World-Class Enterprise Projects, Term Paper Example

Executive Summary

Tracking the progress realized by the project so far against the initially set objectives and goals is essential in determining success and/or failures within the project. Unchecked, such issues may cause a considerable deviation in the scheduled timeline. So far, the project’s total costs amount to $4,644,920.00. This is considerably beyond the initial $4,449,920.00 baseline cost. This is as a result to unforeseen inflation in the costs of material ($195,000). However, this has not placed any considerable obstacle or setback to the project baseline. The project is beyond the halfway deadline mark with 40% of the project actually completed. Despite the fact that the project is setback ($565,266.07), the 19/12/2008 deadline date can be realized with a number of adjustments. This includes the adjusted estimate at completion of %5,039,790.43. Costs may not be improved, but they can be effectively managed through the application of tight tracking and management of day-to-day costs. The project should be ready for the grand opening as it is still within acceptable margins to be recovered.

Performance Analysis

The project team has individual and collective extensive experience on building theme parks. However, this project will be particularly testing as the team has never engaged in an indoor theme park creation before. Halfway through the project, signs of inefficiencies are evident, especially with the fact that only 40% of the project is complete so far. There are a number of factors that would act as clear performance indicators, comparing the estimated values and the actual values. The present value or budgeted cost (BCWS) is at $1,651,866.67 at the halfway point. The BCWP depicts the budgeted costs of all the completed work which in turn gives the earned value, which is at $1,086,640.60. The ACPW depicts the cost of the completed work at $1,230,683.00. However, it is important to consider that this is only 40% of the work completed to date. CV depicts that the project has been overrun by ($144,042.40) and the SV depicts that the project is late by ($565,226.07).

The cost performance index is another important performance indicator. The cost performance is achieved by applying the following formula. The schedule performance index is also another important indicator. It is calculated using the formula. The current project CPI is at 0.89. This depicts that the project is over budget by 11%. The current project SPI is 0.66 showing the project is behind the initially set schedule by 34%. It is important to understand the causes of these deviations from the initially set project budget as well as the project schedule.

There are a couple of highlights from the records obtained so far;

Cost Variance

The cost variance is a major highlight considering that there was a considerable increase in fixed costs which had been underestimated. The cost variance currently affecting the project amounts to $195,000; $25,000 for Stacks and vents, $50,000 for flooring, $70,000 for footings and foundations and $50,000 for slab and grade. This depicts a cost variance that has been passed through the adjusted baseline fixed costs. As such it will be possible to maintain the cost variance within the budget limits. The initial project has an essential completion date of 19/12/2008, a schedule baseline and a project budget of $4,449,920.00.

Schedule Variance

The project has a significantly late schedule ($644,246.07). The first major problem is seen with Joists and Roof Deck. It is the second most significantly late component (48% behind schedule), late by $78,873.67. Rough Carpentry is also late by a similar rate (48%). However, it is late by a lesser value of $60,583.15. The elevat0r is also late by 48% ($34,973.67). Plumbing is behind schedule by 24%, but is late by $23,401.25. The HVAC is behind schedule by 19% (14,633.33). Electrical is late by 17% (13,609.00). The Interior dry wall is late by 40% ($12,200). The most significantly late component is the Attraction install and training. It is late by $327,030.00, quite a considerable amount that may be potential threat to project progress.

Estimate at Completion

At ($549,870.43) the project’s EAC has been overrun from the budgeted baseline with the scheduled completion date pushed back to 12/29/2008.  This is as a result of failing to meet the 50% mark, halfway through the project. The project has only managed a 40% completion rate at the midpoint. All uncompleted work was therefore scheduled to start after 01/10/2008 with a new project baseline. The current schedule is 34% off track necessitating attempts to make up time while incurring minimal to no costs to the project.

Control Plan

The project control plan entailed considering all aspects of the project that have deviated the project from the initially planned 19/12/2008 date. It was determined there was need for additional resources for the Interior Drywall and Painting task. Builder 1 was added to the resource pool for the task, reducing time taken for task completion. The HVAC activity’s completion time was reduced to 18.51 days by adding a builder to Finish Carpentry task, two builders to Flooring task and one more steamfitter to assist in the completion of Hangars and Supports. One painter was added to the Custom Theme Painting task, effectively reducing completion time to 9 days.

The adjustments that have been made have made the 09/12/2008 deadline feasible. The EAC has been improved by $20,703.41. The adjustments made put emphasis on the deadline. However, quality is an important facet to the finished product for the theme park project. The deadline was realized by reducing the completion time through assigning additional resources to the critical path. Since the deadline was a priority, lost value was not considered as a result of the realized scheduled variance. It is important to note that project overruns were bound to occur. However, this information will be used as a foundational guideline for similar projects in the future.

References

Advisicon Inc. (2013). Making effective business decisions using Microsoft Project. Hoboken: Wiley.

Hartley, S. (2014). Professional project management: the integration of strategy, operations and change. Prahran: Tilde University Press.

Kastel, B. (2009). World-class enterprise projects : the essential guide to project management solutions that work — process design with SAP, PMBOK, Primavera, MS Project. Sarasot: Competitive Edge International.

Pinto, J. K. (2012). Project management : achieving competitive advantage. Harlow: Pearson Education, cop.