Project Scope, Cost and Time Management Planning Techniques

Successful completion of this assessment will result in achievement of the following subject learning outcomes:

Evaluate and apply a range of project scope, cost and time management planning techniques and practices to address the needs of complex project briefs, including global, paying particular attention to issues impacting project outcomes.

Present and justify budgetary and planning outcomes to a globally diverse range of stakeholders who represent competing interests in order to obtain agreement and commitment to action

The backbone of a project manager’s work is the Project Management Plan. This plan is the document which describes how the project will be executed, monitored and controlled. It integrates and consolidates all of the subsidiary plans and baselines from the planning processes. In this subject, you will be creating components of a Project Management Plan for your selected Case Study. Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully. Managing the project scope is primarily concerned with defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project.

Project Time Management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project. Plan Time Management is the process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule. Effective scope management is one of the key factors determining project success. Failure to accurately interpret a client's needs or problems will produce a misleading definition (scope of work). If this causes rework and additional effort, there may be project cost and time implications. Therefore project success will be self-limiting if the scope of work is not adequately defined.

How might changes to project scope affect the project's schedule, and how would a project manager formally communicate such variances to project stakeholders? Illustrate some examples from the given case study to support your discussion.

Provide an initial discussion of approximately 500 words by the first half of Module 2. Respond with approximately 250 words for each feedback/comment to at least one fellow student’s discussion by the end of Module 2 (Total 750 words for Assessment 1 Part A).

In this subject, you will be creating subsidiary management plans of a Project Management Plan using the information found in the case study provided by your learning facilitator at the commencement of the subject.

You will work individually or in a group of 2-3 students on the given case study.

For Assessment 1 Part B, you are responsible for submitting the project scope and time management plans for the case study. The plans must contain, but not limited to, the following plan components:

• Project goals and objectives
• Project scope statement
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Project schedule

For the project scope statement and WBS, you can use the templates found in this module’s Learning Resources or a format of your own. For the project schedule, you are responsible for submitting a schedule and a network diagram using the critical path method (CPM). Your schedule can be created using scheduling software e.g. ProjectLibre or Microsoft Project. Your network diagram can be handdrawn and scanned or created using drawing tools e.g. in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.