PPMP20010 South East Light Rail Project Analysis Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : PPMP20010
• University : Central Queensland University My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Management

Executing and Closing Projects - Part A

1 Project Information

Sydney CBS and South East Light Rail Project is a light rail line construction project. The construction of light rail line is started in 2015 and is expected to complete line 2 by December 2019 and line 3 by April 2020. Below are the details about the project and its current status as on July 30, 2018. (Anon., 2020)

Case Study (Project)

Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail Project (2014 - 2020)

(WBS codes have been assigned to the dummy tasks for assignment purpose only)

Project name: Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail

Status report date: June 30, 2018

Project ownership: ALTRAC Light Rail

Prepared by: Project Manager

Distribution list: Government, ALTRAC Light Rail, Steering Committee

2 Gantt Chart

Gantt Chart explains the time frame of the work break-down structure. The Gantt chart below explains the following about the timeline of various WBS:

• WBS 1 and 2 should be completed by June 30, 2016.
• WBS 3 and 4 should commence by July 1, 2016 and WBS 3 should be completed by June 30, 2017. WBS 4 should be completed by December 2017.
• WBS 5.1 should commence from Jan 1, 2017 and complete on December 31, 2017 and WBS 5.2 should commence from Jan 1, 2018 and complete by December 31, 2018.
• WBS 6 and 7 should commence from Jul 1, 2018 and complete by Dec December 31, 2019 and June 30,2019 respectively.
• WBS 8 starts on Jul 1, 2018 and gets completed on Dec 31, 2019. WBS 9 starts on Jan 1, 2020 and ends on Jun 30, 2020.

Therefore, as on June 30, 2018, the project should have completed WBS 5.1 and should have commenced WBS 5.2.

3 Variance Analysis

Below is the table used for analysing the scheduled variance and the cost variance of the project as on June 30, 2018. I have explained the basic terms below:

• PV (Planned Value): This refers to the budget assigned for a Work break-down structure (WBS).
• EV (Earned Value): This refers to the proportionate of planned value for the work completed.
• AC (Actual Cost): This is the actual cost incurred to till date.

Inference:

Scheduled Performance Index: The schedule performance index of WBS 1, 2, 3 and 4 is 100%. Therefore, it can be inferred that the cost of these tasks was completed as budgeted. The schedule performance index of WBS 5.2 is 25%. It means, the work completed is less than the budgeted plan. Hence, WBS 5.2 is lacking behind the schedule.

Cost Performance Index: The cost performance index of WBS 1 is 100%. It means the actual cost and budgeted cost are equal. The CPI of WBS 2 (including 2.1 and 2.2) is 83.3%. It means the planned value is 83.33% of the actual cost. The CPI of WBS 3 is 111.111%. This means the WBS 3’s actual cost was less than the projected cost. There was cost saving in this WBS.

The CPI of WBS 4 is 93.33% and WBS 5 is 64.70%. Again, in these two tasks the actual cost has shot up. To further break it down, WBS 5.2 has CPI of 20%. This is a main area where the company has incurred too much of cost when compared to its budgeted cost.

4 Estimate at Completion (EAC)

Estimate at Completion is calculated based on the assumption the project’s experience until now will be continued. Hence, the formula used would be as below:

EAC = BAC / CPI

BAC is the total planned value of the project and this stands at $1520 million.

The CPI is Earned value / Actual cost and this stands at 78.48%.

Therefore, the estimate at completion = 1520/78.48% = 1,936.80

The overbudget amount = EAC – BAC = $1,936.80 – $1,520 = $416.80million

The following can be the reasons for the cost overruns:

• Poor contract management lead to increase in the actual costs. In case of this project, there was poor management of the contract and the contractor even went into legal issues. Thus, the costs could have increased.
• The period between the project bidding and the project commencement had a period of more than a year. This could have lead to increase in prices of the material or labour. Hence, the cost overrun could be witnessed.
• The other reason could be a poor budgeting. A poor budgeting would lead to inappropriate budget and thus the actual cost could be more than the budgeted cost.
• The redundancies found on George street delayed the work by couple of months. The cost to clear these redundancies would have increased the cost of project.

As total cost may increase by $416million, there is a need for re-baselining. The baseline being the planned value, this has to be restated with the proper approval from the required team.

5 To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI)

The formula to calculate the To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) when BAC is invalid is stated below:

TCPI = (BAC – EV) / (EAC – AC)

TCPI = (1,520 – 930) / (1,936.80 – 1185)

TCPI = 590 / 751.8

TCPI = 0.7848

6 Cost Summary

Here is the summary of Cost:

Total planned value = $1520 Million

Total Earned Value as on June 30, 2018 = $930 Million

Total Actual Cost as on June 30, 2018 = $1185 Million

Estimate at Completion = $1,936.80 Million

Over Budget Cost = $416.80million

7 Forecast Completion Date

Forecast Completion Date = Total Duration of the project / SPI

Total duration of the project = (June 30, 2020 – July 1, 2015) / 61.18%

Total duration of the project = 1826/61.18%

Forecast completion date = 2985

Forecast completion date = June 30, 2020 + 1158 days

Forecast completion date = September 1, 2023.

Re-baselining the project is necessary in this case as the project that was scheduled to be completed in mid-2020 is now extended till mid on 2023. This will increase the costs and the entire project would be off the track if the rebaselining is not done. Hence, we would want the approval from the required team for the rebase lining the project.

8 Milestone Report

Executing and Closing Projects - Part B

1. Project Information

Project name: Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail project

Date: June 30, 2018

Project ownership: ALTRAC

Prepared by: Project Manager

Distribution list: List of those receiving the report, their positions and role in the project.

2. Establish the Need for An Exception Report

This exception report is related to the project Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail Project. The project was supposedly completed on June 30, 2020. But, because of various reasons, the team is not able to complete the project on the scheduled date. The forecasted completion date stands at September 21, 2023. This means, the project may take 1,158 more days than the estimated due date to get completed, this is little more than 3 years of project extension.

The tolerance provided by the team is +/- 12 weeks, that is approximately 84 days. Hence, it can be concluded that the project completion date deviation is lot more than the tolerant value.

This gives us the provision to compile the over the schedule exception report to the concerned authority. If this known deviation is not reported at the earliest, the Government, the contractor company and the general public will be affected with this project. We seek for the guidance on this issue from the higher authority as well as we give the suggestions for team to manage this behind-schedule project.

We henceforth, present this exception report to the concerned person for a better understanding about the reasons for the behind schedule project, recommendations and the lessons that is learnt from the same.

3. Exception Report

9 References for Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail Project Analysis

Anon., 2020. Wikipedia. [Online]
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBD_and_South_East_Light_Rail#Delays
[Accessed 30 August 2020].

Hawke, S., 2016. ABC. [Online]
Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-09/light-rail-construction-to-cause-sydney-cbd-delays/7704766?WT.ac=localnews_sydney
[Accessed 29 Aug 2020].

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