Critical Analysis Of Project Management Plan For Local Government Reform Project

Document to be Analyzed

There are several deliverables that the members of the project team provide during the lifecycle of the project. Project Management Plan (PMP) is one such deliverable that is associated with every project and must be submitted to the project management and stakeholders during the project planning phase. The report has been prepared to analyse the PMP of a project to come up with the suggestions and recommendations on the improvement of the same. The project that is being analysed is the local government reform project in which the city of Swan will amalgamate with the Shire of Mundaring. The proposals have been put forward by the two parties in front of the Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB). The report is structured in sections and sub-sections. An introduction section is included to provide the purpose of the report, details of the project, and information on the report structure.

The project that is being analysed is the local government reform project in which the city of Swan will amalgamate with the Shire of Mundaring. The proposals have been put forward by the two parties in front of the Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB). The proposals were submitted by the parties as per the Local Government Act on October 4, 2013. Shire of Mundaring submitted a proposal for the amalgamation of the city of Swan with Shire of Mundaring. City of Swan submitted a proposal with Town of Bassendean and it comprised of the comments for amalgamation of the city of Swan, town of Bassendean, and Shire of Mundaring (Lgnsw, 2018). The proposals were submitted to LGAB so that the board may analyse the same and provide its recommendations to the Minister before the release of Governor’s orders that were expected to be released around August 2014. The combined executive of the two parties suggested making the transition to the new local government entity. These proposals for reform have been placed for the common benefit of the parties involved and a transition plan will be required to implement the same. The transition plan of the project includes the measures to be followed for the development of a local single entity. There will be various other bodies and organizations that will be involved in the procedure and it will be essential to cover and understand the details of the responsibilities of all the parties. The strategy to implement the project is to make use of a three-phase approach.

Project Scope

The scope for the project has been cited as development of a transition plan to prepare and manage the transition to the new local government identity. The scope covers the proposals and requirements submitted by the city of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. The scope also suggests that the project will be delivered within the two existing organizations and there will be working groups involved. There will be three phases that will be involved in the project in which the first phase will be the review phase followed by interim and transition phases. The activities that will be covered in each of the three phases have been included in the project scope. The scope statement also includes the out of scope and scope changes (Gomes, 2013).

The project scope is designed as per the guideline specified under the PMBoK methodology as the entire elements essential to the scope are covered.

There are specific deliverables and milestones that must be declared in the planning phase of the project to allow the stakeholders to have an understanding on the project submissions.

The deliverables that have been listed for the project include Corporate Business Plan, Budget, Council Business, One Network, Customer Interface, CEO appointment & structure, and financial setup. There is also a table included to provide the information on the project milestones. The work plan and the date of delivery of the milestone are also included in the table. This will allow the management and the stakeholders to effectively manage the project activities.

The deliverables and milestones do not have the resource responsible for the same. It should have been included in the plan as the tracking process would have become easier.

There are certain assumptions that are involved with each project and the list of these assumptions for the project is included in this section of the PMP. The assumptions for the project have been listed in the categories as changes, proposals, leadership, parties, funding, commitment, timing, seamless, priorities, and delivery date. The inclusion of the assumptions in these areas is mapped with a brief description.

The section also includes the information on the goals, vision, guiding principles, values, and behaviours. The section describes each of these sections in detail to put across the necessary information to the management and stakeholder groups (Fanning, 2014).

The project of local government reform is a major one and includes a lot many activities that need to be carried out. There are also various bodies and elements involved which may lead to certain constraints for the project. The primary sets of constraints that have been acknowledged for the project are included in the PMP of the project. These include the constraints associated with a specific project activity or resource associated with the project. The constraints that are listed are valid and were necessary to be shared for adequate project planning.

Project Deliverables

There are certain dependencies associated with the project, such as the ones in the areas of clarity, leadership, time & resources, commitment, sense of urgency, communication, information sharing, systems & structure, and business. There may also be additional dependency in the areas of budget, legal approvals, and regulatory policies that have not been cited. The listing of the dependencies could be improved upon by including the information from all the project areas and data sources.

The idea and proposal of reform will provide several benefits to each party. The details of the benefits and outcomes have been included on the basis of the assumption that larger local governments will be able to achieve economies of scale up to an extent. There will be several areas that will benefit with the implementation of the project.  For instance, resource capability will be strengthened with the proposal. There will be improvement in the financial stability along with other financial benefits. Rationalisation of the operational assets and asset management process will be done (Al-Freidi, 2015). Workforce capability and providing new opportunities to the workforce will be made possible. Service provision, local services for local people, partnerships & advocacy, service integration, organization management, integrated planning and delivery, planning, and service delivery are some other areas that will benefit with the implementation of the project.

The section adequately covers the details of all the benefits and outcomes of the project.

There are direct and indirect costs associated with the reform project. Direct costs cover the costs associated with the consultants, materials & equipment required during the project, salaries of the members of the staff, and likewise. Indirect costs include the cost of internal employees associated with the project. The cost management plan has an estimation of the direct and indirect costs of the project (Kinsella, 2002). The direct costs include the cost of consultant, IT consultancy, HR consultancy, accommodation, and catering. Indirect costs include the staff opportunity costs. The details of the budget allocated to the project have been included in the PMP along with the information on the funding process.

There are certain strategies and techniques that are used to determine the costs, such as top-down estimation, bottom-up estimation, and likewise. The method or technique that is applied to devise the costs is essential to be shared with the stakeholders. It is currently missing from the cost management plan in the PMP.

The local reform project required various tools and equipment that were to be used throughout the project timeline. During the project timeline, it was certain that the material was to be contracted from the external suppliers. It had to be procured from the contractors and a procurement plan was necessary to be put in place. It was also necessary that the procurements were in accordance with the scope of the project. The procurement plan stated that the purchases greater than $100,000would require individual council approval. The purchase and procurement schedule is also indicated in the procurement plan. The criteria that will apply to the project procurements is also included and indicated in the procurement plan. There are three such conditions listed. The procurement process will be jointly carried out by city of Swan and Shire of Mundaring (Hairul Nizam Md Nasir et al., 2015). Any changes or modification in the initial process will be required to be agreed by both the parties.

Project Constraints

The resources responsible for the conduction of the procurement process and the specific actions to be performed by the resources are not present in the procurement plan.

There are a total of 19 consolidated work plans that are involved in the project and a high level detail of the work plan is included in the schedule. A more detailed work breakdown structure is also included in the schedule with the names of the deliverables and the work packages. These include finance, fleet & waste, construction & maintenance, leisure, project management, customer, library & visitor, community safety, asset management, information management, commercial & economic, HR, strategic planning, facilities management, organization development, building & health, governance, lifespan, marketing & PR, and statutory planning.

The schedule does not include the specific dates for each of the work plan and the activity. The duration that will be spent on each of the work plan is also not included. There are certain strategies and techniques that are used to determine the schedule, such as top-down estimation, bottom-up estimation, and likewise. The method or technique that is applied to devise the schedule is essential to be shared with the stakeholders. It is currently missing from the schedule in the PMP (Bannazadeh, Zomorodian and Maghareh, 2013).

Change control is one of the significant knowledge areas that come under the domain of project management. There is a change control plan that is included in the project in order to ensure that the project changes are adequately handled. The change control process will involve change requests and these will be required to be submitted to the Project Leader or Manager for approval. The resource will then analyse the change requested and the impact of the same on the time, costs, and scope of the project. The change control plan states that a risk-based approach will be used to control and handle the changes in the project. The appropriate changes will be communication and will be implemented to ensure that the negative impact on the changes is avoided. The assessment of the change will be done by the Project Leader or Manager and the response will be provided to the Project Sponsor. The turnaround time for the process will be five days.

The approach that has been cited for controlling the changes associated with the project is apt as per the outline of the change control plan attached with the PMP.

Project Dependencies

There is several essential knowledge areas involved in the project. Change management is one of the essential knowledge areas that are associated with the project. The Shire and the city of Swan will participate in the process of managing and handling the changes. In order to manage the changes, there are several components that are needed, such as string leadership, commitment, empowerment of the resources, and many more. It is necessary that the resources have a clear understanding of the methodology and technique that is to be applied for the process of managing the project changes (Jamali and Oveisi, 2016). All of these details have been included in the change management plan of the project.

The quality management plan for the project comprises of four major sections as overview, project quality assurance, project quality control, and quality improvement. The approach that shall be used for managing the project quality is included in the PMP. It will make sure that the project deliverables fit to the purpose. The goals that have been set by the Local Implementation Committee (LIC) are used to define the approach that shall be followed in the process of managing the quality. The best practices that shall be used for managing the project quality are also included in the quality management plan. The project is a complex one as the reform will have large-scale impacts on the area, people, government, and a lot of other entities and bodies. The quality management plan includes a quality strategy for the project. Project quality assurance section includes the methodologies and standards that need to be followed for managing the project quality. The connection of the project quality assurance process with the project scope, risk areas, issues, and information management is also covered in the section. Project quality control lists the quality criteria and output acceptance. Quality improvement will be achieved by applying all of these methods and strategies.

Quality management is one of the essential knowledge areas defined under the PMBoK methodology. The steps that shall be followed for managing the project quality are included in the quality management plan and are also in accordance with the PMBoK methodology (Tavan and Hosseini, 2016).

The risk management plan defined under the PMBoK methodology comprises of the steps as risk planning, risk identification, risk assessment, risk treatment, risk monitoring, and risk closure. The risk management plan that has been included for the project includes the risk rating table and the risk context. The risk identification table is included in the plan that includes the fields as type, identified risk, how it can happen, current controls, control gaps, likelihood, consequence, and residual risk rating. Risk evaluation and treatment table comprises of the fields as risk id, treatment details, responsible officer, completion date, likelihood, projected consequence, and rating. Likelihood and consequence table is also included in the risk management plan (Peixoto et al., 2014). The details of the risk management plan with the other project areas, such as change management, quality management, etc. is also included in the risk management plan of the project.

Project Benefits

Risk management is one of the essential knowledge areas defined under the PMBoK methodology. The steps that shall be followed for managing the project quality are included in the quality management plan and are also in accordance with the PMBoK methodology.

There is a specific organization structure that is followed in the city of Swan and in the Shire of Mundaring. The project and organizational structure for both the parties is included in the project management plan. The roles and responsibilities of the resources are also included in the table. There are specific skill sets that are necessary to be involved to carry out the project tasks. Also, it is necessary that there is information provided to the resources on the roles and duties that are allotted to them.

PMBoK methodology states that the human resource allocation and management shall be done with the use of Responsibility-Accountability-Productivity-Contributed-Informed matrix. The use of the matrix will ensure that the resources are aware of the specific role that they need to perform. Human resource management is one of the essential knowledge areas defined under the PMBoK methodology. The rest of the steps that shall be followed for managing the project resources is included in the resource management plan and are also in accordance with the PMBoK methodology

Monitoring and control of the project is one of the essential project activities. The project reporting section explains the reports that will be used to share the information and details with the members of the project team. Reporting and communication management is one of the essential knowledge areas defined under the PMBoK methodology. The steps that shall be followed for managing the project reporting are included in the section and are also in accordance with the PMBoK methodology (Kharitonova, 2014).

The content of reporting that shall be followed at each level is included in the PMP. The levels include LIC, Combined Executive, Transition Project Team, Working Group Manager, and Regional Service Design is stated in the PMP.

The stakeholders and all the resources in the project team need to be aware of the information sharing and communication methods that shall be followed and applied. The PMP includes the communication plan and specifies the major stakeholders involved in the process. The stakeholders with varying levels of influence and interest are shown with the aid of a diagram. The communication plan covers the roles and responsibilities along with the structure that shall be used (Giffin, 2002).

Project Costs

Monitoring and control of the project is one of the essential project activities. The project communication plan explains the methods that will be used to share the information and details with the members of the project team. Communication management is one of the essential knowledge areas defined under the PMBoK methodology. The steps that shall be followed for managing the project communications are included in the section and are also in accordance with the PMBoK methodology.

The section describes the processes and activities that will be covered in the closure section of the project. The outline of the closure report is included in the PMP that will make sure that the project closure activities are adequately carried out.

Conclusion

The project that has been analysed is the local government reform project in which the city of Swan will amalgamate with the Shire of Mundaring. The proposals have been put forward by the two parties in front of the Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB). Shire of Mundaring submitted a proposal for the amalgamation of the city of Swan with Shire of Mundaring. City of Swan submitted a proposal with Town of Bassendean and it comprised of the comments for amalgamation of the city of Swan, town of Bassendean, and Shire of Mundaring. Project Management Plan (PMP) is a deliverable that is associated with every project and must be submitted to the project management and stakeholders during the project planning phase. The scope for the project has been cited as development of a transition plan to prepare and manage the transition to the new local government identity. There are direct and indirect costs associated with the reform project. Direct costs cover the costs associated with the consultants, materials & equipment required during the project, salaries of the members of the staff, and likewise. Indirect costs include the cost of internal employees associated with the project. Details on the management of the project knowledge areas, project assumptions, constraints, dependencies, and benefits are covered in the PMP. Most of the sections in PMP are as per the PMBoK methodology. There are certain recommendations that shall be made to the sections and the same are also indicated in the sections that are reviewed and analysed.

The deliverables and milestones do not have the resource responsible for the same. It should have been included in the plan as the tracking process would have become easier. There are certain strategies and techniques that are used to determine the schedule and costs, such as top-down estimation, bottom-up estimation, and likewise. The method or technique that is applied to devise the costs & schedule is essential to be shared with the stakeholders. It is currently missing from the cost and schedule management plan in the PMP. The resources responsible for the conduction of the procurement process and the specific actions to be performed by the resources are not present in the procurement plan. PMBoK methodology states that the human resource allocation and management shall be done with the use of Responsibility-Accountability-Productivity-Contributed-Informed matrix. The use of the matrix will ensure that the resources are aware of the specific role that they need to perform. The inclusion of these comments and sections in the specific sub-sections of the PMP will enhance the quality and the depth of the information covered in the plan. These sections shall be improvised along with the information on the testing and review practices that will be used. There may be external reviewers and auditors that might need to be made aware of the review cycles and requirements in the project. The information on the security practices and the strategy to be applied for managing the security shall also be included in the PMP for the project.

References

Al-Freidi, S., 2015. ‘A Unified Project Management Methodology (UPMM) based on PMBOK and PRINCE2 protocols: foundations, principles, structures and benefits of the integrated approach’, International Journal of Business Policy and Strategy Management, 2(1), vol. 3, no. 2,pp.27-38.

Bannazadeh, B., Zomorodian, Z. and Maghareh, M., 2013. ‘Assessment of PMBOK Indexes in Executive Projects’, Journal of Advanced Management Science, vol. 3, no. 2, p.265-268.

Fanning, F., 2014. ‘Adapting PMBoK Guidance to Public Sector Projects’, Organization, technology and management in construction: An international journal, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 66-73.

Giffin, S., 2002. ‘A Taxonomy of Internet Applications for Project Management Communication’, Project Management Journal, 33(4), vol. 3, no. 5, pp.39-47.

Gomes, R., 2013. ‘Contributions of the PMBok to the Project Management of an ERP System Implementation’, Revista de Gestão e Projetos, vol. 4, no. 2, pp.153-162.

Hairul Nizam Md Nasir, M., Sahibuddin, S., Ahmad, R. and Sanim Mohd Fauzi, S., 2015. ‘How the PMBOK Addresses Critical Success Factors for Software Projects: A Multi-round Delphi Study’, Journal of Software, vol. 10, no. 11, pp.1283-1300.

Jamali, G. and Oveisi, M., 2016. ‘A Study on Project Management Based on PMBOK and PRINCE2’, Modern Applied Science, vol. 10, no. 6, pp.142.

Kharitonova, M., 2014. Complex Project Management: Historical Background, Problems and Approaches. Russian Journal of Project Management, vol. 3, no.4, pp.3-14.

Kinsella, S., 2002. ‘Activity-Based Costing: Does it Warrant Inclusion in a Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)?’, Project Management Journal, vol. 33, no. 2, pp.49-56.

Lgnsw, 2018, Project Management Plan: Local Government Reform Project, Lgnsw.org.au. viewed 11 October 2018, <https://www.lgnsw.org.au/files/imce-uploads/346/Swan-Mundaring-Reform-Project-Management-Plan-LGNSW-Amalgamation-Toolkit.pdf>

Peixoto, J., Tereso, A., Fernandes, G. and Almeida, R., 2014. ‘Project Risk Management Methodology: A Case Study of an Electric Energy Organization’, Procedia Technology, vol. 16, no. 3,  pp.1096-1105.

Tavan, F. and Hosseini, M., 2016. ‘Comparison and analysis of PMBOK 2013 and ISO 21500’, Journal of Project Management, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.27-34.