Human life has been Immensely Transformed by the Development of Telecommunication Technology.: Project Management Homework, NUS, Singapore

project brief:

To provide an opportunity for students to apply the knowledge learnt in the course and to develop/sharpen the necessary technical skills and knowledge on project management.

Please note that:

(i). The details and names in the ECA case are fictional. Any resemblance to the real-life situation is purely coincidental.

(ii). As information is given throughout the case, you are advised to read the entire ECA document before working on the report. In some situations, you need to make inferences from the information.

(iii)Students who simply reproduce the course materials without relating to the ECA case will be given low or no mark.

(iv). Students shall not include the questions in the report.

(v). Students are recommended to use Microsoft Project 2019 to prepare project planning.

PROJECT CASE: Implementing a 5G Mobile Road Pricing (MRP) System

Background

About Mobile Communication Industry

Human life has been immensely transformed by the development of Telecommunication Technology. Mobile communication has made great progress since 1984 with the sparse deployment of the slow First Generation (1G) mobile technology to the wide-spread deployment of 4G technology that enables the ubiquitous eCommerce, video conferencing and online entertainment services. However, newer applications, such as the Driverless Car System and Internet of Things (IoT), cannot fully rely on 4G technology. A faster and more sophisticated mobile communication technology, commonly termed 5G technology is needed. Although there is no official 5G standard being adopted, there are several variants of 5G mobile technology trials being conducted in different countries.

About WeSing Technology (WST)

WeSing Technologies (WST) was founded in Singapore in 1990 by an ex-Defence Science Engineer, Michael Ner. The company’s core business is in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. WST’s social mission is to bring fast digital connectivity to every person, home and organisation so as to achieve an interconnected and intelligent society. With thirty years of hard work, WST has become a world-leading ICT company. It has three main aims:

(i). WST Telecom arm which develops and deploys mobile base stations for telecommunication service providers.

(ii). WST Corporate arm which supplies and installs network equipment for large corporations and government boards.

(iii). WST Consumer arm which provides terminal devices, such as smartphones and computers to consumers. It also develops application software for end-users to carry out productivity tasks.

WST has invested heavily in the development of ICT technology and has successfully filed many patents related to 5G technology. Its Telecom arm is working with several telecommunication service providers to conduct 5G mobile trials.

About Road Pricing

Singapore is a densely populated country. The government has to balance Singaporeans’ desire for car ownership and ensure that the roads are uncongested so that economic activities can be carried out efficiently.

In 1975, the Area Licensing Scheme (“ALS”) was implemented to control the number of vehicles entering the Central Business District (“CBD”) during peak hours. Drivers had to purchase coupons in advance and display them on vehicle windscreens while passing by checkpoints on specific roads leading to the CBD. The method was manual and inaccurate. In 1988, Electronic Road Pricing (“ERP”) replaced the ALS. Huge electronic gantries were equipped with radio-wave sensors to detect the presence of cash cards in the In-vehicle Unit (“IU”) of passing vehicles. Charges are deducted from the cash cards automatically based on the time. Drivers will receive notices of fine if their cash cards are absent or run out of credit.

While the ERP method is efficient, it has several shortcomings. The cost of constructing gantries is high and built gantries cannot be dismantled or relocated easily. Furthermore, ERP charges a driver when his vehicles enter into CBD, but not according to the actual distances travelled within the district. Hence, the charge is not entirely related to road usage which causes traffic congestion.

The government traffic regulatory board, Land Transport Authority (LTA), has been exploring other technologies that can charge drivers more equitably based on road usage, without the shortcomings of the ERP gantry system. It has considered using Global Positioning System (“GPS”). However, the system is not accurate and does not provide additional functions.

With the emergence of 5G Mobile Technology, LTA is considering to use 5G Technology for road pricing and provide additional services to the drivers. LTA calls it the Mobile Road Pricing (MRP) System. It has issued a Request for Information (RFI) document to the ICT industry for ideas.

WST Corporate arm, the entity in WST that serves government boards, participated in the RFI. It put up a proposal with WST’s advanced technology, sophisticated solution, and lean pricing. LTA is interested in WST’s proposal. It has decided to provide a fund to WST to carry out a pilot Mobile Road Pricing (MRP) Project in the CBD with the following scope of work:

Supply and install 30 units of 5G based stations in CBD.

1. Supply and install 200 units of In-Vehicle Panel (IVP) for vehicles to communicate with the base stations.

(Note: It is LTA’s responsibility to recruit 200 drivers to send their vehicles to WST’s premise for the IVP installation.)

2. Supply and install a computer server in the LTA Data Centre to control the MRP System.

3. Develop and install application software in the computer server and the IVP that is able to:

Track the distances travelled by vehicles in the CBD.

a. Perform road charges and other current ERP functions, e.g., issuances of traffic fine notices, by interfacing to LTA’s backend system.

b. Provide information to drivers on the available lots in major car parks.

c. Provide information to drivers on the traffic conditions.

d. Provide data exchange among vehicles to prevent colliding.

Section 1: Leading the Project and Managing the Project Team

Question 1

(a) When LTA selected WST Corporate arm to build the pilot MRP system, the WST Headquarter (HQ) was exuberant. The CEO at HQ, Mr Michael Ner, wants the company to be united to make the project a success as it will be a testimony of WST’s superior 5G technology and ability to develop solutions to solve complex social problems. WST has to adopt an effective Project Management Structure.

Inspect seven (7) factors that influence the choice of Project Management Structure for the MRP Project and rate each factor as low, medium or high. Hence, recommend to the CEO the most appropriate Project Management Structure.

Note: You are advised to read the entire ECA case to have a more complete view to assessing the factors. (23 marks)

(b) Assume a three-member core project team is required. Examine how the team can be formed by capitalising on WST’s organisation structure. Discuss two (2) major advantages of this formation. (7 marks)

Section 2: Developing a Project Plan     

A project team was formed based on the analysis done in Q1. It consists of yourself (who plays both the Project Manager and your technical roles), Ms Susan Lim and Mr Mohd Hafiz.

The CEO, Mr Michael Ner, briefed you on the Senior Management’s expectations: WST must fulfill its social mission. The project shall start on 1 June 2021. The system must be commissioned by 15 Oct 2021, in time for LTA to showcase in the Smart City Convention on the following day. All the scope in the LTA’s RFI must be fulfilled. Although LTA has provided a funding based on WST’s RFI proposal, management wants you to provide a detailed costing for budget approval. Any subsequent increase in cost must be justified to him for approval.

Your team has a pre-project discussion and worked out the project activities with preliminary details as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Activities List for Mobile Road Pricing (MRP) Project

To prepare an initial costing for budget approval, you gather the following unit costings:

Table 2: Standard Rate for Work Type Resources

 Table 3: Standard Rate for Material Type Resource

Notes on the costs:

1. All costs stated are in Singapore Dollars. The In-Vehicle Panels (IVP) cost was derived from a quotation by the component supplier in Japanese Yen and converted to Singapore Dollars using the exchange rate on 1 June 2021.

2. The standard rates for project members in Table 2 are for 8 working hours on normal weekdays. The members will not work beyond 8 hours; hence, you can leave the overtime rates at $0/hr. They usually prefer not to work on the weekend unless necessary. If they do so, the weekend hours and rates are the same as a weekday.

3. All project members’ costs involved in this project shall be treated as variable costs. The total cost will be calculated automatically by MS Project based on the rates in Table 2 and the duration of the activities.

4. All the material items in Table 3 are quoted in 1 lot. E.g., the cost for the 200 units of In-Vehicle Panels is $60,000.

Question 2

a. Construct a Gantt Chart (after Clear Levelling) with columns on Information (i), Task Model, Task Name, Duration, Start Date, Finish Date, Predecessor and Resource Name shown in a single diagram. Hence, state the project completion date and explain any resource conflicts.

b. You shall try to solve the conflicts within the project deadline. You may set up the approach below by using the MS Project function. You must explain what you observe at each step. Then state the project finish date.

Method to resolve conflicts within Deadline:

Due to the specialised skills and full loading of the team members in this intensive project, resource conflicts cannot be solved by member multitasking, transferring the task to other members nor add in more people. The members will not be working beyond 8 hours per day. At this stage, they do not want to consider working on weekends. Hence, you shall use resource levelling within the deadline to resolve the conflicts by the method below:

Right-click on the task with conflict that has the smallest Task (i.e., Activity) ID. Select “Reschedule to Available Date”.

(i). If an error message informs you that the conflict cannot be resolved, click “Stop”. Skip item (ii) below.

(ii). If the conflict is resolved, check the Project Finish Date. If it exceeds the Deadline, press “Control Z” to undo this levelling.

Proceed to the next task with conflict. Continue the above operation one at a time until all tasks with conflicts that could be resolved are done.

c. You want to experiment to push the finish date further to resolve all the resource conflicts without adding demands on the resources. Do the following:

First, select all tasks, right-click to choose Auto-Schedule, then Resource Tab  ®  Clear Levelling.

Then do Auto levelling by Resource  ® Levelling Option  ®  Tick the buttons “Automatic” and “Level Entire Project”. Uncheck all the boxes below. Then click Level All.

Conclude the changes due to this resource levelling operation. Identify the project completion date and comment on the impact on the project. (5 marks)

d. You are aware of the need to commission the MRP System before the Smart Nation Convention. You have to exercise your Project Manager authority. Explain the items you choose to change and execute them so that the Deadline can be met. (4 marks)

Update the MS Project with all necessary changes. The CEO approves the schedule and the cost.

Set the Status Date (Project ® Status Date) as 5 Jun 2021 and save this as a Baseline Plan (Project ® Set Baseline ® check Entire project) which will be used to evaluate the project performance at later stages.

Section 3: Monitoring a Project Progress and Closing Project

Question 3

Three unforeseen issues occurred during the project implementation period:

1. Due to some car parks’ awkward designs, additional 3 days are required to install the car park monitoring systems.

2. Due to the appreciation of the Japanese Yen, the cost of the In-Vehicle Panels increased by 10%.

3. The Telecom regulator, InfoComm Media Authority (IMDA) has a new radio frequency requirement. The configuration of base station requires additional 2 days.

You shall revise the MS Project file to incorporate all the changes to address the issues.

The project progresses. All the items in the RFI Scope were fulfilled except the provision of data exchange among vehicles to prevent colliding. LTA agrees that this item is not feasible due to the shortage of time. However, LTA is delighted that the system is commissioned in time and received praises during the Smart City Convention.

Set the Status Date to 3 working days after the project completion date. Update the project (Project -> Update Project -> Entire Project).

a. Compose in a single diagram the Tracking Gantt Chart view of MS Project with Information (i), Task Model, Task Name, Duration, Start Date and Finish Date columns shown. State the project completion date.

b. Show an MS Project Cost Report or Table with CPI. Formulate Cost Performance Index (CPI) and compute the value manually with data obtained from the table or report. Verify your computed CPI with that reported in MS Project.

c. What are the project objective and priorities set by the CEO? By inferring from whether they are met, conclude whether the MRP project is successful.

SECTION B

Prepare PowerPoint Presentation slides. The maximum number of slides is fifteen (15).

The WST Senior Management has scheduled a meeting one week after the project completion for you, the Project Manager for Mobile Road Pricing (MRP) Project, to present the following items from Questions 2 to 3 in Section A:

1. What are the objective and priorities of the project?
2. What are the initial resource conflicts?
3. Are there changes in schedule and what are the contributing events?
4. Is there a cost overrun and what are the contributors to the cost overruns if any?
5. Are the project objective and priorities achieved? Is the project successful?