Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) University 2008 Certification Certified Financial Planner Portfolio management - Question Paper

maximum part of the total cost invested. Though the external trainers possess the adequate knowledge, they are unable to
ans the queries of the business processes, as such there is a need for buyers to design and conduct their own training
programs.
Quality
The implementation of an ERP project requires a serious transformation in the fundamental business processes and
conduction. Hence different methodologies have been applied to ensure that the desired quality is maintained. The vision is the
first and foremost need for the ERP initiation. Then a detailed exam of the business needs and constraints has to be
performed. At the end, modules are opted for the core business processes. But the underlying issue is, at initial stages,
managers' awareness levels are at the least and they are unable to take proper decisions.
Human Resource
It is needed to assemble best people to plan, execute and control the ERP project. Responsibilities should be assigned to the
employees who are highly intellectual and understand the business functionalities in a better way. But, often companies are
unable to comprise a team of adequate skilled people. Ignorance of the project requirements and inability of the project team
to give the proper guidance to the company is the major cause for failure of the ERP project.
Communications
It is obtained that people are reluctant to share info with people from outside the organization than the intra-
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organizational teams. That is why the consultants are playing vital role by open discussions of requirements, preparing
agendas, providing priorities and avoiding bias, conflicts of interests and confusions. Despite the lack of tech. experience
or knowledge, the consultancy agencies are thus important in ERP projects because they facilitate open and productive
communications. The higher the degree of communication among team members, the higher is the performance of the team. It
is essential that the team members must be able to communicate among themselves, with the customers, suppliers and other
stakeholders.
Risk
ERP projects need radical change in the business processes that means risk of investing more time and money. Since ERP
projects are complex, they also need to rely upon the expertise even from outside the organization. But, it is a tedious task to
obtain out good and experienced consultants and to guarantee their success. Moreover, companies which have trained their
employees in the art of ERP implementation face greater risk of losing their employees because such expertise is in great
demand from consulting agencies. In multinationals, the implementation is more complex because of the diverse culture
which affects the national culture.
Procurement
various packages have various strength in various areas which has to be understood and opted accordingly. But it is
difficult for vendors to state that to what extent their products will meet every requirement. There are several factors including
business fit, ease of implementation, vendor services and support, special industry, product affordability, and compatibility
with the existing system which should be considered to ensure that the right package is procured.
7. Challenges in ERP projects could be managed by using three-key aspects; staging, risk sharing and people.
Staging
All the ERP features should not be implemented at once to gain the benefits of integration and infrastructure. The cause being
is that the various projects have various cash flow requirements which demands various deployment requirements. The
other factor is that the capital investment moves to locations with low or acceptable cash flow requirement. And most
important, the reward allocation should be reasonable for the capital investment.
Risk Sharing
Vendor and system integrators should be paid based upon their task achievements not the milestone dates. Even senior
managers' compensation should be based on successfully delivering the desired outcomes. There should not be any conditional
support. Every 1 should be a part of the skin of the organization and share the risk and reward associated wit the execution
of project.
People
The success of any project lies in the attitude of the people. Hence, the right team with mediocre idea is better than a wrong
team with a good idea. People should understand the phases of an implementation, critical success factors and lessons studied
from other jurisdictions.
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Caselet 2
8. Strategic perspective of change Project Management
Planning for change in Project
Before the foundation is laid, every project should be started with a "change planning" to identify areas that create an
awareness on various problems and identify additional info that will be the basis for the change project plan. actual
modifications are achieved through a structured process. By definition, change management is about effective management of the
system only to realize the improvement in the performance. Identifying and communicating the new "vision" has been a
significant strategy for the project change management.
Enabling People for change
It is a great challenge for a project leader to choose a highly efficient team. An effective leader sees whether the team is able to
handle the new vision. If the people are not motivated, prepared and equipped to achieve the change, the negative
consequences may wipe out the expected benefits, even after the implementation of the stated change. On the other hand, if the
employees are informed about the change, it will certainly allow them to realize their active roles in the light of the planned
change and decrease their resistance to change, which might arise due to the lack of awareness and fear of losing control or
overload of current assignment. The project managers need to employ effective techniques to support the "target" of change
and simultaneously assess how much change the project team can handle. But it would be a great mistake in case the leaders
underestimate the potentiality of the team members.
Reshaping the Project Scope
More important is to describe the scope of the project after the change in a realistic manner to reach the success soon. Project
managers generally pay a great deal of attention to manage scope for avoiding huge loss caused by any mismanagement of the
project's scope. Allowing the scope to change means facing greater risks but a proper scope management helps the project to
optimize the benefit. So while adopting a change, the scope of the project should be appropriately outlined to avoid certain
risks coming in the way.
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9. The different steps involved are:
Addressing the Human problems
Any significant transformation in a project creates "human problems." The human aspects of the change project should be
considered in the identical way as the mechanical and technological aspects. At the time of executing the change, the project
leaders have to see how people are getting involved in the new process. The people's reaction to the change needs to be
monitored. The change process should be worked out at the top. The leaders themselves must embrace the new approaches to
motivate the entire team.
Communicating to Employees
Communicating the key problems to the employees sustains enthusiasm and momentum throughout the project. Too often,
change leaders make the mistake of believing that others will easily understand the change process. Communications are
targeted to update employees with the right info to solicit their input and feedback on various phases of change.
Communication should be simple and straightforward.
Involving every Layer of the Project
As transformation program proceeds from selecting strategy and fixing targets to design and implementation, they affect many
levels of the organization. Leaders should see whether the change is being implemented successfully from bottom to top
layers in the project and push responsibilities to the down so that change can cascade through the organization. At every stage
of the project, the managers must strive for a common vision; execute their specific mission to make the change happen.
Preparing for the Unexpected Situations
No change program goes completely according to the plan. People might react in unexpected ways. Inevitably; there would be
a possibility of delays, unforeseen issues and negative responses from those faced with the reality of change. An
immediate attention to these reactions is essential so that valid criticisms can be acted upon. Effective change management
requires continual reassessment of its impact and the organization's willingness and ability to adopt the next wave of
transformation.
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Caselet 3
10. Organizations have always been trying to do more with fewer resources. Deploying limited resources to maximize the
returns is 1 of the key management challenges. As most capital investment goes in the form of projects, organizations need
to manage projects portfolio so as to better manage resources and business risks. Many organizations today manage multiple
projects and they have to maximize the return on (project) investment. To realize these outcomes effectively, they have to
deploy resources across the projects as and when they are needed. It's a tall order especially in the IT industry. However,
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) indicates the way. It provides a high level of visibility over projects while ensuring rich
functionality and seamless integration of all projects regardless of their complexity. Project experts describe PPM as "a
management process designed to help an organization acquire and view info about all its projects, then sort and
prioritize every project according to certain criteria, such as strategic value, impact on resources, cost, and so on." In short,
PPM takes a holistic view of all projects of a business by managing projects within budget by allocating limited resources.
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11. Whatever the kind of project, project managers alone are not in a position to implement PPM alone. At the identical time,
worthwhile PPM cannot exist without the support and active involvement of the top management of the organization.
However, the senior managers are not likely to initiate PPM without understanding the necessary documented problems needed
for it. So, whoever believes their organization could benefit by PPM, he needs to 1st educate himself, and then build the
case for PPM, and, finally, current this case to the senior managers. The experts believe that PPM has evolved to align with
what the organizations need most and to support them in achieving their goals. PPM practices maintain the right blend of
processes, tools, and skills, and deliver projects that are most essential to their strategy execution and corporate performance.
Thus the experience reveals that the process of PPM has tremendous potential to impact the ability to create value in the
organisaiton, through tight control of costs, strategic resource allocation and coordinated delivery which in turn is achieved
through organization support.

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