Clocking System Project

The project aims at introducing a clocking system in the school. A clocking system uses biometrics to identify each student and track their attendance and movement between classes (Tirmann & Tăbuşcă, 2016). If approved, the project will run for eleven months. This time is distributed to various events. These include searching and contacting vendors or calling out tenders which will take about two months, installing the hardware components around the various classes which will eat up 3 months, setting up the software in one month, biometric registration of all students which will take an additional 3 months, and piloting which will take 3 months. At the end of 11 months, we hope to have fully installed and tested the clocking system in the school. Besides, all the data relating to students will have been moved to the new system, which will enable fast-tracking of attendance and performance. The system will also capture and assign specific codes to all the classrooms and lecture halls and other facilities within the school. Moreover, all the manual attendance sheets would have been done away with, and a new system would have been installed to record class attendance using fingerprints. Some of the advantages the system include increased efficiency in attendance monitoring; improved time management; and improved security.

EXecution: Project’s Greatest Challenges and their Solutions

Even with a solid project plan and clear goals, the implementation of a project can face a myriad of challenges. In this regards, implementing the clocking system in the school carries with it some challenges. An understanding of the different challenges that can hinder the implementation of the project will help in avoiding them. The following are the anticipated project’s most significant challenges:

Time-consuming data entry

The migration of student from the manual record books to the new system will be time-consuming and might end up going beyond the set time of three months. The failed cooperation as a result of resistance to change from the student in the biometric registration will push the project time forward which will end up taking more time than required. Wrong data might also be entered into the system. The result of this is are errors.  If there will be no cooperation, the project will have to extend beyond the projected period.

To overcome this challenge, the project we will find ways to make it easier and more accurate. Firstly, students will be briefed of the benefits the new system brings to them. Secondly, we will ensure that the biometric registration of students will begin early enough to help with early training on how the data entry will be conducted. Thirdly, project team members will undergo training on how the data will be entered. The students will also be notified early enough of the impending change and will specific dates on when their data will be collected will be set. As noted by ‘&%*7-, conversion and entry of the data ahead of time will ease the data entry process and eliminate the risk of overstaying in the project.

Insufficient team skills and shifting loyalties

In this project, the project team members are drawn from different teams within the institution and do not report directly to the project manager. These members have all the reasons not to see themselves as part of the same team-the project team. It, therefore, becomes a big challenge for a project manager to exert power and control over these team members. What happens is the project manager end up assigning members, not by their expertise buys on the based on their availability. The project thus might consist of members who lack accountability, continually blaming each other, and finger-pointing.  These unskilled project team members might the development of the project at the brink of failing.

To overcome the challenge of insufficient team skills and shifting loyalties, the project manager needs first to cleat a team charter that will document the rules, as well as the core set of skills required for tasks completion. Secondly, there would be the need for the analysis of the strengths and the weaknesses of the team members to assign tasks to the members by the strengths one poses. Lastly, there will be a need for training the team members to enhance their skills and knowledge toward the completion of the project.

Security and Stability

The implementation of the clocking system will be a potential gate that might lead to security breaches. By the fact that we want the project complete as soon as possible, a speedy rollout of the project might result in complications and errors. In the end, this can jeopardize the stability of the institution.

To overcome this challenge, a vulnerability test after the implementation will be conducted. This will help in verifying the security and robustness of the system.

Control: Managing Project Performance via Earned Value Management (EVM)

To optimize performance, it is essential to measure project performance %*67. The performance of the project will be managed using the Earned Value Management (EVM). As noted by &*&&-, the EVM is a is a systematic project management process that project managers use to detect variances in projects. This process is based on the comparison of the actual work performed and work planned. The three EVM metrics that will be used to manage the performance of the project are planned value, earned value, and actual cost.

Planned value (PV)

The PV is defined as the sum of the approved budget for each action. The planned value can be defined in simple terms as the planned revenue. We will use the PV to provide that baseline for project performance. The project’s planned value will, therefore, represent the value that the project is expected to deliver within the eleven months. The planned value will be calculated before starting the project and will be expressed as an overall figure for the entire project. To calculate the planned value of the project, the planned percentage of the completed work will be multiplied by the project budget.

Actual cost (AC)

The actual cost metrics of the EVM evil be used to find out the total cost of the incurred to complete the project. It is the executed budget to implement the clocking system. The AC will be used to tell the actual amount of money that has been spent in the execution and completion of the project. This amount will be determined at the end of the project, i.e., 11 months.

Earned value (EV)

The third key metric of the EVM that will be used is the EV. According to $&*, EV is the measure of the ‘worth’ of the work done to date.  We will use the EV to represent the value of the project as the installation of the clocking system is performed and milestones achieved. It will show us the worth the installation of the clocking system has produced at a specific point for example at the third month, or the tenth month.

Project Closure

The project duration has been set to be eleven months. At the end of the 11 months, we hope to have fully installed and tested the clicking system. During the eleventh month-  the closing phase the following activities will be executed. The first activity will involve seeking confirmation  from the school administration of whether the installing of the clocking system is done as over the requirements. The second activity involves completing the procurement process, i.e., completing any remaining payments to the suppliers.  Next is completing the final performance report. The project report will contain cost performance, schedule performance, quality performance among other deliverables. The final activity will entail the official handing over the project and release of the resources. Here the school administration will be presented with the official report and the project team will be disbanded.