Conveyor Belt Project Report

OPMA-5364-001-PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Dr. Michel E Whittenberg

Submitted By: Group 2

Rishabh Siingh
Burhan Naim
Rutuja Kshirsagar
Durgasravani Kapilavai

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Content Page No.

Table of figures 3

Introduction 4

Phase 1: Defining/Initiating 4

Phase 2: Planning 8

Phase 3: Executing 12

Phase 4: Closing 16

Conclusion 19

References 20

Appendices 21

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 TABLE OF FIGURES

Content

Figure 1: Project scope statement

Figure 2: Project priority matrix

Figure 3: Coded WBS

Figure 4: Gantt Schedule Table

Figure 5: Budget Reserve

Figure 6 : Risk assessment form

Figure 7: Risk response matrix

Figure 8: resource allocated to project

Figure 9 : Cumulative trend analysis

Table 1: 1st quarter report

Table 2: 2nd Quarter report

Table 3: 3rd quarter report

Table 4.1: 4th Quarter report

Table 4.2: revised 4th quarter status report

Figure 11: Project closure deliverables

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 Introduction:
The purpose of this report is to provide Dr Michel E. Whittenberg, VP of Operations with
a revised status of the Conveyor Belt Project. The report has four phases of project life cycle which
are: Defining/Initiating, Planning, Executing, and Closing. The first phase, Defining, will
incorporate high levels of activities such as goals, specifications, identifying key tasks, and roles
and responsibilities. The second phase, Planning, includes creating schedules, defining budgets,
determining resources available and requirements, assessing risks and staffing the team. The third
phase, executing, involves the development of status reports, dealing with change, ensuring
quality, and forecasting. All activities associated with the closing phase will be the estimations, as
that phase has not yet occurred. Closure activities includes training the customer, transferring
documents, releasing resources, evaluations and lessons learned.

Phase One: Defining/Initiating

The first step in defining the project involves the development of a project scope statement (Figure
1). Project scope statement document defines “the work performed to deliver a product, service,
or result with the specific features and functions” (PMBOK). Though a Project Scope Statement
is very similar to Project Charter, the charter acknowledges the existence of a project and formally
authorizes the PM to initiate the project. whereas the scope statement outlines the objective,
deliverables, milestones, technical requirement, limits and exclusions and reviews with customers
of the project.

Figure 1: Project Scope Statement

The above figure describes the scope statement for the Conveyor Belt Project. The scope
starts by illustrating the Project Objective statement. The project Objective specifies the missio n,
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cost and the duration of the project. The second part of scope statement, Project Deliverables lists
“Hardware”, “Operating System”, “Utilities” and “System Integration”. A point to be noted here
is that these are major deliverables and are presented in a high level view. To produce these
deliverables, there is a hierarchy of process of work that should be done which may further and
further sub divide the tasks into lower level tasks.
Milestones are next described in the scope statement. Milestones usually shows
importance of certain achievements of a task or group of related tasks. In the conveyor belt
project, starting and completion of Operating System and Utility Development tasks are marked
as milestones.
The technical requirements listed above documents all the relevant laws and standards
pertaining to Conveyor belt project and it also specifies requirements of the way the systems
should work. The limits and exclusions paragraph exclusively talks about number of working
hours, major holidays, exclusive responsibilities related to different tasks.
The project charter should include the scope statement as well as a detailed description of
the products or services to be delivered. It also captures the reasons for initiating a project. For the
conveyor belt project, a charter was not necessary and hence, the project scope statement was used
as a charter.
Though we define the goals and specifications, there is a probability that scope creep may
occur at any stage of the project. The scope creep has a tendency to expand the project scope
beyond what was actually planned for which affects project cost and project schedule. The scope
creep should be managed properly. The scope creep occurs due to change in requirements over
time, change in priority of tasks and specifications of final product. This sometimes may contribute
to project failure. The scope creep mitigation techniques helps in reducing the affect of it and be
prepared to face it anytime throughout the project life cycle.
The next step after producing a project scope statement is to create a project priority matrix.
The priority matrix is important in understanding what aspects of the triple constraint are
constrained, enhanced or accepted. For the conveyor belt project, the constraint was time as the
project was time bound. The changes to cost are “accepted” as we knew our maximum budget was
well above what we needed to complete the project. And we “enhance” our scope as we would
improve the functionality of the conveyor belt.

Figure 2 shows the priority matrix for this project

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 Figure 2 Project priority matrix

The tasks that are necessary to complete any given project are usually laid out in a Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS is a hierarchical outline that defines the basic activities
required to complete a given project. It is organized by deliverables, sub-deliverables, and work
packages . The work breakdown structure is ideal for Conveyor Belt Project. As seen in the
project scope statement, the conveyor belt project includes four major deliverables: Hardware,
Operating System, Utilities and System Integration. All these are put together to make the whole
system work.

The project managers identifies the deliverables, divide them into tasks and the division
continues until the chunks of tasks can not be divided any further and the tasks at low level can
be handled by a single person. The development of WBS helps in creating the bottom up
estimates of cost early and schedule early in the project. WBS helps in better monitoring
controlling of the project and thus, helping project manager to have a big picture of the project.

Appendix A shows a basic WBS from the Conveyor Belt Project. It outlines the major
deliverables and sub tasks that are necessary for completing the major deliverables.

To develop and manage a project plan, a Project Manager requires a detailed system where
he can input WBS activities that helps him/her have necessary elements put together for planning
and estimation of the project. In the case of Conveyor Belt Project, MS project is used to input
WBS elements divided into different levels in a hierarchical way. The elements or deliverab les,
sub deliverables are unique and allows to view and understand reports at any given level. Figure
3, below, shows a coded WBS as described above.

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 Figure 3: WBS deliverables in MS project

Having identified the goals and objectives of the program, determined priorities, developed
a WBS and coded our activities into MS project, the team was able to begin the process of laying
out detailed plans for the project. The project manager’s ability to lead and manage the team is
critical throughout the project. With a strong leadership, problems like conflicts, scope creep,
changes in scope can be effectively managed.

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 Phase Two: Planning
A project plan, according to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), is:
"a formal, approved document used to guide both project execution and project control. The
primary uses of the project plan are to document planning assumptions and decisions, facilitate
communication among project stakeholders, and document approved scope, cost,
and schedule baselines. A project plan may be summarized or detailed." The planning phase
involves five main phases: Resource requirements, Schedules, Budget, Risk analysis, Staffing.

A. Resource requirements

Since, our project is time constrained the Development, design and documentation part of
it was over allocated. To resolve this problem an external development team was added to the
available resources which was $120/hours ($70+$50). The first occurrence of over allocation
was noted on August 24th , 2017. The team then identified the conflict and removed the original
development team from Routine Utilities; originally 8th August,2017 was moved to 9th march,
2018 and we added the new external development team. We chose network interface because it
did not require any other internal teams to complete the task; which worked to our advantage and
ideal for an outsourced agency.

B. Schedules

The estimated completion days initially were 530 days, with a delivery date of February
1,2018. The critical path determined was: Hardware specification -> Hardware documentatio n- >
operation system and management-> disk drivers-> memory management-> operating system
documentation-> Network interface-> Utilities-> system integration-> Integration acceptance
testing-> Completing system integration.

The activity with the greatest slack was found to be Utilities work package with total slack
of 115 days.

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 Figure 4: Gantt schedule table

C. Budget

1. Budget Reserves

The budget reserves are reserved for specific work packages to manage unforeseen risks.
We estimate this in percentage of estimated cost, a fixed number of using quantitative
analysis.
The project management calculates the likelihood of a certain events and allots some
amount to the budget reserves:
As shown in the table, the total amount of budget reserves is: $43,900

Risk Event Work Package Probability Cost Impact Budget Reserve

Improper 1.1.2 40% $55,000 $22,000
Hardware
specification
Prototype 1.1.5 30% $50,000 $15,000
failure
Circuit board 1.1.6, 1.17 10% $9,000 $900
failure
Error in Design 1.1.3 20% $30,000 $6,000
Modelling
Figure 5: Budget reserves

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 2. Management reserves

Management reserves are usually the resources that are needed to address the problems that
happen unexpectedly. The management reserves are assumed to be at least 10% of the total work
packages cost. Therefore, the management cost that is estimated is almost $ 1,095,100

D. Risk analysis

1. Risk assessment form

We analyze the scenario and create a risk assessment which helps us figure out the
possible risks, their likelihood and impact on the over all project. After developing the
risk assessment matrix, we find out the most severe risk and its occurrence, the team
found the most severe potential risk event scoring 23 points as H/w and S/w failure test
which is placed in red zone, followed by the failure of acceptance test at 12 points which
is placed in the yellow zone.

Risk Event Likelihood Impact Risk Score When

Improper 3 3 13 Maintenance
Hardware
specification
Prototype failure 2 3 12 Conversion
Circuit board 2 3 12 Post Installation
failure
Error in Design 2 3 12 During System
Modelling Integration Phase

Figure 6-Risk assessment

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 2. Risk response Matrix

The following risk response matrix is showing how the project management team is
managing the possible risks.

Risk Event Response Contingency Trigger Responsibility

Plan
Improper Mitigate: Fix minor issues Failure in Burhan
Hardware Contract most else get new equipment
specification reliable vendor hardware
Prototype Mitigate: New Troubleshooting Software Rishabh
failure chip to be ports interconnection
installed failure
Circuit board Mitigate: Fix minor issues Customer Rutuja
failure Change of parts or format complaints
Error in Design Mitigate: New OS to be Software failure Sravani
Modelling Routine check installed
for software
integration
issues
Figure 7: Risk response matrix

E. Staffing

The project team already has a Design team, development team, Documentation team and
Assembly/test team from research and development group as well as purchasing team from
procurement group. As the project progressed further, we had the problem of over allocation
which the team solved by adding external development teams, totaling 6 teams in the project.
The following figure shows the assigned resources team names along with its names and budget

and management reserves.

Figure 8: Resource allocated to the project

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 PHASE 3-Execution

Execution phase is all about coordinating people and resources integrating and performing
project activities according to project planning.

Figure 9: Cumulative trend analysis

Status Reports
1st Quarter

PV EV AC SV CV BAC
$126,800 $155,980.83 $151,680 $29,180.00 $4,300.83 $1,095,100
MRI VAC EAC CPI PCIB SPI
0.39% $30,195.01 $1,064,904.99 1.028 0.00% 0.1424
st
Table 1:1 Quarter Report

 According to the project statistics, both the schedule and cost variance are positive, which
implies that the project is ahead of schedule and is under budget by 4.3K.
 The PCIB indicates the amount of the project finished to the date against the panned budget
while PCI, the amount of the project finished thus far as compared to the revised estimate.
 Here, CPI turns out to be 1.02, which implies that if we continue to earn $1.02 for each
dollar spent, we will be under budget by approximately $29,180

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2nd Quarter

PV EV AC SV CV BAC
$417,200 $454,431.37 $470,720 $37,231.37 ($16,288.63) $1,095,100
MRI VAC EAC CPI PCIB SPI
-0.01% ($39,252.75) $1,134,352.75 0.97 41.50% 1.089
Table 2:2nd Quarter Report

 According to the project statistics, both the schedule and cost variance are negative, which
implies that the project is behind schedule and is over budget by
 The PCIB indicates the amount of the project finished to the date against the panned budget
while PCIC, the amount of the project finished thus far as compared to the revised estimate.
The PCIB is 0.4150, implying that about 41.50% of the project has been completed to the
date.
 Here, CPI turns out to be 0.97, which implies that if we continue to earn $0.97 for each
dollar spent, we will be under budget by approximately $1,095,100

3rd Quarter

PV EV AC SV CV BAC
$599,440 $609,520.00 $631,600 $10,080.00 ($21,346.05) $1,095,100
MRI VAC EAC CPI PCIB SPI
-0.01% ($39,670.25) $1,134,770.25 0.97 55.65% 1.01
Table 3:3rd Quarter Report

 According to the project statistics, both the schedule and cost variance are negative, which
implies that the project is behind schedule and is over budget by
 The PCIB indicates the amount of the project finished to the date against the panned budget
while PCIC, the amount of the project finished thus far as compared to the revised estimate.
The PCIB is 0.5565, implying that about 55.65% of the project has been completed to the
date.
 Here, CPI turns out to be 0.97, which implies that if we continue to earn $0.97 for each
dollar spent, we will be under budget by approximately $1,095,100

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4th Quarter

PV EV AC SV CV BAC
$685,120 $690,009.50 $719,520 $4,889.50 ($29,510.50) $1,095,100
MRI VAC EAC CPI PCIB SPI
-0.03% ($46,835.51) $1,141,935.91 0.96 63.00% 1.01
th
Table 4:4 Quarter Report

 According to the project statistics, both the schedule and cost variance are negative, which
implies that the project is behind schedule and is over budget by
 The PCIB indicates the amount of the project finished to the date against the panned budget
while PCIC, the amount of the project finished thus far as compared to the revised estimate.
The PCIB is 0.63, implying that about 63% of the project has been completed to the date.
 Here, CPI turns out to be 0.96, which implies that if we continue to earn $0.96 for each
dollar spent, we will be under budget by approximately $1,095,100

Revised 4th Quarter

PV EV AC SV CV BAC
$685,120 $698,173.95 $719,520 $13,053.95 ($21,346.05) $1,095,100
MRI VAC EAC CPI PCIB SPI
-19.49% ($33,481.71) $1,128,581.71 0.97 63.75% 1.01
Table 4.2: Revised report
 At this stage, the project is on schedule(SPI is equal to 1.01) however it has gone over
budget (CPI is less than 1 and negative CV) by 32.4k. The schedule variance here is
positive $3161.47 which shows that the project is marginally ahead by the same amount.
 The PCIB show the the amount of project accomplished to the date against the planned
budget while PCIC, the amount of the project accomplished so far as compared to the
revised estimates. Here PCIB and PCIC are 0.5559 which implies that about 55.59% has
been completed till the date.
 TCPI indicates that the efficiency needed to complete the project on schedule. Here TCPI
values come to around 1.06 which indicates that for every dollar spent, we need to achieve
$1.06 worth of work to meet our budget requirements.
 Here, CPI comes up to 0.95, which implies that if we continue to earn only $0.95 for each
dollar spent, we will be over budget by approximately $ 58,454.78.

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Alterations
During the entire project life cycle numerous changes have been made to the project’s
scope and the expected variances in the cost and schedule. Some changes may be anticipated in
the form of risk management plan whereas some are unknown. Changes to the scope on the other
hand are well known and should be handled well by the project manager.
Since the changes made to the scope are already addressed in phase 1, some work needs to
be done in the schedule and cost variances. There are significant changes that are made at the end
of the fourth quarter for the remaining activities. These changes in some cases result in increase in
scheduled time and cost which leads to increase in the indirect costs over a period. Project
managers must navigate changes as well as they navigate routine processes a procedure if the
project is going to be successful.
To address the schedule changes, a PM might have to take necessary actions to make up
for the lost time and finish the project in time. Conversely, if the project is ahead of schedule,
resources can be directed elsewhere where to keep the overall project on time or perhaps finis h
early as well. If costs exceed the the planned budget, then other considerations should be taken as
well viz. brainstorming various cost reduction techniques or reducing over all scope may help with
cost over runs.

Throughout the project, the management and the team will encounter numerous challenges that
must be dealt with for the successful completion of the project. In this project, the listed below are
the areas that are of greatest concerns:
 Loss of team focus: Team members may lose focus and concentrate on accomplis hing
certain personal goals and may not work as a team, or “lime- lighting” at the expense of the
team.
 Dysfunctional conflict: It emerges as strong personalities and stress impact the ability of
the team to engage in functional conflict as a part of the problem-solving process.
 Loss of purpose: Given the duration of the project, distractions emerge and therefore the
common sense of purpose begun to dissolve. Without continuously reminding the team of
the overall goals and objectives, this can consume valuable time and resources.
 Motivation: Cost and schedule over runs as well as normal conflict that emerge with in any
team inevitable affect motivation. Keeping a project team motivated and focused on the
project is extremely important to the successful completion of the project.

Keys to Success:

One of the ways to boost morale of the employees would be to reward and appreciate them for
their work in front of the company members. Also, have team lunches or dinners so that it keeps
them motivated and engaged. For project success, building a good and cohesive project team is
very important. Communication is one of the keys to project success among the team members,
customers and stake holders. Project leaders should keep track of the information flow to ensure
project success. Monitoring critical path in timely manner helps to avoid delays.

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 PHASE 4 : Closing

Project closure
All projects do end. Every project has a definite start and definite end. By closing a project, it
allows to wrap up the project, move on and get paid.
To start with first let’s have overview
Project Background Overview

 What were the original business discussed objectives, goals, scope and
success criteria?
 Refer to project overview statement and/or project charter for this
information.

1) Lessons Learned – Organization will have chance to review the mistakes made and
understand good things done and use this knowledge for future projects.

Lessons Learned

 Which are the good processes that worked well?

 Which activities could have been improved, and how?
 Project highlights
 Pitfalls

2) Obtain all the Approvals – Approvals from all the stake holders that have an interest in
the project.

3) Get Signatures – A written a legal binding for certain things we need.

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 PROJECT CLOSURE REPORT APPROVALS

Prepared By __________________________________
([Job Title])

Approved By __________________________________
([Job Title])

__________________________________
([Job Title])

__________________________________
([Job Title])

Approval Date __________________________________

4) Close Contracts – There might be an internal contracts or vendor contracts. There is a

need to ensure that all terms and contracts has been closed.
5) Compute Final costs – With that we want to make all payments, al invoices,
commissions, fees, bonuses.
6) Finalize Reports – Variances how did we do in this project. The features mentioned in the
project scope should be met 100% . This is when we can say that the project is complete.
7) Transition Support – Someone needs to work on the project or support or maintain it, so
we want to transfer the knowledge via KT’s documents. Moving the ownership to
business to improve the operations. Sometimes there might be Business, Operations and
Systems department’s acceptance required during transition
8) Release documents –this phase, all documentations, including initial project
requirements, all records related to project at every level would be put aside for the
future. A document consisting a brief outline of project and all stakeholders is prepared.
This makes is easy for anyone to learn about the history and retrieve information at a later
time in the future.

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 9) Release Resources: Release the resources to work on other projects. This allows to
transfer the staff responsibilities which signifies the closure of the project. The release of
resources must comply with organizational policies.
10) Archive Project Artifacts – Archive the documents for future need.
11) Celebrate Success: Every closure needs to be celebrated as a symbol of successful ending
of a project which is a work of all stakeholders and team work put together.

Figure 10: Project Closure deliverables

To properly measure a project's success, and work toward it’s continuous improvement, the
process of Post-Implementation Review (PIR) is helpful. It helps you answer the following key
questions:
 Did the project fully solve the problem that it was designed to address?
 Can we take things further, and deliver even bigger benefits?
 What lessons did we learn that we can apply to future projects?

These are the closure activities that are usually done when a project completes under normal
conditions. But for the conveyor belt project, we are 30 days behind schedule.

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 Conclusion
Project Management’s success requires a large number of activities, relationships and
environments to unitedly align in order to accomplish the project goals that were stated in
parallel to completing the project within the budget requirements. Every project is bound to have
scope creep and unexpected changes in priorities. Effective project management helps alleviates
these problems. The factors that are discussed above contribute to project’s success and should
we use these guidelines during every phase of the project, it leads to successful closure of the
project.

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 REFERENCE
1. Larson, Erik W., “Project Management”, 7th edition. New York, NY: Mcgraw Hill Education
2. Lecture Notes. Presented by Dr. Michel E. Whittenberg. Found: Notes
3. Microsoft Project Tutorials. Found: Tutorials

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 APPENDIX

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