project
activities.
Please, refer to the Appendix A – Project Gantt Chart.
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5.3. Activity Duration Estimating
The Work Breakdown Structure contains the times that
have been estimated, as shown below.
5.3.1. Basis of Estimates
This is a list of further assumptions that were taken
during development of the estimates.
• The number of human resources is assumed.
• Raw material can be supplied without any interruption.
• Feed of preliminary design and prototype will be
provided on time.
5.4. Schedule Development
This section details the start and finish dates and how to
manage the timelines for the project. The schedule
assumes that the standard hours of the project are 8
hours per day 5 days per week, excluding public
holidays.
5.4.1. Project Schedule
To view the project schedule, please refer to the Gantt
chart attached in Appendix A – Project Gantt Chart.
5.4.2. Schedule Management Plan
If there is a schedule change or a delay in any specific
task is identified before the activity becomes late, the
project manager is to reallocate the necessary resources
according to the changes that have occurred. The Project
Manager should investigate why there was a delay going
to happen. If it’s because of the resources that were
assigned to the activities, necessary action should be
taken against them.
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5.4.3. Resource Requirement Update
In the event of corrective actions being approved by the
Project Manager, where there are cost or resource
implications, these are to be tracked and included in the
budget. This will be done by formal notification to the
project accountant via email and followed up in writing. If
there is an issue with the number of required resources,
Project Manager should try to fill the space as soon as
possible.
5.4.4. Constraints and Assumptions
The constraints on this section include standard hours to
be worked, because it limits the ability of workers to
complete tasks by their allotted time.
Assumptions
• The number of required employees will always
be available on time throughout the project.
• The attendance of the employees will remain
constant.
• No employee will resign during the project.
• There will be no significant and unrecoverable
‘lags’ in the proposed schedule.
5.5. Schedule Control
5.5.1. Schedule Updates
A schedule update is considered to be anything that
changes the start or finish time of another work activity
down to the level three tasks. These include any level
four tasks or below that affect higher-level tasks. To
assist in schedule management once a task is complete,
the WBS will be updated via the online software. In
addition, the person in control of completing the work
activity is to advise the project manager and anyone
whose task it will affect. The updated WBS will be saved
as a new name with updated date as well. In that way, it
would be easy to keep track of the changes and updates.
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5.5.2. Corrective Actions
In the event of a completion time that will affect another
task either by allowing it to start earlier or forcing it later,
a formal schedule update request must be submitted to
the project manager with a corrective actions proposal
including an estimated cost of any such proposal. If
accepted by the project manager – with no corrective
actions available – they will notify the project sponsor,
program manager and any relevant internal and external
stakeholders.
In addition, the project manager will inform the other team
members affected about the change to schedule and
seek any possible corrective actions from that work group
to get the project back on time.
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6. Project Cost Management
Cost is one of the Triple Constrains of a project. To
create a successful project, project manager must have a
comprehensive consideration of the cost to achieve the
project goals, any cost overestimate and underestimate
may ruin the project during the project life cycle. This cost
management plan serves to effectively and efficiently
allocate resources for development of a strategic plan for
developing a prototype of a nursery system with the
capacity to cultivate 450 litres of algae for the Bio-fuel
program.
The range of the total cost of the project would be +/-10%
of the estimate cost ($306360), which is between
$275724 and $336996.
As a best practice guide PMBOK recommends the Project
Cost Management processes include the following:
• Resource Planning
• Cost Estimating
• Cost Budgeting
• Cost Monitoring, Controlling and reporting
6.1. Resource Planning
Core resources determination is explicitly based on the
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the project scope
statement presented in the project scope management
section. Other resources, such as the office supplies,
transportation and utilities etc, which are not directly
related to the nursery system but indirectly related to the
performance of the project, are included in the General
and Administrative charges (G&A).
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6.1.1. Resource Requirement
The resource requirement table below presents the
summary of core resources in quantity, type, and quality
needed to efficiently develop the nursery system. The
requirements of the job positions are stated in this table,
while the descriptions of the job positions are presented
in Human Resource Management Plan in details. The
allocation and the cost of the resources at the WBS
levels are presented in the cost estimate section.
Table 6.1.1. Resource Requirement Table
Resource Name Hrs
Resource
Description/Requirements
Labour
Project Manager 512
1. More than five years of
Project management
experience as well as be PMI
certified.
2. Strong planning, motivation
and communication skills.
Senior
Engineer/Analyst
1496
1. Master degree in biology
science and/or engineering.
2. At least five years recent
specialized experience.
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
888
1. Bachelor degree in biology
science and/or engineering.
2. At least two years recent
specialized experience.
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
584
Accountant 320
1. At least three years
accounting experience, the
majority of which should have
been in a project related
environment.
2. Computer literacy with
experience in MSWord, excel.
3. Must be able to work
independently and meet
deadlines in a team
environment.
Technician 1 440 1. Relevant tertiary
qualifications in biologyTechnician 2 440
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science or/and engineering
2. At least two years
experience in biology-related
Technician 3 360
Technician 4 360
Procurement
Specialist
1640
1. A purchasing certification is
preferred.
2. A minimum of two years
working in a general buying
environment.
3. Considerable knowledge of
purchasing methods and
procedures and of the
techniques of specification
writing.
ANU expert 20
Provide suggestions and solve
the technical problems at
technical level.
Hardware
Desktop PC 10
Each PC will be assigned to
each employee
PC
Model: HP Pavilion P6325A I3-
540 Pc or at the equivalent
level.
Printers 5
Model: Samsung CLP315
Colour Laser Printer or at the
equivalent level.
Coulter Counter 1
Estimate the culture density of
the algae.
Fluorescent Tubes 3
Artificial illumination to
optimize growth.
Immersion Heater 4
2400 watt, 240 volt immersion
heater to control the
temperature for cultivating the
algae at different stage.
Pines and Hoses 5
Transfer the algae from small
tanks to large tanks.
Air Filter 4
Filters for air supply to prevent
contamination.
Tanks 4
Used to contain the growing
algae, the sizes of the tanks
are 250ml, 250ml to 4l, 4l to
20l, 50l, respectively.
Materials
Fertilizers Nutrient
Media
500
Fertilizer nutrients such as
nitrogen, phosphorus,
potassium and carbon source
are needed to cultivate algae
in the nursery system.
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Glassware 5
Contain the sample of the
algae cultures.
6.2. Cost Estimating
Commonly used tools and techniques to assist in creating
a cost estimate include analogous cost estimating,
bottom-up estimating, parametric modelling, resource
cost rates, project management software, vendor bid
analysis and reserve analysis (Kathy Schwalbe, 2007).In
this project, cost estimations are created using bottom-up
estimates and based on the market prices for goods and
services in the Australian economy and the Australian
most popular job site SEEK.COM pay check survey.
Every individual work items or activities in the WBS are
allocated a cost and summed to get the higher level total.
When creating cost estimations and allocating costs to
resources requirements, significant consideration is given
to uncertainties such as major scope changes and
extraordinary events. A 5% contingency reserve
(estimated by predetermined guidelines and the risk level
of the nursery system) is created to allow for future
situations that may be partially planned for, and a 5%
management reserves is set to allow for future situation
that are unpredictable. Hence the budget is therefore
flexible to cater for any uncertainties and the budget itself
forms the cost control mechanism (Meredith J. and
Mantel S, Jr. 2006).
Table 6.2. Project Cost Estimates
Notes:
1. General & Administrative charges (G&A) are
calculated as 10% of the total cost of the core resources.
2. The project manager is assigned to complete several
specific WBS activities in the project while he/she is
managing the whole project, and all the labour costs of
the project manager are calculated in the project
management level.
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WBS
activities
Resources
Name
Unit/hr
Cos
t/uni
t/hr
Subtotal
s
WBS
level 1
totals
% of the
total
Project
management
54681 17.85%
Project Manager 512 55 25960
project
Accountant
320 40 12800
Desktop PC 10 800 8000
Printers 5 150 750
G&A charges 4971
Initiating 3344 1.09%
Identify key
stakeholders Project Manager
8 NA 0
Hold project
kick-off
meeting
Project Manager 8 NA 0
Senior
Engineer/Analyst
8 40 320
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
8 30 240
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
8 30 240
Review
Scope
Project Manager 56 NA 0
Senior
Engineer/Analyst
56 40 2240
G&A charges 304
Planning 90640 29.59%
Hold team
planning
meeting
Senior
Engineer/Analyst
40 40 1600
Prepare
team
contract Project Manager 40 NA
0
Gather
functional
requirements
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
120 30 3600
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
120 30 3600
Gather
technical
requirements
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
120 30 3600
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
120 30 3600
ANU experts 20 50 1000
Verify
requirements
Senior
Engineer/Analyst
56 40 2240
Review of
Sensors
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
40 30 1200
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used
1
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
40 30 1200
Review of
the system
logic
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
40 30 1200
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
40 30 1200
Review
communicati
ons
environment
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
40 30 1200
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
40 30 1200
Review
geographic
factors
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
56 30 1680
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
56 30 1680
Review of
baseline
Senior
Engineer/Analyst
40 40 1600
Identify
sensors to
use
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
40 30 1200
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
40 30 1200
Identify new
system logic
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
40 30 1200
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
40 30 1200
Identify
communicati
ons
consideratio
ns
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 40
30 1200
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2 40
30 1200
Identify
mitigation of
geographic
factors
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 40
30 1200
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2 40
30 1200
Identify
target areas
for
improvement
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 40
30 1200
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2 40
30 1200
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2
Develop
detailed
hardware
design Project Manager 40 NA
0
Develop
detailed
support
environment
design Project Manager 40 N A
0
Align
long/short
term design
with
business
goals
Project Manager 80 NA 0
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 80 40
3200
Procure
Materials
Procurement
Specialist 120 30
3600
fertilizers nutrient
media(ml)
500 NA 1000
glassware 5 20 100
Construct
Prototype
Technician 1 96 40 3840
Technician 2 96 40 3840
Technician 3 96 40 3840
Technician 4 96 40 3840
Test
Prototype
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2 80 30
2400
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 80 30
2400
Evaluate
Prototype
against
requirements
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 40 40
1600
Make
adjustments
to prototype
as needed
Technician 1 40 40 1600
Technician 2 40 40
1600
Re-Test
prototype
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 40 30
1200
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2 40 30
1200
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 40 40
1600
Review
deployment
team tasks
and timeline
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 24 40
960
Project Manager 24 NA
0
Communicat
e impact to
Project Manager 24 NA 0
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community
Test Nursery
System
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 24 40
960
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 24 30
720
Release to
production/o
perations
environment
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 24 40
960
Obtain
feedback
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 24 30
720
Prepare user
manual
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 24 30
720
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2 24 30
720
G&A charges 6902
Monitoring
and
controlling
42416 13.85%
Conduct
weekly
progress
meetings Project Manager 0 NA
0
Document
problem -
tracking
procedures
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 16 40
640
Manage
contracts
with
suppliers
Procurement
Specialist 1264 30
37920
G&A charges 3856
Closing 11616 3.79%
Prepare final
project
report
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 40 40
1600
Project Manager 40 0
Document
lessons
learned
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2 80 30
2400
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1 80 30
2400
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 80 40
3200
Distribute to
team
members
Senior
Engineer/Analyst 24 40
960
G&A charges 1056
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Reserves 27620 9.06%
Management
reserves
13809.9
5
Contingency
reserves
13809.9
5
Total 306360 100.00%
6.3. Cost Budgeting
Project cost budgeting involves allocating the project cost
estimate to individual work items over time. The main
goal of the cost budgeting process is to produce a cost
baseline for measuring project performance and project
funding requirements. Based on the cost estimations, the
following project budget baseline is planned to fully
implement the project from initiation to completion.
The budget allocated in each month includes labour cost,
the cost of hardware and materials that are expected to
incur in that month. The office supplies, such as printers,
desktop PC are depreciated using straight-line method in
the whole project life at the project management level.
The costs of other equipments, such as coulter counter,
immersion heater, etc, which are directly related to the
development of the nursery system are depreciated into
the actual months of their corresponding WBS activities.
Please, refer to Appendix B - Table 6.3. Project Cost
Baseline.
6.4. Cost Monitoring, Controlling and Reporting
Deviations from the cost baseline should signify critical
cost performance signals of the project. Budget overrun
or underutilization should be importantly considered as a
major change to the budget (Project Management
Institute, 2000). Therefore, a well-disciplined cost
monitoring, controlling and reporting system is very
important.
Project Management Institute (2004) suggests, a Project
Manager, when planning for controlling project costs,
should take the following items into account:
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1. Influencing the factors that create changes to
the cost baseline.
2. Ensuring requested changes are agreed upon
3. Managing the actual changes when and as
they occur.
4. Assuring that potential cost overruns do not
exceed the authorised funding periodically and
in total for the project.
5. Monitoring cost performance to detect and
understand variances from the cost baseline.
6. Recording all appropriate changes accurately
against the cost baseline.
7. Preventing incorrect, inappropriate, or
unapproved changes from being included in
the reported cost or resource usage.
8. Informing appropriate stakeholders of
approved changes.
9. Acting to bring expected cost overruns within
acceptable limits.
In addition to the above, it is also recommended that a
Project Manager takes into account the following:
1. Thorough planning of the work to be performed
to complete the project
2. Good estimating of time, labour and costs
3. Clear communication of the scope of required
tasks
4. A disciplined budget and authorization of
expenditures.
Project accountant plays an important role in ensuring
that project costs are being routinely monitored,
appropriately controlled and reported in a timely manner.
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As such, the following tasks must be performed by the
project accountant in the cost control system:
1. Keeping track of project cost performance
throughout the project life and conduct budget
review in every month, planned milestone and
project phase.
• Refer to the following appendices for report
templates:
• Appendix C - Monthly Project Financial
Performance Report Template
• Appendix D - Life to Date Project
Financial Performance Report
• Appendix E - Labour Cost Analysis
Report
Template 1: monthly project
financial performance report and;
Template 2: Year to date project
financial performance report.
2. Detecting and investigate the cause of the
variance and make necessary
recommendations to the project manager.
3. Ensuring that all appropriate changes are
recorded accurately in the cost baseline under
the project manager’s approval.
Based on the project accountant’s recommendations, the
project manager should:
1. Schedule meetings and inform appropriate
stakeholders of the changes; ensure that changes to
the cost baseline are minimised, authorised and
agreed upon by all stakeholders.
2. Rectify the changes and manage actual changes with
the agreement of the stakeholders.
3. Distribute modified plans to the stakeholders and the
management team.
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6.5. Other considerations
The followings are other considerations the project manager and
the project accountant should take into account that may lead to
the budget out of the range.
1. Resources over-allocation or under-allocation will end up
with the delays of the deliverables and the increase of the
costs. (Please refer to Human Resource Section for details)
2. As the budget of the project is estimated based on the
market prices of the goods and services in Australia, the
actual acquisition costs of materials and equipments will
vary among vendors that might create the deviation from the
estimated costs
3. Contingency reserves will be underestimated in the budget
because of misestimating the level of the risks.
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7. Project Quality Management
The primary challenge of project management is to
achieve the project goals and objectives while adhering
to project constraints – usually scope, quality, time and
budget (Cline et al, 2010, Schwalbe 2007). Juran (1988)
suggests that, 90% of all problems in organisations are
systematic and beyond the positive influence of staff.
Unfortunately, this also includes issues related to quality
(McManus and Wood-Harper, 2007). One of the greatest
challenges faced by project managers is to get the
process right first time and this means initiating a
rigorous quality regime, which is both defined and
measureable (McManus and Wood-Harper, 2007).
The importance and purpose of Project Quality
Management is to ensure that the project will satisfy the
needs for which it was undertaken (Schwalbe, 2007).
Therefore, having a solid plan to address quality issues
in this project is very important and this will help the
project team to ensure stakeholders are satisfied with the
outputs of this project.
7.1. Scope
This document will cover:
• Quality Objectives
• Quality Policy
• Quality Organisational Structure and
Responsibilities
• Quality Management Process
• Other Considerations
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7.2. Quality Objective
1. The final product of this project must be of highest
standard, quality, and meets the approved
performance specifications and requirements of
the ANU’s BioSolar Program.
2. The final product must be flexible and compatible
to accommodate any changes and deviations in
the cost baseline, time baseline and performance
specifications.
7.3. Quality Control
In operations management research there are many
approaches or standard been recommended to address
quality issues in a project management environment. For
example, Total Quality Management (TQM) approach,
ISO 9000 standard on quality, Project Quality Activity
approach and Project Management Planning Quality
Model, Capability Maturity Model to name a few (Zwikael
and Globerson, 2004; Masters and Frazier, 2007;
McManus and Wood-Harper, 2007). Among these, TQM
and ISO 9000 standards are found to be the most
adopted quality management principles in project
management environment.
While both of these approaches are very similar it is
recommended that this project adopts ISO 9000
principles as a matter of policy in managing project
quality related issues. This project policy position is
consistent with the overall project management
framework principle adopted by the ANU (see
http://projects.anu.edu.au/management/index.php,
accessed on 15 September 2010). Table 7.3 outlines this
policy.
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Table 7.3. Quality Management Policy
Principles Descriptions
1. Customer
focus
Understanding current and future
customer needs; meet
requirement; strive to exceed
expectations; and link
organisation’s objectives to
customer needs
2. Leadership Leaders establish unity of purpose
and direction for the organisation.
They create the appropriate
internal environment.
3. Involvement
of People
Motivated, committed, and
involved people at all levels
accept ownership of problems,
evaluate their own performance,
and freely share information.
4. Process
approach
Activities and related resources
are managed as processes
resulting in predictable results and
improvement opportunities.
5. Systems
approach to
management
Integrate and align processes;
focus effort on key processes; and
understand interdependencies,
capabilities, and constraints
before starting projects
6. Continual
Improvement
Use a consistent organisation-
wide approach to continual
improvement to include training in
methods, goals to guide, and
measures to track.
7. Factual
approach to
decision
making
Ensure data and information are
accurate, reliable, and accessible;
make decisions and take action
based upon analysing facts; and
challenge opinions and decisions.
8. Mutually
beneficial
supplier
relationships
Identify and select key partners;
jointly develop and improve with
partners; and openly share
communication with them.
Source: The Australian National University (2008),
Course Notes of BUSN7024 – Project Management
Principles, Semester 2, 2010.
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7.4. Organisational Structure and
Responsibilities
The organisational structure to carry out the Quality
Management Plan is as follows:
Table 7.4. Quality Review and Audit Team
Quality
Review and
Audit Team
Job Responsibilities
Project
Manager
1. Quality monitoring and control
review and audit process and
arrange audit meetings.
2. Quality policies are
implemented throughout the
entire project.
Project
Accountant
1. Ensure that project is on
budget and cost associated
with quality control is
accounted for through critical
milestone audit points.
2. Conduct professional
audits and report any changes
in actual spend or available
funds that will affect project
quality
Senior Project
Officer
1. Ensure that quality is
maintained at all milestone
points
2. Ensure that all critical events
and activities are carefully
implemented
3. Audit for any deviations,
identify cause, and report for
corrective actions
Senior Project
Consultant
(Scientist from
ANU BioSolar
Program)
1. Review project performance
against the approved technical
performance specification.
2. Provide necessary technical
recommendation to the Project
Manager and Project Director
on quality improvements to
ensure the project satisfies its
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Quality Management Process
Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
prescribes three main processes as being quality
management process. These are, planning quality,
performing quality assurance and performing quality
control (PMI, 2004). These are discussed below.
7.4.1. Quality Planning
Quality planning involves identifying which quality
standards are relevant to the project and determining how
to satisfy them (PMI, 2004). PMBOK also recommends
that quality planning should be performed in parallel with
the other project planning processes (PMI, 2004). As
mentioned above in Table 1, the ISO 9000 has been
adopted as a matter of policy for this project and this
table also provides guidance for the Project Manager as
to what needs to be performed during quality planning
stage to ensure that Quality Policy (ISO 9000) is adhered
to during this project.
Researchers in the project management suggests that, by
asking probing questions and challenging the
assumptions i.e., the validity of estimates and project
delivery methods, it is possible to steer a situation
towards an environment where either where either the
problem does not exist or the objectives can co-exist and
hence can be collectively achieved (Gill, 2008).
Following this approach the PM can empower each
project team member to raise any quality issues that may
adversely impact customer satisfaction KPIs. PM then
can raise those issues in the Quality Review and Audit
Team to resolve them and document the issue and
resolution in the Quality Management Plan. This could
significantly minimise any potential risk of poor customer
satisfaction from project deliverables.
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Project scope is an important consideration in planning
for project quality management. It is PM’s responsibility
to ensure that s/he takes project scope into account in
planning and executing project quality management.
Project quality planning also involves communicating the
correct actions for ensuring quality in a format that is
understandable and complete (Schwalbe, 2007). For
example, in order to satisfy the first principles of ISO
9000, the Project Manager should carefully document
and explain any key performance indicators (KPIs) that
may have been given by the customers to the entire
project team (including any third party resource provider).
This will ensure that customer needs are fully understood
by each member of the project team.
PMBOK suggests that a quality management plan may be
formal or informal, highly detailed or broadly framed,
based on the requirements of the project (PMI, 2004).
Due to the level of technical complexity that could be
involved in executing this project, it is recommended that
the quality management plan is prepared is a formal and
as detailed plan as practical to ensure the quality policy
can be adhered to through out the project.
In summary, organisational policies related to quality, the
particular project scope statement and product
descriptions, and related standards and regulations are
all important input to the quality planning process
(Schwalbe, 2007)
Table 7.5.1 summarises a range of checkpoints, at
various WBS levels, that the PM should ensure that the
recommendations provided in this quality management
plan is adhered to.
Table 7.5.1. Quality Management Plan
WBS
Number
Activities Recommendation on Quality Management
1.1 Project
Initiating
• Project manager must ensure that the project team has the
correct information on Project Scope and Project Budget and
an approved copy of this Project Management Plan before
Project Kick-Off meeting.
• In Project Kick-Off meeting, PM must go through the project
scope thoroughly and seek feedback from the respective
team members to ensure the project scope is clearly
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understood by team members.
1.2 Project
Planning
• Project manager must ensure that performance and process
audits are done at all milestone points throughout the
project.
1.2.3.3 Verify
Technical
and
Functional
Requirement
• At this point, Project Manager must ensure that the technical
and functional requirements have been reviewed and
endorsed by Senior Scientific Consultant.
• Report any process and performance deviations to relevant
stakeholders and take immediate corrective actions
• Obtain sign-off from the Quality Management Committee to
ensure project objectives have been catered for in identifying
the technical and functional project requirements.
1.2.4 Analysis • Appropriate data analysis methods (qualitative or
quantitative) must be used to analyse data through out the
project
• Data analysis process must be clearly defined and free of
personal influences and subjective information
• Analysed data must be accurately tabulated and presented
for documentation
• Adequate funding must be allocated for quality data analysis
• Data analysis must be conducted within the planned budget
• Any deviation/variance to the cost baseline must be notified
and investigated
• Corrective actions must be immediately taken to rectify
• Sufficient time must be allocated for quality data analysis
• Data analysis must be conducted within the planned
schedule/time
• Any delays/ over-run to the scheduled time must be notified
and investigated
1.2.4.2 Review of
baseline
• Obtain sign-off from the Quality Management Committee to
ensure all requirements in Project Scope are achievable
within the Project Baseline.
• Report any process and performance deviations to relevant
stakeholders and take immediate corrective actions
• Project Accountant must conduct financial and cost audits at
all milestone points throughout the project life
• Report any variances from the cost baseline to project
manager to take necessary actions
• Time/schedule audits must be conducted to ensure that
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lower level activities are implemented on time to achieve
higher level/ milestone activities
• Causes of delays or early execution must be investigated
and necessary actions immediately taken to ensure quality
1.2.4.6 Review
Current
Market
Solution
Vendors
Project Manager should utilize the Project Procurement Plan
to ensure quality process is maintained during procurement
process. Research on current suppliers and type, kind,
quantity, and quality of raw materials is a crucial milestone
activity of the project. The research method, type, time
allocation, sources of information, and qualifications and
skills of research officers are critical for quality research
outcome. This high level activity is the core activity of the
project; hence, adequate funding and time must be allocated
to achieve high performance and quality. Following factors
must be addressed and performed during procurement
process:
• Research problem/area must be properly stated and
specifically defined
• Research officers must be qualified and have necessary
research skills and knowledge
• Research must be conducted within the planned budget
• Research must be conducted within the planned
schedule/time
• Appropriate research design, methodology and type must by
employed
• Genuine and reliable sources of data are used for literature
review
• Adequate funding must be allocated for quality research
outcome
• Any deviation/variance to the cost baseline must be notified
and investigated
• Corrective actions must be immediately taken to rectify
• Sufficient time must be allocated for quality research
outcome
• Any delays/ over-run to the scheduled time must be notified
and investigated
• Corrective actions must be immediately taken to rectify
•
1.3 Executing • Implementation should be according to this Project
Management plan
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• Implementation process should be according to planned
quality procedures and standards
• Performance audits/checks must be conducted through
meetings at every key milestones or deliverables
• Any deviations must be accounted for and sources identified
for immediate corrective actions
• Adequate funding must be allocated for strategic plan
implementation
• Implementation process must be executed within the
planned budget/costing
• Any deviation/variance to the cost baseline must be notified
and causes/sources investigated
• Corrective actions must be taken immediately rectification
• Budget provisions must be made to cater for any
contingencies during the course of strategy implementation
• Sufficient time must be allocated for strategic plan
implementation
• Implementation process must be executed within the
planned schedule/time
• Any delays/ over-runs to the scheduled time baseline must
be investigated and identified
• Corrective actions must be immediately taken to rectify
sources
• Time allowance must be made to cater for any changes to
the scheduled time baseline
1.4 Monitoring,
Controlling
and
Reporting
• Performance audit/risk management committee must be
established
• Performance audits/checks must be conducted through
meetings at every key milestones /deliverables
• Any deviations/changes must be accounted for and sources
identified for immediate corrective actions
• Adequate funding must be allocated for strategic plan
implementation reviews
• Review process must be executed within the planned
budget/costing
• Any deviation/variance to the cost baseline must be notified
and causes/sources investigated
• Corrective actions must be taken immediately rectification
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• Sufficient time must be allocated for strategic plan
implementation review process
• Review process must be executed within the planned
schedule/time
• Any delays/ over-runs to the scheduled time baseline must
be investigated and identified
• Corrective actions must be immediately taken to rectify
sources
• Time allowance must be made to cater for any changes to
the scheduled time baseline
7.4.2. Quality Assurance
The Quality Review Team should hold regular meeting
(either weekly or fortnightly) to address any quality issues
related to this project. Figure 7.5.2 outlines the
recommended flow of activities to ensure quality is
maintained throughout every step of this project.
Figure 7.5.2. Quality Assurance Approach
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Quality Audit and
review team Meeting
Convened
Quality
Deviations/Defects in
time, cost, and
performance
specifications identified
and thoroughly
discussed.
Resolutions in according
with Quality Management
Policy of this project and
recommendations
adopted and plans made
for immediate corrective
actions
PM to report to
stakeholders on critical
changes in scope, cost,
schedule and
performance for approval
and resource
requirements
Approved Quality
improvement
recommendations and
resolutions are
implemented by
respective project teams
Reports on the
corrective actions
including normal audit
reports are ready for
the next meeting and
communicated to the
relevant stakeholders.
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Quality assurance (QA) provides an umbrella for another
important quality activity, continuous process
improvement (PMI, 2004). Activity and information flows
in Figure 7.5.2 hinges on the ongoing fostering of
continuous improvement culture and motivation within the
project team. By fostering continuous improvement
philosophy within the project team will reduce waste of
resources and non-value-added activities, which in turn
allows processes to operate at increased levels of
efficiency and effectiveness.
7.4.3. Quality Control
Performing quality control (QC) in a project involves
monitoring specific project results to determine whether
they comply with relevant quality standards and
identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory
results. Although one of the main goals of quality control
is to improve quality, the main outcomes of this process
are acceptance decisions, rework, and process
adjustments (Schwalbe, 2007). PMBOK recommends
that quality control should be performed throughout the
project duration (PMI, 2004).
There are many general tools and techniques to assist in
performing quality control. Table 7.5.3 below provides a
brief description of these tools.
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Table 7.5.3. Tools of Quality Control
Tools / Methods Short Descriptions
1. Cause and Effect Diagram
(Fishbone or Ishikawa
Diagram)
Illustrate how various factors might be linked to potential
problems or effects.
2. Control Charts Purpose of Control Chart is to determine whether or not a
process is stable or has predictable performance. This
may also serve as a data gathering tool.
3. Run Chart This method shows the history and pattern of variation. A
run chart is a line graph that shows data points plotted in
the order in which they occur. Trend analysis is
performed using run charts.
4. Scatter Diagram A scatter diagram shows the pattern of relationship
between two variables. This tool allows the quality team
to study and identify the possible relationship between
changes observed in two variables.
5. Histogram Histogram is bar chart showing a distribution of variables.
Each column represents an attribute or characteristic of a
problem/situation.
6. Pareto Charts Pareto chart is a specific type of histogram, ordered by
frequency of occurrence, which shows how many defects
were generated by type or category of identified cause.
7. Flow Chart Flowcharting helps to analyse how problems occur. A
flowchart is a graphical representation of a process. While
there are many styles of flowchart, all process flowcharts
show activities, decision points and the order of
processing.
8. Statistical Sampling Statistical sampling involves choosing part of a population
of interest for inspection. Appropriate sampling can often
reduce the cost of quality control.
9. Inspection An inspection is the examination of a work product to
determine whether it conforms to standards. Generally,
the results of an inspection include measurements.
Inspection can be conducted at any level.
10. Defect Repair Review Defect repair review is an action taken by the quality
control department or similarly titled organisation or team
to ensure that product defects are repaired and brought
into compliance with requirements or specifications.
Source: PMI (2004)
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The first seven of the tools in Table 7.5.3 are known as
“Seven Basic Tools of Quality” (PMI, 2004).
Given the nature of this project, it is recommended that
the PM uses a combination of the abovementioned
approaches to monitor, control and report on quality
management related issues. This will allow and benefit
the PM to monitor, control and report on both technical
and non-technical oriented quality related issues.
This project management plan recommends the following
approaches/tools to analyse, monitor, report and control
quality for this project:
• Cause and Effect Diagram
• Flow Chart
• Run Chart
• Inspection
• Defect Repair Review
7.5. Other Considerations
In addition to the above suggestions and plans provided
for good quality planning, quality assurance and quality
control, there are several other important issues involved
in improving the quality of a project (Schwalbe, 2007).
Strong and supportive leadership, understanding the cost
of quality, providing a good workplace to enhance quality,
and working toward improving the organisation’s overall
maturity level in project management can all assist in
improving quality.
7.5.1. Quality Cost Monitoring and Reporting
The cost of quality is the cost of conformance and non-
conformance in meeting the project specification and
fitness for use. There are various types of cost of quality
that the PM needs to be aware of during the execution of
this project. Schwalbe (2007) suggested that the
following costs are related quality cost:
• Prevention cost
• Appraisal cost
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• Internal failure cost
• External failure cost
• Measurement and test equipment cost
To control budget, it is strongly recommended that during
the execution of this project there is structured and
routine reporting and monitoring on quality cost. This will
allow PM to take corrective action in a timely manner
without compromising quality.
7.5.2. Leadership
Quality expert, Joseph M. Juran once (in1945) said, “It is
most important that top management be quality minded
(cited by Schwalbe, 2007). Indeed, without sincere
manifestation of interest in maintaining high standard of
quality at the top level management of an organisation,
there is high risk in a project in producing poor quality
output. For this project to accomplish its objective, it is
important that top management must create a culture that
embraces quality.
7.5.3. Organisational Influence, Workplace
Factors and Quality
Research shows that organisational issues can have
much greater influence on productivity than the technical
environment or superiority (Schwalbe, 2007). As such,
the PM of this project should keep in mind factors such as
organisational politics. The PM function is to remove
political roadblocks and create an environment where
negative organisational influence does not adversely
impact project quality and objective.
7.5.4. Expectations and Cultural Differences
Schwalbe (2007) argues that there are many aspects of
quality can be defined and measured, many cannot. She
suggests that different project sponsors, customers, users
and other stakeholders have different expectations about
various aspects of a project. Therefore, it is very
important for the PM of this to understand these
expectations and manage any conflicts that might occur
due to differences in expectations from various
stakeholders.
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8. Project Human Resource Management
People are the most important asset as they determine
the success and failure of organizations and projects
(Kathy Schwalbe. 2007). This section is created to assist
the project manager in managing human resources
effectively; the components of this section are as follows:
• Human resource planning
• Staff acquisition
• Team development
• Team management
8.1. Human Resource Planning
This human resource plan is created to identify and
document project roles, responsibilities, and reporting
relationships involved in the project. The
Organizational Chart, Roles and Responsibilities
Assignments, RACI Chart, Staffing management plan
in this plan are used to ensure project success.
8.1.1. Organizational Chart
This organizational chart provides an organizational
structure to manage the project team members that come
from different backgrounds and have different functions in
the project.
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Note: The positions of Technician 2, Technician 3, and
Technician 4 are beneath Technician 1, they are
responsible for reporting to Technician 1, and Technician
1 is responsible for reporting to the Project Manager
directly.
8.1.2. Roles and Responsibilities Assignment
Position descriptions and qualification criteria are
essential to select the right people to do the job and
ensure all the tasks in the project are assigned to certain
people.
Table 1.2. Roles and Responsibilities Assignment
Project
Management
Position
Responsibilities Qualifications
Project Manager Ensure the Project Team
completes the project
1. More than five
years of Project
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Develop the Project Plan
with the team and
manages the team’s
performance of project
tasks
Secure acceptance and
approval of deliverables
from the Project Sponsor
and Stakeholders
Make sure the project is
delivered in budget, on
schedule, and within
scope.
management
experience as well
as be PMI certified.
2. Strong planning,
motivation and
communication
skills.
Project
Accountant
Keeping track of project
cost performance
throughout the project life
and conduct budget
review in every month,
planned milestone and
project phase.
Detecting and investigate
the cause of the variance
and make necessary
recommendations to the
project manager.
Ensuring that all
appropriate changes are
recorded accurately in the
cost baseline under the
project manager’s
approval.
At least three years
accounting
experience, the
majority of which
should have been in
a project related
environment.
Computer literacy
with experience in
MSWord, excel.
Must be able to
work independently
and meet deadlines
in a team
environment.
Senior
Engineer/Analyst
Establishing and
maintaining project
technical requirements
Directing the technical
implementation according
to established schedules
and budgets
1. Master degree in
biology science
and/or engineering.
2. At least five years
recent specialized
experience.
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
1
Watching day-to-day
progress and quality of
work, supervising the work
as per specification,
maintaining quality control
records carrying out
quality control tests
Assess the requirements
of materials like, fertilisers
nutrient media, Immersion
Heater, and coulter
counter etc. for the
Bachelor degree in
biology science
and/or engineering.
2. At least two years
recent specialized
experience.
Junior
Engineer/Analyst
2
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nursery system
Technician 2 Constructing and
maintaining the works
involved to develop the
prototype of the nursery
system
Top of Form
1. Relevant tertiary
qualifications in
biology science
or/and engineering
2. At least two years
experience in
biology-related field
3. Excellent
communication skills
to work in a team.
Bottom of Form
Technician 3
Technician 4
Technician 1 Same as above, but strong
role in supervising the
construction of the nursery
system and reporting
progresses and problems
to the project manager
Procurement
Specialist
Develop the solicitation
document that states the
requirements for acquiring
of raw material for nursery
system.
Develop a Proposal
Evaluation Plan for
evaluating the proposals
to describe the specific
evaluation criteria (such
as qualifications,
methodology for
completing the work,
references and cost), and
the methods that will be
used to apply the criteria.
Research and evaluate
suppliers based on price,
quality, selection, service,
support, availability,
reliability, production, and
distribution capabilities as
well as the reputation and
history
1. A purchasing
certification is
preferred.
2. A minimum of two
years working in a
general buying
environment.
3. Considerable
knowledge of
purchasing methods
and procedures and
of the techniques of
specification writing.
8.1.3. RACI Chart
In order to show the position roles to the project
stakeholders, we created the RACI Chart to identify the
responsibility (R), accountability (A), consultation (C) and
informed (I) roles to execute the project.
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Project
manager
Project
accountant
Senior
engineer
/analyst
Junior
engineer
/analyst
Technician Procurement
specialist
Design Nursery
System
R I A C
Build Nursery
System
I &C I R A A A
Deployment R I A A C
R=Responsibility, only one R per task
A=Accountability
C=Consultation
I =Informed
8.1.4. Staffing Management Plans and Resource
Histogram
The purpose of the staffing plan below is to make certain
the project has sufficient staffs with the right skills and
experience to ensure a successful project completion
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8.1.4.1. Resource Histogram
The Resource Histogram presents the number of human
resources assigned to the project over time. From the
chart, the project manager can determine the number of
the people needed each month, which he/she can base
on to design the staffing plan to acquire the necessary
staffs and develop the project team.
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8.1.4.2. Staffing Management Plan
After creating the Resource Histogram, the Project
Manager is required to prepare the staffing management
plan for recruitment; the staffing management plan
(Appendix H – Staffing Management Plan) should
include the overall staffing approach, the training plan
and reassignment plan.
8.2. Staff Acquisition
This section sets forth the acquisition strategy,
defines the efforts required to implement it to ensure
coordination of the project manager and the human
resource department to get the right people to fulfil
the project’s needs.
8.2.1. Resource Assignment
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8.2.1.1. Staff Pooling Description
The staff pooling description table assists the project
manager and Human Resource Department in assessing
the characteristics of potential staffs and make decisions
of hiring staffs.
Table 8.2.1.1. Staff Pooling Description Table
Employee
Name
Employee
ID
Job Title Period
required
Department Date
Characteristic
s
Performance R
(1
5
Previous
Experience
Personal
Interests
Personal
Characteristics
Availability
Competencies
Proficiencies
Overall Assessment
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8.2.1.2. Recruitment Practices
During the recruiting, all the staffs must strictly abide by
the policies, guidelines and procedures governing staff
assignments. Additionally, all the updates to the staffing
management plan must be recorded by the project
manager. The recruitment gives priorities to current
employees in the bio-fuel program.
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8.2.1.3. Project Staff Assigned
Based on the needs of the project, staff may be assigned
full time, part time, or variably, which is presented in the
resource requirement in project time management
section.
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8.2.1.4. Project Team Directory
The template below is to be used by the project team
when taking down details of relevant members and
stakeholders.
Employee
Name
Employee
ID
Role Phone Mobile Fax Email Address
8.3. Team Development
The main goal of this team development plan is to
help people work together more effectively to improve
project performance and achieve the project goals.
8.3.1. Training
To ensure all the team members are qualified for the
project, they are arranged to take specific training
courses based on information from the Roles and
Responsibilities Assignments table and the staff pooling
description.
8.3.2. Team Building Activities
Project manager is recommended to organize team-
building activities monthly; the options of team building
activities, physical challenges or psychological
preference indicators are determined by the performance
of the team members and the requirements of the
upcoming tasks.
8.3.3. Input to Performance Appraisals
The performance reports below are used to evaluate the
performance of the team members, as documentation for
updates to the human resources management plans.
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8.3.3.1. Employee Self-Evaluation Assessment
Self-evaluations help employees measure how they are
performing in their job. This assessment form can provide
guidance and consistency within our project, to help the
Project Manager and Human Resources department to
record, track, and report information for the employee
evaluation process. This form is required to assess
monthly.
Template 8.3.3.1. Employee self-evaluation
assessment
Employee Information
Employee
Name:
Employee
ID:
Job Title:
Date
:
Department:
Manager:
Review
Period:
To
Goals
Describe the goals you had set out to accomplish for this time period:
ch goals did you accomplish? Which other objectives did you meet, beyond your stated goals?
Which achievements are you most proud of?
Which goals did you not accomplish and why not?
Risks and Expectations
What kind of risks did you take during the time span of this evaluation?
What are your expectations for the next evaluation time span?
What can your manager do to help you achieve your future goals?
What are your goals for the next evaluation? Please be clear and concise
Comments
Additional Comments:
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8.3.3.2. Employee Performance Review
The template below is to assess employees’ performance
by their superior (refer to the organizational chart)
monthly.
Please, refer to Appendix I - Employee Performance
Review.xlsx.
8.3.4. Performance Improvements
Project management has the responsibility to set up the
HR management mechanism to improve employees’
performance.
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8.3.4.1. Improvement in Individual Skills
a) Set up reward and recognition system.
b) Discuss work and personal issues with
employees via e-mail, telephone, or other
communication media (refer to communication
management plan for details).
c) Provide training opportunities to employees
who are in need. (Refer to training section.)
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8.3.4.2. Improvement in Team Behaviours
a) Keep an issue log to document, monitor, and
track issues that needed to solve for the
project team to work effectively.
b) Organize team-building activities to help
employees to understand and value each
other’s differences in order to work effectively
as a team. (Refer to team building section).
8.4. Team Management
Team management is essential in Human Resource
Management Plan. The Project Manager is required to
do the followings to motivate and manage his/her
team members in case changes are requested to the
project.
a) Have formal or informal conversion with employees
regularly; discuss any issue with them when they
are in need.
b) Record and keep track on all the updates to human
resources plans.
c) Inform any personnel changes to stakeholders in a
timely manner
d) Maintain and update the Reward and Recognition
System regularly.
e) Take corrective or preventive actions to deal with
any unexpected event, such as employee leaves the
project.
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9. Project Communication Management
In order to keep the project activities dynamic between
team members and other stakeholders within the project
itself, it is mandatory that all communications align
perfectly and are up to date.
Communications management incorporates methods for
collecting, gathering and disseminating communication,
as well as information across the internal teams and
stakeholders of the project.
This documentation will list methods of communication,
as well as the technology that will help communication
during various tasks where communication is needed.
9.1. Communications Planning
Before one is to follow the guidelines for distributing
information discussed below, it is important to run skill
checks on team members and also stakeholders.
This will be used to find the most optimized method of
carrying out these communication processes i.e., to find
out which software is most commonly used by individual
members (this will decrease new learning curves, saves
time and increases productivity since they are already
familiar with the software).
In this project, there is a probability that members will
have to work remotely from time to time. Therefore, the
team must be flexible in terms of communicating.
Although, the guidelines below conjure the recommended
method of communication i.e., written or verbal, members
are able to make themselves adapt to which of the two
methods they prefer to use during a certain situation.
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Lastly, along the course of the project, it is expected for
the Internet and phone to be the primary channel for
conveying information. Fax and postage mails are not to
be considered for daily and active communication but are
to be used whenever necessary. Domestic or
international shipping will be used whenever tangible
products, prototypes or deliverables are to be sent.
9.2. Information Distribution
The English language is taken into account being the de
facto language for all communication and documentation
in this project, although, not being the de jure language of
communication meaning stakeholders are still able to
verbally communicate in other languages beside English.
The types of communication that are discussed in this
documentation have been divided into either or both
dynamic/verbal and/or passive/written communication.
Dynamic/verbal communication is when communication is
synchronous and happens in real time e.g., talking face
to face from one human being to another. Passive/written
communication describes communication that happens
asynchronously meaning one party is able to reply the
opposing party on a different time e.g., sending and
replying emails through technological devices.
Relating to the previous point made on dynamic and
passive communication, this documentation suggests
which should be used during a certain task of
communication.
One should note that dates on which new communication
has commenced should be recorded inside the
perspective documentation for future reference, not to
mention evidence for legal issues if they were to arise.
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9.2.1. Introductions to New Stakeholders and
Negotiation
Task Method Technology Goal
Introducing an
existing
stakeholder to a
new stakeholder
Verbal/written
communication
When introducing an
existing member on the
team to a new member
or a new stakeholder,
must notify the existing
member in prior to the
introduction.
It is considered
inconvenient for one to
meet a new colleague
without warning
beforehand.
• Face to face
• Phone/audio/
video/confer
ence calls
• SMS
• Email
• Instant
Messenger
This allows the
existing team
member to be
prepared
mentally in order
to convey the
preferred first
impression.
Commencing
communication/Int
roduction with new
individuals and
stakeholders
Verbal/written
communication
The initial project team
must consider good
etiquette at all times,
particularly, the Project
Manager.
Greetings should be
conveyed politely and
with adequate.
This is a very crucial
task to be completed
properly, especially
when first impressions
are to take place.
• Face to face
• Phone/audio/
video/confer
ence calls
• SMS
• Email
• Instant
Messenger
The goal to
achieve after
new
communication
has started is to
allow the
mentioned
parties to be
comfortable with
one another.
If this is
achieved, in
return, the
parties will have
a more relaxed
and pleasant
environment
when
communicating.
Commencing
negotiation
Written
communication
It is a significant issue
when one needs to
perform negotiation with
another human being.
Written communication
is recommended when a
• SMS
• Email
• Instant
Messenger
This allows
parties to make
their own initial
statements,
ideas and points
concisely.
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negotiation is to
commence. This allows
both parties to be
concise, exact and
follow the concept of
brevity when delivering
their points.
If one prefers to
commence a
negotiation verbally with
another party, one is
allowed to as there are
no strict restrictions to
using this method.
Although, a note should
be taken to be synoptic
but detailed.
In return, this
allows each
party to at least
predict a small
portion of one
another’s
favoured
decision.
Commencing
negotiation with
individuals from
different cultures
Written
communication
It is an even more
significant issue when
one needs to perform
negotiation with another
human being coming
from a different culture
and background.
Before making an
attempt at this task, it is
wise to study and
analyse how the
particular culture
communicates and
performs negotiation
organically. Thus, one
is able to adapt to their
environment and dive
into natural
communication
methods.
Also ensure to use more
common words that
most English speakers
are familiar with.
• SMS
• Email
• Instant
Messenger
Beyond the
previous task
mentioning
commencing
negotiation in
general, written
communication
is also preferred
when
communicating
with individuals
of different
cultures and
native
languages.
Written
language is
better
understood by
both native and
non-native
speakers than
verbal language
due to dialect
and accent
differences.
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