Free «The Principles of Project Management» Essay Sample

Project plan

The Manco oil industry is located in the UK but has other ancillaries in four different countries i.e. Ireland, France, India and Singapore. The management of this company has for some time noted a serious problem that has been affecting their finance due to lack of skilled management system that will unite and equalize how the five depots are run. This problem has mainly been caused by having different systems of paying the employees in all five stations and different human resource purposes in all the five subsidiaries. It has been noted that the current systems are remarkably expensive and exceedingly slow since none of them is operating the same like the other in the next station.

This has a result made it devilishly hard to have an effective follow up of how the company is progressing economically. The current management has found it wise to have a shared services system running in all the five depots so as to make it easier for them to monitor the company in a better and more advanced manner. This project will be concentrating mainly on uniting five divisions systems into one system. It will also spell out the responsibilities of all the stakeholders as well as importance of this new system over the previous one (Williams 2008).

Purpose of the Plan

The Manco oil industry project plan will define the project in details. It will also lay out the project’s objectives and goals. The plan will also spell out the responsibilities of each stakeholder involved in the project. It will work as an agreement between stakeholders (Thomas 2003). This project plan will meet and spell out all the expectations that the project sponsor has for this company by defining:

-The project’s objectives and goals;

- Scope and the deliverables;

- Roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders;

-The project management;

- The project timeline;

- The theoretical design of the new project.

The Project Management

The project manager should also understand that projects are transitory. They have a start and an end unlike one’s career that will always have a beginning and most of the times no end. For this reason he must understand his team members so as to ensure that the relationship between them is not deterred (Adams 1996). The team should first analyze the risks that are likely to affect the development of the project. The team members should first analyze all the risks and consider the likelihood of these factors happening. Once the project has started, the team should know that they cannot change the timeline without affecting the cost and the eminence of the manufactured goods.

The team needs to understand that for the product to have the best quality there will be a need to respect the timeline. The quality of the product is co-dependent on the time taken to produce the item. The stakeholders will also need to understand the roles they are to play early enough so as not to fail the rest team members when the project starts (Larson 2011). The project proposals and discovery tools will need to be considered so as to determine whether the project is a lousy project or a beneficial project. The team will need to check which opportunities to pursue first before the others.

Project Goals and Objectives

The focal aim of this project will be to have a shared service system which will allow the company to enjoy various things in an equal manner. These include having a robust and flexible flow of services, this service will also improve the quality level of the previous running services and programs (DeCarlo 2004). The company is out to reduce the high costs that the previous systems are incurring on the company economy; the new system will help in cutting down the unnecessary costs thus this system will be cost saving. This system will also help to upgrade the ability of the previous system to be a complex system that will be able to handle the heavy workloads which will be developing as the company develops. The company is also eager to achieve more advanced system. The project will help to provide a system that will be updated thus reducing the inconveniences brought about by the system running at the moment. The project will also ensure that the company is in better position of having renovation without anything being in a mess since the shared service system is flexible and can accommodate new changes as long as the users are able to operate it (Kerzner  2001).

The project will also ensure that the company is in the position to compete with other companies. It will also ensure that the employees gain the aggressive mode thus ensuring that the company is performing well in the economic charts (Dinsmore 2011). The project will also aim at booting invalid services that are running in the company and forcing it to go at a loss rather than gaining profit from those services. This project will also be aimed at improving the company management systems which will in return improve cooperation amongst its other branches thus ensuring premeditated growth of the accommodating services in the cross institutions (McKeever 2008).

Scope Statement

This project will help to introduce a system whereby the services in the five branches of the Manco Company will be shared and thus an equal management scheme will be experienced. The scheme will provide a good flow of services, upgrade the old services and reduce the high costs incurred by the previous systems.

Roles and Responsibilities

Project sponsor will own the budget fully and will be the sole sponsor the project. He will also be the main stakeholder. The project owner will be the one responsible of all the policies relating to the project; he is also the one responsible for the entire decision making (Helm 2001).  The project managers will be sorely responsible for all the management activities involved in the project: be it the plan, assigning work to the qualified personnel. Steering committee will be there to solve all those issues that the project manager was unable to handle. This will also be the person who will be looked upon most of the time whenever trouble arises as the project advances.