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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.  

Intellectual/transferrable:

You will be able to apply the principles of project management to the planned development and delivery of business initiatives, e.g. new products, services or events

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 (30% of module mark); 2pm, Friday 21/02/20

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;

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 500 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

A.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.

Submit copies of your previous two assignments (from weeks 5 and 10) as appendices to this third piece of work so that the marker will be able to see continuity between these earlier assignments and this final one.  Simply paste them in at the end and submit as one large document.  If you did not submit assignment 1 and/or 2 but do wish to submit assignment 3 then simply note at the end that you do not have anything to submit for 1 and 2 (you will be given a capped resit opportunity for each non-submitted assignment).

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?

Your work will be assessed by a subject expert who will use the marking grid provided in this assessment brief.  This marking brief will be applied to all three assignments.  When you access your marked work it is important that you reflect on the feedback so that you can use it to improve future assignments.

You MUST use the Harvard System.  The Harvard system is very easy to use once you become familiar with it.

Assignment submissions

The Business School requires a digital version of all assignment submissions.  These must be submitted via Turnitin on the module’s Moodle site.  They must be submitted as a single MS Word file (not as a pdf) and must not include scanned in text or text boxes.  They must be submitted by 2pm on the given date.  For further general details on coursework preparation refer to the online information via StudentZone . 

Mitigating circumstances/what to do if you cannot submit a piece of work or attend your presentation

The University Mitigating Circumstances Policy can be found on the University website -  Mitigating  Circumstances Policy

Marking and feedback process

Between you handing in your work and then receiving your feedback and marks within 20 days, there are a number of quality assurance processes that we go through to ensure that students receive marks which reflects their work. A brief summary is provided below.

·Step One – The module and marking team meet to agree standards, expectations and how feedback will be provided.

·Step Two – A subject expert will mark your work using the criteria provided in the assessment brief.

·Step Three – A moderation meeting takes place where all members of the teaching and marking team will review the marking of others to confirm whether they agree with the mark and feedback

·Step Four – Work at Levels 5 and 6 then goes to an external examiner who will review a sample of work to confirm that the marking between different staff is consistent and fair

·Step Five – Your mark and feedback is processed by the Office and made available to you.