project management

Initiation

During the initiation process, the eligibility of any relevant projects available is checked so as to validate the feasibility of the project plan. Once the project plans have been presented and the feasibility checked, the selection process is then initiated based on the requirements that each individual project would require. The project manager and the project management team then sign off on the requirements of the specific project selected.

In this case, the DBSI team was selected for the implementation of data signage procedures that are to be introduced within the student’s hub of the San Diego State University. It is during this stage that the appropriate team members of the project are identified as well as the project leaders. Selection of the project leaders is crucial to the next stage of the project management process, which is the planning process. Furthermore, the ideal environment for the execution of the project is also identified so as to propagate an approximate orientation as to the next stage of the project plan (True Story: California Coast Credit Union, 2014).

Planning

The next stage of the project management process is the planning process. The planning process is crucial in the intricate addressing of the project requirements so as to effectively kick-start the project. Once all the project requirements are identified, the project planning can then be able to cultivate procedural steps in the implementation of the project. The project requirements are aligned with the project objectives or the elements that the project hopes to achieve. The specific objectives of the California Coast Credit Union by introducing data signage in the San Diego State University is to create an interactive forum where the students would be able to relate to the credit union, create a specific brand that would advocate for reliability and accessibility, and finally create and more engaging foot traffic among the thirty thousand students operating the campus (5 Basic Phases of Project Management, 2016).

The planning process also involves the scope of the project in terms of its relativity to the actual services that the project hopes to provide. The scope would entail prospects such as open-air digital designs, using the ideal equipment so as to utilize the available technology and presentation of the right content in an entertaining forum. Moreover, the planning process also has to take into consideration the implementation timelines of the project. Most managers offer short viable projects so as to assess the productivity of the project within the appropriate period. The implementation of the project was estimated to be two months as per California Coast Credit Union’s timelines. In addition, the project’s approximate budget should also be discussed during the planning process so as to facilitate the proper schedules and resource allocation factors.

Execution

The execution process is the most essential part of the project management process as it entails the actual implementation of the project’s goals and objectives. During the execution process, individual assignments are handed out to the relevant stakeholders and participants of the project so as to ensure that all the essential prospects of the project are actually taken care of. As the introduction of digital signage in the San Diego State University is mostly focused on video brochures, videos and interactive tutorials, specific tasks would be assigned to different stakeholders. This is to ensure that the specified elements related to the implementation of the project objectives are covered. These elements incorporate things such as the designs, the construction of the relevant structures, the relevant equipment used in the operation as well as the digital technology strategies that can be applied. Besides, as the digital signage incorporates awareness to the students, the content and content sharing strategies are also assigned to specific individuals not to mention the copyrighting and the graphic designs applied to the digital signage.

The execution also entails keeping track of the detailed project progress through regular updates on the project. Regular updates ensure that there is constant progress in the project implementation thus a preferable update process would be a daily or weekly update plan in all the relevant prospects as per the drafted project plans and schedule.

Control and monitoring

The fourth process in the project management process is the control, monitoring and validation of the projects successful implementation. Control and monitoring should involve the adhering to the selected project plans so as to make sure that successful implementation and running of the project is done. Monitoring the updates can ensure adherence to the project plans by the respective stakeholder in the project (5 Basic Phases of Project Management, 2016).

The control and monitoring process also entails the quality assessments through assurance test plans. These assurance test plans validate the quality of the project work and delivery as applied during the implementation of the project. Communication plans are also relevant in the control and monitoring process as they ensure that the right information is passed along to the relevant recipients such that there would be coordination in the implementation of the project.

Closing

The closing process is final phase of the project management process and a project management professional or a team of professionals should conduct an evaluation of the entire project so as to validate the project. Evaluations of viable projects usually indicate little or no error during their assessment. Nonetheless, the identification of mistakes by project teams typically indicate that there is a problem with the project and that specific elements of the error need to checked in order to fix the project into a viable project. Assessment of the timelines involved in the execution of specific project plans is also crucial to identifying any possible errors in the project (True Story: California Coast Credit Union, 2014).

Effects of PMP on team members.

Team members benefit a lot from the execution of project plans that they have been assigned to. The team members get a chance to put their relevant skills towards the successful execution of the project. The team members also get a chance to learn effective communication skills as from the formulated communication plans relevant to the project. Furthermore, the involved team members invoke their creative and capacitive skills in their normal work designations by creating more innovative ideas that would help in the overall development of the organization.

References:

5 Basic Phases of Project Management. (n.d.). Retrieved August 29, 2016, from http://www.projectinsight.net/project-management-basics/basic-project-management- phases

True Story: California Coast Credit Union. (2014). Retrieved August 29, 2016, from

http://dbsi-inc.com/true-stories/digital-signage/true-story-california-coast-credit-union

Turner, J. R. (2014). Handbook of project-based managment: Leading strategic change in organizations (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.