PROJECT EVALUATION
Introduction
Since time immemorial, the investors and government at large have been aspiring to achieve a successful project. In today’s new world; new century, project success is complex to define compared to several years ago. The main reason is that in the past the project manager perceived the project to be successful as far as it met the required time frame, cost estimated, and its specification. However, in today’s world project success has become more difficult and even complex to define. According to Pinto and Slevin(1988), the success of a project is something more complex than simply meeting the cost, performance specification, and schedule. In as much as there have been diverse opinions relating to the success of a given project, researchers and authors at large have got common denominators and understanding that for the project to succeed it must include the basic elements in addition to client’s satisfaction and needs. A study by Meridith and Mantel(2000) support that the three traditional items for project success and believe that the constraints of factors such as time, budget and specification are rapidly being replaced by a new model that invokes the fourth hurdle for project success, client satisfaction. According to Verzuh(1999), a successful project is one in which the project objectives were reached on time, on budget, and with a product of high quality. He further states that a successful project must meet the stakeholder’s specifications. A study by Baccarini (1999) identified project success to be categorized into two distinct components which include product success and product management success. A case study of one of the successful project is the Quantum Bank.
Background of the company
Quantum bank was founded in 1995 to offer a full complement of personal and business banking services, including SBA lending, cash management, remote deposit capture, and payroll. It played a role in serving the community and its diverse population. It is a regional bank with branches in the entire southeast. In early 1999 the bank launched a website that provides its customers with the ability to check the balance of their accounts and obtain information about the bank’s various services, obtain contact information, and even email questions. As a result of its great success, Quantum has decided to expand its online offering since there has been a lot of competition.The bank still would like to expand its website to include an online bill payment service to necessitate its customers to apply credit cars and loans online, open their accounts, and manage their investment portfolios online.
Standard criteria and the success of the bank
The success of the project is usually determined by a wide range of factors. More often than not these factors can be measured that will define the success of the project. The project managers, therefore, need to define the success criteria after proper collaboration with customers. The fact that there is some page in the level of understanding concerning the project criteria, there is a high likelihood of elimination of the risk of project failure and therefore greatly improving the odds of the project success. The project success criteria take on account the measurable terms of what should be the outcome of the project and that is acceptable to the end customer and stakeholders who are involved. According to Lyyten &Hirschheim(1987), most projects have got multiple stakeholders with different views on the project’s purpose and different expectations of what the project must achieve.
Some of these stakeholders include people who originally identified the need of the project, those who provided the financial assistance needed, those who stand to benefit from the project, and those who are impacted by the project. A study by Baccarini(1999) suggests that the success criteria should be subject-specific and therefore determined by stakeholders at the beginning of the project. The review has got quite considerable cons because of the broad range of project types, project objectives, and other variables that can immensely contribute to the outcome of the project in question. A study by Pinto & Slevin(1988) suggests that there is a role for common reference to enable the project success to be discussed uniformly and to provide a standard benchmark by which projects outcome can be compared moreso within the same discipline.
Quantum Bank had achieved its success greatly as a result of three key factors. These factors can be summarized in The Iron Triangle. It entails: cost+scope+time. Whereas one major problem when defining success relates to a myopic focus on the iron triangle, the quantum managers projected these and had a proper view on the benefits that the customers would enjoy and celebrate. The managers tried to maintain the balance between the Iron Triangle and the benefits realized and the entire stakeholder’s satisfaction. Most successful projects do require delivering the objectives and goals of the project.
The Iron Triangle
The success of the Quantum Bank was immensely achieved as a result of the Iron Triangle.It involves the basic key factors such as scope, time, and cost. Scope refers to the original amount of work involved in delivering the project. At the start of the establishment of the bank, there was a little amount of work since the organization hadn’t settled well but as time went by, tremendous progress was noticed towards the delivery of the project. Cost refers to the sum of all resources required that work. Scheduled refers to the duration and time estimated to complete the project in question. For the bank to enjoy its fruits of success and realizes its dreams the project managers used the iron Triangle.
Mostly the basic premise of the said Iron Triangle is that in case one is required to make a change in one of the areas, at least one of the other constraints points will need to change to balance the overall effect. The bank also put into consideration another constraint and that was the budget. On many occasions the budget is used in the place of the cost however, this term accurately reflects the planned costs that are used to form the project baseline. As a result of these factors, the bank managed to overcome the setbacks that the project managers encountered during the growth and the establishment of the bank
Identification and justification of the criteria
One of the key project members who contributed to the success of Quantum Bank was Bill Fence. He joined the bank in 1995 after having graduated with a degree in computer science. During his early days, his assignment provided him with exposure to various areas within the bank. As time elapsed he quickly gained a reputation for capable of solving difficult technical problems. Due to hid vast knowledge in both hardware and software and the great ability to program, Bill was selected to develop the website in1998. Towards the end of the development project, he initiated and began a more active role in proposing features that should be included in the bank.
It is said that the development project was greatly completed on time and budget even though there wewe changes on the in the scope that were encountered as the project progressed. In his current position as a webmaster, Bill is in charge of og maintaining the bank’s website. To ensure that success was met and criteria arrived, the bank also hired Andy after graduating with a degree in civil engineering. His main initial assignment to oversee and check the encoding operation. After implementing and achieving some of his objectives, he was promoted and worked on several large processes improving the projects. As a result of the performance evaluation, Andy opined that one of his greatest strengths was the ability to relax and withdraw from a problem and understand how various issues were interrelated. Andy was a highly motivated self-starter with very bright and better organizational skills. As a result, he was often asked to make short presentations related to a particular project’s status to senior management.
Critical analysis of the case based on criteria
The success of the project was greatly contributed by a wide range of factors including the Iron Triangle. All this came to pass as a result of the following: proper and responsible project manager, the project team, the client, and the project sponsor.
The project manager
According to (Scott-Young & Samson 2004), people management drives project success more than technical issues do. The level of skills and competence of the managers such as flexibility and adaptability, preference for significant initiative and leadership, aggressiveness, confidence, persuasiveness, verbal fluency, ambition, activity, forcefulness, effectiveness as communicator and integrator, the scope of personal interest, ability to identify problems is critical factors affecting project planning, scheduling and communication(Archibald, 1976: Belassi and Tukel 1996). Quantum Bank managed to soar higher and achieve milestones as a result of competent managers with adequate and necessary skills.
The better project team
To ensure its growth and progress, Quantum Bank had a well-spirited project team that ensured the objectives were met at the right time and amount allocated. The project had had well-motivated managers and clients. As a result, the creativity of the work delivered was very high. The project managers also motivated the clients and the entire team to achieve full commitment. The manager also had a proper style which had a great impact on the team member motivation
The client and the sponsor of the project
A study by Crawford et al( 2008) suggests that the success and failure of the projects are not entirely within the control manager and the project team. Having the top and executive support for a project is also a factor that determines if the project would be successful or not. Project sponsorship is usually a key role to ensure completion of the project at the required time without any financial constraints. As a result of adequate finance and well creative sponsors, Quantum Bank was of great success and still currently the leading bank. This was achieved as a result of a solid baseline.
Conclusion
The world is slowly changing as a result of technology, invention, and innovation. As a result of this changing environment meeting the time, budget and specification don’t mean that a particular project will be a success. The projects become a lot expensive and even complex to determine, therefore additional factors need to be put in place to realize the dreams and reap the fruits of the success of the project. Better project is a process of day in day out continuous improvement. It is a process of learning; making mistakes and learning from those mistakes so to perfect the work. It is a continuous study, a different course of its own. It is always a matter of sacrifice, commitment, and dedication.
Recommendations
Even though Quantum Bank has achieved a great milestone in terms of its business, other considerations should still be placed and not overlooked. The project must be more of relevance and executed in the context of the initial plan. If the organization misses this, it might overlook critical projects and misallocate the resources which would farther affect its success. The resources should also be availed at the right time to achieve a better objective. In case the organization would need new goals and projects within the allocated time frame then it needs to be flexible. The organization should also prioritize project objectives and setting expectations on what needs to be delivered. Another factor is ensuring project-driven coaching is available to motivate themselves and meet their objectives.