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Project Management Case 4

LGU - Human Resource Information Systems (Deadline: December 15, 2014, 9am, 1000 words per question)

The Project

The project was an implementation of a biometric DTR (Daily Time Record) and Payroll solution aimed to eliminate ghost employees of a LGU (Local Government Unit). The project include hardware and software. The hardware was composed of Rack mountable, Layer 3 scanner biometric units, etc, the software would include Windows 2003 Advance Sewer, Microsoft SQL 2003 Standard Sewer and customized HRD software with interface to the finger scanner (including source code, user manual and end user training). The project time frame was to be completed in one year period.

Project Background

The LGU is a municipality located in the province of Bukidnon. The project was to be implemented by EMCA Corporation. EMCA Corporation is based in Cagayan de Oro City, with an outlet in the municipality where the LGU is located. EMCA Corporation is primary a computer shop specialization in selling IT solutions for home users and SME (Small & Medium Enterprises). Although EMCA sells software (mostly package software like OS, Office Suites and Games), it does not have a software development team for customers. EMCA however has an lT department which developed their in-house software and is currently busy in an in-house project.

Project Highlights

When the local outlet of EMCA heard about the project, EMCA tried to enter the project in supplying the hardware component limited only with desktops and network referrals and ask their Head office permission to enter the bidding process. However, when Head office heard of the project, head office wanted to offer the complete solution. The local outlet hesitated knowing that they do not have a development team and they were not familiar with high end sewers. Head office assured the local branch that they will take care of everything, hardware and software as well as the price quotations, deliveries, installations and end user training. The primary function of the local unit was to be the liaison to the LGU. True enough EMCA won the bid.

EMCA assembled a team to proceed with the project. EMCA supplied the hardware to the LGU. The installation of the hardware solution (including the networking and biometric machines) was subcontracted with a team from Cagayan. The hardware component was installed within two months within schedule. On the software side, the Operating System and SQL server were installed as scheduled.

The Customized Software was another story.

As mention above, EMCA has no capability to build the customized software. To meet the requirement, EMCA subcontracted the solution to a group of lT people, employee in different companies, moonlighting in software development. This group was based in Cagayan de Oro and is composed of one System Analyst I Developer and three other developer / programmer. This group will be employed with EMCA under a contracted signed by the system analyst and EMCA. The Software was to be completed within one year. A personal from EMCA would lead the project.

The subcontracted group performed the sizing and scoping on Saturday morning of the next two months. The LGU has office, Monday to Friday and half day on Saturday. Remember the subcontracted group is available only during Saturdays and Sundays. The activity was performed only by the subcontracted group and the project manager was not present during this phase.

On the third month, the software developments started. The group was not heard off again until the 5th month. A beta version was presented to the LGU. The software was however limited only to the biometric interface and the printing of the DTR. The software was installed to LGU site and user acceptance testing proceeds and continued for the next months. The project manager was not present during the installation, only the developers and liaison personnel from EMCA‘s local outlet were present. During the UTA, the Project Manager from EMCA resigns and went abroad. The EMCA outlet manager assumed the Project Manager position. The software contains bugs and was corrected by the subcontracted group.

With the exception of the System Analyst, one by one the members of the subcontracted group left the project and were not seen again. On the 9th month the only member of the team left was the System Analyst. Debugging and testing proceed for the next months.

After two years, there was no improvement to the software and still on the testing stage. The same module where being debugged and the other modules were still unavailable for testing. The LGU were not satisfied with the development and wanted to declare the project a failure with the following reasons:

 a. The project development was months delayed (almost a year and counting).

b. The software was not user friendly, and

c. The software presented was still incomplete.

Questions

1. What phase of the project do you think causes it to fail?

2. As a project manager how would you proceed with the recommendation of the LGU?

3. It you're a project manager, will you declare it as a failure? Why’?

4. What steps would you do to make it succeed?

1. What phase of the project do you think causes it to fail?

Projects go through the same phases of project management that typically culminates in some type of project management phase review.   Each project management phase has a distinct purpose, importance, and set of output documents designed to ensure that the project manager is moving the project toward the desired result. Following a disciplined project management process should help you to eliminate common project issues resulting from poor buy-in, projects consistently going wrong, failing to learn from past project mistakes, or difficulty in getting your projects approved. The first phase is Project Initiation and its primary purpose is to discover the project’s scope — where are its boundaries. You need to determine and document the User Requirements & Project Assumptions, produce a Business Case Justification & Feasibility Study, and put together a Project Charter and Project Team. Talk to management about their project assumptions — time frame, budget, resource availability, standards, regulations, and other data — because they impact the problem. Note: You are not solving the problem yet, but quantifying it.  It is important to collect facts at this stage.

In this stage, “facts” include assumptions and perceptions, so get everything on paper and/or recordings.  Use an audio or video recorder to collect quotes.  You will use all of these facts to build your business case justification.

Projects start with an idea, yet we don’t know what we don’t know. Projects require some learning and solutions will evolve.  So, how do you focus a project team on your solution? You start with a project charter, used by the project manager to document and communicate a common understanding of the project with all stakeholders — management, customers, and the project team. The project charter focuses the project team on the main elements of the project in order to control the dreaded scope creep that often seems to invade projects.

Scope creep: small changes that, individually, may appear acceptable but collectively, add up to significant project expansion.  Effectively manage the scope and you effectively manage resources and, ultimately, the project.

Project planning is the second phase of any project management process and consists of developing the core planning elements.  The output of this phase is a set of project management documents, or plans.  The most important one is the project plan itself. 

The Project Plan

Your project plan includes five sections:

o Project overview

o Project organization

o Managerial process plan

o Technical process plan

o Supporting process plans

A project plan starts with its overview, where the team summarizes and introduces the project and it will serve as the “management abstract”.

The project organization describes the structure or the organization chart together with the roles and responsibilities for the project team members including the clients and other stakeholders involved in your project.

Managerial process plan is the stage where the management will find the details mentioned in the project overview like time, money and risk control.

In technical process plan, the technical details are covered in this step like the special test equipment, development hardware, expertise in order to provide justification in the budget.

The third phase of any project is project execution where it consists of developing, executing and creating or building the project deliverables. In this phase, the planned idea in which you have to create will be the time that you will have to create it. The output at this phase could be the design documents, prototypes, examples, samples or the actual product itself and accompanied by the verification test results that would substantiate that the deliverables meet the requirements.

This phase is also known as the construction phase, it consists of constructing the solution or understanding the root cause and implementing the appropriate corrective action.

Project monitoring and control is the fourth phase where key variables are monitored to determine if they remain within tolerable ranges, so that the process improvements are well maintained. Once the monitoring period is complete, the project is ready for project review and close phase.

The final phase is project review and close consists of closing out the project.

There are three important elements of closing out a well-managed project: final project housekeeping, project review and the project close-out report.

Project housekeeping consists of the project tasks that wind down your project:

 Complete final acceptance sign-offs;

 Complete the project review;

 Archive all documents and records;

 Recognize exceptional project achievements and discuss a project celebration event;

 Return project resources – people, facilities, and equipment;

 Write the final status report and create the project close-out report; and

 Communicate project successes and project management recommendations.

Project review is really what this phase is all about. You need to collect feedback from the project team (individually and as a group) management, the customer, and your suppliers.  Project feedback is about knowledge management — capturing “lessons learned” for the sake of future projects. People performing different functions on the project bring their own knowledge and experiences and they each have a unique, different view of the project’s successes, failures, and possible solutions.  They see and hear things others don’t, and vice versa.  Ensure that each project stakeholder group is represented — and participates — in your project review.

The project manager is responsible for preparing your final deliverable for the project, the Project Close-Out Report.  In the project review, the project manager obtained input from the project team and other major stakeholders.  Now it is time for the project manager to organize the project review data into concise, cogent project information, harvest the project wisdom, and communicate the project results.

The project close-out report represents your stakeholder’s final thoughts on the project.  It starts with summary descriptions from your project charter, explanation of project performance, operations management issues, documentation archives, and concludes with your project recommendations for future projects. 

In the above scenario, the team for the project biometric DTR (Daily Time Record) and Payroll solution, lacks the second phase which is project planning because they were not able to plan thoroughly for the project. The team members did not coordinate with each other because they do not have the same schedules because the project team is just sub contractual members from different IT Companies. Their schedules were not fixed because the LGU and its office hours during Mondays to Fridays and half-day on Saturdays. The subcontracted group could only work for them during Saturdays and Sundays because of their works on their respective companies.  The activities for the project were only performed by the sub contracted group and the project manager is not around during this phase.

A good leader should be responsible enough to handle the team for he is the backbone of a successful project and the full responsibility is unto him. He should take charge of the overall control of the said project. a good leader should be hands-on and he should not rely on his team members because they have individual tasks and his task is to lead his team and not leave them behind. If the project will result into a failure, the whole blame is on him because of his negligence and not acting as an effective leader to his team.

In this case, not only the project manager neglected his team because he resigned at the company while the project is still on the process. He went abroad and left his team members behind. It is not a good attitude of a leader and the right ethics towards his work.

A project manager should have proper communication among his members should have the motivation to accomplish one’s work. Because when a leader is not effectively working, its members would not have trust on him and have the decision not to continue and finish the project. a positive attitude is needed when you are working especially when the project is big, all members should collaborate. A project manager should possess the qualities that a leader should have like responsibility, respect, fairness and honesty. The very important quality is responsibility because all relies on him from the members down to the project.

Being absent during the most important phase of their project is not tolerable. He should be around during the installation of the software to the LGU site and not only were the developers present. After his resignation, his place is taken over by the EMCA outlet manager. The project was left hanging and made even worst when all the members left the project except for the system analyst. The system analyst was left behind, shouldered to him all the responsibilities in which his co-members have worked on.

For me, the project will not go any longer or be accomplished for it is a group project, a big project and the system analyst will  not be able to do all the work in due time.

Good leaders were made and not born because it takes time, patience and perseverance to put your entire heart on handling a team. It is a developing process towards an individual because it involves trainings, knowledge, and experience to make a person a good and responsible leader. Unfortunately, the company did assign an irresponsible leader or project manager for the project and it is one of their wrong moves. The members would have worked properly if their leader shows enthusiasm but it is the other way around. The project manager did not gain the respect of his members it’s because also of his attitude towards his work. Without an effective leader, the team will not be successful and so as their project.

Leaders communicate through two-way communication and much of it is non verbal. Actions speak louder than words. When a leader would set as a good example to his team everyone will follow and would fall everything into place. The way a leader communicates to his team either builds or harms the relationship between the leader and his members.

Members would follow a leader if they have seen a clear direction, a direction in which they  in his leadership and to gain this respect, a leader must be ethical in a way that he will perform his responsibilities and task assigned to him.  In their case, all of them except for the system analyst give up on the project because of the leader that is always absent in times that his presence is highly needed. TEAMWORK is necessary in every group project and it should be done by all the team members. No one is exempted to do their individual task because all of their ideas are highly needed for the accomplishment of their work. A project will never be a failure if they just did they part as a trusted member of the team but unfortunately, they did not. They lack commitment to the assigned project given to their team.

Blame is on the head office of the EMCA Corporation because they know that software development is not the type of product they offer. They bid for the project even though they know they do not have enough knowledge about it, they do not have experience on doing such thing. They wanted to provide the complete solution for the LGU project when they know that hardware and software are their expertise and not software development. The company’s reputation is at risk because of their failure. They went out of their comfort zone because they stepped into a higher level in which they know they can’t do it because they do not have enough employees like programmers and developers in their company. In the end, everything falls way out of what they have planned, out of what they have expected, what they have presented to their client. They cannot proceed to the last phase which is the project closure because the project is not yet finished and they cannot meet their deadline. Commitment is an important factor in dealing with business because it is the primary key to finish everything assigned to the team. They committed to provide the complete solution for the project and yet their company is incapable of doing it so because of the employees they hired to develop the software for the biometric daily time record and payroll solution of the LGU.

2. As a project manager how would you proceed with the recommendation of the LGU?

 As a project manager, I would surely recommend the LGU that choosing a suitable company for their project is a great factor because they need experienced staff to work on it. They should not hand over their biometric daily time record and payroll solution project to a company who do not have enough knowledge on software development. One of the hardest and challenging project management roles is to pick up or revive a project at the helm of a failing project. According to severity of the problem, the problem might be leaking cash, time and resources at a significant pace for the project manager it can literally be a race against time.

Rescuing a failing project should be approached as a project in itself. It is very tricky to recover the pieces without knowing the root of the problem, so a “back to basics” approach is normally the best choice for it. A general lack of clarity about the direction of a project, and a failure of communication between different stakeholders and parties can also delay success and lead to confusion about responsibility over project delivery.When we examine what makes projects succeed or fail, we're actually looking at a variety of vital success measures that can keep our projects healthy, or offer a powerful remedy if they start to break down.

As a form of prevention, using these measures from the very beginning will make our projects considerably more successful. They'll avert many potential snags stemming from mixed communication signals, ignored problems, and unrealistic expectations that can lead to project downfall.

Let's explore some of the reasons why projects derail and how to use four vital success measures to revive them.

What Are Some Characteristics of Projects That Fail?

Projects that fall short of achieving their ultimate objectives often exhibit one or more of the following traits:

·         The projects don't deliver what is expected or required in a usable form. The project scope may not be well defined, or it might not take into account the real needs of the end users or customers. In the latter situation, the project delivers a result that doesn't help the customers accomplish their primary goals in a satisfying way.

·         The projects lack change management processes.

·         The projects lack project sponsorship or fail to get buy-in from the right stakeholders.

·         The projects may not have the right resources or budget available due to other higher priority initiatives.

·         The projects don't report or escalate critical problems in a timely manner, which chews up resources, budget, and schedule without a chance of re-planning effectively.

·         The projects fail to plan for risks and develop contingency plans. For example, they could experience a mass exodus of key team members, where no one is left to finish the work.

How Do You Recognize a Project That Has Gotten into Trouble?

Spotting and fixing problems early can help team members, clients, stakeholders, and sponsors avoid project failure. Red flags to watch for from the outset include situations in which:

·         Schedule delays and missed commitments are rampant.

·         The project is over budget with no end in sight.

·         Low morale and a lack of teamwork plague the project members.

·         Many changes and uncontrolled scope creep are occurring.

·         No clear direction exists for where the project is headed or when it will get there.

·         Major issues (showstoppers) have not been identified or diagnosed.

However, there are ways to rescue a failing project, which involve engaging with a four step plan that reviews, revises and resets goals and communication for a project, while working out the best forms for its delivery.

1 – Reviewing Problems

The first step in rescuing a project is to review the problems that caused it to fail, or be delayed. Re-evaluate the original goals of a project, and break down what the plan was, and whether overestimations were made.

Moreover, check that anything was not picked up on in the planning stage, and bring in as many different viewpoints as possible. These viewpoints might include managers, team members, sponsors and stakeholders. At this stage, it is also worth making a hard decision about whether a project can be saved.

2 – Revise and Set Out New Goals

If a project goes ahead, draw up new goals and a set of differentials that will ensure a better delivery. Are there extra factors that need to be budgeted for? What are the expectations and the input of stakeholders and sponsors? Can a system be put into place that can deal with risk, and that can swiftly respond to any problems?

Getting this structure right before setting a deadline is vital, as it ensures that no one in a project team feels like they don’t understand how to react to any obstacles during their work.

3 – Ensure New Expectations Are Met

Ensuring that these new expectations are met does mean being pragmatic about budgeting and the restructuring of a team. What needs to be reduced, and how can communication be managed to speed up the process of a project to best meet deadlines and priorities?

Moreover, it is important to decide what the focus of particular parts of a project will now be, and how much of a budget can be realistically spread out to hit the parts of a project that need the most attention.

4 – Decide When the New Project Will Be Delivered

A clear deadline needs to be made for when a project will be delivered, which will need to be agreed on amongst a team and other parties. Again, communication is vital to ensure that everyone stays on the same page.

A software project management tool is particularly recommended for achieving this communication, as it can enable real time conversations and an exchange of information.

Similarly, by restructuring a management team and ensuring that there are contacts that people can rely on to troubleshoot any problems, it is possible to refocus a project into something that has shared aims and failsafe.

While rescuing a failing project does require a lot of hard work, by creating a strong team environment, and by establishing a clearly structured management structure, the original goals of a project can be revived and clarified for all involved.

Key areas to consider are as follows:

Re-engage the project board

The first step is to ensure that the project board acknowledges the issue. Call an immediate, urgent project board and set the scene. Who has mandated that the project is failing? Gather the evidence and present it to the board with proposals for immediate next steps. It may be that the project board is not appropriate to the assignment or that the engagement doesn’t exist. Where appropriate escalate to the project sponsor or business head until you have the backing you need to get everybody to take notice. Identify budgets that have been exceeded, deadlines that have been missed and issues that remain unresolved is a good way to get people’s attention. Extrapolate where this might end up and you should have a compelling case.

Ask the same questions you would ask on any other new project

Re-energizing a project probably means restating the case from scratch. Suspend any current meetings or development work where possible and ask the project team to regroup. Is the scope of the project still understood? Has it changed? How have these changes been managed? What are the objectives and benefits of the project? Is the work in hand working toward this or have there been distractions and deviations? This process applies whether a new project manager is taking over or whether the existing project manager is trying to recover failure. Look at the project with fresh eyes. Make no assumptions. Rebuild the risk register from scratch. This is not duplication of effort. By revisiting these key areas, opportunities to improve and recover are likely to be identified.

Review documentation and plans

In order to identify the root cause for the failure, all essential project documentation should be reviewed as a priority. Is there a current project plan that accurately reflects all the required work packages? Has a requirements specification been agreed with the client? Is there a communication/stakeholder map that explains how the project team should be interacting with others? With IT projects, more detailed documents will be required also. There should be a software specification. If the project is being managed in an agile way, there may be user stories and a product backlog to review. Remember that a major root cause for project failure is incomplete or missing documentation. These gaps need to be plugged straight away.

Summarize the position

The project manager quickly needs to establish a plan. This should be based around the very short term (the next 2 weeks), the medium term (the next month) and the longer term (any period thereafter). Quick wins must be prioritized alongside areas of major failure that need to be addressed. Very often, solution options will need to be presented to the project board. It may be that additional funding can draw in additional resource in order to protect a delivery deadline. Conversely, a deadline may be negotiable to manage according to existing budget. The sponsor or client must be in a position to make these decisions. He/she will need the facts presented in a simple and unambiguous manner.

Make the hard decisions

While it may not ultimately be the project manager’s responsibility to make the final decision, he/she will be relied upon to make the right recommendations. Some of those recommendations may require some tough decisions. People may need to be removed from the project team. Additional budget may be required. Requirements may need to be re-scoped. In a worst case scenario, the project may need to be terminated before good money is thrown after bad. Present the solution options and the impacts and make clear recommendations about the best course of action. The project board must have the confidence that the project manager is skilled and level-headed enough to steer the team out of crisis.

It’s unlikely that anybody would choose to take on a failing project. It’s a stressful and sometimes thankless task but offers a great opportunity to develop and test an individual’s project management skills. Go back to basics, treat the failure like a new project and, above all, engage with the right people, to get the right decisions made at the right time.

After resetting the project goals and expectations or after going back to basics in reviving the failing project specific actions include accomplishing all re-planned project goals and objectives by:

·         Doing what you say you're going to do!

·         Keeping the project schedules and issues logs current, and discussing them with your team regularly.

·         Listening to your team! Don't shoot the messengers who raise red flags.

·         Escalating major issues when you need to, whether to a steering committee, management, or other stakeholders.

·         Continuing to set and reset expectations as needed. Don't ignore warning signs.

·         Continuing to manage changes and risks.

·         Maintaining a positive but realistic attitude about achieving the project goals.

·         Recognizing team members and celebrating success, and learning from mistakes.

·         Continuing to communicate, communicate, and communicate!

In conclusion, vital successes measures help reveal why a troubled project has gotten off track and how to reframe its success.

1) Continuing to investigate where the project stands,

 2) Assessing and re-planning the project as needed,

 3) Resetting everyone's expectations,

4) Aiming to deliver, you can resuscitate an ailing project and deliver the desired results.

As a project these will be my move in order to proceed with the recommendations of the LGU to declare the project a failure with the following reasons:

a. The project development was months delayed (almost a year and counting).

b. The software was not user friendly, and

c. The software presented was still incomplete.

The project would still have the chance to be revived and continue its operations so that the proposed project will not be wasted and be set aside because of the team that had neglected it. Negligence is not a good practice in business; it should not be tolerated because it will just bring negative results to a certain project.

Right people involved in the team are also a factor because they made up the project. They are the one who will work on it, implement it, test it and would be the reason behind the project’s success if ever. Not all projects will be successful because sometimes a team will face many shortcomings in process of making it but if all the team members will cooperate properly and they will have the right and effective leader there would be a possibility that the project will succeed.

A project manager will have a very vital role in reviving with the failing project that the team had resulted, patience and the will to finish the project should be within him so that the team will also look up to him and would gain confidence that the project they are doing will have a clearer vision that it will be finished in its due time.

3. If you're a project manager, will you declare it as a failure? Why?

 If I am the project manager, I would really declare it as a project failure. It is a failure in almost all of the aspects of the project that are needed to be accomplished. The EMCA Corporation has overestimated their company’s capabilities and resources thus compromising the entire project. They have failed to assess the project properly if they could really accomplish the entire project. They have failed because the Head Office was greedy and offered to accept the entire project even though they lack resources and knowledge about the said project for the LGU. The Head Office should have listened to the Local outlet when they hesitated about accepting the entire project. The Local outlet has succeeded on identifying the project definition, project resources needed and the tasks to be performed and completed. However, the Head Office failed to do the necessary measures needed to be performed before accepting any project, resulting to a major disaster in the project completion. The Head Office didn’t analyzed or planned the proposed project well enough. They should have planned the necessary steps they should make in order to figure everything out. So that they could analyze everything and make necessary steps when encountering consequences within project implementation and project testing.  Even though the Head Office has more power in making the final decision they should have been more open-mended to the comments, suggestions or opinions of the local outlet personnel and the other members of the EMCA Corporation suitable in making the analysis on accepting the LGU’s said project. If the critical success factors for the projects output are not well specified, and is not properly oriented to the developing team, then consequent process of design, quality control, or project management is going to be a major consequence in the near future on the project development. Project manager should take and plan well the necessary steps needed for the project. Preparing and defining the project scope of work, financial plan, its goals and deliverables. Assign precise responsibilities for each team member according to their field of expertise, this helps the team do their jobs at its best. As a Project manager he is necessary in managing all aspects of the project and the team members for them to work effectively and take action on the plans effectively. Coordinating directly and indirectly with project staff to ensure successful completion of the project – Directing, supervising, supporting and coordinating the project team members/staff. Managing the design of the project documents to monitor project performance and data stored. Possibly the most common downside is failing to initiate a project properly by spending time to gather and agree customer requirements, create a good project plan and set customer expectations and specifications. It is very influential to start work quickly, but a poor initiation phase often leads to problems and even failure that made the team fail to accomplish a project. Never ever start a project until it has been properly initiated. Do not allow the customer to push the team into starting work on the assumption that it will result in an earlier delivery, the project manager should always have the plan to when to start the project after the agreements, the go signal for the project initiation. In reality, poor project initiation extends projects, by causing revisions, errors and oversights. It is no-good doing a systematic planning of activity lists and initiating a project, if the project manager would not supervise the team effectively. Classic problems are scope creep, poor work-planning, lack of change control, poor communication and poor management of risks and issues that can be encountered by the team during project development. Introduce a change control process and make everyone aware of it, in this way the team would be prepared if there will be changes on the scopes, schedules, tasks, etc. on the project in the near future when facing consequences while the team is working on the project. Use it to ensure that the team stay focused on delivering what is important and what are the necessary tasks or actions to be done while implementing the tasks given. The team should always report any issue that would be faced at the middle of project development phase; in this case the team would be helping each other in facing the issues met and thus making the necessary steps to be done in solving the issue a lot easier and faster. This saves time and ensures there is better focus on risks and issues as they arise. Communicate regularly with the customer, sponsor and other important stakeholders. Review and update the project plan on a regular basis. If the team doesn’t intend to evaluate and keep posted their plan, then it's not worth creating.

            All though the EMCA Company has made their move on doing outsourcing of resources to cover for the insufficiency of the company to perform software development for costumers and some of the hardware installations.  Still, they failed to on finding some of the other resources, such as the team that would perform and develop the said project. They have succeeded in forming a team that is knowledgeable in making the software, however because the team was outsourced; they don’t have the full time in making the software. This however compromises the accomplishment of the project due on the scheduled date. They should have formed more than one team to perform the creation of the software because the team they had formed doesn’t have their full time on creating the project. EMCA must’ve formed many teams and divide the tasks in the construction of the software, this will make the completion of the project a lot easier and could make the success rate higher. Forming many teams and dividing the software development is the best way they could do to complete the project and cover for their insufficiency and scarcity of resources. In this manner they could utilize their outsourced resources well enough to complete the project on time. A team that can handle the job will be the one who will carry out the entire strategic plan to be led by the project manager from the Head office. However, the company failed in finding an efficient, dedicated and reliable project manager; instead the project manager itself abandoned his own team and causing more damage to the project and discouraging the team resulting to failure and abandonment of the other members. Step-by-step process is a key in the project to have its progress and finally it will finally be used by the client. The assigned team must be keen in observing the development of the project from the start until the very end. Somehow the project will yield without error. After this it could remark their company as well the team that they do great job in making projects. It will enhance their standing in the eyes of other clients on the field of outsourcing industry. It will uplift also their ranking as well. If they succeed on a particular project it will attract more clients and create new jobs.

            After accepting the project and identified the project definitions needed to be performed, the next thing the company must have done is to make a list of activity sequence. In this way they could easily identify what to do first and next. Activity sequencing is very important, having this aspect in the project plan; the team could easily perform the tasks accordingly. After identifying the tasks that are needed to perform, the tasks should identify what should be done first before the other. It is very essential in project management to plan and to identify the sequence of the job to be done. This is also important especially when you have many personnel that would be doing the project. Job division is very easy in this manner. I think the Project manager failed to lead his or her subordinates to be effective in doing the project. The project manager was so busy doing another project, while having the current project accepted from the LGU. The estimation of the project activity and the estimated completion time was also a failure. The head of the project failed to estimate the right amount of time and the right accomplishment duration of the project. Activity duration estimation is very important. This is where the manager must estimate the enough time that would be allotted to finish a specific activity scope. Failure to do so is another alteration for the planned activity duration and the activity sequence. The planned sequence and the planned estimated duration should be followed well to prevent major project failure. This is very important because making specific time frames for your project would help the team to finish the activity on the right time thus, preventing project failure. The project manager failed to lead the team well, so that they would carefully follow the plans prepared. He failed because he is so busy doing other tasks. An efficient and effective project manager should’ve leaded the team well in following the right sequence of tasks within the specific time frames given. Monitoring the team constantly is also a factor on making the project duration planning a success. The team must have constant communication in order to have effective team work. Constant communication to the clients should also be done by the project manager; this would help the team to update the client about the progress of the project and also to gain confidence and trust on the team from the clients. The EMCA’s team lacks the so called team work and communication. Team work is very relevant in making a particular project to be a success. Team work must be led by the project manager.

The project manager’s responsibility is the most challenging of roles within the project team. To effectively manage the project management process, this requires full-time commitment, focus, effective planning and most importantly the attitude of the person leading the team. The head of the team must be the most influential member of the team. The most versatile Project Managers are therefore those highly skillful. The project must get the first call when a conflict of importance arises. For each project undertaken the Project Manager should identify, agree and document the responsibilities and the expectations of the client. The bearer of each risk should be responsible enough to call the attention of the project manager and to monitor his risk, and to take appropriate action to prevent it from getting a lot worst, or to take whatever necessary action needed if the problem does occur. The team in the first place should also work responsibly. Work with all enthusiasm. Engage with the clients properly. Bear with clients’ needs and wants. The team should be ready for any possible change that the client would request. Consider many adjustments throughout the project making. Having an agreement and clear transaction with the client before proceeding in developing the project, so that there will be no error all throughout. Do not begin working without good direction. After all the output is collected, a report will be generated. Regular reports are valuable. Consider tasks/projects that need to be done and modify the team to get the work done. Without this strong communication, teamwork would not have been possible. Likewise, a result would have been impossible. It was the key to the team’s success.

Especially in the form of communication, many misunderstandings and change will occur. So if the company will handle any kind of projects, they should make sure to verify each single detail on the given project. Make out the best of it. Timely consult the client. Listen to clients need and wants. And dedicate time and effort on how to develop and manage each project.

Changes and misunderstanding must be first considered with the company and the client as well. It is consistent in some other ways. But the company is the main responsible on any case of mistakes. It is mandated also that every company will stand whichever the problem is. 

4. What steps would you do to make it succeed?

 In order for the project to succeed, careful, planning, analysis, effective and highly skilled project manager are major factors. The company should replenish their team that was assigned to the project. It is more effective and efficient if the team that would be assigning to the project is not outsourced. They are more suitable in making the project because they are more reliable and are trustworthy because they are already employees of the said company. The company can have better monitoring and management on them because they work on the company itself and they are not just outsourced employees. After which, they should select one of their finest or more experienced project manager to lead the project. However, analyzing the consequences that may appear or the issues the company is undertaking the company must have another options. If the company’s finest project manager however is not available at the moment to hold or lead the project this leaves them to the choice of having the project manager anybody that’s just available to lead the project. On the other hand if we go back to the issue met by EMCA company at the beginning, wherein they must outsource employees because their employees are busy doing other projects. In this option, they must hire full time employees to do the project. This is because, having a part time outsourced team, will have less work efficiency and project dedication resulting to project failure. However if they cannot really find full time employees, they must form multiple teams made up of part time employees. The company would then select multiple project managers from their company to lead the teams. In this way they could break down the task structure into smaller ones and simpler ones making the project completion faster. Instead of one team making the project, this will result to multiple teams making a particular project. Wherein the project is divided into the different teams and the teams will now break the tasks into subtasks making the project simpler and faster. Still, the company must select a more dedicated project manager for the project. Someone that is only focused in the given project.

            The project manager must define project success criteria.  At the beginning of the project, make sure the clients share a common understanding of how they will determine whether this project is successful. Define the necessary specifications needed in order to make the project a success. Too often, meeting a set schedule is the only apparent success factor, but there are certainly others.  Achieve the specific customer satisfaction measures, retiring a high-maintenance legacy system, and achieving a particular transaction processing volume and correctness. Identify project drivers, constraints, and degrees of freedom. Every project needs to have balance functionality, employment, budget, schedule, and quality objectives.

Early in the project, decide what standards will determine whether or not the product is ready for release or it is still in the testing state. You might base release standards on the number of high-priority defects, performance measurements, specific functionality being fully operational or other indicators that the project has met its goals and specifications. Whatever standard you choose or set for your project it should be realistic, measurable, and aligned with customers set of quality standards expected of the project output. The team should always establish a constant communication within them and with the clients. Any data you have from previous projects will help you. The hard part isn’t writing the plan. The hard part is actually doing the planning—thinking, negotiating, balancing, talking, asking, and listening. The time you spend analyzing what it will take to solve the problem will reduce the number of surprises you have to cope with later in the projects processes.

Breaking large tasks into multiple small tasks helps estimate the project completion more accurately, reveals work activities you might not have thought of otherwise, and permits more accurate, fine-grained status tracking. Plan to do rework after a quality control activity. Almost all quality control activities necessary for improving the quality of the output of the project, such as testing and technical reviews, find defects or other improvement opportunities for the project. Your project schedule or work breakdown structure should include rework as a separate task after every quality control. Always plan proper time scheduling for process improvement, team members are already overloaded with their current project assignments. Set aside some time from your project schedule, because software project activities should include making process changes that will help your next project be even more successful.

Proper, immediate, and effective risk management is always needed. If you don’t identify and control risks, they will control you. Spend some time during project planning to brainstorm with the team members for possible risk factors, evaluate their potential threat, and decide how you can lessen or prevent the risks. Estimating based on effort and not calendar time. People generally provide estimates in units of calendar time, but it is good to estimate the amount of effort associated with a task, then translate the effort into a calendar-time estimate. This translation is based on estimates of how many effective hours I can spend on project tasks per day, any interruptions or emergency bug fix requests I might get meetings, and all the other places into which time disappears. In this way, project completion or tasks completion estimation are even more accurate. Estimating the capabilities of every member to finish a particular given tasks is very important in determining the schedules to be followed. Schedules planned and analyzed are based on the capabilities and efficiency of every member to accomplish the given task.  Never schedule team members 100% of their time. Tracking the average weekly hours that your team members actually spend working on their project assignments is a real eye-opener. The task-switching overhead associated with the many activities we are all asked to do reduces our effectiveness significantly. Don’t assume that just because someone spends 10 hours per week on a particular activity, he or she can do four of them at once; you’ll be lucky if he or she can handle three. Determine how much time your team members typically spend on training activities annually, and subtract that from the time available for them to be assigned to project tasks. You probably already subtract out average values for vacation time, sick time, and other assignments; treat training time the same way. With this data you can create the time frame needed in the project completion process to be followed. Always record the estimates you have made and assess if it was followed well or not. When you prepare estimates for your work, write down those estimates and document how you arrived at each of them. Understanding the assumptions and approaches used to create an estimate will make them easier to defend and adjust when necessary, and it will help you improve your estimation process. Use estimation tools. Many commercial tools are available to help estimate the entire projects. With their large databases of actual project experience, these tools can give you a spectrum of possible schedule and staff allocation options. They’ll also help you stay out of the "impossible region," combinations of product size, team size, and schedule where no known project has been successful.  If you’re trying new processes, tools, or technologies for the first time on this project, recognize that you will pay a price in terms of a short-term productivity loss. Don’t expect to get the fabulous benefits of new software engineering approaches on the first try, so build extra time into the schedule to account for the inevitable learning curve.