Tasking the Team Members with Various Administrative Roles

For the most part, in any project, a project administrator spends more time in tasking the team with various kinds of roles to ensure successful completion of a particular project within the scheduled time. Throughout the implementation phase of a project, the team members report information to the team manager or the project administrator usually done in project meetings. It is worth mentioning that project meetings are held throughout the development stage of the project. In essence, the information gathered from the reports is used by the project administrator to control over the running of the project development. Mostly, what many project administrators do is to compare the actual reports with the project plan while in the attempt to measure the level of performance of the team through their specific activities.

Fundamentally, the administrative tasks conducted during the implementation phase of the project include overseeing processes like the revision of the work plan, reporting every step of implementation, investigating the selected approach that used during implementation. Most importantly, the project administrator tasks a member of the team to carry out the project audit trail and examining available resources. The selection of the administrative functions depends on multiple factors mostly based on the specific project and the culture of Valley View Publishing Company.

Notably, some of the factors affecting the selection of the administrative tasks include the time frame and budget of the project, the implementation approach, and any potential problems emerging from the stage of implementation as well as the actual maintenance costs allocated for the project. Moreover, the existing service levels of the Valley View Publishing Company and the current resources available for the process. Additionally, just like in the other phases of project development, there are requirements considered in defining the tasking process. First, responsibility and accountability is a vital requirement at this stage. Typically, liability on the part of employees is a significant factor in the accomplishment of the project on time and also efficiency in the whole project (Platje, Seidel and Wadman, pg 106).

Apart from that, the communication mode is a requirement in task allocation process. In essence, there should be a well-established procedure for the method of communication about the activities of the project for proper coordination. Proper coordination of the project will not only ensure that timelines are met but will also contribute significantly to efficiency (Kerzner and Kerzner, pg 109). The success of this project will be dependent on these requirements. When they are met, the project will stand a higher chance of being successful than if they are ignored.

On the part of tasking the team members with the various administrative roles, the project administrator ensures that every member of the team can manage the tasks.

Role

Name

Task

Project Manager

Anna Kaspersky

Conducting audit trails

Acquisitions

Christine Smith

Ensuring that there is a proper allocation of the resources.

Getting feedback from the stakeholders and the company.

Editing and Publishing

Sophia Ksyu  

Revising the work plan

Senior editor

Marcia Ferguson

Reporting the progress of the project.

B- Detail Project Expenditure

This part involves the monitoring of the project status while updating the budget of the project. Typically, the project administrator with the help of project team takes the cost baseline of the project and compares it with the performance data to determine the extent the implementation stage has been accomplished concerning the amount spent. The key to controlling the costs of the project is approved by the performance of the cost baseline and any changes to the baseline. Funding requirements of the project are taken into account throughout the stage of implementation.

Subsequently, monitoring of the project expenditure is done using techniques such as earned value management (EVM), forecasting as well as performance reviews. Another method used in monitoring the spending includes To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI). TCPI shows the evolvement of the project on an aspect of the future. With controlling the payment of invoices on time, the project administrator seeks a simple project-oriented reporting tool in the contemporary world that tracks time in managing the labor costs involved in the process. Through the simple mechanism, the project administrator produces monthly invoices which are invoiced to the relevant personnel in the business. It should the cloud-based software project will involve the integration of the cloud accounting system while realizing the significance of the project in the company.

Budget Control Chart

Expenditure

Budget

Actual Cost

Employee cost

$1500

$1200

Consultancies (if applicable)

$50

$82

PC Hardware costs

$2000

$1890

Software costs

$1000

$960

Installation and testing

$300

$250

Training costs

$150

$150

Total Expenditure

$5000

$4460

The budget control chart gives expenditure details of the initial budget of the project of the cloud-based software sidelining them with more information on the actual real-time expenses.

C- Monitoring Tools

Consequently, project administrators should select the suitable project management tool for the specific management style. The most commonly used techniques that are used in project management include Gantt Charts and Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT). For this project, controlling and monitoring the task scheduled is well facilitated by the PERT technique. Principally, they are used to keep a track on the resources used in the implementation of the cloud-based software as well as evaluating the quality of work. Other crucial project management tools include administration plan checklist, project control chart, and milestone.

Administration Plan Checklist

Task

Frequency

Comments

Team responsibility in cloud-based software project administration

o Understand the cloud-based software principles and functionality.

o Participate in strategic planning and goal setting.

o Contribute to the development and review of the business objectives and the goals for the cloud-based software.

o Understand and participate in the development of the software and relevant organizational policies and procedures.

o Implement relevant organizational policies and procedures in the cloud-based software.

o Participate in Committee work of the business company.

Project Control Chart

The project control chart facilitates the understanding and visualization of the various interventions and tests of change in real-time and over time realized throughout the development of the cloud-based software.

Milestone Chart

As mentioned in the first assessment review, the timelines are also given to ensure that the project is completed on time. This project is expected to begin on 1st October 2018 and end on 30th

December 2018. In this case, the milestone will cover three months. 

MILESTONE

SCHEDULE COMPLETION

ACTUAL COMPLETION

1. Analysis completed

October 28

October 25

2. Planning Completed (Budgeting)

3. Design Completed

November 17

November 19

4. Testing Completed

November 31

December 1

5. Implementation Completed

December 24

December 23

6. Closure

January 4

January 3

Reporting Progress

As mentioned earlier, detailing the progress of the project during deployment is a very crucial task in the implementation of any plan. In this aspect, the project status report is used in communicating the progress of the project. As such, these tools are used by the project administrators informing the stakeholders, clients, and the project team members. The information shared in the reports includes the general knowledge of the project, milestone review, the summary of the project, as well as issues and risks. For the most part, these reports enhance communication and consistency of the project.

D- Maintaining Records

Additionally, records maintenance is a crucial activity making it possible to handle the documentation that is involved throughout the project. Substantially, managing records ensures a smooth capture of the literature by the stakeholders and the team members. The records maintained during the implementation phase include stakeholders contact details, project diary, issue logs, status reports and summaries, team guidelines and procurement papers. The procedures involved in records maintenance include the creation of project files. In this step, the project administrator creates a project file per the standards and requirements of file management within the company.

After file creation, the project administrator files the project documents while ensuring he follows the file management policy of the company. Once all the relevant project records have been filed, the project administrator provides that all the records are archived while not leaving any loose ends when tracking down the documentation. It is worth to mention that at the very stage, any information related to the project is a property of the Valley View Publishing Company.

Part 2: Finalising and Reviewing Project Administration

E- Winding up Procedures

At the end of every project or project report, there have to be some steps in the winding up process of the project. Typically, four steps need to be done in the winding up process. Project sponsor acceptance is one of the areas of focus. It involves meeting with the sponsor of the project with the aim of discussing the closing through the acceptance criteria for the project defined at the start.

Next step is conducting the project assessment. Among the most important area of focus is fetching feedback from project stakeholder and all the involved personnel for improvements in future projects (O’Berry, 2015). Another crucial step is completing project history or archive. It is among the important considerations and involves managing the files going along with it. Celebrating success comes in as the final step in the winding up process. It makes people feel good about the work that they have done, and aids in motivating the dedicated personnel in making future projects go well (O’Berry, 2015).

Some of the audit requirements that are involved in the Cloud-Based Software project are the performance of compliance audit, elaboration and revision of audit strategy, follow up on the implementation of measures and participating in the work of monitoring committees. In summing this steps together with consideration of the audit requirements, project sponsor acceptance that goes handily with the performance of compliance audit as well as elaboration (O’Berry, 2015). Similarly, conducting project assessment has to involve follow up on the implementation of measures and participation in the work of monitoring committees, and this can also feature elaboration and revision of audit strategy.

F- Review and Reporting

It is very attractive for organizations thanks to the potential it brings such as increased efficiency and cost savings. In the case of the Valley View Publishing Company, incorporating the cloud-based software will realize the same benefits in the modern competitive corporate world. It constitutes a fundamental shift in the way organizations are provided with computing resources (Greenwood at al., 2011). With the cloud-based software in the Valley View Publishing Company, many outcomes are expected including increased security, effective management of file used in publishing, and secure file sharing as well as improved company-to-client relationships through the new multimedia operations.

Measuring the performance of cloud computing-based applications using ISO quality characteristics is a complex activity for various reasons, among them the complexity of the typical cloud computing infrastructure on which application software operates. Despite the complexity, it is possible to use the proposed performance measurement framework in a cloud computing context (Ravanello et al. 2014, pg 42). Moreover, the structure holds great promise for expanding the experimentation to other ISO quality characteristics, larger volumes of data, and other statistical techniques that could be used to analyze performance. Another strategy to measure the performance of the cloud-based software in the company is by investigating the impact of the new technology and operation modes to the Valley View Publishing Company and its customers. The success of the project will depend on how the technology is received during implementation as well as how it is integrated into the culture of the company.  

References

Bildosola, I., Río-Belver, R., Cilleruelo, E. and Garechana, G., 2015. Design and implementation of a cloud computing adoption decision tool: Generating a cloud road. PloS one, 10(7), p.e0134563. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521817/. [Accessed 13 Sep 2018].

Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons. Available at: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xlASDgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR19&dq=Kerzner,+H.+and+Kerzner,+H.R.,+2017.+Project+management:+a+systems+approach+to+planning,+scheduling,+and+controlling.+John+Wiley+%26+Sons.&ots=Xb3oTMP4yV&sig=Dc54GPfvq5yp2ZVv-UYf8d24K1Q. [Accessed 13 Sep 2018].

Lewis, J.P., 2000. Project planning, scheduling, and control. McGraw-Hill Companies.

Platje, A., Seidel, H. and Wadman, S., 1994. Project and portfolio planning cycle: project-based management for the multiproject challenge. International Journal of Project Management, 12(2), pp.100-106. Available at: http://www.hajarian.com/portfolio/1-s2.0-0263786394900167-main.pdf. [Accessed 13 Sep 2018]

Ravanello, A., Desharnais, J.M., Villalpando, L.E.B., April, A. and Gherbi, A., 2014, October. Performance measurement for cloud computing applications using ISO 25010 standard characteristics. In Software Measurement and the International Conference on Software Process and Product Measurement (IWSM-MENSURA), 2014 Joint Conference of the International Workshop on (pp. 41-49). IEEE. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7000073/. [Accessed 14 Sep 2018].