Victorian Parliament’s Parlynet Project Analysis

Victorian Parliament’s Parlynet
Project Analysis
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Executive Summary
Parlynet 2002 Project was the IT project for the Victorian Parliament. It was rolled out in
2003 and just after the roll out, the users started facing the problems in terms of log in
problems, opening of electronic files and the slow process of the software. Keeping in mind
the problems analysis is being done to check the issues related to the problems due to which
the project was failed. During the analysis it was observed that the project team did not
follow the correct procedures of project management, they did not follow the hierarchy, and
job responsibilities were not divided and so on and so forth. Therefore the recommendations
are made based on the analysis of the project on what should the project management do in
order to rectify the issues related to the Parlynet.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................4
Identification and Analysis of Issues.............................................................................4
Analysis of Project Integration..........................................................................................4
Analysis of Scope of the Project........................................................................................4
Analysis of Financial management..................................................................................5
Analysis of Time...............................................................................................................5
Analysis of the Project Quality........................................................................................6
Analysis of Human Resource Management....................................................................6
Analysis of the Communication Process........................................................................6
Analysis of the Risk and Procurement Management.....................................................7
Analysis of Five Group Process....................................................................................7
Recommendations and Justifications.........................................................................9
Conclusion....................................................................................................................10
References.....................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Parlynet is the information technology software which is used throughout the state and links
the entire major functional elements of the Victorian Parliament. In June 2002 it was decided
to upgrade the software, the project was known as Parlynet 2002 Project. It was rolled out in
November 2002, few months after the implementation, the complaints regarding the speed
and the performance of the Parlynet. Therefore, the audit was done to check the fault in the
system.
Identification and Analysis of Issues
The Parlynet 2002 Project was not successful due to the shortfalls in the project management.
Therefore the identifications have been made on the parts of the projects which have either
been neglected or poorly managed. The identified areas are project integration, scope of the
project, cost involved in the project, time, quality of the project, human resource of the
project, communication in the project and also the project’s risk management. Below is the
detailed analysis of the project and also how the situations have been saved.
Analysis of Project Integration
Project integration is the process which involves the coordination with all the knowledge
areas. It is very important to have good project integration in order to have a success in the
project however the project integration was missing in the Parlynet Project. The project was
just started without any planning and project integration is the important part of the planning.
The project integration involves project charter, project management plan, project execution,
monitor and control, perform change control and last close the project. (Tesch, Debbie,
Timothy Kloppenbourg, and John Stemmer. 2003) Except project execution, none of the
other tasks were performed. The project charter is important as it involves the project
background and justification of the project. It also outlines the roles and responsibilities of
the project manager and project sponsor, which were missing. The IT manager along with the
steering committee should have planned a project charter before the start of the project as it
would have helped them in gaining the direction of the project and also understanding the
outcome of the project.
Analysis of Scope of the Project
Scope of the project is the work involved in creating the products of the project and also the
processes for the same. ( Armstrong, Dan. 2004). In Parlynet Project the scope was not
defined clearly. The project scope includes what all to be involved and what not to be
involved however the Steering Committee did not restricted the scope and had lot of
segments involved in the project because of which the project became very large. The project

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was started without the clear understanding of the requirements in the project and also the
involvement. A good project Scope management will involve project charter, requirement
documentation and policies and procedures related to the scope. However, as mentioned
earlier, all these points were missing. In fact the project scope statement was not made at the
planning stage. The scope statement should have been made which would have included
realistic scope which would have been completed successfully or the bigger task should have
been broken into smaller projects (Nicholas, J M. 1989) and involve the users in the project
team to help the project team make realistic and achievable goals. Also the meeting which
was just conducted once should have been done more frequently so that the better
understanding the scope statement was made more specific and clear.
Analysis of Financial management
Appropriate financial management was another concern of the shortfalls happened to the
project. This is due to the negligence from the Steering Committee side, as they did not track
the funds and their proper usages during the project. Though the budget was allocated to the
project yet the project crossed the budget and was short of 1.664 million dollars, which was
then given by the parliament under exceeding pressure. The problem was the weak policies
and procedures made for the parliamentary usage. There was not one person to authorise the
deals and procurement of materials required. Also, the deals were made without referring the
funding budgets. As per the report; deals have been signed and approved by unknown people
and also not from the steering committee. Also the deal was signed with the contractor
without going through the process of tender. This would have been avoided if the clear
responsibilities were allocated to the steering committee, project sponsor and also the project
manager (Posner, B . Z. 1987). The detailed financial report should have been made monthly,
to check the fund available and how to manage them. (Burke, R. (1998). All the project deals
and requirements should have gone through the process of tender so that the best available
rates have been made to the project.
Analysis of Time
The completion date for the project was November 2002 however it was completed and
rolled out by the end of January 2003. This happened because of the elections which
coincided with the project in November 2002. The decision to start the project just before the
election was the wrong decision as it created disturbances to the work in the electorate office
and also in the parliamentary departments which adversely affected the delay in
implementation of the project. Since the Steering committee knew the forthcoming elections,
they should have waited for the elections to go over and then would have started with the
process of up gradation of Parlynet. This happened because of the poor project planning by
the committee and the sponsor and also the project manager.

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Analysis of the Project Quality
The whole problem in the project has aroused because the project that was completed was not
up to the mark. The users faced troubles because of the speed of the system, reliability on the
system and also the functionality of the system. This was known due to the survey done
among the users of the systems. Other issues with the system were the long log in times,
security of the system and delay in access to the electronic files. The contractor of the project
had planned the testing for Parlynet 2002 project; however the testing was not done due to the
pressure to roll out the project. It is imperative for any project to go through the process of
pre roll out testing so that in case of any performance issues they can be changed or rectified.
The failure of testing the system is the main cause of systems not performing as per the
standards. The project team should have made sure that the testing happens on the system
(Gobeli, D., & Larson, E. (1987). Also the project team should have users of the system, who
would have told about the shortfall of the systems before the roll out of the project.
Analysis of Human resource Management
The poor role of the human resource was sighted in the project. Firstly, the key
responsibilities were not divided among the project team handling the Parlynet 2002 project.
They were not told about the duties and also the team made was not up to the mark.
Secondly, there was no systematic reporting to the hierarchy therefore all followed their own
ways. Thirdly, the IT manager resigned in June and the HR department did not recruit anyone
and his absence project sponsor acted as the IT manager and all the pertinent decisions he
took alone. These decisions should have been taken in the consultation with the new IT
manager as he would have been knowledgeable and experienced in the field. (Armstrong,
Dan. 2004). Fourthly, since the IT staffs were not skilled enough to handle the vast change
and the implementation, the department should have hired the new experienced team before
the roll out of the project. The team would have been in the position to train the users on the
new applications. Lastly, the people who were supposed to use the system were not trained
adequately due to which half of the problems raised. It was informed by the contractor that
the new application would require in depth training and also skilled people to train however
this point was not take seriously by the project team. The human resource department along
with the project team should have forecasted the need and requirement of the skilled staff
(Burke, R. (1998) and also the training.
Analysis of the Communication Process
It is vital for any project to be successful to have a proper communication at all levels.
However, this was quite evident from the study that the communication did not played
important role in the Parlynet 2002 project. The lack of communication between the project
team and the contractor, lack of communication between the users and the project team and
also the lack of communication among the project team itself resulted in the failure of the

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project. The contractor was left with all the communication management with the users and
the stakeholders. The passing of duties was not corresponded adequately among the team
members. Team members did not follow the hierarchy. Half of the decisions were taken by
the people who were not from the project team processes. (Globerson, S & Zwikael, O 2002).
This all would have been avoided if the proper written document would have been made
about the responsibilities, reporting and accountability. The communication process should
have been channelized (Wateridge, J 1998) which would have given transparency in the
project as well.
Analysis of the Risk and Procurement Management
Another reason for the failure of the project was the lack of risk management strategies. The
project team did not design any strategies for the potential risks and the framework for the
same was missing. The risks that would have been managed were:
 The risk of project delivery not meeting the deadline
 The risk of delay of the roll out of the project
 The risk of not meeting the requirement of the users
 The risk of system not performing
 The risk of exceeding the budget for the project
 The risk due to decentralisation of IT system.
In case the project team had foreseen these risks, the project would have been successful. It
is very important for any project team to do the risk analysis as the success and failure
depends on the same. The project team should have made the management committee for risk
analysis, who would have audited the risks at the time of initiation, execution and the post
implementation.( Baccarini, D 1999). The proper risk management plan should have been
made by the team; this would have helped them to face the problems adequately and
efficiently.
Analysis of Five Process Group
The project management is divided into the five processes (Globerson, S & Zwikael, O
2002):
1. Project initiation Process
2. Project Planning Process
3. Project Execution Process
4. Project Monitoring and Controlling Process
5. Project Closing Process
It is vital for any organisation or for any project to follow them for the success of the project.
However, it was found that the Parlynet 2002 project has not undergone this approach. As

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discussed earlier the project planning was missing, apart from this the team did not carried
out the project initiation process also. The team straight started with the execution of the
project, since the first two processes were missing, the execution did not resulted well. This
was mainly due to the lack of knowledge and distribution of responsibilities to the project
manager. The PM was not actively involved in the execution process. Apart from this the
monitoring of the project at different level was not done and neither there was any control on
the project in terms of the finances. The closing process was not carried out, where the testing
of the new upgraded system should have been done and the approval should be taken from
the immediate users. (Chuad, K. B., Tummula, V. M. R., & Nkasu, M. M. (1995). If the
project team had focussed on all the processes, the Parlynet 2002 project would have been a
success story.

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Recommendations and Justifications
Parlynet 2002 Project is the project management failure as the team did not followed the
process cycle, which in turn brought lot of difficulties as well as the issues. It left the users
frustrated as they were unable to use the system efficiently. The recommendations are made
keeping in mind the finances of the project, human resource and the operations of the project.
Following are the recommendations along with the justification that I have listed for getting
the project on track:
 Once the implementation of the project is done, I will make sure that the users are
well trained on the system and also on the new applications. It is important for them
to undergo the training as it will hone the skills to operate the system more efficiently.
Also, they will know how to operate the system and open the electronic files
efficiently. Training will help the users to clear the doubts as well in case they have
any.
 I will assign responsibilities to people in order to resolve the system problems
adequately and efficiently. Since the same was not done before, due to which all the
problems have arouse. It is important to delegate the work and have people
accountable for the work as then only work is efficiently done. Once the people are
responsible and accountable for the work then only they perform the task efficiently.
 I will develop the training needs that are required by the IT staff so that they are well
aware upon the usage of the new upgraded system and can also help the users in
learning the new system and can also be helpful in the performance issues of the
system. It is important to train the staff adequately so that they can manage to check
for the problem.
 I will also recruit new IT staff that would have experience in handling the similar kind
of systems and applications as they would be able to resolve the problem quickly and
will also be the extended help to the IT department.
 The parliament should clearly describe the roles and responsibilities at all levels so
that decision making can be done more efficiently at all levels. It is vital to follow the
hierarchy in terms of roles and responsibilities.
 The risk should be identified in the project so that they are effectively managed when
required. It is very important to identify the risks so that the teams are prepared for the
consequences before they happen.
 I will recommend that the Steering committee along with the project sponsor and the
project manager should have meetings at regular intervals to check the performance
and the execution of the project and also make minutes of the meeting and also note
the approvals made.
 The financial report should be made and review should be done at the regular
intervals and also all the procurements should be made by the tender process. This
way the cost incurred can be controlled.

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 All the financial decisions should be made and approved by the people responsible
and accountable for the same. This ways, the unknown people’s involvement can be
mitigated.
 The project team should develop a plan regarding the IT requirements and prioritize
and time lines in order to solve the problems. At this moment solving the system issue
are the most important part therefore the adequate plan should be made on solving the
issues an d also the priority and deadlines should be set.
 I will make the Joint service department and the IT unit work together in order to set
priorities for solving the problems so that the maximum problems are solved within
time limit.
 I will develop an action plan, where I will keep the users informed about the actions
been taken to upgrade the programme and also keep them updated about the actions
been taken on solving the system’s problem. It is important to keep the users informed
so that they are aware about the time it is going to take to solve the problem as they
need the computers and laptops for their day to day work.
 I will engage the experienced and skilled personnel to et up the software in order to
solve the problems, follow the timelines by monitoring them and also monitor the
work flow of the project.
 I will also do the analysis of Parlynet for the network volume and the operating
environment in order to check for the reasons for the bad performance of the software
and also how to improve the same.
 In order to make sure that such problems do not occur again, I will ask the parliament
to review their IT strategies so that in case required changes can be made in the same.
Also, will make sure that the policies and procedures are developed in order to guide
the IT department.
 I will also establish the benchmark for the system’s performance assessment. This
would make the process easy for the information technology department. The
benchmark will include the system’s performance and its availability, the networks
performance, the ability of the help desk to resolve the issue and also issues related to
the security of the system.
Conclusion
The Parlynet 2002 Project was the failure due to the poor project management. If the project
management would have been done, the Parlynet was the success. Many aspects of financial
management, human resource management and risk management was also not followed
however the analysis and the recommendations along with the justification have been
mentioned in the project which would be helpful in resolving the issues and will also act as
the guidelines for the next project.

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References
 Armstrong, Dan. 2004. “Six Degrees of Project Management.” Baseline.
 Baccarini, D 1999, 'The Logical Framework Method for Defining Project Success',
Project Management Journal, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 25-32.
o Burke, R. (1998). Project Management Planning and Control. New Jersey: Wiley
Meredith, J., & Mantel, S. (2002). Project Management a Managerial Approach. New
York: John Wiley & Sons.
o Chuad, K. B., Tummula, V. M. R., & Nkasu, M. M. (1995). Project management
structures in Hong Kong industries. International Journal of Project Management
13(4), 253-257.
 Gobeli, D., & Larson, E. (1987).Relative effectiveness of different project structures.
Project Management Journal 18(2), 81-85.
 Globerson, S & Zwikael, O 2002, 'The Impact of the Project Manager on Project
Management Planning Processes', Project Management Journal, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 58-
64.
 Nicholas, J M. 1989. 'Successful project management: a force-field analysis‘ J
System Management 24-30
 Posner, B Z. 1987 'What it takes to be a good project manager' Project
Management Journal 28 (1) 51-54
 Tesch, Debbie, Timothy Kloppenbourg, and John Stemmer. 2003. “Project
Management Learning: What Literature Has to Say.” Project Management Journal.
 Wateridge, J 1998, 'How can IS/IT projects be measured for success', International
Journal of Project Management, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 59-63.

Victorian Parliament’s Parlynet Project Analysis

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Victorian Parliament’s Parlynet Project Analysis