Executive Summary
Organizations should invest their time, effort, and resources in project management because this activity ensures that initiatives can be implemented to bring expected outcomes. Status reporting is an effective tool allowing managers to assess project health, completion status, and potential issues. The Extreme Safe company currently implements two projects, Safe Ways and Safe_n_Sound, and it is necessary to determine which initiative deserves an additional $100,000.
That is why the current document analyzes two project status reports to compare the projects and identify their strengths and weaknesses to guide decision-making. In particular, the focus is placed on milestones, change requests, risks, issues, potential outcomes, and specific metrics, including Schedule Performance Index, Cost Performance Index, and Estimate to Complete. The described approach allowed for identifying that the Safe_n_Sound project is more promising and can be more profitable in the future. That is why it is rational to provide this initiative with an additional $100,000.
Introduction
Project management is a significant activity that allows organizations and responsible managers to control their efforts and ensure that they help achieve the desired outcomes. Within this large area, status reporting is a valuable and important tool that brings many opportunities and advantages. In general, this tool refers to a regular report that compares project progress to its plan. However, a more detailed definition indicates that project reporting informs key stakeholders of project health issues, including cost, schedule, resources, and scope (Daddey, 2021). This information is valuable because it allows managers to find potential problems and take appropriate actions to address them and minimize risks. Today, project reporting is more often implemented using online technologies. This communication channel is utilized because it ensures that projects are monitored and reported in real-time, which allows stakeholders to collaborate, share files, and interact easily (Savio, 2021). The application of status reporting to two Extreme Safe projects demonstrates that Safe_n_Sound is more promising, which denotes that this project should receive an additional $100,000.
Analysis
When a project manager needs to cope with a project, they are expected to draw attention to numerous aspects. An essential task is to focus on project deliverables and milestones, issues, and any potential risks. Thai (2022) additionally states that a good option is to use color to indicate project health. Daddey (2021) supports this suggestion and states that “Green and Blue signify satisfactory and excellent performance while Yellow, Orange, and Red depict increasing levels of difficulty” (p. 118). Another good step is to focus on Schedule Performance Index (SPI), Cost Performance Index (CPI), and Estimate to Complete (ETC). If SPI is less than one, a project is behind schedule, while greater values indicate that a project runs over the timetable (Daddey, 2021). Interpretation of CPI is similar because if it is above one, a project is under budget, which denotes that lower values imply that the budget is exceeded (Daddey, 2021). ETC presents an approximate amount of money that is needed to implement projects. This information can help present the status reporting of two Extreme Safe projects.
The first project is called Safe Ways, and it offers to manufacture a safety cage for prisoner transport, which can result in $50 million in profit annually. It includes nine milestones and is subject to a significant issue because the marketing department was two weeks late with the project specifications. There is an open request to increase the budget by $95,000, in addition to the ETC of $750,000, to compensate for this period lost. Simultaneously, the project deals with a significant risk because it has appeared that fitting a cage to different types of vehicles can contribute to product failing. That is why the company wants to focus on the most requested vehicle models, which can reduce the market by 15%. SPI of 0.9 denotes that the project is behind schedule, while a CPI of 1.1 indicates that budget expectations are met (Dadeey, 2021). These findings reveal that the project implies significant issues that should deserve attention.
The second project, Safe_n_Sound, is an update of the company’s best-selling “safe room” product. It is a promising activity because the organization wants to earn $40 million in profit annually from the project that only contains seven milestones. The project’s ETC is $720,000, and it currently needs an additional $100,000 to reduce the current deadline by two weeks. This decision is necessary to prepare and launch the product at a new trade show in Las Vegas, which can lead to a bump in advance sales and gain a larger market share. Even though this scenario is an opportunity, it additionally introduces a significant risk because additional financial resources and employees are needed to cope with the task. SPI of 1.01 implies that the project is ahead of schedule, while CPI of 1.1 means that the budget is exceeded (Daddey, 2021). Thus, the analysis demonstrates that the given project can provide the organization with essential benefits in the future.
Advice and Action
According to the information above, it is possible to mention that the second project, Safe_n_Sound, is more promising. It does not have any significant issues that were included in its description. The change request asks for an additional $100,000 because this step can help an organization obtain higher benefits in the future. However, the first project, Safe Ways, cannot impress with such positive details. Even though this initiative offers $10 million more profit annually than the second project, Safe Ways is subject to deadline extension and the possibility of the product failing. The necessity to meet these issues indicates that the organization needs additional financial resources to compensate for the identified inefficiencies and achieve the expected outcomes.
If it is necessary to spend an additional $100,000 on one of the projects, a reasonable decision is to choose Safe_n_Sound. On the one hand, this initiative does not have any essential drawbacks that have already harmed project implementation. On the other hand, the project requires additional money to maximize its opportunities and potential profits. That is why my expert opinion is that providing Safe_n_Sound with additional financial resources is a favorable decision.
Conclusion
The current report has comprehensively analyzed two projects that are currently implemented in the Extreme Safe company. The initiatives are Safe Ways and Safe_n_Sound, and each of them implies specific issues and features. The analysis and comparison of the two projects have demonstrated that Safe_n_Sound is more promising. In particular, this initiative seems better because it is free from significant problems and can achieve more profitable outcomes if it is properly and timely implemented. This selection is valid irrespective of the fact that the Safe Ways project is expected to bring $10 million more profit annually. Thus, Safe_n_Sound should receive an additional $100,000 because this sum can help the project achieve better outcomes rather than compensate for the current inefficiencies.
References
Daddey, F. (2021). Managing project costs, risk, procurement, and quality. Douglas College.
Savio, R. (2021). Latest project management trends and challenges with COVID-19. Eximia Journal, 2(1), 8-11.
Thai, J. (2022). 8 steps to write an effective project status report. Asana. Web.