Project Management

  Assignments One and Two 1. Formative Group Presentation week 7 2. Individual Report Hand-in week 9 The individual report will be based on the formative work carried out in groups during the seminars workshops and is worth 50% of the marks for the module. SCENARIO:Fund Raising Event for Sports Club Westminster University SportsClub (WUSC) has approached your project management organization, Active Projects Ltd (APL) with an exciting consultancy assignment. They want APL to project manage a fund raising event, which will entail cycling across the south of England. The goal is to raise at least £4000.00 for the Club. Having received their invitation from WUSC in December 2017, an initial meeting takes place with you and your team on Wednesday,24th January 2018 (during the seminar time). The briefing will have been made available to you via the module Blackboard site prior to this date. Your team is expected to present an outline plan on 7th March 2018. Having received feedback on your outline plan you then need to complete an individual report on the project. The marks will be attached to the individual report only. Brief - Week 1(24th January 2018) meeting: Your project team was assembled from various divisions within your organization. APL will charge no fee to organize this cycling event. WUSC is seeking advice from your consultancy (APL) on the phases and activities of this important project for them. WUSC has never run a cycling event of this sort beforeand is relying on your expertise in project planning and costing to ensure the project is a fundraising success. In the absence of any written requirement specification it was considered necessary for WUSC and your team to meet as soon as possible to agree and define the project. As part of the first meeting with your team the project objectives, project requirements and constraints were agreed (see below). Project Objectives The project objectives recorded at the meeting are as follows: - To prepare a route and itinerary starting from Brighton going to Penzance.(It was agreed that as far as possible the route would use lanes and avoid main roads). - To develop a plan (including work breakdown structure (WBS) and network diagram) for a group of 20cycliststo depart from Marylebone Campus by public transport to Brighton,cycle to Penzance and then return to Marylebone Campus. - To provide costings which cover all transport and accommodation from and returning to Westminster. - To prepare a risk assessment of the event and guidance for walkers that should help to deliver a successful event. - To raise at least £4000 in aid of Sports Club. Limits and Exclusions It was also agreed that certain items would be outside the remit of APL: - All 20cycliststo travel to Marylebone Campus at their own expenseand with their own cyclingequipment and to be ready to start at whatever time the organizers fix on 23rd April 2018. - All 20cyclists to arrange their own journey home from Marylebone Campus. - Onlytransport costs accrued during the course of the event will be included in the cost assessment. - Accommodation for the cyclistsand three meals per dayto be included in the costing of the event. - Any supplementary food or drinks to be bought at the expense of the individualcyclist. - All telephone and communications to be the responsibility of the individualcyclist. - APL take no responsibility for any equipment or clothing - The individual is to be ready to travel as per the itinerary and will be responsible for their own travel if they are delayed. - Cyclists are to be provided with an introduction pack in advance of the event, including a map of the route and any other information you think would be helpful. Additional Project Assumptions Your team (maximum 5) will need to make additional assumptions to enable the cost of the project to be estimated. These MUST be made explicit in your report. For example you will need to decide where the participants stay. Project Deliverables/Milestones The decision to go ahead with the project is taken on Wednesday, 24th January during the meeting. A preliminary group presentation of the project is fixed for 7th March. This will include Work Breakdown Structure, Network Diagram, costing, route and brief for participants to be made to WUSC There will be milestones you will want to include within the project. Your team will need to advise the WUSC on these. The final costing and planning report must be submitted online to WUSC by 1pm on Thursday 22nd March 2018. The event review meeting is on 1stJuly 2018. Project Manager One of your first tasks is to decide who in your team is to be the project manager and organize roles within the team; the role of project manager can be rotated between different members of the team at different stages of the project life cycle. It is suggested that you share out responsibility for the various deliverables and that you note who is responsible by allocating names against the tasks. All members of the team will be expected to present their contribution at the interim presentation on Wednesday, 7th March 2018. Assumptions You will need to make assumptions to complete this exercise and must ensure that these are justified, logical, robust and consistent. In particular you may need to estimate some costs. You may need to refer to websitesto find prices/details and you should give the full references in such cases. Please remember to link to theory and reference academic literature as appropriate. Timescale for work: Week 1 Read Brief, familiarisation with the requirements of the project, form team The timescale following the briefing meeting is as follows: Week 2 Confirm Team in Seminar, identify deliverables, create work breakdown structure Week 3 Researching and Estimating Week 4 Translation of WBS and Estimating into a plan Week 5 Scheduling of work and resources Week 6 Researching and Allocating costings (no seminar) Week 7 Present Project (as a group in two hour extended seminar) Week 8 Include Risk Assessment Week 9 Complete and submit individual Report Assignment 1 – Team Presentation (formative) – Seminar week 7 and upload to Blackboard The team presentation in week 7 seminar is a vital part of the learning process for this module and you will need to base your individual reports on this and the feedback that you get from your formative work. Assignment 2 –Individual Report (50%) to be submitted online via the module blackboard site by 1pm 22nd March 2018 The individual report should be addressed to your manager and will need to include and explain the teams approach to the following: The planned route and itinerary (Deliverables) 10% A Work Breakdown Structure 20% A Gantt chart (Network Diagram), milestones 20% Costing to cover all items to be charged 20% Resourcing 10% Risk assessment 20% The report should follow a formal business report structure and also include a full reference list linked to the text by the Westminster Harvard Referencing system. The maximum length of the report is 1000 words supported by the equivalent to 1000 words of work in MS Project and/or Excel. The word count will exclude the Cover Sheet, the Executive Summary, the Table of Contents, the Reference List and any Appendices. Charts, tables, graphs and other graphical material may be included in the body of the report or as appendices. A copy of the slides and any other artefacts from the presentation should be included in the Appendices and may be referred to in your report.