Project Closure Report

Semi-reusable EEG Sensor Development (SESD)

1 Executive Summary

The SESD project aims to develop a semi-reusable EEG sensor to provide a low-cost solution to customers, partly replacing the current full-disposable sensor with same accurate performance on anesthesia depth detection in OR and ICU.

With this project, Bureau Veritas and Cook Medical fulfil their product portfolios and make new business growth in emerging markets and cost-sensitive regions. Furthermore, with a more comprehensive and robust product portfolio, Bureau Veritas and Cook Medical were gain deeper market penetration and larger marketing share (Meredith & Mantel, 2011).

Bureau Veritas, a leading company in medical device development, has launched kinds of advanced medical sensing and monitoring device, such as ECG sensor, EEG sensor, and SpO2 monitor. The customers of Bureau Veritas mainly come from China, the USA, Europe, and Australia. To promote the product portfolio and gain stronger competence in the EEG sensor market, Bureau Veritas decided to start a new EEG sensor development.

Cook Medical, a worldwide medical device distributor, has strong sales channels and solid business relationship with major hospitals in USA, Europe, China and emerging markets. After the successful launching of the disposable EEG sensor which is design by Bureau Veritas, Cook Medical is looking forward to a new opportunity for cooperation with Bureau Veritas. Same as previously, Cook Medical has taken responsibility for international distribution and sales of the new EEG sensor product (De Bakker et al., 2010).

1.1  Project Overview

In the SESD project, we aimed to provide a cost-effective solution to our customers in the medical field. We developed a sensor that can be reused to save cost. To promote this sensor among our customers, Bureau Veritas hits the international market from different parts of the world like the EU, UK, USA, Australia and China (Kerzner, 2013).

1.2  Project Performance Summary

In the undertaken project, the company developed a semi-reusable EEG sensor which helped in providing a cost-effective solutions to the respective customers in return. This helped in achieving a higher level of growth in the emerging markets. With the help of this development, the larger share of the market was grasped by Bureau Veritas and Cook Medical. The project involved few challenges in its implementation as well such as in the margin targets. At the same time, the manufacturing costs of the company tended to exceed the expectations; there was little compatibility for all the existing hardware platforms, the disposable design was more rousted as compared to the security system, etc. The senior management filed a request in regards to not accept the scope of the project (Blomquist et al., 2010). However, the project was completed on time. The proper time management process and proper schedule helped the firm to complete the project on time. The schedule activities were also developed and planned accordingly.

The company had estimated the cost incurred well in advance that helped to maintain its budget and complete the project without cost overruns and time overruns. The activities were all planned as per the budget allocated by the company (Papke-Shields et al., 2010). The company also developed a contingency reserve that helped to avoid any risks and identify the potential risks. The company always checked the quality of the project and monitored it on a timely basis which helped to deliver high-quality products and services to the customers. It also further helped to remove various types of errors in the process. The company developed a quality plan to get quality assurance reviews and execute quality control. The human resource management team guided the project team to function in the desired manner. The roles and responsibilities were also allotted to the project team members by the project manager (Koh & Tan, 2011). The organization chart was also useful in determining various designations and people who were involved in the project. Proper training and guidance and team building activities were also beneficial for the project team to develop the team more effectively and achieve the expected results. The project manager always focused on the proper communication among the team members to direct the project towards the right goals. This was done by obtaining the feedback on time and by avoiding the situation of conflicts and encouraging negotiations among the team members. A proper risk management process was adopted as every project is accounted for different risks at the time of implementation. There was also proper procurement of the resources, products, and services from the external suppliers which helped to make the project sustainable for the company. All the activities and processes were well-coordinated that helped in achieving the smooth functioning of the project.

1.3  Follow-on Actions

To develop a semi-reusable EEG sensor, various actions were taken by the project manager. The management performed various actions in the execution of the EEG project through scope management to manage the cost, quality & time and control the risks. However, the manager developed the scope management for the project in which he mentioned the objective, and strategy to achieve the targets. Besides that, the required information was collected through interviews, questionnaires surveys, sales meetings, and presentations. At the same time, a work breakdown structure was also prepared to design the system and identify the time when the project is completed. Other than that, the project schedule was also prepared for performing each activity on time and, with this, the project milestone was also identified. The actions related to risk mitigation were also taken by using different strategies (Kim et al., 2012). Likewise, for mitigating the risk of high cable cost, the project manager decided to investigate the low-cost design alternatives on cables so that maximum cost could be saved and the company could make investments in other projects. Moreover, the project manager also focused on the quality system of the project through quality planning, quality assurances reviews, and quality controls. All these actions assisted the organization to maintain the quality in the semi-usable EEG sensor (Zimmerman & Yahya-Zadeh, 2011).

Furthermore, to make a project successful, the project manager maintained the human and physical resources. About human resources, they defined the roles and responsibilities of each member from the technicians to the functional staff so that no misunderstanding could be created. At the same time, to reduce the problems related to non-availability of resources, they used various systems to update information related to the resources availability. Thus, these actions were followed by the organization to develop the project and implement it effectively.

1.4  Lessons Learned

From this project, it is learned that organization has taken various initiatives to successfully implement the semi-usable EEG sensor. However, in the project, manager conducted the various meeting to communicate with the stakeholders about the different aspects of the projects. So, this indicates that communication skills play a significant role to make the project successful. Thus, it is learned that communication skills are crucial for the continuous flow of information among the stakeholders (Lorber, 2014). At the same time, it is also learned that all stakeholders worked well in performing their respective roles whether marketing of the project or testing of the product. Therefore, from the above performance summary, it is identified that a semi-usable EEG sensor was developed successfully and it was also performing well and being widely used in the medical field.

2 Project Performance

2.1 Financial Status

The financial status of the given project was that the manufacturing cost of the project did go beyond the standards or set targets so in that case, engineering team should involve the designing process that helps in managing cost. At the same time, project priorities did not meet as per the expectation so, it can be stated that the financial status of the project is not up to the mark.

2.2 Schedule Performance

From the schedules and WBS method, it can be estimated that the project manager is scheduling every task in an effective manner. Likewise, they collected the requirement and unmet demands of the customers through market research. As per the requirements, they developed the design of the product and delivered it to the customers for solving their problems. Therefore, by looking such practices, it can be stated that project manager prepared the schedule of the project in a relevant way (Bajo et al., 2012).

2.3 Achievement of Scope

The scope of the EEG project is to complete the project on time within the expected budget. The work breakdown structure of the EEG project indicated that the company is achieved the scope of the project by completing the task on time. But the budget of the project was beyond the expectation that cannot be fulfilled by the organization (Abend et al., 2011).

2.4 Variances from Original Business Case

It can be stated that there are variances that occurred in the business case as the cost exceeds beyond the expectations. At the same time, project priorities did not match with the requirements of the standard (Chou, 2011). Therefore, there are variances that arise in the achievement of project objectives. It was analyzed through a comparison of the results of the standard with actual results. The deviation in the result is considered as a variation.

2.5 Lessons Learned

The lesson that is learned from the project is that all stakeholders performed their task in an effective manner that is also one of the reasons for completing the task on time. But there are various areas where they lacked such as high cable cost (Doloi, 2012).

Moreover, it is also learned that the manufacturing cost also exceeds the company normal expectations. It is also learned that to make the project successful and meet the continuous demands of the customers, the firm needs to re-evaluate the project priorities as identify design options to ensure that the appropriate decisions can be taken on time. So, this helped the company to fulfil the customers’ needs (Smith, 2014). Furthermore, it is also learned that to avoid the risk related to compatibility issue in the EEG project, they adopted the current disposable sensor for all platforms which allowed them to mitigate the compatibility issues. So, such practices indicated that the project manager developed various strategies to overcome the risk which can be occurred in future. Therefore, various activities have been learned from the project, and such learning contributes towards in accomplishment of future projects.

 3 Project Reports

3.1 Project Manager

The project manager played a significant role in making the project successful implementation. The project manager performed various activities from the procurement of products and services from external suppliers to develop the final product. The project manager is the one who is responsible for performing each task under the project. Similarly in the EEG project development, the project manager conducted various programs (Sri & Subhash, 2015). However, in procurement requirements, ID design, cable tooling, manufacturers, disposable material etc all such activities are coordinated by the project manager. The project manager also participated in the team meeting in order to discuss the next strategy. In addition to this, the manager also performed project document updates. Likewise, after the change of project scope is approved, the project manager took the responsibility related to updating project documents as required. Therefore, all these activities give a clear sign that the project manager role is proved to be essential for achieving the project objectives. At the same time, the project manager in the EEG project performed multiple activities that help in completing the projects on time and within the standards of quality.

3.1.1 Project Summary

The SESD project objective was to develop the semi-reusable EEG sensor in order to offer it at a low price to the customers. At the same time, the main reason of replacing it with the full-disposable sensor is that it gives better performance in terms to detection of the OR and ICU. With this product development, Bureau Veritas and cook medical got the chance to penetrate the large market. Moreover, the major stakeholders are the suppliers, team members, sponsors and customers for this project. The estimated cost for this project is around $3,879,750. Thus, by performing such actions, the organization implemented the EEG project in a successful way (Pignolo et al., 2013).

3.1.2 Events that affected Project Performance

Various events affected the project performance such as the increase in investment of the company in the product development. Promotional tools that were also considered as an activity enhanced the expenses of the company (Mammone et al., 2012). The frequently increased cost to the company affected the company effectiveness to earn profits. On the flip side, the continuous delivery of quality also caused a positive effect to the projects in terms to get high recognition.

3.1.3 Team Performance

Team performance is considered a vital tool to achieve the objectives. Similarly, in the project of EEG sensor, the team coordination helped the organization to successfully implement the project. But at the same time, there are various issues that occurred in human resources management. Likewise, there are always limited resources available for project such as less skilled team members due to which the situation of delay in project get occurred and cost is also raised (Meredith & Mantel, 2011). In order to perform the task effectively, the organization conducted the team meetings as in meetings, the manager communicated about the different aspects of the project and cleared the roles and responsibilities of each member that helped in performing all tasks in an efficient way. But due to issues that occurred in resources available, the team was delayed in completing work on time achieving the project objective. Therefore, by developing team spirit, the company achieved the EEG project.

In addition to this, the team developed for the SESD project used various tools and techniques which helped the project team members to perform effectively. These are the interpersonal skills, training, team building activities etc. In perspectives of interpersonal skills; project manager included communications skills, negotiation and conflict resolution and many more skills in developed in team members. While managers also conducted the training sessions for the team groups that developed the necessary skills in them to carry out tasks in a reliable way. Other than that, they also conducted various team building activities including forming, storming, Norming, performing and adjourning activities etc. (De Bakket et al., 2010). Thus, all these practices are used by the managers to achieve team results and performance in the project. So, through the team efforts only, the project objective was achieved by the managers.

3.2 Project Sponsor

The project sponsor of the EEG project was the sponsors cook medical, Carl cook and Johnson Chen. There was an agreement of the project completion between the project manager and the sponsor cook medical. As per the contract, they both have to maintain the quality of product and deliver the right product to customers at right time (Kerzner, 2013).

4 What I Learned

From the above discussion, I have learned about different aspects which are necessary for the manager to successfully implement the project. Likewise, I have learned that it is essential to develop firstly the scope of the project because it guides the individual that what is the objective of project and how it can be achieved on a timely manner. Besides that, I learned about the different tools and techniques that are required to building team development. It included the interpersonal skills & training that help in creating team spirit. It is also identified that risk management was also an important task for the manager to mitigate the risk as in this project, there is high risk of increasing the cost of cable in future so to mitigate it, manager decided to purchase different cable wires. So, risk management is considered a vital part of the project implementation (Koh & Tan 2011).

Furthermore, I also studied about the quality management in which I have learned how to set the standard quality and how to reduce the quality defects in the project. For that, I studied the TQM method which helps the company to reduce the maximum errors at the time of procurement. At last, I learned to focus on the customer requirements by offering quality to them by adding value to the product (Sri & Subhash, 2015). Thus, It was a learning experience for me as I have developed various skills such as communication, negotiation and decision-making skills. This practice can be helpful for me in my future career in regard to successfully implementing the project.

References

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Doloi, H. (2012) Cost overruns and failure in project management: Understanding the roles of key stakeholders in construction projects. Journal of construction engineering and management, 139(3), pp. 267-279.

Kerzner, H. (2013) Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. USA: John Wiley & Sons.

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Smith, P. (2014) Project Cost Management–Global Issues and Challenges. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 119, pp. 485-494.

Sri, K. C., & Subhash, V. V. (2015) Novel Fetching of EEG Signals for ROBO Thought Process. IJSEAT, 3(4), pp. 139-142.

Zimmerman, J. L., & Yahya-Zadeh, M. (2011) Accounting for decision making and control. Issues in Accounting Education, 26(1), pp. 258-259.