Gym Installation Project at the University Campus - Example

Name Tutor Course Date Table of contents Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………. 2 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….. 2 Goals and Objectives…………………………………………………………………. 3 Description of the project……………………………………………………………… 4 Company description and the type of services provided………………………………. 5 Organization structure of the company………………………………………………… 5 Types of problems faced by the company……………………………………………… 6 Analysis of causes of problems and delays…………………………………………..... 6 Implications of project management tools and techniques in the project………………… 7 Adoption of planning, budgeting and scheduling as the implication techniques…….. 9 Business solution and analysis, costing break down………………………………….. 10 Analysis of Findings…………………………………………………………………… 12 Conclusion and recommendations…………………………………………………….. 12 Executive summary This paper presents a report on the Gym installation project at the university campus. The project is meant to provide the students, staff and community with a place where they can exercise and keep fit. The place is to have state of the art facilities for training and physical fitness. The gym project is expected to offer various options for getting and staying in shape for students, people and athletes that have an interest in getting personal sessions on a one on one basis. Pronto installations specialize in the installation ad relocation of various types of fitness equipment used in the home and for commercial purposes. The company deals with treadmills, exercise bikes and ellipticals as well as other commercial gym equipment, exercise equipment and grade fitness equipment. The company provides assembly services and equipment set up. The slow pace of the project is caused by indecision and lack of proper planning by the project planner. The project manager will use project management tools because they are expected to help the project team in developing a suitable approach for the achievement of the goals of the project. In order to run the project properly, the project will create and adhere to a budget, project plan and project schedule. He will also employ various techniques such as trend analysis for monitoring and evaluation of the project. The analysis of the business reveals that so far that, the costs and risk could be high and the schedule may no be followed. It is therefore recommended that the project planner should act with a high level of swiftness in order to complete the project. Establishing a Gym in the University Campus Introduction The establishment of a Gym on the university campus is a project that will be undertaken in the near future. We contracted a company by name Pronto Installations to work on the project. This project has however, been put on hold as certain issues are bring sorted out. We identified the problems causing this slow development in conjunction with the company responsible for the project and solutions are being sought. Gym installation at the university campus is a new project that has never been done before. The project was designed in order to afford the students and staff at the university a place for physical fitness. The project was approved based on the collection of more than 2600 petition signatures from staff and students. This paper will present a report on various project management issues surrounding the project. The goals and objectives of the project The goal of the project is to provide the students, staff and the rest of the university community with modern and state of the art facilities for physical fitness. The project was designed to create a physical fitness center for more than 10,000 people. The reason behind this is to increase the level of physical health and fitness among the students and staff of the university. It was also meant to enhance the value and popularity of co-curricular activities among students and staff and to help reduce incidences of lifestyle diseases among the university community. Many of these diseases are known to result from sedentary lifestyles. The project aims to give students and university staff, a suitable place for recreation, and an alternative to academics. The project will respond to the needs of students for physical exercise, because they will now be able to gather and use modern effective and efficient equipment with ease. They will enjoy instructions from well trained and professional instructors and relax in ample spaces. It will also enhance the experience of students because students will also use it as a hub for meeting and gathering. With the very good physical settings, students will get a chance to relax and socialize within the facility. The project was designed to provide fitness services for people between the ages of 15 and 70. Every fitness program will be tailored to individual needs of students and this will depend on their ability to take various regimen programs and their individual goals for physical fitness. Finally, the project aims at providing students with an extremely vibrant life on the university campus by providing them with facilities that carter for their recreational and fitness needs in a single location. Description of the project The campus Gym center complex will be the student recreation and physical fitness center. The project will be providing various student life programs among them, leisure recreation programs. The project will offer a gym with all the services. Through this project, the campus will have state of the art fitness equipment, towel service and showers among several other amenities to be accessed through the fitness facilities. The gym project is expected to offer various options for getting and staying in shape for students, people and athletes that have an interest in getting personal sessions on a one on one basis (Besner & Hobbs 13). It is also expected to give opportunities to people who are in need of their own coach and trainer. The completed gym is expected to provide people with a customized exercise program that has been customized to their individual levels of fitness. It will also make it possible for the people to implement different components such as weight management, strength training, and training in flexibility, cardiovascular training and optional programs on nutrition. Upon completion, the gym project will be expected to feature several standard fitness machines and services that can compliment student needs (Meredith & ‎Mantel, 34). Company description and the type of services provided The company charged with the responsibility to install the gym is called Pronto Installations. This company is made up of professionals of fitness services and they have been running the company since 2001. The company has however been in the fitness industry for a longer time of almost 20 years. It specializes in the installation and relocation of various types of fitness equipment used in the home and for commercial purposes (Pronto Installation 2013). The company deals with treadmills, exercise bikes and ellipticals as well as other commercial gym equipment, exercise equipment and grade fitness equipment. The company provides assembly services and equipment set up. Through this, it has gained reputation from outside for helping different companies to cut down their delivery costs, but at the same time, the company does not compromise the quality of its services. Pronto Installations services Los Angeles County, the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County among others. The company provides punctual delivery to commercial and residential areas. It provides expert installation of gym equipment by specialists trained in the factories. It also provides services that have100 percent full insurance with General Liability, Vehicle and Workman’s Comp. Clients can schedule the delivery of gym equipment, maintenance, relocation and cleaning on-line with free quotes online. Apart from this, Pronto Installations offers commercial receiving, distribution and warehousing as well as gym equipment maintenance and cleaning programs (Pronto Installation 2013). Organization structure of the company The company or governance structure of Pronto Installations has various levels. At the helm of the organization there is the Executive Chairman who is deputized by the Vice Chairman. These two officers work in conjunction with the supervisory board and the advisory board. The supervisory board is there to check and oversee operations in the company while the advisory board provides the advice the chairman and vice chairman on what they can do in various situations (Pronto Installation 2013). The CEO comes under and reports to the Chairman and Vice-chairman of the company board. Under the CEO, there is the financial team, the project management team, and the heads of various units within the company. Each of the heads of the units has the responsibility of ensuring that his or her unit effectively attends to a particular area that the company serves. Types of problems faced in production of services they provide Pronto Installations faces various problems in its operations. Most of them are related with their relationship with their clients. Some clients order for services that they are not ready to finish paying for (Pronto Installation 2013). When this happens, the company is unable to finish the delivery and installation of equipment because of unpaid charges. Some clients order for delivery and installation of equipment and yet the premises where the installation is to be done are not ready. Some clients may also not be ready with all the information required about the installation and the specific types of equipment required in the gym (Pronto Installation 2013). This causes the company a lot of inconvenience because sometimes the wrong equipment may be installed or delivered only for the clients to change their minds or turn back on their orders. Installation of gym equipment can sometimes be difficult especially when the building is not easily accessible due badly constructed staircases, restrictive entrances and doors and other impediments (Pronto Installation 2013). Proper analysis of causes of delays/problems in the project The project was to begin almost 2 years ago but it is not yet complete because the progress has been extremely slow. First of all, the company responsible for installation complained that the project planner did not provide sensible requirements. The project planner had to change the requirements after the project had started, and this caused the contractor to retreat Mengel & Thomas (307) observes that lack of sufficient information on the requirements at the onset, changing requirements or providing vague requirements, can be a great impediment in the smooth running of a project. Initially, the project planner was asking for a gym of a certain size. Later they realized that what they had asked for was going to be too small and that the project should have been bigger. The project planner was also accused of making decisions slowly and this greatly affected the flow of information to the contractor. The project failed to kick off because the contractor was waiting to get some important details required for the start. Slow communication is always a painful problem in project management because it keeps the project manager waiting and in the process wasting precious time (Schimmoller 30). The inability of the project manager to agree on the right requirements and details caused the contractor to wait for a long time before starting on the gym. The contractor also took advantage of the situation and when everything was ready and set, he was not available because he was attending to other projects that seemed urgent to him (Perminova, Gustafsson & Wikström, 77). Implications of project management tools and techniques in the project Project management tools and techniques are important because they help the project team in developing a suitable approach for the achievement of the goals of the project. The tools and techniques for project management are categorized as scope planning tools, project estimation techniques, tools for schedule planning resource and budget planning tools and many others. Tools and techniques for project initiation will help the project manager to determine the boundaries and goals of the project (Schimmoller, 28). Project planning tools and techniques are critical to the project manager because they help him to develop a workable approach for the achievement of the goals of the project. The project manager will also use the project execution tools and techniques for making sure that the activities of the project are accomplished in away that agrees with the goals of the project. Project control tools and techniques are important in facilitating the project manager to understand if the right effort is being applied on the activities of the project which would lead to the proper achievement of project goals. The project manager is expected to use the project closeout tools and techniques to ensure the completion of all the activities related to the project. Although communication is an issue, the project manager is expected to use the project communication tools and techniques to enhance communication with the project manager. Included in this category are techniques for oral communication, face to face meetings, written communication and virtual communication. Risk management tools and techniques will also be necessary in the running of the project (Besner & Hobbs, 17). The project manager will use these tools and techniques to identify and analyze the risks threatening the achievement of the set goals of the project. The project will also require team leadership tools and techniques because the project manager has a team to work with. With these tools, the project manager could effectively manage the relationship with the rest of the team and the stake holders. The tools and techniques for program management are crucial as well because they will be used by the program manager to manage unique characteristics of the working programs. Finally there is need for the project to have management office tools and techniques because those charged with the responsibility of managing the business processes of the project need them. In this category they need techniques for project integration with strategic planning and techniques managing portfolios (Thomas & Mengel, 310). Adoption of planning, budgeting and scheduling as the implication techniques i) Planning The project manager has adopted planning by creating a project plan. The plan has the project overview, scope, schedule, costs and the quality measurement approach. In the plan, he has also specified the roles of the project team members, type of communication and channels, issues related with risks, procurements, closure, changes and baselines such as those of scope and budget (Meredith & ‎Mantel, 13). The created plan adopted its approach based on the context and size of the project. The project manager adopted the master document approach where all underlying details related to planning appear in the same master plan. In his plan, the project manager adhered to industry standards by describing the execution, the control and management details of the project. This information was included in the project plan. The project plan included scope management, requirements management, financial and schedule management, resource and quality management, communications and stakeholder management, procurement management, project change management and risk management. The project manager prepared a project plan early enough, which was approved early in the project and used spared for use in the entire life of the project (Perminova, Gustafsson & Wikström 78). ii) Budgeting The project manager also created a budget in conjunction with others involved, to aid in the planning and expenditure of finances. He used the budget to determine the amount of time needed to be used on individual areas of the project. Budgeting was used as a determinant of whether the project was moving as planned (Schimmoller, 29). The project manager ensured that he understood all concepts and that all those working with him understood them as well. In budget adoption, he began by identifying the costs of the project. He identified the risks then assigned a percentage showing the much that each of the risks was able to affect the entire project or even part of it. Each development team had a risk value that was meant to take care of reasonable costs like unpredicted overtime, getting an extra contractor to speed the work among others. iii) Scheduling The project manager prepared a schedule which he will review at regular intervals in the course of the project. The review will be developed as the project progresses, changes will be made, and risks will be tackled (Quick 10). The schedule will particularly be useful to the project manager because he will rely on it in order to monitor and control the activities of the project. The project manager used the Gantt chart in developing the schedule. He also used schedule inputs such as personal and project calendars, description of the scope of the project, project risks and the list of activities and the required resources. He was particularly keen on the availability of resources and deadlines which could affect the effectiveness of the schedule (Quick 13). Investigation of resource allocation, monitoring, controlling and evaluation techniques In allocating resources, the project manager scheduled the activities and the resources needed for those activities. While doing this, he had to bear in mind the available time for the project and the available resources (Kioppenborg & Opfer & Warren 12). The allocation of resources followed a plan for the use of the available resources for the achievement of future goals. Various units of the project were allocated resource at this stage. The resource allocation plan followed the basic allocation decision and the contingency mechanisms (Thomas & Mengel 310). Techniques for performance measurement, monitoring and evaluation were employed to evaluate possible deviations from the plan. These techniques are crucial and they were used in the control of the schedule of the project. The process of monitoring and evaluation also made use of reviews of performance, information distribution, earned analysis and trend analysis. Reviews were organized as meetings in which the status of the project was assessed. Performance reviews were scheduled to take place every week. Through these reviews, it was easy to detect variances to be addressed so that any further deviations can be halted (Quick, 36). In trend analysis, the project management team will examine the results of the project over a number of reporting periods to know whether there is improvement or deterioration in performance. It is important in the long term project for comparison of status over many periods. The project trends will be predicted using a three month moving average. Trending was particularly important to management because it provided early warning of bad trends upon which corrective steps could be taken to correct the situation. The project manager also made use of earned value analysis to integrate schedule, scope and cost measures to help his team to assess the performance of the project. This method is popular in measuring performance (Kioppenborg & Opfer 16). It makes a comparison between the accomplished work and what was planned. Through it, the project manager can also get to know whether schedule and cost performance are running according to plan. The process involves the calculation of three major values of every activity being undertaken. These values are the planned value, the actual cost and the earned value. The project manager may also apply information distribution tools and techniques to pass information to stakeholders. These techniques help all stakeholders to know about the progress of the project (Schimmoller, 29). Risk and problem analysis The project may have some needs and problems as well. It requires an adoption of a radical project management approach. This could be the right thing needed to solve the problem of slow start and progress (Perminova, Gustafsson & Wikström 75). It has also emerged that there are unrealistic expectations and goals and this is why they may not be met easily. A revision of the goals through regular reviews is required in order to overcome this problem. The project also needs a more enthusiastic contractor to work hand in hand with the project management team. Financial plan The costs of the project can be broken down into a number of parts. i) Construction of the gym ($38M) ii) Purchase and Installation of equipment ($40M) iii) Labor costs ($50M) iv) Miscellaneous ($1.2M) Analysis of findings Based on the findings in this report, the various principles, tools and techniques of project management should be employed. The failure of the project to start smoothly based on the plan and schedule can be attributed to the failure of the parties involved to properly follow project management principles. The fact that an ambitious project like this could have a faulty start is a pointer to gross negligence of required measures (Meredith & Mantel, 77). The contractor is not to blame for most of the problems because the project manager seems to have picked on the wrong projects contractor (Besner & Hobbs, 30). Conclusion and recommendations This paper has presented a report on the progress of the gym establishment project at the university campus. The project has been designed to give the university students, staff and the community a state of the art facility for training and physical fitness. This dream is yet to be realized because the plan is yet to be approved by the university campus administration. A number of issues that have contributed to the slow start of the project have been identified in this report. From the analysis of the project, it is clear that many project management principles were ignored. The project manager carries a portion of the blame also for not having been keen on the project he was taking up and the people he was going to deal with. Lack of proper planning has been found to be the major cause of the slow progress of the project. The report recommends that a new plan with new timelines should be set to ensure that a new impetus is injected in the whole process. If the current contractor is unwilling to continue or does not show the enthusiasm because of the previous hiccups, the project planner should also think of getting a new contractor to proceed with the work. If this is the case, then the project should be re-launched in order to give it a fresh start and renewed excitement and commitment among the university campus community. Works Cited Claude Besner & Brian Hobbs. The paradox of risk management; a project management practice perspective. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Volume: 5 Issue: 2 2012, p. 29-30. Gido, Jack & ‎Clements, P. James. Successful Project Management. Cengage Learning 2009. Meredith, R. Jack & ‎Mantel, J. Samwel Jr. Project Management: A managerial Approach. John Wiley & Sons 2011. Kioppenborg, Timothy J; Opfer, Warren A. "The Current State of Project Management Research: Trends, Interpretations, and Predictions." Project Management Journal. Sept. 2013. Vol. 33. Issue 2. Pages 5-18. Perminova, O., Gustafsson, M. & Wikström, K. Defining uncertainty in projects - a new perspective. International Journal of Project Management, Volume 26, Issue 1, Sept. 2013, Pages 73-79. Pronto Installation. The Premier Source for Fitness Equipment Delivery, Installation & Service. Pronto Installation 2013. Equipment Logistics. Viewed 18 Sept. 2013. Quick, James Aaron; New, Cheryl Carter. "Grant Winner's Toolkit: Project Management and Evaluation". (c) 2000 by Cheryl Carter New and James Aaron Quick. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Schimmoller, Brian K. "The Changing Face of Project Management." Power Engineering. May 2001. Vol. 105. Issue 5. Pages 28-30. Thomas, J., Mengel, T. Preparing project managers to deal with complexity - Advanced project management education. International Journal of Project Management, Volume 26, Issue 3, April 2008, Pages 304-315. Read More