PRINCIPLES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Table of contents

Introduction. 2

Understanding the PMBOK knowledge areas, process groups, and their roles. 2

Understanding the project selection method. 3

Understanding the initiation process of project 3

Project documents needed to pursue and conduct project 5

Application of project management tools to assess risks. 5

Competencies for project management success and failure of the proposed organization. 6

Conclusion. 6

Reference list 7

Appendix. 9

Introduction

Project management is an exercise of structuring, initiating, executing, maintaining and finishing projects within an organizational framework. From the selection of the project to keeping every operation properly after completing the project risk assessment, every part is essential in project management. The study aims to understand the PMBOK knowledge areas, project selection method, project initiation process, documents needed for the project and project management tools to assess risks for software development for the smartphone platform for a retail organization.

Understanding the PMBOK knowledge areas, process groups, and their roles

Software development for smartphone platform for a retail organization can be implemented if the PMBOK knowledge areas, process groups and their respective roles get fulfilled. Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a knowledge collection, best practices, terminologies and guidelines in context to the projects (Marchewka, 2016). Developing the software for a retail organization’s smartphone platform is beneficial for improving the quality of offered products and services and taking customer satisfaction to an optimum level. The knowledge areas. The Project management life cycle of the retail organization is necessary for ensuring that the project is viable to take risks and tackle them properly. The four-step process is taken into account in terms of the project management life cycle, including initiation, planning, execution and closure.

Knowledge areas for the project management life cycle consist of different management paradigms including scope management, integration management, cost management, schedule management, quality management, resource management, risk management, stakeholder management and procurement management (Duehlmeier, 2018). Project initiation for the retail organization needs to develop the project charter to planning and to develop the overall project management plan. Project execution is accomplished with the help of managing project work and project knowledge for closing the phase or project further.

Project management process groups act as an alternative for PMBOK to an organization for sequence or chronological implication purposes (Kerzner, 2016). Process groups have a crucial role, which is further into 47 project management processes along with ten different knowledge areas for executing the project plan. In context to the retail organization, five project management process groups including planning, initiating, controlling and monitoring, execution and closure, and 10 Knowledge areas are developed.

Understanding the project selection method

            The project selection method is one of the essential parts of project management. Companies invest a considerable amount of resources and money for choosing the right project for them to implement within their system. The different project has differing utility and benefits after implementation within an organization, but a wrong adaptation of the project not only cost unnecessary cost and resources, it can also create serious problems and risks for the organization after implementation (Marler & Parry, 2016). There are several measurement methods present for understanding the proper project for an organization based on their operation, activity and other factors.

Cost-Benefit Analysis is one of the most popular projects that benefit management tools. The retail organization has to understand whether the proposed project, which is software development for smartphones can be beneficial for them. Nowadays, retail organizations are giving more focus on their e-commerce business. Now, the company can use cost-benefit analysis to understand whether the developed software can bring a better profit margin for them (Boardman, Greenberg, Vining & Weimer, 2017). If the benefit which is revenue collection is higher than that of invested money and resources for the project, then the project is said to be a successful project. The cost-benefit analysis helps the organization to make a successful decision in its project management selection process. The ratio of benefits to costs (BCR) value if gets higher than 1, then the company can go for the project to invest and implement within their structure. Higher the BCR value, the better the opportunity for the company to collect more revenues from the market.

Understanding the initiation process of the project

The project initiation phase is the first step of the Project Management Life Cycle. From understanding goals, aims, objectives, assumptions, constraints and others are part of an initiation process. The project initiation process helps the organization to create a clear idea about the project and what they are going to achieve through the project (Alawneh, 2018). According to PMBOK knowledge areas, the project charter is used in the initiation process to create a basic knowledge about the aim, objective and other factors about the project.

Project charter

Project documents needed to pursue and conduct the project

Different materials are essential for the project to implement within an organization successfully. Documents required for the project are as follows:

Gantt Chart

(Refer to Appendices)

Feasibility study

A project feasibility study helps the organization to understand whether the proposed scheme can be beneficial for the company. Costs needed for the entire project, the workforce required for the whole of the project, maintaining the price for the project operation and maintenance cost after completion of the project are all structures in the feasibility study (Schwalbe, 2015).

Cost-benefit study

The cost-benefit study helps the organization to understand the cost structure for the completion of the project and probable return from the project. Benefits must be higher than the cost for the entire operation to make the project successful, which means BCR>1.

Resource-allocation plan

Resource allocation plan defines every resource and their allocation in the project. From workforce allocation, training to new systems and machinery needed for the project are all included in the resource-allocation plan (Sarkar & Khare, 2019).

Project blueprint 

The project plan contains every detail about the project. From a Gantt chart to risk-benefit analysis, everything is included in the project blueprint. The rough structure of the software, how it will work, and how it can be developed, every instruction will be included in the project blueprint document.

Application of project management tools to assess risks

Based upon the frequency, probability, priority, and impact on the existing resources, risk analysis is developed for identifying the preliminary stages. Some risk management tools are also proven to be useful for careful management can be accomplished in terms of upgrading the market criteria of the retail organization. The risk assessment matrix is helpful for the identification of the risks in its preliminary stage to take further actions against that. Risk Register is another tool for updating, reassessing and building communication with risks. Focusing on the type of risk, whether their impact is positive or negative further steps can be up-taken. However, adverse risk needs to be avoided, mitigated or transferred. Nevertheless, real risk can be shared, enhanced and exploited to the retail organization (Porter & Kramer, 2019). However, taking help from some application, including Resource Guru and Float, can be useful.

Competencies for project management success and failure of the proposed organization

Identifying all the recent market trends is necessary for ensuring that the retail organization can make further development. Changing the environment in the global market and existing business portfolio, the organization needs to be flexible and adaptable for improving value creation (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016). Employee empowerment, encouraging and motivating them are playing an essential role in ensuring that they can do critical thinking and process with further creativity. As a result, better engagement from the employee side is observed, and a retention program gets fulfilled. Regular competency-based training is necessary for developing a competency model to further development of the retail organization in terms of software development for smartphone platforms.

Conclusion

From the above study, it has been concluded that selecting projects for project initiation, planning, executing, closing them is essential in terms of project management. The necessary documents for accomplishing a project include project blueprint, resource plan, feasibility study and cost-benefit analysis. A project charter is provided for the software development for the smartphone platform project for the retail organization.  Risk register, risk assessment matrix are used for identifying the risk and managing them appropriately depending on the frequency, probability, priority and impact on the existing resources. Regular competency-based training is necessary for ensuring that the employees can do critical thinking and PMBOK knowledge areas related to the current business.

Reference list

Alawneh, L. (2018, December). Talent assessment in software development firms. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 459, No. 1, p. 012001). IOP Publishing. Retrieved on: 14 December 2019 from: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/459/1/012001/pdf

Boardman, A. E., Greenberg, D. H., Vining, A. R., & Weimer, D. L. (2017). Cost-benefit analysis: concepts and practice. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved on: 27 November 2019 from: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1208/ML12088A308.pdf

Duehlmeier. S (2018). Project Management Process Groups: What Accidental Project Managers Need to Know. Retrieved on: 27 November 2019 from: https://www.workfront.com/blog/project-management-process-groups

Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management. Project Management Institute. Retrieved on: 27 November 2019 from: http://www.academia.edu/download/7701961/199807-fleming.pdf

Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved on: 27 November 2019 from: http://202.166.170.213:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/3849/Project%20management%20%20a%20systems%20approach%20to%20planning%2C%20scheduling%2C%20and%20controlling.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Marchewka, J. T. (2016). Information technology project management: Providing measurable organizational value. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved on: 27 November 2019 from:  http://wcw.cs.ui.ac.id/teaching/imgs/bahan/itpm/CLASS13.pdf

Marler, J. H., & Parry, E. (2016). Human resource management, strategic involvement and e-HRM technology. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(19), 2233-2253. Retrieved on: 23 October 2019 from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Janet_Marler/publication/286487861_Human_resource_management_strategic_involvement_and_e-HRM_technology/links/5798ded108aed51475e87d3a.pdf

Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2019). Creating shared value. In Managing sustainable business (pp. 323-346). Springer, Dordrecht. Retrieved on: 27 November 2019 from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-024-1144-7_16

Sarkar, S., & Khare, A. (2019). Influence of expectation confirmation, network externalities, and flow on use of mobile shopping apps. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 35(16), 1449-1460. Retrieved on: 27 November 2019 from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arpita_Khare/publication/328767532_Influence_of_Expectation_Confirmation_Network_Externalities_and_Flow_on_Use_of_Mobile_Shopping_Apps/links/5c0f8ca992851c39ebe474fa/Influence-of-Expectation-Confirmation-Network-Externalities-and-Flow-on-Use-of-Mobile-Shopping-Apps.pdf

Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning. Retrieved on: 23 October 2019 from: http://www.academia.edu/download/46169145/5e-ch-1.pdf

Wang, R. J. H., Malthouse, E. C., & Krishnamurthi, L. (2015). On the go: How mobile shopping affects customer purchase behavior. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), 217-234. Retrieved on: 23 October 2019 from: http://www.academia.edu/download/37113555/wang15.pdf

Appendix

Gantt chart