Reference no: EM132468548 , Length: word count:5000

BA70012E - Project Management - University of West London

Learning outcome:
LO1 Analyse and critically evaluate the drivers of projects in various sectors.
LO2 Synthesise the role of strategic project management in organisational life-cycle, particularly the links with change management.
LO3 Clearly define and apply the key phases of project management, project organisation and procurement.
LO4 Prepare and evaluate work breakdown structures for various projects.
LO5 Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of delivering projects to schedule, to quality and on budget.
LO6 Define and critically appraise the role of stakeholders, leadership, teams, risk and quality within the various aspects of managing projects.

Assessment Business Case

You are required to develop a business case for a project of your own choice.

The outline below is taken from the module and is offered as an overview of the issues which need to be discussed in any business case for a project.

• Reasons for the project.
• The reasons for the project should be stated first - why is this being done. If this is unclear it indicates that further thinking and questioning is needed before going further.

• Options.
• What different options are available for addressing the identified need? Why is the option you have chosen (the project) the best of the bunch? Showing that you have seriously considered all the possibilities will strengthen your business case.

• Benefits - Tangible and Intangible.
• This is where you persuade your audience that your project is worthwhile. Every possible benefit can be considered, tangible and intangible. Just make sure that you justify the benefits that you predict. If your project will increase profit, then present detailed figures as evidence. If the primary benefit is improved customer care or staff efficiency, then explain how this will happen and what the effects will be.

• Risks.
• What are the main risks to project success? Transparency will gain the confidence of your audience and will demonstrate your foresight, realism and capability.

• Costs.
• The senior project managers need to know the total projected cost before they can authorise the project. Justify each area of expenditure, so that nobody is in any doubt that the budget you have forecast is as accurate as possible.

• Timescales.
• How long will the project take? Detail the activities and goals of each stage and explain why the specified length of time is needed.

• Investment Appraisal.
• Management may need some indication of return on investment, in percentage terms. All projects involve risk and so if a project delivers a low rate of return some will argue that the money would be better left safely in the bank.

• Assumptions and any other supporting text.
• It may be necessary to partly base a business case on certain assumptions - for example "The government will enact this piece of legislation". If so these should be stated.

Assessment Project Plan and Reflective Statement

You are required to develop a full project implementation plan for a certain business case for a project of your own choice.

The outline below is taken from the module and is offered as an overview of the issues which need to be discussed in any business case for a project.

• Problem(s)\Need for the project.
• The reasons for the project should be stated first - why is this being done. If this is unclear it indicates that further thinking and questioning is needed before going further.

• Benefits. This is where you persuade your audience that your project is worthwhile. Every possible benefit can be considered, tangible and intangible. Just make sure that you justify the benefits that you predict. If your project will increase profit, then present detailed figures as evidence. If the primary benefit is improved customer care or staff efficiency, then explain how this will happen and what the effects will be

• Kick off meeting form
• To discuss the project requirement.

• Alternatives.
• What different options are available for addressing the identified need? Why is the option you have chosen (the project) the best of the bunch? Showing that you have seriously considered all the possibilities will strengthen your business case.

• Goal \scope
• Should state the scope behind such a project. Knowing that scope is one of the forces in the project management.

• Quality
• Provide a quality analysis presenting the requested quality through quality control procedures and QA (could be a table.)

• Work Break down structure
• Use WBS to present the main activities and sub activities (Use chart WBS or List WBS)
• Need to create one process or sub process description form (explain it the name description the output.etc).

• Gant chart
• Use it to present the processes execution time

• Risks Analysis
• What are the main risks to project success? Risk management planning or statement helps in addressing the risks that might rise. Transparency will gain the confidence of your audience and will demonstrate your foresight, realism and capability (Risk analysis matrix id description high medium low use matrix or table)

• Costs\Budget
• The senior project managers need to know the total projected cost before they can authorise the project. Justify each area of expenditure, so that nobody is in any doubt that the budget you have forecast is as accurate as possible (use one technique)

• Timescales-Time management.
• How long will the project take? Detail the activities and goals of each stage and explain why the specified length of time is needed. Using some techniques to address the critical areas of the project and the project duration (PERT or CPM)

• Stakeholders
• Identify the stakeholders and their interest, level of interest and expectation (can be a table).

• Procurement management (if any)
• How are you going to get the material, what is the expected quality, who is the supplier (table) and the score for the performance evaluation (can use scale 1-9)

• Resources\HR management.
• Resources to be used or might be needed in the project. Provide a proper human resource management plan through providing resource task allocations (responsibility matrix table).

• Communication plan
• To present the communication procedures among the entities.

• Milestone
• Need to define what are the milestones in the project.

Attachment:- Project Management.rar