Identifying and Describing Actors

Introduction 

One of the biggest challenges that encompass any business enterprise is the risks that the entrepreneur takes. For instance, a business entrepreneur may risk ordering goods without the certainty of their safe delivery. This means that the goods may or may not be delivered in good condition at the expected time. In order to avoid purchasing risks, the entrepreneur should develop an order processing system for capturing, tracking and shipping customers' orders with the aim of maximizing customer satisfaction ( Marle, Jaber, & Pointurier, 2019 ). This paper focuses on the potential risk factors that should be addressed while developing an order processing system in a project scope. Besides, the paper also discusses the concept of system boundaries together with actors in various project situations, such as purchasing on Ebay interactions between the user, the web browser and the server it contracts, and playing DVD. 

Potential Risk Factors 

There are various risk factors that may cause a project to fail. One of the potential risk factors is lack of documentation for the project scope (Hasan, 2016). A project scope document is necessary as it allows the management to conveniently assign tasks and monitor the employees’ performance. A project document is also necessary in enabling the project members to set clear goals and objectives that the project aims at achieving. Therefore, lack of scope documentations means that the project may fail to properly assign important tasks and the team members fail to understand the set goals and objects, hence the project fails to achieve its purpose. Another potential risk factor is inconsistency in communication within the project scope (Hasan, 2016). Lack of effective communication within a project scope translates to confusions among the key stakeholders. When the key participants of the project are not aware of what they are expected to do, they lack motivation in their daily activities and the project fails to achieve its purpose. 

Poor planning is another project potential risk factor (Hasan, 2016). This is because lack of project planning translates to a lot of time wastage because the project fails to run smoothly as the participants spend a lot of time enquiring about the next step to take after completing a particular task. Therefore, project managers need to make solid plans in order to ensure smooth running of their projects. The fourth potential risk factor that contributes to project failure is absence of cohesion among the key project stakeholders (Hasan, 2016). Lack of cohesion among team members therefore, means each individual takes their own direction leading to conflicting interests among the participants; hence they fail to cooperate towards achieving a common goal. Therefore, cohesion between team members is vital for a project scope to run as expected. The final potential risk factor accrues from unrealistic expectations (Hasan, 2016). Unrealistic expectations and deadlines pose a great danger in a project scope because it leads to excessive workloads on team members, hence making it hard for the members to complete the set goals as expected. There is therefore, the need for managers to set realistic goals in order to allow members to focus on each task for better performance. 

The Project Scope 

A well-defined project scope is the one that adopts a clearly set vision as well as the agreed project outcomes. A project scope must therefore, have project goals and objectives ( Jamaledine, 2017 ). A project scope may be defined in a number of steps. The first step is identification of the project needs. The second step involves confirmation of project goals and objectives; which should be simple and achievable. Next is the description of the project scope; which may entail identifying the project qualities that may lead to the project success. Then next is stating the expectations and accepting the project outcomes while putting into account the satisfaction of the product end-user ( Jamaledine, 2017 ). The fifth step involves identification of the project constraints and working towards minimizing the project areas of limitations ( Jamaledine, 2017 ). The final step of defining a project scope focuses on identifying the necessary project changes ( Jamaledine, 2017 ). Under this scope, the project changes should be minimized as much as possible in order to minimize cases of disagreements among the various project stakeholders. 

The Concept of System Boundaries 

A project boundary simply refers to all the inclusions within a project work ( Linman, 2018 ). In other words, the term “project boundary” is used to refer to the extent of the project scope ( Linman, 2018 ). Project boundaries are defined by all items that exist inside and the outside of the project work. Project boundaries are identified by certain factors such as project goals, key project phases, product scope, and group accountability ( Linman, 2018 ). Therefore, accurately set project boundaries raise performance to both groups and individuals of the project, as all stakeholders are aware of their areas of duties. It further enhances proper utilization of human resources. 

Project Actors 

Actors are all the stakeholders within a project scope who directly or indirectly influence the outcomes of the project ( Marle, Jaber, & Pointurier, 2019 ). The project actors include clients, property managers, maintenance staff, energy consultants, design engineers, and technology providers ( Marle, Jaber, & Pointurier, 2019 ). All actors combine their efforts to collectively enhance the project performance at large. Actors may be identified based on various situations of their operations. For instance, the actors of purchasing on Ebay are the buyers and sellers within the project ( Marle, Jaber, & Pointurier, 2019 ). The actors of interactions between the user, the web browser and the server it contacts are the energy consultants, contractors and design engineers ( Marle, Jaber, & Pointurier, 2019 ). The actors of playing DVD on the other hand are the technology providers ( Marle, Jaber, & Pointurier, 2019 ). However, it is worth to note that all actors collectively play important roles either directly or indirectly in order to drive the project into success. 

References 

Hasan, S. (2016). Top 7 Factors That Contribute Towards Project Failure. (Online).Retrieved from https://blog.taskque.com/causes-project-failure/ 

Jamaledine, R. (2017). 6 Steps to Successfully Define the Scope of a Project. (Online).Retrieved from https://www.potential.com/articles/project-scope/ 

Linman, D. (2018). Project Boundaries Identification: the What and the Why. (Online).Retrieved from https://mymanagementguide.com/project-boundaries-identification/ 

Marle, F., Jaber, H., & Pointurier, C. (2019). Organizing Project Actors for Collective Decision-Making about Interdependent Risks. (Online).Retrieved from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/complexity/2019/8059372/