PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Management- A Mobile Phone Application for London Olympics



Project Management- A Mobile Phone Application for London Olympics

Introduction

Generally, project management is distinguished from the general management of corporations by the mission-oriented nature of a project. A project organization will generally be terminated when the mission is accomplished. According to the Project Management Institute, the discipline of project management can be defined as follows:

''Project management is the art of directing and coordinating human and material resources throughout the life of a project by using modern management techniques to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, cost, time, quality and participation satisfaction''(Kerzner, 2003: 149-151).

By contrast, the general management of business and industrial corporations assumes a broader outlook with greater continuity of operations. Nevertheless, there are sufficient similarities as well as differences between the two so that modern management techniques developed for general management may be adapted for project management.

The basic ingredients for a project management framework may be represented schematically in Figure -1. A working knowledge of general management and familiarity with the special knowledge domain related to the project are indispensable. Supporting disciplines such as computer science and decision science may also play an important role. The representation in Figure -1 reflects only the sources from which the project management framework evolves.

Figure 1:  Basic Ingredients in Project Management

Specifically, project management in construction encompasses a set of objectives which may be accomplished by implementing a series of operations subject to resource constraints. There are potential conflicts between the stated objectives with regard to scope, cost, time and quality, and the constraints imposed on human material and financial resources (Wysocki, 2011: 47). These conflicts should be resolved at the onset of a project by making the necessary tradeoffs or creating new alternatives (Martin, 2010: 235).

The outcome of this project is in itself a motivation towards completing this project. This project will result in creation of Mobile Phone Application for London Olympics

2. Time and Cost for the Entire Project

The estimation of the project starts with the working of creating a WBS( Work break down structure). This project is broken down by feature, by project phase (requirements tasks, design tasks, programming tasks, QA tasks, etc.), or by some combination of the two. Ideally, the WBS should reflect the way previous projects have been developed. The most accurate estimates are those that rely on prior experience(John, 2011: 45-61). The Wideband Delphi estimation method is used for the estimation of the project. The Wideband Delphi estimation process is especially useful to a project manager because it produces several important elements of the project plan. The most important product is the set of estimates upon which the project schedule is built. In addition, the project team creates a work breakdown structure (WBS), which is a critical element of the plan. Wideband Delphi works because it requires the entire team to correct one another in a way that helps avoid errors and poor estimation(Sanghera, 2008: 167).

The entire project expectancy is approximately 2976 hours and the ...