EAC MBA Project Management - Railway GDS Distribution - Westbahn

Railway GDS Distribution

Project Management Coursework

Simon Riha

Cohort 13, Aviation Management

Emirates Aviation College

May 14, 2012

EAC PM Railway GDS Distribution Simon Riha

May 14, 2012 2

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 3

BUSINESS CASE ASSESSMENT 4

PROJECT PLANNING AND SCHEDULING 8

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS) 9

PROJECT ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE 11

NETWORK DIAGRAM AND GANTT CHART 12

PROJECT MONITORING AND CONTROL 15

PROJECT RISK AND REDUCING UNCERTAINTY 20

CONCLUSION 24

REFERENCE LIST 25

APPENDIX 1: A BOSCARD TABLE EXAMPLE 26


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Introduction

This coursework examines development of a strategic project plan for

implementing train connections in the airline Global Distribution Systems (GDS).

Railways in GDS have been a topical topic for past fifteen years, as long as the

industry has been internationalized through liberalization and demand for

interlining between airlines and railways (so-called “rail & fly”). Though some

GDS distribution solutions for railways have been released, they have remained

marginal and have not become any industry standard.

In particular, Westbahn, the first private railway in Austria, has approached

Hahn Air, a German airline specialized in global distribution, to make their trains

saleable in GDS in manner as if their trains were flights.

This work examines the project development process from initial business case

assessment and proceeds through project planning and scheduling, project

monitoring and control to managing risk and reducing uncertainty. When doing

so, the work concentrates on studying procedures helping Hahn Air create such a

project in the existing environment of small and medium enterprises without

any corporate project management structures, such as project management

office, project steering committee, and so forth.

Based on research of available project management sources, this coursework

suggests a few efficient methods and techniques appropriate for this kind of

project and environment in order to facilitate and speed up the project plan

development.


May 14, 2012 4

Business Case Assessment

When thinking of the commercial idea to publish Westbahn rail connections in

airline distribution systems, the first question to be answered is how to kick off

such a business project.

Nicholas & Steyn (2012, pp. 83-162) describes a method for project initiation

and definition as a part of their thorough Project Management Lifecycle

methodology.

In the project conception and definition phase, Nicholas & Steyn recognize Project

Initiation (for example, in the form of a vision statement as in Microsoft Corp.)

followed by Initial Investigation comprising of clarification of a problem,

evaluating possible solutions, interviewing managers and users, collecting initial

data, reviewing existing documentation, and so forth. At this point, they refer to

Project Portfolio Management to decide whether the project qualifies or not.

Next, they proceed to Project Feasibility to conduct a feasibility study, that is, to

identify alternative solutions, to further analyze the points of issue and also to

evaluate a possible environmental impact. They continue to the functional and

non-functional requirement analysis, for instance, by using methods such as

Requirements Breakdown Structure and House of Quality. The outputs of their

project conception and definition phase are detailed documents called Statement

of Work, Scope Statement and Project Master Plan.

Nicholas & Steyn (2012, p. 558) note: “To accommodate projects of different size

and complexity, the methodology can be ‘scalable’.”

Considering the size of the Westbahn project, size of the both companies,

duration, importance and complexity of the project, the project initiation and

definition stage can be scaled down.


May 14, 2012 5

One of simplified approaches for project initiation and definition is called

BOSCARD. It originated with Cap Gemini consulting company in the 1980s. The

acronym stands for background, objectives, scope, constraints, assumptions,

risks and deliverables, which altogether constitute a usual baseline for project

initiation documents. BOSCARD is practical for providing a complete bottom line

for quick and brief project outlines when still delivering all important project

information to stakeholders, without having to undergo the entire exhaustive

project initiation procedure resulting in a full project initiation document.

(Haughey, n.d.)

An example of the use of the BOSCARD is attached in Appendix 1. It illustrates its

well-arranged structure and brevity while still providing the wide high-level

characteristic of the Westbahn project. Such a BOSCARD can be created, for

instance, by discussing and brainstorming particular BOSCARD sections in a

small group of key managers and engineers at short time. Findings and results of

such a brainstorming sessions are documented in the BOSCARD table.

Focusing on one particular BOSCARD section, that is, in particular, the scope

definition of the Westbahn project, a decision has to be made, which features and

functions to deliver in the project scope and which to leave outside of its scope.

Grundy & Brown (2002) suggest a few useful diagnostic methods providing a

solid framework for strategic analysis and decision-making: Performance Driver

Analysis, Gap Analysis and Fishbone Analysis.

Grundy & Brown postulates that Performance Driver Analysis is useful for

turnaround projects, diagnosing organizational issues and difficulties, and

defining problems to improve business performance. Ansoff (1965)

characterizes Gap Analysis as a classic, strategic planning technique particularly

useful for linking strategy development, business breakthroughs, business plans

and shareholder value creation. Fishbone Analysis (Grundy & Brown, 2002)

provides a method for going beyond an immediate definition of a problem or

opportunity. Chapman (n.d.) states that fishbone diagrams are useful for early


May 14, 2012 6

planning such as organizing factors and identifying hidden factors during

brainstorming.

Based on Chapman, Fishbone Analysis is a fitting technique how to decide on the

project scope. For, the business case assessment of the Westbahn project is an

early project planning stage. The scope analysis requires revealing, identifying

and organizing features and functions, which shall be considered in or out of the

project scope.

Using the fishbone diagram technique, a brainstorming group can start defining

the functional scope by first setting the ultimate functional goal. It may be, for

instance, “passenger resting aboard peacefully” in this particular case. Beginning

from this very end, going backwards, the fishbone diagram can easily portray all

preceding features and functions to consider in the project. Other features and

functions, found less important or redundant, may be excluded from the scope

or, for instance, postponed for later versions.


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Figure 1: Fishbone Diagram1

As previously described, the outputs of the project conception and definition

phase are documents called Statement of Work, Scope Statement and Project

Master Plan in the methodology by Nicholas & Steyn.

In the Westbahn project, BOSCARD obviously covers Statement of Work and

Scope Statement. A pending part, Project Master Plan, is worked out in the next

stage of the project – project planning.

1 A generic fishbone diagram template in MS Excel format was downloaded from

<http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/6179.aspx>


May 14, 2012 8

Project Planning and Scheduling

Nicholas & Steyn (2012, p. 163) state that every project is unique in some way.

Every project thus poses new questions regarding what, how, by whom, in what

order, for how much and by when. They define five questions, which the

planning process has to answer before the work itself can commence:

1. “What?” addresses project objectives, scope and system requirements

(project deliverables, end-items, and other sought results, time, cost

and performance targets).

2. “How?” answers the question on definition of all work activities, tasks

and jobs to achieve objectives and requirements (to deliver end-items

and deliverables, including planning, control and administration

activities).

3. “Who?” specifies project organization – individuals, departments,

managers, who will perform and manage the work including defining

clear responsibilities.

4. “When, in what order?” is addressed by the schedule showing timings,

deadlines and milestones.

5. “How much and when?” is to create a budget and resource plan to fund

and support the project.

6. “How well?” is to specify a method for tracking and controlling project

work.

The first question “what” has been previously answered by means of the

BOSCARD and Fishbone Analysis.

Next three questions, i.e. “how”, “who” and “when/in what order” are going to be

answered in this section of this work. The fifth question “how much/when”, is out

of scope of this paper. The last question “how well” is addressed in the next

section of this coursework devoted to project monitoring and control.


May 14, 2012 9

Back to the questions “how” and “who”, a prevalent method for answering them

in project management is so-called Work Breakdown Structure.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Nicholas & Steyn (2012, pp. 169-177) recognize Work Breakdown Structure

(WBS) as the optimal method for exactly specifying all tasks and jobs the project

team must do. WBS answers the second question “how” and the third question

“who”.

WBS process starts with defining the main end-item or deliverable of the project

on the top, which is understood as a certain system. This system can be further

subdivided into subsystems and further smaller components. Thus, the project

outcome or deliverable can be divided into final parts – so called “work

packages”, which simplify scheduling, budgeting and assigning responsibilities.

Nicholas and Steyn recommend that work packages shall be well define in terms

of clearness, comprehensiveness, resource requirements, time, costs,

responsibility, outcomes, inputs, quality and risk. Only if the most of these

properties are satisfactorily worked out for each WBS box, such a box can be

considered as well defined and becomes a work package.

WBS may also be used to answer “who”, since each work package can be exactly

assigned someone’s responsibility. WBS can be integrated into the project

organization to clearly assign which team or department is in charge of each

particular work package. This can be documented by so called Responsibility

Matrix attached to WBS.

WBS can be constructed either from product or functional perspective,

depending what the end-item or deliverable of the project is. Nicholas and Steyn

further advise to constantly ask questions “What else is needed?” and “What’s

next?” when creating WBS.


May 14, 2012 10

Nicholas and Steyn (2012, p. 173) also recommend that WBS may include work

packages related to project management itself, such as schedules, plans, budget,

risks and so forth.

Applying WBS in the Westbahn project, it is created by repeatedly answering the

question what all is needed for the principal deliverable, that is, to make

Westbahn saleable in the airline GDS. Since distribution is rather a process and

function than any product or end-item, this particular WBS approaches the

deliverables primarily from the functional perspective. As recommended by

Nicholas & Steyn, Westbahn WBS includes work packages related to pending

project management issues. Finally, each work package is assigned to a

particular worker, team or department to define and assign responsibilities.

Figure 2: Work Breakdown Structure

The advantage of WBS method is that it provides a complete structured high-

level overview of all the elements, tasks and jobs to deliver the end-item or

deliverables expected from the project. Another advantage is a possibility to


May 14, 2012 11

clearly assign each box to a department, a team or an individual person to

accurately assign responsibilities.

The downside of WBS is that it does not show any workflow, that is, which work

package is to be executed at what time and which work package has to be

accomplished before another can be processed. WBS does not provide any

information on times and scheduling either.

After discussing project organization to better answer the question “who”, WBS

is to be enhanced by other planning and scheduling methods to further work out

the project plan for the Westbahn GDS distribution.

Project Organization Structure

Nicholas & Steyn (2012) name two project organization structures: Pure Project

Organizations (PPO) and Matrix Organizations.

PPO is a separate entity created especially for the project. A project manager

heads the PPO with full authority over people and resources required for the

project. On the contrary, a project conducted in Matrix Organization structure

draws human resources and technical expertise from the existing functional

division of the company. Project workers remain in their functional departments.

They are assigned to certain projects on a temporary basis.

Matrix organization is selected, for the Westbahn project is relatively small. Its

duration is estimated only 2-3 months. Last but not least, Hahn Air is per se a

functionally organized company.

Matrix organization’s main advantage for the Westbahn project is that the

project manager can involve suitable project members from the existing

functional organization without taking them out of their original departments.


May 14, 2012 12

Workers can thus continue working on other tasks related to their functional

departments or other projects.

Project manager has to just cope with one principal disadvantage, that is, each

worker has more than one manager. Nicholas & Steyn (2012, pp. 476-477) point

out that this situation tends to lead to confusion and conflicts. They stipulate that

every company establishes clear priorities in this respect. As a rule of thumb,

Peters & Waterman (n.d., pp. 307-308) mention an example of Boeing, a long-

term successful user of matrix organization, setting workers’ priorities day-to-

day: workers operate either in a project team or in a functional area. They have

to put their priority on whichever area they are in.

Boeing’s rule of thumb is concluded to be appropriate for the Westbahn project

organization at Hahn Air. Workers assigned for the project work primarily on the

project, secondarily in their departments until the project is accomplished.

After discussing the question “who” in more depth, the next question “when, in

what order” can be addressed.

Network Diagram and Gantt Chart

Project Management offers two standard tools for planning and scheduling

projects beyond WBS: Network Diagram and Gantt chart. These techniques help

answer the fourth question, that is “when, in what order”.

Network Diagram is a flow chart depicting the sequence of tasks and activities in

which they are to be completed and their mutual sequential relationships. The

chart shows events and milestones, as well as preceding and succeeding

activities related to a certain activity. Activities can be identified that may run in

parallel with others to save time. Network diagrams can also be detailed by

calculating activities’ duration, early times and late times. This is a part of so-

called Critical Path Analysis helping determine which activities, their durations


May 14, 2012 13

and relationships are critical to keep the project schedule and meet the planned

deadline, whereas other tasks and jobs may be executed at a certain slack.

(Nicholas & Steyn, 2012, pp. 198-210)

Gantt chart is a bar chart drawn to scale with the horizontal axis directly

proportional to time. Particular project tasks are listed one after another. Their

start dates, durations and end dates are shown using bars, whose start date,

duration and end date correspond to the horizontal scale. Gantt chart is a

popular aid favored by senior managers for its visual graphical overview of

project task and schedule. (Flouris & Lock, 2008)

Nicholas & Steyn (2012, p. 197) stress out that project scheduling involves more

than just displaying tasks on Gantt charts. They argue that though Gantt chart is

an excellent tool for communicating project schedules, it is rather limited as a

planning tool. Gantt chart does not explicitly show relationships between

activities. It does not show how activity delays and resource shifts may impact

the overall project. Hence, Nicholas & Steyn (2012, p. 211) recommend: “Gantt

chart should be created only after a network analysis has been done, early and

late dates determined, and issues and constraints surrounding the project

accounted for.”

Based on Nicholas & Steyn, a network diagram is to be prepared in the Westbahn

project before Gantt chart. Individual work packages from WBS are to be

analyzed on their estimated duration and sequential relationships with other

work packages. Furthermore, early and late starts and finishes of every work

package are to be calculated, slacks identified and critical path defined.

Next, Gantt chart is generated listing work packages (some may be further

broken down in more tasks and activities) and showing their starts, finishes and

durations with horizontal bars on the calendar line. Precedence relationships

defined in the network diagram are added onto the chart to display the related

dependencies. Each task is assigned its responsible worker from WBS and other

required resources.


May 14, 2012 14

Figure 3: Gantt chart example

At this stage, the Westbahn project is ready for implementation. The Statement

of Work and Scope Statement in the form of BOSCARD discussed in the previous

chapter has been enhanced by a Master Project Plan created using Work

Breakdown Structure, Network Diagram and Gantt Chart in this chapter.

Project implementation is related to project monitoring and control, which is

addressed in the next section.


May 14, 2012 15

Project Monitoring and Control

After the project is successfully initiated and planned, the actual project

execution can commence. At this stage, Nicholas & Steyn (2012, p. 395) limits a

major function of project management to control the project.

Roman (1980, p. 369) defines the project control process as: “Assessing actual

against planned technical accomplishments, reviewing and verifying the validity

of technical objectives, confirming the continued need for the project, timing it to

coincide with operational requirements, overseeing resource expenditures, and

comparing the anticipated value with the costs incurred.”

Nicholas & Steyn (2012, pp. 389, 396-397) assure that no project plan is ever

complete or perfect despite all efforts invested in planning, scheduling and

budgeting. Reality always differs from plans. Therefore every project needs

project control to move forward, track progress, tackle problems and oversee

costs and deadlines. Besides project control, they define project monitoring, an

accompanying activity, as observing and tracking how well the project is

performing and forecasting how it will eventually perform. Project monitoring

involves collecting data, interpreting it and reporting information.

Nicholas & Steyn (2012, pp. 402-406) give a hint, which project areas to control:

o Scope – to avoid or at least to minimize so-called “scope creep”. Project

scopes tend to grow due to changes and additions as the project goes.

o Quality – to make sure that desired requirements and specifications

are met and to reduce errors in the work process.

o Schedule – to keep project on schedule as planned.

o Procurement – to control external suppliers’ progress.

o Cost – to track difference between budgeted and actual cost accrued.


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Roman and Nicholas & Steyn provide sound basic theoretical introduction into

project control and monitoring by clearly defining what these categories are,

which purpose they have and which areas they shall cover. This is insufficient for

the Westbahn project yet, for they have not provided any practical guidance on

how to deploy and carry on monitoring and control in projects.

Singh (n.d., p. 16) describes a simple practical tactic for project monitoring and

control by using the project plan and by organizing regular review meetings. The

project plan can be updated, as well as other documents such as requirements

and functional specifications, in the review meetings, for which he gives the

following tips:

o Have an informal discussion with your key team members before the

meeting.

o Do a detailed project review on your own – carefully review all the

tasks that need to be completed in the next three to six weeks. By

doing so you may identify issues that need to be discussed during the

meeting.

o Now circulate a meeting agenda to all participants.

o If decisions need to be made at the meeting, make sure that the person

with the authority to make the decisions attends the meeting.

o Start a meeting by specifying its objectives.

o Quickly compare the project’s current status with the original project

plan.

o Follow the initially established agenda and avoid straying from it.

o Ensure that the meetings are not too long and make efficient use of the

participants’ time.

o Always end by recapitulating the decisions made, and the next steps.

o Write a meeting report and circulate it within 24 hours of the meeting.

Depending on the situation, you might want to write a detailed report

or just a simple list of decisions that were made, and actions to be

taken.


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Referring to the Westbahn project organization, nature and size of both Hahn Air

and Westbahn companies, this tactic meets this project’s monitoring and control

requirements.

Having an environment of no excessive corporate project management

organization (no project management office, no dedicated project controllers,

only moderate reporting needs, rather relaxed management attitude, preference

of quick and efficient informal meeting, and so forth), project manager (PM)

exercises project monitoring and control following Singh’s method.

PM periodically checks project documents such as BOSCARD, WBS, Network

Diagram and Gantt Chart. PM assesses the actual progress against the plan. PM

consults key project members on this informally to crosscheck and to get true

information. PM organizes periodical quick status meetings with a clear focused

agenda. Thus, the entire team can keep an overview over progress of the entire

project, not just on the particular part the team member is working on. Thanks to

the specified meeting objectives and agenda, the meeting is straightforward and

efficient. Variances between the planned and the actual status are addressed and

discussed. Decisions on corrective actions can be made on spot, since relevant

decision makers are invited to the project review meeting. A short meeting

report addressing only relevant decisions and actions is produced instantly and

circulated within 24 hours to relevant stakeholders.

When performing control function, PM is to watch on scope, quality, schedule,

procurement and cost as advised by Nicholas & Steyn.

PM pays attention at the scope of the Westbahn project as defined in the

BOSCARD to avoid any distractions misleading from the core objectives. In terms

of quality, PM checks on relevance of the project and its objectives for Westbahn

as long as the work progresses, as well as on relevance of the requirements and

specifications originally defined for Westbahn at the beginning of the project. PM

observes the schedule for any time discrepancies and delays. Procurement is


May 14, 2012 18

irrelevant in the Westbahn project, since there are no external suppliers in this

project.

The last category PM is advised to oversee is costs. Singh does not offer any hints

in this respect. Nicholas & Steyn define the cost control as tracking difference

between budgeted and actual cost incurred. They point out that the traditional

notion of cost control is not appropriate for project management.

Traditional cost control simply measures the amount spent with the amount

planned in the budget. Comparing the difference clearly shows, whether the

project runs within the budget or it does not. However, this simple comparison

does not deem any work progress achieved. Thus, the project may be well within

the budgeted cost, but this can be caused by less work performed than planned.

Nicholas & Steyn and several other project management experts (Haughey,

Dwivedi and Woods, among others) agree that Earned Value Management (EVM)

is an appropriate method for these purposes.

EVM is a systematic project management process used to identify variances in

projects based on the comparison of work performed and work planned.

(Dwivedi, n.d.)

EVM works with three principal variables and three variances (Nicholas & Steyn,

2012, pp. 407, 409):

o Planned Value (PV), Actual Cost (AC) and Earned Value (EV)

o Schedule Variance (SV), Time Variance (TV) and Cost Variance (CV)

PM finds out the current status of the project by comparing and interpreting

their values. For example, if EV is less than PV, the project is behind schedule. If

AC is higher than PV, the actual cost incurred so far is higher than the budgeted

cost. TV shows in days or weeks how late the project is behind the original

schedule.


May 14, 2012 19

PM’s job at project control is to have completed projects within assigned time

scale and budget. PM must not control only cost and budget without controlling

work and performance achieved. EVM reputation as a project control function

has increased over years now being a popular tool among project managers for

successful project delivery. EVM integrates both schedule and cost control into

measuring project performance. (Woods, 2012)

Woods names several advantages to introduce EVM in project management

process, such as better visibility how the project is doing, better control over

project’s performance, possibility to easily determine the future status of the

project, decrease in project risk, prevention of scope creep, and so forth. Woods

names some disadvantages, too. EVM may lead to overly paying attention to time

and cost savings rather than the quality of the project. Woods thinks that the

biggest issue is regular maintenance of the information necessary for producing

the calculations. Time and effort must be invested into maintaining both planned

and actual time and cost in the project planning software.

Wilkens (1999) lists five simple steps how to set up EVM:

1. Divide the project into manageable portions using WBS.

2. Develop activities to be scheduled.

3. Allocate resources and related costs for each activity.

4. Schedule activities over time.

5. Reconfirm the plan is acceptable by analyzing data.

Wilkens advises the following 4 steps for using EVM:

1. Update the schedule by reporting activity progress.

2. Enter actual costs on activities.

3. Execute EVM calculations, produce reports and charts.

4. Analyze the data and write narrative report.


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Wilkens states one more useful tip: “For labor-intensive efforts, work hours are

often considered adequate.” In other words, if the project predominantly

comprises of work, EVM may be excessive.

The Westbahn project is labor-intensive. Looking at the resources planned in

WBS and Gantt chart, there are no materials, supplies or other inputs than work.

Thus, though EVM is a usual method for project control, it is concluded

unnecessary for this project.

Instead, following Wilkens, controlling working hours provides sufficient control

over project costs in this particular case. This will save project management

capacity otherwise devoted to maintaining EVM in terms of Wilkens’s steps 2-4.

Concluding project monitoring and control, the project management techniques

depicted above reduce diversions from the project plan and impose necessary

corrective actions. However, remembering that reality always differs from plans,

certain risk and uncertainty still remain in the project. Therefore, next section

discusses how to cope with them.


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Project Risk and Reducing Uncertainty

Grundy & Brown (2002) argue that inexperienced project managers usually

underestimate project definition, careful planning and control. Managers spend

less time analyzing and preparing, which results in longer and more problematic

implementation caused by surprises, unexpected events, troubles, looking for

their solutions and resolving them. Grundy & Brown suggest the ideal time

versus actual time as follows:

Actual Time Ideal Time

Definition and diagnosis 2% 20%

Strategy and planning 10% 20%

Implementation 80% 40%

Control and learning 8% 20%

Wrona (Your Risk Management Process: A Practical and Effective Approach, n.d.)

elaborates further: “Some experts have said that a strong risk management

process can decrease problems on a project by as much as 80 or 90 percent. In

combination with solid project management practices, … , a good risk

management process is critical in cutting down on surprises, or unexpected

project risks. Such a process can also help with problem resolution when

changes occur, because now those changes are anticipated and actions have

already been reviews and approved, avoiding knee jerk reactions.”

This is a clear argument for incorporating risk management along with all

previously described methods and techniques into the Westbahn project plan.

In her practical and effective approach, Wrona defines project risks as unknown

events embodying threats. She encourages companies to identify more than just

some 5-10 project risks that are usually identified on fairly typical multi-month

projects. The more project risks are identified as early as possible, the more


May 14, 2012 22

potential problems are recognized earlier and the more opportunities are seen

more readily. Wrona recommends that the following 7 steps be embedded into

each project noting that modifications are possible:

1. Every person involved in the project pencils at least 10 potential risk

items.

2. All inputs are collected and piled up onto one single list removing

duplicates.

3. Assessment of probability, impact and detectability of each risk item, for

example, using a scale from 1 to 4 or a subjective term as high, medium,

or low.

4. Project team divided into sub-groups. Each sub-group gets a portion of

the master list. Each sub-group identifies and notes triggers (warning

signs).

5. Same sub-groups continue on identifying possible preventive actions for

the threats and enhancement actions for the opportunities.

6. Creating a contingency plan with actions to take if a trigger or a risk to

occur. It is sufficient to cover only the risks scoring above a certain

threshold determined by the total risk scores.

7. Determination of the owner for each risk on the list.

Wrona advises not to start this risk management process from scratch every

time. It is rather efficient to have a ready-to use list of generic project risks and

triggers. A project team then simply compiles the list by adjusting generic risks

and by adding the project-specific project risks. Risk management process of this

kind shall lead to a Risk Register (Risk Matrix) in the form of a clearly table. Such

a risk register is easy to maintain and review, for example, during periodical

status meetings.

In the end, Wrona points out that identification of triggers and preventive

actions is vital, though too often ignored in practice. In such a case, project teams

may end up in constant reaction mode responding to unexpected events

threatening the project implementation and its deliverables.


May 14, 2012 23

Figure 4: Risk Register example2

Practicality of Wrona’s approach to risk management in project management is

demonstrated by its use in the Westbahn project plan.

Westbahn project team members are encouraged to generate dozens of risk

items in the first step. The second step refines them by cutting duplicates and by

listing particular risks in one single structured list. The third step makes sure

that each risk is assessed on all its attributes, that is, likelihood, impact and

detectability, by assigning the values from 1 to 4. These three attributes are

consolidated in the risk score helping rank the risks in the table. Steps four, five

and six deliver triggers, preventive actions and contingency plans. Step seven

makes sure that each risk item receives a particular risk owner from the project

team. All this results in a single well-arranged risk register table.

Wrona’s approach is concluded appropriate for the Westbahn project. It is

advantageous for its ease, brevity and speed. It can be easily introduced and

followed without much effort. The risk register is complete, short and accessible

to each project team member. It can be easily maintained and kept relevant by

quickly going through as a part of every project status team meeting so that risk

is constantly monitored during the entire project work.

2 A generic risk register template in MS Excel format was downloaded from

<http://www.projectmanagementdocs.com/templates/risk-register.html>


May 14, 2012 24

Conclusion

This coursework has examined the entire project plan development for a project

of a smaller size in the environment of small and medium enterprises of Hahn

Air and Westbahn.

For the business case assessment, the efficient BOSCARD technique was found

instead of preparing any exhausting Statement of Work and Scope Statement.

Fishbone Analysis was identified as an appropriate supporting analytical

technique and its use demonstrated on project scope definition.

Project planning and scheduling was backed up by Work Breakdown Structure,

Network Diagram and Gantt Chart. Project organization was set up by attaching

WBS to Matrix Organization.

In terms of project monitoring and control, Singh’s tactic was found appropriate

for its clarity, simplicity and practicality. This tactic was extended by guidance

from Nicholas & Steyn on five project areas to control – scope, quality, schedule,

procurement and cost. Regarding cost control, Earned Value Management was

scrutinized and concluded excessive for this project. Instead, working hours as a

project cost indicator was found sufficient.

Careful and thorough project definition and diagnosis with strategy and planning

combined with project risk management was concluded to reduce problems and

uncertainty in this project. Moreover, Wrona’s approach to establishing and

maintaining practical risk management was recommended for this project.

In conclusion, theoretical preparation of a project for railway distribution in

airline GDS is successfully accomplished. The selected project management

procedure and techniques will facilitate and accelerate groundwork and

execution of the actual Westbahn project.


May 14, 2012 25

Reference List

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Chapman, A. (n.d.). Project management, tools, process, plans and project planning

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Appendix 1: A BOSCARD Table Example3

Project Name WESTBAHN Project Sponsor HAHN AIR

Strategic Fit Non-airline content (NAC) Project Manager Ramya Muniandi

Date Raised April 10, 2012 Lead Function Simon Riha

Background Provide background information that

includes the reasons for creating the

project and mentions the key stakeholders

who will benefit from the project result.

Market situation in GDS:

There are just a few scattered railways. Railway distribution and

systems incompatible with GDS. No simple solution for processing e-

tickets at railway stations and on trains.

Consequence: No provider has come up with any solution yet due to

its marginal significance for railways.

Market demand in GDS:

Significant. Trains faster and more convenient means of

transportation up to 400-500 Kms. Airlines gradually discontinue

short flights. Travel agents ask for railways in GD to combine air-rail.

4 ground carriers have shown their preliminary interest.

Conclusion: An opportunity for Hahn Air to launch a new distribution

solution.

External stakeholders:

• Railways to access GDS for global sales.

• Airlines to interline with railways.

• ravel agents.

Internal stakeholders:

• Hahn Air Systems

• Hahn Air Global Service Desk

Objectives

Describe the project goals and link each of

them with related project objectives

Project goal:

Building a solution for bringing railways and other ground

transportation means into the GDS easily, quickly and at low cost

and making them in GDS user-friendly for both agents and travellers.

Solution shall generate minor (besides the existing core distribution

channels) but still significant sales for railways and Hahn Air.

Demonstrate with Westbahn.

3 A generic BOSCARD table template was downloaded from

<http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/docs/boscard-template.doc>.


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Project objectives:

• Make 3 Westbahn's routings (VIE/SZG, VIE/LNZ, SZG/LNZ)

saleable exactly as flights in GDS

• Check-in and boarding the train shall be simple, seamless and

idiot-proof.

• Standard ticket revenue accounting process and revenue

settlement.

• Solution shall be replicable beyond Westbahn without

substantial modifications.

• Solution shall be scalable towards interlining and code-sharing

with airlines.

Scope Provide a high-level

description of the

features and functions

that characterise the

product, service, or

result the project is

meant to deliver.

Within Scope

E.g.

• FDL (Flight Data Load)

• ATPCO fare filing (fares & rules)

• E-ticketing

• …

Outside Scope

• Code-sharing with airlines

• E-ticket conversion into PDF

(Developed in future solution versions)

Constraints Identify the specific constraints or

restrictions that limit or place conditions on

the project, especially those associated

with project scope.

E.g.

• Use the existing system infrastructure only.

• No external suppliers.

Assumptions Specify all factors that are, for planning

purposes, considered to be true. During

the planning process these assumptions

will be validated.

E.g.

• Westbahn will be distributed under H1 designator.

• …

Risks Outline the risks identified at the start of

the project. Include a quick assessment of

the significance of each risk and how to

address them.

E.g.

• …

Deliverables Define the key deliverables that the project

is required to produce in order to achieve

the stated objectives.

E.g.

• …


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Project Resources People and their time, plus non-people

resource e.g. systems, plant capacity etc.

Ramya Muniandi Project Manager

Vlado Vasilev System Engineer

Unisys Aircore PSS

MS BizTalk Server

Project Approval

Name Role/Job Title Signature/Date

Hans Nolte CEO

Simon Riha EVP Business Development

Mathieu Montmessin Managing Director

Hahn Air Systems GmbH

EAC MBA Project Management - Railway GDS Distribution - Westbahn

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