Project Management Vinesha A/P Selvarajah (TP025951) Project management is the science and art of organizing the components

s of a project, whether the project is development of a new product, the launch of a new service or a marketing campaign. A project is not something that is part of normal business operations. It's typically created once, it's temporary, and it's specific as to creating a few projects at a time. It has a beginning and an end. A project also consumes resources in terms of people, cash, materials, or time, and it has funding limits. MPUG.com (2012) According to the company researched, Fitness First, this relatively large organization has carried out many successful projects throughout the many years of operating bringing out the best in services. The organization had accomplished a wide range of project including major and minor projects. For instance, Fitness First in collaboration with Gartner Technologies developed project systems such as access systems, microchips cards implementations and also a cash free payment system which lead them to a success in the project of making transaction process to be more efficient which can be clearly seen at all the Fitness First outlets nationwide and worldwide. This project is also known as The Gantner Technology Project. Gartner Technologies (2008) Apart from that, according to an interview conducted with Mr. Azim, from the project coordinating team Fitness First HQ Malaysia said, that one of the biggest projects carried out by the Fitness First in London and was successfully accomplished is the refurbishment project that is set out to refurbish all the branch clubs into a better in house feeling and accommodate more space and equipment for their overgrowing populations of member joining the clubs. The accomplishment of that project brought upon a positive outcome as the proper project management led towards successful delivery of clubs on time and budget to member satisfaction after the refurbishment. Faith Gould (2011) As for minor projects, Fitness Fist has conducted out many programs such as Living Healthy Week, Fitness Awareness Campaign and even Fund Raising with fitness campaigns. One of the most welcomed minor projects were the Charity and Fund raising campaign held by the Fitness First in Australia whereby certain amount of the membership payment are given to the charity. Fitness First Au (2007)

Looking at all the successful projects managed by Fitness First, the members concluded that the organization has a strong base of project management system in their strategy map. Adding to it, the members of the group had conducted an interview with one of the staff member Mr. Azim from the project coordination group of Fitness First at the company headquarters in Menara Manulife, Damansara Heights on the 6th December 2011. After analyzing the interview conducted with Mr. Azim, the group member came out with the report below. Project Management at Fitness First Project management in Fitness First can be defined into 3 phases, which is:(i) (ii) (iii) Before the project During the project After the project

The phases can be further simplified into a simple flow chart to ease understanding as below.

Problem

Phase (i)

Brainstorming Possible Solutions

Project Planning

Brainstorming for alternatives

Implementing the plan Phase (ii) Monitoring the project Phase (iii) Closure and Evaluation of project

Phase (i) Before the project Generally, the first phase is always the most crucial phase of every organization when dealing with projects. Likewise taking one of the projects accomplished by Fitness First as an example would be the Gantner Technology Project. Before the project was implemented, the organization faced problems with the management of club members information, and payment systems as the number of members joining the organization was increasing gradually. At that time the organization had no proper system to help them cope with the situation so the organization took this problem as the base start of their project. After defining the problem faced, there are 3 steps in planning the project. Step 1 is setting objective. After defining the problem, the project manager together with his coordinating team brainstorms to set what are the objectives of the problem. As a team members list down the objectives on how the team should accomplish in order to solve the problem. After finalizing the objective, a decision would be made and after the agreement of all party and a shared project vision is established consequently with a scheduling timeline is achieved. Example of objective in the Gantner Project is coming to a point of setting up a system that could cope with the problem they were facing. The next step is planning and organizing actions. The manager then leads the team into planning the task, activities and roles that should be taken into account. Comparing this to the Gantner Technology Project, a leader for each department would be selected and the role is specified clearly to them. The project leader then analyses what are the task and activities that should be carried out. Alternative methods are also defined as a backup if things dont go well. As for the project mentioned earlier, the team worked with Gantner Technology in order to seek their services to establish a system for the organization. Here, the respective leader would interact with Gantner to deal with the resources planning. Final step in this phase would be the controls and risk. After planning the project, the project leaders should ensure that whatever decision taken is according to the companys protocol and strategy map and all the members should be aware of this. Regular time checks, reporting, observations and meetings are carried out in this step to ensure that everything is according to planned and threats and risk are analyzed and contingency measures should be

taken during the meeting before the project can be implemented to ensure that the project is under control. Another essential part here is controlling the time and resources used as well as maintaining a standard quality should be achieved to minimize wastage. Phase (ii) - During the project During the project the organization refers back to the planned project and revises each step for inception. When implementing the project, the project manager looks into 4 different matters which is the direction of the plan, duration time, interaction and dynamics. The appointed leader for each department establishes a sense direction of project whether it is going well as planned, team succeeding or failing, controls are being met , the quality of system and reports to the manager. Apart from that, the leader should constantly monitor the team members whether the members are complying well with the objectives and the resources. Duration time refers to the time taken set for goals to be accomplished. Checking on regularly of the progress on the project to ensure that the system implemented is completed by the expected deadline. Leaders should also check whether each stage of implementation are sticking to the time scale and make a decision whether the milestones are being met and the deadline as set to be achieved or not. Interaction plays an important role where by project members would not belong to the same department and hence all members should be updated and keep informed to reduce slag in communication. At this phase, all the members would contribute to their workload and this could also avoid conflicts and even if a plan B is needed to resolve problems, it can be carried out smoothly with the promise of a good communication. Dynamics here refers to the way the members operate to achieve a common goal. Leaders here checks for consistency in level of productivity, group atmosphere and ensures that all team members are working affectively to keep the team spirit going to achieve accomplishment.

Phase (iii) - After the project When everything planned is done, the project is said to have completed. The remaining task after the project would be assessing the whole project from the start to the end. Evaluation is done to check on how the project was accomplished and how successful or failure the outcome is. Examples of questions that would arise to decide on the value of the project are as follow:Did the project finish on time? Were there any delays? Were there any problems during the whole process? How were the problems resolved? Did the project met success or failure? Why did the project fail or succeed? How was the quality? How was the teamwork? Were there any issues? What changes can be made for a better management of project?

Similarly to the Gartner Technology project, bring out accomplishment about Access Control System, The Locker System, The Cashless Payment System and the Microchip Card System has brought a success in the project making ease for members and the corporate group of the organization worldwide. Gather Technologies (2008) Conclusion As a conclusion, the organization has a very well specified of project management that is clearly stated above and this prove the organization in meeting success in all of the projects that the organization had come across in the years of operation. The proper project management had relatively led the organization to meet deadlines, a quality of project, effective and efficient use of resources and not to mention the success growth of the organization itself.