Health and Safety Training Project
Question
ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.
ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites.
The project will deliver "capability to provide health and safety training", including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning.
The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.
The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy.
The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company's development team.
All course materials will be piloted before they are used.
ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business.
ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.
The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years.
The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered.
ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.
The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:
End of the Project scenario.
Additional Information: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago.
Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company.
It delivers a range of accredited professional training.
The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams.
She authorizes all large contracts personally.
The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.
The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget.
His department organizes courses, venues and trainers.
They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule.
ABC Company's IT manager reports to the Operations Director.
The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products.
She will work with the Operations.
Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.
The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model.
Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.
The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard.
He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.
The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management.
He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.
The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director.
She helped establish the company's document management system and now operates it across the business.
She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.
The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material.
All account managers and the marketing team report to him.
They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.
During week 1, there were some problems with the pilot courses, so at the start of week 2 the team manager rescheduled the courses to week 3, and reported this in the weekly checkpoint report as the end of week 2
Should the team manager have reported this delay previously as an issue, and why?
Answers
Explanations
Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer
A. B. C. D.C.
The correct answer is A. Yes, because the work package to deliver the pilot courses was forecast to exceed its time tolerance.
In project management, it is important to identify potential issues and risks that may affect the project schedule, budget, or quality. One of the key tools to do this is to regularly review the project plan and track the progress against it. This is typically done through regular status updates, such as weekly checkpoint reports.
In this scenario, the ABC Company has commissioned a project to develop health and safety training materials and deliver courses to customers, in response to recent changes in government legislation. The project involves developing both classroom-based training materials and e-learning courses, which will be piloted before they are used. The project is expected to deliver benefits to construction companies, including a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.
During week 1, there were some problems with the pilot courses, which led the team manager to reschedule them to week 3. However, the team manager did not report this delay as an issue in the weekly checkpoint report for week 1.
The correct answer is A because the team manager should have reported this delay as an issue in the weekly checkpoint report. The reason is that the work package to deliver the pilot courses was forecast to exceed its time tolerance, which means that it was not progressing according to the planned schedule. This indicates a potential risk to the project, as it may cause delays in the overall project timeline.
By reporting this delay as an issue, the project manager can take appropriate actions to mitigate the risk, such as allocating additional resources, revising the project plan, or adjusting the project scope. This can help ensure that the project stays on track and meets its objectives within the required timeframe.
Option B is incorrect because there is no rule that a team manager should not change the scheduled order of a work package. In fact, it is the responsibility of the team manager to manage the work packages and make appropriate adjustments to ensure that they are completed within the required timeframe and to the required quality standards.
Option C is incorrect because the checkpoint report for week 1 should only include information on issues that occurred during that week. If the delay occurred after the report was submitted, then it should be reported in the next checkpoint report.
Option D is incorrect because waiting until week 4 to finalize the materials may cause further delays in the project timeline. It is important to address any issues as soon as they arise to minimize their impact on the project schedule and budget.
