Risk DescriptionImpact Probability of Occurrence (L,M,H) Degree of Impact (L,M,H) Initial Action to Take If an Event Occurs Team Member Responsible Strategies prevention and mitigation Widespread security breach due to unauthorized access to sensitive customer information. Negative publicity of the company and loss of credibility in the eyes of existing and potential customers with repercussions on the overall business. Take immediate steps to strengthen security, including giving all employees access to sensitive customer information. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Identify and install the latest security software on all telecommuters' PCs and enforce strict rules for accessing information, including managing password policies. Document Server integration challenges. Setting up the environment for teleworkers would be delayed. troubleshoot remotely to identify the root of the integration problem. The repetitive process of installing and configuring document servers can potentially be scripted and semi-automated to minimize errors and reduce time spent. Technical challenges such as power outages and internet connection interruptions. Setting up the teleworker environment would be delayed if power or Internet connection were affected. The guidelines may include instructions for moving to the next computer for setup and returning to the remote PC later in the event of power or Internet problems. Phoebe To prevent and mitigate this risk, teleworker PCs can be set up and configured in the Xemba Translations office before shipping to the remote location. In the long term, you can allocate an individual battery backup budget for remote PCs. Delay in completing the telework expansion project. Inadequate available resources to meet growing customer needs, causing negative publicity for the company. Increase the size of the project team to catch up and accelerate progress while reducing the potential for any further impacts to the schedule. Project TeamManage plans even more accurately by tracking the daily progress of tasks and mitigating schedule delays even before they occur. Perception of impersonal and sub-par service due to teleworkers While there is a subjective aspect to this risk, it can lead to the loss of real customers and negative publicity. The focus can be shifted to lost customers to investigate why they decided to take business elsewhere and offer incentives to return. Work with the marketing team to ensure the message is clear to large customers about the benefits of real-time web-based communications and translation services. Task B: Metrics Explained: Metrics that can actually be used to clearly and effectively measure progress and The overall status of the teleworker expansion project is “Managing Earned Value.” This is a commonly used technique that takes into account cost and schedule baselines and then uses simple indices to estimate and measure the position of the project in reference to the respective expected baselines set at the start of the project. Earned Value Management is based on three key parameters: - Planned Value (PV): This is the official budget that has been allocated to the project. The budget is generally set per project phase, but inat any time the "planned value" is used to refer to the work that should have been completed. The total planned value for the project is also called “Budget at Completion” (BAC) - Earned value (EV): the earned value refers to the amount of work that should be completed at any time for the project to be considered started. Earned value is often used to calculate the percentage of completion of any project. The formula for percentage complete would be: % complete = EV / BAC. - Actual Cost (AC): Actual cost would simply be the cost incurred to carry out all the work done so far on a project. Technically the AC will not have an upper limit and will always result in what is budgeted in the PV and measured by the EV. Part of the Earned Value Management technique is monitoring deviations from the approved cost and schedule baseline. Variances are useful in determining the overall health and status of the project. - Schedule variance (SV): The schedule variance indicates a value that measures how far ahead or behind the project is at a given time. For any given moment, once the EV and PV are known, the SV can be easily calculated. The formula for SV is very simple: SV = EV – PV. Here a positive value indicates that the project is ahead at the current time and a negative value would indicate the opposite that a project is behind at the current time. - Cost Variance (CV): The cost variance indicates a value that measures how much the project has been overspent or underspent at a given time. For a given moment, once the EV and AC are known, the CV can be easily calculated. The formula for CV is very simple: CV = EV – AC. Here a positive value indicates that the project is underspent at the current time and a negative value would indicate the opposite that a project is overspent at the current time. The cost variance at the end of the project is calculated as follows: CV = BAC – AC. The same logic above is applied to the positive and negative numbers to indicate whether the project is underspent or overspent, respectively. To measure time or cost efficiency there are two indices that are also calculated as part of the Earned Value Management technique. They are the schedule performance index and the cost performance index. - Schedule Performance Index (SPI): This is a measure of how efficiently the project has been executed to date. An SPI less than 1.0 would indicate that less work was completed than originally planned, and an SPI value greater than 1.0 would indicate that more work was completed than originally planned. SPI is calculated with the following formula: SPI = EV / PV - Cost Performance Index (CPI): This is a measure of how efficiently the project has been managed in terms of budgeted resources to date. CPI is considered the most critical metric of the Earned Value Management methodology. A CPI of less than 1.0 would indicate that the project is currently over budget than originally expected, and a CPI of more than 1.0 would indicate that the project is currently under budget and in good shape. The CPI is calculated with the following formula: CPI = EV / ACTask B1: Justification of the metrics: One of the main reasons for choosing the Earned Value Management methodology for tracking telecommuting expansion project metrics was due to the fact that this method covers comprehensively all key aspects of project schedule control and cost management. Using this approach, a comprehensive analysis can be performed on the data provided. The data provided has the clear value for the budget upon completion(BAC) also for all labor costs for the project. The cash flow report provided in the case study provides a good reference of the realized value at the 76 day mark by week 11. The status reports provided at the end of the case study also provide detailed actual sunk costs for each package of work covered in the project work breakdown structure. Using the details provided, you can easily calculate cost and schedule variances, which would easily offer a detailed look at the overall status of the project regarding schedule and costs. With simple arithmetic you can easily determine whether the project is on track to stay under or over budget, as well as determine whether the project will stay on track and complete on time, ahead of schedule or behind schedule. Furthermore, with the calculation of Cost Performance Index and Planning Performance Index, the planning efficiency and cost efficiency of the project can be easily evaluated. By comparing the two indices with respect to whether they are greater than 1.0 or less than 1.0, one can predict whether the project is on track to come in under or over budget and finish ahead or behind schedule. to the program. This approach also fits well with the critical path approach used so far in the case study where particular emphasis can be placed on work packages in the critical path in an attempt to further mitigate risk and control project schedule and costs. Task B2: Current Project Status: The following table is a comprehensive summary of the fifteen project team members and associated labor costs planned at the start of the project, as well as the revised plan per the project manager's status report: Resource Name Rate per Hour Planned Hours Budgeted Labor Cost WBSO Item Hours Worked Hours Left Revised Work Plan Costs Spent Future Costs % Remaining Elizabeth $70.00 121.43 $8,500.10 11220122 $8,540.00 - 0% Hugh $70.00 120 $8,400.00 210317120 7 ,2 10.00 $1,190.00 14% Kimberly $70.00 76 $5,320.00 3721688 $5,040.00 $1,120.00 21% Phoebe $68.00 98 $6,664.00 4762096 $5,168.00 60, 00 20% Ben $68.00 138 $9,384.00 59352145 $6,324.00 $3,536.00 Zeke $65.00 384.67 $25,003.55 6153245398 $9,945.00 $15,925.00 Malinda $75.00 224 $16,800.00 758160218 $4,350.00 $12,000.00 71% Willis $70.00 108 $7,560.00 816068228 $11,200.00 $4,760.00 63% Jackson $45.00 268 $12 .060.00 2.4 ,5177112289 $7,965.00 $5,040.00 42% Kendrick $40.00 78 $3,120.00 586086 $3,440.00 - 0% Marcel $75.00 432.85 $32,463.75 1.4.5 ,7268200468 $20,100.00 $15,000.00 46% Lianne $37.50 204 $7,650.00 3.8170110280 $6,375.00 $4,125.00 54% Dario $55.00 72 $3,960.00 3. 8304272 $1,650.00 $2,310.00 58% Valene $60.00 150 $9,000.00 4.5.611664180 $6,960.00 $3,840.00 43% Clemencia $80.00 218.05 $17,444.00 1,6104114218 $8,320 .00 $9,120.00 52% 2693 $173,329.40 178812203008 $112,587.00 $79,326.00 41%Note: Looking at the above summary, the following may be the summary: Planned Labor Cost (PV/BAC): $173,329.40 labor expense (AC): $112,587.00 Remaining labor cost: $79,326.00 Initial labor plan: 2693 hours Revised labor plan: 3008 hours Elapsed hours: 1788 hours Remaining hours: 1220 hours Based on the Labor Plan the following are calculated: o% Complete: Hours spent / Initial work plan 1788 / 2693 = 66% Based on the revised work plan the following are calculated: o% Complete: Hours spent / Revised work plan 1788 / 3008 = 59%o% Remaining: Hours remaining / Work plan revised 1220/2008 = 41% Since PV, AC and % completion are known, the following parameters are calculated which makepart of the earned value management plan: Earned Value (EV) = BAC x % Complete = $173,329.40 x 59%= $102,264.35 Cost Variance (CV) = EV – AC = 2,264.35 - 2,587.00 = -.322.65Schedule Variance (SV) = EV – PV = 2,264.35 - 3,329.40 = -.065.05 Note: Since both cost and schedule variances are negative, this indicates that the project is currently trending “over budget” and currently behind schedule. Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV / AC = 2,264.35 / 2,587.00 = 0.91 Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV / PV= 2,264.35 / 3,329.40= 0.59 Note: since both the cost and schedule performance indices are less than 1.0, this would indicate that the project will finish over budget and finish late. Using the formulas in the earned value management technique, the final result can be estimated the cost of the project and the final duration of the project. According to the case study, the initially planned duration for the project is 123 days. Estimated Final Project Cost = BAC / CPI = $173,329.40 / 0.91 = $190,471.87 Estimated Final Project Duration = Planned Duration / SPI = 123 days / 0.59 = 209 daysNote: Unless further mitigated, labor costs for the project will be approximately $17,000 more than planned and will finish approximately 86 days late. Additional costs for the project are the costs of procuring the hardware and software to support the 173 teleworkers. These would include costs for new computers that teleworkers would use, as well as document servers, shared drives, FTP servers, firewalls, and support for web-based meetings. Based on details provided in the status report from the previous project manager for Xemba Translations teleworker expansion project, the total budgeted amount for all these costs was ,670.57. According to the same report, the table below contains estimated actual costs for those items. ManagerTask NameWBS ItemHW Costs - Option 1HW Costs - Option 2Cost Details ElizabethComputer Inventory and Requirements1,400.00 ,200.00 Cost for 12 additional computers for teleworkers.Option 1 - DesktopOption 2 - LaptopHughTechnical Support2{rdaddphp file=php/clean_code.php }.00 { rdaddphp file=php/clean_code.php}.00KimberlyComputing support3{rdaddphp file=php/clean_code.php}.00 {rdaddphp file=php/clean_code.php}.00PhoebeDocument server4,600.00 .268,00 Cost for document servers for the 173 teleworkers. Option 1 - 0 for 50 GB per person Option 2 - 6 for 100 GB per person BenShared Drives5,300.00 ,300.00 Cost per shared drive for the 173 teleworkers. The cost is estimated for 10GB. Each user will use 50 GB on average. Total cost of 0 per user. ZekeFTP Sites6,000.00 ,000.00 Estimated annual cost for 1,000GB of storage with unlimited bandwidth for file transfers and unlimited concurrent access MalindaFirewalls7,000.00 ,000.00 Cost of firewall software and hardware WillisWeb-Based Meetings8file=php/clean_code.php,000.00 file=php/ clean_code.php,000.00 Cost between 00 and 00 per year based on web meetings usage ,300.00 8,768.00According to details included in the table above, the total costs for all the hardware and software to support the needs of the 173 telecommuters are more than the budgeted amount of .629.43 at the lower end and potentially more depending on the configuration you choose. According to Xemba Translations CEO Phuong Wolfing, firewall costs could easily be absorbed into the overall IT budget rather than being accounted for as a project cost. This would imply that the hardware and software costs for the teleworker expansion project would be .300 and within budget. Senior Management eXemba Translations stakeholders will have to decide how to proceed. Task B3a: Issues affecting project implementation: A summary of the three issues that could impact the project is as follows: One: Cost overruns: Based on the current status of the project and progress of activities, including cost estimates project team on how much additional time is needed for different project activities, if there are no major changes, the project will definitely go over budget and require additional funding to complete. This would mean that even more effort would indeed be needed from the new Project Manager to control costs and minimize cost overruns. Since the expected duration of the project is 123 days, of which 76 days are completed, the project is expected to be approximately 62% complete. To date, the actual cost (AC) for labor on the project is only 2,587. Looking at the cash flow report that is part of the baseline project report, you see that on day 76, the earned value (EV) of the project should be around 5,000 with a work completion rate of around 72%. Calculating the Cost Performance Index (CPI) using the EV of 5,000 and the AC of 2,587 would give us a value greater than 1.0 (1.12) which would indicate that the project is currently under budget. However, taking into account the new estimates of the amount of work remaining, the percentage of work remaining amounts to approximately 41%, which would mean that the project is only 59% complete in terms of activity. Using the “% Complete” at 59% and the Planned Value (PV or BAC) of 3,329.40 we arrive at an EV of 2,587 with a negative CPI of less than 1.0 (0.91) indicating a cost overrun if anything it is not done and project costs are not controlled more tightly moving forward. Two: Exceeding schedule – Based on the current status of the project and the progress of activities, if there are no major changes, the project will certainly finish well beyond the expected end date of late June, in time for the start of the third quarter of the year as expected at the time of project approval. This will imply that if the Senior Management and stakeholders of this project are serious about completing it in time for the third quarter of the year, then many critical steps will need to be taken to try to mitigate and minimize further project delays. There were many factors that contributed to the delay. A major contributing factor to the project's schedule delay is time lost in pilot testing of several planned web-based meetings that had to be rescheduled due to the weather-related power outage in the Midwest. Another factor that contributed to the delay in schedule is the delay in the procurement of the 47 new computers, which was delayed by two weeks due to "back orders". This contributed to a delay in the start of configuration and validation of the 47 new teleworker computers. As discussed in the “Project Status” section, the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is calculated to be 0.59. Since this value is less than 1.0, this indicates that the project is currently behind schedule and will most likely complete very late if the factors contributing to the delay are not mitigated. You will need to pay close attention to items that are on the critical path to see if you can accelerate them to try to minimize delays in moving forward. Three: Quality Challenges – The Telecommuter Expansion project status report included as part of the case studyreveals that typically in any IT project there are many factors that can easily reduce the quality of the solution you are working on. In this case, for Xemba Translations, the Telecommuter Expansion is a project that involves a substantial capital investment in IT infrastructure and the associated complexities of getting the infrastructure up and running. As with any complex technological solution, the most critical part concerns the initial configuration and verification of the complex solution, especially in all the many edge cases where the resilience of the solution to security attacks and malicious users is tested. Something that is not specific to just this teleworker expansion project is the strain on resources that is usually experienced extremely pronounced when there are scheduling-related challenges on a project. This project is tremendously behind schedule and there are many important scheduling decisions that will need to be made as part of the overall progress of this project. Another aspect that absolutely cannot be ignored is the Quality Management of all the moving parts of the project. For example, this project involves setting up computers for 173 teleworkers, including configuring document server access for each of them, shared drives, FTP access, and the necessary software and hardware to support a computer-based meeting environment. Web for each of the 173 teleworkers. . While this seems like a tall order for a group of 15 project team members, it adds extra tension when all of this has to be accomplished flawlessly when the project is already behind schedule. Typically, when there are schedule pressures, the tendency is to simply complete an item without focusing much on quality. Given the technical complexity of the deliverables of this project, coupled with the lack of sufficient resources, it is necessary to take measures to ensure that the overall quality of all technical deliverables of the project is maintained at a high level for the successful completion of this project followed with the successful operation of daily tasks at Although the problems encountered thus far cannot be eliminated, as the project progresses to completion, the same problems can be minimized or mitigated. Based on the current status of the project, if the project is on day 76 of the planned 123 days of project activity and we have spent 2,000 of the budgeted 173,000, then there is plenty of room for tighter fiscal control and cost management. Processes need to be in place to confirm and authorize the need for additional hours dedicated to an activity, especially if that activity is behind schedule. For example, a significant amount of time was spent pilot testing web-based meetings. This is an activity where bad weather played a role in causing unexpected delays and wasted hours spent on an activity that did not deliver results. Since we can't turn back the clock here, moving forward with any planned end-to-end testing activity, there needs to be a quick “go/no-go” call to first discuss availability for that activity. Additionally, you need to pay more attention to estimating the duration of the task. Since we have an actual track record of the duration of different activities, it is possible to estimatethe activity more accurately and plan its duration exactly. This not only helps with cost estimating, but also helps with schedule control. As part of due diligence and planning, there may also be a "best practice review" organized by the Project Manager where the project team reviews best practices for a task that needs to be worked on and completed in an effort to accelerate further the rate of progress, also indirectly introducing completion dates and shortening the program where possible. Given the revised estimates of the remaining 1220 hours of work left on the project, there is a great opportunity to include those dates and reduce the hours spent at the same time. Additionally, you can get permission from Senior Management on the possibility of incentivizing the team with spot bonuses if the budget can be allocated accordingly, in order to keep certain deadlines tight. This helps the team to focus and work together to achieve the common goal. On another note on the topic of hours spent on the project by the project team, a process can be reviewed with the team and proposals can be made to Senior Management on a weekly basis on the appropriateness of overtime hours for employees who will be working for all 40 hours per week may or may not be authorized. This will not only keep costs due to overtime pay under control, but will also avoid a certain element of 'burnout' within the team where the team would feel overworked. Historically, overworked teams tend to make mistakes and produce low-quality results. Therefore, team burnout will need to be avoided at all costs, which would also indirectly improve the overall quality and responsiveness of the team. Quality can be very relative and subjective. To take the subjectivity out of quality measurement, you can ask your team to work together and come up with tangible metrics to measure the quality of all the technical deliverables you're working on. This will help you get an impartial and tangible view of the progress made on all technical deliverables and measure the availability of the solution you are working on. In general, this same process can be applied to the processes used to set up new computers, document servers, shared drives, FTP sites, as well as the web-based meeting software environment. Task C: Executive Summary: The telecommuting expansion project is well underway. Another risk analysis was performed and new risks were identified and summarized in a risk assessment matrix. Below is a brief summary of the newly identified risks, their impact and prevention and mitigation strategies: Description of Risks Impact on prevention and mitigation strategies Widespread security breach due to unauthorized access to sensitive customer information Negative publicity of the company and loss of credibility in the eyes of existing and potential customers, impacting the overall business Identify and install the latest security software on the PCs of all teleworkers and enforce strict rules for access to information, including management of related policies to passwords. Document Server Integration Challenges Setting up the environment for teleworkers would be delayed. The repetitive process of installing and configuring document servers can potentially be scripted and semi-automated to minimize errors and reduce time spent. Technical challenges such as power outages and internet connection interruptions. Setting up the environment for teleworkers would be delayed ifyour power or Internet connection is affected. To prevent and mitigate this risk, teleworker PCs can be set up and configured in the Xemba Translations office before shipping to the remote location. In the long term, you can allocate a budget for individual backup batteries for remote PCs. Delay in completing the telework expansion project. Inadequate resources available to meet growing customer needs, causing negative publicity for the company. Manage programs even more rigorously by monitoring the daily progress of activities and mitigating schedule delays before they even occur. Perception of impersonal and sub-par service due to teleworkers While there is a subjective aspect to this risk, it can lead to the loss of very real customers and negative publicity. Work with the marketing team to ensure the message is clear to large customers about the benefits of the real service. -time web-based communication and translation services. The project is on its 76th day since its inception. Some changes have been made to the project's initial schedule and cost estimates. Earned Value Management technique was used to calculate some key schedule and budget parameters for comparison and strategic planning of the project. The following table contains a summary of the main initially planned and revised estimates of the project's schedule and budget line items: Schedule/Budget ItemInitially Planned Revised EstimatesDuration in Days123 Days209 DaysDuration in Hours2,693 Hours3,008 HoursPersonnel Cost3,329,400,471.87Hardware /software Cost: 670,57,300.00 Note: There is an additional cost for firewall hardware and software of ,000.00 which will be accounted for in the IT budget as directed by the CEO, Phuong Wolfing, instead of being added to the project costs expansion of teleworking. This cost is excluded from the estimates shown in the table above. In addition to the revised estimates above, an analysis was performed on three issues that the project is addressing and recommendations to address and mitigate the issues were summarized. The issues that have been discussed and summarized in great detail along with recommendations to address the root of the respective issues are as follows: One: Cost Overruns – Based on the current project status and progress of activities, including project team estimates project how much more time is needed for different project tasks, if there are no major changes, the project will definitely go over budget and require additional funding to complete. This would mean that there would actually need to be even more effort on the part of the new Project Manager to control costs to minimize cost overruns. Two: Exceeding schedule – Based on the current status of the project and the progress of activities, if there are no major changes, the project will certainly finish well beyond the expected end date of late June, in time for the start of the third quarter of the year as expected at the time of project approval. This will imply that if the Senior Management and stakeholders of this project are serious about completing it in time for the third quarter of the year, then many critical steps will need to be taken to try to mitigate and minimize further delays in the project. Three: Quality Challenges – The Telecommuter Expansion project status report included as part of the case study reveals that typically in any IT project there are many factors that can easily reduce the quality of the solution you are working on. in this case for Xemba Translations, Telecommuter Expansion is a projectwhich involves a substantial capital investment in IT infrastructure and the associated complexities of getting the infrastructure up and running. As with any complex technological solution, the most critical part concerns the initial configuration and verification of the complex solution, especially in all the many edge cases where the resilience of the solution to security attacks and malicious users is tested. Given the technical complexity of the deliverables of this project, combined with the lack of sufficient resources, it is necessary to take measures to ensure that the overall quality of all technical deliverables of the project is maintained at a high level for the successful completion of this project followed with the successful functioning of daily activities in Xemba Translations. Although the problems encountered thus far cannot be eliminated, as the project progresses through completion the same problems can be minimized or mitigated. Recommendations to address the issues faced by the project are as follows: Authorization for additional work: Processes need to be in place to confirm and authorize the need for additional hours dedicated to an activity, especially if that activity is behind schedule. Since we cannot go back in time and undo any issues already encountered, moving forward with any planned end-to-end testing activity, there needs to be a quick “go/no-go” call to discuss availability first for this activity. Accuracy of best practice activity estimation: Additionally, more diligence is needed in estimating activity duration. Since we have an actual track record of the duration of different activities, we can more accurately estimate the activity and plan its duration exactly. This not only helps with cost estimating but also helps with schedule control. As part of due diligence and planning, there may also be a "best practice review" organized by the Project Manager where the project team reviews best practices for a task that is to be worked on and accomplished in an effort to further accelerate the progress rate, also indirectly introducing completion dates and shortening the program where possible. Motivate the project team through incentives: Additionally, you can get permission from Senior Management on the potential to incentivize the team with timely bonuses if the budget can be allocated accordingly, in order to meet certain tight deadlines. This helps the team to focus and work together to achieve the common goal. Manage overtime pay and “burnout”: On another note, on the topic of hours spent on the project by the project team, a process can be reviewed with the team and weekly proposals can be made to Senior Management on whether or less than working overtime hours for employees who will work the full 40 hours per week may or may not be authorized. This will not only keep costs due to overtime pay under control, but will also avoid a certain element of 'burnout' within the team where the team would feel overworked. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Quality Assurance Metrics: Quality can be very relative and subjective. To take the subjectivity out of quality measurement, you can ask your team to work together and come up with tangible metrics to measure the quality of all the technical deliverables you're working on. This will help you gain insight3.