Assignment Guide for Project Management

Assignment Guide for Project Management

  1. 1. Be able to analyse business objectives to identify feasible projects

 

Project initiation

  • Analysing business needs, reviewing operations and procedures, alternative project cost-benefit analyses

 

Project sub-division

  • Work breakdown, identifying time scales, identifying resources, project budgeting, reporting and accountability

 

Outline project methodology

  • Review of project and decide between appropriate models for project management e.g. traditional approach, PRINCE2, critical change approach, event change approach

 

Feasibility

  • Risk management: identifying risk, impact analysis, risk management/planning, review of cost-benefit and risk equation for projects. Consideration of other issues impacting on project e.g. issues of globalisation (advantages and disadvantages of cross-country/culture projects)

 

  1. 2. Be able to design systems and plans for initiating, managing and controlling projects

 

Evaluate project management framework

  • Traditional approach, critical change approach, event change approach or proprietary/formalised approaches e.g. PRINCE

 

Role of Project Manager

  • Managing team and stakeholders, setting schedule, budget and timing, developing the project plan, managing project risks and interfaces with other projects, managing conflicts

 

Project plan

  • Value proposition, sponsorship, accountability, deliverables, responsibilities, resource allocations, timeline, milestones, critical path

 

  1. 3. Be able to organise and manage a project

 

Team structures

  • Hierarchical, virtual, networked, functional team, pure project teams, matrix management

 

Interpersonal skills

  • Leadership, e.g. motivating others, delegation, and decision-making. Networking, e.g. network building and communication skills, teamwork, e.g. collaboration, mentoring

 

Quality

  • Status and plan documentation and regular monitoring meetings, defining responsibilities and accountability, communications, traceability and audit trails, formalised frameworks and stages

 

Change control

  • Formal change requests, review of critical path/ impact on resources and timelines, authorisation processes

 

  1. 4. Be able to monitor and control the progress of projects

 

Issues and risks

  • Project creep, gaps in the scope or accountability of the project, changing dependencies (other projects, business conditions etc.), delays, (technology, decisions, resource availability etc.), planning errors, skills or other resource deficits

 

Project monitoring

  • Status and plan documentation and regular monitoring meetings, defining responsibilities and accountability, communications, traceability, formalised frameworks and stages

 

Project conflict resolution

  • Role of Project Manager and Sponsor, constructive versus destructive conflicts, compromise, skill complements, goal congruence

 

  1. 5. Be able to review, evaluate and closeout a project

 

Project closeout risks

  • Lack of ownership, communication failures, ‘meaningless’ plan without buy-in, no accountability, lack of employee empowerment

 

Project closeout

  • Formal evaluation of project and team performance, document learning points for future, assess success factors, post-implementation report, sign off on deliverables, hand over / archive documentation, contract closures, closing out financial accounts, reassign team

Unit 6.2     Project Management

 

Level 6     15 Credits

 

Assignment

 

Scenario

 

 

You are employed as an Office Manager in a company based in the centre of London. The company provides consultancy services to businesses around the world, particularly in the area of management development.  All of the consultants work remotely from home and the office function, with a team of 10 people, is purely administrative.

 

The Managing Director has announced that the offices will be relocated to the area around Banbury, Oxfordshire in order to reduce costs. She has asked you to lead a small team from the office and involve consultants to plan and execute this move. She wishes to retain the same size administrative team. In her announcement, she also confirmed the current business objectives and the specific objectives associated with the move.  These include:

 

  • Continuing to grow business income by 10% annually
  • Enhancing profitability partially by reducing the physical costs associated with accommodation
  • Retaining the business earning capacity
  • Improving the quality of support the office provides to the consultants and clients
  • Improving the IT systems for the business
  • Minimising the human resource costs associated with the move particularly associated with redundancy, recruitment and training

 

 

Activity 1

The Managing Director wishes to understand the full implications of the office move. She has asked you to prepare an initial report which considers the various projects needed to deliver the move to new premises.

 

  • Appraise the business objectives listed above and identify the projects which will be needed to successfully carry out the relocation.
  • Considering your list of projects, develop the necessary project sub divisions and produce high level estimates of the resources needed to complete one of these projects including time and costs.

ACs 1.1, 1.2

 

Activity 2

The MD has read your report and agreed with the work completed to date. She now wishes to get an insight into the way in which you believe the projects should be planned and delivered. She has also made it clear that all members of the team need to have the same shared understanding. She has asked you to use your selected project and produce a handbook on The Project Management Approach, for use by all members of the team.

The first section of this Handbook must:

 

  • describe and evaluate a suitable methodology for your chosen project
  • assess the feasibility of this project
  • include a structure for the management and administration of the project
  • define the roles and responsibilities of staff who will manage this project, producing a job description and person specification for a Project Manager. This person specification must include the interpersonal skills required for effective project management

ACs 1.3,1.4, 2.1, 2.2, 3.2

 

Activity 3

In the second section of the Handbook you must prepare and describe a detailed project plan

AC 2.3

 

Activity 4

In this section you must:

  • describe and assess alternative project team structures
  • design processes for quality management of the project
  • design procedures for how project change proposals will be managed

ACs 3.1, 3.3, 3.4

 

Activity 5

This section of the Handbook covers monitoring and control of projects.

  • Produce two tables which identify
    • the issues and risks that may impede a project
    • the issues and risks likely to be encountered in the final stages of a project
  • Design and describe systems which can be used for
    • monitoring and appraising the status of a project
    • detecting and managing issues arising in the course of projects

 

ACs 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1

 

Activity 6

The final section of the Handbook is an assessment of the tasks needed to be completed in the final stages of a project.

 

AC 5.2

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