Integrated Project Management At Ford: Change Request Analysis And Processes Essay.

Imagine the voluminous processes which are needed to successfully complete a project. As  a project manager, you must see the big picture and coordinate the integration of these  processes throughout a project life cycle (PLC). You begin by considering common elements  to most projects. In addition, you reflect on the process of integration by considering the  steps necessary for beginning a project. For good project management, it is not only necessary to work towards a successful final project. Each phase of PLC must be designed, evaluated and assessed based on specific project management approach. As a project manager, you determine how project management process groups are incorporated into each phase of project life cycle. These decisions might be based on the ultimate goal and characteristics of the project, the stakeholders’ objectives or the budget, among other elements.

Change Request Analysis

The Ford Motor is the fifth largest automaker and ranks second in the U.S. market. Its company has been making revenue of about 160,000 billion with approximately 300,000 staffs throughout the world. Its department of electronic and electrical system engineering has developed the electrical systems that have value to more than 70 vehicle programs.

The following study deals with the integrated project management at Ford, after the suggested changes to the plan of project management is provided. This also involves the formulation of the life cycles and project management processes that should incorporate and elaborate on the discussion results. For this, the change request analysis, the details of changes in project management processes and every stage of the project life cycle are analyzed. Further, integrated change control and justifications for the needed changes occurring has been demonstrated in the study.

While working with the project, the change is definitely expected. However, the change has a notable effect on the project. The request to change has been approved properly, communicated and incorporated. It has been causing notable issues and comprises of adverse effects. It has often been spiralling out around the Ford. Here, the change request analysis of the study is listed.

The first stage includes the determination of the scope to change. This involves the finding of new requirements for the project at the initial place. Here, Ford has also affected every stakeholder to elicit the changes in the requirements, analyzing various requirements and then it must be validated (Hornstein, 2015)). Then, the scope to include the changes are to be determined. As the changes needed are understood, the project team must be formulating the response to the suggested changes. It indicates that the effect on the change on the project schedule and technical design has been put into the greater level of a plan of implementation. Then approval must be gained with rejecting the changes. Mature companies like Ford has comprised of particular criteria to place the outlines of what the stakeholder groups can approve the change types. Then the changes are to be implemented and communicated to the change request approved (Too, Le & Yap, 2017). As the up gradations are facilitated by the formal change of the notification process, the business analyst and project manage notifies the team of the project of the change. Here, every document owner has been including the proper adjustments to the project deliverables.

Determination of Scope

The steps are analyzed hereafter.

This has been vital to implement the idea of urgency and requirements of the project at Ford from the starting. As a number of staff members have been under the company and the project team has been catching on there have been greater motivation to be set to get the project moving. Since the project manager has been demonstrating the convincingly and honestly. The project has been required for getting accomplished. It has been useful to outline the chances of the project even at the scenarios of worst cases (Heckmann, Steger & Dowling, 2016). This has been happening as the project has not been occurring smoothly. Thus for Ford, as more people have been talking about the project, there is more idea of urgency that can be developed for the company.

As the individuals at Ford are convinced, there is the necessity of the project such that the task continues to proceed. Project manager at Ford has required to keep up the urgency sense constantly through winning on the primary persons under the project enterprise (Bresnen, 2016). Here, the people have not been necessarily owning the influence on the staff members to the place at the company’s organizational chart. It is seen that frequently that various other criteria has been decisive like the years, status and specialized knowledge and so on.

However, it must be kept in mind that every level of ford can be affected by the project. This must involve the primary personalities. In this way, the later must have enough expertise, powers and qualities of leadership.

Here, for a change request, the project manager must place the coalition of primary personalities alive. This must be done through meetings. In this sense, the necessity of the urgency of the project has been persisting under the company.

After the tasks have been for the managers is to generate the easy-to-understand and simply remembered the vision of solutions and ideas across the project. Here, the concrete strategy on the basis to assist the gaining of the goal of the project is to be developed (O'Donovan, 2017). The better the project manager of Ford understand where they are going towards, the more it is easy to focus on placing the vision to practice.

For example for Kotter, the vision consists of six characteristics. The first one is conceivable and the vision should be providing a credible and clear idea for the future. Then, the vision has been worthwhile for appealing the long-term interests of the stakeholders for the company. Then for managing the changes, the vision must be feasible to be achievable and realistic. Next, the project managers must be focused and the vision should be formulated clearly for serving the aid of decision (Shirazi, Kazemipoor & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, 2017). While necessary the project managers must be flexible. Here, the vision has been reacting to changing situations. Lastly, the situation has been communicable and the focus is easy to make communication and quick to explain.

Change Approval and Communication

Then the vision towards the change is to be communicated. It is must be assured that the vision has been permanently fixed at the minds and hearts of the employees. In order to gain that, one can bring that repeatedly at presentations, emails and meetings. In this way, one must convey the central message, particularly in a tailored and broad manner.

The project manager of Ford can bring changes by communicating the vision beyond the project at the company. Thus, one can manage the commitment and acceptance of the members of the staffs on the complete project life cycle (Walker & Garrett, 2016).

Here, the vision can be easily communicated in a smart manner and most of the people have been ready to get over the board with those changes. Hence, the previously remaining barriers are to be removed and identified. This involves the systems and structures of Ford. In this way, they have adapted the necessities of the project. In this way, change management has been accompanying the introducing of project portfolio management. In this way, the staffs are able to act in the sectors and consider the liabilities for the changes announced that is entailed by the project. It must be providing the employees with the scope to seek the innovative resolutions for ultimately gaining the intended results of the project. At this phase, it is vital to generate the culture that rewards or promotes the knowledge exchange under the company. As the project manager one can play a vital part in working under that.

Nothing is motivating like success. This is the cause one must gain partial success over the project. It is helpful to consider the energy and momentum that is collected for the further course of the project. Gaining positive results in the short term, it has been vital for the change initiates for the long terms. It is the only manner to put the critics to focus and even swayed away ideally (Carpenter & Agrawal, 2018). Here, one requires to determine the attainable aims under the short term of the project planning and place then as the project schedule. In this way, one can prove that the project and the related changes have been paying off the staffs and enterprise.

Kotter has stated that this has been fatal to take rest over the laurels. The actual changes need time and are intended to run deep. Thus the partial success is gained in the project offering the probability to be created on. It is on the change manager and the project manager to sustain the idea of urgency and the requirements in the team under the company. One must try to seek extra backers for the changes and project involved. This is of vital significance for making the corporation of corporate culture consistency with various patterns of behaviours and practices that originate from the change.

Implementation

Thus through the project conclusion, it has been important in anchoring the changes that are gained constantly under the corporate culture. It is currently the time to prove the latest manners that is better than the old. However, there is the risk that the project can be criticized and it has been resulting to resurfaces. Thus, one can communicate and make the publishing of the changes and success that are gained actively over the complete enterprise. Apart from that, the primary people and senior staffs that has been continuing for supporting the changes. Thus, they have newly the recruited staffs required that is to be aligned in a smart manner.

The primary focus on integrated change control has been to calculate the effects of the changes in the limitations of the project. Here, the changes to any section of the project are requested as the course of the project goes on. This is particularly as the project monitoring and executing and the phase of control occurs (Lines, Sullivan & Wiezel, 2015). However, it is not needed to perform every change. For performing the integrated change controls, the changes accepted and rejected has been lying on the basis of the effect and evaluation. As any change request takes place, it is advisable for identifying the effect of the suggested changes over the project scope, resources risks, quality and costs. This also involves customer satisfaction.

Here, two pre-requisites are there for measuring the effect of the change. This includes the realistic plan of project management to get used as the baseline. Further, the overall process and scope as applicable are to be considered. As the changes are inevitable, the managers of the project must be working to prevent the exact reasons for the changes in the places wherever it is probable (Hayes, 2018). At most cases, this indicates the unsuitable plan for the results of the project under the change requests. However, the changes have been happening, they never get encouraged and maintain of probable changes should be controlled, managed and planned. In order to control the changes for the project, the manager of Ford must integrate the following controls.

• Determine the necessities at early as possible.
• A comprehensive determination of the risks that are related to the project.
• Establishing the cost and time factors.
• Establishing the process of change management
• Following the process of change management
• Need the needed templates at the proper place for creating the requests of changes.
• Determine the clear responsibilities and role among different stakeholders for the approved changes.
• As the amount of the changes turn to be disproportionate, the business case can be re-evaluated.
• Further, they must consider the project termination as the amount of the changes is disproportionate.  
• Assure that the approved changes are included in the different baselines.
• Moreover, the changes consist of a couple of categories. The first one affects the plan of project management, procedures, policies and baselines, contract, charter and working statement.

This the basis of the level of authority of Ford’s project manager. Here, he is needed to facilitate various decisions regarding changes instead of making any decision. Thus the necessity of a change control board is present. Moreover, the reviewing and assessment must be done by the board. Here, the board can approve or cancel the request to change (Pádár, Pataki & Sebestyén, 2017)) Further, the board also involves various stakeholders that involve the project managers, functional managers, sponsors, experts and customers.

Project Vision Creation and Communication

It is highly vital to secure the basic reason making the changes to take place. The management of changes is a secondary matter here. The first thing for Ford’s project manager is to eradicate the necessities of changes. Next, the following step is to determine the changes. Here, the originator of the change is the project manager, stakeholders, customers and management, teams. Here, the project managers are able to determine the changes in the sources proactively. As one is able to determine the earlier changes, it can reduce the effect of changes (Cova, Skålén & Pace, 2019). Next, the effects of the change are the following step. The last step is creating a request to change. This process of undertaking the change must be followed by the plan of change management.

At last, lies the integration of change control. Here, the integration of change controls must find the responses to some primary queries. For reacting to that, the initial thing can be done by analysing the changes. Further, the options are to be looked at. The third part is to perform whether the change can be rejected or approved. Further, the last point must be documenting the changes under the system of change control (Han,  Lee & Nyamsuren, 2015).

The closing of project finalizes every activity around the process groups. This is to formally close-out the project phase. Apart from this, the project manager must gain formal acceptance of the project.  It can be issued through the ultimate report showing that the project has been successful. The ultimate lessons learnt must be issued and ultimately achieve and index all the records of the project.

Here, some steps must be done by project managers as they turn to conform to close the project.

• Archiving and indexing the documents.
• Finalizing the ultimate reporting of performances.
• Soliciting the feedback the clients regarding the projects.
• Finishing the product hand-offs.
• Finishing the ultimate closures.
• Receiving the ultimate acceptance of various products
• Finishing the formalities of the closure
• Confirmation that the task is finished according to the baseline.

The above change control is useful to gain the ultimate requirements very quickly. It is an important element of the process of integrated change control. This is regarding the success of the project. Further, since the necessities are the foundations of the scope of the project. As the project scope is found out, the process of project planning begins. Thus, the improper and incomplete gathering of requirement causes the unfinished and weak planning. Here, the outcomes include various requests for changes as the project execution occurs. Since the risks are the main reasons for the different variances in the project. All the risks must be determined as the response strategy and planning process for every risk is to be denoted. Moreover, they should be coming up with the cost and time reserves. As any risk takes place, there are extra reasons regarding the delays and costs of the projects. Further, the project manager should be comprised of the process in place for controlling changes. Here, the changes are inevitable for the project and the process in which the submit gets changed the ways to assess, approve and implement the changes to get documented in the processes.

Removing Barriers and Adaptation to Project

Here, the stakeholders should be asking for the requests about the changes for particular projects of the company. Here, the changes must be included to develop the project at any time as the design phase for the ultimate completion. The change requests must be coordinated and are important for the project manager to find the changes as needed. The integrated change control is helpful for project management in evaluating all the change requests related to the project. Further, the objectives of the integrated change include the controlling of preventive and corrective changes in securing extra problems. This assures that the requests get fitted under the plan of project management and the requests are integrated into the activity.

The required changes are thus helpful for the undertaking corrective actions. The project management utilizes the integrated change controls for determining whether corrective measures must be occurring as any issue occur. This process takes place as the corrective actions can fix the issues as more issue is occurring and whether the suitable activities has been impacting the project. It can be done through the probabilities prior to engaging the changes, assimilate the change controls. Thus Ford can totally know the kind of change and anticipate the reverse impacts.

Moreover, the needed changes are helpful to undertake preventive actions. This analyzes as the changes take place in the project, it has been unforeseen. The project manager can seek whether specific preventive actions are needed to alleviate and avoid probable risks.

Conclusion:

The above study is helpful to understand why a persuasive cause regarding why the changes can occur at Ford. This is also helpful to understand what adverse effects can also occur. Tis the report develops are motivating cause regarding why the change should be occurring. It also highlights why benefits have been occurring for individuals. They are affected by the change necessary for understanding how this has been beneficial for them. This must be known by the people and hence managing expectations and communications are the primary keys. Moreover, the discussion is useful to understand how the standards can be re-established. As the employee feel that they are under constant flu and never know what must be done this can generate uncertainty. The implementation of changes under a phased approach for Ford is analyzed here. This must be done with constant reinforcement of the expectations helping people to understand what is intended. The change can take place as there is an effective change quality process and there is a well-implemented protocol of what is intended.

Partial Success and Seeking Backers

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