GIL843: Effective Execution in Project Management Assessment Answer

Executive Summary

The initiation of Project QMESS (“Quality Management Standardisation and Enhancement Systems”) was based upon a burgeoning frustration with the systems management process within the company, over the years.

The bottom line of the Risimati consultation company is highly reliant on consultation work acquired from clients. However, clients require that the consultation companies they work with in general are ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard (QMS) compliant and approved. The company is currently not ISO 9001 QMS compliant and approved, and this has affected the bottom line of the company over the years as there has been a decline in the acquisition of projects awarded to the company for work purposes. The quality management process within the company is currently flawed as it is managed with the use of a manual process, which can expose clients to, amongst others, cyber-attacks.

Prior to the project uptake, gaps identified within the company is that no standard documentation/ templates and processes are in use, which means that the business is not managing risk by ensuring that engineering documentation and services meet industry standards as well as legal requirements. The engineering designs are also not being vetted, thereby exposing the business to legal and reputational risks. Furthermore, inconsistent formats for documentation are being utilised by the various engineers within the company, and this reflected negatively on the company in terms of branding/ reputation. Limited information is saved to the server creating risks in terms of project continuity and workflow. This also carries legal ramifications. Also, the engineering projects are not being effectively managed in terms of progress or resource allocation and some information is available electronically, whilst other information is available in hardcopy. Lastly, the end users conduct their own filing and this means that not all information for a project is necessarily where it should be. This also carries risk as continuous work flow cannot be ensured when an employee responsible for a particular project is unavailable at work.

As such, the aim of this project was to become ISO 9001 QMS compliant and approved by automating and enhancing the current management system within the company. The automation of the system would be achieved by creating an Information Technology cloud system in which all client information would be stored, protecting them from risks such as cyber security. With this implementation, project continuity and workflow would be ensured even in the absence of other employees. Furthermore, with the eradication of the manual booking system, the new automated system would also allow for company cars to be automatically booked on the system. This would enable financial claims towards kilometres driven to be accurately aligned to kilometres consumed for work purposes. This elimination in possible abuse of kilometres claimed by employees would potentially indirectly positively affect the bottom line. 

The success of the project is based upon the elimination of the old manual system with the development and enhancement of a new automated quality management system, with a dedicated team deploying change management, as well as driving adoption and continuously training of end users, for a period of eight months. Figure 1 is a depiction of the strategic intent as well as rationale for the project.

The health of the project was assessed through the review of the “7 keys of delivery” model, with a specific focus on stakeholders are committed; business benefits are being realised; and communication (Christodoulou, 2023). The assessment was based upon the criteria of the new automated system continuously requiring a fully engaged team in order to realise business benefits in its adoption.

The assessment indicted that the health of stakeholder commitment is moderate along with that of communication. However the business benefits are areas of high concern which requires immediate intervention to be efficienct.

The discussion will be concluded with overall recommendations on how to improve stakeholder commitment and communication, as well as realise business benefits for the company.

The remainder of the project has been structured in the following manner: the research framework applied in assessing the health of the three elements of the “7keys of (success) delivery” model will be discussed. Subsequently, the outputs (results) from the assessment will be discussed. Lastly, the overall project health as well as future recommendations for the project will be discussed.

Figure 1: Strategic Intent and Rationale for the Project

Research Framework Applied

The quality management process for the project has been assessed on the ground of analyzing the gaps in the project which hint at the fact that the business has not been managing the risks. The qualitative interview has been conducted with the members of Risimati Consultation. There are three particular areas on which the questions had been segmented in the interview process. The areas considered are looking into where the stakeholders involved in the process are committed towards the organization and the process. The other two areas are concerned with understanding whether the benefits obtained from the business are being recognised or not and the nature of communication that is being carried along within the organization.

In order to assess the quality of the management process the three areas reflected upon in the review process involved establishing categories they come under. The criteria are “Strong”, “moderate” and “Poor”. Strong indicated that the quality management process is as per the standards, and “moderate” indicated that certain areas are not in place but are of not optimum quality. “Poor” is suggestive of the fact that none of the governance had been in place as it has been expected according to the standards. The elements considered for understanding the quality of the execution of the project were at the centre of the analysis. The assessment further had been supported by the insights that had been gathered from the qualitative interview in order to gather a holistic understanding of the assessment. The interview had been conducted with 6 members of the project quality management team. The appendix segment consists of the questions that had been asked to the concerned members of the quality management team (Floris and Cuganesan, 2019).

In order to reflect upon the fact whether the stakeholders are committed there has been a concern towards the fact where the particular project has been sponsored or not. The engagement of the stakeholder and whether the deadlines have been met was also brought within a concern. The role of the steering committee in meeting the deadlines has also been brought under concern. The roles of the members in meeting the project needs were also brought under concern. Individual success had also been taken into account. 

The business benefits of the process have been analyzed with the help of the business case. The key assumptions made for the project and in case any cost reduction had been made in the process. The benefits of the process, the impact of the project success in the hiring process, analysis of employee satisfaction have also been subjected to understanding (Omarjee 2023).

The communication segment of the analysis would look through whether the business has been understood intimately and right information regarding the project has been communicated or not. The engagement within the team regarding the process has also been subject to the analysis. The overall aim of the project is to ensure the enhancement of the efficiency of the organization and also the enhancement of the quality of the project. 

Stakeholders are Committed

Following the qualitative interview process it has been reflected that the project involved the participation of a project sponsor where certain costs of the project had been covered. The involvement of sponsorship has allowed effective execution of the process. As far as it has been gathered from the responses of the respondents it has been reflected that the organization has made considerable efforts in ensuring that the project receives sponsorship so that execution of the project is possible. From the responses of the respondents, it has also been gathered that the steering committee made little effort to ensure that the deadline of the project is being met. Rather there has been minimal effort from the steering committee. Despite the fact that the project achieved sponsorship, the steering committee and sponsor did not have any interaction between them. 

The steering committee for the project made efforts to meet weekly and thereby there have been several meetings conducted within the teams involved in the process to map the progress of the project. The teams are being communicated regarding the progress of the process and considerable efforts have been made to ensure that the project standards are being met effectively. There has been an average attendance rate of 80-90 per cent as has been shared by the respondents and the current understanding of the project objectives is also communicated to the members in the scheduled meeting sessions. The understanding of this segment reflects upon the fact that the members are aware of their responsibilities and have been making considerable efforts to ensure that the project is executed effectively.

Business Benefits are being Realized

As far as the business benefits out of the process are considered it has been reflected that no standard templates or documentation and process are being in use which is clearly suggestive of the fact that the particular business is unable to manage the risks whereby they have failed to ensure that services and engineering documentation met the requirement of the industry or the legal requirements. The designs which are being engineered are also not being vetted. This resulted in the fact that the business has been exposed to reputational and legal risk.

Along with that, it has also been reflected that there has been inconsistent format for the documentation which had been utilized by various engineers across the company. The impact of the same has been negative on the reputation and the branding of the company. The continuity and the flow of the project have also been disrupted in the due process. This led to the chances of legal ramifications.

In the course of the interview, it has also been reflected that the engineering projects are not being managed effectively in terms of allocation of resources or the progress of the project. It is also joined by the fact that certain information has been stored electronically whereas other information has been stored in hardcopies creating the chance of the information being misplaced and not all information being accessible at the same time. 

Another factor which joins the problem stems from the fact that the users in the end conduct the filling on their own which is reflective of the fact that accumulated information regarding the project is not at their designated place. The associated risk with this problem lies in the fact that it affects the continuous flow of work as when the particular employee responsible for a particular project is absent the work cannot be continued due to their absence. The old manual system created considerable disruption in the process whereby assurance of the quality of the project along with enhancing the efficiency of the project. The findings of business benefits are connected to the lower commitment from the stakeholders of the process.

Communication

The segment of communication is also considerably problematic in the sense that there has been insufficient communication between the members of the team. Such becomes an area of concern during the time of project management. It has been reflected that the organization lacked considerably in regards to communication of the responsibilities and the progress of the tasks. Right information regarding the project had not been communicated to the stakeholders nor to the members involved in the process.

Such lack of effective communication facilities not only affected the project adversely but also created disruption in the process. As it has been reflected that there has not been much engagement between the members involved in the project. As per the overall progress of the project is concerned the aim is to ensure the efficiency and quality of the project so as to extend effective support to ensure the completion of the project meeting the ISO 9001 QMS. There has been a lack of concern regarding the exchange of information and proper storage of the same. As has been reflected in the due course of analysis there have been considerable gaps between the employees regarding carrying out effective communication. The commitment of the stakeholders and communications are factors which are closely related to one another. 

The process of analysis as it has been conducted through the qualitative interview has reflected upon the fact that there have been certain gaps in the existing process. So as to say that the quality management standardization and enhancement system would be aimed at addressing these gaps in the existing process to suggest an alternative and improved process so as to address the gaps. The results or outputs from the assessment will be discussed in the consecutive segment of the paper. 

Outputs from your Assessment Stakeholders are Committed

It has been reflected that the stakeholders are somewhat committed to the process. So as to say, the responses were gathered from the respondents who participated in the qualitative interview. The assessment has reflected that the quality of the team execution in this respect has been “moderate” and the quality management process also aligns along the “moderate” diameter of the same. Combining the qualitative responses along these two parameters it can be suggested that the health of the risk assessment is likely to be “Moderate health”. This reflects that there has been considerable scope for improvement towards the commitment of the stakeholders in the process. The stakeholders are also required to communicate with one another so as to ensure that the process has been executed effectively. There has been a certain lack of communication between the members of the project and the organization and information is not exchanged effectively among the members of the team (Aziz, 2021). 

Business benefits are being realized

The main flaw of the project management process within the organization has been reflected in the fact that the organization puts into use a manual process which exposes the clients to the risks of cyber-attacks along with others. It has also been reflected that there has been no standard process for documentation and processes which are being used. Thereby it is suggestive of the fact that risks are not managed effectively within the organization. The lack of any engineered process also exposes the organization to the risk of not meeting the standards of the industry. The formats for documentation are inconsistent and the resultant impact on the company has been negative. There had also been chances of legal ramifications being faced by the organization. 

The presence of limited information which has been saved to the server created a discontinuity in terms of workflow and continuity of the project. The process being conducted manually also carried the risk of the fact that continuous workflow could not be ensured in the absence of an employee in the organization. 

From the above assessment as it has been gathered through qualitative assessment of the responses from the interview it can be posited that the quality of team execution is poor and so is the quality management process. The analysis reflects upon the fact that the health of the quality management process in the concerned organization is “very unhealthy”. 

The situation in the organization requires immediate intervention from the authorities to fill the gaps and also replace the manual system with an engineered one so as to smoothen the process and make the execution effective in nature. The over-target of QMS is to meet the ISO 9001 so as to work according to the compliance and the standards approved in the process. It has been reflected that the current manual system affects the efficiency of the process and the ways in which it has been executed. 

Communication

It has been reflected in the due course of assessment that the process conducted within the concerned organization lacked any form of structuring in regard to the process and the ways in which it has been executed. It has been reflected that there has been minimal or no communication between the members of the organization and the organization made moderate or no efforts in order to cater to the process.

There is no proper communication framework that has been incorporated within the organization. The gap as analyzed in the course of the analysis demands that the changes are incorporated effectively within the organization so as to ensure that the communication between the stakeholders in regard to the management of the project. 

It can thereby be assessed that the quality of the team execution is moderate and the quality of the management process is also moderate which brings the overall health of “Communication” to moderate health.

>>Overall health>

From the above analysis which has been conducted, it can be reflected that the current health of the Quality management system is unhealthy. While the health of communication and stakeholder interaction seems moderately healthy, the business benefits from the process are very unhealthy to execute. The concern of the process in this regard thereby would be dedicated towards catering to the gaps in the existing system so as to bring about changes. The main area of target is the existing manual system which would be subjected to analysis. The manual system would be replaced with a system which is mediated through engineered technology and a proper system of documentation so as to prevent confusion and negative disruption in the process (Duvenage 2022). Out of the 7 key delivery models, the concern of the discussion has been dedicated to considering stakeholder interaction, business benefits and communication as the standards on which “Quality Management Standardisation and Enhancement Systems” for Risimati consultation would be taken into account. One of the main threats of the existing process is cyber attacks whereas the gaps which have been identified as cyber attacks have been most important out of them, worthy of consideration. The gaps are reflective of the fact that risks are not being managed effectively. The aim of the improved QMS is dedicated to ensuring ISO 9001 QMS is adhered to. 

The overall health is moderate where the area of business benefit being realized evolves as a serious area of concern which demands effective intervention to make the process effective and efficient. 

Proposed way forward

The aim of “Quality Management Standardisation and Enhancement Systems” for Risimati consultation would be dedicated to ensuring that the existing system management system is altered and aligned with the ISO 9001 quality management standard. The standards are approved and compliant. It has been reflected in the due course of analysis that the quality management process within the company is flawed and thereby is managed with the help of the manual process. The immediate risk of the process is that the clients are exposed to the threats of cyber attacks. 

The proposed way for catering to the changes in the process is to approve the automating as well as enhancing the current management system existing within the company. It has been expected that the automation of the process would be created through an information technology cloud which would store the information of the clients and thereby protect them from any form of risk whatsoever. 

It is expected that the implementation of automation through information technology would ensure a cloud system where all the information of the clients would be stored. It is likely to protect them from the risks like the ones of cyber security. It has also been reflected that the manual booking system being eradicated with the new automated system would allow the cars of the company to be able to book the cars automatically through the system. This would enable financial claims towards kilometres driven to be accurately aligned to kilometres consumed for work purposes. This elimination of possible abuse of kilometres claimed by employees would potentially indirectly positively affect the bottom line (Attanasio et al., 2021).

It is reflective of the fact that the project’s success is dependent on the fact that the existing manual system is eliminated with the incorporation of the new quality management system which is automated. Along with the deployment of the new system, it is also expected that deploying a dedicated team for ensuring change management within the organization would ensure that the project adheres to QMS 9001. The reviewing of 7 key delivery models has been utilized in order to understand the health of the project. Whereby three aspects of the model, namely stakeholder commitment, business benefits being recognized and communication would be established effectively.

Along with the automated manual system for streamlining the process it is also expected that the concerned team would be concerned with establishing a communication framework to ensure effective communication between the stakeholders to channel their commitment towards the process. The aim of the Quality Management Standardisation and Enhancement Systems is dedicated to ensuring a continuation of the work process even when the employees are absent and ensuring that the data management process is integrated within the system of the organization. The aim of the QMESS is thereby dedicated to bringing about an automation of the existing process management system applicable in the current company and thereby developing an IT system where the information would be managed and stored. 

Efficiency enhancement is the concern of the process whereby the aim is to eliminate the manual process of data management and data capture. The aim is also to bring about a standardization of the documentation along with the development of the templates. It is also considered to indulge in successful adoption and training for the end users to ensure that the team has been executed effectively. The efficiency enhancement process would also roll out of the change management process. As per stakeholder commitment and communication is concerned. The aim of the team is also dedicated to keeping the team motivated for the period of 8 months during the duration of the process. As the quality enhancement is considered it can be posited that greater alignment in the work process is desired along with the creation of an IT cloud system where the data would be managed and stored (Mukherjee, 2019). 

As far as the proposed changes in the organization are concerned it can be summarized as follows. Under the aim of efficiency enhancement, the aim would be to eliminate the manual process of data management and data capture followed by a single standardization of the documentation process. Development of templates along with successful training and adoption of the end users are the following sets of actions to be undertaken in order to ensure efficiency. Rolling out of the change management program along with team motivation for a continuous period of 8 months all come under the concern for the initiatives to be executed effectively. Under quality enhancement, the aim would be to ensure greater alignment in the work process followed by the creation of an IT cloud system which would automate the process of data management and storing. It is expected that the implementation of the following process would make the process of ensuring compliance according to the QMS ISO 9001 standard effective but also standardized. The success of the project is based upon the elimination of the old manual system with the development and enhancement of a new automated quality management system, with a dedicated team deploying change management, as well as driving adoption and continuous training of end users, for a period of eight months. The proposed change plan is also likely to be helpful for the employees on the bottom line and would be executed effectively with intervention from the leaders and change managers. 

Overall recommendations

It can be recommended in the due course of analysis that the Quality management standardization and enhancement system would be dedicated to ensuring the enhancement of efficiency along with enhancing the quality of the project. As per the project enhancement plan, it is considered that the project would be taken through automation of the existing manual system so as to enhance the efficiency of the data management and data capture. The stakeholder commitment can be improved by direct communication with the stakeholders, and by conducting frequent meetings and discussion sessions. It can be claimed that the communication process should also be directed to ensure that the members of the teams involved in the process have an equal share of information among them. 

It is also recommended that the organization devise an effective communication plan so as to ensure effective communication among the members of the organization so that the change management is rolled out effectively. It has been noted through the “health” analysis that the overall health of the existing quality management system is unhealthy. It requires effective changes so as to manage the risks effectively and also to ensure that the execution of the project is effective.

The change management for the process of structural and operational changes within the organization demands effective intervention of the leadership structures and models. The new system requires training and the intervention of the leaders to guide the members through a process which is automated and effective. The communication and stakeholder commitment comes hand in hand. Development of the automated system for greater alignment of the work process should also bring into account how certain attributes within the organization are taken care of effectively. Development of templates, documentation process, adoption of end users and training, change management and team motivation all combine the managerial and operational duties that the organization in concern requires to adopt effectively so as to make the process smooth. 

The ultimate aim of the QMESS system is to ensure efficiency and quality enhancement and with the rough plan being implemented it is likely that the organization would attain its compliance with ISO 9001. The efficiency in the work process is also likely to be reflected in the increased productivity and service delivery on behalf of the organization. 

References

Attanasio, G., Preghenella, N., De Toni, A., & Battistella, C. (2021). Stakeholder engagement in business models for sustainability: The stakeholder value flow model for sustainable development. Wiley: Business Strategy and the Environment, 860-874.

Aziz, Z. (2021, December). The influence of communication on project success: A survey of the SANRAL Gauteng e-tolling project in South Africa. Communicare, 40(2) (101-129).

Duvenage W. (2022, January 19). High Court ruling on AARTO prevented another embarrassing 'e-toll-style' failure, says OUTA. News 24

Floris, M., Cuganesan, S. (2019). Project leaders in transition: Manifestations of cognitive and emotional capacity. International Journal of Project management, 37(3), 517-532.

Mukherjee, S. (2019). How stakeholder engagement affects IT projects. Available at SSRN 3415959

Omarjee L. (2023, January 1). Scrapping of e-tolls delayed into the new year. News24.

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