Myki Project Management: Analysis Of Risks And Failure

Question

Task: Analyze and present an overview of the failures in risk management strategies of Myki project management

Answer

Introduction
In 2009, 29th December, the Victorian government took the initiative of introducing a new smart card ticketing system called Myki in Australia (Vidyattama and Nakanishi, 2016). The card was invented only for replacing the old and existing Metcard system (Namiot and Sneps-Sneppe, 2017). The newly introduced system aimed to serve the metropolitan train services, and however, later in 2010, it started to be introduced in bus and tram also. However, the project failed for some particular reasons such as weak and inefficient initial planning, early implementation, and so on. The failure of the project was determined when it took more than five years to be introduced, and the entire cost was $1.52 billion (Tucker, 2016). However, both the predetermined time and cost failed in this project, which resulted in a big disaster.

The current scenario deals with the identification of the central and responsible severe issues that have led the project to go into vain. Apart from that, how the early implementation of the Myki project management has led the initiative to fail would also be a part of this discussion. How the project has made some changes in its original delivery method would also be evaluated in the present study.

1. Identification of Main issues of Myki project management
The Myki project has failed for some particular reasons such as poor initial planning, cost and time overrun and improper identification of scope factors. The following section would highlight the elements that have been responsible for the failure of the Myki project management.

Poor initial planning: the Victorian government took the initiative of introducing the Australian transport system with a new and innovative smart card ticketing system. The card was about to be launched in 2007. However, it took more than 9 years and finally was launched in 2009. There was no proper planning on introducing the new system (Delbosc and Currie, 2016). The objectives of the project were not apparent to the senior management of the project. It resulted in cost overrun and time overrun as well. The Myki project management took $1.52 billion to be completed and still it was in introducing stage. The additional budget that had been required to complete the project was $550 million. The scope factors were not appropriately identified at an early stage and wrong determination of time and cost made the project unsuccessful.

Cost overrun: the research showed that the Myki project management had been initiated without having a proper cost management plan which is immersively necessary for making a project successful. The entire cost was $1.52 billion, which was more than 55% of the overall budget. The project experienced a significant delay in delivering the project deliverables for not having sufficient money in their fund. The improper calculation, along with inadequate management system, has led the system to be failed by every means.

Time overrun: the improper time management plan has led the project not to be completed within its given time. The Victorian government wanted to introduce the system by 2007. However, the system was finally inaugurated by 2009, which was already nine years exceeded. The management system of the plan was immersively inefficient for the project which had been unable to make an effective time management plan. In 2009, the system was still in its introducing model, which is not expected. The Myki project management failed to deliver the project objectives within time, and it made the project unsuccessful.

PTV issues: the contractual arrangements of the Myki project management along with significant risk factors, were supposed to be identified by the PVT system. However, PVT has been unable to monitor the shortcomings of the system and monitor the operational performance of the company. It has led the project to be inefficient in identifying the risk factors and mitigate them. Issues in the PVT system has been identified as a significant responsible reason behind the failure of the project.

Inefficient risk management process: the company has not taken any initiative to mitigate the negative impacts of the following risk factors. The time overrun or cost overrun has been considered as risk factors, but the company has not been able to prevent these factors. The management has not been able to make an efficient risk management plan that can prevent the shortcomings in the company.

Lack in scope factor: the company has not been sure regarding what should be the outcome or output of this system. It has not been clearly defined from the end of the company what is the expectation as benefits after implementing the system. The agencies who have been involved with the introduction of the system denied being responsible for the failure. The time frame failed, and additional cost did the project over budget. 

2. Analyzing the Failure of early implementation of this project
The Myki project management system aimed to earn a benefit in the economy and the public transport system would be introduced with a whole new smart card system. However, the plan has been unsuccessful as the company has experienced a considerable loss for its improper initial planning. The failure of the early implementation of the particular project is described below:

Time and Cost exceeds: the design that has been made to make this plan valid was improper, and the management was unable to fix it. The project was supposed to be completed within 2 years of the initiation process while it took 9 years to be just introduced. The initial implementation plan was made to make benefit in the competitive market, and the company wanted to enter the public transport system with a new smart card. However, the exceed of the time resulted in the cost increment, such as $550 million was added as an additional budget in the project (Douglas, 2018). The original budget of the project failed to support the completion of the project, and the project was over budget.

Operational performance: the users have criticized the operational performance of the project as it was not running correctly and efficiently. The rollout of the Myki system has been identified as the primary complaint that has been uttered by the users. The changing of the Myki system has led the project to be over budget. The initial scope of the project has been decreased by the continuous changing of the Myki project management. The Victorian transport system has experienced a poor outcome in the transport system in Australia. Lack of proper clarity in the decisions that have been made by DOT made the Myki system efficient.

Slow card reader response: The Myki cards were unable to respond with the fastest speed for having some technical difficulties in the system (Ashmore, Stone and Kirk, 2019). It has been considered as a significant implementing issue of the system. A considerable number of complaints have been launched from the end of users, and they criticized it.

Lack of communication: in the initial stage, proper communication has been required to implement the system in the project. However, there has been a significant lack of effective communication which resulted in cost and time overrun in the project. The effectiveness of the conversation could have been aligned with the successful completion aligned with predetermined cost and time. There has been a poor relationship between the contractor and the public transport operator of the Myki system. It has resulted in poor engagement in the Myki project management plan.

3. What were the reason of cost overrun and time delay
The Victorian government has taken the initiative of introducing a new smart card ticketing system called Myki in Australia. However, the research showed that the project had been failed for cost and time overrun in the project estimation. The following section would describe how the cost and time overrun have affected the project.

Cost overrun: the management system of the project has not measured the functional requirements for the successful completion of the project. It has resulted in a significant cost malfunctioning in the project. Improper cost management, along with irregular scheduling, has made the project unsuccessful and inefficient. The entire cost was $1.52 billion, which was more than 55% of the overall budget (Karpin, 2016). The project experienced a significant delay in delivering the project deliverables for not having sufficient money in their fund. The improper calculation, along with inadequate management system, has led the system to be failed by every means. The present metrics were not correctly calculated, and the cost disaster took place. If the cost is not appropriately measured before initiating the project, a proper cost management plan can not be made.

Time overrun: the project has taken more than its predetermined time to be completed. Lack of proper and effective framework has been identified in the plan, which has resulted in the delay of the deliverance of the project. PTV also has been unable to monitor the performance and activity of the company. The Victorian government wanted to introduce the system by 2007. However, the system was finally inaugurated by 2009, which was already 9 years exceeded (Muir and Stark, 2017). The management system of the plan was immersively inefficient for the project which had been unable to make an effective time management plan. In 2009, the system was still in its introducing model, which is not expected (Currie and Reynolds, 2016). The project failed to deliver the project objectives within time, and it made the project unsuccessful.

4. Identification of Early delivery method for this project
The system used to use some devices in the Myki system such as 

Myki smartcard: it is a technological card which helps the users to save money in the Myki card (McKay et al., 2018). The users can use the card and the money while they are travelling. The technological enhancement has allowed the card to save money as a travel pass. The money is stored on the card, and the users can avail it. After every trip, the Myki calculates the fair and deduct the lowest festival from the card.

Devices: it has been identified that the system had near about 23,500 operational tools. Card vending machines, top-up machines, bus and tram driver consoles, fare payment devices were included in the order (Culnane et al., 2019). The information was translated and stored in the smart cards through these devices. 

Back office: the operations of the Myki project management system used to be operated in the back office and cost also used to determine in the back office (Zarei et al., 2017).

5. Changes in the recent delivery method
Some changes have been made in the system to improve the Myki project management system.

Cost-plus model: the system has implemented the cost-plus model for reducing the cost of the entire system. A fixed price arrangement cannot help the situation, so that value plus strategy has been adopted to minimize the rate of the card. According to (VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER, 2015), “this meant the total cost of the system under the contract is no longer capped and ensured it was financially viable for the contractor a redefined scope of services, with some services no longer performed by the contractor—including call centre operations changed key performance indicators, encompassing financial incentives and abatements”.

Strong PTV: A strong PTV system has been adopted to make the system better than the previous time (Mehmood et al., 2019). It would help in monitoring the activities and performance to avoid any unintended consequences.

6. Recommendations as a project manager
As a project manager, I can suggest some suggestions that would help in future to improve the Myki project management system.

PTV review: the PTV review would be stronger and efficient from the previous time that it can be able to monitor the performance and activities of the organization. The reports of PTV would help the business to keep an eye on regular events and operating activities. The PVT system of the company would monitor the new contract. It would help in identifying the risk factors that can hurt the business, and it would be mitigated.

Cost management: as a project manager, I would focus on a cost management plan which would help the project to make a proper and realistic budget. Cost overrun is a significant problem for a project that can stop the smooth running of the project. An effective and efficient cost management plan can heal this situation and would help the project to be completed within the predetermined cost.

Time management: time management plan helps a project to be completed within time (Freeman, 2016). A project needs to be delivered within the given time from the project authority. An efficient and proper time management plan can help the situation to be completed within time. The research showed that the Myki project management has been unsuccessful for the improper calculation of time. As a project manager, I would recommend that a realistic time management plan would be made at the initial stage of the project. The manager would monitor the performances of the employees to complete the allocated task within time.

Schedule management: after determining the cost and time of the particular project, the project manager would be responsible for making an active schedule. The allocated tasks could be completed within the budget and time with quality. A proper schedule management plan would be made based on the provided time and cost. The maintenance of the cost and time would help the project to be completed aligned with quality.

Risk mitigation framework: a proper risk mitigation framework would be arranged from the end of the business to mitigate the negative impacts of the risk factors. PVT system would help in identifying the lacking factors, and the company would need to deal with future problems. The risk management plan would help the business to fight with the harmful elements and make the business secure.

Conclusion
The overall report had discussed with the concern of the failure of the Myki project management system in Australia. The card was invented only for replacing the old and existing Metcard system. The newly introduced system aimed to serve the metropolitan train services, and however, later in 2010, it started to be introduced in bus and tram also. However, the project failed for some specific reasons such as weak and inefficient initial planning, early implementation, and so on. The management system of the project had not measured the functional requirements for the successful completion of the project. It had resulted in a considerable cost malfunctioning in the project. Improper cost management, along with irregular scheduling, had made the project unsuccessful and inefficient. The entire cost was $1.52 billion, which was more than 55% of the overall budget. The project experienced a significant delay in delivering the project deliverables for not having sufficient money in their fund. PTV also had been unable to monitor the performance and activity of the company. The Victorian government wanted to introduce the system by 2007. However, the system was finally launched by 2009, which was already 9 years exceeded. The management system of the plan was immersively inefficient for the project which had been unable to make an effective time management plan. In 2009, the system was still in its introducing model, which is not expected. The project failed to deliver the project objectives within time, and it made the project unsuccessful. Some specific changes had been made in the Myki system, and the company had taken the initiative to secure the business.

Reference list
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