PMC9

Project Management National Conference 2011 PMI India

Pan African e- Network Project - a
challenge in Project Management
implementation

Vimal Wakhlu, PMP
Director Technical, TCIL

2|P a g e
Application of Select Tools of Psychology for Effective Project Management


Contents
1 Introduction........................................................................................................................4
2 Initiation of the Project ......................................................................................................4
3 Design of the Network.......................................................................................................5
4 Stakeholders in the Project.................................................................................................9
5 Intended Objectives of the Project...................................................................................11
6 Achievements of the programme/project so far...............................................................12
7 Some success stories........................................................................................................14
8 Challenges posed by the Pan African e-Network ............................................................15
9 Special Challenges as a PSU............................................................................................22
10 Lessons Learnt................................................................................................................22
11 Awards and accolades....................................................................................................22
12 Conclusions....................................................................................................................23
13 Author’s Profile..............................................................................................................23

3|P a g e


1 Introduction

Implementation of Projects in Government set up pose a tough challenge, as the
project environment is not a common practice in those organizations. Further, in
case the project happens to be a complex one, the things become still tougher.

TCIL, a Government of India Enterprise under Ministry of Communications, has
implemented a project for the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs
called- Pan African e- Network Project. This Project was conceived by Dr.A.P.J
Abdul Kalam , the former Hon. President of India. He offered this network to the
Pan African Parliament in Johannesburg in September 2004 to share India’s
expertise in the fields of Education and Health care for an accelerated socio-
economic development of Africa.

Pan African e- Network Project involved rolling out an e-Network across
continents through sky , land and sea. The Project has three components –
Tele-education services, Telemedicine services and VVIP Connectivity, a
service wherein heads of the states in Africa can communicate among one
another in a completely secured environment. The implementation has been
completed in 47 countries so far.

Lot of challenges were faced while implementing this project including issues in
Customs clearance, theft of materials at airports, Mandatory clearances for
establishing communications network in these 47 countries on time , which
posed a serious threat to the project timelines, and also the budgeted costs.

The objective of this paper is to highlight the challenges that were faced while
implementing this Mega Project, wherein a coordination was needed with
Governments in 47 countries in Africa , Government of India , Super Speciality
Hospitals and Universities in India and Africa.

2 Initiation of the Project

Pan African e-Network project is a Government of India initiative. It is a single
largest project of its kind, which has brought the African Nations under one
umbrella, for collaboration and development.

After Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, offered this Network to Africa, AU accepted the
Indian proposal and signed an umbrella MOU with Govt. of India (through
Ministry of External Affairs – Nodal Ministry)

4|P a g e


Govt. of India appointed TCIL (Telecommunication Consultants India Limited) as
the turnkey implementing Agency for the project network. The role of TCIL
included:

• Signing of Country agreement with all the 53 Nations of Africa.

• Design and implementation of Total Network Solution

• Operations & management Support for the project period (5 years after
commissioning of the network)

• Providing Tele-Education and Tele-Medicine Services in collaboration with
Indian Universities and Super Specialty Hospitals selected by Govt. of India.

As a precursor to the implementation of this mega project, a pilot project of
tele-education and telemedicine was undertaken between India and Ethiopia
from Nov 2006 to July 2009. Two and a half year of Tele-education programme
in MBA was conducted (from Jan 2007 and May 2009) from IGNOU to students
of Addis Ababa University and Harmaya University in Ethiopia. 34 students
completed their MBA education on the network. Telemedicine services were
delivered from Care Hospital Hyderabad to Black Lion Hospital and Nekempte
Hospital in Ethiopia. 43 Telemedicine sessions and 30 CME sessions were
carried out during the period of the Pilot Project.

Based on the experiences gained during the pilot project, the design of Pan
African e-Network project evolved. It envisaged networking a total of 190 sites
in India and Africa covering 7 universities, 12 super specialty hospitals and pan
Africa e-network data centre at TCIL HQ on Indian side; 53 learning centres, 53
patient end hospitals, 53 VVIP nodes, 5 regional universities, 5 regional SSH and
Satellite Hub station at Dakar on Africa side.

3 Design of the Network

The Network

The network comprises of:

• Satellite Hub Station at Dakar, Senegal

• A VSAT based Network connecting learning centre, patient-end Hospital and
VVIP node in each of the 53 member countries of African country

5|P a g e


• An MPLS network connecting 5 leading Indian Universities and 12 Super
Specialty Hospitals to Pan African e-Network Data Centre at TCIL
Headquarters

• 5 African Universities and 5 Super Specialty Hospitals

• An IPLC(International Private Leased Circuit) between Pan African e-Network
Data Centre at TCIL HQ and Satellite Hub Station at Dakar, Senegal using
Optical fibre cable and submarine cable links.

• The Tele-education and Tele-medicine services are managed from Pan
African e-Network Data Centre at TCIL headquarters in New Delhi.

• The Network also provides VVIP connectivity for videoconferencing and VoIP
among the 53 African Head of States in a completely secured environment.

Fig: 1

Data Centre

6|P a g e


A state of the Art Data Centre has been established at TCIL HQ in New Delhi.
The disaster Recovery site has been put at the Satellite Hub Station in Dakar
Senegal. It has been depicted in Fig:2

IMSS

SMART DB SERVER M ETADATA APPLICATION BACKUP EM AIL WEB SERVERS
CLUSTER SERVER SERVERS SERVER SERVER AV Gateway
CENTER

CISCO 24 CISCO 24
port sw port sw

LB-1 LB-2
SAN
VLAN 1 VLAN 2
SAN SWITCH 02
SWITCH 01
FW02
Power switch INTERNET

CISCO L3
SW 01

CISCO L3
SW 02 Airtel Router
SAN STORAGE BOX
TAPELIBRARY
M PLS
FW01
LAYER 2 SWITCH Airtel Router
LINUX IPLC
AV SERVER M ANAGEM ENT
CONTROL DL/LDAP NM S
SERVER SERVER SERVERS (
SERVER/DESKTOCONTROL SERVER 02
P)

P AF
AN RICAN e T
-NE WORK DA ACENT A T
T ER T CIL
BHAWAN - DE HI
L

Fig:2

ICT and application technologies such as Data Centre infrastructure, Firewall,
Web servers, Mail servers, Streaming servers, Proxy servers, Database servers,
Backup and Storage equipments (SAN, NAS, Tape storage), Applications
servers, Meta data servers, Linux servers, Windows 2003 servers, Tele-
education software, Telemedicine software etc. constitute this Data Centre and
its Disaster Recovery..

TCIL has employed state-of-the-art technology and utilized Land, Sea and Sky
for implementing this great initiative of Government of India.

Medical Equipment

All the Telemedicine Centres in Africa have been equipped with Medical
Equipment which include:

• Portable X-Ray Machine

7|P a g e


• X-Ray Film Scanner-Digitizer (DICOM 3.0 Compliant)

• 12-lead ECG Machine

• Ultra-sound Machine with color Doppler (DICOM 3.0 Compliant)

• Defibrillator - AED (Automated External Defibrillator)

• Glucometer/Blood Analyzer

• Urine Analyzer

• Blood Pressure Measuring Instrument

• Tele-Pathology Microscope with built-in Digital Camera

• Sterilizer/ Hot air oven

Major Components of the project

• Construction of Satellite Hub Station Building at Dakar , Senegal

• Supply, Installation & Commissioning of:

o Satellite Hub Station

o VSATs in 169 locations in Africa

o Data Center and Studio Set up in TCIL HQ

o Data Center at the Satellite Hub Station

8|P a g e


o ICT Equipments (Computer hardware, system software, networking
equipment, studio equipment and UPS) at 170 locations in Africa (53
LC,53 PEL, 53 VVIP Node, 5 RUC, 5 RSSH and 1 DC at hub) and 19
locations in India (7 UC, 12 SSH and DC at Delhi)

o Medical Equipments at 53 Patient-end Hospitals

o Tele-Ed and Tele-Med Application Software

o Studio Set ups with multimedia facilities

o Model Class Rooms with multimedia facilities at 189 centers across
India & Africa

• Operation & Management & AMC support for the network for 5 yrs

• Tele-Education and Tele-Medicine services for 5 years

4 Stakeholders in the Project

The major Stakeholders in this Project are the Government of India, African
Union Commission, Participating Nations of Africa. Apart from this the other
stake holders too need to be identified. Participating Indian universities selected
by Govt. of India are:

1. IGNOU, New Delhi

2. University of Madras, Chennai

3. Delhi University

4. BITS Pilani

5. Amity University, Noida.

9|P a g e


Selected Super Specialty Hospitals are:

1. AIIMS, New Delhi

2. Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi

3. Moolchand hospital, New Delhi

4. Fortis hospital, Noida

5. Apollo hospital, Chennai

6. SRMC Chennai

7. Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore

8. Health Care Global Enterprises, Bangalore

9. Care hospitals, Hyderabad

10. Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi

11. Dr. Balabhai Nanavati hospital, Mumbai

12. Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS),
Lucknow.

From the African side five Regional University Centers (RUCs) and five Regional
Super Speciality Hospitals (RSSHs) have been earmarked for implementation. It
is expected that these institutions would provide similar services within Africa
after the expiry of handholding period in July 2014.

Leading Regional Universities selected by African Union are

1. Makerere University , Uganda

2. Kwame –Nkrumah University, Ghana

3. Yaounde-I University, Cameroon

10|P a g e


4. Alexandria University, Egypt

5. University of Malawi , Malawi.

Selected Leading Regional Super Specialty Hospitals are

1. Ibadan Hospital , Nigeria

2. Brazzaville Hospital , Congo

3. Sir Seewosagur Ramgoolam National Hospital, Mauritius

4. Alexandria University Hospital; Egypt

5 Intended Objectives of the Project

The intended objectives of the project include –

Capacity building by way of imparting education to 10,000 African students
over 5 year period (2009-14):

• 2000 in PG Programs,

• 3000 in UG Programs and

• 5000 in skill enabling Certificate, Diploma and PGD Programs

Tele-medicine components include:

• Online medical consultation for one hour everyday to each country for 5
years

• Offline advice for 5 patients per day to each country for 5 years

11|P a g e


• Continuing Medical Education (CME) for 500 practicing Doctors and 1000
working Nurses/Physicians’ Assistants, to update their medical knowledge
and upgrade their clinical skills.

VVIP connectivity for providing secured communication among the Heads of
the States of Africa wherein they apart from improving their bilateral ties would
also be in a position to handle emergencies with neighbours.

The network is a shining example of South-South co-operation to bridge
the Digital divide in the African continent. The ultimate objective being Socio-
economic development of Africa by empowering the people with international
quality education and health services, using Tele-education and Telemedicine
services

6 Achievements of the programme/project so
far

Network is delivering Tele-education services from 5 Indian Universities to the
learning centres in African countries for various postgraduate, under graduate,
diploma, certificate courses offered by Indian Universities which includes MBA
(International Business), Master in Finance Control, MSC-IT, BSc (IT), Bachelor
in Finance & Investment analysis, BBA, PGDIT, Diploma in Business
Management, Certificate in Nutrition and Child care, Diploma in Early childcare
and education and Diploma in HIV/AIDS, Certificate programmes in Accountancy
and English.

Telemedicine consultations and CME are being delivered from 12 Indian Super
Specialty Hospitals to patient end hospitals in African countries. CME is being
delivered in 18 Medical disciplines which includes General (Internal) Medicine,
Radiology, Adult Cardiology, Paediatric Cardiology, Neurology, Dermatology,
Endocrinology, Infectious Diseases/HIV-AIDS, Gastroenterology, Nephrology,
Pathology, Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Medical Oncology, Urology, Genetics,
Gynaecology, Ophthalmology.

The progress so far-

• The Project has been implemented in all the 47 countries who have signed
the agreement so far.

• More than 5000 students have registered for various programme so far.

• More than 1491 lectures have been conducted for Tele Education.

12|P a g e


• More than 1200 Continued Medical Education sessions have been delivered
from Indian Super Specialty Hospitals

• More than 310 Telemedicine Consultations have taken place from Indian
Super Specialty Hospitals to all patient end hospitals in Africa. Tele
consultations of certain cases of critical nature have been managed
successfully over the network

Preference is being given to induct the local IT & Telecom professionals
wherever possible, training them to adequate level so that they are able to
independently manage the daily operation of the systems. Senegal Patient End
Location, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau, Rwanda, Somalia, Cameroon are some of
the examples of this.

Technical workshops are also one such medium wherein technical
presentations on the installed system, software applications and other features of
the system are demonstrated by the specialists to the benefit of senior delegates
of the member countries. One such workshop had already been organised by
TCIL (on 12-13 August 2009 in Delhi) during the initial phase of installation of the
system in the countries. Second such workshop was held at New Delhi during
14-15 March 2011.

Regional training was also organised for the technical manpower of each
member country in Delhi, between 15-19 March 2011. The training covered the
concepts, system architecture and operating procedures in respect of the
network elements installed in the African member countries.

Medical engineers from the OEMs are made to visit each member country in
Africa for on site training to the doctors and nurses on operation and handling of
pathological and diagnostic medical equipment supplied to each Patient End
Location in the member countries.

Similarly software specialists in the application software visit to each African site
to provide on site training and demonstration of the features of their individual
respective software to the local technical staff at the site.

There have been some challenges due to scheduling of the Tele-education
programmes. Africa is a big continent. The time difference between the countries
in the east like Mauritius and Seychelles, and the counties to the extreme west
like Cape Verde is 5 hours . Further, India is one and a half hours to the east. All
the classes originate from India. Hence, a class which is conducted at 12:30 PM
in India means 6 AM in the morning for students in Cape Verde. Similarly, since
the demand for various courses is too high, the classes continue till 9:30 PM IST.
This means 8 PM for the students from Mauritius, which is not very convenient.
13|P a g e


Hence, a proposal has been mooted for running concurrent classes. This has
cost implications in terms of additional class rooms, and is still at the decision
making stage.

Another challenge has been the issue of language. Most of the Indian specialist
are used to English, as this is one of the official languages over here. However,
this poses a barrier in some of the West African Nations where the language is
French. There was a poor response to the CME sessions in those countries
though in English speaking countries it was good. To overcome this barrier, a
provision was kept for French interpreters at the Indian end. This did improve
overall attendance in those Nations.

7 Some success stories

There has been a lot of capacity building process in the 47 countries of Africa.
TCIL installation engineers have been involving the local technical staff during
the installation of and commissioning of the system, at each site, in every country
to get them adequately trained in the system architecture and working.

The Tele-education programmes delivered on the Pan African e- Network, would
go a long way in creating a pool of professionals in the member countries,
providing them a global good platform in this competitive environment. The
Telemedicine network has started transforming the lives of people in some of the
countries

7.1 Senegal

A number of lives could be saved on this network. During a recent interview with
Fann hospital doctors, they informed that the network had contributed
tremendously in the neurosurgery by way of on-line interaction with highly
renowned specialists in this domain from India . There are only limited
neurosurgeons available in Senegal, and this network allows the doctors in
Senegal an opportunity to share the diagnosis and treatments with their
counterparts in India. The doctors mentioned that before the establishment of
this network, Senegal had limited options and ways of diagnosis, but now the
neurosurgeons from Senegal find more options for treatments . Moreover,
regular consultations with Indian counterparts has reinforced confidence in
treating the patients. The neurosurgeons feel that this network has helped
benchmark their knowledge with the international standards.

14|P a g e


There is another unique cardiac case in Senegal, the only case that has been
reported so far in Senegal. A 20 year young man had been suffering from serious
palpitation and pre-cordial pain and was suspected to be suffering from left
ventricular aneurysm and had lost all hope of his survival . However, after the
case was referred to Apollo Chennai for tele-medicine consultation, the patient
was cured and is now leading a normal life.

Similarly another case of a 35 years old man who had been suffering with loss of
consciousness. The patient had already undergone neurosurgery once in 2008 in
Senegal. However the tumour reappeared and was noticed in February 2011.
The doctors in Senegal had lost all hopes of his survival. The case was
discussed with experts from Fortis hospital Noida , where the specialists
recommended 2nd surgery under medical supervision, and the person managed
to survive.

7.2 Seychelles

The Government health budget is supposed to have come down. Being a welfare
state, any patient with heart condition is supposed to be sent abroad for
treatment , along with an attendant at Government expenses. With an
appropriate diagnosis by the experts remotely, ensures that National resources
are not frittered away.

7.3 Ethiopia

Tele-education has really caught the imagination of the people in the country.
People from remote areas of the country have been actively participating in the
educations programs offered on the Pan African e-Network.

In the pilot project that was completed in 2007, the programme has already
benefitted about 28 in-service professionals that took higher education through
the pilot Pan African e-Network Project from Ethiopia to upgrade their knowledge
and academic profile.

8 Challenges posed by the Pan African e-
Network

The project was full of challenges. Some of the challenges faced and the action
taken, Process wise have been listed below:

1. Initiating Process

15|P a g e


1.1. Identifying Stake Holders

TCIL was supposed to sign a separate Country Agreement with every African
Nation for implementing this project – 53 countries in all. This was a major task
as it involved meeting up with all the Ambassadors / High Commissioners of all
these countries explaining the concept to them and then briefing them about the
agreement itself. These agreements would then be got signed from the
concerned Ministries in the respective countries. This would often take months
together..

Identification of the National Coordinators in each country, who are supposed
to be the key personnel for enabling this project in Africa, has been a good
challenge ,and needed a lot of persuasion through the diplomatic channels.

Identifying the Learning Centre coordinators and Patient end Location
Coordinators who would be coordinating various activities at the sites after the
National Co-ordinator has been nominated, also would take unusually long time
in some of the countries, thus delaying the process of survey etc.

Additional efforts on a daily basis would be needed to push people towards the
direction of the project implementation.

2. Planning Process

2.1. Collecting Requirements

Biggest challenge in the beginning was precision with various site requirements
in Africa. Field Survey was the best way to work on this. However , the challenge
was that the countries took a lot of time to identify the sites. This entire process
would have delayed the project indefinitely, considering the fact that 53 countries
were involved in the process with 3 sites each. So, finally for many items the only
way out was to work on law of averages.

2.2. Defining Project Scope

Since signing of agreements with various countries was a very slow process,
quantifying the material requirement was a big challenge. It was not mandatory
for all the countries to join the project.

16|P a g e


Hence , in the tendering process, all the 53 countries were included, Advance
PO was placed for the all countries, on all the vendors. However, a firm PO
would be placed only after a country would sign agreement with TCIL.

2.3. Create WBS

One of the reasons that this project was really successful was that the Planning
team of TCIL had done a good home work in terms of the Work Breakdown
structure. Most the works were well documented,

2.4. Develop Schedule

The project had a tight implementation schedule. The Project Phase -I ,involving
the Network Roll out was supposed to be completed in 18 months. This included
construction of a Satellite Earth Station Building in Dakar, Senegal.

Even before formal award of work by the client, based on an assurance from the
client-The Ministry of External Affairs, GoI, that the Project Work Order would
soon be placed, TCIL started construction of the building. The only thing TCIL
was handed over was a piece of land. It took almost a year to get the approval
from the Government, as it had to be cleared by the Union Cabinet. During this
time the building got ready, and the project could be started on time.

2.5. Estimate Costs

Since there were many components of the cost which would be site dependent
including the rent of residential accommodation for the engineers who were
expected to be there for 5 years; cost of hotel accommodation; transportation
costs etc. Being liberal with the estimates would have pushed the costs and
being conservative with the same could spell doom for the implementing agency.

2.6. Determine Budget
17|P a g e


Estimation of Costs itself being a challenge, as mentioned, Determining Budget
was obviously a bigger challenge.

2.7. Develop Human Resource Planning

TCIL traditionally had been outsourcing manpower from BSNL and MTNL for its
overseas projects. This model worked very well for nearly 25 years. However, a
Government ban on deputation from the one PSU to another beyond a particular
limit, changed all this. This meant that this manpower for manning more than 160
sites had to be got from the open market , as TCIL doesn’t have any bench
strength.

2.8. The network dimensioning was a big challenge.

The Pan African e- Network involved a lot complex elements. To ensure that the
system finally works , all these network elements which would have to be
procured from different sources, a highly involved system integration effort was
needed .

3. Executing Process

3.1. Acquire Project team

Acquiring Project team was a major challenge. Almost 200 sites were to be
commissioned in 54 countries including India in 18 months time. The company
did not have such a large pool of deployable Human Resources. The company
had to turn to the market for meeting this requirement

3.2. Develop Project Team

The new team acquired did not have the all the technical skills required to
execute this project. The major components would need domain knowledge of
VSAT based networks, IT systems, Studio equipment and Medical
Equipment. Now, it is difficult to get resources from the market place to satisfy
all these requirements. One alternative is to have separate engineers for each of
these domains. But then, keeping the geography and connectivity in African
continent in mind, it would be a very expensive proposition, which would simply
blow up the budget. Hence, training sessions in India and some locations in
Africa were arranged to ensure that the engineers at least acquire some working
knowledge of the other domains

18|P a g e


3.3. Manage Project Team

Managing project teams in such a diverse geography is yet another challenge.
Since most of the human resources deployed were new to the company,
assessing them and developing a level of confidence also took a while. Despite
laid down rules for spending there were times when some of the people had to
be pulled for not following the stipulated procedures, which are essential in a
PSU. Keeping the special environment of Africa in view, a lenient view was
generally taken. However, after some time and some heart burnings, people
understood that a prudent approach is the only way out, and thus the things
settled down amicably.

3.4. Distribute information

Ensuring an effective communication flow among the stake holders too for
such a large diverse Geography was no less a challenge, particularly in absence
of a Project Management Tool.

3.5. Managing Stakeholder expectations

After commissioning of a site abroad, a certificate had to be obtained from an
authorised group which included the National Coordinator of the concerned
country and the Ambassador/ High Commissioner of India to that particular
Nation. Satisfying the client at times would pose a challenge.

3.6. Conduct Procurement

This probably was really a painful process. Orders had been placed on all the
successful vendors. It was a first time in Africa for many of these vendors and
they had not initially factored this in their calculations at the time of bidding.

There are limited flights to some of the countries in Africa. Also, some of the
materials like Battery banks etc. had to be sent by sea, as the airlines do not
accept such material. Now all the African Nations do not have a sea
connectivity , and hence the road transit through other nations. This was a real
killer with some of the material getting delayed by months, when the total delivery
schedule from PO stage to arrival at destination is just 8 weeks. This resulted in
delay of payment to the vendors , leading to cash crunch, and finally resulting in
failure to deliver further material. LD implications being besides this. Also, the
payment conditions envisaged that the payment would be subject to a
certification of receipt of material in good condition. This can happen only in case
the material is cleared from customs within a reasonable period. Since this was
the responsibility of the respective governments, and they having cash crunch

19|P a g e


could not get it cleared, because unlike in India, customs job in many nations in
Africa has been outsourced, and thus can not be cleared on the orders from any
government authority, unless money is paid by them as per law.

TCIL as an implementing agency could have come to the rescue of these
vendors but then being a PSU, it was not easy. Some of the companies who
were not manufacturers turned bankrupt, thus posing a still bigger challenge.

4. Monitoring and Controlling Process

4.1. Monitor and Control Project work

Monitoring the project schedule in absence of a Project Management Software
was a big challenge. Keeping track of things manually in so many countries at
the same time under dynamically changing conditions has been quite tough on
the management.

4.2. Control Schedule

As has been mentioned under the process – Conduct procurement above,
customs clearance of the equipment was a major challenge. Thus in some
critical locations where the delay would result in a delay in complete
project time lines, TCIL took a call. The costs of manpower already deployed in
the location was weighed against the cost of footing the bill of customs on our
own . It was finally decided that the latter would ensure a lesser cost and also
help save our reputation of executing projects on time or ahead of it.

4.3. Control Costs

As has been mentioned elsewhere in this write up, the cost of accommodation
for the engineers had been grossly underestimated .The same was true of the
local transportation as well. It was too late in the day to correct this situation.
Hence it was decided that the engineers had to share accommodation and also
should hire vehicles when absolutely essential.

It had been initially thought that the installation teams would be deployed on the
zonal basis. When a team would complete task in one country it would shift to
the adjacent country. However, soon we realised that it is not practically possible
to do that. The reason being two fold –first , no direct flights would be available .
Second, it may not be possible to get visas at for the adjoining country. One has
to travel to some third country just to get the visa.
20|P a g e


Costs which had to be paid to adhere to the schedule have already been listed
above.

4.4. Monitoring and Control Risks

The issue of Customs clearance of all items not having happened is a big risk .
For want of a single nail, the whole battle could be lost ! Loss of material at
the port of landing including lucrative items like LCD/ Plasma TVs, Cameras is a
bomb which can throw project schedule in that specific country totally out of gear,
as the material is not locally available.

In case the site preparation work which happens to be the responsibility of the
recipient institution, is not completed before the arrival of the installation team,
despite an undertaking that it has been completed, saving project timelines and
costs is a big challenge.

4.5. Administering Procurement

TCIL was forced to go in for retendering for some equipment. This, apart from
resulting in limiting manoeuvring on the timelines, increased work pressure
tremendously. The readers might be shocked to know that this story was
repeated the second time, despite advance warnings to the vendors. Finally, a
condition was put that only OEMs can participate either directly or through their
one of their distributors,did the things succeed. The task of Installation was
assigned to one of the JV companies of TCIL so that further failures were
prevented

Another issue which delayed the material supply at site was the local laws. In
one of the most advanced countries of Africa, there was the issue of the wooden
pallets with the material not being acceptable to the Ministry of Agriculture,
fearing that there could be some organic substances which could harm the
existing flora and fauna of that country. It was decided that the clearance would
be given subject to the condition that the empty wooden pallets would be shipped
back to India. This was agreed to. However, when action was initiated for this
process in India, the authorities in India refused to permit their return to India on
the plea that the material has been lying at the airport on foreign soil for more
than 6 months, and hence was susceptible to ingress of local insects which could
harm Indian agriculture. A real catch 22 situation !

There have been many challenges while going through other processes as well.
However, here we have tried to restrict to some important challenges only.

21|P a g e


9 Special Challenges as a PSU

Such a complex project could pose challenge for any organisation whether a
PSU or a private enterprise. However, being a PSU posed a bigger challenge.

Procurement procedure for a PSU has got defined boundaries and parameter,
which can not be crossed. L1 is L1 , and one can ignore this dictum at one’s own
peril.

Human Resource development has got issues in a PSU. Rewarding a good
resource beyond a line is not possible. Many engineers had to be replaced, as
they grew too big for the organisation to be suitably compensated. They got good
offers from the industry with the type of experience they gained within a short
span of time.

10 Lessons Learnt

There are an innumerable number of lessons that could be learnt from the
Project. Some of them have been listed below:

It is always better to have as less dependence on other organisations as
possible in such a mega project. For example had customs clearance been TCIL
responsibility, it could have been completed much faster by appointing an agent
in each country. Also, the site preparation work could have been handled better ,
had it been a part of our scope. . But then it would also push up the cost of the
Project for the client.

PSUs need to evolve more flexible norms for the procurement for such
projects at the international level.

11 Awards and accolades

The Project has caught the attention of organisations and individuals at the
international level. This project has been selected for international awards.

Pan African e-Network has been awarded the prestigious Hermes International
Award by European Institution of Creative Strategies and Innovation, for its
contribution in the field of the ‘Sustainable Human Development’.

African Telecom People (ATP) have awarded the Pan African e- Network
Project as the ‘Best Development initiative’ for the Africa for the year 2009’.

22|P a g e


12 Conclusions

Pan African e- Network with the inherent challenges in Project Management has
been a mother of all the projects TCIL has implemented its existence of 33 years.
It has tested all the skills in Project management and other attributes like
resilience and endurance.

The success of this project has generated a lot of interest in other countries as
well. A project for having a similar e- Network for CLMV countries of ASEAN is
on the anvil. Project for SAARC nations – Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan is on.
PSIDS Nations have also requested Government of India for roll out of a project
on the same lines.

13 Author’s Profile

Vimal Wakhlu is a B.E. from National Institute of Technology, Srinagar 1977, and
MBA Marketing from IGNOU. He has got 34+ years of experience in the field of
Telecomm & IT including e-Networks, Mobile, Satellite, Optical, Troposcatter,
Maritime and Data Communications,

Worked for NHPC, OCS ( VSNL), DOT , BSNL & TCIL

Been a Visiting faculty on Business of Telecom Management in Narsee Monjee
Institute of Management, and Mobile, Satellite , Optical Communications
technologies at the University of Mumbai , Pune University and Advanced Level
Telecom Training Centre (ALTTC).

Been actively involved in the activities of IETE , particularly the Mumbai Chapter
and has held positions of Hon. Treasurer, Hon. Secretary and Vice Chairman.

23|P a g e


A Life member of The Telemedicine Society of India

Director on Boards of TTL (Tamil Telecommunications Limited) and TBL
International and currently its part time CEO.

A Project Management Professional of the Project Management Institute (PMI)
. He is also a Member of the Champions Advisory Council of PMI India.

Currently, Director Technical , TCIL, in charge of all the e- Networking projects of
TCIL including the prestigious Pan African e- Network.

24|P a g e

PMC9

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to PMC9

Similar to PMC9 (20)

More from PMI2011

More from PMI2011 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

PMC9