READ THIS INSTRUCTION PACKAGE CAREFULLY This project is issued to give you the b

READ THIS INSTRUCTION PACKAGE CAREFULLY
This project is issued to give you the benefit of linking the theory covered in class with the actual Project Management practices and procedures being followed in the field which insight you are expected to gain from the company you selected to be interviewed for this project. The company of your selection should be engaged in a sizeable project with a Total project cost that MUST EXCEED $1M and should be located in one of the five Boroughs of New York City. My permission must be sought for a project located outside of this region.
You are required to make an appointment to visit ONE COMPANY AT ITS HEADQUARTERS, OR IT’S SITE (engineering design or construction) to interview the owner and/or his/her Director of Project Management, and/or one of the project managers to be nominated by the director. In your interview with these officials, you are to do the following: Determine the structure of the organization; The methods, practices and procedures being followed by their organization; and how do they manage their projects in order to deliver it in an orderly, efficient, economical and quality manner; within budget and schedule.
NO TWO STUDENTS ARE TO VISIT THE SAME PROJECT. If the owner and/or director wish me to speak to them, to confirm that you are indeed engaged in gathering data for your project, please have them call me, so I can confirm your identity and the intent of this student exercise. YOU ARE TO VISIT THE COMPANY WITH YOUR ID AND THESE INSTRUCTIONS.
PLEASE NOTE: Your project must be currently active. That is, it must be in the Execution Phase. Your Project must not be in the Initiation, Planning, nor Closeout Phases.
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Your Detailed Report Submission Requirements are as set out below and you must follow these instructions to the letter. Each question MUST first be written as a heading, with its question number, and then below that heading you will write in your response to the question, adding any discussion you wish to make with respect to the response received, and the theory you learnt. Full responses must be provided with explanations. Vague One-word responses or one-liners will not be accepted for a grade. Also, do not give me identical audio tape first person transcripts of your interviews. IF THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT ADHERED TO, YOUR REPORT WILL BE PENALIZED.
PLEASE NOTE: Your report MUST be written in the THIRD PERSON ONLY. Therefore, I should not be seeing “I”, “WE”, “OUR”, “US”, “MY” etc. included in the text of the responses to the questions in your report.
Vague one-liner responses to the questions will not be accepted. Each Page must be numbered, except the cover page.
Page 1. Cover Page. (Not numbered)
Page 2 Contents Page (Page numbering commences).
Page 3 and onward. Using appropriate headings, report on the following as
appropriate to the project of your selection on the sequential page numbers listed to the left. You may, however, place more than one subject heading on a page if your response to any one question does not fill that page. (SEE REPORTING INSTRUCTION ABOVE).
4. Name of the company and location of the Company’s business.
5. Type of business. Is it project-oriented or manufacturing?
a. If the company is project-oriented, how was project management introduced to the company?
b. Was it adopted first by Senior Management then filtered down through rank and file in the company?
c. How was it received by staff?
d. Was there resistance and how was it dealt with, or was there full
acceptance?
6. Did projectizing the company in any way enhance the career path of the employees?
7. What is the Location and description of the Project? [State where located]. Are any
drawings, sketches or photographs available to assist in your description of the
location?
8. What is the Total Project Cost for the PROJECT? REQUIRED. Must be >$1M.
9. Is the project being managed solely by internal project management staff, or is there
a Professional Project Management company providing Project Management services to the Client? If a professional Project Management company is on board, does the company’s PM report directly to the owner or does he/she report to his/her superior in the company, who in turn interfaces with, and reports to the owner?
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10. Does the company have a single methodology for managing all of its product/projects/ lines? If different methodologies are used for the respective product/project lines, how are they managed controlled if there is no consistency to achieve the company’s objectives? In addition, what are the company’s perceived benefits in utilizing more than one methodology for executing its projects, if used?
11. Site plan and layout. In terms of space utilization on site, obtain a plan of the site during construction to show the contractor’s laydown area, contractor’s site office, RE’s Site office, materials storage, equipment storage, prefabrication areas etc in relation to the footprint of the project structure, access, means and methods. What were the owner/Project Manager’s reasons for giving the contractor this particular area for lay-down and not another? Does the PM feel this layout was efficient? Could it have been better organized or laid out?
12. What was the Scheduled project Start Date? REQUIRED.
13. What is the Scheduled Project End Date? REQUIRED.
14. How does the company go about planning for the project, considering the scope of
work, desired objectives project duration budget, available resources and other project constraints? How does the company develop the plan for new projects? Are brainstorming sessions held with experienced senior staff to develop the activity list, precedence chart, logic diagram, bar charts (time, cost and resources), to aid in the further development of the plan?
15. In the planning room, how does the Project Manager determine project planning cost and generally, what would he/she do if planning costs exceed the available budget? Is the cost-loaded schedule used in the cost monitoring and control process?
16. Similarly, for the optimization of the use of company resources, is a resource loaded schedule used to determine resource utilization? Having been made aware of project demands from the planning process, what steps are taken to bolster available resources to meet project requirements?
17. Is the plan first done manually, first, before loading onto industry standard software, or is it input directly into the software?
18. Is the company still in the maturity stages or can it boast of its excellence, because of its longevity, prosperity, and the years of existence of its project management system?
19. Is the project on schedule? If not on schedule, what caused the delay? Is there a recovery plan? What are the usual initiatives that the project management team would employ in the recovery plan to bring the project back on its schedule?
20. What is the relationship between line departments and the project manager?
21. What are the identifiable benefits and disbenefits of project management to the
company?
22. Do company executives have to get involved in the resolution of conflicts between
line management and project management, or are these disputes resolved at the PM
and functional manager level?
23. How important is communication within the organization? What procedures do
they have in place to enable an efficient communication system, and provide for the 5
easy flow of information up and down the rank structure, and across the
organization?
24. Do they use an informal management system or a formal management system?
25. What type of organizational structure does the company have? Is it a matrix system
with the Project Management Department/Division horizontally managing all projects for the company? How does the PM interface with the vertical line/functional Departments/Divisions? Is it done through direct contact with the functional staff themselves or through a department coordinator/Lead?
26. What was being done during your visit to the company/site? What means and methods were being used to include equipment or plant, material etc. Were specialist staff there providing supervision, and were visible safety measures in place? Did the activity taking place require project management intervention?
27. How important to the company is training for the project management staff? What is the frequency of this training? Does the company have a coaching and mentoring program to train and nurture junior project managers?
28. How are project teams staffed? Is there a consistent policy for putting only the best person to manage the project? How are Ms trained for the challenge? What line items are in their selection criteria to ensure that only the best manager gets to manage the best fitting project? Is the selection done by interviews or by an examination of the individual’s credentials and performance reports?
29. How is the project office staffed? Does the project team stay together or do the matrixed personnel work from their respective Departments/Divisions? How does the PM manage the staff under these circumstances? Does the PM have any authority over matrixed staff where he/she could influence their promotions, merits or bonuses if their performance is poor on the project?
30. Does the PM have the ability to comment horizontally; on the performance of matrixed staff that could affect their vertical line management’s pay increases, promotions etc.?
31. What is the project manager’s responsibility for delivery of a quality product to the owner, and how does he assure this delivery?
You may reference and use any drawings and/or charts, photographs etc. made available to you during the visit to the site, in the Annexes. These Annexes will be named Annex A or Annex B, or Annex C…. etc. You are not to include drawings in your packaged report that are not being referenced in your document. I have no interest in unreferenced material. In referencing your material, you will state the Annex and the Appendix where the reference could be found to support your text. IF NOT MENTIONED IN YOUR TEXT, DO NOT ATTACH.
YOU WILL ADHERE TO THE ABOVE FORMAT AND REQUIRED SEQUENCE OF THE REPORT AS OUTLINED ABOVE, OR FACE PENALIZATION FOR ANY DEFICIENCIES. NOTE, THAT IF EXTRA PAGES ARE REQUIRED FOR ANY SECTION OF THE REPORT, PLEASE INSERT SUCH PAGES AND RE-NUMBER THE PAGES AS APPROPRIATE.