Purpose
The purpose of the proposed project is to ensure that the team is going to develop effective partnerships with Taqeef and the Al Dar Group and install the given AC systems within the new 30-story building located in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi. One of the main reasons to take care of the AC systems and follow through with this project is to improve the health of potential employees and have them perform better. According to Omara and Abuelnour (2019), the presence of AC systems in the workplace is arguably the biggest contributor to preventing illnesses and leaving consumers satisfied. With this information in mind, it can be safe to say that the purpose of the current project is to keep all the stakeholders involved happy and healthy while building effective partnerships in the region. This is an important idea because the value of AC systems cannot be underestimated, especially given the climate in Abu Dhabi. Jon et al. (2021) note that higher temperatures could lead to health issues that can be both short-term and long-term by nature. This is why the new building requires AC systems.
Scope
The scope of the current project can be outlined via the following crucial points:
- The team intends to install an AC system within every apartment/office that can be located in the building owned by the Al Dar Group;
- The AC systems are to be purchased at a bulk price to have the team save resources and remain responsible for the outcomes of installation.
Strategy
In order to remain in line with the purpose of the project, the team expects to ensure that unswerving communication is established between all parties to avoid misunderstandings. The team will collect vital information on the topic of AC installation in the Abu Dhabi region to come up with the best offer for both Taqeef and the Al Dar Group. Throughout the project, the team will be expected to assign tasks in real-time and adjust to the needs of stakeholders and consumers to ensure that all equipment is of the highest quality and fits the project scope. Prior to purchasing the AC systems from the carrier, the team would have to work closely with the executive unit of the Al Dar Group to see what kind of HVAC unit specifications and general regulations would have to be followed.
Objectives
- To perform a thorough audit of the building to identify the biggest areas of concern and find the best spots for AC system installation.
- To install AC systems in every apartment/office across all 30 floors within the given deadline of 90 days.
- To evaluate the overall success of the project by calculating the return on investment and assessing the percentage of AC systems the team was able to install before the deadline expired, where 100% is the desired outcome.
Constraints
The primary constraint that should be addressed when looking at the current project is the limited number of AC systems installed by the team. The owner of the building – the Al Dar Group – could be rather vigilant about the number of systems available for the facility. Another external constraint relates to how the team would be able to communicate with Taqeef to purchase AC systems and make the offer mutually beneficial. The team would have to consider the budgetary constraint and see how resources could be allocated to ensure that all particular project requirements were followed. Also, employee rotation and the number of AC systems installed per day should be planned in advance.
Assumptions
The key area of uncertainty that has to be considered at the moment is the lack of information regarding the building and its compatibility with the AC systems provided by Taqeef. Thus, it should be assumed that additional efforts will be exerted to carry out a detailed audit of the location prior to the main operations. In the case where the budget of the project overruns the initial plan, the team will have to introduce changes on the fly, placing a financial burden on the team while also facing negative outcomes in relation to partnerships with the Al Dar Group and Taqeef.
Key Stakeholders
- Drivers: the executive unit of the Al Dar Group.
- Supporters: members of the installation team (workers, managers, etc.).
- Observers: Taqeef (financial representatives).
Key Risks
The primary risk associated with time relates to the inability of the team to finish the work before the preset deadline. Employees and managers should be encouraged to communicate with each other and avoid situations where burnout and fatigue could lead to human errors. Another risk is the cost of AC systems purchased from Taqeef. The team should carefully go through all the proposals to pick the best option and save resources to respond to any unexpected outcomes (e.g., market price fluctuation). The quality of services represents a risk for the team because further partnerships in the region could be discontinued if the company fails to address all the concerns in a timely manner.
Planning
Work Breakdown Structure
There are several reasons to apply the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to the current project and develop a detailed chart that is going to include all viable information regarding the steps the team would have to take to achieve its objectives. From the scope to a detailed overview of tasks and deliverables, the WBS could feature every little chunk of data that might be exploited by the management to improve the existing state of affairs. In line with Ferakhim and Latief (2018), the primary advantage of utilizing WBS is the capacity to allocate tasks quickly and assign them to responsible individuals within limited time frames. Manageable packages of assignments can be supervised without any particular issues linked to keeping employees and managers connected.
It can be stated that the WBS method is one of the opportunities to streamline the organization and further the collection of ideas related to the given project (Darongke & Latief, 2020). Accordingly, the team could manage the majority of potential risks without exposing itself to the issues that have not been anticipated previously. This also means that the project would be rather unlikely to face missed deadlines or excessive budgetary expenditures since the whole team would be guided by the details included in the WBS structure. The majority of costs associated with the project will be predicted in advance, allowing the team to build effective partnerships with Taqeef and the Al Dar Group when completing the project.
The proposed project is going to contain four essential stages (see Figure 1) that will be expected to aid the project team in terms of building positive relationships with Taqeef and the Al Dar Group when intending to install the AC systems. During the project management phase, the team would have to initiate the project, plan all the activities in advance, and resort to controlling the outcomes of its project management initiatives. The project initiation would begin as soon as the project team starts gathering project requirements and setting goals, tasks, and responsibilities. In order to create a plan for the AC installation project, the team would have to assign key employees to the tasks from 1.1.3 (see Figure 2) and then communicate the project plan to all the responsible actors. Ultimately, the team would have to set the budget and allocate resources in order to be able to schedule future activities and mitigate the risks.
The system installation planning phase is crucial because it defines the vendor and the required hardware. Even though Taqeef has been picked as the primary carrier for AC systems, the team would have to shortlist other relevant partners from the area and select a number of companies prior to signing the contract. Depending on the facilities across all 30 floors of the building owned by the Al Dar Group, the team would have to pick the most relevant hardware and follow the initial specifications of the project. When purchasing the given AC systems, the team would be required to ensure that enough resources are available to make any additional purchases in the case where unexpected risks transpire along the way.
The staff training phase is necessary because all members of the team should be involved in the process of gathering information about the building and creating enough room for the questions and answers sessions with the key stakeholders. As a result, the team would schedule its training activities in line with the needs of employees. Even if Al Dar’s building does not feature any challenging characteristics, it will be crucial for the team to draft and convey a discussion session where the final design of the project will be presented and given to team members and stakeholders. The final task during this phase would be to establish training initiatives for both the staff and management teams and deliver the training.
The final phase that has to be covered when discussing the project is negotiation, marketing, and installation. During the marketing stage, the team will draft personalized messages for Taqeef and the Al Dar Group to ensure that an effective connection has been built throughout the other three project phases. In the case of any unexpected changes, the marketing message would be revised in order to appeal to the potential partners and help the team get approval from the stakeholders. The negotiations stage will be required to help the team schedule the most important communication efforts between all parties involved in the project and reach an agreement regarding the number and specifications of AC systems to be installed. The pinnacle of the project would be to install the AC systems and renew contracts with the Al Dar Group and Taqeef in the case where the organizations expect to extend their partnerships with the team.
Work Breakdown Structure Coding System
The coding system presented in Figure 2 can significantly facilitate the process of navigating through the tasks and responsibilities that should be followed by team members.
Project Schedule
The overall deadline for the project is 16 weeks, where the shortest is the phase of project management (one week) and the longest is the phase of negotiation, marketing, and installation (one week for the negotiations and marketing and 12 weeks for the installation). The team expects to achieve a relatively high level of flexibility so as to be able to move through the project phases without being too pressed by deadlines. In other words, the idea is to carry out quick negotiations with Taqeef and the owner of the Al Dar Group building to have more time to cope with the installation of AC systems in the future. The majority of time was allocated to the last phase of the project to make sure that the team was not going to be fined for lateness after signing a contract with the stakeholders.
Table 1. Gantt chart for the AC installation project.
Assign Tasks
In Table 2, the core roles of team members are outlined in order to help the team keep up with the needs that have to be satisfied when installing the AC systems. The difference in tasks and roles is necessary to separate certain tasks and ensure that everything is going to be under control throughout every stage of the proposal. The responsibility matrix is an efficient tool that could be utilized by the team at any other given moment to enter new negotiations and sign renewed contracts to maintain the partnership between the team, Taqeef, and the Al Dar Group.
Table 2. Responsibility matrix.
Table legend: A – Assisting, S – Supervising, R – Responsible.
Communication Structure
For the current project, the team picked the star communication network in order to be able to establish information exchange across the whole group of individuals involved in the project, regardless of their roles and responsibilities. The rationale for picking this communication structure revolved around the need to build connections between people who have to work on the same process simultaneously. In the literature, the star communication network is perceived as the best way to establish a two-way channel for exchanging information and having more people and groups of people participate in the discussion (Hentati & Fourati, 2020). Thus, each person in the discussion group could assume the responsibility and share their ideas with the partners. The central idea of the star communication network is that feedback exchange could lead the team to better management and eradicate the majority of issues linked to project coordination. The core characteristics of the star communication network that have been utilized for the current project were (a) to reduce miscommunication, (b) to ensure that only important information is exchanged, and (c) to establish additional communication networks in the case where stronger control is required over project-related activities.
Measurement and Control
Monitor
In order to monitor the project, the team would utilize two specific strategies. The first approach to monitoring the project would be to collect and track different types of data. To acquire vital insights, the team could implement a self-reporting system or come up with weekly reports in order to remain on the same page with the stakeholders and business partners. On the other hand, team meetings could be carried out to maintain an effective approach to project management and establish a reliable resource of evidence for further decision-making processes. Every member of the team should be aware of the latest changes, as miscommunication could make the project go out of budget easily. The second approach that could be taken by the team is expectation management. The team would have to align their activities against certain expectations to maintain the flexibility of project management efforts.
Review
The process of project review would be divided into three distinct sections. The first would be a thorough analysis of the financial state of affairs. The team would have to check in with the existing budget and see how much the team was able to spend over the course of the project. In terms of financial information, the team would also review its ability to stay on budget. Another crucial section would be the questions related to project management efficiency. For instance, the team could focus on assessing the deliverables and how the team was able to complete them along the way. The project schedule would have to be re-evaluated with regard to the existing successes achieved by the team. In order to strengthen the project, the team could also track all project issues and risks. The ultimate section to pay attention to would be the team’s business operations. The primary task here would be to ensure that the business sponsors have agreed to the budget and the business requirements for the project.
Revise
In order to revise the project, the team could resort to reverse outlining and see if the project was set up logically. While seeing if every particular element of the project is in place, the team would get a chance to determine the best ways to address the challenges that might have been overlooked when drafting the first version of the project. Even though it would not be required to rewrite the whole project plan from scratch, the team could benefit from comparing the expectations against the reality and making relevant amendments along the way. When looking into the team’s and partners’ expectations, the project manager will have an opportunity to communicate the most evident issues quickly and reiterate the revisions in the case where problems cannot be fixed on the first attempt.
Communication and Risks
When going through the phase of measurement control, the team would have to engage in continuous open communication in order to validate certain changes and ensure that the members of the team can prepare for the adjustments. From the perspective of project management, the importance of communication can be displayed as an opportunity to consider issues that have not been previously reviewed by the team (Shah et al., 2019). Thus, the most common risks are related to the incorrect positioning of the thermostat and vents. The team should communicate with the building owners rather closely in order to set up all the functions and meet the required expectations.
References
Darongke, C. C., & Latief, Y. (2020). Development of safety cost on upper structure building based on Work Breakdown Structure. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, 17(2-3), 864-873.
Ferakhim, D., & Latief, Y. (2019). Development of safety cost for architectural works in rental apartments building construction project based on work breakdown structure.International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology, 8(5C), 16-27.
Hentati, A. I., & Fourati, L. C. (2020). Comprehensive survey of UAVs communication networks. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 72, 103451.
Jon, C. K., Islam, M. R., Choon, N. K., & Shahzad, M. W. (2021). Advances in air conditioning technologies: Improving energy efficiency. Springer.
Omara, A. A., & Abuelnour, A. A. (2019). Improving the performance of air conditioning systems by using phase change materials: A review.International Journal of Energy Research, 43(10), 5175-5198.
Shah, S., Gochtovtt, A., & Baldini, G. (2019). Importance of project management in business analytics: Academia and real world. In Aligning Business Strategies and Analytics (pp. 81-94). Springer, Cham.