Risk descriptionImpact Probability of occurrence (L,M,H) Degree of impact (L,M,H) Initial action to be taken if the event occurs Member of the responsible team Widespread prevention and mitigation strategies 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 entire activity. Take immediate steps to strengthen security, including providing all employees with access to sensitive customer information. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Identify and install the latest security software on all remote workers' PCs and enforce strict information access rules, including password policy management. Document Server integration challenges. The establishment of the environment for teleworkers would be delayed. Perform remote troubleshooting to identify the root of the integration issue. The repetitive process of installing and configuring document servers can potentially be scripted and semi-automated to minimize errors and reduce the time required. Technical challenges such as power outage and internet connection outages. Setting up the environment for remote workers would be delayed if the power supply or internet connection were affected. The guidelines may cover instructions for moving to the next computer to be configured and returning later to the remote PC in the event of power or Internet problems.PhoebeTo prevent and mitigate this risk, teleworkers' PCs can be prepared and configured in the Xemba Translations office before being shipped to the remote location. In the long term, budget can be allocated for an individual battery backup for remote PCs. Delay in completing the teleworking expansion project. Insufficient resources available to meet increased customer needs, causing negative publicity for the company. Increase the size of the project team to catch up and accelerate progress, reducing the potential for further schedule impact. Project Team Manage schedules by monitoring daily task progress even more closely and mitigating schedule delays before they even occur. Perception of impersonal and below-average service due to teleworkers. Although there is a subjective aspect to this risk, it can lead to the loss of real customers and negative publicity. The focus can be on lost customers to explore their reasons for doing business elsewhere and provide incentives to return. Work with the marketing team to ensure the message is clear to major clients on the benefits of real-time web communication and translation services. Task B: Metrics Explained: Metrics that can be used effectively to clearly and effectively measure progress and The overall health of the teleworker expansion project is “earned value management”. This is a commonly used technique that takes cost and schedule baselines into account and then uses simple indices to estimate and measure where the project stands relative to the respective projected baselines that were set at the start of the project . Earned value management is based on three key indicators: - Planned value (PV): this is the official budget that has been allocated to the project. The budget is generally established by project phase, but at any time, the "planned value" is used torefer to the work that should have been done. The total planned value of the project is also called the Budget at Completion (BAC) - Earned Value (EV): Earned value refers to the amount of work expected to be completed at any time within the project. the project is considered to be on track. Earned value is often used to calculate the percentage of completion of a project. The formula for percentage complete would be: % complete = EV / BAC. - Actual Cost (AC): The Actual Cost would simply be the costs that have been incurred to accomplish all the work done so far in a project. Technically, the AC will not have an upper limit and will always result in what was 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): Schedule variance indicates a value that is a measure of how ahead or behind schedule the project is at a given time. For a given time, once the EV and PV are known, the SV can easily be calculated. The formula for SV is simply: SV = EV – PV. Here, a positive value indicates that the project is in progress at the present time and a negative value would conversely indicate that a project is late at the present time. - Cost Variance (CV): The cost variance indicates a value that measures the amount of the project that is either overspent or underspent at any given time. For a given time, once the EV and AC are known, the CV can easily be calculated. The CV formula is quite simply: CV = EV – AC. Here, a positive value indicates that the project is underspent at the current time and a negative value would conversely indicate 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 positive and negative numbers to indicate whether the project is underspent or overspent, respectively. To measure timing or profitability, there are two indices which are also calculated under the earned value management technique. These 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 up to the current time. An SPI less than 1.0 would indicate that less work was completed than initially planned and an SPI value greater than 1.0 would indicate that more work was completed than initially planned. SPI is calculated with the following formula: SPI = EV / PV - Cost Performance Index (CPI): This is a measure of how efficiently the project was executed in terms of budgeted resources up to at the current moment. CPI is considered the most critical metric in earned value management methodology. A CPI value below 1.0 would indicate that the project is currently over budget and a CPI value above 1.0 would indicate that the project is currently under budget and in good health. The IPC is calculated with the following formula: IPC = EV / ACTask B1: Metrics Rationale: One of the main reasons for choosing the Earned Value Management methodology for tracking telework expansion project metrics was due to the fact that this method comprehensively covers 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 also has a clear value for the budget at completion (BAC) for all labor costsof the project. The cash flow report provided in the case study provides a good reference of the earned value at 76 days in week 11. The status reports provided at the end of the case study also provide the Actual sunk costs detailed for each work package. covered in the project work breakdown structure. Using the details provided, cost and schedule variances can easily be calculated, which would easily offer a detailed overview of the overall health of the project with respect to schedule and cost. With simple arithmetic, one can easily determine whether the project is on track to stay under budget or over budget, as well as determine whether the project will stay on track and finish on time, or on schedule. early or late. In addition, with the calculation of cost performance index and schedule performance index, schedule efficiency and project profitability can be easily evaluated. By comparing the two indices based on whether they are greater than 1.0 or less than 1.0, one can predict whether the project is on track to achieve under or over budget and finish ahead or behind schedule . This approach also fits well with the critical path approach that has been used so far in the case study, where particular emphasis can be placed on work packages in the critical path with the aim of further mitigating risks and control the project schedule and costs. Task B2: Current Project Status: The following table is a complete summary of the fifteen project team members and their associated labor costs that were planned at the start of the project as well as the revised plan according to the Project Manager Status Report: Resource NameRate per hourHours plannedBudgeted labor costWB ItemHours workedHours remainingRevised work planCosts spentFuture costs% remaining Elizabeth $70.00 $121.43 $8,500.10 11220$122 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 $1,360.00 20% Ben $68.00 138 $9,384.00 59352145 $6,324.00 $3,536.00 38% Zeke $65.00 $384.67 $25,003.55 6153245398 $9,945.00 $15,925.00 64% 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% $55.00 72 $3,960.00 3 8304272 $1,650.00 $2,310.00 58% Valène $60.00 150 9 , 329.40 178812203008 $112,587.00 $79,326.00 41%Notes: Looking at the summary above, the following can be summarized: Expected Labor Cost (PV/BAC): 173,329. $40 Labor Costs Expended (AC): $112,587.00 Labor Costs Remaining: $79,326.00 Initial Labor Plan: 2,693 hours Labor Plan work revised: 3008 hours Hours spent: 1788 hours Hours remaining: 1220 hours Based on the original plan Work plan, the following is calculated: o % complete: hours spent / initial work plan 1788 / 2693 = 66 %. Remaining: Hours Remaining / Revised Workforce Plan 1220/2008 = 41% Since the PV, AC and % Complete are known, the following metrics which are part of the Earned Value Management Plan are calculated: Earned Value (EV) = BAC x % Complete = $173 329.40 x 59% = $102 264.35 Cost Variance (CV) = EV– AC = 2264.35 - 2587.00 = - 322.65 Schedule Deviation (SV) = EV – PV = 2264.35 - 3329.40 = - 065.05 Note: Since both cost and schedule variances are negative, this indicates that the project is currently trending “over budget” and is 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 the cost and schedule performance indices are less than 1.0, this would indicate that the project will be completed over budget and late. Using the formulas of the earned value management technique, the final project cost and final project duration can be estimated. According to the case study, the initial expected duration of the project is 123 days. Estimated Final Project Cost = BAC / CPI = $173,329.40 / 0.91 = $190,471.87 Estimated Final Project Duration = Expected Duration / SPI = 123 Days / 0.59 = 209 Days Note: Unless additional mitigation, labor costs for the project will be approximately $17,000 more than anticipated and will finish approximately 86 days late. Additional costs for the project are the costs of acquiring the hardware and software necessary to support the 173 teleworkers. These would include the costs of new computers that teleworkers would use as well as document servers, shared drives, FTP servers, firewalls and web meeting support. Based on the details provided in the status report by the previous project manager for the Xemba Translations Teleworker Expansion project, the total amount budgeted for all of these costs was $670.57. According to this same report, the following table contains the actual estimated costs for these elements. Responsible Task NameWB ArticleHardware Costs - Option 1 Hardware Costs - Option 2Elizabeth Cost DetailsIT Inventory and Requirements1,400.00 ,200.00 Cost for 12 additional computers for remote workers.Option 1 - DesktopsOption 2 - LaptopsHughTechnical 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 servers4 600, 00,268.00 Cost of document servers for 173 teleworkers. Option 1 - 0 for 50 GB per personOption 2 - 6 for 100 GB per personBenShared Drives5 300.00 ,300.00 Cost of shared drives for the 173 teleworkers. The cost is estimated at 10 GB. Each user will use an average of 50 GB. Total cost of 0 per user. Zeke SitesFTP6,000.00,000.00 Estimated annual cost for 1,000 GB of storage space with unlimited bandwidth for file transfers and unlimited simultaneous connections MalindaFirewalls7,000.00,000.00 Cost of WillisWeb firewall software and hardware -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 8,768.00Depending on details included in the table above, the total costs for all hardware and software needed to meet the needs of the 173 teleworkers are more than the budgeted amount of 629.43 at the low end and potentially more depending on the configuration chosen. According to Phuong Wolfing, CEO of Xemba Translations, firewall costs could easily be absorbed into the overall IT budget rather than being counted as a project cost. This would imply that the hardware and software costs for the teleworker expansion project would total $300,000 and would be under budget. Senior management and stakeholders of Xemba Translations will need to decide onway to proceed here. Task B3a: Issues Affecting Project Implementation: A summary of three issues that could impact the project is as follows: First: Cost Overrun – Based on current project status and trend of activities, including the project team's estimates of additional time needed for different project tasks. If there are no major changes, the project will almost certainly go way over budget and require additional funding to complete. This would mean that the new project manager would have to put even greater effort into controlling costs to minimize cost overruns. Given that the expected project duration is 123 days, of which 76 days are complete, this project is expected to be approximately 62% complete. To date, the actual cost (AC) of labor on the project is only 2,587. Looking at the cash flow report which is part of the project baseline report, it shows that On day 76, the earned value (EV) of the project is expected to be around 5,000 with a work complete percentage 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 rises to approximately 41%, which would mean the project is only 59% complete in terms of tasks. Using the "% complete" at 59% and the planned value (PV or BAC) of 3329.40, we arrive at an EV of 2587 with a negative CPI less than 1.0 (0.91) indicating an overrun of the costs if something is not done and if project costs are not controlled more closely in the future. Two: Schedule Overrun – Based on the current status of the project and the trend of activities, if there are no major changes, the project will definitely finish well beyond the planned end date at the end of June, in time for the start of the third quarter of the year. year as planned when the project was approved. This will imply that if senior management and stakeholders of this project are serious about seeing this project completed in time for the third quarter of the year, then many critical steps will need to be taken to try to mitigate and minimize delays additional costs of the project. Many factors contributed to this delay. One of the major contributing factors to the delay in the project schedule is time lost in pilot testing of several online meetings that were planned and had to be rescheduled due to the weather-related power outage in the Midwest . . Another factor contributing to the delay in the schedule is the delay in procurement of the 47 new computers, which was delayed by two weeks due to a "back order." This contributed to the late start of the installation and validation of the 47 new computers for teleworkers. As noted in the “Project Status” section, the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is calculated at 0.59. Since this value is less than 1.0, it indicates that the project is currently behind schedule and will most likely be completed significantly behind schedule if the factors contributing to the delay are not mitigated. Particular attention will need to be paid to items that are on the critical path to see if they can be expedited to try to minimize delays in the future. Third: Quality Challenges – The Remote Worker Expansion Project Progress Report included in the case study reveals that, generally, in any IT project,Many factors can easily reduce the quality of the solution we are working on. In this case, for Xemba Translations, remote worker expansion is a project that involves a significant capital investment in IT infrastructure and the associated complexities for setting up and operating the infrastructure. As with any complex technology solution, the most critical part involves the initial setup and verification of the complex solution, especially in all the many edge cases where the solution's resilience to security attacks and malicious users is tested. What is not specific to this remote worker expansion project is the pressure on resources that is usually felt extremely pronounced when there are schedule challenges in a project. This project is extremely behind schedule and there are many important schedule-related decisions that will need to be made as part of the overall progress of this project. Another element that should not be overlooked is quality management of all moving parts of the project. For example, this project involves setting up computers for 173 teleworkers, which includes setting up document server access for each of them, shared drives, FTP access, and the necessary software and hardware to take support a web meeting environment for each of the 173 teleworkers. . While this seems like a tall order for a group of 15 project team members, it adds extra pressure when all of this has to be accomplished perfectly while 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 this project's deliverables, combined with the lack of sufficient resources, steps must be taken to ensure that the overall quality of all project technical deliverables is maintained at a high level for the success of this monitored project. . with the smooth running of daily activities at Although the problems encountered so far cannot be eliminated, as the project progresses, until its completion, the same problems can be minimized or mitigated. Based on the current status of the project, if the project is 76 days into the planned 123 days of activity and we have spent $2,000 of the budgeted $173,000, then there is plenty of room for monitoring stricter budgetary and cost management. Processes should be in place to confirm and authorize the need for additional hours spent on an activity, especially if that activity is late. For example, a lot of time was spent pilot testing web meetings. This is an activity in which bad weather played a role in causing unexpected delays as well as unnecessary hours spent on an activity that yielded no results. Since we cannot go back here and move forward on any planned end-to-end testing activity, there needs to be a quick call to first discuss readiness for such activity. Additionally, more diligence is needed in estimating task durations. Since we have a real history of the duration of different tasks, we can more accurately estimate the activity and exactly planned duration. This not only helps in estimating costs but also helps in controlling planning.As part of due diligence and planning, there may also be a "best practice review" organized by the project manager during which the project team reviews best practices for a task that needs to be worked on and accomplished with the aim of further accelerating the rate of achievement. progress while indirectly bringing back completion dates and shortening the timeline where possible. Given the revised estimates of 1,220 hours of work remaining on the project, there is an excellent opportunity to bring back these dates and reduce the hours spent at the same time. Additionally, permission can be obtained from senior management on the possibility of incentivizing the team with one-off bonuses if the budget can be allocated accordingly, in order to meet certain tight deadlines. This helps the team focus and work together to achieve the common goal. Furthermore, regarding the hours dedicated to the project by the project team, a process can be reviewed with the team and proposals can be made weekly to senior management as to whether overtime for employees who will work A full 40 hours for the week may or may not be permitted. This will not only keep costs due to overtime under control, but also avoid a certain element of “burn-out” within the team, where the team would feel overworked. Historically, overworked teams tend to make mistakes and produce poor quality deliverables. It will therefore be necessary at all costs to avoid professional burnout of teams, which would indirectly improve the overall quality and responsiveness of the team. Quality can be very relative and subjective. To remove subjectivity from measuring quality, the team may be asked to work together and come up with tangible metrics to measure the quality of all technical deliverables they are working on. This will provide an impartial and tangible view of the progress made on one of the technical deliverables and measure the readiness of the solution being worked on. In general, this same process can be applied to processes used to configure new computers, document servers, shared drives, FTP sites, and the web meeting software environment. Task C: Summary: The teleworking expansion project is well carried out. in progress. Another risk analysis was carried out and new risks were identified and summarized in a risk assessment matrix. A quick summary of the newly identified risks, their impact, and prevention and mitigation strategies are as follows: Description of Risks Impact Prevention and Mitigation Strategies Widespread security breach due to unauthorized access to sensitive customer information Advertising negative impact of the company and loss of credibility in the eyes of existing and potential customers having an impact on 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 password policy management. Document Server Integration Challenges Setting up the environment for remote workers would be delayed. The repetitive process of installing and configuring document servers can potentially be scripted and semi-automated to minimize errors and reduce the time required. Technical issues such as power outages and Internet connection interruptions. Setting up the environment for remote workers would be delayed if the power supply or internet connection were affected. To prevent and mitigate this risk,Telecommuter PCs can be installed and configured in the Xemba Translations office before being shipped to the remote site. In the long term, budget can be allocated for an individual battery backup for remote PCs. Delay in completing the teleworking expansion project. Inadequate resources available to meet increased customer needs, resulting in negative company publicity. Manage daily task progress even more closely and mitigate schedule delays before they even arise. Perception of impersonal and below-average service due to teleworkers. Although there is a subjective aspect to this risk, it can result in the loss of very real customers and negative publicity. Work with the marketing team to ensure the message is clear to large customers on the benefits of real. -time web-based communication and translation services. The project is on the 76th day since its launch. Changes were made to the initial project schedule and cost estimates. The 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 provides a summary of the initially planned and revised major estimates for project schedule and budget items: Schedule/Budget Item Originally Planned Revised Estimates Duration in Days 123 Days 209 Days Duration in Hours 2,693 Hours 3,008 Hours Cost of personnel 3,329,400,471.87 Hardware/Software Cost: 670.57,300.00 Note: There is an additional firewall hardware and software cost of $,000,000,000 which will be factored into the IT budget as directed from CEO – Phuong Wolfing, instead of being added to the costs of the teleworking expansion project. This cost is excluded from the estimates in the table above. In addition to the revised estimates above, analysis was performed on three issues facing the project and recommendations were summarized to address and mitigate these issues. The issues that were discussed and summarized in great detail along with recommendations to tackle the root of the respective issues are as follows: First: Cost Overrun – Based on the current status of the project and trend of activities, including the project team's estimates of the additional amount. It takes time to complete the different project tasks; if there are no major changes, the project will almost certainly go way over budget and require additional funding to complete. This would mean that it would really take an even greater effort on the part of the new project manager to control costs to minimize cost overruns. Two: Schedule Overrun – Based on the current status of the project and the trend of activities, if there are no major changes, the project will definitely finish well beyond the planned end date at the end of June, in time for the start of the third quarter of the year. year as planned when the project was approved. This will imply that if the senior management and stakeholders of this project are serious about having this project completed on time for the third quarter of the year, then many crucial steps will need to be taken to try to mitigate and minimize further project delays . Three: Quality Challenges – The Remote Worker Expansion Project Progress Report included in the case study reveals that typically in any IT project, many factors can easily reduce the quality of the solution on which we work on. In this case, for Xemba Translations, the expansion of the teleworker isa project that involves a significant capital investment in information technology infrastructure and the associated complexities for setting up and operating the infrastructure. As with any complex technology solution, the most critical part involves the initial setup and verification of the complex solution, especially in all the many edge cases where the solution's resilience to security attacks and malicious users is tested. Given the technical complexity of this project's deliverables, combined with the lack of sufficient resources, steps must be taken to ensure that the overall quality of all project technical deliverables is maintained at a high level for the success of this monitored project. . with the smooth running of Xemba Translations' daily activities. Although the problems encountered so far cannot be eliminated, as the project progresses, the same problems can be minimized or mitigated until its completion. Recommendations to resolve the issues facing the project include: Authorization for additional work: It is necessary that there are processes in place to confirm and authorize the need for additional hours spent on an activity, especially if this activity is late. Since we cannot go back here and resolve the issues already encountered, in moving forward on any planned end-to-end testing activity, there needs to be a quick call to first discuss readiness to such activity. Accuracy of task estimation with best practices: Additionally, more diligence is needed in estimating task duration. Since we have a real history of the duration of different tasks, we can more accurately estimate the activity and exactly planned duration. This not only helps in estimating costs but also helps in controlling planning. As part of due diligence and planning, there may also be a "best practice review" hosted by the project manager during which the project team reviews best practices for a task that needs to be performed . be worked on and accomplished with the aim of further accelerating the pace of progress while indirectly bringing back completion dates and shortening the timetable where possible. Motivate the project team through incentives: Additionally, permission can be obtained from senior management on the team's incentive potential. with one-off bonuses if the budget can be allocated accordingly, in order to meet certain tight deadlines. This helps the team focus and work together to achieve the common goal. Manage overtime pay and “Burnout”: Furthermore, on the theme of hours devoted to the project by the project team, a process can be reviewed with the team and proposals can be made each week to senior management on whether overtime work for employees who will work their full 40 hours for the week may or may not be permitted. This will not only keep costs due to overtime under control, but also avoid a certain element of “burn-out” within the team, where the team would feel overworked. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Quality Assurance Measures: Quality can be very relative and subjective. In order to eliminate the subjectivity of quality measurement, the team may be asked to work together and come up with tangible metrics to measure the quality of all3.