Project Management Assignment Answer

Project Management of a University Launch Event: A Comprehensive Report

Abstract

In the following project report, the importance of project management had been talked about in brief. There are many aspects of a project- "A launch event" that had been covered in the report. Project management is crucial for the business organisation irrespective of scales and domain of functioning. It is all about starting, arranging, executing, controlling, and closing a project. What's more, the project managementtime management, budget making, approach finalising, risk management, etc. Variousundertaking, changes, and management tools instruments have been built up that are helping in carrying out project management effectively. This has profited the association from multiple points of view. It is essential to note here that venture the board likewise discusses dangers and their administration. In this report, different parts of the task are examined. The most important is the definition of PID that includes aims and objectives, budget, and other relevant data. The key partners and their needs have been worked out through an analysis tool. Another critical piece of this report is that it covers the risks the board and PM need to consider and manage.

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Introduction

Project management is crucial for the business organisation irrespective of scales and domain of functioning. It is all about initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing a project. In addition to this, the project management comprises the time management, resource management, management of the staff, and problem-solving. With time, numerous project management tools have been developed that are easing off the workload of the project managers and organisation. This has benefited the organisation in many ways. It is important to note here that project management also talks about risks and their management. In this report, various aspects of the project are discussed. The first and foremost is the formulation of a project initiation document that comprises project objectives, budget, time schedules, and other information. The key stakeholders and their significance have been worked out through stakeholder analysis tool. Another crucial part of this report is that it covers the risk management and mitigation analysis.

PROJECT INITIATION DOCUMENT (PID)

Document Information

Approval

Definition

References

Project Management Team

Project Controls

For better controlling of the project aspects, the project manager needs to formulate the current stage update, formulate a project plan, and create a stage plan for the consecutive stage. This information will help the project team to review current stage and review the requirements of next stage. With the managing stage boundary process, the manager can be able to assure that all the desired aspects of a current stage is completed and approved. In addition to this, this would help in reviewing and updating necessary documents, risk register, and project plan. It would also help in preparing stage plan and getting authorization for the next stage.

Talking about tolerance, these are essential part of working independently as a project manager. Having a tolerance in the project parameters ensures the adjustment of varying project scope. In this launching event, the major tolerances are time and budget. By making use of PRINCE2, project manager can be able to manage six tolerances, namely scope, risk, cost, time, benefits, and quality.

Tailoring

PRINCE2 comprise web of interrelating components. There are themes that are used in the processes, techniques are usually undertaken to get things related to project well on time, and individual working on the project to complete its products. Tailoring of PRINCE 2 does not mean mixing two or more elements together. The goal of carrying out tailoring of PRINCE2 is to apply a level of management in order to reduce the burden of the project manager. The instability that might occur because of not tailoring PRINCE2 is that it can result in automatizing the project management practices.

Project Initiation Document (PID)

From the project manager's perspective, PID is one of the significant elements of project management that forms the basis for the project undertaken by the company. As in this case QAHE is planning a great and successful launch event, it is important for the project manager to formulate a well-structured and well-understood PID. It is a reference document throughout the project that would be needed by the client, experts, management, and the project team. PID is one of the concepts that came from PRINCE2 (Alves, et.al, 2016), a significant project management method that emphasises on failure and success within a project.

Aim & Objectives

The main of carrying out the project of organising launching event is to help QAHE to attract scholars from within the UK and outside it and make the university competitive enough in the international education market.

The objectives of the current project undertaken by QAHE are given below:-

• To plan and organise a launch event that aims at showcasing the teaching and computing lab facilities provided by QAHE
• To publicise the latest transformation and changes done by the university in terms of technology and knowledge gaining and student-friendly environment
• To attract the best talent from different parts of the UK and the world and increase the bottom line of the QAHE
• To provide a competitive edge to the QAHE over other big players in the education market of the country.

Key Assumptions

There are two main assumptions that are associated with the following project. These have been mentioned below:-

• The stakeholders’ expectations are considered to be non-changing and referenced
• The scope of the project is considered to be fixed and free of any mid-project changes in order to carry out the project tasks within the budget constraint of 51000 euros.

Budgetary Information

It has been seen that project managers are more concerned about completing the project well on time. This might be due to many reasons but the most concerning factor is increasing the cost of the project. Since QAHE has already set the budget of 51000 euros, putting the main focus on time constraint and budget is crucial. A project budget can comprise the total amount of money allocated for the specific tasks associated with the projects for a fixed period of time. The main objective of managing the budget is to keep strong control over the cost incurring during the project. It is significant to determine the overall cost that might take place during the execution of the project (Dubois & Duquesne, 2013). The budget provided here is prepared after considering the tasks that are going to be carried out in the due course of the project.

One thing to note here is that the project budget is prepared in a realistic way while considering the relevant activities that have to be carried out. It is hereby reminded that the project focuses on launching event in a successful manner. Therefore, the most crucial aspect of the project is the publicity of the event (Taylor, 2012). Hence, the greater portion of the budget needs to be spent on the advertisement and publicity. The bifurcation of the budget is comprising elements, such as Social media advertisement, hoarding and pamphlet publicity, web marketing, creative development, radio advertisement, technical staff, and much more (Kerzner&Kerzner, 2017). The major portion of the budget is allocated to the venue charges as one needs to organise the launch event in a premise. This might be between 10000-15000 euros. In addition to this, the bookings must be done way prior to the actual commencing date of the event. For actual distribution of the budget, see appendix 1.1a.

Timescales

The project will commence in the month of February and will terminate in September when the launch event will take place. The project manager needs to have a time management plan that will help the management in carrying out the tasks associated with the project. The processes that will take place in the time span of eight months include project initiation and finalising aims and objectives, conducting a market study, arranging the funds for the events and purchasing the resources or renting them. In addition to this, the project plan formation and execution might consume a greater portion of the time. The marketing of the event is the most crucial part. Therefore, it will consume a larger portion of the time. The complete timescale of the project is provided below. See Appendix 1.1b.

Approach

Once the project is declared to be carried out in the near future, the most crucial aspect is looking for the best approach. As the time of the project is eight months, the tasks are to be done in an effective way. QAHE is expecting a world-class event from the project manager. Therefore, the project manager needs to implement the best project management technique. PRINCE 2 is one such technique (Mitchell& Golden, 2012). Prior to discussing this tool and its features, there is a strong need for understanding the basics skills that are required in a project manager. These are communication skills, organisational skills, time management skills, and technical skills. Talking about PRINCE 2, it would help the project manager in setting up the required standards for each task in order to ensure the quality and effectiveness in the work. The approach can surely be helpful in timely completion of the project. The key characteristics of PRINCE 2 are that it is very much scalable and process-based approach. The best part of the PRINCE 2 tool is that the principles of this approach can be used by the project manager for almost all the process. A basic idea of how PRINCE 2 works are given below:-

The above-shown diagram is the basic functioning of the PRINCE 2 method. It involves six phases. The first and foremost is starting the project which is followed by the planning and directing, the next is controlling and managing, the next is closing of the project. These all comprise project management. The best part about using the PRINCE2 is that it has well-structure and formulated guidelines and by using them, the project manager can be able to accomplish the project well before the set timelines.  

Key Staff

The key staff for the launch event project is decided by the project manager as per the requirement of each phase (Lachman,et.al, 2014). However, the basic project staff comprises project manager, HR manager, technical staff, marketing staff, security, and electrician.

Stakeholder Analysis Table

The reason for having a stakeholder's analysis is to have a basic idea of the impact and significance of each stakeholder associated with the project. In addition to this, the project manager would be able to determine the actual needs and wants of the stakeholders. There are many benefits to stakeholders' analysis. The first and foremost is the determination of potential issues that might come in between the project execution phase. This would be a great help in the risk management plan. The project manager with such type of knowledge would be able to nullify the negative impact and manage their side-effects in a better way. Please refer to appendix 2.

Risk Register

Since the project aims at publicising the facilities of the QAHE and improves its competitiveness, there are many risks that can hinder the project. In the following section, risk management and analysis is provided in the context of the launching event. Please refer to Appendix 3. The major risks are associated with the project are commercial, legal, security, and financial. The project manager is required to consider these issues in order to get the things done right.

Work Breakdown Structure

There are many aspects of a project. In order to get the project done well on time and within a stipulated budget. It is required for the project manager to break the complete project into small sections. This could be a great help for the project manager as they can keep a check on the progress of the project tasks (Mitchell& Golden, 2012). The project manager should have the right ability to formulate the WBS and arrange them as per their priority. Once each and every task are arranged in the WBS and later on they are accomplished, the manager declares the project as completed. The following project of the event launch comprises a long list of task to be completed in order to make the event successful (Qarareh, 2012). It helps in making a quantifiable and Independent errand. What's more, PM can follow the advancement of each undertaking and furthermore, he can keep a check on the expense and asset devoured by the individual operation. Some specialist says that WBS can be helpful in imagining the extent of the undertaking. Besides, the undertaking director can in all respects effectively appoint obligation according to the errands and mastery of the representatives. Along these lines, they can do the operation in a viable and better manner. A work breakdown structure is provided below:-

Project Sponsor Report

Introduction

In this report, the importance of leadership in a company has been highlighted. In addition, a brief of project management and the project manager's role in the success of the project has been described. The last part of the report covers the advantages and disadvantages of using the PRINCE2 approach.

The significance of Leadership and PM's Role

It is not easy for the project manager to conduct tasks and coordinate them accordingly as per the defined timescales. There are many challenges faced by the project manager. The project manager has to take along each and every member of the team and motivate them in order to get the work done and accomplish the goals of the company. In the present case, the main aim is to get the project of the event launch accomplished (Ipeirotis, et.al, 2015). For this purpose, there are many operations need to be carried out simultaneously and various teams will be working on the project. For that purpose, the project manager needs to build the well-efficient team. It is required for the project manager to have some flexibility and problem-solving skills. This would help in dealing with various complexities.

The role of project management is the most intricate roles as there are many responsibilities that are associated with the post. The very basic duties comprise project initiation, designing, planning, execution, and closing. In order to carry out the duties, some complementary skills are needed in the project management. These are managerial skills, conflict management, time management skills, and problem-solving skills.

In this case, it is already highlighted that the project manager has employed the approaches and guidelines of PRINCE2. There are many benefits of using this project management tools. These have been discussed in this section. The first and foremost advantage of PRINCE 2 is that it standardises the processes to be followed in the due course of the complete project span. In addition to this, it can help in predicting the issues and problems that might come in the process. This would help the project manager to predict the outcomes of the project and also what could be the possible issue and risks (Ho, et.al, 2015). Based on the information collected, the risk management plan can be formed. Due to the standardisation of the processes, the miscommunication and misdirection might get reduced. This way processes can be completed well on time and that too within budget. This saves resources from getting wasted. Furthermore, the process is very time-effective. There are only a few limitations associated with PRINCE 2. The major of them is that it requires some sort of skills. This discourages the less experienced and less skilled individual to use it. Therefore, it not very much appreciated by any organisation.

Conclusion

Here, it has been seen that leadership and project management are two crucial aspects of the project. Each and every project aspects need to be carried out by the project manager. The reporter also talked about the advantages and disadvantages of the project management tool called PRINCE2.  

Conclusion

In the following project report, the importance of project management had been talked about in brief. There are many aspects of a project- "A launch event" that had been covered in the report. The first and foremost was the project initiation document. It is one of the significant elements of project management that forms the basis for the project undertaken by the company. The next section talked about the risk management wherein the likely risks had been discussed and their impact had been rated. A work break down structure had been provided. The last section of the report talked about the significance of the leadership and project manager.

References

• Alves, H., Fernandes, C., &Raposo, M. Social media marketing: a literature review and implications.  Psychology & Marketing,  33(12), 1029-1038.
• Dubois, B., & Duquesne, P. 2013. The Market for Luxury Goods: Income versus Culture. European Journal of Marketing, 27(1), 35–44. doi:10.1108/03090569310024530
• Ho, W., Xu, X. and Dey, P.K., 2016. Multi-criteria decision making approaches for supplier evaluation and selection: A literature review.European Journal of Operational Research,  202(1), pp.16-24.
• Ipeirotis, P.G., Provost, F. and Wang, J., 2015, July. Quality management on amazon mechanical Turk. In  Proceedings of the ACM SIGKDD workshop on human computation(pp. 64-67). ACM.
• Kerzner, H., &Kerzner, H. R. 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
• Lachman, V. D., Swanson, E. O. C., &Winland-Brown, J. 2015. The new code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretative Statements'2015: Practical Clinical Application, Part II. Medsurg Nursing, 24(5), 363.
• McChrystal, G. S., Collins, T., Silverman, D., &Fussell, C. 2015. A team of teams: New rules of engagement for a complex world. Penguin.
• Mitchell, P., & Golden, R. 2012. Core principles & values of effective team-based health care. National Academy of Sciences.
• Qarase, A. O. 2012. The effect of using the learning cycle method in teaching science on the educational achievement of the sixth graders. International Journal of Educational Sciences, 4(2), 123-132.
• Taylor, C. R. 2012. Emerging issues in marketing. Psychology and Marketing, 17(6), 441–447. doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6793(200006)17:63.0.co;2-z

Appendix 1.1a: Budget

Appendix 1.1b: Timescale

Appendix 2: Stakeholder Analysis

Appendix 3: Risk Register