Project Overview
The services are needed for the organization for the fulfillment of the scope requirements in the project. Ideally, the project procurement management is seen on the basis of the buyer and the seller relationship (Rendon & Rendon, 2015). The seller in the project management can be seen as the project developer team of the organization and the buyer can be referred to the client of the organization (Lindstrom, 2013). The procurement management helps to maintain the relationship between the vendors and the suppliers. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the different aspects of the procurement management based on the real life project. In this case, the chosen project is related to the development of the software.
The software development project discussed in this phase is concerned about the development of the system that will cooperate with the ticket booking system. The users of this software will be able to book the railway tickets using this application (Naoum &Egbu, 2015). Different stages of the life cycle of the project management has been followed by the project. Requirements of the projects has been defined clearly so that it can avoid the chances of the scope creep in the project. However, the different aspects of the procurement management on the basis of this project is needed to be evaluated.
Type of procurement:
The software is aimed to developed for the inline ticket booking service. In this case, it can be said that the type of the procurement is the service type. The vendors will avail the service.
The provider:
The provider of this service is the development team. In this case, the development team has gained some sponsorships from certain organizations.
There are some decisions made by the project development team regarding the procurement management of the ticket booking system software. Some of these decisions are-
- Decision over the type of the contract: The decision over the type of the contract is important as it reflects the relationship between vendor and the supplier. In this case, the project is done through the joint venture and the contract between the supplier and the vendor is fixed price contract (De Marco,2018). Here the supplier of the service or the product is the development team on the other hand the vendor are the users or the clients who is going to use the software. The project is happening in a joint venture so the contract is fixed price contract.
- Managing of the procurement plan: The procurement management plan is the important process (Zhang, Zhou & Zong, 2017). The first step of the procurement management is the planning phase. In this stage business goals, procurement policies and stakeholders needs are required to be evaluated. This step is followed by the alignment which is concerned about the including expert team members, making the right strategy regarding the development of the project and work environment. The qualification of the suppliers and contracting, tendering and the delivery of the product are included in the procure stage (Whizlabs,2013). The management of the quality of the product along with the business process is done in the management phase of the development.
- Soliciting the bids: This process includes the fixing of the price for the product between the seller and the vendor.
- Evaluation of the bids and making of the contract: The bids and the prices are evaluated and managing of the contract is done in this phase.
There are different stages in the procurement process those are needed to be completed for the procurement management. Three essentials steps those are needed to manage the process in a right way:
Planning: The planning phase of the procurement management is concerned with the making of the blueprint of the procurement plan (Ferri et al., 2016). The planning phase will include the identification of the items those will be produced internally and the identification of the processes which will be produced externally or will be outsourced for meeting the requirements of the project. The procurement document will be developed in this phase along with the frameworks those will be helpful to select the right vendors.
Procurement Management in the Software Development Project
The selection process: The selection process includes the selection of the vendors. The selection of the vendors depends on the comparison of different advantages and disadvantages of different vendors. Here, the vendor is the clients who are using the software (Whitaker, 2016). The meeting with the clients about the requirements are discussed. The resource calendar has been developed in this phase stating the numbers and the origin of the resources along with the way off the utilization of those resources.
Monitoring: This step involves the evaluation of the final product which has been delivered to the clients by the suppliers. The monitoring process ensures that the final product meets all the required quality and the delivery of this product is done in a right way (Weerasinghe et al.,2016). The monitoring process monitors all the stages in the procurement management process. Some of the services or the products needs the control and the maintenance even after the delivery of the products (Bag et al.,2018). In that case, the procurement process involves in the monitoring of the after service of the products. This is an important phase in the procurement management as it ensures the quality of the product delivered to the client as well as the maintenance of the services.
The best practice in the project procurement management ensures that all the five steps in the procurement management process will be carried out in an effective way. In that case, the proposed project will go through all the five stages mentioned in the procurement management process which ensures the quality of the product which meets all the requirements and the conditions in the contract.
There are certain recommendations those can be made on the basis of the analysis made in this paper. In that case, the project is going to follow all the stages in the procurement management. However, the project procurement management is a overlooked section in the project management process. It has been seen that in many cases that the project managers follow the project management life cycle properly. However, the project management life cycle is different from the project procurement processes. The procurement management is concerned with the management of the contract and delivery of the products. It is recommended in this case, the project managers are needed to clarify the difference between the project life cycle and the project procurement process.
Conclusion
The procurement management process concerns about the delivery of the final product. It defines the certain relationship between the suppliers and the vendors. The proper outcome of the product depends on the right implementation of the project life cycle and the project methodology, however, the proper delivery of the product and the services depends on the implementation of the right procurement management plan. There are certain steps in the procurement management planning. The compilation of the each stages ensures that the contract between the suppliers and the vendors and maintained in correct way and the product delivered to the vendors ensures the proper quality. It can be said the procurement management process in the project is an important phase that has to be maintained for the development of the project.
References
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