1. Executive Summary
It has been noted with great concern that the University experience inadequate water drinking facilities around campus. The majority of students have developed a habit of obtaining water from the toilet sinks for drinking purposes, which is seen as a health hazard. The project aims to address this issue by installing at least two water fountains in the EMS building. The water fountain would provide students and other stakeholders with purified water at all times during normal working hours. After consultative sessions with the maintenance department, the management has decided to stretch out the project and accommodate other faculties. The maintenance section will install water fountains in all faculties where a large number of students assemble in order to increase access to clean drinking water. As a result, the project has been handed over to the maintenance section and the current team will be dissolved.
2. General Project Information
The project aims to provide the Faculty of Economics and Management Science (EMS) building with safe drinking water facilities in the form of water fountains for students and other stakeholders. The project team is required to install at least two water fountains in the faculty of economics and management science as project deliverables.
The project also aims to address the inadequacy of safe drinking water points around the campus. It also aim to reduce the use of toilet sinks for drinking purposes as it tends to be unhygienic for the students and other stakeholders. The water fountains that will be installed will provide purified water and therefore reducing the possibility of contracting water borne diseases. It has been proven that consumption of clean drinking water reduces obesity within the student population. The water fountain project will contribute immensely toward the wellness and health standard of the students. The project will also allow students to reduce the cost spent on water bottles on a daily basis.
Installing the water fountains will enable students and other stakeholders to have access to safe drinking water. Having clean and hygienic water points will reduce the consumption of fizzy drinks which in returns enhance the functioning of various body organs and therefore contributing to the academic performance of students.
3. Outcome Assessment Report
The project has not been executed yet as anticipated in the project plan due to changes and delays beyond the control of the project team. The project team is proud to announce that great strides have been made toward the execution of the project. The vision of the project is to provide purified drinking water to the students’ population and other stakeholders in the faculty of economics and management science and that vision remains intact and will be realized upon the completion of the project. As elaborated further in the project close out report, the project has been handed over to the maintenance services section.
Below is a table with all the activities assessed and the outcomes. The table gives an indication of the activities completed and the status of the project.
Activity Assessed | Assessment Details | Outcomes | Objective Accomplished |
Site Identification Traffic distraction | Identify suitable site for the water fountain. Water fountain should not interfere with movements at the foyer | Install water fountains inside the EMS foyer. Water fountain to be installed behind the pillar to minimize distractions. | Yes Yes |
Water floor spillage | Ensure that no water spillage on the floor, to avoid slippery surface. | A water holder will be build around the water fountain. | In-progress |
Class disturbance | Determine whether the water fountain will cause disturbances to tutorial classes held in MS1.10 and MS1.12 | Water fountain to be installed 4 - 5 metres away from the class entrance, and 1.5 – 2 metres away from the path way. | In-progress, measurements competed. |
Regular cleaning and maintenance. | Who will be responsible for regular service on the water fountains? | Cleaners will be responsible for keeping the water fountains and the surrounding area clean and tidy while the maintenance department will be responsible for the annual servicing of the equipment. | Not yet, to be discussed further. |
Vandalism | Identify ways to reduce the level of vandalism to the property by the students. | Internal allocation was the best option, because of the availability of securities and cameras inside the premises. | Yes |
Capacity of the water fountains. | Determine the number of people the water fountain could serve, and evaluate its usefulness and avoid queues. | Identified a water fountain that could cater for a maximum of 100 people per hour. | Yes, based on specifications. |
Regardless of the fact that the project could not be executed on time as intended, the project proposal created awareness to the management on the importance of providing hygienic drinking water facilities. The project raised important points as to what impact the lack of water facilities in the university could have on the student population. Therefore, the maintenance section in conjunction with other departments has indicated the willingness to take over the project and broaden it out to other faculties rather than focusing only on the EMS building. By stretching out the project, it would be easier to get project sponsors on board within a short period of time. The maintenance section will install at least two fountains in each building where most students assemble in order to cater for the majority of the students.
4. Changes that impacted the vision
The project team faced a number of challenges that led to some changes occurring during the project phases, with the project team forced to find alternative ways of ensuring that the project is executed in good time. The changes are given in more details below:
Changes in Vision
The vision behind the project is to provide students and all other stakeholders within the EMS building with purified and hygienic drinking water at all times. It also aimed to reduce the usage of toilet sinks as the main source of drinking water around the building. The vision of the project has been maintained and the desired outcomes will be achieved upon completion.
Changes in Scope
The project team approached the University, specifically the Faculty of Economics and Management Science for a sponsorship and it was declined. The project team was informed that the institution does not fund student projects. At this point in time the University has indicated that they are going to take over the project. The project will be taken over by the maintenance section, and it will be stretched out to all departments within the structures of the University.
Changes in Organization
The project was scheduled to be executed by the determined project team in consultation with all other relevant stakeholders. After further consultations with the management of the faculty of Economics and Management Science and the maintenance section, a decision was taken to extend the project to other departments. As a result the current project team has been dissolved and the maintenance section will take over.
Changes in Plans
Changes were encountered especially when the milestones as set out in the statement of work of the project plan were not achieved at the stipulated deadline. This was due to delays in getting feedback from the management of the faculty and maintenance services. The Impact Assessment conducted by the department took longer than anticipated and the ground work could not commence as scheduled.
The project team planned to purchase two water fountains from a local supplier, H2O International. This could not materialize since the supplier is not part of the University’s vendor’s database. The University’s maintenance department will seek for the appropriate supplier in consultation with the finance department. The University also has a number of water fountains around campus that are vandalized and they plan to revamp them, and will be re-installed at their respective spots.
Changes in Team
The structure of the project team did not change; it remained the same without any addition or elimination throughout the execution of the project despite minor disagreements and conflicts experienced. The project team encountered problems with the cooperation and commitment from team members.
5. Administrative Closure
Leading to the execution of the water fountain project, the project manager and his team members had series of meetings with stakeholders as well as potential sponsors of the project. The meetings held were fruitful and consultative, and contributed immensely toward the stage where the project finds itself today. Some of the minutes were informal and were conducted outdoor, but for the formal meetings minutes were taken and have been documented as such.
List of documentations are as follows:
· Work authorisation letter from Mr Percy Saungweme.
· Business Case – This identifies the scope of the project.
· Petition document from students to determine the extent of the problem.
· Proposed Project review to the Faculty of Economics and Management staff.
· Project Proposal forwarded to the Faculty Manager.
· Minutes of meeting with Ms Lindi Kamfter (Faculty Manager: EMS).
· Project Proposal forwarded to the Maintenace Manager.
· Minutes of meeting with Mr Peter Arsende (Maintenance Manager).
· Minutes of meeting held with Prof. Kobus Visser.
· Minutes of meeting held with the Alumni Coordinator, Samantha Castle.
· Copies of sponsorship letter to potential sponsors.
· Detailed Project Plan.
The project manager and his team will no longer be directly responsible for the actual deliverables of the project; this is due to the fact that the project has been handed over to the University’s authority. All the necessary documents stated above will be handed over to the University’s authority for reference as well as for future use. The project team will be dissolved and all team members will return to their previous position in the society.
6. Contract Closure
There is confirmation that the project will be completed at a later stage. The university has take over the project in order to integrate other departments in the project plan, through the installation of water fountains in the rest of the departments. Attached, Appendix 1 is the letter of confirmation regarding the state of the project from the maintenance section. The project team will hand over all information regarding the project to the maintenance section.
The maintenance manager has ensured the project team that his office will channel all the relevant information to the University’s management regarding the project, and they foresee the project to be executed by the end of the year. In the mean time the department has submitted the impact assessment report to the top management.
7. Vision of continuing Project Efforts
The project team initiated the EMS water fountain project which is yet to be executed due to delays experienced, and as a result falling behind schedule. The project has now been handed over to the maintenance department, and they intend on stretching out the project to accommodate other departments (faculties). The projects will be implemented on a larger scale and will still be aligned to the university’s mission which is, to care for the future of tomorrow’s generation. The team strongly believes the constraints identified over the planning phases of the EMS project will provide a useful platform to be utilized in addressing constraints and potential risks that could face the bigger project, and the approached would be different in this regard.
The team believes that water is a requirement for every human body, and as such the water fountain project should be extended to other faculties. The unhealthy and unhygienic conditions to which the students are exposed cannot be allowed to continue to proceed unaddressed. The installation of water fountains will save the majority of students from spending money on bottled water and reduce exposure to waterborne diseases.
8. Lessons Leant
This address what the team learn during the execution of the project and the challenges they encountered in the project execution. It was quite a challenge for the team to execute this project due to the fact that, it was their first project as project managers and they lack experience in dealing with issues regarding project management. There were lots of assumptions which were made by the team regarding how to acquire resources especially financial resource to execute the project which was totally a different scenario from the normal learning mode, equivalent to what is happening in the real world.
The team realized that, the key to project execution is getting a sponsor to fund the operations of the project while the team focuses on managing activities and other tasks in the project. It is frustrating to identify a problem which is significant such as the water fountain project, but lacks the funds to execute the project.
The team learned that planning is the key to project management and for a project to be successful, the project team needs to work closely with all the stakeholders during the conceptualization phase. It helps to ensure that the project team is kept well informed about all the potential factors that could pose as risks and threats toward the project and also avoid unnecessary delays during the critical project phases.
The team also realized that each project is unique in its own way, a project differs in terms of complexity, size, number of stakeholders involved and the skills and resources required to execute the project. There were a number of bottle necks experienced in managing the project especially when dealing with a government institution which is inflexible and has a number of procedures to be followed before implementing something new. Therefore the project is currently behind schedule due to delays at the management level. However, these activities have been considered as critical activity since the project team could not proceed with the project work without the management approval.
As project managers, we also learned how to conduct and handle negotiations. The project team has been involved in negotiations with different stakeholders; especially the management and a number of skills have been acquired during these consultative interventions. The project team was also involved in negotiations with potential sponsors in pursue of acquiring the resources needed for the project. The team learned that to getting funding for any project one should bring along something to the table. A project sponsor should be able to benefit from the transaction as well and that turned out to be the difficult part.
Lastly, managing conflict within the team members regarding meetings and allocation of responsibilities was also a key issue to deal with. Effectively managing diversity coupled with different cultural backgrounds and beliefs turned out to be the main pillar holding the project team together. All the team members should respect each other despite their intellectual level and should assist each other where possible. The project team learned that all team members involved in the project should be well informed, and share the same vision and work toward the same goals and objectives. The team also noted that effective handling of conflicts within the team is imperative for maintaining group cohesion, spirit, loyalty and cooperation. Effective team management is also important in project management; it helps drive the vision of the project which is also critical for project success. We also realized that for the project to be successful, the project team leader (project manager) must be able to communicate the vision through active participation and been proactive in dealing with issues regarding the team members.
9. Appendix
Appendix A: Project Blog Details
Appendix B: Transfer Letter
Attached is the confirmation letter regarding the transfer of the project to the maintenance department.
Appendix C: Project in Pictures
Find the project pictures on the blog.
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