Prioritizing Projects

TITLE: PRIORITIZING PROJECTS AT D.D WILLIAMSON

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Analyze the prioritizing process at D.D Williamson

D.D Williamson is a small company that is privately owned and was founded in the year 1865 in Louisville. The company participated in several projects some reached completion but some were underway and could not be completed. It involved itself in many activities and building of projects that were deemed very important to the company’s wellbeing and success in the foreseeable future. As the company continued with the active projects, it was later faced with the reality of failing projects that were sometimes incomplete. It realized that a project deemed to be necessary and important would be started but could not be completed as per the goals of the company. The company returns were not also streaming as it is approximated thus creating loss of profit and unsustainable growth. This thus prompted the company to do an internal research in order to evaluate the source of the problem. D.D Williamson came to realize the projects that were initiated failed because of its inability to manage the projects.

Inability to manage projects resulted from missed strategic planning, lack of enough information on the cost of projects and financial benefit miscalculation. This led to projects exceeding the budget, never reaching their goals therefore not being completed on time. D.D Williamson therefore came up with the best solution to eradicate failed or incomplete projects. It formulated the prioritizing process that is defined as a process of project management involving many factors to design a well-organized prioritizing for projects. The company came up with a successful prioritizing plan that saw it return back to its normal operations and enabled it to make profits and achieve sustainable growth. It also realized that apart from strategic planning, setting of goals, budgeting, leadership skills and loyalty to the company, prioritizing of projects played a key role in the success of the projects.

D.D Williamson formulated the idea of prioritizing in order to ensure that every project that is proposed would be able to reach completion and not just a matter of starting a project that is left half way. It therefore listed 60 projects that needed to be prioritized, organized and selected. The company came up with the four steps that were termed necessary for rating a projects. The steps included the following;

To overcome the issues that experienced, the company resolved to prioritize its projects and assigned them with titles ‘vision impact projects’ (VIPs) which meant projects that were highly prioritized because they generated the maximum revenue.

1. Establishing of a criterion for prioritizing
2. Weighing each of the criterion established in order to come up with the best for the projects.
3. Refining of the list of projects. This entailed the sorting out of the list of projects proposed to only obtain the best of all.
4. Rating each of the project on each criterion and the total rating over the period of time.

The parameters that were used for prioritizing included the strategic value, financial benefit, cost and resource impact of the project. This factors were the main determinants in the formulation of the prioritizing process. The projects were rated on the level of how they would impact on corporate objectives and how it would be able to survive the various challenges and barriers in order to fulfill the desired goal.

Suggest two recommendations to improve the prioritizing process.

As a consultant in the D.D Williamson company, I would recommend that the company should always investigate its weaknesses, strength, threats and opportunities before making a final decision on a project to be started. It should be able to spot the various constraints that are always involved in setting up a new projects and the various advantages in it. The company should be able to corporate the concept of strategic planning and be able to evaluate itself on the progress made. This would enable it to better utilize its funds and also eliminate taking too much timed on projects that are too cumbersome to handle. The company should also have good governance. Control of administration is critical and hence helps the association to be more careful and productive.

D.D Williamson should also ensure the steps involved in prioritization and improvement are followed to the latter. It should have to create systematic way and approach to prioritizing projects, financial budgeting, use of appropriate ranking formula and senior management approvals. This would enable the company to put forth its projects in order appropriate of highest revenue generating to those that generate low levels of revenue. Following the steps will enable the company to organize and make better decisions on the project that comes first before the rest. The selected project is then worked on and completed in the smallest time possible. Only the critical projects will be completed thus the company would be able to operate efficiently.

Create a scenario where the implemented process at D.D Williamson will not work.

The choice of priority of project can be greatly affected if there is lack of communication between the project managers or the stakeholders. Project managers should always be together in matters pf decision making in order to come up with strategic plan on how to carry on various activities involved with the project. It is therefore paramount that an effective communication exists between them. All parties involved in a particular project in the company should work as a team to ensure the prioritization method chosen is a success. For example, if the company has both the project designers, project engineers and a firm that is given the contract to construct the project. Differences between the stakeholders can make the project to be at standstill. Everything stops working out and therefore the project will be completed as proposed. This leads to a waste of time and resources that could have been otherwise been avoided if all the stakeholders take part in the decision making process.

The various differences will also force the labor supply to be affected since it depends on senior management approval in order for them to resume their duties.

Project five years ahead and speculate whether or not D. D. Williamson will be using the same process. Justify your answer.

I think that D.D Williamson will be using the same process after five years. The process chosen by the company has been able to help them a great deal. It is able to evaluate on the types of projects to carry out at a particular time and also able to prioritize them in the order of how much revenue they can generate. The company is therefore able to undertake different many critical projects at the same time. As compared to the past, D.D Williamson is not able to maintain a sustainable growth and at the same time able to make profits. It has also helped the company to prioritize on different complex issues when there faced with different criteria for determining importance.

The company is able to make right choices on the projects that are more involving and therefore enabling it to prosper in development and growth. However, the process method selected by the company requires constant review and analysis. The checks have to be made in order to find out what is working and what is not. It also enables the company to evaluate itself in terms of progress. Continuous improvement process makes the processes in the company to meet the various needs it requires. This need include improvement on the product, processing equipment and enables it to attain its own personal agendas and goals.

D.D Williamson is also able to prioritize its projects in such a way that it stays within a schedule, the budget, risk management plan, commitment and approval. this factors have enabled the company to have adequate records of its finances and have also enable it to save on time used on different development projects. Therefore, this are some of the reasons as to why D.D Williamson will retain the process for the next five years.

Conclusion

From the discussions, it is now evident that prioritizing projects at D.D Williamson has become a changing factor and should be considered a work in progress. The right choice of prioritizing process hasled to adequate use of resources and saving of time when it comes to implementation of projects to completion. The general use of continuous improvement methods has resulted in better product improvement and processing equipment in the company

References

Kloppenborg, T., Nkomo, S. (2012). Human resource project management. (2nd ed.).

(2013 , 10) .Case Study 1: Prioritizing Projects At D. D. Williamson Researchomatic .

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Mason,OH: South-Western Cengage Learninghttp://ddwilliamson.com/about-ddw/http://www.outlookproject.com/http://www.techrepublic.com/cio50/articles/2003?tag=content;siu-contain