The simulation allows participants to manage a project from start to completion. The main aim of the simulation is to offer current and future project managers an opportunity to practice the expected industry standards. Generally, the simulation presents opportunities based on localizing a software product into many languages relevant to the international markets. 

The current study is based on Lullinet Corporation, which manufactures software solutions. In this case, I act in the Engineering Department as the project manager in charge of the localization of the software into multiple critical foreign languages in the overseas market.

SECTION 1

Overview

The senior management discovered that the company’s market share was reducing because their competitors had ensured greater product availability in the international market and were attracting customers who switched away from Lullinet’s software solutions. The agreed-upon strategy was to produce the software in several other languages alongside the English Version. 

Moreover, Lullinet Corporation needs to reduce the gap between its releases and the US version from 90 days to 30 days. My project focuses on the flagship product known as LillSIM, which possesses a 31 percent share in the global market. The product has yet to attain maturity; hence new features and functionalities are integrated into the new versions.

I must localize this product into French, German, and Japanese and do s at dates very close to the US version. With a budget of $500,000, my major tasks include (1) creating a date localized version and informing the company about it; (2) developing the localized versions; and (3) managing the project according to budget and schedule.

 This presentation, therefore, provides an overview of crucial decisions made to accomplish the project, lessons learned from the project management assessment, and a list of best practices that can be applied to similar projects in the future.

Key Decisions Made

This section presents the major decisions that led to the project's success or failure.

  • Factors that contributed to the Project’s Success

The decisions that led to the success of the project include: 

    • hiring localization companies like FR or DE and RTG Localization (JA) to conduct the localization process; 
    • tracking cost per activity and language as the information needed for financial reporting; 
    • using time and materials as a type of contract for localization vendor(s);
    • confirming that double entry should be deleted if it occurs in the glossary, as was the case during translation into German; and 
    • Employing A4 format for Japanese vendors since this is globally acceptable

Moreover, it was a good decision to warn the vendor who showed irresponsibility that future errors would result in penalties instead of looking for a new vendor or posing a penalty at that point. Choosing VAC and EAC as the best metrics to respond to Jason’s question was also the most appropriate. These would help determine the number of risks that would result from the project by its completion time (Smoker, 2011). 

When difficulties occurred concerning the operating project offices in the US, it was necessary to replace US contact details with those of the Japan office. Additionally, it was correct to keep the process centralized in the US but assign a Japanese representative on-site at the local manufacturer to sign off on the product, as this helped retain the market share in the US.

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  • Factors that Contributed to Project Failure

The choices that led to project failure include: 

    • selecting ethical implications as the most relevant for the statement of the project scope; 
    • holding a project kickoff meeting before developing a project management plan;
    • selecting scope as the lowest priority project constraint; 
    • deciding that 10 communication channels were necessary for critical stakeholders for my team; 
    • pointing out Lullinet infrastructure as the environmental factor that discouraged separation of launch dates; and 
    • accepting the Spanish localization project as the best recommendation for the proposal. 
More negative decisions included: 
    • Selecting AC, SV, CV, CPI, and Gantt chart issues as appropriate for the report 
    • Providing Japanese files in all 3 formats to the Japanese market
    • Considering it unethical to ship merchandise without Jason’s approval; and 
    • Archiving records as the last step of the project management project.
  • Factors that partly contributed to the Success and/or Failures of the Project

Two main options fall under this group. The first option is the decision to explain the steps involved when considering the net present value (NPV), payback period, internal rate of return (IRR), and constraints related to staffing as the most appropriate response to the question asked by Nicholas Prince. The last decision is the choice that a $9,000 back charge would hurt my VAC/EAC.

Lessons Learned

  • Successes

The manager must know that it has a lifecycle for effective project operation. This is particularly important because the decisions made at the start of the project affect the progress and determine the endpoint as a success or a failure (Varajao, 2016). Therefore, a project manager must be aware of careful planning and possess the major control techniques required at every stage of the project lifecycle. In addition, the most important roles a project manager must play include: coordination, enhancing teamwork, planning, and incorporating monitoring strategies. The project manager must ensure that top management is involved, each team member performs what he/she is best at doing, and that all the activities are working towards meeting organizational goals. The definition of a “project” according to the Project Management Institute Guide to Project Management Body (PMBOK) points to two important words:

 i) That is a “temporary” process, and 

ii) It involves the creation of “unique” products and services. 

 “Temporary” means that the project has a definite end and has to be planned as such. At the same time, “unique” implies that each successful project should result in a new product or service that will differentiate the organization from its competitors (Project Management Institute, 2000).

  • Issues

The project life cycle must be aligned to the conditions in the environment within which the project runs. In the localization of a software solution, the cycle has to account for multilingual information management that is usually represented by information objectives (IO).  This system should display the connection's purpose and identify the user whose needs are addressed by the software, the business entity represented, and the information it provides. Concerning this perspective, translators must ensure that important details are well explained in all the selected languages to attract customers to the products. When a project manager is assigned the translation duties ,the first and most important step is to conduct a feasibility test. This helps collect information about all the parties interested in a given project. The translators must consider 

    • clients’ requirements, 
    • organizational structure, 
    • market demands, existing competitors,
    •  emergence of new technology, 
    • regulations in the industry, and 
    • economic conditions

Actions

There are major steps that must be included in a project management cycle. Some of the most important actions in the project life cycle include:

  • Setting a defined life cycle and milestones. An organization must determine the major phases of the project, deliverables, major milestones, and effectiveness of every criterion selected for the project (Salapatas, 2000). The project life cycle comprises four main phases: Concept, Planning, Implementation, and Termination.
  • Including consistent requirements and scope: Documentation and consistent checks of project needs, goals, and scope are necessary at certain stages for effective project management.  This should cover (1) the eroutineAn organization needs to haveactivities; (2) goals or benefits; (3) the measure of success; (4) the identification of deliverables; (5) the setting of performance standards; (6) establishing the strategy for determining validity, utility, and other concerns; and (7) risk identification as well as setting of risk management step (Lim, 2016).
  • Defining Organization, Systems, and Roles for each Individual: Ianda list of specified roles for the project manager, other functional managers, as well as project team members. This will ensure that each individual becomes accountable for his/her actions (Salapata, 2000). Leadership and interpersonal skills are also necessary because employee-friendly project manager's duty relations encourage team involvement, effective communication, and improved performance. Project organization is the duty of theproject manager's dutyower over other people who handle the project duties. Many projects are also conducted in a matrix organization, where the project is combined with functional organizations. Such a company struggles to respond to the requirements of the project manager and the functional system. The project manager must therefore take an active role in planning, organizing, staffing, evaluating, directing, controlling, and monitoring the project from the concept to the completion phase.  
  • Planning Commitments: After assessing the project potential through the feasibility test, the project manager gains important information regarding the project's potential in terms of resources and funds. This stage comprises four subdivisions, including the planning of the project, scheduling the project, allocation of resources and staffing, and budgeting. Planning, in general, eliminates chances of uncertainties and risk; hence it heightens chances for success.
  • Taking Corrective Action Decisions: If variations are discovered in the plan, the team is expected to correct the condition and regain the normal flow of the project. The corrective approaches should also be aligned with the organizational goals to ensure that the analysis outcome is appropriate (Salapatas, 2000). It most likely should include cases of tradeoffs where for example, there can be an increased cost of operation to reduce completion or a reduction in project coverage to ensure the activities are completed within the expected duration. This may further result in an adjustment of the baseline and, in some instances, might result in an alterationan of the business perspective.
  • Escalation and Issue Management in place - enables early detection and resolution of problems related to the project. Therefore, mechanisms for delivering information on major concerns to top management are necessary to ensure that correct strategies are implemented in resolving project concerns. Formal procedures concerning project issues must be put in place.

Best Practices

The following are the three best practices for future projects with similar conditions. These are recommended by Project Management Institute, Salapatas (2000).

1. Quality Assurance: Quality management is a challenge to many projects as it is always inadequate in most cases. Quality on projects is met through thorough understanding and a set of standards and criteria applicable to each stage of the project process. Quality assurance not only focuses on meeting the targeted results but also aims to set up opportunities for improvement.

2. Tracking and Variance Analysis: The best strategies for project management are those capable of detecting deviations from the central role and opening opportunities for resolving the same. Effective project management is thus seen in traditional reporting techniques as well as frequent meetings where team members get to discuss the issues of concern. This effective project management is seen in traditional reporting techniques that enable handling issues related to slips in time schedules, cost overruns, newly detected risks, and identifying ways most applicable in resolving challenging conditions. Some of the techniques that can be applied during this stage include Earned Value, which has the potential to simultaneously integrate cost and schedule performance. It is as well applicable to the WBS, among other project tasks. WBS is especially important for conditions requiring serious tracking and project control, and establishing a baseline is very important since it is the only measure to complete the project.

3. Work Authorization and Change Control: Since late changes to the project only have negative implications such as cost overruns, defects, and need to rework, a system for change control and management must be set up to enable timely correction and incorporation of changes into the project cycle. Moreover, the control has to account for both authorization and approval of changes. This strategy's overall advantage is enabling the project manager to make timely decisions since a Change Request has to be used when changing the project's requirements. A change notice log must also be in place. The latest information will help the project manager evaluate changes appropriately.

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SECTION 2

Summary

A company’s prosperity is directly linked to the successful completion of its major projects (Varajao, 2016). Any inconveniences caused due to poor practices by the project management team have negative consequences on the performance of the dynamic organization. The summary provides ideas on areas that made me lose full points as a hired Lullnet Corporations project manager. Many factors are responsible for the low score, and the most significant areas include the following:

· Poor Preparation,

· Shortage of relevant documentation and tracking,

· Inadequate definition and implementation of parameters,

· Inadequate project management experience, and

· Existence of competing priorities

  • Poor Preparation

Project management requires the manager to develop a vivid picture of the entire process (Lim, 2016). Since this major factor was not fully looked into, there needed to be more focus during the initial stages of the project. Even though the main objective was known to localize versions while managing the project budget and schedule, it took a lot of work to fully focus on success factors and detect danger signs. The major failure in this regard was that important dates were missed during the project. This could have been avoided if frequent meetings were held with the stakeholders to discuss major topics like cost expectations, quality of product, and time schedules.

  • Shortage of Relevant Documentation and Tracking

This is usually among the project manager's major tasks in the project management process, including proper documentation and tracking strategies (Varajao, 2016). Due to a lack of relevant experience, I needed to properly track milestones to examine the rate at which they aligned with the organizational goals. The implication is that there must have been a poor allocation of resources. Lack of proper documentation due to poor recording and monitoring contributed to poor knowledge of the resources required to complete the project. As the scheduling could have been better, it was difficult to combine resource needs with the timing of the project.

  • Inadequate Definition and Implementation of Parameters

Teamwork was prioritized in the project, and team members contributed actively by asking questions, offering suggestions, and handling tasks. This was very helpful ad contributed greatly to the successful completion of the project. However, the major drawback was prioritizing tasks and assigning the same to the most proficient team members. The primary goal of the teamwork was to allow everyone a chance, as focusing on the most knowledgeable individuals would have been viewed as favoritism. Besides, this was thought to be unethical in the workplace. Unfortunately, it contributed to the overall decline in project effectiveness. This would be avoided if the project manager chose to work with individuals who had a better understanding of the requirements of their positions and how they would utilize the opportunity to meet the organization's goals.

  • Inadequate Project Management Experience

Important roles are given to the project manager, such as assigning tasks to individuals based on their experience and education levels (Lim, 2016). The role is always challenging, even for the most experienced project managers. While this role is difficult, it can be played by any determined manager since the most important thing is the project's success. Even so, project managers with experience can make better decisions and increase their chances of project success than managers who are new to the field and therefore, inexperienced. Clearly, the loss of full points was also contributed by a shortage of proper project management skills.

  • Existence of Competing Priorities

The greatest conflict during the project was between personnel resources and funds. This was majorly contributed by inaccurate cost estimation at the start of the project. An example is a case where employee training costs were very expensive for the project. Many employees opposed the idea that some deductions would be made to their salaries to cover such expenditures. This worked negatively on employee morale and contributed to added risks to the running of the project.

  • Other Factors

The five points explained above are the main aspects that led to the loss of marks in the project management assessment, but others also added to the lack of effectiveness of the project. While the project was fully handed over to me as the project manager, adequate support from all leaders at the management level would have increased the chances of success. It would have particularly ensured that the choices made by the project manager help to meet the expectations of the organization.  

Another cause of failures was inaccurate cost estimates. This was because of the late discovery of a shortage in resources. Varaj  (2016) recognizes communication challenges as a major barrier to project success. Inadequate communication with the upper management and the team might, for example, contributed to the loss of effectiveness of the project management process. Communication with clients was also affected at some point due to language barriers because this was a Japanese project that was to be localized in the US, France, and Germany.

There were also incidents of miscommunication because of poor translators who needed to interpret the project details as expected. This especially happened with the German translators. Each team member was competent and observed professionalism but disregarding warning signs, and late detection of risks contributed to the less satisfactory project outcome.