Project Part 2
A good project manager must always be ready to deal with changes, as changes happen on a regular basis during most projects. In the course of this project there were four major changes that were brought to my attention that needed to be addressed quickly. The changes included working with the alarm company, ensuring the insurance company signed off on the plan, and coordinating with a new Emergency Management Director to determine the best course of action for emergencies. By having a timeline already laid out it was a lot easier to implement these changes into the project. Also, by communicating with my team about the changes in the time line and what needed to be done I believe these changes were very minor setbacks, if at all. As a project manager I would require that a formal change request be used to ensure proper documentation. The Project Management Body of Knowledge states that changes requests are used to modify aspects of a project like, scope, schedule, and budget (Project Management Institute, 2008, p. 87).
The first change that was brought to my attention was during week three when I was informed that the insurance company would need to approve the plan before the board would sign off on it. Since our initial timeline had week five allocated to compiling the reports and the plan and submitting it to the board of directors, I was able to break that down a little more. I shortened the compiling time to three days and would have the report and plan submitted to the insurance company on Thursday for review. Once they agree with it then it would be submitted to the board on Friday for approval. Of course I have confidence that my team will have everything compiled before Thursday so we would end up submitting it to the insurance company earlier in case they take more time to review the plan. Pinto states that padding a schedule is a cultural response in that it is better to schedule more time and complete it early than to go over time (2010, p. 58).
The second change that was brought to my attention was also during week three when I was informed that the alarm company was not included in the plan. Looking at the initial timeline week four is receipt of the reports from the different agencies and implementing them into the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). I determined that a meeting with the alarm company, to ensure that proper dispatching of emergencies was done, would be the best option at the beginning of week four. This way we know the alarm company is on the same page as us and it can be implemented into the DRP at the same time as all the other reports.
The third and fourth changes brought to my attention during week four were that the emergency personnel were having trouble deciding who should be called and respond first, and a new Emergency Management Director had been appointed for the county. These could potentially be very serious problems and could cause delays or even