Eng 7071 Project Management For Assessment Answers

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Project Objective

This project’s aim is to describe the planning as well as the implementation process for the installation of an Emergency Power Plant at Pengerang Island. Pengerang Island is located in Kota Tinggi District, Johor, in Malaysia. Being the hub for Petroleum mining, it was necessary to install an Emergency Power Plant that would serve this and other infrastructural and industrial operations that take place in the area. Doing this will ensure that there is ample and uninterrupted power supply in the region hence ensuring the smooth running of the projects in this region. As such, this report will give a step by step procedure of the process of installing this new emergency power plant with utmost consideration of the time frame provided, the budget available and ensure that a quality plant is established at the end of the project.

According to the available land on the Island, the power plant is set to be constructed on a piece of land that has the dimension, 90meter in length and 60 meters in width thus occupying a total area of 4800 square meters.

The project tasks that will be undertaken in a particular project, which are arranged in a logical and systematic manner. As such, it shows the schedule of the whole project with activities starting from the first activity to the last and also showing the duration that each task will take. In this paper, the Activity-on arrow type of network diagram will be used to illustrate the project activities in the installation of the emergency power plant at Penerang Island.

The following table shows the work breakdown structure (WBS) with timing and cost data. The working hours per day are 8 hours standard.

To get the earliest time this is obtained by adding the time in the critical path running from A, B, C,D, and E events.

• The critical path is A1+A3+A7+A8+A9= 2+3+1+15=21days
• The critical path is B10+B12+B13+B14=30+1+14+2=47days
• The critical path is C15+C16+C18=10+20+5=35 days
• The critical path is D20+D21+D22+D23+D24=5+2+5+1+15=28days
• The critical path is E27+E28+E29+E30+E31=3+2+3+3+2=13days

Thus the earliest time for the whole project will be the sum of the events above which is

21+47+35+28+13=144 days.

The Representation on the Gantt chart

A Gantt chart is a type of graph that is used to describe and show the planning process for a project. As such, this chat illustrates the schedule of the whole project from its start to the end.  The time parameter is a crucial parameter in the setting up of the Gantt chart and it is mostly represented in the form of days, weeks, or months. 

The Gantt chart baseline is the type that is used that gives a comparative depiction of the project of what was planned and what is actually implemented currently. It captures the components of time, cost and the project scope. The baseline chart thus enables the project manager to keep track of the ongoing project and identify any deviations from the project, hence taking the necessary measures to correct this. If everything is going on well according to the baseline, then the project mostly turns out successful.

Advantages and disadvantages of using the Gantt Chart

One of the major advantages of using the Gantt chart is that it is easy read and interpret the information represented on this chart. Secondly, the chart provides more accurate estimates for the project duration hence is reliable for the planning stage of the project. However, the Gantt chart also has some shortcomings which include the fact that the bars only show the duration of the project but they do not truly reflect the amount of work that has to be done so as to achieve this. As such, it may be prone to overestimation or underestimation of the work. The other disadvantage of this chart is that, in the case of big projects, it tends to be very complex and may be difficult to both develop and utilize it.

Planning and Implementing Project Tasks

In order to undertake any kind of project, like in this case the installation of the emergence power supply system, it is necessary that a well-planned procedure is put down that will guide on the same. As such, the manager is tasked with four main responsibilities to achieve this effectively. To begin with, the manager should set up all the activities whereby they will identify and describe all the actions that will be undertaken including their durations. Secondly, the project manager is supposed to establish the relationship between these activities so as to come up with a logical sequence of the activities from the first to the last. Thirdly, the manager should estimate the total amount and type of resources that will be required to achieve each planned activity. Here, they should also establish the costs and the location of these resources and how they will be acquired. Finally, the manager should estimate the duration of each project task and cumulatively establish the time that will be needed to carry out all of these activities. After doing this, they should review the whole project again to ensure that everything is planned in an effective manner and fit for implementation. 

Use of Project Planning Software

There are several planning software that are available in the field of project management which can be very beneficial to the manager undertaking this project. The software will be simplify the work of the manager as it can be used to come up with the various components

Budget BCWP of Pengerang Emergency Power Plant

The budget for the whole project is obtained from the workbreakdown structure provided and it  includes the total cost of the labour, equipment and resources that will be used in carrying out the whole project.  The buget cost of work performed (BCWP) takes into consideration the work that has already been undertaken and includes the overhead costs incurred. It is a crucial parameter in the Earned Value Mangement of the project.

Earned Value (EV) System

The Earned Value System is a project management technique that is used to assess the performance and advancement of a project in an unbiased manner. As such, it measures the three main aspects in a project which are time, cost and scope and enables the comparison of the project in terms of what is planned and what is implemented basis. This system relies on various components which others have been discussed above such as the BCWP, and the Earned Value Analysis.

Earned Value Analysis

 The earned value analysis is a method which the manager uses to measure the actual amount of work that has been completed. From this information, the manager is then able to predict the total cost of the project as well as the date for completion of the same. This relies on some other components such as the planned value, actual costs, earned value and the variance analysis which are discussed below.

Planned value

The planned value is used to determine how far along the project should be undertaken at any given time during the implementation process. It therefore heavily depends on the cost and schedule baseline. The planed value can be categorized into two, the cumulative and current PV. The cumulative planned value entails the amount of the approved budget for all activities that are to be performed to a certain date, while the current planned value considers the budget that has been approved for activities to be performed for a certain period.

The Actual Costs

 The actual costs in a project captures the total amount of money incurred during the implementation of the work and can also be defined as either cumulative or current.

Earned Value

The earned value refers to the figural representation of the accomplishments for the project. It thus relies on the quantification of the whole project and can also be cumulative or current.

Variance Analysis

Variance analysis refers to the technique that the project managers use to examine the actual project implementation and comparing it to what was planned. There are two major aspects that are considered in variance analysis which are the schedule and the cost variances.

Performance Indexes

Performance indexes are methods used to establish the project’s burn rate. This is an alternative method of analysis that managers can use. There are two main types of performance indexes which are schedule index and cost index.  

References

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Marshall, Robert. The Contribution of Earned Value Management to Project Success of Contracted Efforts. Journal of Contract Management, 2007, pp. 21-331.

Project Management Institute. (2004) A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). (Third ed.) Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute

Project Management Institute. (2005) Practice standard for earned value management (PMI Global Standard) (2005 ed.) Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute

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Sumara, Jim; John Goodpasture (1997-09-29). "Earned Value -- The Next Generation -- A Practical Application for Commercial Projects" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-10-26.

Goodpasture, John C. (2004). Quantitative Methods in Project Management. J. Ross Publishing. pp. 173–178. ISBN 1-932159-15-0.

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