Integrated Management Report
Task 1 The Airport Transportation System (ATS)
Gantt chart to identify the critical path and the duration of completing the planned project
The Gantt chart above shows that the duration to completion is 32 weeks, as per the project’s planned schedule. The project is expected to be carried out during the regular working hours, resulting in five shifts a week, which is the optimal working period. According to the ATS project manager, the project will not be worth less than £16 million, which is slightly more than the budgeted £12 million.
From the Gantt chart above, the information indicates that it takes two weeks to prepare station sites required, five weeks to construct the station platforms, one week to install CCTV systems in place, two weeks to fit the terminal escalator for ease of movement, one week to erect the information boards for displaying flight information, 20 weeks to complete the TBM tunnel work, the electrical services take up to 3 weeks to fit, two weeks to install enough ventilation for the Airport Transport System, six weeks to lay the railway track and finally one additional week to test the subway system’s operation.
As per the Gantt chart’s outlined schedules, the ATS project manager comes up with the figures, £16 million from standard calculations. In comparison, it is £4 above the budget. Figure. The breakdown of the estimates by the manager to bring the statistics to over £16 million are as follows;
Fixed costs: £2 million
Project team: £200,000 X 32 = £6.4 million
TBM and equipment: £300,000 X 20 = £6 million
TBM crew: £100,000 X 20 = £2 million
A cumulative total of all the above statistics adds up to £16.4 million.
Therefore, the calculations from the ATS project manager were the same as the ones outlined above. The manager had a fixated mind on the project timings and the amount to be spent on every step. The manager’s lack of cost minimization strategy or thoughts led to a high amount of project costs. Cost minimization strategy involves exercising scaling down of expenditure on avoidable processes. It aims at identifying the given areas where a business can constructively cut down on costs that will have the most rewarding effect on maximizing the outputs. As detailed by Rivera and Kashiwagi (2017, p. 56), project management concepts call for a cost minimization strategy on expensive but flexible resources. The idea of a cost minimization strategy is very vital for the success of a project. As outlined by Daehy, Krishnan, Alsaadi, and Alghamdi (2019, p. 2), Sanchez, and Terlizzi (2017, p. 1610). Minimization strategies include; increase in the turnover of assets, reducing the direct costs, outsourcing non-core activities, and not forgetting, controlling the overhead cost incurred when undertaking the project. The ATS project manager does not know basic project management principles and values reduction strategies, as outlined above. This is why he believes that the project cannot be undertaken for less than £16 million.
To increase the turnover of assets, there needs to be an enhancement in the company’s cost-effectiveness at bringing about proceeds from its purchases, such as the employees involved. If the project manager increased the working time rather than the employees, there would be an increased turnover of assets. The direct costs apply those costs without intermediary under the charge of the project’s value at hand. To reduce the project’s direct costs, the manager should have considered reducing the employee turnover, doing away with the overabundance between the existing project departments, splitting duties amongst the employees, and having close supervision of the crew working under the project.
Non-core activities involve those practices that are outside the primary objectives of the project that is underway. It may affect the general growth of the business and the amount of input in the business. These non-core activities may not be so essential to the project operations but could still affect the processes involved. In this case, we could consider outsourcing people like project consultants, auditors, or even engineers from other companies. These people will not be employed or included in the monthly payroll but can only be outsourced when needed. This will, in turn, reduce the costs that would have been incurred if they were employed full-time even when there is no work for them to do within the company. Overhead costs involve the expenses that are in progress as the project is ongoing before completion. These types of costs cannot be efficiently tracked down or pointed out using a specific cost unit. In this project, the overhead costs may include the project crew’s accommodation services or even the expenses incurred during the testing period of the project.
According to the procurement manager’s assertion, the project cost can be considerably cut down by increasing the working days and hours in a week. Despite increasing the crew’s value by 25% for the extra shift, the time tunnel, the ATS project manager’s calculations were the same as those outlined above. The manager had a fixated mind on the project timings and amount on every step. Despite increasing the crew’s cost by 25% for the extra shift, the time tunnel, the ATS project manager’s calculations were the same as those outlined above. The manager had a fixated mind on the project timings and amount on every step. The manager’s lack of cost minimization strategy or thoughts led to a high amount of project costs. As detailed by Rivera and Kashiwagi (2017, p. 56), project management concepts call for a cost minimization strategy on expensive but flexible resources. There are various cost minimization strategies as outlined by Daehy, Krishnan, Alsaadi, and Alghamdi (2019, p. 2); Sanchez and Terlizzi (2017, p. 1610), including the increase of asset turnover, reduction of direct costs, outsourcing of non-core activities and controlling of overheads. The ATS project manager lacks knowledge of basic project management principles and values reduction strategies, as outlined above. Thus, the reason for believing that the project cannot be undertaken for less than £16 million.
Therefore, the work will reduce the costs of TBM and equipment and the project team. The cost reduction of the team and equipment will significantly impact the whole project, which will reduce the cost to less than £12 million. The calculations below confirm the procurement manager’s assertions on possible cost reduction through increasing working shifts from 5 to 14 by including night shifts and weekends.
N/B – night shifts and weekends will only be carried out on task 6 to reduce the task duration to 8 weeks. Therefore, the totals project duration will decrease by 12 weeks, and the project will be completed by week 20.
Fixed Costs: £2 million
Project team: £200,000 X 20 = £4 million
TBM and equipment: £300,000 X 8 = £2.4 million
TBM crew: £325,000 X 8 = £2.6 million
The cumulative total of the above = £11 million
From the above calculations, it is now evident that the introduction of more shifts, nights, and weekends will reduce the project’s entire cost. This means that the whole project duration will also be reduced by 12 weeks.
Task 2 Sverige Tech – Air Traffic Control System
A Resource Histogram based on the Gantt chart
The total engineers available for the project are five during the whole project period. Due to a lack of resources in the company, there is an undeniable constraint in employing more engineers for the project. Lack of adequate resources in a company has many adverse effects on the general outcome, success, and growth of a company. Lack of sufficient resources leads to slower production and delayed marketing of products. This, in turn, affects the predetermined goals and objectives. It poses a lot of pressure on the employees to achieve and maintain unrealistic goals due to inadequate resources.
Furthermore, the company may fall at risk of collapsing due to the deviation from the intended monetary budget. To solve the problems of limited resources, the first thing to do is to minimize the expenditure and maximize the available resources to cut costs and increase outputs. This can be done by reducing the number of employees, prioritizing the company’s tasks and goals, involving creativity and new ideas, hastening the company’s activities, and brainstorming on better ways of maximizing the outputs while minimizing the costs. Therefore, from the resource histogram above, it is clear that the number of engineers from week two to five exceeds the available minimum. According to Jadhav and Ghaitidak (2017, p. 166), the resource leveling technique can reduce resource constraints in case of a lack of enough resources in a resource histogram. This indicates both the starting and finishing dates of the project at hand. The number of weeks for the project will increase through the resource leveling technique, as some activities will be moved forward. The resource leveling technique aims to have five or fewer engineers working on the project during the whole project time. Resource leveling technique in project management is necessary for quality work.
The resource leveling technique will help in reducing the number of projects on the weeks with resource constraints. For instance, the flight clearance module will be rescheduled to begin on week four and run till week seven. Resource leveling has several benefits not only to this company but also to every other company that is looking forward to achieving good results and achieving their goals at the same time. It helps companies and projects to realize and make fair use of their free time, it helps in avoiding project delays that may arise as a result of the low allocation of tasks emanating from mismatched qualifications, it minimizes the pressure on the employees of attaining a given goal even when the resources are limited, it ensures proper allotment of tasks and likewise minimizes on conflicts that may arise due to a failed project. The terminal control module will then start on week eight to eleven, and the integration rescheduled to start from week twelve. The revised resource histogram will be as shown diagram below;
From the above-revised resource histogram, there will be no need for hiring extra engineers; however, the project will run for an additional one week. Five engineers will work on the designated tasks for the first nine weeks, and then one will be dropped, while the four continue working for the next four weeks. Only three engineers will be required for the project continuation. This means the terminal control module will not take the initial plan, which had projected four weeks; instead, it will only take three weeks due to the additional two engineers working on the section during its third week. From the revised histogram, the starting date for testing is on 10th August, while the planned ‘Go-live’ date gets to be on 14th August.
Task 3 Terminal Four Refurbishment Project
The date 1st March marks the end of the second month of the project. The first four activities have been completed to a certain percentage, and they also operate differently without affecting each other. Considering the percentage of completion against the projected completion rate, a traffic light indicator can be drawn showing the project’s progress or status. Kivilä details traffic light indicators’ primary function on project management, Martinsuo, and Vuorinen (2017, p. 1170).
The first activity was scheduled to take three months to complete, from January. The percentage for completion each month is approximated to be about 33.33%. By 1st March, Check-in facilities were at 70% completion, about 3% more than the projected value. That being the case, in the traffic light indicator of progress, check-in facilities acquire the color yellow, meaning it is still in progress towards completion, and this is broadly in line with the plan.
The second activity of baggage handling services begins in the second month and runs for up to three months. The exercise is supposed to be completed at an average rate of 33.33% in each month. For that reason, 1st March marks the end of the first month of the second activity. At 40%, the activity is way more than the projected 33.33% rate for every month. Therefore, the second activity acquires the green color, 5%, and more, ahead of the plan.
The third activity, building services, begins in the second month and runs for up to four months. In each month of the building, the services should register 25% towards its completion. Despite that, by 1st March, which marks the end of the first month into the activity, the realization is only 15%. The task is, as a result, 10% less than the projected figure. For that reason, the task earns the red color in the traffic light indicator of progress by being 5% behind the plan.
Circulation areas are the fourth task of the project, which begins from the second month and runs for not more than two months. The task is supposed to be completed at a rate of 50% per month. By 1st March, the end of the first month into the task, it is already 60% complete, 10 % more than the projected rate. Therefore, the task earns the green color for being 5% more ahead of the plan.
The last two tasks, concessions unit and terminal support services have not yet begun. As a result, the yellow color indicates that they are not yet started. The figure below shows the traffic light indicator of progress for the project.
| Stage | Description | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
| A
B C D E F |
Check-in Facilities
Baggage Handling Services Building Services Circulation areas Concessions units Terminal Support services |
Legend
From the figure above, the project is only expected to be completed fully after the end of stage F, which is the terminal support services. Regardless of that, stage F cannot begin before completing stage C, which involves the building services. According to the projected plan, at stage F, it will only take at most a month to complete with all factors remaining constant. From the traffic light indicator of progress shown above, stage C is falling behind the schedule, which affects the final date of completing the whole project. With a completion rate of 15% per month, the stage will take not less than six months to be completed. As a result, stage C will be fully completed by the end of its seventh month in operation, August. Stage F is expected to begin and end after the completion of stage C in September. The delay in stage C will influence the whole project, which will lead to a pose at the beginning of stage F. This means the project will be fully completed by the end of September.
References
Daehy, Y.H., Krishnan, K.K., Alsaadi, A.K., and Alghamdi, S.Y., 2019. Effective cost minimization strategy and an optimization model of a reliable global supply chain system.
Jadhav, G.B., and Ghaitidak, D.D., 2017. Study of resource leveling by re-modified minimum moment method. International Journal of Current Research In Multidisciplinary Studies, 4(6).
Kivilä, J., Martinsuo, M., and Vuorinen, L., 2017. Sustainable project management through project control in infrastructure projects—International Journal of Project Management, 35(6), pp.1167-1183.
Rivera, A., and Kashiwagi, D., 2017. Minimize Project Risk and Costs: A New Approach to Project Management. Journal for the Advancement of Performance Information and Value, 9(2), pp.49-62.
Sanchez, O.P., and Terlizzi, M.A., 2017. Cost and time project management success factors for information systems development projects. International Journal of Project Management, 35(8), pp.1608-1626.