Project management is the art of managing the project and its deliverables with
ID: 422332 • Letter: P
Question
Project management is the art of managing the project and its deliverables with a view to produce finished products or service. There are many ways in which a project can be carried out and the way in which it is executed is project management. Since there is often more than one approach to achieving a project outcome, project proposals may be solicited before one course of action is chosen. The project proposal then addresses each aspect of an approach and its projected impact on the project outcome. These aspects could include a variety of impact observations, such as cost, sales or production analyses.
Hence, the project proposal is of paramount importance as it is presented to your stakeholders as a means of explaining exactly what you are going to do, how you’re going to do it, and what the results of that process will be.
Your Task:
Study a Project Report of a social or commercial project of your organization or organization accessible to you. Prepare a concise report of 3000 - 4000 words to cover the following aspects.
1. Title of the project
2. Nature and the objectives of the project (a brief introduction to the project)
3. The key ingredients you observed in the selected project to ensure that the project will be managed successfully.
4. Your observations on the problems / issues of the selected project which make you uncertain the successful completion of the project.
5. What can be done to improve the level of efficiency that you might portray in the project management scenario of the selected project?
Note: Be sure to use section headings to make your answer easily captured by the
evaluators.
Explanation / Answer
As mentioned in the case, Project management is an art, the art of successfully managing the project and its deliverables with a view to produce the required products of services which can satisfy the customer / user requirements. There are many approaches to ensuring the project is delivered on time. Two of the most common techniques are: Waterfall methodology and Agile methodology. Almost all the organizations across the globe deliver the projects using one of these techniques. In Waterfall method, the project managers prepare plans and deliver them in a phase wise manner. In an agile methodology, the project managers give the deliverables in sprints at a faster rate.
For the purpose of project understanding, we need to take a project and analyze it and identify the techniques used to deliver it. The project belongs to an Indian media giant Zee Entertainment. Zee Entertainment is a part of Essel Group and one of the largest private sector media companies. Having started with a single channel, Zee TV, the company has unique shows and curated content to a largely South Asian audience hungry for new-age entertainment. Over time, Zee has expanded into a multinational colossus that straddles the Media and Entertainment industry, creating innovative content for a discerning audience and uniting the world through entertainment.
1. The project under consideration is the deployment of a new digital asset management system (DAM /MAM) for archiving all the video content available with the organization. We can state the title of project as Deployment of DAM project.
2. Before we understand the need of project, it is vital to understand the company`s position in the market. After failing to adapt to the changing nature of business, Zee has come to terms and progressed as an organization. Zee has undergone multiple demerges to drive increased focus and reduce the tax liabilities across the organizations. The board and management has identified the requirements of the market and changed the content strategy to suit the emerging needs of not just Indian market but also the worldwide audience who has taken a liking to Hindi GEC(General Entertainment Channel). In addition to this, Zee has undergone a massive transformation in the digital landscape and has gone into tapeless environment where every recording, mastering and editing are done in digital environment. All this came from central decision to take the organization and match its competencies with the emerging technology and viewership demands. In addition to this, Zee has pioneered the OTT (Over the top) methods of using mobile app and satellite tv. Due to the changes that were being undertaken in the organization, the technology team felt the need to upgrade the media storage system with the latest technology. The main objectives of the project were:
a. Deploy the latest DAM / MAM system
b. Redesign the internal process to remove non value adding activities
c. Integrate all the internal systems and external tools with the new system
3. The major areas which ensure the project was managed well are:
a. World leading technological solution and experts
b. Involvement of domain experts
c. Involvement of young talents in project team to give fresh ideas
d. Active support from higher management to ensure on time completion of project.
The solution which was identified and finalized was the best available in the industry across the globe. All leading media houses across the globe were using the same solution. This enabled Zee to have a well-established solution readily available at their request. They also involved domain experts and management consultants who were experienced in leading such deployments across the country. This helped them to identify all the potential risks and prepare mitigation plans proactively to ensure they were avoided. They also involved younger members in the project team to understand the new technology and get fresh perspectives on the process redesign. But the major reason the project was success, was due to the active support from their higher management who supported them financially and helped in providing a lead for the change management initiatives.
4. However, the team faced few issues while deploying the project. The major issues were:
a. Integration with legacy systems
b. Development issues of new process
c. Resistance to Change by the operations staff
While deploying a solution, it is always vital that the system is in sync with the legacy system that has been used till date. This helps in effective transfer of data between the two databases and the storage tools. But in this case, there were some minor differences which caused a delay in integration. Also the development team could not come up with solutions which were conceptualized and agreed jointly by all the stakeholders. When the solution was being developed, the team faced challenges with the coding language and its inability to call data and functions from other systems. These issues were kept within the inner group and shared only to the PMO team only after a certain delay. The external consultants and the domain experts had already worked on such issues and once it was escalated to them, the same was resolved faster. When the project was being deployed, there were few activities which were being removed and new process steps were added in the operational process. The operations staff who were used to working in a particular mode for a long time found it difficult to adapt to the new technology and make the necessary changes. This also caused a delay in full deployment of the project.
5. To ensure the project was completed on time, few things could have been done differently. They are:
a. Have regular meetings with all stakeholders where the project issues were discussed and resolved
b. Active involvement of external consultants and domain experts
c. Conduct an internal survey with regards to the process changes the internal staff wanted and incorporate them into the project
d. Identify the risks and take proactive actions to ensure the risks are minimized and mitigated effectively
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