EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (ABSTRACT) MICAF and by extension the Agricultural competitiveness Programme (ACP), formerly Rural Agricultural Competitiveness Programme was given funding in 2010 by the Inter-America Development Bank, IDB, to launch a programme to improve the competitiveness of Jamaica’s agricultural sector. Food safety and quality management systems implementation is just one of the projects in this programme geared towards achieving competitiveness by increasing the capacity of small and medium size famers to access national and international markets, increase the performance of the country’s food safety and quality management systems and foster the development of agricultural and agroprocessing value chains.
The project had an issue date of January 2013 and project close out was set for December 31, 2016. The new project close out date was set for March 31, 2018 with auditing of the Agro-Parks scheduled for October 2017. The project was behind schedule and the GIS mapping phase was not a part of the original plan and so was not included as a requirement. This phase of mapping has to be completed on time and within budget to move to auditing. This required the development of a systematic documented framework of principles, steps and procedures to mitigate against risks that would contribute to not completing this critical phase and by extension; the project in the stipulated time.
The development of the Project Management Plan to map the Ebony Park Agro Park provided a framework for the use of documented best practices contained in five subsidiary plans in which to work and bring in this phase of the project on time. The development of a Project Management Plan also provided a template within the ACP and by extension, the Project Management Co-ordination Unit of MICAF for the planning of future similar projects or phases of projects. This fostered a thrust in a positive direction to formalize MICAF’s Organizational Project Management Maturity Model.
The general objective of this project was to create a Project Management Plan for the GIS mapping of the Ebony Park Agro Park (GISMEPA) Project in Clarendon, Jamaica to provide a logical and sequential way to plan for similar projects in the future.
There were six specific objectives. The first two were to create a Project Charter to get official authorization for project start and to develop a Scope Management Plan to include all the work included in the project. Creation of a Schedule Management Plan to document the activities, their attributes and relationship in the timely completion of the project and a Cost Management Plan to provide the policies and procedures required to plan and manage the expending of resources needed for the project were specific objectives three and four. Specific objectives five and six were to develop a Quality Management Plan to identify and define the quality requirements of the project and service and meet organizational quality policy and to develop a Risk Management Plan to document the
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categorization of identified risks, responsible risk owners, possible response to them and how to monitor and control risks.
The methodology employed for this study was to use descriptive and analytical approaches supported by primary and secondary information sources. The descriptive and analytical methods involved the use of data from interviews, observations, document review, oral histories, advertisement, reports and organization process assets as well as the guide set out in the standard PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition. The use of pamphlets, textbooks, scholarly articles reviews, journal articles review and other reference books assisted in creating the Project Charter and the five subsidiary plans to achieve the specific objectives and ultimately the general objective.
Description of MICAF’s organizational needs and the business case in details provided not only a background for the project but also presented inputs to the development of the project. MICAF’s, and by extension, ACP’s Organizational Process Assets garnered from procedures, policy documents, reports and interviews were analyzed using the guide set out by the PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition to create the Project Charter and the five subsidiary plans. One noted conclusion was that the creation of a Project Charter with high-level definitions, requirements, budget, a named Project Manager and Sponsor not only gave a description of the project but also laid out a broad framework from which to work. Most importantly, it contained the official authorization for project start and the application of resources to project activities.
Recommendations for this study included the need for MICAF to establish a formalized project management policy as that Ministry from time to time oversaw projects funded by donor agencies such as IDB. Funding agencies were encouraged to equip project oversight departments with a framework to streamline project governance. This would empower the Director (or Programme Manager with sufficient decision-making power, within protocol, to reduce the turn-around time for decisions and by extension reduce the risk of having delays.
The need for IDB to collaborate with MICAF, to provide formal training in Project Management especially to members of the Project Co-ordination unit of MICAF and those persons who are responsible for steering projects from the Ministry was recommended. Recommended also was that ACP develop, at minimum, a Project Charter for each project they oversee especially if the Sponsor does not present one and ensure that all requirements for a project or a phase be thoroughly researched to prevent or reduce scope creep, delays and cost overruns.
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http://www.uci.ac.cr/Biblioteca/Tesis/PFGMAP1678.pdf
Resumenes Ejecutivos de las nuevas tesis desarrolladas para el programa de Maestría en Administración de Proyectos en la Universidad para la Cooperación Internacional. La cual contempla todos los estandares del PMI.
