Session 8

Ryan fielding

Budget, time and quality

Stakeholder map
Organisation
AESSEAL

Stakeholders
EMPLOYEES
MANAGERS
LOCAL COMMUNITY
GOVERNMENT
LENDERS
SHAREHOLDERS
COMPETITORS
COLLABORATORS
CUSTOMERS
SUPPLIERS

Stakeholder Viewpoints
Budget
X

Project sponsor
Functional expert
Line manager
Supplier or contractor
Customer or end user
Project manager
X

Time

Quality
X

X
X
X
X

X
X

Task 1
Read the following case study about the building of the Millennium Dome in the UK
and document your thoughts on the project issues. How far do you think the project
met the needs of the stakeholders? How successful was the project planning in your
view? What were the key issues and why did they occur?
Personally I dont feel that the project correctly met the needs of the stakeholder in
financial terms anyway. The financial and logistical problems were a large
contributing factor to the downfall of the project planning. There were financial back
ups put into place as it states there was 90 million essentially set aside just in case.
They were obviously very confident of success as there was no mention of closure in
budget form. Several consultants, employed by various stakeholders, tried to

estimate the number of visitors for the Domes one-year operational life and the
budgets for visitor charges, merchandising and catering were eventually based on a
projection of 12 million paying visitors. This projection was four times as many as the
annual number of visitors to Britains biggest most popular pay-to-visit attraction at
that time. https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=704958&section=4/
Clearly the biggest issue with the estimates on this project were the overestimates of
visitor numbers. The National Audit Office investigation of the Millennium Dome
project made a series of recommendations about future major projects involving the
British Government. Among them were:

Where the financial success of a project depends on generating income

from visitors, to reflect the uncertainties inherent in estimating such
income, project planning should be based on prudent assumptions.

To make realistic judgements about likely visitor numbers, and put in

place effective marketing, the timetable needs to allow for a reasonable
period for the development of a clear vision of what the product is and
a fully thought-through pricing strategy.

Projects should proceed on the basis of a full understanding of the full

costs from start to finish. For projects with a limited life, these should
include the costs of closure, decommissioning and, where appropriate,
eventual sale.

(Comptroller and Auditor General, 2000, p. 10)

Task 2
In the light of your reading, document your thoughts on this case study about the key
issues faced.
The key issues faced were that the original stakeholder consultants projection forecast
was too high. This was then revised in 2000 and the budget was altered. The
contingencies built into the 1997 budget were all exhausted in the January 2000
budget, which provided no room for manoeuvre to deal with unforeseen costs and
losses of revenue.
https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=704958&section=4/
Throughout 2000, the visitor numbers were much lower than expected then even the
revised projections. This led to further cash shortages, more requests for additional
grants and more money being allocated. Therefore these increases of funding received
considerable attention in Parliament, in the media and across Britain. The initial
budget didnt account for a closure but the Sep 2000 one did incorporate this.
As the figures rose, during 2000, from the original approved grant of 399 million,
there were many calls for the Dome to be closed. This option was resisted on grounds
that it would actually be more costly than continuing to trade; presumably because
most costs were contracted in advance, and so were unavoidable, whereas revenue
would cease as soon as the gates were closed.
https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=704958&section=4/

4.1 Task 1
Although there are many approaches to planning a project, there are eight elements
that are normally included in a project plan:

a work breakdown structure to show separate tasks and activities

the team structure and responsibilities of key people

an estimate of effort and duration for each task

a schedule to show the sequence and timing of activities

a list of dependencies activities that depend on the completion of other tasks

details of resources to be allocated to each task

details of the budget to be allocated to each cost identified

Contingency plans to deal with risks identified.

Use the project that you described in Activity 8.1 or another of your choice and
prepare an outline of the steps that need to be taken using the six-step project
management model. Write a brief report for your senior team describing the project to
your key stakeholders and outlining your approach to the project. Leave the last
section on risks for the moment as this will be covered in the final part of this session
and Activity 8.4.
Define, plan team, building control, communications, review and exit
Creating a component.
The definition of this small project will be to create a new component to seal a
specific application.
The plan initially is to design the component to seal the gap between a rotor on a ship
and the ocean.
Team building is starts with establishing a team and they will help with planning how
the component will look and function.
The control stage will be following the component through the design all the way to a
fully manufactured component.
The communication stage will require constant contact between each department to
ensure the finished part is completed.
The review stage is to review and exit from the project. The review is held to evaluate
whether all the intended outcomes of the project have been met.

Task 2
In the light of your reading about project management, write a brief outline for an
email that you could send to a new colleague who is about to take on project
management for the first time, setting out the advantages and disadvantages of using
frameworks like this for project planning. You may wish to create a new simulated
situation and data to avoid providing sensitive information from your organisation.
Dear colleague,
Here is what you might need to know to aid you in project management for the first
time. The following is to help your understanding of the advantages and
disadvantages of project management;
The advantages of project management in this context are to be able to meet
component completion on time and also meet the customer service requirement. If all
items go to plan then you can hopefully achieve a correct component outcome via
following the 6 steps Define, plan team, building control, communications, review
and exit.
The disadvantages of project management in this context are the planning process will
take a long time and is not always efficient this includes the usual time delay and lack
of accountability. Also this is then passed down the line and something that may take
6 weeks to complete spends too long in the design area and it reduces production time
allocation.

6. Managing change
Task 2
Document your thoughts on change. In the light of the reading, what do you think are
the key points to bear in mind when you approach any change management situation?
Change within a workplace can be negative or positive. personally I have seen that to
the older long staying staff member change to them is "the end of the world" they hate
it and grow comfortable in their old own ways. This is despite that fact that change
often leads to a better working position for them and always has a positive output
eventually. these changes were brought about because of the ideas from a new
director.
A recent change that failed was the implementation of a new tool vendor which is
owned by the tool company that provide replenishment stock for the fail on this
occasion was a 3.16mm drill which was needed to complete a job but then the
operative came to need the drill it was unavailable as the stock hadn't been
replenished so the system failed on that occasion.
Change often fails when it is implemented incorrectly and not planned sufficiently
quite simply.

Task 3
Think about the manager of the successful change you discussed in Activity 8.1.
Think about some of the main competencies for a successful change manager
(sometimes called a change agent)? You might find it helpful to document them
under headings reflecting different key areas such as practice, communications and
research competencies.
The manager of this particular project was in fact only a trainee manager himself (on
this occasion). This could also point out as to why there failures of communication
between the tool supplier and the company.