Project Planning, Providian Trust: Tradition And Technology (A) (Case Study Sample)

Business
Providian Trust: Tradition and Technology (A)  
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Project planning
Project justification analysis
The access plus project aims at improving the internal business process of the Providian Trust by enhancing customer services and providing a cost-efficient and up to date information system. My involvement at the initial stages of the project helps me give its cost justification and risk analysis. The project is expected to provide a single technology-driven platform which provides the organization with consolidated cross-functional trust management of all its activities. Any project must have a scope, objective, and deliverables. The extent of access plus implementation project is to develop an organization’s policies for data retentions and resolves issues arising from the human resources management. Its objectives include the provision of needed infrastructure for installation of the access plus software, test the software, and reduce the number of employees following its implementation. The deliverables of the projects include the following. Redeployment of a network, setting up hardware for all the organization’s offices and branches, conversion of the trust’s financial data, installation of the access plus software, training the employees on the use of the software, and finally re-engineering the implementation plan (McFarlan & Dailey, 1999).
Project cost analysis
The initial cost of the access plus project has its estimate at $ 18, 539, however, it is expected to increase the profit of the organization with $ 9,201 every year after its implementation. However, during the first year, Providian Trust will incur a cost of $ 600 towards training its staff on the use of the project. From information in appendix A, the payback period for this project is 3.5 years following NPV calculations and analysis. It was a better project for the organization given it has a lower payback period and has a positive NPV (McFarlan & Dailey, 1999).
Risks and assumption analysis
As part of the implementation team, there are some of the risks and assumptions identified during the planning and implementation of the access plus project at Providian Trust. The following are three significant assumptions for the project Access Plus project. First of all, the company will find it challenging to finance the new information system. Secondly, it assumed that the employees at the Providian Trust organization would embrace the use of Access Plus into its system and integrate it into the culture of the organization. Thirdly, the implementation team assumed that all the team members had the required technical know-how to support the management to facilitate the implementation process of access plus project. However, there are additional assumptions made during the implementation stage. Another appropriation was that access plus software would reduce the number of employees hence reduced cost of production. It will also improve customer satisfaction by improving the performance level of the working staff. Finally, access plus will presumably enhance the profitability of the organization by increasing savings.
Information on the risk analysis of the access plus project includes the following. The first risk is that the access plus plan may lack control from the responsible body. The probability of the risk was however low, but the impact would be high. The second risk is the shortfall from the skilled laborers and the management team. It was a risk with medium probability, but with high impact in case, it occurred. The third risk was the loss of job among the employees due to the implementation of access plus. The threat has high probability with high impact when it occurs. The fourth risks are competition from other organizations using the access plus software. It has a high likelihood of medium impact. However, the second and the third risk are predominant for this particular project due to high consequence in case they occur.
2. Project Implementation
Using the PERT and WBS project management tools and techniques, I was able to determine the following three primary project management related problems during the implementation of this particular project in the Providian Trust organization include the following. Lack of proper risk assessment, lack of adequate support from the management, and lack of appropriate and accurate cost analysis (Project Management, 2013).
Regarding the lack of proper support from the management, the executive, and the implementation team failed to determine all the risks facing the implementation process of access plus software into the organization and their consequences. It did not even provide mitigation mechanism for the danger it could identify. First of all the executive did not offer the risk of possible unacceptance of the project by the organization workers. For instance, the internal auditor of the Providian Trust alongside other employees rejected the proposal for the replacement of the previous information technology system with the access plus software. The probability of the risk was high. However, its impact was medium. The management did not provide the mitigation to this particular, and when it occurs, it stalled the implementation process of access plus program. Implementing the access plus project was a low-risk project because it would reduce the cost of operations hence increase the profitability of the organization (Robey & Keil, 2001).
Secondly, the executive and the implementation team encountered a project management problem when they failed to conduct a proper cost analysis for the access plus software into the Providian Trust organization. According to the implementation team, the initial cost of the access plus project has an estimate of $ 18, 539. However, it is expected to increase the profit of the organization with $ 9,201 every year after its implementation. However, during the first ...