Company

Serba Boleh Berhad is a manufacturing automotive components, this company's customer base includes virtually every major manufacturer in the global automotive, commercial vehicle, and off-highway markets.

Challenge

The COVID-19 crisis caused profound disruptions in the global economy, due to this reason, its Human Resources (HR) manager wanted to reduce service costs, which were averaging RM10 million annually. They developed a strategy to "right-source" key HR functions that had been outsourced to a single contractor. By bringing the majority of services back in-house, and partnering with an array of best-in-class service providers for select elements of the program, the company is expected to both improve HR services and cut costs dramatically. Overall, there were 12 discrete projects included in the HR Transformation Program, encompassing all aspects of HR service delivery, such as Payroll, Benefits, Health and Welfare, and Pensions. After eight months, however, the entire program was in jeopardy. Key milestones and deliverables were not being met for any of the projects, and critical cost overruns were adding up. With just four months remaining to complete the entire HR Transformation Program, the CEO realized that the organization did not have the program management expertise to achieve the expected results.

Solution

On a Friday evening, the CEO asked PM Services Sdn Bhd (PMS) to assume program management oversight for the HR Transformation Program. The following Monday morning, PMS provided the first of two world-class Program Managers to turn around and recover the troubled initiative. This effort required masterful interface management between the client, the outgoing service provider, and multiple new service providers. Tensions between the stakeholders were high and expectations management was a critical element to success. Applying PMS' proprietary Project Review and Recovery techniques, the consultants reset client/vendor requirements, milestones, resource projections, estimates, and delivery targets.

Results

All 12 projects within the program were completed on schedule and on budget, with no service disruptions or outages during the pilot, transition, or go-live phases. Within seven months of program completion, the client had reduced HR expenses from RM10 million to RM4 million per year and is targeted for an RM3.5 million per year run rate. Because of the success of this initiative, PMS continued to work with this client to build an organizational project management methodology, mature portfolio management practices, and help improve project execution across the organization.

Based on the above case:

a) By providing the definition of a project, state the obstacles faced in project execution? [5 Marks]

b) Referring to answer in (a), analyse the possible solutions for these issues?