Module Title: Project Management
Module Code:
Assignment Format & Maximum Word count Report (2000 words)
Weighting: 100%
Submission Date/Time & Method: Tutor/s Marking: NA
First marker Module Board I
Internal Moderator Module Board date
External Examiner
Assessment Criteria
Learning Outcomes: Knowledge and Understanding tested in this assignment:
• Explain the managerial responsibilities and action areas for each stage of the project lifecycle;
Learning Outcomes: Skills and Attributes tested in this assignment:
• Determine and assess use of appropriate methods and techniques for project initiation, team building, project estimation and control;
1.The title of the assignment: Initial project plan
2. Purpose of the assessment, the task/topic: To achieve the learning objectives listed above.
3. Approach/steps to follow:
Your task is to complete the initial project plan provided in section 6.in a form of a business report, described in section 7.
4. It is essential that:
You use the feedback provided for the original coursework
5. Tips:
1. As this task is worth 100% of your Module, it is expected that you spend approximately 126 hours work outside of the classroom for the preparation (for deferrals) or 126 hours minus the time already spent working on the module for the referrals.
2. Cadle and Yeates (2009) case study ‘France Vacances’ provides a good worked out example for this assignment
6. Project initiation document
UK Flood Alert is a well-known charity undertaking many fund raising projects to raise funds for flood victims relief in UK. One of the fund raising projects is to organise a Charity Marathon in the Hatfield area. The project described in this document is a plan for carrying out the marketing of the charity marathon. It forms a sub-project required by the total event. Other projects such as organising the event and managing the event on the day are described as separate projects elsewhere.
The Project Initiation Document has been started as follows
Business Objectives
UK Flood Alert carries out many events to raise funds. Its main objectives are as follows:
1) Raise funds for flood relief of at least £1,000,000 each year.
2) Increase awareness of the UK Flood Relief and the work that it does from 20% to 25% after three years
3) Carry out its fund raising activities in an environmentally and ethically responsible manner.
This project will meet these objectives by raising funds by charging competitors entry fees, collecting donations from spectators on the day, obtaining sponsorship from major companies and charging for advertising during the event. It will increase awareness of the event by describing what UK Flood Alert does during the radio slots and on the internet pages which advertise the event. Great care will be taken with the event to reduce transport costs and ensure that the event has appropriate support services to ensure the safety of competitors and spectators and to minimise the disturbance to local people and businesses.
Project Objectives
These objectives apply just to the marketing of the event.
1) Raise £10,000 in competitors’ entrance fees
2) To recruit 5 male and 5 female elite runners for the event
3) To attract 5,000 spectators for the event.
4) To obtain sponsorship and advertising to raise £20,000
5) To use newspapers, radio and the internet to publicise the event and the UK Flood Releif Charity
Constraints
Constraints are situations that restrict the way you can complete a project.
1) The event can only be held on a Sunday because other days would cause too much disruption.
2) For safety reasons, the event can only have 5000 entrants.
3) The route must be agreed with the Local Council and Police
Assumptions
Assumptions are project aspects that you assume will be met so that you can achieve the project objectives. Whereas constraints are restrictions the way the project can be carried out, assumptions are situations that need to happen in order for you to meet the project’s objectives.
1) The police will give permission for the event to be run.
2) The council will give permission for Victoria Park to be used for parking
3) St. John’s Ambulance will be prepared to attend the event.
4) There will be no competing event occurring in the area on the day chosen.
Project Scope
As already stated, this project only covers the marketing of the Charity Event so the scope is obviously restricted to the activities required to do this. These activities cover:
1) Recruiting competitors and elite runners.
2) Locating and signing sponsors and advertisers.
3) Publicising the event
Recruiting competitors and elite runners
The activities that will be included for this will be to locate the elite runners to sign them to compete in the event. The recruitment of competitors will involve developing a website to advertise the event and allow competitors to register on line and to provide facilities on-line for the competitors’ friends and family to sponsor them through, for example, www.justgiving.com.
Locating and signing sponsors
The activities that will be included for this will be to determine the sponsors and advertisers most likely to want to be involved in this event and to contact these and agree their involvement.
Publicising the event
As well as using the Internet to publicise the event, local newspapers and radio will be used to raise awareness for both competitors and spectators. Posters and flyers will also be produced and distributed throughout the local are This will require two stages first there would be general publicity about the date of the event and approximate route and second more detailed publicity giving the exact route and spectator points along with the names of the elite runners .
7. The project plan content
The project plan should be written in the form of a business report that could be presented to the judging panel. The report should include the following sections:
Section To include …
Executive summary Summary of business and project objectives; summary schedule of the work, including key milestones; summary of resources required, including the budget
The scope The project work (or product) breakdown (as appropriate)
Dependencies table with activities, dependencies and estimates of duration
The organisation The project organisation structure, roles and responsibilities
Time management plan Network diagram showing critical path; resources required (per activity) and resourced Gantt chart
Cost management plan Cost breakdown structure, cost estimates (per activity), cash flow
References List of references used in text in alphabetical order using Harvard Referencing format.
In each of the sections you will need to apply the techniques correctly, analyse the results of their application and conclude the implications in relation to satisfying the project objectives. The plan should be supported by secondary data, such as cases studies of similar projects or sources used to develop your estimates. These should be included in the references section and follow the HBS Harvard Referencing guidelines.
8. Project plan scope
To apply the project planning techniques adequately you will need to schedule a minimum of 20 substantial activities. These will be of varying duration and must not be less than one week’s duration. There must be at least three levels in the project breakdown and at least three paths through the network.
The word limit of 2000 words is provisional, as much of the content will not be in textual form. The plan is likely to be of about 5-8 pages. Activity networks, Gantt charts and other diagrams should be presented on a single sheet or fold out (maximum of three sheets) so that they can be read in their entirety.
9. Marking rubric
Component Marks
Available Awarded
Executive summary 10
The scope 20
The organisation 10
Time management plan 25
Cost management plan 25
Presentation (incl. Harvard referencing) 10
Total 100
