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Accurate Estimating
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Liberty University
BUSI 680-D01: Advanced Project Management I
Dr. David Duby
April 25th, 2021
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Accurate Estimating
When projects are formed, they should proceed through a project definition and project
planning stage (Larson & Gray, 2021). During these phases project goals and objectives, project
teams, project plans, communication plans, risk management plans and roles and responsibilities
should all be identified (Larson & Gray, 2021).
A communications plan should have been developed that would outline communication
channels to be utilized in the project (Křečková et al., 2020). The method of communication and
frequency of communication to the project sponsor, or key project stakeholders, should be
defined within a communication plan (Křečková et al., 2020).
The first action the project manager should take is to compile thorough documentation of
the issue, supporting documentation of the bottom-up estimate that was formulated and present
that information to the appropriate stakeholders per the communication plan that was approved
for the project. The bottom-up estimate was performed by individuals knowledgeable of the
work required and multiple estimates were gathered, ensuring that improvements would be made
to time and cost estimates if possible (Larson & Gray, 2021).
A project manager’s role is one of a facilitator, mentor, negotiator and coordinator to
ensure that the project is organized, communicated and executed in accordance with the
standards set by the organization (Shastri et al., 2021). The project manager should perform their
role as a facilitator in presenting the information to the stakeholders and project sponsor and
assist in the process of coming to a resolution, whether the decision is to change scope, change
budget and timeline or cancel the project altogether.
Proverbs 16:9 (King James Version, 2017, Proverbs 16:9) states “A man's heart deviseth
his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” As we journey through life there will be tests and
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lessons to be learned, an experienced project manager would utilize past experiences to take the
right path in addressing issues they are faced with.
Management created a project utilizing a top-down estimate; however, top-down
estimates are not designed to provide accurate time and cost estimates (Larson & Gray, 2021).
While there is value in creating top-down estimates for strategic decision making, or when there
is uncertainty or unstable scope, in the scenario defined where it is important to complete the
project within a specific timeline and budget, a top-down estimating approach was not the ideal
approach to be utilized (Larson & Gray, 2021). If the management team felt a top-down estimate
was necessary, it should have been combined with a bottom-up estimate to provide a complete
plan based on accurate estimates (Larson & Gray, 2021).
A mission critical project can have a significant impact on the organization, in both
success and failure. Having a project governance model in place would allow the organization to
define the environment within which project decisions are made and ensure that decisions are
consistent with project objectives, stakeholder interests and strategic goals (Musawir et al.,
2020). A project governance model would identify estimating techniques to be used under
different criteria for different project attributes. In the case of a mission critical project, it would
be important to define an estimating model that took into account strategic decisions and goals,
cost, and timeline (Larson & Gray, 2021). The estimating output would provide a great level of
detail to support the estimate, reduce uncertainty and increase the stability of scope of the project
(Larson & Gray, 2021). Given Sharp Printing has developed and produced similar products in the
past as their core business, a template method of estimating would provide the ability to utilize
past actual results as the baseline for estimating of the color laser printer project (Larson & Gray,
2021).
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Agile project management is an alternative for mission critical projects where there is
uncertainty and change expected (Azanha et al., 2017). An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
implementation project is highly complex, causes significant organizational chaos and can
experience constant change. It can be argued that there is no single mission critical project that
has a more significant impact on an organization. Utilizing an agile project management
methodology, where a high-level scope and estimate is defined at the beginning of the project
and then iteratively refined throughout the course of the project would be the best fit for an ERP
implementation project (Azanha et al., 2017).
There is rarely ever on project estimating technique that fits every project for an
organization. Having a project governance model in place will allow the organization to plan and
adjust techniques for different types of projects. Refining the estimate technique per project will
ultimately also increase estimate accuracy.
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References
Azanha, A., Argoud, A.R.T.T., Camargo Junior, J.B.d. and Antoniolli, P.D. (2017). Agile project
management with Scrum: A case study of a Brazilian pharmaceutical company IT project.
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 10(1), 121-142. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1108/IJMPB-06-2016-0054
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/
Křečková, J., Kennedy, D.M., Brožová, H., & Rydval, J. (2020). Project Management
Communication Planning: An Improved Optimization Model With Additional Recipients
and Individualized Weights. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 1-14.
https://ieeexplore-ieee-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9022932
Larson, E.W., & Gray, C.F. (2021). Project Management: The Managerial Process (Eighth ed.).
McGraw-Hill Education.
Musawir, A.U., Abd-Karim, S.B., & Mohd-Danuri, M.S. (2020). Project governance and its role
in enabling organizational strategy implementation: A systematic literature review.
International Journal of Project Management, 38(1), 1-16.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2019.09.007
Shastri, Y., Hoda, R., & Amor, R. (2021). The role of the project manager in agile software
development projects. Journal of Systems and Software, 173, 110871.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2020.110871
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