MGT5IPM Assessment 3

Assessment 3 instructions

 Background

You should by now have a good understanding of the unique characteristics of international projects. You should have a firm grasp of the way in which uncertainty impacts on a number of project management activities, in particular how the culture of international stakeholders affects the planning and execution of projects. Your task now is to analyse and critique an international project in terms of how well it is being conducted, the problem areas and possible improvements.

Scenario

You have been appointed by the Australian federal government to provide a critique of the conduct of the $80B Attack Class submarine program. So as not to arouse political suspicion you are to base your advice exclusively on data contained in the source materials from the Defence Connect website – an article dated 20 January 2020 titled, “$80bn future submarine program runs aground, again”. You are to treat the submarine contract as a continuing effort with no prospect of being halted and restarted in another form. Remember you are producing a consulting report, not a research report. All recommendations must be based exclusively on details contained in the article nominated above. As the tendering and competitive evaluation process is deemed to have been handled well it is specifically excluded from the scope of your submission.

The scope of the task

Please read the press report:

https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/maritime-antisub/5422-80-billion-future-submarine-program-runs-aground-again
 
You have been bought into the submarine project to advise the Australian government on the following four questions:
1.    What do you see as the objectives of the submarine project? Think beyond just the operational requirements and consider all stakeholders and all benchmarks the lead project manager should consider. Which of these objectives are likely to be met? Which are in jeopardy? And why?
2.    Given that the project takes place on opposite sides of the world (Adelaide, Australia & France) how would you optimize monitoring and control of the project to improve the likelihood of it meeting its objectives.
3.    One stakeholder stated in an interview that he “support(ed) the ANAO's view that the project risk is high to extreme.” Identify what you consider to be the top four risks you would include in a risk management plan associated with this project. Briefly explain how you would respond to each of these risks.
4.    Given that this project already uses robust project management methodologies how might you prevent further “time-frame slippage” referred to in the report?
 
Your report should be presented in a report format. It needs to look and sound professional and to be suitable for presentation in a Parliamentary debate.

Preparing your submission:

Prepare your submission as a Word document of 1,500 words per student, 10%+/- excluding the list of references. Make sure you include at least six references to academic publications, using the Harvard referencing style. 

Refer to the Assessment 3 marking rubric before starting work on your submission.