Business Project and Programme Management

Introduction

The purpose of adopting a programme within the organisation is to derive out a change in the management and technology of company which results in the growth of the organisation. The personnel and the management of the unified projects, who are involved in the designing of the project are called programme management.  “Governance, management, financial management and infrastructure” of the organisation or any business entity are the main features of the programme management. The successful completion of a program results in transformational change within an organisation or a business entity.

The term “Business Transformation” referred as a key in the methods and techniques of running a business or an organization. Business transformation also includes administration and management personnel of the business entity. The change in the technology (means change of machines, equipment etc. used in the company) of the organisation also referred as the transformation of business entity.

The man who is responsible for accumulating and interpreting the data of project case is known as the “Project Manager”. The main duties and responsibilities of the project manager includes the planning of the project, supervise the activities of development of the project and to make sure that the activities of the project must be started and end up within the time allotted as per plan. It is also very important to make sure that the project must stick to the budget as much close as it can be possible.

Background of the Organization

The SB Company is an international organisation, manufacturing a wide range of hardware parts for its clients or customers. The head office of the SB Company is located at “Washington, the state of U.S.A.”  The tactic of this company is to manufacture the equipment at low cost, and deliver it to its client or customers worldwide. But SB Company is facing many challenges in fulfilling its objective. The manufacturing units of the SB Company’s is established at the Far East, but now some of its establishing units are relocating in “the U.S.A, some regions of Europe and the UK”.

Part A

1.Management of the Programme

The organisation is facing a quality issue of its out sourced products from the Far East. The manufacturers from the Far East assemble the product at a low cost, due to which the quality of the product is being comprised. This results in low demand of the SB Company’s product in the international market. This also results in low cost of the product. It has been analysed that the SB Company’s contract with the DDC is very effective in terms of cost, but it seemed to be less productive. As the company is working with DDC on a fixed rates, therefore the project seems to be unsuccessful and it is not feasible for the SB Company.

The time management is also very poor at the establishing units. As the employees are not trained properly by the raining staff, therefore they are consuming too much time for completing an order. Which results in client dissatisfaction and bad impact on the reputation and productivity of the company. The too much wasting of raw materials is also a great problem for the management of the organisation. The change management which was previously implemented in some manufacturing units are seemed to be failed as they are not managed properly. It has also been observed that there is a lack of effective communication among the management staff.

It is very difficult and complex to adopt an innovative techniques and instruments in an organisation having multifaceted surroundings. In the SB Company, the management has faced a number of trouble and challenges in introducing new technology in the company, as it require fresh strategic plan to be implemented. No one from the upper management is fully aware of the new methods and procedures which were adopted within the organisation.

 Several risk management experts suggest; “You get a fixed price but not a fixed quality. Its impossible to fix the price from inception, because things change every single day, and if variations and changes are required, it forces the organisation to make guesses and the project may end up costing more.” This approach is very helpful to increase the financial value of the company. The consulting company must be contacted, so as to check the feasibility of the programme. The management of the AB Company must evaluate the past performance of the consulting agency before making a contract with them.

Case Study

Below given is the case study of the Z tech International Company, which has adopted the programme management techniques;

Z tech is one of the largest technology company around the world, consisting of a diverse range of distribution groups globally. Z tech has adopted the technology as they wishes to low down their investment in the manufacturing process of the product and to increase the productivity of the product without comprising in the quality of the product. The management of Z tech adopted the strategy to build their manufacturing units in the countries which are not strong economically, and are far away from the innovative techniques and technology.  By this move, the company reduce the cost of import and export of their product.

They also started to build their establishing units in those countries, where people are suffering from unemployment. This results in low labour cost, as they local people of that region hired in low wages. They started acquiring the components of the hardware or machinery at reasonable cost, from nearby locations from their stores. This approach helps in low investment as the transportation cost is reduced. After the successful implementation of the programme it has been observed that the performance of the Z tech becomes better and better. It has been noticed that the Z tech company is attaining high profit mark up than its competitors. Due to its programme Z tech is achieving its sales targets easily by the end of the month. Z tech started performing better than its competitors and it giving tough time to them.

Outcomes of the Study

The innovative techniques and technology is the key factor in the success of any business. It has been observed that the collaboration with the outsourcing results in improving the efficiency and performance of the organisation. It has also been observed that there is a risk of losing the reputation of the organisation, if there is a poor communication and understanding between the outsourcing agency and the organisation. It has suggested by several financial experts that the weak management of the organisation may result in losing the client’s or customer’s satisfaction.

2.Scope and Deliverables of the Programme

The scope of the programme is to plan a transformational change in the SB Company, which help the organisation to strengthen its financial growth as well as its productivity. The objective of implementing this program in the SB Company is to increase the productivity and performance of the organisation with low investment. Due to this, the profit margin of the company will surely upsurge. The scope of the programme management also help the SB Company in the production of “bespoke software products” of good quality. Proper implementation of the programme will assist the organisation to assure the quality of the final product between the two parties, which results in the client or customer satisfaction. The aim of the programme management is to become competent in the software development industry. The organisation can attain maximum benefit as the conventional “Computer Hardware Market and Mobile Technology” making collective efforts to accomplish the best results.

The collaboration of the AB Company with the WN Company, will strengthen the establishing units of the AB Company across Europe and in some parts of the United States. The WN Company has an excellent reputation in the software development industry and is known as “a large integrated mobile phone manufacturer”. This will help in enriching the sales and productivity of both the organisations. The collaboration with WN Company is decided by the management as it has an excellent team of IT experts, and has a wide range of establishing units near the manufacturing units of AB Company.

3.Scheduling and Estimating

The estimation and scheduling of a specific is a challenging task, which require a skilful person or staff, having vast experience in the estimation of projects. In order to decrease the organisational expanses and to increase the productivity, many companies step forward to automate their establishing units. Since the manufacturing unit of the SB Company is located in the Far East, the cost of manufactured product is quite. But it is mentioned that the quality of such products are not quite up to the mark. Several complaints have been recorded from the clients or customers worldwide, regarding the quality of the product. Later the management of the SB Company has decided to locate the establishing unit back to the United States. Due to the poor estimation of the project, there is a wastage of raw materials and also the wastage of working hours. It has been noticed that the staff failed to complete the given task of client due to the poor scheduling of the project.

The estimation and scheduling of a programme comprise of four important components which are; “time, requirements, resources (people, infrastructure/materials and money), and risks.”  Proper estimation tools should be used to accurately estimate the manufacturing process. The first step is to make a rough estimate of the project, which helps in negotiations with the client. A rough schedule is also being drafted, so as to give the time frame to the client or customer. This rough schedule is also used in the initial planning of the project.

The future approach of the AB Company’s is to establish a software house and IT professionals in together in a location in the Western Europe. For this Purpose a consulting agency will be hired to suggest a location where the “Software Centre of Excellence” may be established. The consulting agency will responsible for evaluating the feasibility of the project. The agency will suggest the design of the building, assess the environment of the surroundings to make sure that the “Centre of Excellence” may function in a healthy environment. The hired consulting agency will also advise about the “the acquisition of WN’s Development functions.” By collaborating with the WN Company, the sales of the Ab Company would be enriched. It also help AB Company to make changes in the structure of their organisation. Although there are some issues such as; “political factors, location and achieving added value”, which can cause resistance in making this contract. But these all issues can be successfully managed by proper management.

Some of the members from the upper management of the AB Company proposed to amalgamate the manufacturing units of the company with that of WN’s company. By doing this the change management will automatically enforced across the establishing units of the AB Company. It has also been suggested that the merging of the manufacturing units of both the organisation will initially take place in some parts of the United States of America on trial basis. After the successful implementation of the programme the establishing units across the world of both the organisation would be merged. There should be a proper check and balance so that the change management may not hurdle the daily productivity of both the organisations, and it will continue to meet the expectations of the client and stakeholders.

4.Management of Issues and Risk

For the proper management of risk and hurdles that are faced by the organisation there should be proper assessment of the risk. For this purpose the risk assessment tools may be used to identify the risk properly. The management of SB Company could better plan to tackle its threats due to early risk assessment. By adopting the approach of risk management, it is quite possible to minimize the amount of loss in the future.  

a)Loss of Control

In an outsourcing of an organisation there is a change that the company might lose some of the management and official control of its organisation. This is quite intolerable for the organisation, to loss the control of their project. Some important decisions may be taken by the third party without discussing with the organisation. If the targets of both the parties are not same than there is a great risk of project failure.

 Mitigation

The AB Company must decide what would be leave up to the third party before handing over the control of the management of the project. There should be a proper plan shaped between both the parties according to which the third party is responsible for giving progress updates and other important information to the organisation.

b)Weak Management

The main purpose of outsourcing is to reduce the operational cost of the organisation. The weak or unprofessional management will result in poor communication and documentation with the third party, which ultimately harm the reputation of the company. The process of choosing a reliable partner for outsourcing is the most critical step.

Mitigation

There should be effective management system within the organisation, to keep an eye on the outsourcing agency. The management staff must not depend on the data and information provided by the third party. The administration must manage to meet the deadline of the project without compromising the quality of the product. It is also the responsibility of the management to carefully assess the past performance of the outsourcing, before collaborating or contracting them.

c) Legal Issues

There is a chance of exposing the trading secrets and other legalities of an organisation, when it is collaborating with the third party. Outsourcing might risk the privacy of the organisation. The financial data and information might be exposed and the opponents of the company can steal the confidential documents easily. It is quite possible that the outsourcing agency may steal the legal papers and other personal data of the organisation. Due to this the contestants of the organisation, come up with the best plans and techniques in the market to win the race of technology.

Mitigation

The organisation must sign a confidential agreement with the outsourcing agency to make sure that the protocols and personal matters of the organisation must be safeguard by the third party. Make the third party clear that if there is breach of contract takes place from their side, due to which the organisation suffers, the management will take legal and strict action against the outsourcing agency.

d)   Compromise in the Quality

There is no comprise on the quality of the developed software. But most of the times there is a compromise in the quality when it is handed over to the third party (outsourced). Since the outsource agency does not have much knowledge about the product and does not have much experience as compare to the company, therefore there is a possibility that the quality of the product is compromised.

 Mitigation

To maintain the quality of the product the AB Company must ensure asses the vendor by evaluating their past performance. By this way the company can evaluate the quality of the pass performance of the outsourcing agency. The quality of work of the vendors may also be judged by meeting at least 2 to 3 clients of the outsourcing agency. If the feedback of those clients are positive (means if they are satisfied with their vendor), then it is the one which the company can collaborate without any hesitation. If the feedback of the vendor’s client is not satisfying then the company should move on and find the other vendor. Make sure that the organisation and the third party must be on the same page and the wishes of clients and customers must not be compromised.

5.Programme Control

The control of a programme or project begins with properly assessing the part of the organisation which need improvement. The rod map should be drafted by the management to according to the project starts and driven out to its destination. The multi step process should be designed which evaluate each activity of the project and allocate funds accordingly. The expenses of each activity should also be assessed so as to complete each activity close to the expected budget and given deadline. The main parameters considered in the control of the programme management are the resources and the financial matters of the organisation.

The control of the programme management is not effective if the stakeholders of the organisation are not taken on board. Stakeholders of the organisation, which includes the upper management, financiers of the organisation all others getting affected by the financial decision of the organisation. A renowned risk management suggests that; “Lack of scope, lack of good people, and lack of process and checks and balances to see whats going on. There are very few people who understand how to manage projects well, to successfully complement business processes, and allow business processes to be derived.”

6.Contracting and Supplier Management

To meet the demand of producing high quality product with in low budget without delaying the project is becoming very difficult in this “competitive business environment”. To meet the above requirements it becomes necessary for the organisation to get contracted or collaborate with the outsourcing agency. The management of the organisation should strictly focus on the selection procedure of the vendor. The selection criteria includes the assessment of the offers provided by the vendors, and also evaluate the type of materials and their quality written in the offering document. There are two basic types of contract agreement between the vendor and the organisation which are; “fixed price contract and cost reimbursable contract.”

Fixed Price Contract

The “fixed price contract” allows the business entity to get contracted with the vendor on a fixed rate. This agreement consist of the quality of the product, fixed rate and the delivery time. The drawback of the fixed rate contract is the variation of the price. The contractor add the contingency price within the fixed rate document to get on the safer side, but it ultimately results in the high rates of the product. In this agreement the vendor consider the chance of unexpected increase in the cost of materials and charges of labour. For the long terms contract, the vendor also consider the effect of inflation, which might results in the increase of the project cost. For example changes in the price of petrol and oil which effects the transportation cost and sometime result in increase in the production cost.

Cost Reimbursable Contract

The “cost reimbursable contract”, which is also known as the “cost plus contracts” is taken into account when there is no proper plan or approach is drafted for the project. According to this agreement the organisation is responsible to pay the performing or servicing cost to the outsourcing agency. In this agreement there is a roughly estimated cost mentioned by the vendor, as the scope and the activities involved in the project are not clearly drafted. Proper documentation and assessment is required in this method, to make sure that the client get paid for each activity.

Part B

It is previously suggested by the new “Chief Operating Officer (COO)” that the techniques of out sourcing is adopted to progress the delivery of the products. By this way the SB Company’s cost of production could be easily brought down. For the upcoming findings these experiences should be taken into account. The reason behind the success of the change management, wherever it is implemented, is that the experts took time to make their strategies, plans and structure. Then the experts test their effectiveness of their technology and techniques and after gaining the desired success, they deploy their strategy into the market.

The management of the SB Company must take its employees into confidence, before making the decision of outsourcing. If the company faces the resistance from the employees against the decision of sourcing, it means that the decision is not proved to be effective. The employees are insecure about their jobs and there is a chances of trust deficient between the company and the employees. As a result the employees started leaving the organisation. Therefore it is important for the company, to safeguard the right and needs of the employees before collaborating with the third party.  

It is very benefit able for the business entities to make themselves flexible, to accept any innovative change in the technology. It is very important for the organisations to fully implement the advancement in technology and techniques, with in the company, in order to get maximum advantage and to achieve their short terms and long term goals.

The management of the organisation must all those factors that risks the feasibility of the project, before getting its product or project outsourced. The prime parameters which the organisation must focus involves; “socio economic factors, terrorism, relationships with other countries and the border tensions of the vendor’s country”. The inflation rate of the state or country of the outsourcing agency must also be taken into account. The political condition of the country and the policy of government taxes of that area must be in the knowledge of the business entity. Furthermore, the management must ensure to tackle the language and communication barriers among the employees and the vendor company. The organisation should be flexible enough to accept the change of management within the organisation.

Conclusion

The programme management of an organisation is a quite complicated task. The techniques of programme management revolves around four basic parameters which are; “men, money material that are to be coordinate within a proper time frame.” By considering the above four basic aspects of programme management the quality of your product is never being compromised. To achieve valuable results within the limited time frame, the organisation must adopt innovative technologies and ideas of project or programme management.

 In outsourcing of a product there is a great risk of getting compromised in terms of quality of the product. Sometimes the outsourced projects over run the budget allocated for them. There is also a problem of time management when the product is offshored by the organisation. They take too much time for getting ready, resulting in the client’s dissatisfaction. It has been suggested by several authors that to effectively implement the “programme management, scheduling, quality control mechanisms” should be drafted properly and there should be proper check and balance to ensure the effectiveness of the programme. To achieve this goal the organisation must use different tools and techniques for proper documentation and assessment of the project.

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