WEEK 11 (29.JUNE.2010) - PROJECT LIFE CYCLE - RISK MANAGEMENT

http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_risk_mgmt.php

A risk is something that may happen and if it does, will have a positive or negative impact on the project. A few points here. "That may happen" implies a probability of less then 100%. If it has a probability of 100% - in other words it will happen - it is an issue. An issue is managed differently to a risk and we will handle issue management in a later white paper. A risk must also have a probability something above 0%. It must be a chance to happen or it is not a risk.
The second thing to consider from the definition is "will have a positive or negative impact". Most people dive into the negative risks but what if something goes right?

The second thing to consider from the definition is "will have a positive or negative impact". Most people dive into the negative risks but what if something goes right?

Risks are circumstances or events that might occur. Risk have a probability of occuring and a specific impact. Risks can be known and unknown. Risks have positive or negative effects on at least on of the project objectives (scope, cost, schedule, performance).


From the work breakdown schedule activities, we will do the risk assessment. Firstly is the risk identification; analyse the project to identify the sources of rist. Next, risk analysis which is assess risks in terms of likelihood of occurance and severity of impact. Followed by risk prioritisation, which is rank or prioritise each risk in order of improtance.
Risk control is the phase which we response to a plan in controlling each risks. Risk resolution is the elimination of a risk by executing activities in the risk response plan.
Contigency planning is an alternative plan that will be used if a possible foreseen risk event actually occurs. A plan of actions that will reduce or mitigate the negative impact of a risk event. Having no plan may slow managerial response. Decisions made under pressure can be potentially dangerous and costly.


We submitted our tutorial 3. We are happy that we managed to complete our tutorial 3 just in time. For this tutorial, based on we have learnt in class, we applying the same thing into our tutorial 3.

• First, we must apply the WBS concept into costing. Therefore, we we have to work on the fixed cosr, variable cost, and other cost.


• We have to perform an ROI (Return on Investment) to indicate how long is required to gain back the profit, and how much percentage of return we are making for this project.

After calculating, we are expecting to have quite a big profit margin. But this are all the early estimation. There might be unexpected cost that we may need to count in as time goes by.

For now, our ROI is set at 142%!!

Reflections :

Coming up with possible Risks and Impacts is a real pain ! We had to think out of the box for most of us as we were not exposed to such exercises. During the class activity, we did a small case-study on risk management and it was really tough. We racked our brains to come up with the possible risks and then had to rank them (we didnt know how to rank properly until Wei-Chong taught us a method !) and then we had to list down what are the contingency plans we had to do for each of the highly ranked risks. This wasnt easy but we somehow managed ! Phew.... what a week !

WEEK 7 (1.JUNE.2010) - PROJECT LIFE CYCLE - BUDGETING

Next week is our mid-test week...everyone kinda stress.. :)

For this week, we are given a new task to complete tutorial 3, for submission on 29 June 2010. Even though it might sound still long way to go for submission, but the reason why we are given out this task at earlier date as we believe there will be lots of research need to be done for this tutorial.

What is project without $$$... :)..so for this week tutorial it will be a continuation work from our previous tutorial 2 which we have done on the work breakdown schedule and activities. We will be looking at the cost budgeting for each activity that we have listed down under our WBS. The cost will be allocated into 3 category, that are Fixed Cost, Variable Cost, and Other Cost.

WBS --> Resource planning --> cost estimation --> cost budgeting --> cost control

* proper budgeting to avoid shortage of budgeting in the period of project
* play with budget cost by set aside some buffer

Each of our team member is responsible for a different task and activity, so what we have plan to do is, each of us will work on individual responsibility taks and come out with a reasonable cost budget that are needed.

Next, we have to calculate our Return of Investment. This will be our gain/benefit that we will make from our Annual warehouse project. Our group leader, Mr Boo Wei Chong, will work on the financial report of our product selling.

We'll see what will be our ROI for this project...

A best wishes from our team members to all our fellow student for our Mid Semester Test next week..Good Luck All!!!

WEEK 6 (25.MAY.2010) - PROJECT LIFE CYCLE - SCHEDULLING

Microsoft Project is a software that being used widely for the purpose of prject scheduling framework. Most of us in the class is not very familiar with this application, and also there are numbers of the students that never come across of this application software before.

We are applying last week lesson, which is the network diagrams, from manual method to a computerised system method using this microsoft project application.

We went through the lesson on how to use this microsoft application by using example as below.

1. set the project title
2. set the calender

- must understand how to use micforsoft office to gant chart
- must know how to convert microsoft office to microsoft excel

it is so tough tough tough..not easy to do if we do not pay full attention in class about how to use this microsoft program. but it is fun and something new to most of us in class as not everyone is fully participate in real working project management. :)





how is our tutorial 2 progress? :) ..so far so good...on this week we continue to do on the work duration schedule and costing. We link these 2 factors into our WBS.

WEEK 5 (18.MAY.2010) - PROJECT LIFE CYCLE - NETWORK DIAGRAMS

This week lesson is all about calculation on the scheduling time plan.

Activity is an element of the project that requires time, either while people working or while people waiting. It is a time from the starting of the project until the end of the project.
Critical path, is the longest path through the network. If an activity on the critical path is delayed, the entire project will be delayed.

We did a lot of exercises in class to ensure that all of us really understand on how to work on the network diagrams...finding the start and finish date of a project scheduling.

Here are the progress of our tutorial 2 (weekly update)..

• brainstorming on the WBS...the main activity, and subtask. We have came out with 7 main activities. Each of us are responsible on each of the activity. So, we are all come out with possible acitvities...
• we meet up to run through on the sub-task that we have think of. From here we are filtering every subtask and pick the ones that we think are the best to be put into our project assignment.

• we are using mind-map software to adapt the above mind-mapping.
  
  

WEEK 4 (11.MAY.2010) - PROJECT LIFE CYCLE - WBS

Task for this week - comlepletion and submission of Tutorial 2.

With the completion identifying the project objectives and scope in terms of costs, duration, responsibility, and etc..this week we are looking into the work breakdown structure (WBS) and mind-mapping of the project objectives and this will lead to the tasks and responsibility that every team members have to focus on.


What is WBS? WBS is ...is work breakdown structure in project management, is a tool used to define and group a project's work discrete elements or tasks in a way that help organize and define the total work scope of the project (source: wikipedia).
From the WBS, we convert it into a mind-mapping concept by using the application of free web-based mapping tool, http://www.mindmeister.com/.

Here is the example of mind-mapping that we have done in class.

The psychologists say our brains can normally comprehend around 7-9 items simultaneously. A project with thousands or even dozens of tasks goes way over our ability to grasp all at once. The solution is to divide and conquer. The WBS helps break thousands of tasks into chunks that we can understand and assimilate. Preparing and understanding a WBS for your project is a big step towards managing and mastering its inherent complexity.

The WBS is commonly used at the beginning of a project for defining project scope, organizing Gantt schedules and estimating costs. It lives on, throughout the project, in the project schedule and often is the main path for reporting project costs.


WBS design should try to achieve certain goals:

1. Be compatible with how the work will be done and how costs and schedules will be managed,

2. Give visibility to important or risky work efforts,

3. Allow mapping of requirements, plans, testing, and deliverables,

4. Foster clear ownership by managers and task leaders,

5. Provide data for performance measurement and historical databases, and

6. Make sense to the workers and accountants.

Reflection:
This week we learnt a lot about project. To be truth, this is the first time that our team members really heard of the work WBS, except for our leader Boo Wei Chong as he is an engineer which involved a lot in project management at his work place. Aside from WBS, we are also exposed to new knowledge of doing a gantt chart using Microsoft Project Solver.

We had a lot of fun adding the various pictures and icons as well as struggled with the various functions and keys necessary to set up the gantt chart correctly to reflect our project. As 3 of us in the group do not have Microsoft Project Solver in our offices or personal computers, we had to depend on our leader Wei-Chong to do this gantt chart. However, it was not easy as he only had this program in his office.

In the end, one of our team members, Regina, managed to get hold of this Microsoft Project Solver, from her sister's laptop and we could now do it at our own time during the weekend. It was a mad rush, but we managed to meet up and discuss the criterias, managed the basic workings of this program and finally came up with the gantt chart. It was real challenging ! Phew....

WEEK 3 (04.MAY.2010) - PROJECT LIFE CYCLE & INITIATING PHASE

Third week has come....time passes very fast. We are all very happy that we have finished our first task, Tutorial 1, just in time.

We have assigned responsibility of each of team member, clearly defined on the objective that we are going to achieve, discussing on the issues that we are expecting to face, and most importantly is the costing budget.






Based on the project management cycle process we are currently in the stage of developing a project plan, which includes defining and confirming the project goals and objectives, identifying tasks and how goals will be achieved, quantifying the resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines for completion.

We are given a task to complete in class. This is a group work which we are given a question paper about the project life cycle of implentation of MRP (manufacturing resource planning) system. This class activity assignment is a guide for us to understand better about our project management assignment. We work as team and each of us are given a task to come out with an idea on each of the project cycle phase. It wasnt that easy..but we managed to complete it within an hour and submit to lecturer in time! :)

WEEK 2 (27.APR.2010) - PROJECT LIFE CYCLE - PROJECT MANAGERS & STAKEHOLDERS

Task for this week - comlepletion and submission of Tutorial 1.

On this week, our group is discussing on the roles and responsibilities that will be carried out by each of the team members. Everyone of us will have a function of work to focus on, but still, we will be helping each other to ensure that our group achieve towards our goal to have the best project proposal for this Project Management in the Supply Chain course.

Team Members and their Responsibilities:-

1. Project Leader and Financial Controller - Boo Wei Chong


2. Sales & Marketing - Suhana Bukhari


3. Planner - Ruth Ho


4. Warehouse Coordinator - Regina Chow

We will be starting our project by recognizing all the work processes that are needed along the way to complete our project.

First, we will identify and look at the most important part of this project, which is the Project Objective.

Next, we will scope down our discussion to the estimated duration, estimated costs, responsibility matrix, current issues, man power requirements, resources requirement, and etc.

Our target is to finish this week's job in 1 week's time.

Reflections :

We racked our brains for this tutorial. We had to come up with project objectives, scope, responsibility matrix, estimated costs, budgets etc. This is real tough and we had to "dig" for information from our own companies. We do a lot of research from internet on other companies warehouse sale to get ourselves familiar on the background of annual warehouse project.