Impact of Public Transport Development on Businesses and Communities

Executive summary

The effective infrastructure and development of public transport networks are having a significant impact on businesses and residential communities. The local and national governments have developed different authorities and organizations that are developing the plan for improving transportation and providing better connectivity to the population. The project related to improvement in public transport helps create new jobs and encourage supply chain management in local markets. By considering these factors and benefits, the UK government has funded the project of the development of Tramlines.

The manager will make a contract with the different organizations which will supply the required raw material for the development of infrastructure for Tramline. The contracting term will be a fixed price. The consideration of legal agreements between project organizations and suppliers will increase the authenticity of the goods and services for timely delivery and supply. According to the given case scenario, the estimated budget for the project is £250M and the duration of the project will be 3 years.

The project will be led by a project manager working for the sponsor Tramline. The team will be managed by the project manager and involve the members for technical management, procurement, project administration cost, and quality control. These members will manage the work according to the planning and arrange the resources to meet the aim and objectives. To complete the current project, there are different types of internal and external stakeholders will involve such as managers, workers, sponsors, suppliers, government and local authorities.

INTRODUCTION

Project management refers to the use of specific knowledge, skill, tools and techniques that helps to manage and complete the tasks of a project in a professional manner. The consideration of project management approaches is helpful for the development of improved business processes and minimizing the risks in the activities (Walker, 2015). The project manager is responsible for managing the different stages of project management that involve planning, budgeting, timescale, monitoring and delivery. The effective utilization and knowledge of project management processes are useful for adding value and support in the completion of tasks as per the estimated budget and time. The current report will provide information related to the Tramline project in the UK that aims to connecting the transport hubs and unconnected suburban population to boost the local economy, creating new jobs and enabling more sustainable travel for business and residential communities. The report will analyze different phases of the project such as initiation, planning, implementation and completion considering the appropriate tools and techniques for project management.

INITIATION PHASE

Task 1: Business case and estimation

Outline business case

In the current scenario, transportation is one of the major aspects for maintaining and growing the local economy of countries. The effective infrastructure and development of public transport networks are having a significant impact on businesses and residential communities. The local and national governments have developed different authorities and organizations that are developing the plan for improving transportation and providing better connectivity to the population. The project related to improvement in public transport helps create new jobs and encourage supply chain management in local markets. By considering these factors and benefits, the UK government has funded the project of the development of Tramlines.

The modification in tramline is also beneficial for managing such projects. The use of electrification of the route is offering better speed and low population. The current project of tramline is for the UK and connects the different suburban areas of the country. The route proposed for tramline train will cross several local authorities. According to the given case scenario, the estimated budget for the project is £250M and the duration of the project will be 3 years. The project will be led by a project manager working for the sponsor Tramline.

Table 1: Project description

Cost evaluation

NPV was calculated with a discounted rate of 5% (1.05).

Payback in years is 50 years, the ROI would not be financial but for the benefits the community would receive as mentioned above in 1

Task 2: Procurement and services provision

Procurement

For the current project, the manager will need major resources like funds, humans, machinery for construction, monitoring and communication tools. For hiring better organization for completing the important project, the bid system was followed for analyzing the capability and work efficiency of leading companies.

The bids of two companies (Appendix table 7) have provided proper information related to the approach, track record of the organization and commercial reputation of the company. The major benefits of using this system involve analysis of company profile, success rate and cost of the project. However, it is increasing the completion and confusion for management to maintain the prevision relationship.

The bid of organization (Appendix table 8) was good but company has not provided the information related to design, resources planning, capability and cost management. The overall all score was also low.

The overall score of bid (Appendix table 9) was excellent but the organization heavily relay on the grants of UK government. The company is having good record and reputations of completing major projects in UK and other countries. However, the organization lacks in safety and quality index but it seems satisfactory.

From the above analysis of biding, it has been carried out that the government will go with Euro Vision organization considering all bids. The major reasons behind this are reputation of company, effective track record, attractive design and economic cost evaluation for completing the project maintaining the good standards.

The manager will make a contract with the different organizations which will supply the required raw material for the development of infrastructure for Tramline. The contracting term will be a fixed price. The consideration of legal agreements between project organizations and suppliers will increase the authenticity of the goods and services for timely delivery and supply (Levy, 2018). Planning and negotiation with the supplier before starting the project will be beneficial for completing the Tramline project as per the estimated budget and time for completion. The manager will communicate the scope and deliverables with the agreed supplier and set the plan and process of payment. The clarity in the procurement approach will help to maintain the coordination and maintaining the constructive process in completing the project (Sears, et al., 2015). The consideration of government norms and regulations is playing a critical role in managing the services and achieving effectiveness in the sustainability of the project. Service provision aims to enhance the quality and minimizing the cost of the project.

PLANNING PHASE

Task 3: Planning and scheduling techniques

WBS

For completing the big project of Tramline, the breakdown of major activities in small tasks is beneficial for effective monitoring and maintaining the quality and standards. In the planning of activities, the manager will consider the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The communication of WBS with team members is helpful for them to understand the process (Lock, 2017). The proper knowledge of WBS helps arrange and plan the resources and distribution. This will help to avoid the overlapping of the resources. For the Tramline project the WBS of activities is as follows:

Project planning phase

Scheduling

Gantt chart

Start of project- 1/12/23 and Finish 15/10/25 and scheduling of projects is essential for gaining an understanding related to the time of particular activity and the relationship among different tasks. The planning of the schedule of the project is beneficial for managing the human and other resources according to requirements. This gives a clear understanding of the timeframe and authority that will be responsible for completing the task as per the proper standards (Fewings, and Henjewele, 2019). For the current project of Tramline development, the manager has developed the following schedule:

Mile stones – Construction completion and handover

PERT ‘optimistic’ and ‘pessimistic

Probability and z-score

Table 2: Probability

Square root of 9.53= 3.09. Therefore, 150-150/3.09= 0

The Z value is 50%. Hence the finishing of the project in 150 weeks is 50%.

Task 4: Human resourcing

The well-defined structure of the project process and the team will help manage the operations and professionally complete the tasks. The structure of the project team is as follows:

The team will be managed by the project manager and involve the members for technical management, procurement, project administration cost, and quality control. These members will manage the work according to the planning and arrange the resources to meet the aim and objectives. The prior communication of scope and responsibility is beneficial for maintaining efficiency and effectiveness to minimize the cost of the operation and completing the tasks according to estimated time (Meredith, Shafer, and Mantel Jr, 2017).

Freelance- Local Hire

Permanent Hire

By considering the outcome of the freelance and permanent contracting budget, the management has decided to go with the freelance labour. It will help to minimize the cost of the project and help to maintain the good numbers of workers. The management will hire the nearby and professional resources and offer daily payment (Heagney, 2016). It will help to understand the local issues and plan the activities accordingly.

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

Task 5: Stakeholder management

The management approach of stakeholders for the project will include the following stages:

Identify: For the current project of the Tramline railway line the key stakeholders are suppliers, workers and investors as well as the project manager. These are highly responsible for managing the operations and meeting the standards proposed for the development of infrastructure (Demirkesen, and Ozorhon, 2017). These will work in coordination to arrange and utilize the resources and managing the activities as per the plan.

Analysis: The analysis of stakeholders suggests that government and sponsor will be the key personals to complete the project. The government will offer access to the resources for construction and planning of the route for Tramline. Apart from this, the sponsor will provide funds for arranging the resources and organizing the activities. Fund management is important for offering payment to workers and suppliers to maintain the uninterrupted process of work.

Plan: The planning of stakeholders will be based on the role and responsibility and timeframe for the particular activity. The planning of stakeholder management will involve legal agreements and protocols that will help to compile the actions in a professional manner (Richardson, and Jackson, 2018). The manager will communicate the risk management, utilization process of resources and proposed outcome of the project.

Engage: For the successful completion of the project, the proper engagement of stakeholders is important. To engage the stakeholders of the Tramline project, the manager will apply different strategies (Kerzner, 2017). Apart from this, a good return of an investment will engage the investors in the Tramline project.

Stakeholder mapping:

For the effective stakeholder mapping and management the consideration of Mendelow model will be helpful. According to this matrix, the stakeholders for Tramline project are divided into following categories:

Table 3: Mendelow matrix

The implementation of MoSCoW will be helpful for determining the priorities of the stakeholders and managing the operations in a professional manner. Following are the major components of the model for current project:

Must have: Project manager, workers and suppliers

Should have: Manager, sponsor and government

Could have: Investors

Won’t have: All stakeholders are having a justified role as management needs to involve them

Communication plan:

Table 4: Communication plan

Task 6: Monitoring, review and control

To maintain the standards and quality in developing the infrastructure for Tramline, monitoring and control is essential. Project progress meeting indicated with the straight line. The project management organization for the current project will follow the British and International standards of construction and technical specification of the railway. According to the analysis of standards of construction, the safety and security of the staff member is a must. The project manager will monitor and provide the direction for improvement in the safety of the workers (Kerzner, 2018). The project manager will consider this approach for effective monitoring.

Progress Tracking- Duration

Progress Tracking- Costs

The consideration of cost and duration of project will help to analyze the progress of the project against the agreed cost and completion time. The project manager is responsible for analysis and provides the additional guidelines for managing the project.

RAG report:

Table 5: RAG matrix

For a better review of the activities and progress of the project, the consideration of WBS will be helpful for the manager. By using this tool, the manager will be able to understand the sequencing of the project activities and completion status (Boyle, 2017). Apart from this, the knowledge and consideration of the project lifecycle process will also support monitoring and review of the tasks for the Tramline project. The lifecycle process will involve the activities like the execution of the plan, obtaining results, analysis and identification of variance (Kerzner, 2019).

Task 7: Problem-solving and decision making

The current project of Tramline is involving different issues related to the planning of route, land acquisition, implementation of technical tools and mitigation of risks related to safety and security of passengers and working staff members in tunnels. Now, to manage the issues and make the decision, the manager will apply the 5 Why strategy that involves the following stages:

Assemble a team: To solve the problems, it is important for the project manager to gather the team and provide the information related to issue of tunnel, winter weather and quality management for the project.

Defining and identifying the problem: The effective monitoring and review of tasks will be useful for identifying and defining the problems (Schwalbe, 2015). For example, there will be issues related to lack of human resources but contingency planning and decisions for the supply of outside human resources will help to solve the problem and maintain the progress of the project.

Ask the first Why: To solve the problem and make the decisions, the manager needs to have a proper understanding of issues and the ongoing processes of the Tramline project. This will help to make the decisions considering the issues and possibilities for implementing the changes.

Ask why more times: The decision making and problem-solving process of managing the project of Tramline will involve the use of brainstorming with the team leaders and outside stakeholders (Binder, 2016). This will help to plan the strategies that could increase the quality and solve the issues that arise in the implementation of the project plan.

Know when to stop: To manage the issues and planning of the project activities, it is important for the project manager to understand where to stop. This will improve the decision making and help to meet the agreed project objectives.

Pareto analysis 80/20:

According to this model, the manager will analyze the important members and tasks for completing the project. The proper analysis and consideration will be helpful for managing the operations and increasing the success. As per the analysis, the major factors that could influence the project progress involve the development of tunnels and other infrastructure in narrow areas of city. The proper understanding and analysis of quality standards and issues will help to increase the actions of the project team of Tramline. Following are the major impact that identified through framework:

Cost: The development of tunnels will increase the cost of the project as estimation was done using the repots but it might involve more human and machinery resources.

Critical path: The permanent work will not influence the critical path and activity progress.

Duration: The tunnels might increase the duration for the project.

Staff: The safety and lack of training and knowledge might influence the satisfaction level of staff during tunnel work

Stakeholders: The permanent work will satisfy all members and support to engage them.

COMPLETION PHASE

Task 8: Information management

The administration department of the project team will keep all data for the day-to-day operation and analyze the information for further planning and assessing the changes that could influence the time and budget of the project (Nicholas, and Steyn, 2020). Real-time information management and analysis are required for maintaining better control and developing alternative strategies to meet the objectives. For example, the manager will take the meetings with team members using video conferencing which will help to maintain better communication and support to collect the data for further management and procurement planning.

DIKW framework:

The consideration of this framework will be helpful for managing the data and information. The framework involves data, information, knowledge and wisdom. The project manager is responsible for managing the information. Moreover, the administration department will keep all the data related to the project of tramline. It will be useful for analyzing the issues and tracking the progress of the project. The pyramid will help to understand the importance of each stage and planning the actions. For example, the project manager will identify that the initial data adds value to the project or not. Therefore, using this model, the manager will collect information from different sources, analyze them and use for the specific purpose and measures. Additionally, the manager will apply the useful information to achieve the goals and evaluate the outcome.

Task 9: Handover and Appraisal

The handover and appraisal process of project management is involving different aspects such as analysis of quality, requirements and stakeholder approval focusing on the objectives and standards. The handover process of the Tramline project will be held under the observation of the government and consider the specification determined for the Tramline. The proper documentation of each phase and future scope has to be there with proper planning and issues that could influence the actions. In addition to this, the proper analysis of deliverables and analysis of the goals achieved during the project will help initiate the handover process (Meredith, Shafer, and Mantel Jr, 2017). It is the responsibility of the manager to maintain the handbook of operations and funds that used for the particular activity. The clarity in the documentation will help commit the handover.

Post project appraisal:

Table 6: PPA

CONCLUSION

From the study, it has been carried out that project management is an important approach that helps to manage the action and provide the information related to the application of tools and techniques to achieve the goals and objectives. The report has provided information related to the different phases of the project of Tramline in the UK. The report has highlighted the process of initiating, planning, implementing, mentoring and closing the project. The proper consideration of the project report will help the manager to manage and complete the project in a professional manner and overcome the issues that could influence the progress.

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REFERENCES

Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Boyle, G., 2017. Design project management. Routledge.

Demirkesen, S. and Ozorhon, B., 2017. Impact of integration management on construction project management performance. International Journal of Project Management, 35(8), pp.1639-1654.

Fewings, P. and Henjewele, C., 2019. Construction project management: an integrated approach. Routledge.

Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.

Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Kerzner, H., 2018. Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John Wiley & Sons.

Kerzner, H., 2019. Using the project management maturity model: strategic planning for project management. John Wiley & Sons.

Levy, S.M., 2018. Project management in construction. McGraw-Hill Education.

Lock, D., 2017. The essentials of project management. Routledge.

Meredith, J.R., Shafer, S.M. and Mantel Jr, S.J., 2017. Project management: a strategic managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Nicholas, J.M. and Steyn, H., 2020. Project management for engineering, business and technology. Routledge.

Richardson, G.L. and Jackson, B.M., 2018. Project management theory and practice. Auerbach Publications.

Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Sears, S.K., Sears, G.A., Clough, R.H., Rounds, J.L. and Segner, R.O., 2015. Construction project management. John Wiley & Sons.

Walker, A., 2015. Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.

APPENDIX

Table 7: Bid

Table 8: Bid

Table 9: Bid