Scope and Integration Management

Question: Discuss about the Scope and Integration Management. Answer: Introduction This report introduces a public sector project that was delivered two years back in the local area of the author. The project was on organizing a self defense workshop for the people of the authors locality (Tironi and Farias 2015). The report gives the description of the project along with the list of questions that are to be asked to the project manager, sponsor, contractor and the client. The report gives the comparison of the stakeholders regarding the success of the project. The report also provides the discussion on the meetings for all the stakeholders regarding the objectives along with justification of utilization of the resources. The techniques used to plan the scope of the project are been discussed in the subsequent sections along with the issues faced regarding budget, allocation, and scheduling. Discussion Description of the Project It had been seen in the recent past that a lot of crimes had taken place in the area where the author resided. A lot of women and girls were been sexually harassed by the people of bad intentions. Even young children are been kidnapped, young and elderly persons were been abused by the local gangsters for the purpose of robbery. Due to this reason, a project was been initiated to organize a workshop by the defense experts for the purpose of providing training on self defense. It was a two week workshop where an extensive training on the martial art, Krav Maga was been given to the common people especially the women and the girls (Bell 2014). Through the help of this project, it was expected that the local people will be able to defend themselves if they were in the trap of physical abuse or any other situation similar to it. Krav Maga ia actually a form of martial art which helps for overcoming a much stronger enemy. Such art is generally suitable for women as in general form, they a re petite in comparison with the attackers in case of sexual assault. The stakeholders of the project were the local contracting company, who had accepted to execute the project. The other stakeholders were the local municipality who were the owner of the area where the workshop was conducted. On the other words, they were the client of the project. There were other people such as the project manager who made the overall planning for the successful completion of the project (Beringer, Jonas and Kock 2013). There was also an NGO organization, which used to sponsor the entire project regarding finances. Initially, the meeting was done with the client, the local municipality where all the objectives of the project were finalized starting from the area of the training centre and workshop. All the objectives, which were been finalized were documented by the project manager (Kerzner 2013). The project manager then planned to set the start and the end date of the project, made an estimation of the requirement of materials and manpower. The project manager also made the estimation of the total cost for the development of the entire project, which included the material and the manpower cost. The material resource was been used for the development of workshop stage, seats and light and the manpower requirement was there for defense trainer. The NGO organization was then contacted for the purpose of sponsorship of the project (Ackermann et al. 2014). Further, a contractor was hired for the purpose to take the responsibility for delivering the materials for preparation of the stage along with the martial arts trainer. As per the available fund accumulated by the NGO company who in turn was also the project sponsor, the project manager started the developmental work of the workshop on the stipulated date. The project was completed after 15 days from its start date. The whole process was over through an efficient planning of the available resources. Optimum utilization of the material and manpower was done by the project manager to get the workshop done (Beringer and Georg Gemunden 2012). The development of the stage and seats in the workshop was done in an effective manner and the training of Karva Maga martial art was conducted properly as per the planned schedule. The project was started in the first day of January 2014 and ended after fifteen days. There were no great issues, which created obstruction during the workshop. At the end of the fifteenth day in January, it was declared by the project manager that the entire project has been completed (Binder 2016). It was a great pleasure for the local people, especially the female as they felt a sense of relief for being trained in an art which will help them to enable self protection. Many women felt the fruitful results in hand when they faced situations which were not favorable to them. List of Questions to be Asked to the Project Stakeholders Questions to be asked to the Project Manager How should the ideas of the project be communicated? What communication tools should be used? What is the structure for communication flow? What is the model of the process to be used? How the management of the workflow be done? How will the alert be generated if any problem arises? Who will take the responsibility of the project? Will all the requirements be reached through the project? What is the procedure for translating the priorities of the project into the estimations, iterations, and processes? Questions to be Asked to the Project Sponsor Make an establishment from the project sponsor for the reason of the situation which has a demand for a solution. For an instance, is there a requirement for the creation of a new revenue stream? Has the sponsor of the project gives the description of the organizational risk if the project is not executed? If the project is not there then will it affect the client? If so then how will the client get affected? Is the project gets affected by the people who work on behalf of the organization? Are there other people who get affected by not having the project? Questions to be Asked to the Client What is the exact requirement and what are not required? What are the issues been faced? What is the process for approval? Who are the people making the decisions? What are the expectations? What is the budget and what is the time for starting the project? What can be viewed as the success? What is the action to be taken next and what is the time for action? What is the help required to implement the project in a better way? Questions to be Asked to the Contractor Will the itemization of the project bidding be done? Is the bid there to be an estimation of the fixed price? How long is the contractor doing the business in the area? What are the main suppliers? What is the schedule? Who will be there on a daily basis during the execution of the project? How will the communication on the daily project activities be done? What part of the project provides the concern? What will be done if there is an order for a change? How will the need for making a decision be felt? What kind of documentation will be received after the completion of the project? Comparison of the Stakeholder Views Regarding Project Success As per the opinion of the project manager, the project had come to a successful completion. The resources available were utilized in the optimum level starting from the manpower to materials (Turner 2016). The aim of the project was to provide training in martial arts to the local people especially the women through a two week workshop so that they can ensure self defense in case of unpleasant situations. As it was found later that the people who took the training were able to defend themselves in major cases, it implied that the objectives have been met adequately. As there was an entry fee imposed for the workshop, several footfalls led to a larger number of revenues. As there was a proper balancing in between the accounting, human resource while conducting the project, the project manager had the opinion that it was a successful task. The project sponsor had also stated that the amount invested in the development of the project had given a good return (Heldman 2013). The project sponsor had the opinion that a sum was invested for a good purpose and had created a good amount of delight in the local people's mind. The sponsor of the project had a question in the mind whether the investment is going to the correct path. A lot of gathering of people for taking the training of self defense and successfully applying those skills in their personal lives proved that the investment was successful in the segment. The client of the project was the local municipality of the government who felt that they could reach the satisfaction level of their customers, the local people, especially the women. The local area was quite polluted by the criminal activities such as physical and sexual harassment (Dickinson and Mensinga 2012). Therefore, the workshop on training of self defense had given an essence of relief to the ordinary people. The client felt that the training on martial arts had enhanced the security level of the common people from unexpected sexual assault. As per the contractors opinion, the project was completed successfully, but it would have done better if a further 10 days were granted for the refinement of work. The contractor had the opinion stating that if a further time was given to him from the stipulated time frame, then he would have supervised a further arrangement of other martial arts training to ensure versatility in defense skills (Turner and Zolin 2012). Therefore, as per the view of the contractor, the project was a success, but it would create an additional valuation if a further time or additional manpower was given to him to make the additional refinement in the given time. Stakeholder Opinions Regarding Meeting Project Objectives The stakeholders of the project were the project manager, contractor, client and the sponsor. All of the stakeholders came to a common point of view that the objectives of the project had been met successfully. The project manager said that the mission and vision of the project had been reached (Hwang and Ng 2013). The managers objectives were to implement the project through effective utilization of the available resources. Such objectives were reached through an efficient level of planning. The client was very much delighted with the completion of the project as they felt that the arrangement of the self defense workshop had created a good impression in the local peoples mind. They felt that they have achieved a good faith in the localities (Boulmetis and Dutwin 2014). The client, therefore the local municipality had approved the project to create a sense of relief to the local people. As the training was incorporated in a well planned manner during the workshop, they thought that the purpose had been successfully served. The sponsor had provided fund support for the project so that a proper arrangement of the self defense workshop can be accommodated. As a good number of people had participated in taking the training of Karv Maga in the workshop, a good number of revenue was earned from their entry fees. The training actually became very much fruitful for the people when they utilized the skills in the emergency situations they faced. As the workshop served the purpose for training the people staying in the local area and giving a good amount of return from the entry fees, the sponsor felt that the objectives were successfully met (Unger, Gemunden and Aubry 2012). They had a feeling that investment had been done in a good segment. The contractor of the project felt that the project had served the purpose. He also felt that if he would have given a further support for additional manpower in the given time frame for additional training in other martial arts or a further ten days for the completion of the workshop, then he would have provided an additional refinement (McLeod, Doolin and MacDonell 2012). If such refinement was done, then it would have enhanced the skills of the people during the training regarding protection. Therefore as per his opinion, the project had met its objectives, but some drawbacks were left. Justification of the Project Regarding Investment of the Resources As per the views of the stakeholders, therefore the project manager, sponsor, and the client had the common opinion that the available resources, such as the manpower, materials and money were utilized in a proper way for getting the expected output. The project manager had the feeling that the workshop for self defense had provided the expertise to the common people especially the women for protecting themselves (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015). The project had also given a good amount of return from the entry fees as the footfalls were quite high in the fifteen days of the workshop. The higher number of revenues denoted higher profit margin. Such opinion gave the justification that the resources were been utilized properly. The project sponsor opined that as the investment was done for the social welfare, which gave a good return, therefore the project had given a justification of the resources expended. The client of the project provided the statement that as the area was highly affected by criminal activities, such workshop on self defense would give a sense of relief to the local people especially the women (Xu et al. 2014). Therefore, the available resources, such as the available area for workshop, manpower for expert training, money and materials had been utilized to generate an output which can be beneficial for the humanity. The project contractor had the opinion that the available resources had been utilized in the way which had led to development of the defense skills of the local people. But he thought that a further efficient planning should be done through an extension of time or addition of manpower so that other skills of martial arts would be taught to the people participating in the workshop. This would have enhanced their confidence regarding self defense. Analysis and Engagement of the Stakeholders in the Project The whole project regarding development of training on self defense was done through effective analysis and engagement of the stakeholders (Cameron and Green 2015). The project manager was hired after checking the level of expertise and experience in development of similar kind of projects. He was given the sole responsibility to interact with the client to understand the requirement and to select and contact the project sponsor and contractor. The project manager had made a proper planning including project start and end date, manpower, material and money requirement. He executed the plans accordingly which denoted that work had been done as per expectations. The client was the local municipality who were engaged on a constant basis to know the exact requirement for self defense training workshop (Goetsch and Davis 2014). The client had the expectation to have regular updates about the work progress. Such information was provided to him up to the project completion. Therefore, they were satisfied with the matter that their expectations were met. The project sponsor was selected after checking their financial health and their past performance. How fast they can provide the finance for the project was the prime matter of concern. They were engaged in the project for periodic financing (Stacey 2012). Their expectations were met as the investments were done for executing the prime milestones of the project. The contractor was hired who can execute the work in the given timeframe with reasonable cost. The contractor was given a responsibility to be engaged to execute the project for extensive hours. Throughout the project, the contractor proceeded in such way that the execution of the workshop were been done as per his expectations (Heagney 2012). In the final stage, he realized that if further time was provided or additional manpower were been given to him then there would be a better arrangement of further training in other skills of martial arts. Therefore, the expectations of him were partially met. Techniques Used to Plan the Scope The techniques that were used for planning the scope were rigorous meetings and expert judgment respectively. Through the help of these techniques, the plan for project management, the project charter, environmental factors of enterprise, organizational assets had been prepared to deliver the requirements of the management plan along with the scope (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2015). The level of the scope had been managed through the creation of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS was based on the decomposition of the activities of the project, which led to updates for project documentation. A rigorous analysis of the benefit of the training in self defense were done through questionnaires and surveys on the local people and observation on the area where they reside. The requirements had been collected from the client for defining, validating and controlling the scope (Krafft, Stol and Fitzgerald 2016). Proper planning, monitoring and controlling were done before and througho ut the project to react on any change requests. Level of Integration and Coordination of the Project Management Functions The initiation of the project was done in a proper way through survey, expert analysis and discussion. The project manager and his team members had jotted the requirements from the client. The sponsor was selected for financing and contractor was been hired for implementation of the project (Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra 2013). During the planning stage, extensive research was done to integrate the manpower, materials, and monetary resources to generate the optimum output. A proper execution was done as per the planning through an effective coordination between the project manager, the contractor, the sponsor and the client. Such coordination resulted to a successful close out of the project. The self defense program was initiated with utmost care and it generated a huge response among the common (Heagney 2012). There were a lot of revenues earned from huge footfalls in the workshop as the entry fees. The majority of the stakeholders gave a positive review regarding the project as it resulted in both monetary and non-monetary gains. Only the contractor stated that an additional time or manpower would have added a further refinement for the project. There were positive reviews from the audience who took the training in martial arts as it benefitted them in their personal lives. Issues Faced Impacting the Budget, Procurement and Schedule of the Project Some issues that were faced during the execution of project are as follows, Issues Impacting Budget There were times when the expert trainers working under the contractor demanded overtime allowances during the extended hours of each day of the workshop, which were out of the plan and affected the budget of the project badly (Stacey 2012). An extra tax was demanded by the state government for the development of the stage for the workshop. Issues Impacting Procurement The project sponsor was not providing monetary support during the mid of the project which obstructed the hiring of further defense experts. There was an agreement stating that no further defense trainers can be hired during the project which created a problem during project execution when few trainers were suffering from critical illness while conduction of the workshop. Issues Impacting Schedule A few numbers of local protestors were there who tried to hamper the workshop as they thought that it could affect their activities badly. Those protestors were actually the criminals from whom the local people have suffered a lot especially the women. Such obstructions postponed the workshop for a day affecting the overall schedule (Goetsch and Davis 2014). As a result, the trainers had to indulge themselves for an extended period in the other days when the problem was fixed. Conclusion The entire report gives the description and analysis of the project done for the sake of safety and security of the common people. It has been realized that the project has served the purpose of the stakeholders in various dimensions along with the target audience. Only, the contractor had the opinion that if a further time or manpower were provided, then there would be an additional refinement resulting to better training of the people. From the above discussions, it can be concluded that such refinement should be done in the timeframe if a similar project is done further. All the issues which impacted the project should also be taken into consideration in similar projects to avoid hazardous situations. If such planning, integration, coordination, and execution is done in an efficient way then it will provide improved results for the forthcoming projects of similar type. References Ackermann, F., Howick, S., Quigley, J., Walls, L. and Houghton, T., 2014. 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