excel - project management

Unit 7 Group Assignment - Peter's Company R&D Project

According to the Project Management Institute (2017), “Plan Scope Management is the process of creating a scope management plan that documents how the project and product scope will be defined, validated, and controlled” (p.134). A clear project scope can be used to define and outline the boundaries of the corresponding project. In a project charter, a scope overview can specifically point out what is included in this project. Plan Scope Management can be used as a guidance and reference on the application of the management of scope overview. As the figure shown below, a requirements management plan (RMP) is one of the outputs of Plan Scope Management.

Figure 1. Plan Scope Management: Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs (Project Management Institute, 2017, p. 134)

According to the Project Management Institute (2017), “The requirements management plan is a component of the project management plan that describes how project and product requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed” (p.137). Therefore, it is vitally important to create a requirements management plan with high quality after all kinds of communications with the project team and stakeholders. According to the Project Management Institute (2017), there are five components of a requirements management plan:

· How requirements activities will be planned, tracked, and reported;

· Configuration management activities such as: how changes will be initiated; how impacts will be analyzed; how they will be traced, tracked, and reported; as well as the authorization levels required to approve these changes;

· Requirements prioritization process;

· Metrics that will be used and the rationale for using them; and

· Traceability structure that reflects the requirement attributes captured on the traceability matrix (p.137).

After reading the Peter’s Company R&D Project, our group believes that it’s better to think from Patrick’s perspective as he is the in-house representative from Peter’s Company for the duration of this R&D Project. We will address the five components described above one by one.

How requirements activities will be planned, tracked, and reported

1. Develop alternatives if the first several tests result is not expected

As there is no alternative test described in the contract, Dan and Patrick have come into conflict after the first five tests. Otherwise, both parties will follow the alternatives in contract even though the first five tests result is not expected.

2. Any purchase needs to be informed both parties in advance

Dan purchased $30,000 worth of raw materials without negotiating with Peter’s Company. “That’s your problem. Perhaps you shouldn’t have purchased all of the raw materials until we agree on the complete test matrix,” Patrick said.

3. Dr. Reddy should take responsibility for supervising the whole project

Even though Dan West was selected as the project leader of this R&D Project, the laissez-faire leadership style of Dr. Reddy is not appropriate since this style of leadership should be applied to team members who are highly skilled and experienced. However, after closely reviewing this project, our group concludes that Dan is not qualified this position, which is one of the main causes of this failure.

Based on the three points addressed above, alternatives need to be planned in advance; any purchase needs to be tracked by both parties in advance; the direct manager need take more responsibility for supervising the whole project.

Configuration management activities

Initiation: As the in-house representative from Peter’s Company, Patrick firstly requests the changes in product specifications, then Dan looks over Patrick' request and review it with his team members.

Impact: After review Patrick’s request, Dan and his team need to analyze the potential impact of the proposed change.

Trace and track: Dan will take the responsibility for planning the new test matrix and setting up the monitoring plan for each procedure, which can help Patrick to trace and track the proposed changes in the implementation process.

Authorization: Dan needs to report the proposed change as well as the new implementation plan to his manager, Dr. Reddy. After the authorization from Dr. Reddy, Dan can start to implements the new plan.

Requirements prioritization process

Each requirement or the proposed change is evaluated and classified into the three categories (high, moderate, and low). Dan will proceed those proposed changes in the order from high to low. If more than one change in one category is identified, then he needs to report this finding to management and the management will determine which proposed change needs to be proceed first.

Metrics that will be used and the rationale for using them

In order to monitor the risks and performance of the project, it is important to introduce the quantitative metrics. Compared to the vision examination and other tests, using the quantitative metric is considered as a better and more scientific approach since the performance or quality of a product is easily traced and tracked under the numerical environment.

Traceability structure that reflects the requirement attributes captured on the traceability matrix

According to Kloppenborg et al. (2017), the traceability matrix includes “the status of the requirement, its priority, and who is responsible for the requirement” (p.214). Thus, the traceability matrix can help the team to trace the status of each business requirement. The traceability matrix also connects to the project charter. For example, both the traceability matrix and the project charter use acceptance criteria, which is used to check and judge the quality of each procedure. According to Kloppenborg et al. (2017), the following items need to be achieved after completing the traceability matrix:

· Traceable back to the business reason for it

· Identified with the stakeholder(s) who need it

· Unambiguous

· Qualified by measurable conditions

· Validated for its value and completion

· Bounded by constraints

· Prioritized according to value, cost, time risk, or mandate so trade-off decisions can

be made if needed (p.216).

Collect Project Requirements

The requirements for this project were collected from both Peter Company and Corwin Corporation. The project team was able to gather the requirements from the project brief that was provided to the Group-A team.

Project Requirements:

Business requirements for the Peter’s Company (company-level perspective)

· Development of new rubber product material with a budget $250,000 by Corwin Corporation

· Signed, Sealed & Delivered contract from Corwin Corporation within 48 hours

· Proposal presentation by Corwin Corporation

· Representative will be sent to Corwin during the execution of the project

Business requirements for the Corwin Corporation (company-level perspective)

· Specialty product projects must earn 20% profit similar to existing products

· Any profitability in terms of follow-on contracts if specialty product project is taken up

· Possibility of developing specialty product into product line

· No-disruption of current manufacturing operations due to specialty product project

· Want to complete the Peter’s new product development product within the given budget

Stakeholder requirements

Delia:

· New product development must be done with $250,000 budget

· Contract must be fixed cost

· Acceptance of contract within 48 hours

· Proposal presentation

Royce:

· Specification sheet to assess risk

· Contracting person for assistance in costing the project

· Reddy’s support to West

Frimel:

· Specification sheet to study feasibility and decide go or no-go with the project

· Approval from president to take on the project

· Final contract or Letter of Intent to start the project

Reddy:

· Once in a while update on the status from West

· All information and cost data from West

· In-house representative from Peter Corp must be accompanied by Corwin employees

West:

· Specification sheet

· Balance 25 test conditions need to be decided

· Support from other functional teams

Ray:

· Wanted his test matrix to be used to attain the project result

· Wants the member from the functional team removed from the project

· Wants the Corwin management to replace West with a new project manager

Solution requirements

· Functional: New product must be as per the specification sheet provided by Peter Corporation

· Non-Functional: Test data of the product developed must be in-line to the Peter Corporation expectations

Project requirements

· Must be completed within $250,000

· New product must be as per the specification

· Letter of Intent or Signed Contract to kick off the project

· Raw material sourcing

· Functional Employees

· In-representative approval of test results

1.1.6 Transition requirements (should successful R&D occur)

· New Test matrix that helps the project toward close-out

· Additional fund required to continue the project

· Support from functional teams

2.0 Requirements Traceability Matrix

Requirements Traceability Matrix
ID	Requirement	Acceptance Criteria	Type	Status	Stakeholder Group	Priority	Objective

Note: For detailed requirement traceability matrix please check the Excel sheet enclosed.

Scope Statement

Business Objective: Develop a new food grade rubber material

Project Objective: Develop and engineer a food grade rubber material that is resistant to high temperatures by end of June.

1. Project Scope:

The scope of this project encompasses phases like requirements gathering, development, testing, and production of new heat resistant, food grade rubber material. This Project Scope includes the scope of work to be carried out by Peters Company. The client - Corwin Corporation, will develop and manufacture a new product, i.e. food grade specialty rubber material. The timeline for the project is 6 months and has a fixed budget of $250,000. The project has a potential to result in a long-term contract of 5 years for the Corwin company if successful in the initial development. During the process, there will be approximately 30 test activities. The material should be compatible with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards and must be able to withstand high temperatures without causing any undesired effects on the contents that will stored within. The product must adhere to the specifications of the Peter’s Company. The various phases in the project are development, testing, and compliance testing.

Both companies are required to work together throughout so as to keep all the parties and stakeholders in the loop. Changes to schedule, changes to requirements or any other variations are to be documented and updated in consultation with all relevant stakeholders from both companies. The first 5 test will determine the course of testing of the remaining 25 test cases. These reviews will present compliance with performance objects (product and project), review risks, review plans for the subsequent iteration, and seek consensus to proceed.

2. Acceptance Criteria:

The product must adhere to the specifications of the Peter’s Company. The material should be compatible with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards and must be able to withstand high temperatures. Corwin Corporation will be awarded a profitable, 5-year production, agreement if the initial development is successful. The price for the contract is fixed at $250,000.

3. Project Deliverables

The following deliverables are to be met -

1. Project Management Plan

2. Requirements gathering, analysis and prepare the specification of the product

3. Develop prototypes, and test them for compliance with specification.

4. Final Product specification

4. Project Exclusions:

-5-year contract

-Final Agreement

Reference

Project Management Institute (PMI). (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Kloppenborg, T. J., Anantatmula, V., & Wells, K.N. (2017). Contemporary Project Management(4th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.