Introduction

The expansion of our company has seen the need for extending the rooms used in processing. The high number of workers in the company, the increased machinery, and produced load has made it a necessity for the company to upgrade its air conditioning systems from a multi split system to a VRF/VRV system. The main parties that will be involved in this project changeover will be;

The Project Sponsor

The Steering Committee

The Project Manager

The Project Team

Other stakeholders affected by this project.

Background

Our company has seen tremendous growth over the past five years. This has made the company to expand its buildings to cater to this increasing growth. This posed a challenge to aeration in these buildings. Currently, the company uses multi split systems that are twelve years old. These systems have undergone maintenance over this period severally. During last year, these systems have malfunctioned thrice requiring new spare parts at every breakdown. As it is known, these air conditioning systems will work to their optimal over ten years.

The company finds that the cost of continuous maintenance of these air conditioning systems may get expensive as time goes by. The only solution is to upgrade these systems with a more efficient VRV system. After the installation of the new system, the company will sell the old systems based on their salvage value. The new systems will be installed in phases and undergo thorough tests for compliance purposes. The older systems will continue to be in use until when the new system will get functional. After the installation of the new systems, a maintenance plan will be put in place to ensure efficiency and service for a longer period without breakdowns.

Project approach

The rollout of this project will involve seven phases;

Securing agreements with the vendor (East HVAC company)

Ordering and installations of the hardware

Installation and testing of the software

Software and software tests for compatibility issues

Implementation of the project

Removal of the old systems

Maintenance plan

 

Securing agreements with vendors (East HVAC company)

The company will acquire a tender agreement with East HVAC company. This is a company with a good market reputation and offers durable systems. Their online support is very supportive which made our company strike a deal with the company.

Ordering and installations of the hardware

After the terms of the tender are agreed upon, the East HVAC company will deliver the systems to our country via the sea. It is anticipated that the cargo will arrive at the port in four weeks where it will be collected and transported to our premises through trucks due to the nature of its bulkiness. The systems will then be mounted on the buildings in the company.

Installation and testing of the software

After mounting the systems on the walls and the control room configurations, the software will be installed in the master computer responsible for controlling the entire systems. There will be software tests for bugs to ensure that the system does not incur any software related issues. The reason behind such tests is because the systems will be run using customized software.

Software and hardware tests for compatibility issues

Once the whole configuration is set up, the systems’ software and hardware will be tested to identify any compatibility issues. The use of customized software may make some of the features of the entire system, not function. Therefore, the whole system will be tested for all functionalities.

Implementation of the project

After the installation and tests of the system, the project will be officially implemented in our company. Emergency guidelines with the system will be issued after the implementation. The workers will be trained on the use of the system as switches will be installed in every room.

Removal of the old systems

Once the new system has been fully functional, the old system will be removed from the walls. Its salvage value will be audited by the auditor general which will be then auctioned online.

Maintenance plan

A maintenance plan will be drafted to maintain the new system. This system will help in improving the efficiency of the system as well as increasing its life span.

Project goals

Replacing multi split air conditioning systems with RVR systems

Having increased longevity. There are possibilities that the new systems will malfunction in some instances. This maintenance work plan is meant to ensure that there are minimum breakdowns in the course of operations

Ensure there is greater efficiency. Poor maintenance is responsible for the decline in the efficiency of the systems. Blockages in the fans, as well as failure to oil the bearings, reduces the efficiency of the systems. This plan is meant to ensure that the systems run inefficiency.

Project objectives

To replace the old systems with a new system

To come up with a workable maintenance plan for the new system

To ensure that aeration in the company is efficient.

Project activities

Activity	Timeline	Budget estimations	Measure of success	How things went (to be filled during the activities occurrences)
Securing agreements with the vendor	5th May 2019-2nd June 2019	$2,000	Signatures for the deal
Ordering and installations of the hardware	6th June-20th September	$ 500,000	Successive delivery of the systems and mounting the hardware
Installation and testing of the software	23rd September-18th October	$200,000	Purchasing of the custom software and configuring it successfully
Software and software tests for compatibility issues	20th October-11th November	$ 50,000	Perfect functionalities between the hardware and software
Implementation of the project	16th November	$ 10,000	System launching
Removal of the old systems	20th November-16th December	$ 100,000	Once all the components of the old system were unmounted from the buildings
Maintenance plan	Start immediately after new system implementation	Costs will vary depending on service delivered (fans dust blowing, bearings lubrications, voltages testing, etc.)	Success in the maintenance of the system without interruptions

 

Risk assessment

Before the beginning of the project, a risk assessment will be carried out. This exercise is meant to identify, control as well as mitigate risk when they occur in the course of the project. In the course of this project, the risk assessment will be monitored, and where updates are required, the project manager will be responsible for the monthly changes. During the steering committee meetings, there will be time allocation geared towards identification of new risks. This will help in the mitigation of the occurrence of such risks. The project manager will be responsible for reporting the progress of the project to the steering committee.

Project size	Risk level H-High, L-low, M-medium	Likelihood of risk occurrence	Mitigation strategies
Project size
Personal hours	H 15000 hours plus	certainty	A comprehensive management approach
Estimations of the project schedule	H between six and seven months	certainty	A detailed project timeline consisting of continuous base reviewal
Project definition
Unrealistic cost estimates	L experts will assess all the cost estimates	unlikely	Inclusion in the project plan
Unrealistic timelines	M no derailment assumptions	Probably likely	Monthly timeline reviewal
Project leadership
the existence of a Steering committee	L identified	unlikely	Continuous delivering of feedbacks to ensure they are supported
No commitment	L  identified	unlikely	Continuous delivering of feedbacks to ensure they are supported
Project staffing
Availability of a project team	M distribution of the team has an issue of availability	Probably likely	All levels continuous reviews of the project
Teams’ physical location	M dispersion of the teams across various buildings	Probably likely	Ensure coordination among these teams

 

Project assumptions

The steering committee will be quick to respond to issues relating to the project

All stakeholders in this project will abide by the rules and regulations

Management will be responsible for sourcing all workforces.

The discovery of new information may bring in adjustments to the project.

Project constraints

Limited sources of funds

Inconsistency in the availability of required resources such as power.

Natural disasters or wars.

These are some of the constraints that may make the work-plan invalid.

 

The management approaches

Role	Responsibilities
Project sponsor	·        Tiebreaker ·        Ultimate decision maker ·        Project reviewing
Steering committee	·        Approving major findings ·        Resolving conflicts ·        Reviewing project deliverables
Project manager	·        Managing a project according to plan ·        Supervision of vendors ·        Management of project budget
Other participants	·        Communicate project goals to the project manager ·        Provision of recommendations ·        Identification and removal of project barriers

 

 

 

The communication plans

In the course of this project, co0mmunication will be very necessary for all participants. This communication will be broken down as follows

Top-down

The mode of communication that will be used by the executives in communicating with the other participants in the project

Bottom-up

The information will flow from the juniors involved in the project upwards to the seniors.

Middle-out

This is a form of communication in which all the participants will agree unanimously at all level.

 

Communication outreach

A status report, in summary, will be provided by the project manager.

The steering committee will hold meetings every month.

A Bi-meeting involving all the project member will be held monthly.

A website platform will be used to update the progress of the project with the approval of the project manager.