Project Management - AIB (MBA)

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Project Management
A.R.W.M.M.D.Rohana Kumara
B.Sc (Sri Lanka), MBCS (UK), MBA (Aus-Reading)
Australian Institute of Business
Master of Business Administration

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Exclusive summary #
The purpose of this assignment is to appraise an existing “Nenasa” e-learning system which
has being developed by Colombo Software Solutions. This report is given a brief description
of the organizational setting and the project environment to ensure reader to understand the
context of the project is set. Author outline of the objectives of the project and the
importance of the project to the organisation has been described in the report. And also it
has been given a detailed overview and analysis of the use of relevant project management
concepts, tools and techniques demonstrating knowledge and understanding of project
management as covered in the subject.
The mentioned details have been presented using the sections; how the project should be
defined, how the project times and costs are estimated, a discussion of the project plan, the
management of the project risk, resource scheduling, project team issues and project
performance management. Finally, conclusion has been given.

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Table of contents
Executive summary..............................................................................................................2
1 Introduction………………………………………………...........................................................4
2 An overview of Colombo software solutions...…………………………………………………...5
3 Project overview.…………………………………………………..…………………………………….........6
3.1 About the new system..……….………………………….………………….………………………...6
3.2 Business objectives …………………………………........................................................6
3.3 Project time and cost.………………………...………………………………..……………………….7
3.4 Project organisation...………………………...………………………………..……………………….7
4 Project life cycle.…..………………………...…………………….…………………….……………………..9
5 Project Managerial Process……………...…………………….…………………….……………………11
6 Conclusion…………………………………………………………….……………………………………….…..14
References..........................................................................................................................15

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1. Introduction
As per the Project Management Institute (PMI, 2015); “a project is a temporary endeavour
undertaken to create a unique product, service or result”. Project has boundaries, so its limits
are defined. A project can do with finite resources sinceit is one-time effort. There are distinct
start and end dates for projects (PMMethodology-GDE, 2015). “Project management is the
application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project
objectives” (APM, 2015). Scope management, communication management, risk
management, human resource management, procurement management, time management,
cost management, quality management, and integration management are the required
expertise for all project managers (Larson & Grey, 2015). The managerial process lies with
organization strategy, project selection, organization structure and culture, time-cost-scope,
risk, available resources, project performance, and inter-organizational relations.
Global information technology services providing companies such as Colombo software
solutions (CSS) align with new product innovation with their main business operation of
software development. The different stages of the software development life cycle like;
feasibility study, requirement gathering, design, development, testing, user acceptance and
maintenance are interconnected with new product management terminology. CSS Innovation
team includes business analysts, project leads/managers, developers, system support
engineers, quality assurance engineers, clients, governments (basically United Status), other
information technology companies and other organizations. This innovation team generates
new innovations after in-depth discussions with each other to find a simplest technological
solutions for the existing problems in the world.
In this assignment I’m going to appraise an existing “Nenasa” e-learning system which has
been developed by Colombo Software Solutions. Based on the appraisal I’m going to
understand what are the the project management concepts involved with project and come
up with necessary recommendations to improve the project management and decision
making process to make “Nenasa” project in to most successful projects done by Colombo
Software Solutions (CSS).

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2. An overview of Colombo software solutions
Colombo Software Solutions is a global information technology (IT) services company started
its operations in year 2000 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It has been consistently strived to exceed
the customer expectations by providing revolutionized business solutions to through various
applications with using wide range of technologies over the years and it has been successfully
expanded over last 15 years locally and globally. Currently it is spread throughout US and
European Union countries. Over 3000 employees are working at the branches situated in
United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Sri Lanka. (CSS, 2015)
Alltechnology centres provide Business Process Management, Independent Software Quality,
Infrastructure Management, Customer Experience Management, Mobility, Enterprise IT
Services, Enterprise Information Management, Cloud Offerings and Business Consulting.
Organization serve Fortune 500 companies and the leading software vendors in Aerospace,
Defence, Energy, Utilities, Independent Software Vendors, Manufacturing, Telecom, Banking,
Financial Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Media, Entertainment, Education, Hospitality,
Travel, Information Services and Retail industries.
The annual reports shows that for the full fiscal year 2015, total revenue increased 12% to
$121.3 million, operating profit increased19% to $28.4 million, and diluted earnings per share
increased from $1.11 to $1.27. Company growth was broad-based, particularly within its
banking, financial services and insurance (‘‘BFSI’’) and communication technology industry
groups across all geographies. At March 31, 2016, the balance sheet remained healthy, with
$186.2 million in cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments. Cash flow
from operations for the full fiscal year ended March 31, 2015 was $38.9 million.

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3. Project definition
The introduction to the “Nenasa” e-learning production domain as follows:
The new educational project planning to be Sri Lanka’s leading electronic learning and
education platform owned and operated by Education Ministry of Sri Lanka. This service
currently offers courses of Mathematics, English, History, Geography, Science and Commerce
mainly to Sri Lankan schools and higher educational institutes. The new system is used by
over 125,000 students and 3,000 teachers at more than 500 schools and 22 higher
educational institutes throughout Sri Lanka within last 5 months. Within next 5 years which is
planned to expand 1 million students, 10,000 teachers, 5000 schools and 100 higher
educational institutes in Sri Lanka.
“Nenasa” focused on providing educational content catering to different teaching and
learning styles, utilising a variety of multimedia content types including documents,
presentations, videos, animations, interactive activities,worksheets, assessments andexams.
3.1 About the new system
This commands a pre-eminent position as an online education service provider in Sri Lanka.
Its vision is to be a leader in offering curriculum based online educational services to the Sri
Lankan market.
3.2 Business objectives
The key business objectives are:
 To build a common platform and framework that facilitates capturing of performance
data generated by students and provide reporting capability.
 To build a futuristic modern solution to cater to the needs of current and potential
customers like students, teachers, authors and etc.
 To achieve acceptable level of reliability of the product platform.
 Enable other software vendors to engage with the educational platform to improve
the platform and develop new plugins for the users.

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 To make the site scalable to be able to support the local and global markets to cater
large numbers of users (Millions)
 Eliminate legacy technology and associated reliability issues that are present in the
current platform.
 Build user interaction data capturing and analytics built in to the content to be able to
measure the usage of content.
 To be able to present content in desktop and mobile devices.
 Provide an intuitive, efficient user interface that caters to different type of users and
age groups.
 Build a multi user educational games platform that integrates with the overall site.
3.3 Project time and cost
 Project commencement date : 2015-01-04
 Project completion date : 2015-12-05
 Project cost : $200,000 (this is hypothetical value)
3.4 Project organisation
Figure 1: Project Management Structure (Source: Authors Work)
Figure 1 describes the cross functional project management structure for the considered for
this project. It follows a cross functional structure which defines as organizational team
consisting of members at the same level of authority and hierarchy in the organization but
Head of Department (HOD)
Program/ Project Manager
Business Analysts Lead Tech Lead QA Lead
Business Analysts Software Engineers QA Engineers

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serving in different functional an operational areas. Avoiding artificial dependencies between
activities, reducing induced administrative overhead, reducing context-switching overhead,
increasing domain knowledge, increasing team cohesion and improved visibility and clarity
on progress are the major benefits of having cross functional team. But there are
disadvantages as well in this cross functional structure. Some of them occur due to technical
skill sets and its associated morale problems, reduced opportunities to learn in-depth about
areas of the company’s business, with the risk of developing a narrow perspective on the
work, and missed value from deep specialists.
Waterfall method was used throughout this project as SDLC because requirements are
finalized at the beginning of the project. Also client has a plan to start the phase two of the
project after 1 year of the first launch.

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4. Project life cycle
The following figure shows project life cycle for the software development project which also
applicable and followed by Colombo Software Solutions.
Figure 2: Project life cycle for software project (Source:
http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/managing/lifecycle.htm )
In summary,
 Phase one (Concept) is the stage of feasibility study, requirement gathering identify
risks and get approvals from stakeholders to proceed the project.
 Phase two involves with design, development, and system deployment. This is where
actual system or the software build from the scratch.
 Phase three is the execution phase to ensure the quality of the software. Basically this
is the phase where through testing is happening.
 Finally, system delivery and maintenance happening in phase 4.

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Figure 3: Project phase’s relationship between the level of interaction and time (Source:
http://www.managementguru.net/project-life-cycle/)
Specifications of the project are defined. Project objectives are established, project teams are
formed, and major responsibilities are assignedtoeach team and team member in this phase.
Key initiation for the project is as follows,
 New platform with API for third party developers
 Online Quiz and exam plat form
 Document reader and video player
 Search Engine Optimization
 Social networking and promotions
Since project team practice waterfall method as SDLC, all the above five major areas are
developed and tested by separate team simultaneously. Finally merged them together and
tested before deliver the project to the client.

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5. Project Managerial Process
Project management is a collection of interconnected processes required to ensure that the
various elements of the projects are properly coordinated. It involves making trade-offs
among competing objectives and alternatives to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and
expectations. Colombo Software Solutions used a set of tools and best practices to align the
“Nenasa” project plan according to their objectives, project team had scheduled review
meetings in every month to check whether they are comfortable with the resources they have
provided with or whether they need any more resources specially in terms of infrastructure
development. Project manager has freedom to get opinions and suggestions from the all the
team members by practicing a bottom up approach and made sure that they satisfied their
stakeholders.
Project Scope Management is the part of project management process that is required to
ensure that a project includes all the work necessary to complete the project successfully. It
is concerned primarily with controlling what should and what should not include in the project
scope. Project scope statement is the written document which includes all the definitions of
the end result or mission of the “Nenasa” project. Project scope statement typically includes
the following;
 Project objectives - Be a leader in offering curriculum based online educational services
to the Sri Lankan and global market.
 Deliverables - Online e-learning system for home based education for the school children
and under graduates.
 Specification -The system should facilitate all the users who use home based online
education in Sri Lanka; Parents, Students, Teachers Schools and higher educational
institutes.
 Limits -Since this is the first cycle, school children in urban areas and university student
will be the targeted as user group.
Communications Management is part of project management which pertains to the
systematic planning, implementation, monitoring, and control of project communications
activities. This plan maps out the flow of information to different stakeholders and becomes

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an integral part of the overall project plan. The communication plan for Colombo Software
Solutions was developed as following;
 Scheduled meetings – daily status meetings, weekly status meetings, monthly project
review meetings helps project team to get an update about the current status of the
project and discuss within the team to resolve any issues occur.
 Stakeholder analysis – The target stakeholder group was identified the users are school
children and undergraduates who belongs to age 5-25 and their parents, sponsor was the
leading private limited for online education systems, project team comprised of people
with various background.
 Information needs - The information was found in mile stone reports, deliverables issue
and team status meetings. Colombo Software Solutions use ‘Team Work’ for internal
information sharing among the project team.
 Responsibility and timing - Each person’s responsibility was given in a structured form as
tasks with the time frame to complete.
Riskmanagement refers to the practice of identifying potential risks of the project in advance,
analysing them and taking precautionary steps to reduce the risk. Risk management process
can identify as risk identification, risk assessment, risk responsive development, and risk
response control. Team members unplanned leaves, requirement changes are the identified
major risks for the mentioned project. Work extended hours and increasing the number of
resources are the current actions taken by project managers.
Time management is the process of planning and exercising control over the amount of time
to spend on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity
of the project. There are four major processes; plan activities, conduct activities, administer
activities, and close activities. Proper planning and execution of the activities over the time is
critical success factor of the project to make profits and meet the time deadlines.
Procurement Management is a key factor to running a successful company because it helps
you meet business goals and live up to stakeholders' expectations. There are four major
processes; plan procurements, conduct procurements, administer procurements, and close

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procurements. All the required infrastructure needs to be available when they needed and
this helps to make it smoother with prior planning and preparation.
Cost management is the process of planning and controlling the budget of a business. For this
project manager has to consider all the project activities and identify the human and
infrastructure needs. Based on the needs he has to plan out most cost effective way to
execution of the project with hiring most needed resources on right time.
Quality management is the act of overseeing all activities and tasks needed to maintain a
desired level of excellence. This includes creating and implementing quality planning and
assurance, as well as quality control and quality improvement. There is a separate team for
doing quality assurance and among them there are three teams. They are manual,
automation and performance team.
Human Resource Management includes conducting job analyses, planning personnel needs,
recruiting the right people for the job, orienting and training, managing wages and salaries,
providing benefits and incentives, evaluating performance, resolving disputes, and
communicating with all employees at all levels. Organizing training programs for developers
and QA engineers, prepare the leave plan are the highlighted activities are done by relevant
HR manager for this project.
Improvements and suggestions for future projects
Since this project has clear scope, time frame and budget it used the waterfall SDLC. But
stakeholders have to wait long period of time to see the real outcome of the project which
limits them to make necessary changes to fine tune the project. Therefore I would like to
propose agile method to practice in future projects. Which enable all the stakeholders to see
small component based development with fully tested and ready to use. Since these kind of
project has several modules in place, stakeholders could release them one by one to the end
users to give real feedback on them to make necessaryadjustments in future. Apart from that
overall project management process was solid and we could use this practice in future
projects too.

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6. Conclusion
A project is a unique endeavour undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be
defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually expected to be a
success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed
scope, timescale and budget. The core components of project management are:
 Capturing project requirements
 Specifying quality of the deliverables
 Estimating resources and timescales
 Preparing a business case to justify the investment
 Securing corporate agreement and funding
 Developing and implementing a management plan for the project
 Leading and motivating the project delivery team
 Managing the risks, issues and changes on the project
 Monitoring progress against plan, managing the project budget
 Maintaining communications with stakeholders and the project organisation
 Closing the project in a controlled fashion when appropriate
Projects are separate business activities, requiring people to come together temporarily to
focus on specific project objectives. As a result, effective teamwork along with the good
project management practice critical for the project success. Launching the project includes
identify the project, determine the desired outcomes, delineate each of the project’s
component tasks, identify the players, identify who the players are within the practice;
identify any ‘project killers’ and identify the external players, determine a time line (or staged
time lines) for each project component and keeping the project on track, review, revise and
reallocate, keep everybody informed and provide direction.

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References
Association for Project Management, 2015, ‘Project Management’ available at
https://www.apm.org.uk/WhatIsPM, viewed 11 June 2016.
Chandler, Arizona, 2015, ‘Project Management Methodology Guidelines’, Project
Management Methodology Guidebook.
Colombo Software Solutions, available at http://colombo.solutions/, viewed 10 June 2016.
IT project management and portfolio management, 2015, available at
searchcio.techtarget.com, viewed 11 June 2016.
Larson EW, Gray, CF 2014, ‘Project Management: The Managerial Process’, sixth edition.
Laurita, WE, 2007, ‘Project Management: A Six-Step Approach’, available at
http://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/project-management-six-step-approach?march-2007,
viewed 11 June 2016.
Project Management Institute, available at http://www.pmi.org/, viewed 10 June 2016.
Project life cycle for software project image available at
http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/managing/lifecycle.htm, viewed 12 June 2016.
Project phase’s relationship between the level of interaction and time image available at
http://www.managementguru.net/project-life-cycle/ viewed 12 June 2016.

Project Management - AIB (MBA)

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