just respond
joeph2
5001.docx5001
A few years ago I was part of project which consisted of ordering new vehicles to replace an old fleet my organization had. This process consisted of a small team of personnel with several assigned tasks in order to complete the project to standard. There was a project manager assigned and we had frequent meetings in order to make sure everyone was on the same page in the process. It was important to meet every so often so that everyone was on the right track to the objective.
The project consisted of ordering a specific type of vehicle that would be able to carry a specific type of load and also be able to be air transportable. The toughest part of the project was making sure the vehicle could be transported by air with no issues. There are a lot of restrictions when putting vehicles on a plane. This is why we wanted to be that the specifications of the vehicles were correct at the time of coming up with the design. It was a government vehicle going on a government plane. This made the process even tougher.
The project manager was the type of person who wanted to know every single detail of the project at all times. Even though we had regular meetings to see all the updates of the project, he wanted additional information in between the meetings because he was overall in charge of the project. The were some project-related factors that held the process of the overall project. The market research part of the project took longer than expected because we had to rely on private companies to give us quotes of the equipment we were planning to purchase. we were also help up trying to figure out the exact policies and restrictions of vehicles being air transported.
The overall impact of this project to the organization was positive. It took a long time to order the right type of vehicle for the mission at hand but at the same time it was worth the wait because the right type of equipment was ordered and the teams were able to accomplish theirs missions with ease.
5002
In 2014, I participated in a capital project to upgrade the mill’s IT network to meet our corporate standards. Most of this aging equipment was unsupported by both the manufacturer and Microsoft. The scope of the project was to upgrade all L2/L3 switches and implement a Mosaic VMware solution to give the capability to virtualize all of the outdated network servers. These servers ran our production and quality reporting services and with our aging physical servers, fiber, and copper connections the mill was experiencing lost production and materials due to unreliable inventory reports and production data. Remote support capability was implemented to reduce machine downtime and improve the range of support.
The importance of this project was high due to the issues it caused the planning team to schedule our assets properly. The project was six-month in length and enlisted help from the windows services, mosaic, and engineering teams along with the outside phone provider. The switch over to the new equipment was done in intervals on regularly scheduled downs to provide the least impact to our stakeholders. With the previous system trouble, ethics was not of an issue all parties were excited about the change and thankful for the capital investment. This excitement elevated the project participation and produced great teamwork.
The project manager held weekly conferences with all teams to review scope, cost, and timeline to ensure project health. The ability of the project manager also my senior electrical engineer to multitask and effectively use our corporate project management tools led to a successful project. His vast experience allowed him to select a cross-functional team that was highly effective which delivered results.
The impact of this project had an immediate positive effect on the mill financially. The interactive planning with all teams allowed the project to meet all milestones and deliver on scope and cost. The new solution significantly reduced technical issues and improved data integrity by more than 30%. As we are starting to learn not all projects go smooth, however selecting the correct project manager is the first step in the right direction.
5003
The project I chose to discuss was our battalion’s preparation for a deployment. The battalion operations officer was the project manager. Preparing for a deployment is a major undertaking. The project manager was responsible for ensuring that all pre-deployment activities were accomplished. The planning began approximately one year before the expected deployment date.
The project manager held monthly in progress reviews (IPR) where every company commander updated the command on their status. There was a multitude of tasks to accomplish such as weapons qualification, drivers training, first aid training and cultural awareness training. Every Soldier had to be trained or certified for the battalion to be allowed to deploy. Failing to accomplish this task would have meant that several senior level leaders would have been relieved from their position.
The project manager was and excellent leader and very detail oriented which was necessary for a project of this size. He was responsible for ensuring 3,500 personnel accomplished each of the 30 tasks required for deployment. His use of the IPRs was critical to success. This allowed him to check each unit’s progress and compare it to the expected glide path. If any units were behind schedule he was able to address the issue early on and devote more resources if necessary.
