MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

By:

P.SUJEEV KUMAR

AVIONICS

NO.: 49

Brief:
 Suppose that a person/group of persons desire to do
something. Whether be setting up a kiosk in the busiest centre
of the city or robbing a bank , no matter whether its small or
big , good or bad , slow or fast, the task’s rate of success
depends on a variety of parameters which mostly fly below the
radar. Knowing and implementing them not only brings success
but also make them wiser.

As the title suggests , it’s about the project management

of a project. It means that It is possible to achieve targets in a
most optimum way i.e. in terms of utilization of resources , time
, money , man power etc. which are considered as bottlenecks
in the execution of a program. Moreover , framing a successful
strategy to attack a problem or a task, eases the bottlenecks
that formerly appeared plus decreases a lot of confusion during
the execution. Hence helps in the well being of the people in
and out the system.

Before going to details, project management may be

defined as planning a project and make ground research in all
the necessary fields, making a schedule, simulation, getting
prepared with a back up plan if the worst is yet to come in your
journey, ultimately , the achievement of the goal.

VSSC can be considered as on of the vast and the most

successful organizations around the globe. VSSC is the lead
Centre for development of satellite launch vehicles and
associated technologies. In such an organization, project
management is the most important and infinitely deep entity of
ISRO. Born officially on November 21, 1963 with the successful
launching of a two-stage sounding rocket, 'Nike-Apache', The
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre emerged through all these years
and is still successfully running towards luminous future. Each
and every sector in in this vast family works in unison to make
launch vehicle in a success by planning, discipline, scheduling,
implementation, motivation, time to time reviews and so on .
The management board in the system controls the above
mentioned subjects.
 The following report gives the reader a taste of how to
handle a task and a basic idea ‘bout different strategies of how
a problem should be attacked with a simple example of HSP
dept. in VSSC.

Project Management:
The PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE ( PMI ,found in 1969 )
gives standard definitions for the terms of management.
These are universally accepted.

Definition:

Project : A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique

product or service.

Temporary means a project having a definite beginning and a

definite end.

Unique means the product or services is different in some

distinguishing way from all products or services .

Project management:
Application of knowledge, skills, tools & techniques to project
activities in order to meet the needs & expectations of the
project.

What are considered as projects?

Not every action is considered as a project. Let’s consider a
school boy going to school every day. This can be a task but not
a project. On the flipside, if you consider a proposal of building
a dam to conserve water, that is a project. Hence project is one
which is consumes human resources, effects economy. Its
productive, innovative, constructive action.

One should understand that its very tedious task to learn

each and every detail about project management in a very
short interval. Thus, I am going to keep it as brief as possible
and describe various steps taken for the ultimate success of a
project
ISRO is a huge organization that has various branches across
the country like VSSC, ISAC, SAC, LPSC, NRSA, ISTRAC, LEOS,
PRL, SHAR. The ultimate aim of this organization is to take
advance technology to a layman for his advantage. Done in
their own unique style of space research, developing manned
missions, launch vehicles (SLV, PSLV, GSLV, GSLV M-III). All the
branches conspire together in a fine synchronous manner to
the success as a whole family.

Project management in ISRO is a vast area of expertise

and its is present everywhere inside the body. A board of
experts well trained and experienced make a schedule and a
plan to make it work.

VSSC is the biggest center of ISRO. It has a large workforce

of about 4500 employees, most of them specialists in frontier
disciplines. With its state of the art facilities in all the
disciplines, the Centre has grown expertise in a host of
technology areas. It is a major R&D Centre with core
competencies in varied disciplines. The Centre has well-defined
and focused research activities and pursues research and
development in the fields of aeronautics, avionics, composites,
computer and information technology, control guidance and
simulation, materials and mechanical engineering,
mechanisms vehicle integration and testing, propellants and
polymers, propulsion and space ordnance, and systems
reliability. These research entities are the system development
agencies for the projects and thus provide for the realization of
the project objectives. Management functions are supported by
management systems area. The Centre depends on
administrative and auxiliary services for support.

Methodology of the study :

A survey conducted in TERLS, in the Human Spaceflight
Project division (HSP). The topic selected for the case study is
the crew module project design. Various departments are
consulted and a hint of how the system functions was obtained.
Beginning with a vivid overview which is later streamlined to
the details of how it is actually implemented inside the house.

The history of how the project is formulated, planned,

executed, monitored and controlled was obtained from the
VSSC library.

Research on such a project of national importance and

sophisticated technology, it is understood that its highly
confidential. Nevertheless efforts arte made to collect the
information. Besides, the case study became a lot easier and
smooth with the cooperation of personnel of VSSC and TERLS.
FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS:

Purpose of the project:

The preliminary move in project management is to realise the
objective, the need of the project. Realising this greatly
manages the resources, time and money.

PSLV ( Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle ) is used to launch

satellites in the polar orbit. Their primary role is scientific
research for various laboratories and universities. Cartosat-2a,
the 13th in the Indian remote-sensing satellite series, will be
used for mapping and help in urban and rural infrastructure
development.

Defining a project:
When the need of the project is recognized, the project should
be defined i.e. specifying the aims, goals and objectives for the
project. This stage may be redefined if a more productive
technique is discovered. Hence it takes more experience to
define a project in the first shot. The meeting of your need due
to this project is your top priority.

Planning:
It is the most time conserving process. Planning a project can
be done with many algorithms. It costs experience to frame an
optimum plan in a single shot.

Forming an organization is an integral part of planning.

Organization may be defined as a social arrangement which
pursues collective goals, controls its own performance, and has
a boundary separating it from its environment. Formerly the
organizational structure was mostly hierarchical. Slowly the
need of a new different structures that are discovered to be
more efficient emerged out. Now there are various structures
of organizations. Some of them are Pre-bureaucratic structures,
Organizational circle Bureaucratic structures Post-bureaucratic
Functional structure Divisional structure Matrix structure,
Network system. Of all these, network analysis and Matrix
organization are extensively implemented

Matrix Organization:
HRD division in VSSC implements the Matrix method of
organisation. In a matrix organisational structure, people have
to report to two bosses, one being the head of the department
in which they are working, and the other being the leader or
coordinator of the project on which they are working.
A matrix structure of organisation helps the organisation
run smoothly according to the projects that have to be
completed by the employees at a given point of time. It starts
from the general manager of the ISRO at the top, and then
goes down to the heads of the production, research and
development entities, besides all the heads of the other
departments in the organisation.
The activities of the staff of ISRO working on each project are
effectively coordinated by all the levels of management. This is
done to ensure that the functions of a specific department are
clearly defined to every member working in that department,
which ensures the hassle-free running of each department.

A matrix structure of an organisation is one in where there

is more accountability expected from every link in the chain, as
each of their duties overlap with those of their counterparts in
other departments. A Matrix organizational structure combines
the advantages of functional structure and product structure.
As it groups employees by function and by product. It uses
teams of employees for specific tasks or projects. There are
project managers

that are responsible for these teams. The members of this team
are form the functional area as well as the product area.

Why Matrix Organization?

Unlike the functional or the product structure the project
manager has complete responsibility and accountability which
includes functional responsibility and product responsibility. A
Matrix organization structure is a structure where an employee
reports to more than one supervisor. One being his/her direct
boss while the other can be a project supervisor were the
employee work for a period of time as long as the project last.
Matrix organisation is a hybrid that attempt to combine the
benefits of both the functional and divisional structures whiles
avoiding their drawbacks.

HSP Project –Matrix organization

DIRECTOR

ASSOSIATE DIRECTOR DIRECTOR (PROJECTS)

ADMINISTRATION MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS
R&D ENTITIES Projects
 Aeronautics
PSLV
Avionics
GSLV
Control & Guidance
GSLV Mk III
Composites Advanced
technology vehicles
Materials & mechanical Air
breathing Propulsion
Mechanisms & Integration Reusable
Launch Vehicles
Propellants & Chemicals Space Capsule
Recovery Experiment
Propulsion & ordnance Human Space
Flight program
Systems reliability
Structural Engineering
Space Physics
Matrix Organizational System in ISRO. Note that it is not hierarchal.

In ISRO the various centres have experts in their own fields.

Hence ISRO has a portal of experts waiting for a project to take
place. Suppose that project is proposed. The project manager
selects the required personnel with the pin-point abilities
necessary for the project. When they are done, they were again
back to their centres where the ongoing R&D work is
conducted.

Network analysis is also an easy way for analyzing the

programme and mostly avoids confusion and root of a
problem(if any ) can be easily spotted. One such network
analysis is given below.

Design> Procurement> Fabrications> Testing>

Assembly>

WBS ( Work Breakdown Structure ):

Creating a launch vehicle is no easy task. It consumes a huge
amount of capital. Thus the work is divided into discrete, small,
manageable jobs in a hierarchical pattern that can be
scheduled accordingly. It’s basically a chart logically connecting
all the steps to be taken in project. One such structure
(incomplete due to large size ). Once the WBS structure is
made, every task is scheduled hierarchically. Schedule
management is also called as time planning. Time
management is the most important and a very critical
parameter in relation to a project. There are tools for time
management as well. Two widely used tools are PERT (The
Program Evaluation and Review Technique. It is a network
model that allows for randomness in activity completion times.)
and CPM ( Critical Path Method ).
PRET technique is more of a probabilistic approach in
scheduling tasks. This is done when the time of execution of
any task in the system is unknown. Where as on the flipside, a
CPM technique is implemented when the execution time of all
the tasks are exactly known. Hence it requires experience in
that area.
The work breakdown structure is the foundation of project
planning. It is developed before dependencies are identified
and activity durations are estimated. The WBS can be used to
identify the tasks in the CPM and PERT project planning models.
PERT was able to incorporate uncertainty by making it possible
to schedule a project while not knowing precisely the details
and durations of all the activities. Early start time(EST), EFT
,LST ,LFT are estimated and critical paths in the network are
identified. Critical paths are those in which no slack is
allowed ,means the activity in a critical path does not have any
rest period

Crew Module
structure
Internal Structure
Longerons
Bulk heads
Forwards heat shields
interface ring
Pressurised cabin
External Structure
Apex cover
Conical structure
Forward Panels
Forward heat shields
 View ports
Thermal Protection
System
Carbon phenol
Medium density ablative
Propulsion System
RCS thrusters
Propellant tanks
Pressurization bottles
Fluid lines
Deceleration system
Parachutes Pilot chutes
Drogue chutes
Main chutes
Auxiliary chutes
Pyro Devices
Mortar
Reefing cutters
Parachute releaser
Triggering System

Sensors Baro sensors

Altimeter
Drop test facilities
External Facilities
Rtrs test facilities
Floatation System
Upright Floats
Float pressurization
systems
Gas bottles
Fill and drain valves
Fluid lines
Auxiliary floats
Pyro valves
Splash down sensors
Crew seat and auxiliary
systems
Crew seat structures
Impact attenuators
Restraint system
Separation systems
CM-SM Separation
systems
Plumbing severance
system
Apex cover separation
Radiation protection
systems
Particle impact
attenuation systems
Acoustic protection
systems

WBS Structure of a task.(Courtesy: HSP)

Exexution:
Executing:

Work is assigned to respective units of WBS structure under the

supervision of the person chosen from that particular entity for
the project. Work proceeds according to the planned
procedures and guidelines.
Project manager and each entity head supervise the progress of
the work and see that the assigned work is completed within
the allocated time with correct outputs produced.

Monitoring and Controlling:

Execution phase is monitored whether

project is progressing in the planned way. Process is controlled
if there are any deviations from the plan.

Review mechanisms- PMM (project management

methodologies), PMB (performance measurement
baseline),interface meetings

Schedule control- PERT (Project evaluation and review

technique)

In a pert model mean time and variance is calculated and

using normal distribution, probability or confidence interval for
completion of project is found out if there is a deviation from
the estimated (mean)time for project.

Cost control- performance evaluation through S curve analysis

Any change in the process of work is dealt with change

management. In change management the effect caused by the
change on the whole project is measured and appropriate
measures are implemented in order that the change doesn’t
hinder the progress of the project.

To minimize the deviation from the plan effective interface

management can be implemented. In this divisions having
interrelated tasks discuss frequently with each other about their
progress and see that they synchronize with together.

Testing:

Testing is done using various simulation techniques

and hardware is tested under worse case conditions for high
quality performance.
 Software’s used in project management are MS Project,
Primavera and Harvard project Manager

Conclusion:
Project management is a very powerful tool that is plays a
vital role in the overall success of a mission. Through a good
project management system in an organization, man can reach
any heights in the future years coming by. ISRO has a fine
management system that makes it run smoothly everyday for
all these years and the years to come.
Change is something that cannot be avoided in a project .
Yet with experience one can make a better planning of budget
and scheduling which are considered as the bottlenecks in a
project. success is not possible without a leader . When it
seems impossible to achieve the goals, a leader's
determination and vision can change things. Hence presence of
a powerful leader/project manager is also important.

END
 Special thanks to:
J.Geetha(HRDD,VSSC)
K.S.Nanda Kumar(HSP,TERLS)
Gopikrishna(HSP,TERLS)