Inside the Square: A Case Study
Introduction
The Federation Square project commenced in 1998 under the Victorian Government led by Jeff
Kennett. The project would take six years to complete, involve over 5000 people, cost approximately
$467m and would eventually receive a significant amount of public condemnation (Crawford, 2009).
The following report will analyze the sequence of events as portrayed in the ABC documentary,
“Inside the Square”, against the knowledge areas of the Project Management Institutes (PMIs) Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
Project Scope Management
The Federation Square project had a very aggressive schedule in order to be complete by the centenary of federation, and as such, commenced construction while design elements were still being completed. This resulted in the project commencing prior to the full scope of works being understood. The direction by the Bracks government to modify the design of one of the four shards during the construction phase presented a significant scope change to the project (ABC, 2002). These and other scope management issues would plague the delivery of the Federation Square project in all other interrelated knowledge areas. The Federation Square project exemplifies the importance of clearly defining, communicating and enforcing project scope with all external stakeholders in order to avoid detrimental effects on other knowledge areas.
Project Cost, Time and Quality Management
The Project Manager is responsible for balancing the competing objectives of project cost, time and quality (Atkinson, 1999). The Federation Square project initially commenced with a clear goal of prioritizing the quality of the end design, however as the schedule for the finalization of the project drew closer, there was an apparent shift in priority from quality to time. This sacrifice in quality came much to the dismay of the architects who were primarily focused on safeguarding their original design. Despite being a
The Federation Square project commenced in 1998 under the Victorian Government led by Jeff
Kennett. The project would take six years to complete, involve over 5000 people, cost approximately
$467m and would eventually receive a significant amount of public condemnation (Crawford, 2009).
The following report will analyze the sequence of events as portrayed in the ABC documentary,
“Inside the Square”, against the knowledge areas of the Project Management Institutes (PMIs) Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
Project Scope Management
The Federation Square project had a very aggressive schedule in order to be complete by the centenary of federation, and as such, commenced construction while design elements were still being completed. This resulted in the project commencing prior to the full scope of works being understood. The direction by the Bracks government to modify the design of one of the four shards during the construction phase presented a significant scope change to the project (ABC, 2002). These and other scope management issues would plague the delivery of the Federation Square project in all other interrelated knowledge areas. The Federation Square project exemplifies the importance of clearly defining, communicating and enforcing project scope with all external stakeholders in order to avoid detrimental effects on other knowledge areas.
Project Cost, Time and Quality Management
The Project Manager is responsible for balancing the competing objectives of project cost, time and quality (Atkinson, 1999). The Federation Square project initially commenced with a clear goal of prioritizing the quality of the end design, however as the schedule for the finalization of the project drew closer, there was an apparent shift in priority from quality to time. This sacrifice in quality came much to the dismay of the architects who were primarily focused on safeguarding their original design. Despite being a