Project Portfolio: Planning And Execution Of Community Cultural Event

You are required to complete a project portfolio containing the tasks outlined below. Please bear in mind that the tasks are generic for all projects types, but your learning contract will make the project particular to you and your programme. Therefore the area of the project will be agreed the module tutor/supervisor as per your programme in the Learning Contract (Task 1) according to your programme option (see the table below). The Learning Contract, when complete, will be form written permission to undertake the project related tasks or research methods that you plan to undertake in order to carry out the project and compile the portfolio. The report (task 2) will normally focus on the experiences thrown up by the project, how you solved problems, improving practices over the period, or implemented a new process.

You are to complete the project and write a project report which must focus on the following.

1. A brief background and context of the project being discussed and analysed;

2. To demonstrate trans-disciplinary models / theories to underpin your analysis;

3. To assess the project phases (preparation and implementation) and evaluate their effectiveness;

4. To discuss the skills that you developed to solve work based problems;

5. To analyse and evaluate the action you did / did not take and why;

6. What learning you took from the project by giving a portfolio of evidence

This report has been prepared as an evidence of the planning of the project that organizing of cultural event. The event would be based on the theme of Music, vintage, history, and art & craft which would be carried out for the residents of Greenwich community in Greenwich Park.

Event management is a multimillion dollar industry that executes tens of millions of events every year with over 100,000 event managers operating across various event industries. It is expected that by 2024, the event industry would generate 109,900 jobs in event management. The current project would involve theme of art and music (Best Hospitality Degrees, 2016).

The aim of this project is to successfully organize the event and achieve its objectives to attract people from Greenwich Park as spectators through marketing, complete the management activities involving organization and execution of event management activities.

Event Management Body of Knowledge defines five project phases including Initiation, planning, Implementation, event, and closure.

Initiation: In this stage the project manager would build a business case to study the feasibility of the event management project. Once it is found feasible, the project would proceed to the planning phase. Specific activities that would be involved in initiation phase include (Masons Thelen Reid LLP, 2006):

• Identification of project goals and objectives
• Feasibility analysis using historical data and considering constraints
• Defining scope and expected outcomes of the project.
• The output of the project initiation is the project proposal which has to be approved by management before planning can begin(Al-Maghraby, 2010).

Planning: In this phase, project resource requirements are identified and specifications are developed for deliverables. Specific policies and procedures would be developed in this stage for the event management project. The output of this stage would be a project plan.

Implementation: For implementation of the project plan, human resources, goods and services needed would be acquired and an action plan would be developed and executed. In this stage, project activities are monitored and resource constraints including cost, schedule, scope, and quality are controlled (ACU, 2017).

The Event: Delivery of event services is given as per the plan and contingency plans are implemented in the cases of risks occurring on the project. This includes management of on-site logistical operations, inspection and monitoring of service deliveries (Metafuse, Inc.;Core Performance Concepts, 2015).

Project Closure: After all the event activities are completed, the event project would be closed which would be marked by creation and approval of a closure report that would include analysis and evaluation of the project outcomes.

Project would be carried out in five phases that would include Initiation, planning, Implementation, event, and closure (Andersen, 2008).

Initiation phase involves research on project mission, goals and objectives, development of proposal containing project scope and justification and acceptance of the proposal from the management (Office Timeline, LLC, 2016).

Project phases

Mission: Conduct the event to recognize the local culture and celebrate achievements in art and music involving people from local communities

Goals of the event management project include:

• Increase the exposure of event to get more public awareness
• Gain sufficient revenues within the given budget of the project(Oracle, 2009)

The objectives of this project include:

• Identify activities needed to complete the event and communicate them to all the project team members(PDA, 2007)
• Identify performance measures to be used for recording performing during monitoring which would be used for evaluation of the project.
• Provide a base for assuring project progress and improvement wherever needed for the event management(Atkinson, 1999)

The activities that would be in scope of this project include:

• Developing a project plan including project schedule, project budget, and risk management plan(EPMA, 2017)
• Conducting research on audience and community that is targeted in this event to understand them(Attarzadeh & Ow, 2008)
• Identify roles and responsibilities of the project team and select the team for the project development
• Hire volunteers and assign them responsibilities to organize the event and sell tickets to the spectators
• Develop a project cost management plan and get the funds for the execution of the event project( PM College, 2009)
• Manage expenses on the project through the use of effective cost management strategies on the event
• Select venue and make arrangements for the execution of the event through provision and implementation of facilities required
• Hire contractors and vendors for making temporary structures needed for event and for acquiring equipments needed for project execution
• Recognition of land owners and  giving them recognition as well as take permission for the event execution(PMI, 2015)
• Develop and execute a marketing plan for the event for promoting it and attracting visitors and spectators
• Developing a risk management plan including development of contingency measures and use them to minimize the risks on the project or mitigate their impacts(BIS, 2010)

The activities that are not in the scope of the project include:

• Getting feedback from the spectators on how effective did they find the event
• Providing training to the event organizers and performers

In this stage of the project, the requirements of the project are assessed and a Work Break Down Structure is created identifying all the needed tasks for the completion of the project. WBS for the event management project is presented below (Austin, et al., 2002):

1. 0 Initiation

1.1 Defining Project Objectives

1.1.1 Identify Mission

1.1.2 Identify Goals

1.1.3 Formulate Objectives

1.2 Feasibility Analysis

1.2.1 Financial Feasibility

1.2.2 Operational Feasibility

1.3 Project proposal

1.3.1 Project Scope

1.3.2 Project Budget

1.3.3 Project Approval (PMI, 2015)

2.0 Planning

2.1 Resource Plan

2.1.1 Human resource

2.1.2 Financial Planning

2.1.3 Operational plan

2.2 Risk management plan

2.2.1 Risk identification

2.2.2 Risk Assessment

2.2.3 Contingency Planning (Project Management Institute , 2000)

2.3 Communication management plan

2.3.1 Stakeholder management

2.3.1 Team Communication

3.0 Implementation

3.1 Procurement

3.1.1 Event Equipments

3.1.2 Volunteers

3.1.3 Participants

3.1.4 Contractors

3.1.4.1 Decoration and Ambience

3.1.4.2 Infrastructure

3.1.4.2 Catering

3.2 Logistics & Transportation

3.3 Ticketing (Rai Technology University, 2016)

4.0 Execution

4.1 On-Site logistics

4.1.1 Temporary structure set-up

4.1.2 Catering Set-up

4.1.3 Equipments set-up (UC Santacruz, 2014)

4.2 Decoration

4.3 Event

4.3.1 Stalls

4.3.2 Performances

5.0 Project Closure (EU, 2011)

5.1 Project Closure Documentation

5.2 Resource release

5.3 Project Sign-off (Ballesty, 2005)

Once all activities are planned, the work would begin to execute the planned activities. In this phase, the activities executed would be verified and supervised. The project team would also establish a control over the project scope, cost, schedule, communications, quality, procurement, and risks. First the logistical requirements would be identified and checklist would be prepared for including all logistics elements.  For the cultural event management, the logistical requirements include (BMG, 2014):

• Food and beverages
• Seating arrangements for spectators
• Signage’s for directions
• Vehicles for transportation of goods and materials(University of Exeter, 2015)
• Safety equipments and personnel’s for risk minimization
• IT equipments needed for performance
• Lighting and decorative material for creating ambience
• Administrative material for ticketing(Balestrero, 2006)

Further, in this stage, a communication infrastructure is developed including execution of a communication management plan for stakeholder management. The stakeholder holder communication matrix for the current project is presented below which is used for managing communication needs of the stakeholders for the community event project (ExecutiveBrief, 2015).

Role	Description	Communication Needs	Communication Responsibilities
Project Sponsor	Project sponsor is the event organization that would be providing funds for the project	Project sponsor would be contacted to get the approval of the project proposal and the project plan If there is a major change needed on a project which requires additional funds then the project sponsor can be contacted for approval. Project achievements on every major milestone dates must be updated to the project sponsor (U.S. Department of the Interior , 2012)	Guides the team to help them achieve the vision of the project Take finance related decisions for the project Evaluate and approve project proposal and project plan
Event Volunteers	They execute all the project activities that are planned (Caltrans, 2007)	All the event requirements and activities have to be communicated to them before starting the project They should be given training on how to manage the event	Carry out activities needed to achieve the project objectives Update the progress of the project to the management from time to time (Biafore, 2011)
Customers	Customers would be the spectators attending the event	Inform about the event including venue, timing, highlights, and ticketing information.	Communicate the intension to attend to purchase tickets
Contractors	Contractors include those who would be outsourced parts of event management work including catering, decoration, infrastructure set-up, transportation, and IT set-Up	Contractors must be informed about all the needs of the project that contractor can fulfill Decide terms of contract and build working contract	Inform the status of the deliveries Resolve any issues related to delivery of equipments or set-up of any kind in the event
Land Owners	Land owners provide approval to conduct the event	Get the details of all the activities that would be carried out in the event along with explanations of benefits of the event	Give approval for conducting the event in the place of their ownership (Bridgewater State University, 2015)

Activities involved in this phase are inspection of the location, installation of infrastructure and equipments, establishment of the set-up, moving of the project team and exhibitors in the event place and conducting of activities planned for the event. When taking the deliveries of the equipments and other infrastructure components, inspections would be held to understand if they are ready for operations post which set-up would begin.

Initiation

At this point, risks that are likely to occur or are occurring in the event are managed. A risk management matrix is presented below that involves identification of risks, assessment of those risks, responsibilities identification, and development of a contingency plan ( Changefirst Limited, 2009).

Risk	Impact	Probability	Ranking	Response	Responsibility	Contingency Plan
Cost overrun	Medium	High	6	Control project costs and release funds as per milestone requirements	Project Manager	If project fall short of funds then project manager has to resubmit the budget and get approval for the same from the project sponsor
Delays in delivery of equipments	High	Medium	6	Monitor project progress at every stage of the project and control or prevent any likely delays so that overall schedule is not missed	Project Manager (Cleland & Gareis, 2006)	Identify what causes delays and resolve them
Equipments or goods received are not of desired quality	High	Medium	6	Ensure that technical requirements are clearly given to vendors and equipments are tested before acceptance	Quality Assurance Manager	Evaluate received goods and equipment and if they are  not up to the market, return them for a reorder (Oracle, 2009)
Scope alterations	High	Low		Define scope very clearly in the project plan such that no scope variations emerged at later stages of the project	Project Manager	Accept only those changes in scope that can be accommodated within given budget and time constraints (Costa & Pimentel, 2009)
Conflicts between project team members (Liu, 2013)	Medium	Medium	4	Use team management activities to create a positive and coordinated work environment to avoid conflicts (FME, 2014)	Project Manager	In case of conflicts, an arbitrator can be appointed for resolving conflicts
Inability to sell desired number of tickets	Medium	Low	2	Identify potential demand and use effective marketing to reach out to them	Marketers	Ensure that marketing messages reach all the target audience
Lack of readiness of the venue before the event	High	Medium	6	Ensure that project requirements are clearly identified and the event could be readied within stipulated time.	Project manager	Inspect the venue after implementation to see if everything is ok and in case, there is anything missing in the venue, immediate arrangements should be done (Force Management, 2013)

The project would be executed by the project manager who would involve volunteers for organizing events. Key stakeholders of the project include the project sponsor organization that would be funding the project, visitor who would be purchasing the event tickets, volunteers who would be organizing the events, vendors who would be supplying equipments and other materials for the event, contractors who would include the companies building temporary structure and providing other services including transportation and catering to the event, public living nearby including the land owners as they have to be taken permission from, and the government who would have to be taken approval from to execute the event. A different set of skills would needed by each of the project team member as illustrated in the table below.

Role	Skill requirement
Project Manager	Project manager would be taking care of the whole project from initiation till completion and thus, should have a range of skills including communication skills, leadership, negotiation, team management, personal management, and risk management
Volunteers	Volunteers would be responsible for managing ground work needed for event management and thus, they should have the experience of working on events and should have the skills to manage events, vendors, contracts, and people (InterGlobe , 2008)
Contractors	Should have the capability to deliver all the requirements of the project in the area of contract. Contractors include caterers, transporters, and security professionals (Liu, 2013).
Vendors	They must have the capability to deliver the required quantity of goods in a short time. These goods include IT and musical equipments, lightening, decorative materials, and furniture.
Quality Officer	Quality officer would have to monitor the project progress with respect to the quality dimension and assess its outcomes to evaluate the quality parameters. And thus, he must have good knowledge and experience of quality management (GDE, n.d.).

Project evaluation involves assessment of a project with an aim to determine the level at which the project was able to achieve its objectives and was able to attain efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of the outcome. For this evaluation, various components of the project including inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impact were explored (Time is Ltd, 2015). To have these assessments, project activities were monitored and reviews were conducted. The evaluation is done by primary and secondary clients including project partners and project management team. The idea behind project evaluation is to gain practical learning and improve performance of the project. Structured interviews were conducted involving these people where they were asked questions on project performance (Oracle, 2009). Besides these interviews that presented qualitative assessment of the project, other measurements were also used for evaluation through answering following questions:

• Extent to which objectives of the project were achieved
• To what extent was the target audience reached through the event marketing
• Was the relationship between inputs and results achieved justified?
• What was the impact of project on community objectives?(Oxford Brookes University, 2003)

As a portfolio of evidence, learning contract was attached that had log book, orientation checklist, communication evidence, and SWOT analysis done on the event. These evidences are attached in the appendix here as proof of work done by the student on the project. These evidences revealed that the student has actively participated in all the project activities in every stage including initiation, planning, implementation, evaluation and closure (Thinking Portfolio, 2016).

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