Project Management: Core Activity Areas and Documentation

You will be able to develop understanding of the core activity areas project managers concern themselves with and how they relate to personal and organisational issues.  

You will be able to apply the principles of project management to the planned development and delivery of business initiatives,

Individual Summative (Main) Assignments x2: These assignments are based on a fictitious case study that presents students with a business project scenario. You are free to choose the case study from the four options provided.  You must take the role of Project Manager and are required to analyse the case study, research the best approach to managing it and develop the following items of project planning documentation, to be submitted as two separate component assignments at various points through the semester:  Assignments are individually marked.

Tasks to be completed are on page 2 and the four case scenario options are on page 3

Assignment 1 – to be submitted in week 6

A.Sample Project Initiation Document (PID) including budgetary information, timescales, objectives, approach, key staff and stakeholder analysis (approx. 750 words plus diagrams, etc.);

B.Work breakdown Structure containing at least 20 items in the WBS. The WBS should be presented in the form of a diagram that includes dependencies, milestones and a hierarchy of tasks. You are free to deliver this as a Gantt chart (use MS Project to develop this) but it is not required. All diagrams should be embedded into your report as images. In addition include with this table a referenced paragraph explaining how a WBS can be used to help manage the

tasks on a project and give a further paragraph briefly explaining the importance of critical path analysis;

Assignment 2 – to be submitted in week 12

A.A risk register containing at least 10 fully documented risks, including owner, mitigation and contingency actions, pre-and post- action weighting and scores.

B.In approximately words describing the way in which a risk register forms a crucial part of an overall risk management plan, using examples to show what happens when risk is not properly managed on projects.

C.A short report written directly to the project sponsor containing both of the following:

i.An explanation of the need for effective, structured communication between the project manager and members of their team.  Using theory and suitable case examples, tell your sponsor how best you believe the communication process should be structured on your project, so as to ensure the most efficient and effective possible team working.

ii.An analysis and critique of methodologies that might be used to run the project case study, principally comparing Agile, Waterfall and PRINCE2 methodologies. Explain their strengths and weaknesses and give your recommendation to the sponsor as to which methodology you believe would be best to use.  There is no right or wrong answer for this and hence marks will be given on the basis of how well you have explained and justified your decision. As with the other assignment elements, reference examples and reference to theory is very important.

D.Submit copies of your first assignment (from week 5) as appendix to this second piece of work so that the marker will be able to see continuity between the earlier assignment and this final one.  Simply paste them in at the end and submit as one large document.  If you did not submit assignment 1 but do wish to submit assignment 2 then simply note at the end that you do not have anything to submit for 1 (you will be given a capped resit opportunity for each non-submitted assignment).

Copying of other student work is not accepted and both the original author and copying students will be held equally accountable under university disciplinary procedures.

How will we support you with your assessment?

·You will receive formative feedback. See details above.  Although the final deliverables are individual pieces of work, staff will encourage and support you in working informally in small groups to help everyone gain a better understanding of the cases available.

·There will be an assessment briefing in Weeks 1 and/or 2 as necessary and further briefings for formative assessments where necessary.

·Frequently asked questions (and their answers) will be posted on the module’s Moodle site

·There will be an opportunity to review and reflect upon work from previous cohorts. This will be delivered in lecture and seminar time.

·Significant seminar time will be given over to the discussion of the various aspects of project management that you will cover in your assignments and seminar time in the final two weeks will used to help support you in developing your final assignment answers.

How will your work be assessed?