Part III. How a thorough Project Plan Assists an Efficient Project Execution

Recap: The most efficient function of a project execution plan focuses on achieving two interconnected tasks: to ensure the triple constraints- project scope (work), schedule (time), and cost (resources)- are not off balance and to manage quality by eliminating or reducing variations.

Part III of this article discusses Crashing and Non-Cashing Trade-Offs, Learning Curves, Quality Management Initiatives, and Cost of Quality.

Identifying and assessing risks associated with time, cost, and performance both quantitatively and qualitatively to make a better trade-off constitute a great challenge to project management practitioners. Risk treatment or response also requires tough choices and tradeoffs. If the risk assessment report indicates that certain excavation activity is a high probability risk and is cost-consuming, the project manager may either add more fund to the project contingency budget or outsource or transfer the risk as trade-offs. Buying an insurance plan for certain machines especially complexity equipment is another choice to make if a risk probability is high. Sometimes, cost distribution among some activities compared to others may be uncharacteristic and unrealistic. To avoid a budget overrun or avert a potential resource depletion, resource allocation will have to be reevaluated as soon as possible.

Crashing and Non-Cashing Trade-Offs

Completing project activities on schedule especially those on the critical path is strategic to meeting business. The advantage of completing a critical software project on or before completion time means your client has the chance to take more share of the market.

Learning Curves Results

Learning Curves is extremely useful in production planning, cost forecasting, and setting delivery schedules. As employees continue to do the same work repeatedly, they tend to experience and master it. In time, the job becomes second nature. This adds cost value to their organization in the following ways: It enhances labor productivity and efficiency and reduces performance, product lifecycle, and costs that are related to labor and upkeep of the business. It also reduces managerial control and waste. In other words, the more employees become experienced and knowledgeable, the more they reduce the likelihood of human error, waste associated with ineptitude, and sloppiness.

Quality Management Initiatives

Quality management interweaves in every phase of the project that is why without quality assurance and control planning, the likelihood of a product recall, redesign and rework increases. Product recalls causes businesses $ billion a year. To make things right the first time, business organizations and individuals have instituted sundry quality management initiatives to get rid of the causes of product defects, design errors, reworks, and recalls, to name a few examples. These standards and processes include continuous process improvement (CPI), learning, Six Sigma, Lean, Kaizen, and ISO 9000 Standards. The overall objectives of these standards are to reduce variation, eliminate activities that add no value to a project and to improve customer satisfaction.

ISO 9000 defines quality management framework and processes that organization can use to improve quality management such as continuous improvement. Total quality management focuses on total customer satisfaction and measurement and continuous improvement, engagement of stakeholders, and team members. Six Sigma attempts to reduce defects to near zero threshold to achieve six standard deviations of 3.4 errors or defects per millions. Effective quality control plan also defines, analyzes, measures and, improves project quality. Project manager uses Six Sigma concept to among other things analyze cause-and-effect of the project, put in place statistical process control mechanisms and standard operating procedures to measure, evaluate and continue to improve every aspect of the project from start to finish. A quality management plan should also incorporate Just-In-Time and Kanban to reduce wastes by uncluttering the production process. Cost of Quality. Quality cost consists are associated with prevention, appraisal, training, failure, monitoring and controlling quality objectives. There are also internal and external costs of quality. Internal quality costs include recycle, reuse, rework, scrap, and defects. External costs are the loss of credibility, litigation cost, warranty, and loss of customers.

Conclusion

Keeping an eye on cost, time, performance, and creating a balance between them is essential in achieving project objective. However, the ultimate success of the application of project monitoring and control tools such as Learning Curve analysis, trade-offs, and statistical process control, can be in jeopardy if products or services do not meet quality standards. In addition, while cost, time and performance are key factors to project monitoring and control, there are also internal and external risks. The internal factors include instability or chaos due to ego, power rivalry, and resistance within the project hierarchy or simply being reactive instead of being proactive in taking corrective action to put cost under control. External issues to monitor and control include inflation, strike, currency fluctuation, economic downturn, and political instability in the foreign country which is a principal supplier of goods and services to the project or business. Issues such as added work, change request, and vandalism, to name a few examples, can also pose a severe threat to a project success if there is no risk management plan.

References

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