BBA 3626 Unit I Assessment

BBA 3626 Unit I Assessment

Put the five project management process groups in order from the one that generally requires the least work to the one that requires the most.

According to Kloppenborg (2015) the project management process group that generally requires the lowest level of effort is the initiating phase. Following this group, the stage with the second least amount of effort required would be the monitoring and controlling stage. Third in terms of least amount of effort would then be the closing process group, followed up by planning. Finally, the group that generally requires the highest level of effort would be the executing stage.

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T.J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

List and describe several issues that pertain to each stage of the project life cycle.

As projects go, they will all go through the same predictable stages known as a project life cycle. Project life cycle is simply the different phases that a project will go through from its initiation to its final closure. Each of these stages presents its own set of issues that may be encountered during the process. Within selecting and initiating, “selecting is performed periodically for all projects at a division or corporate level, and then initiating is rather quick-just enough so that a project makes sense and key participants will commit to it” (Kloppenborg, 2015, p. 6). The issue that arises with this is that there may not be enough time taken to fully explain and understand all of the details of the project and key points may be missed or overlooked. Issues that may arise in the planning stage could include missed details due to time constraints. As the planning stage can be rather detailed and normally requires a great deal more work, if rushed, managers may miss key details and stakeholders will not be inclined to accept the plan in its entirety. Execution is the stage in which the majority of the hands on project tasks will be completed and requires the greatest amount of time. This stage requires a considerable amount of work and like previous stages should not be rushed. Poor execution may lead to a failed project and unhappy customers. Closing allows for i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed as final ends are tied up. Issues arising during this stage could include not fully capturing and realizing lessons learned or not appropriately reassigning resources based on feedback (Kloppenborg, 2015).

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T.J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

What does project failure mean? What are some examples?

Project failure is used to describe when a project does not meet certain success criteria that have been laid out. Projects can sometimes be fully successful in some ways and be much less successful in others, but, the overall goal of excellent project management is to be fully successful in all measures of a project. Examples of project failures could include: lack of resources not allowing for a project to be completed on time, poor time management within a project causing possible quality issues, stakeholders not in agreement concerning expectations with a project, and lack of adequate project planning being used (Kloppenborg, 2015).

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T.J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Discuss how a project could be successful in terms of some measures yet unsuccessful by others.

A successful project is one that creates deliverables that encompass all of the agreed upon features, also known as meeting scope goals. Outputs of a successful project should satisfy all specifications and expectations of customers. Projects are measured against different success criteria from start to finish and may meet or exceed portions of this criteria, while also falling short in terms of others (Kloppenborg, 2015). For example, a project may be highly successful in meeting agreements for things such as costs, schedule, and specifications, but may fall short in terms of the performing organizations success or in promoting the success of the projects team.

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T.J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Name the 10 project management knowledge areas, and briefly summarize each.

The 10 project management knowledge areas are: 1) Integration management – This is the process to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various aspects of the project activities 2) Scope management – process to ensure that the project includes all the work, and only the work required to complete the project successfully 3) Time management – manage timely project completion 4) Cost management – process to budget and control costs of a project to ensure completion within budgeted means 5) Quality management – ensures quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities are sound and satisfies the needs of the project 6) Human resources management – process of organizing, managing, and leading the project team 7) Communications management – controls the timely and appropriate control of all things that deal with the project information 8) Risk management – is the process of identifying and mitigating any negative risk to the project and promoting positive events that positively impact the project 9) Procurement management – purchasing and acquiring products services, or results from outside of the project team 10) Stakeholder management – is the process of identifying anyone that could or may impact or be impacted by the project, knowing and managing expectations, engaging them, and managing conflicting interests (Kloppenborg, 2015).

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T.J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Compare and contrast the four phases of the project life cycle process.

“All projects go through predictable stages called a project life cycle” (Kloppenborg, 2015, p. 6). The four phases of a project life cycle are selecting and initiating, planning, executing, and closing and realizing. Each phases begins and ends at specific points and each requires its own specific amount of effort. Additionally, the pace of the work and amount of resources spent within each phase can vary drastically from phase to phase. Selecting and initiating begins with a simple idea of a project, which has been selected and planned at a high level and ends with a commitment to broad terms by key participants. As selecting and initiating begins with a simple idea and ends with broad terms, planning begins with the initial commitment but includes highly detailed planning and ends only with the acceptance by stakeholders to very detailed plans. Executing, unlike previous stages, requires a great deal more work that can take a much more considerable amount of time. Where previous stages consisted of thought and planning, executing encompasses the majority of the accomplishment of hands on tasks. This phase continues until the customer accepts the projects deliverables. Unlike executing, closing and realizing is the stage where the work level decreases significantly and includes all activities that occur after customer acceptance to ensure that the project is actually completed based on multiple aspects such as lessons learned, reassignment of resources, contributions are recognized, and benefits are realized (Kloppenborg, 2015).

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T.J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Appreciative inquiry consists typically of four phases. Identify the four phases, and briefly describe each one.

“Appreciative inquiry is a positive philosophy for change wherein whole systems convene to inquire for change” (Kloppenborg, 2015, p. 23). According to Kloppenborg (2015), appreciative inquiry operates on the principle that human systems tend to move in the direction of their shared image and ideas of the future, and that change is based upon positive outcomes in the past. Appreciative inquiry is typically made up of four phases, which are: discovery, dream, design, and delivery. The discovery phase is based upon what has been. This phase researches and discovers the positive capacity of the group. Members use stories to describe their individual strengths, assets, peak experiences, and successes in order to develop an understanding of what made their moments of excellence possible. Within this step, stakeholders look to past events to recollect a time when needs and wants were able to be described and were molded into the projects scope. Dreaming considers what could be. Expanding upon the moments of excellence discussed in the discovery phase, dreaming allows participants to imagine what is possible should their moments of excellence became the norm. This stage allows participants to idealize the model situation with the perfect conditions and builds hope for the possibility of an ideal future. Design is based upon what should be. In this phase, the group creates principles that will allow them to realize their dream. During this stage, participants are encouraged to think big in order to move the system from where it is to where the group wants it to be. During this stage the group should think about the perfect world without any constraints and therefore think of the project as if there were no resource constraints. Lastly there is the delivery phase, which considers what will be. The group starts looking at who will or can fulfill the responsibility of the design that was dreamed from the discovery.  This is when those involved decide on what or when to commit themselves (Kloppenborg, 2015).

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T.J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge consists of a project life cycle, five process groups, and 10 knowledge areas. Chose two of the processes and four of the knowledge areas and briefly describe each one. Also, include the reason you chose your selections.

Two of the five process groups within the Project Management Body of Knowledge are planning and monitoring and controlling. According to Kloppenborg (2015, p. 9), planning allows for the establishment of “the project scope, refine objectives and define actions to attain objectives.” Monitoring and controlling provides for an opportunity to keep track of, review, and regulate any progress and performance issues, to identify changes that may be needed, and to initiate those changes. Within the ten knowledge areas, scope management is the process used to ensure that any given project includes all of the work required, but only the work required, to successfully complete the project. Cost management consist of all of the work required to successfully plan, estimate, budget, finance, fund, manage, and control costs in order for a project to be completed within the approved financial terms. Human resource management is most simply defined as the process of organizing, managing, and leading the project team. Finally, within the ten knowledge areas is the area of procurement management. This encompasses all of the processes needed to purchase or garner any products, services, or results from sources outside of the project team (Kloppenborg, 2015).

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T.J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

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