Scope management failure in Small LAN's Inc. network installation project

Project Management

Scope Management

Small LAN's Inc. installed a Local Area Network at the new Spring Academy Childcare Center. The project came in a few weeks late becaue of a failure in the planning procees and the overall partner's communications. "In directing the intent of the project, the plan must clearly identify the project objectives, goals, and any special influences or constraints on the project scope." (Stuckenbruck, 100) In order to compete in the twenty first century, Small LAN's Inc. turned in a rather low bid to acquire this work and with today's tighter corporate budgets and reduced resources, Spring Academy Childcare Center accepted.

For this particular project, the project scope consisted of Small LAN's Inc. taking the lead in purchasing all necessary equipment and then professionally installing an entire network over the course of twenty three days. The project had a start date of May 17, 2002. The deadline was set because the school's director wanted the new network and computer lab in place prior to the summer camp starting on June 10, 2003.

The Local Area Network required a rewiring of the school building and Small LAN's Inc. was not qulaified to do that part of the job. The Spring Academy Childcare Center's director recommended his brother-in-law who was a private contract electrician. The relative was evetnually hired to do the required building re-wiring.

The installation was to include a server in the main office, eight PC's (one in each classroom, one in the director's office and one at the receptionist station), two centralized network printers (one on the first floor and a second on the second floor), and five additional PC's with a color laser printer in the upstairs computer lab.

The purpose of the WBS is to break the total project down into sufficiently small subdivisions to permit accurate cost estimates, and to permit adequate visibility and control. A second purpose of the WBS is to ensure that the smallest subdivisions represent tasks that can be readily accomplished within the estimated cost and schedule. (Stuckenbruck)

The Work Breakdown Structure was created by the Small LAN's Inc. project leader but he never consulted the outside contractor for his input.

The Work Breakdown Structure

100 Inspect the building structure

110 Contractor Evaluation

111 Get Building Blue Prints

112 Inspect Walls

113 Township Building Codes

114 Assess Permits (On Going)

200 Design Network

210 Planning Stage

211 Meet With Contractors

212 Transfer Needed Building Code information

220 Blue Print Grid Creation

221 Use Building Codes to Design Wiring Layout

222 Sketch Grid

230 Hardware Design

231 Server Specs

232 PC Specs

233 Printer Specs

240 Blue Print Grid Approval

241 School Director to Sign

300 Purchase cabling

310 Purchase Stage

311 Negotiate Wiring purchases

312 Set Delivery Date

400 Install cabling

410 Installation Stage

411 Receive Wiring

412 Test Wiring

413 Install Wiring

500 Purchase Hardware/Software

510 Installation Stage

511 Receive Hardware

512 Test Hardware

513 Install Hardware

600 Set Up Server/Hubs

610 Installation of Networking Software

611 Load Software

612 Connect Nodes (all PC's & Printers)

613 Configure Network Software

614 Configure Workstation PC's Software

615 Configure Printers

613 Test Network

700 Stress Test System

II. Time Management And Gantt

Setting deadlines and insuring that the project was in a position to meet deadlines was done by Small LAN's Inc. For this particular project, time was a major factor to measure the success or failure of the project by the main stakeholder Spring Academy Childcare Center. The center had an obligation to have the new Local Area Network fully functioning in time for the beginning of their summer camp program that was scheduled to open on June 10, 2002. Training was planned for the first week of camp so that the teachers would have free time to learn the intracies of the system. "The project Master Schedule interrelates all tasks on a common time scale. For a simple project the project Master Schedule may consist of a simple bar or Gantt chart." (Stuckenbruck, 108)

Deadlines were established throughout the planning stages by Small LAN's Inc.. Tasks were created from the working breakdown structure. From the task list, a simple Gantt chart was created but not shared with the electrician contractor who had also hired one addtional peer to assist with the wiriring. A Gantt Chart greatly increases the chances of meeting established deadlines because the tasks can be assigned and a date can be tied to the task.. Unfortunately, on this project there was some float that did not get adjusted so the overall project ended up being completed behind schedule.

Effective planning requires a concentration on what is to be delivered, but this required a change in the mindset of the Small LAN's Inc. project team who developed the plans. The project plan was only shared with Small LAN's Inc. employees. In addtion, since time management was key to the success of the project, Small LAN's Inc. should have developed an addtional implementation plan to be shared with the external contractors. The electricians felt that they needed five days to fully wire the building and acquire the necessary fire code inspections for example and the Small LAN's Inc. plan only allowed them three days for the task completion.

Gantt Chart

Task Due Date Responsible

100 Inspect building structure 5/17 Contractors

200 Design Network 5/18-9 Project Team

300 Purchase cabling 5/20 Project Lead

400 Install cabling 5/21-3 Contractors

500 Purchase Hardware/Software 5/24-5/31 Project Team

600 Set Up Server/Hubs 6/1-3 Project Team

700 Stress Test System 6/4-9 Project Team

III. Cost Management

Spring Academy Childcare Center is a single outlet for a corporate chain. When the Small LAN's, Inc. bid was accepted, they knew there was little wiggle room left for negotiating for the needed contractors, specialized software and hardware and any addtioanl fees. Small LAN's, Inc. basically bid with a 'buy the job' mentality. "If one company does not take up an attractive offer, it may suffer the consequences if one of its competitors does and thereby gains a cost or other competitive advantage." (Kennedy 188)

The hardware and software costs were favorable. However, the overrun in the elctricain's contractor fees caused budget and cost-control problems. Poor estimating of the original wiring scheme and a delivery delay pushed the wiring portion of the project into an overtime situation. The unforeseen delays on the fire department's fire code's inspections caused the electricain contractors fees to spiral out of control.

IV. Quality Management

The Spring Academy Childcare Center had very high expectations for this initiative. The company was ready to become the local community's number one childcare facility and summer camp. The school felt that it always had very high quality standards and those standards would natuarlly be instituted into the new Local Area Network.

Quality management is a customer-driven approach to quality, emphasizing the involvement and commitment of every employee in an organization to provide quality products and services. Customers are increasingly sophisticated, with increasingly more complex demands to be satisfied. The increase in international competition also suggests that only quality driven companies will survive.(Madu, 3)

The problem lied in Small LAN's Inc. ability to meet Spring Academy Childcare Center's high quality expectation. By having such a low bid to acquire the project, Small LAN's Inc. was forced to cut corners in regard to the procurement of wiring hardware in order to increase the possibility of their making a profit. Therefore, as set backs and the scope of the project crept away from the established budget, Small LAN's Inc. reduced the quality of the work in exchange for meeting the time constraints of the overall project.

In regard to testing and quality control, Small LAN's Inc. basically established there own bench marking and testing criteria. Spring Academy Childcare Center was none the wiser. The stakeholders assumed that all would go as planned and since they had no resident expert on hand, they did not follow up on Small LAN's Inc. workmanship. The external electricain contractors felt that Small LAN's, Inc. was in no postion to verify workmanship so they to bought substandard wires and coaxil equipment. Spring Academy Childcare Center might have been wise to hire an outside firm to police Small LAN's Inc. And the elctrician contractors.

V. Human Resources Management

The Project Leader was Jack Freeman, a Small LAN's, Inc. employee for many years. His resources consisted of his normal three man team and as needed, the administrative staff back at the office. The two outside electricain contractors specialized in laying wire in existing structures. The Project Leader had experience in managing his team of Microsoft certified engineers and his team had more than enough experience in regard to the hardware and software of the local area network installation. The Project Leader felt they were all well suited for the job. The Project Leader, however, had no control over the elctriacal contractors that were provided to him by Spring Academy Childcare Center. On paper they were qualified but communication between the two teams was lacking.

The elctrical contractors were also more expensive than project leader had budgeted for. But, because The Project Leader's team had minimal experience in the cabling and wiring area, the Project Leader was not able to minimize costs by reducing the time the contractors were needed. The elctrical contractors instantly became an expensive liability when the work schedule fell behind schedule.

Organizational Planning

Because Spring Academy Childcare Center needed to meet an established date, Small LAN's Inc. felt that the planning phase was crucial to the success of the project. Unfortunately, Small LAN's Inc. planned without the elctrtirican contractors. Small LAN's Inc.'s project manager needed to so better implement the communications process. The link was broken from the beginning.

As a solution to the communication's issue, Spring Academy Childcare Center should have utilized the Work Breakdown Structure to determine whether tasks were being completed in a timely manner or more importantly that quality was being implemented.

Project Roles and Responsibilities

The project implementation team was not coordinated. "Sensitive company-specific information is needed, so the program is best designed and offered by in-house staff. (Madu 272)

Small LAN's Inc. had a complete team but because the contractors for wiring were not in sync with Small LAN's Inc.'s seasoned team, the overall project suffered. For this project, the Spring Academy Childcare Center defined the budget and the desired outcome. But they did not have the required expertise for overseeeing and insuring the outcome.

It was Small LAN's Inc. project leader's responsiblity to reduce the risk of project failiure by having a better understanding of the inherent problems of two new teams working together for the first time.

VII. Risk Management

However, the increasing size, complexity, and risk associated with modern, technically sophisticated projects motivated the development of new methods. These methods are superior to Gantt charts for planning (by showing task interdependencies), for scheduling (by highlighting the critical path), and for control (by providing insights into time vs. resources tradeoffs)." (Stuckenbruck, 120)

Small LAN's Inc. was responsible for the overall project risk identification. The Project Leader, Jack Freeman, was ususally confident that he could identify the three types of risks, known, predictable and unpredictable. The known risks and contraints should have been identified before hand.

A risk response development plan needed to be developed. The plan would have Small LAN's Inc. consistently on the same page, knowing what to do and when, regardless of the type of risk. The plan also could have Small LAN's Inc. be prepared to repeat the process fo other customers easily replicating the creation of Local Area Network time and time again.

VIII. Procurement Management

The installation was to include a server in the main office, eight PC's (one in each classroom, one in the director's office and one at the receptionist station), two centralized network printers (one on the first floor and a second on the second floor), and five additional PC's with a color laser printer in the upstairs computer lab. In addition, the contractors were to buy the appropriate wiring necessary to complete the Local Area Network.

Because of budgeting constraints, Small LAN's Inc. purchased completely passive hubs. The contractors purchased 10BaseT wiring because of the same budgeting constraints. A hub is a common connection point for network devices. The simplest form of hub is completely passive - it contains no electronics, it's just a collection of connected ports, and exists only to make wiring more convenient. This sort of hub doesn't work with 10BaseT or 100BaseT Ethernet, and isn't very practical for larger 10Base2 networks because of 10Base2's rather limited segment length.

Outsourcing Task

Over time, if people try hard, they will learn to work together and overcome communication problems." (Kennedy, 166) Small LAN's Inc. was usually very reliable in regard to outsourcing tasks. In this project however, the firm was not in control of hiring the wiring contractors. The bulk of the project was done in house which elimeinated much of the conflict. Small LAN's Inc. was comfortable with scheduling the project but the contractors were on their own schedule which evetually led to the delays.

IX. Conclusion

Projects are a success or failure because stakeholders of a project are either satisfied or dissatisfied. Small LAN's Inc. installed a Local Area Network as it was asked to do. The problem was that the Network was not fully funtunal until June 23rd. The original scope of the project needed the Local Area Network completly functional by June 10th.

In many projects, planning is a process that seeks to identify and describe the tasks to be done forgetting perhaps that these tasks are simply a means to an end. This task orientation leads to plans that are out of date almost as soon as they are created placing an unacceptable burden on someone to keep them up-to-date. The time spent updating the plan is time that cannot be spent managing the project and in the worse case the project may be out of control before anyone, least of all the project manager, knows it has happened. Not surprisingly, these projects then deliver (if they deliver anything at all) products and outcomes that are simply not suitable for the purpose intended.

In this case, Spring Academy Childcare Center had no functioning computer system in place for the opening of the summer camp. In addtion, the delay caused other issues such as staff training. Spring Academy Childcare Center had allotted time for teacher training with the new systems while there were no children in the school. But, the delay had school administrators shuffling staff between training and teaching. Since Spring Academy Childcare Center was a paying customer, the project in their opinion was not a success