Commercial Building Project Design

Rasmussen College

13
Topic Selection and Fundamental Questions
Project Management and Documentation
Laura Aviles

Introduction:

Building Blocks, Inc. is a construction company. I am working as project manager and I was recently promoted. I have given an option of selecting between managing the build of a residential home and an office building. I have given time to analyze and classify project characteristics of these two projects. My analysis and project classification is as below.
Comparison by Project characteristics

Classification/ Characteristics | Residential Home | Commercial Building | Description | The client is looking to build a 2300 square foot single-family home in the Midwest region. The client desires to have
4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, unfinished basement, an open concept kitchen/family room, and a sitting room off the front entrance. | ABC Technology, Inc. has contracted to build a ten floor building housing a number of technical employees designed with modular workstations affording a modicum of privacy. Site has fitness center, daycare, and cafeteria onsite. | Client | The client begins a new position relocating him from the east coast to the Midwest region in 7 months. He stipulates that the home must be ready for move-in in 5 months; March 1st. | The client has a great many confidential clients and is requesting a secure location in which they can house their network hub. Client is transition from another location so has a 2 year window for the build. | Size | Medium | High | Organizational Complexity | Medium | High | Technology Newness | Medium | High | Technology Familiarity | Well-Established | Well-Established | Risk | High | High | Business Value | Medium | High | Length | 3-6 Months | Type A , > 18 Months | Complexity | Medium | High | Departments / Companies affected | 2 | 6 + | Cost | Medium | High |

Classification:
Commercial Building is a high-business value, high-complexity project. It is the most challenging projects the organization undertakes. For Commercial Building project needs use of latest technology. The latest technology also needs to be coupled with high complexity and hence causes risk to be high. To maximize the probability of success, Project management requires use the all the methods and tools available. Thus, Commercial Building project is a Type-A Project.

Building Residential Home is comparatively shorter in length, but it is still a significant project for the organization. All of the methods and tools in the project management process are probably required. Residential Home projects have good business value and it is technologically challenging. It is a Type-B project.

My choice:
I would probably take Commercial Building Project because it has very high business value.
There is a high risk but it will give us high reward too. The Commercial Building Type A project has advantage of implementing latest technology. It is a High value and long running project.
1. Financial perspective: Commercial Building project could link financial objectives to organizational strategy of improvement of financial performance, and addresses timely and accurate reporting and management of organizational expenses and assets within the project management environment.
2. Business perspective: Commercial Building project entails specification of internal business processes and activities necessary to support product and service value for customers and shareholders. Measures associated with project management can include such elements as project management and technical performance process time; process quality and process cost; and vendor, contractor, and supplier selection, performance, and management processes.
3. Customer perspective: Commercial Building project could give us a way to provide better product and service quality, timeliness of project deliverables, degree of satisfaction in customer business relationships, and image and reputation in the
marketplace.
4. Learning and growth perspective: Commercial Building project provides option to explore ways to implement new technology. This project would give us option to learn new tool implementation and utilization, verity of training, quality elements of planning and performance, and application of lessons learned. It will be give better options than building Residential Home.

Conclusion:
As Kennedy quoted saying “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.” (NASA, 1962). By comparing Project risks and rewards, classifying project by its characteristics is taking calculated risk ,we can meet the project goals successfully.

References:
Hill, G. (2007). "The Complete Project Management Office Handbook". Second Edition. CRC Press .
Kennedy J, (1965), “John F. Kennedy Moon Speech - Rice Stadium”, NASA.GOV, sourced from http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm Darnall R (2012), "Project Management from Simple to Complex". The text book adapted by Rasmussen College for Information Technology Project Management Course.