COLCHESTER INSTITUTE PROJECT MANAGEMENT STUDY

Colchester is the biggest institution in Essex and it covers two major campuses; Colchester and Clacton. The college is a place that hosts above 100,000 students who are taking part in over 840 courses. The institution is big and undertakes academic operation that involves learning resources and services. The college provides education for the students that are far and the higher learning. This is a big negative impact for the institution which looks to excel in all aspects, taking into consideration that the requirements are wide range for the two forms of learning. In example, the two face difficulty in terms of examination boards and varied statutory aspects.

The Project

The case study project for this paper is the Colchester Institute Project. The project was sponsored by the JISC Committee for Integrated Environments for Learners (JCIEL). A Managed Learning Environment Steering Group (MLESG) was set up to assist Further Education Colleges with the selection and implementation of Managed Learning Environments. A number of Interoperability pilots were conducted by the MLESG in order to “implement and prove the feasibility of interconnection between systems within an MLE through the integration of the international standards of Information Management Systems (IMS), with Further Education (FE) extensions”.

Purpose of the Colchester Institute Project

The aim of the Colchester’s Project was to acquire student and course information transaction between the varied states of elements, investigate the technical problems together with other issues surrounding the interfacing of TekniCAL’s Virtual Campus (which is a Virtual Learning Environment product) with Fretwell Downings’s EBS (referring to a student record system component of a Managed Environment (MLE)) through the appropriate elements of the IMS standards integration. This project was undertaken over the period 1^st April – 31^st December 2001.

Characteristics of the Colchester Project

The Colchester Project had characteristics of a typical project. As such, it had an established timeframe that was commenced on April 1^st to 31^st December 2001, which was a rather small timescale. Similarly, it had a life-cycle, meaning that it had a beginning and an end having various distinct phases in between. As it would be expected, the project ran on a set out budget with an associated cash-flow. In addition, the Colchester Project had an array of activities that were essentially unique and non-repetitive. The Project also made a great use of resources from diverse departments that required much coordination. Like all other projects, the Colchester Project had a single point of responsibility – the project manager. In this respect, the Colchester Project was under the able leadership of Jayne Bacon, the Information Learning and Technology Manager at the Colchester Institute. Lastly, there were well defined team roles along with relationships that were subject to change and needed to be developed, defined as well as established (team building). Particularly, the Colchester Institute Project received support from a small team and had a steering group along with a modest pilot group of students in an identified area of the curriculum.

Classification of Projects

Generally, projects are conducted for the either or a number of the following reasons: to construct buildings or infrastructure, to upgrade existing products, to establish manufacturing processes, or to build defence related systems (Tentrox 2011). Project success is closely connected to the organization’s effectiveness together with its well-being in the long run.

There are a number of criteria or factors that form the projects types classification.

The first factor which defines a project’s classification is the focus of the project. As such, the project’s focus could be either on business processes or Information Technology. The distinction is in the high-level focus of the project, whether the project is aimed at a new or changed business process, which is implementable without modifying the existing information technology systems, or, whether it aims to use information technology to facilitate and implement a change to the way business is run in the organization (Buttrick 2005). Furthermore, there is a third type of projects known as a pure information technology project which ideally exists in information technology team to address technology needs.
Projects are classified according to Project Risks – whether they are low, medium or high risks. Selection of the methodology approach to be undertaken is largely dependent on the understanding of the risk degree along with its nature (Hillicks 2004). Thus, a risk assessment is important at the beginning of a project.
The project’s type categorization is also based on the very size of the total investment. In this respect, the larger the investment in a project, the more tightly the administration and oversight activities will be.
Projects are also categorized according to the complexity of the communication. Communication complexity of a project relates to the number of people actively involved, the geographical or temporal distribution of the activities, and the cultural distribution of the people working on the project itself. There is more reliance on written material for clear knowledge transfer when a large number of people are involved in a project. Similarly, more reliance on written communication exists when a project has a widespread geographical distribution of the team. Accordingly, projects that have team members, who are different in terms of cultural backgrounds, need to take pains in order to ensure that they totally understand each other. A three-tier assessment is used to assess the communication complexity of a project (Buttrick 2005). These are:

a) Low complexity, where the project team is small and located within the same geographic location, besides being largely homogeneous. Such projects make use of low-ceremony, predominantly verbal communications, because it is expected that the members will talk to each other more frequently.
b) Medium complexity – this means the presence of any of the three factors that hinder the team from communicating effectively at all times . This could occur because there are some groups of the project team that are co-located while others are off-site, or the entire team is too big to assemble at one appointed time. Thus, the project requires a more formal, written communication, though a modest reliance on verbal informal communication still exists.
c) high complexity – more formal communication channels are used when the project has large teams, outsource/offshore development activities and has distributed multi-cultural teams. There is much more reliance on formal, written artifacts accompanied by rigorous review and sign-off procedures (Buttrick 2005). Members must often talk to each other and build relationships so as to minimize the risk involved in reliance to explicit communications channels.

Project Management Methodology

Planning Tool and Techniques

Introduction

In a project situation there will definitely be a risky situation or probability that contrary situations will take place, which would make the project to not meet its planned purposes, for instance time and cost. The manager of a project has to take into consideration the varied tasks and processes to meet the goals of the project and take into mind the risks that may result could likely impact on the outcome of the project. The financial and non-financial impacts of the risks have to be taken into good consideration. Each risk classified appropriately for efficient understanding. There are varied forms of analysis processes that may be applied as well as other derivatives that may be applied; social, political economic and technological risk. The Risk management process may as well be applied to assist in the identification of the risk which are controllable and those which are not. After each risk has been noted and its impact understood, the necessary risk management techniques are applied to manage them. This will be an activity that takes place during the course of the project.

Work breakdown structure is a project management method that analyzes a certain project with the desire to note the deliverables needed to finish the project. The WBS is used from the start of the project to describe the extent, estimate the cost and manage Gantt programs. The WBS acquires all the aspects of the project in a better manner, analyzing significant, complex projects in a precise way, hence allowing a proper structure for consolidating and controlling the project. The WBS is able to operate the issuance of resources, allocating tasks, duties estimation and management of the project (Tentrox 2011). The project management work breakdown model is necessary because it is not differentiated into several information units, as it may result to project micro management. On the other hand, too limited information may result into duties that are too massive to handle properly. The WBS is illustrated in a tabular form, indented duties list as component of the Gantt chart. The framework is presented in tree-like format so as to acquire the deliverables and duties required to meet the project goals. There exist various ways to analyze the project, hence bringing about several project management frameworks. For instance, it can be analyzed in stages. Hence, in any planning one should use the WBS chart for logistics composing of a room, facility and others. The WBS may be applied in acquiring project planning formats like Critical Path Method (CPM) or PERT. When these two methods are used together, the initial stage in the project planning is to state precisely the specific activities. The WBS may be applied in creating a list of varied activities in the project that may be applied as a ground to enhance other information in other stages of the project management format. The WBS is quite significant in the efficient and effective project management process. It creates a vital aspect of the planning process with keen consideration of time management.

Gantt charts are horizontal bar charts that are formed through production control. Commonly applied in project management, the chart offers a graphical view of a schedule which is useful in planning, regulatory and tracing precise duties of a certain project (Search Software Quality 2012). The charts are simple forms presented on graph paper using the project management applications like Excel and Microsoft Project. The charts offer a clear illustration of the project form. However, there is one drawback – they do not show duty reliance. One is not able to tell how a certain duty, which does not meet the set time, implicates another duty.

The Critical Path Analysis and PERT are quite necessary and significant tools that are applied in scheduling and management of complicated projects (Mind Tools 2012). The CPM/CPA is useful in planning all the duties that have to be done as components of the project. They are utilized as the fundamentals for the schedule groundwork as well as the resource planning. In the process of the project management, one has the ability to monitor success of the project objectives. One is able to see the remaining action requirement to be used to get back on course of the project. One is able to display the final project plan on Microsoft project software as well as in Excel. The advantage of using CPA in the project’s planning stage is that one is able to create and assess the plan to be assured of its strength. The Critical Path Analysis correctly notes the duties, which must be done in the correct time for the project to be finished at the right time. It similarly notes which duty may be kept on hold if the resources have to be allocated to another spot so as to meet the skipped or overdone tasks. However, one of the CPA’s shortcomings is that when one applies it as a method, by which the project plans are communicated and controlled against, the correlation of the tasks to time is not definite, if to compare it to Gantt charts. This makes it quite complicated to comprehend. The Critical Path Analysis is used to note the smallest amount of time that is required to mark which project stages one should improve so as to finish the project duly. The most significant concept behind the Critical Path Analysis is that one cannot begin certain activities till the moment others are fulfilled. These processes require completion in a proper manner with each stage being definitely accomplished before moving on to the next phase. The processes are performed in a procedural manner. Other procedures are not reliant on the completion of other duties. One is not able to do this before or after a certain phase is met. They are completely not reliant on one another.

The PERT chart, as a tool in project management, is mostly utilized for scheduling, organizing and managing duties in a project. The Program Evaluation Review Technique depicts a graphic view of the project involving numbered nodes showing events or goals interfaced by categorized vectors depicting the tasks in the project. The Gantt charts and the PERT are the two best known methods applied in project management. Each of this may be applied in scheduling. However, the Gantt charts show tasks reliance and PERT charts are quite inaccurate. That is why project managers commonly employ both methods most of the time.

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE OF COLCHESTER INSTITUTE PROJECT

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
1.Colchester Project System	1.1 Initiation	1.1.1 Develop an Evaluation & Recommendations 1.1.2 Project Charter 1.1.3 Deliverable Project agreement 1.1.4 Reviews Project Agreement 1.1.5 Project Agreement Signed/Approved
	1.2	1.2.1Write Preliminary Statement 1.2.2 Come up with Project Team 1.2.3 Project Team Meeting 1.2.4 Develop Project Plan 1.2.5 Submit Project Plan 1.2.6 Milestone: Project Plan Approval
	1.3 Execution	1.3.1 Project Start Meeting 1.3.2 Verify & Validate Project Requirements 1.3.3 Design System 1.3.4 Procure Hardware/Software Requirement 1.3.5 Install Development Systems 1.3.6 Pilot Testing Phase 1.3.7 Install System 1.3.8 Users Training 1.3.9 Go Live
	1.4 Control	1.4.1 Project Management 1.4.2 Project Follow up Meetings 1.4.3 Risk Management 1.4.4 Update Project Management Plan
	1.5 Closeout	1.5.1 Audit the Project 1.5.2 Lessons Learned in the Project 1.5.3 Update Files/Records 1.5.4 Gain Formal Acceptance 1.5.5 Archive Files/Documents

Tree Structure View

GANTT CHART

Task	Description Months	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1	Initiation
1.1.1	Develop an Evaluation & Recommendations
1.1.2	Project Charter
1.1.3	Deliverable Project agreement
1.1.4	Reviews Project Agreement
1.1.5	Project Agreement Signed/Approved

1.2	Planning
1.2.1	Write Preliminary Statement
1.2.2	Come up with Project Team
1.2.3	Project Team Meeting
1.2.4	Develop Project Plan
1.2.5	Submit Project Plan
1.2.6	Milestone: Project Plan Approval

1.3	Execution
1.3.1	Project Start Meeting
1.3.2	Verify & Validate Project Requirements
1.3.3	Design System
1.3.4	Procure Hardware/Software Requirement
1.3.5	Install Development Systems
1.3.6	Pilot Testing Phase
1.3.7	Install System
1.3.8	Users Training
1.3.9	Go Live

1.4	Control
1.4.1	Project Management
1.4.2	Project Follow up Meetings

1.4.3	Risk Management
1.4.4	Update Project Management Plan
1.4.5	Audit the Project										Draft						Final
1.4.6	Lessons Learned in the Project
1.4.7	Update Files/Records
1.4.8	Gain Formal Acceptance
1.4.9	Archive Files/Documents

Risks of the Project and Risk Management
Risks

The Colchester Project experiences several risks. This is in reference to the tools and practices applied. According to Jayne, she feared failure the most (Hillicks 2004). The project faced diverse cultural contrasts that were vivid between the business and education section during the whole phase of the project. There is also terminology; the field at times needed similar information in the two systems leading to it being named differently. There also arose the issues on recording the information that was quite varied; like in the case of male and female. The use of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), though with the varied benefits one is able to acquire from it, similarly faces some risks. One of the risks of WBS is that one is bound to end up with noting all the required actions to finish the project and this is bound to raise huge difficulties in managing WBS. Another function, involved in the WBS, is the management of the process which leads to enhancing the value of the project. Staffing matters may also require consideration if the company has enough people for the project. This staff may experience overusage, which may lead to failure. The PERT chart similarly has the risk of being too complicated to interpret. This usually happens while working with complicated projects. The staff employed to work on the project will experience difficulties interpreting it and utilizing it in the project.

Scheduling the resources and product definition activities are controlled by the client or the management and are not well balanced. There are certain tasks that are omitted making it necessary to re-do the scheduling again (Daptive Community 2007). The schedule is not in a position to create a product size in an allocated time; similarly, the amount of energy applied is quite bigger, than initially projected. When scheduling, it is recommended not to over-schedule it as excess scheduling is bound to bring about pressure limiting productivity. Another risk is faced when there is a shift of the intended date; there is no relation to a change with the product or resources applied in the project. If there is a case where there is a delay in one task, it may lead to several delays in several other tasks in the same section of the organization.

Considering the project must be accomplished in a set time, there may not be enough time to complete it, considering the number of tasks to be fulfilled. This may also be due to the lack of resources to undertake the process and tasks as required. The project may face inadequate finances, considering the number of tasks to be accomplished. Another risk may arise when the project is done and presented to the client, but it appears to be unsatisfactory and needs redesigning. The client may require other products other than the ones applied. This is too tedious and disheartening.

If to consider design and implementation, there is the risk of some design not handling certain issues and this may result to redesign and application. In the case certain functionality fails to work according to the chosen code, the new code should be implemented. There is also overestimation of saving schedules resulting from productivity advancement tools.

Risk Management

Risk management is a sequence of steps that must be taken when something wrong arises in the project management process. The stages are involved in the risk management are identification, analysis, response and control.

In risk identification we identify all the possible risks. The identification process is undertaken by business and IT staff. Business risks are handled through business. On the other hand, there are generic risks that are incurred by projects (Turbit 2012). For instance, when there is a risk, where the business users are not present and, at the same time, the resources are not completely done, the organization will be forced to put in place standard reactions to the generic risk. The risks should be noted in two sections – the cause of the situation and the implication acquired.

In terms of risk analysis, risks should be analyzed in two sections. The effect of the risk has to be evaluated. The chance of the risk has to be analyzed. An example of how to do this in a simple manner is using the 1 to 4 scale; the bigger the number, the bigger the effect or chance. When making use of the matrix, importance is acquired. In case there is a high chance, and the implication is limited, it acquires a medium risk attribute. In another case, with a high implication and a limited probability, the level of priority is high. In case there is an optimum chance of extreme failure, there comes a need to focus more on the crux.

In the case of risk response, this is the reaction that one must conduct in order to alleviate the risk. This may involve avoiding the risk, or putting in place efforts geared towards eliminating the risk. One may also transit the risk to another place or person. There is also risk mitigation; several steps may be taken so as to limit the risk from happening. In the case where the risk correlates to the availability of resources, an agreement is created. Finally, there is accepting the risk in case the risk is minimal.

Impact of the Project

As a person with interest in project management, the Colchester Institute Project Management Case Study provided great lessons and benefits to me. The majority of the lessons along with benefits that I drew from this project were highly unexpected. This comes from the aspect that at the initial stages of going through the project case study, I did not expected to find it as interesting and resourceful as it ultimately turned out to be. This is because I first pondered that it was a simple and modest project. Indeed, at the end of it all, I was left without the stereotypic belief that it is complex projects that are worth paying attention to. The Colchester Institute Project, though small, showed how great leadership can help people, involved in a project, build a good rapport that can last beyond the project itself. I figured out that the participants of the project did build good relationships, besides the project affording extra credibility to the Colchester Institute. It is also worth noting that the project’s execution went a long way in creating close links between sections across the College. Assessment of the management strategy, employed by Jayne, showed me that the greatest asset for a project manager is the human resource, which, when used well, can lead to the successful implementation of the project being undertaken.

Furthermore, the Colchester Institute Project taught me that there is greater need to factor in eventualities during project planning. These include having a proper plan to deal with absences and holidays. The project manager has to realize the team can become frustated unless it takes care of absences that are bound to happen beforehand, especially for projects that are held during the mid-summer period or festive seasons. This was the case with the Colchester Project were some challenges around the differences between education and business holiday arrangements were experienced.

Similarly, the review of the Colchester Institute Project also enabled to realize that the culture aspect is a key factor when planning a project. There could be some cultural differences between business and education sectors. Therefore, there it is essential to develop a good working relationship.

This assignment, which made me explore the Colchester Institute Project case study, helped me reorient my future operations as a project manager. As such, I chose to strive to be proactive. This is because I was able to figure out that a lack of proactive attitude in executing a project, regardless of its size and complexity, would render a project unprofitable and burdensome. Thus, there can never be a chance for a project to just lay low and hope that things will run themselves as expected owing to the fact that people, as well as activities, often require prompting (Tentrox 2011).

References

Buttrick, R 2005, The project workout (3rd edition) Harlow: Pearson Education.

Daptive Community, List of common project risks, February 2007. Retrieved April 7, 2012.

Gray, CF & Larson, EW 2006, Project management: the managerial process, (3rd edition), London: McGraw-Hill.

Hillicks, J 2004, Approaches to project management in the education sector, Colchester Institute.

Kerzner, H 2006, Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling and controlling. (9th edition), London: John Wiley and Sons.

Maylor, H 2010, Project management, (4th edition). Pearson.

Meredith, JR & Mantel, SJ 2006, Project management: A managerial approach, (6th edition) London: John Wiley and Sons.

Shtub, A, Bard, JF & Globerson, S 2005, Project management: processes, methodologies, and economics, (2nd edition) Prentice-Hall

Tentrox 2012, Work breakdown structures, WBS chart and project management WBS; Project Management Software.

Turbit, N 2012, Risk management basics, Project Perfect, April 7, 2012.

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