Project Management: Phases & Processes

This assignment delves into the core concepts of project management. It examines various phases involved in a project lifecycle, such as initiation, planning, execution, monitoring & controlling, and closure. The importance of risk assessment and its practical application within projects is highlighted. Additionally, the assignment explains the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and its role in breaking down complex projects into manageable tasks.

PROJECT
PLANNING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Aim.........................................................................................................................................1
SMART objectives.................................................................................................................1
Project phases and processes..................................................................................................1
Scheduling tools.....................................................................................................................4
Project plan schedules............................................................................................................6
Risk assessment......................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Project planning is part of project management that is related to the usage of schedules
such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment.
One of the key to successful project is project planning (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). While
undertaking any project the first thing that one should do crating a plan for project. In the project
plan all the work related to the project such project schedule, project goals, project deliverables
etc., needs to be mentioned. Unicorn is a small-retailer company in UK. The products such as
grocery items are provided by this company. In this report a project will be planned for a small
business location and expansion in Kennington.
Aim
“To plan a project for the Unicorn company in order to relocate their small business and
expansion in Kennington”.
SMART objectives
 To relocate the small business in the right office space
 To make sure that staff are happy and settle quickly in this new place
 To achieve the goals of this new project in the estimated budget that is 25
 To complete the project in the estimated time that is till the last of June 2019
 To avoid any business disruption during the relocation of small business
Project phases and processes
In order to relocate the small business of the company Unicorn and expand it to
Kennington the project manager who have being hired for this project will make use of well-
established project management and methodologies.
Project phases
For the project managers the phases or stages are very essential. With the use of phases in
this project one can make sure that deliverables that are produced at the ends of each phase meet
their purpose and also that project team is ready for the next phase. From the work breakdown
structure that use WBS the deliverables for each phase is being identified (Richey and Klein,
2014). As part of the operational activities the WBS is being drafted and by the rest of the project
team is then validated. Someone will sign off on the deliverables from that phase at the neds of
each phase. From the project board, project sponsor, or key stakeholders the approval may be
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made. The phase will be completed once the deliverables are approved and then the project team
will pass through the gate to the next phase.
WBS structure
In order to complete this project of relocation the various phases are there that need to be
followed in order to complete this project on time. The following are the phases-:
Project strategy and business case- In this phase all their requirements that are related with this
project will be defined and also the methodology will also be discussed that will be used in this
project (Project Management Phases and Processes, 2017). In this all the requirements that is
resource, technology, budget, time etc., will be decided and at the ends of this phase the proposal
will be approved by the high-authority of the project. Within the timeline and budget that is
decided for the project the goals of the project will be achieved.
Preparation – In this the work is being done together with the key stakeholders a project team in
order to complete the high-level work break down structure. During this stage the project
members will be identified and recruited and also the third parties will be selected that will be
used in the early project phases. In order to relocate the computers etc., also need to be shifted to
the new location is IT subordinates will be required (Zare Ravasan and Mansouri, 2016). The
resources that is required this plan such as PC, printers, human resources, financial etc., will be
made available to the project team.
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Illustration 1: WBS structure
(Source:WBS structure, 2017 )

Design- In this stage the work is being started that involved with creating the project's
deliverables by making use of strategy of project, project initiation document etc. With relevant
stakeholders the work is being done in order to develop the designs of the main deliverables. For
this project it is the responsibility of the project board or project sponsor to sign off the entire
design. In case if there are any changes in the process then the flow chart is being used in order
to develop a detailed map how things need to be done (Fuller, G.W., 2016). All the things need
to be done in this stage to deal with the issues of the project so that in the easy way the problems
will be focused at the design phase. For the detailed design phase the stakeholders will be
selected carefully. A good project deliverable is being produced with the help of a good detail
design. However, on the other hand if the design is poor then project deliverables are not much
likely to meet the requirements.
Development and testing – The component of the project output will be developed by the
project team when all the planning and designing part of completed. In order to make sure that
components that are used for relocation are working properly such as laptops, PC's and other
technology printers etc., the testing can be done.
Training
During this stage the training to the staff or the new appointed team members will be given in
order to make sure that they know what are their roles and responsibility in the project (Lientz,
2012). All the data will be shifted to the new systems.
Closing of the project
All the documentation regarding this project need to be completed and stored. The post-
implementation review can also be carried out once the project is done in order to find out the
ideas of relocation of the business was effective or not and also the feedbacks from the
employees can be taken in this company Unicorn.
Project management processes
The phase management, planning, controlling, team management, communication,
procurement and integration are some project management process that have being used in this
project.
Phase management – In this all the conditions for completing each phase need to be satisfied. All
the deliverables need to be signed and approved by the stakeholders before one can exit a phase.
In the project initialization document the deliverables and sign off requirements are defined.
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Planning – At the start of the project the high-level planning for the project need to be carried
out. The right people, resources, methodologies need to be sued for each planning phase so that
the project will be developed in time, budget and also it will be of good quality (Nicholas and
Steyn, 2017).
Control- These cope, cost and issues need to be controlled and also the time, risks and benefits in
the project also need to be managed effectively. A report can be developed by the project
managers in order to develop an accurate picture of how things are proceeding.
Team management – It is the responsibility of the project manager to manage the project team. A
different approach and a set of skills need be reviewed for the post of project managers as
working on the project is often different form most business activities. The project managers
need to have a project management training and support (Mir and Pinnington, 2014).
Communication - In order to interact with team members, the project board and the different
stakeholders the clear communication need to be sued in this project. A frequent problem of a
project is an inadequate communication and in order to communicate well it needs considerable
attention.
Procurement- The third parties are being hired in this project to manage purchasing such IT
systems etc. It is the role of the project manager to manage these third parties (Fuller and et. al.,
2017).
Resources-The resources such as humans resource, financial resources etc., will be needed. The
human resources will be need in order to assist the project managers in the implementation of the
project plan. And the funds or money that comes in the financial resources are required in order
to purchase the technology for the relocation such as printer, computers and other technology
that are required for the business.
Scheduling tools
In order to make sure that each phase deliver the project deliverables at the end of each
phase the scheduling tools such as Gantt chart, critical path etc., will be used for this project.
Gantt chart it is very useful tools for any project (Hazır, 2015). With these of this tool the
schedule of the project will be illustrated. One of the advantages of using Gantt chart in this
project is that it will provide clarity as it will boil down the multiple tasks and timelines in a
single document.
Gantt chart
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Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Planning 41 days 21 March
2018 16 May 2018
Project scope 11 days 19 April 2018 03 May 2018 4
Making the management
plan 15 days 04 May 2018 24 May 2018 2
WBS structure 10 days 05 April 2018 18 April 2018 5
Making the budget 4 days 18 April 2018 23 April 2018 6
Execution 20 days 21 March
2018 17 April 2018
Conducting quality
assurance 7 days 31 May 2018 08 June 2018 8
Employee training 10 days 26 April 2018 09 May 2018 9
Monitoring and
controlling 26 days 21 March
2018 25 April 2018
Project monitoring and
controlling 23 days 18 April 2018 18 May 2018
Monitoring of resources 14 May 2018 3
checking of quality 14 days 04 May 2018 23 May 2018 2
Closure 39 days 21 March
2018 14 May 2018
The project analysis 15 days 25 May 2018 14 June 2018 3
Changes in the Project 14 days 25 May 2018 13 June 2018 3
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In order to manage any project, the critical path is every useful. It is the longest sequence
of activities in a project plan that must be done on tome for the project to complete on due date
(Rakos, J. and et.al., 2015).
Project plan schedules
In order to make sure that project is completed on the estimated time and budget the
project plan schedule is made by the project manager of the company Unicorn (Houghton,
Schertzer and Beck, 2018). In this project plans schedule of resources allocation, assigning roles
and responsibilities, training etc., will be descried regarding the relocation of the business.
Activities Number of days
Planning of the project 10 days
Estimation of cost and time 5 days
Allocating resources such as human, financial,
technological, etc.
15 days
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Assigning of roles and responsibilities to team
members
5 days
Communication plan 20 days
Training to the staff 24 days
The above table shows that project plan schedule that is being developed for this project. Based
on the schedule the activities of their project will be done so that the goals of the project can be
achieved (Rakos and et.al., 2015).
Risk assessment
In any project the risks can take place it is an uncertain event that take place in the project
and can have both positive and negative impact on the project. In this project the various risks
can occur (Haimes, 2015). Some of them are as follows:
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Illustration 2: Risk Assessment in Project Management
(Source: Risk Assessment in Project Management, 2017)

Cost Risk- It takes place when due to some reason the project is not completed on the estimated
budget. As a result, there will be delay in the project or the budget for the project will be
exceeding.
Time Budget- This may take place in the project when the project is not completed on the
estimated time use to some reason such as employee’s involvement is less or some other reasons
this risk many also occur in the project. Due to this there can be delay in the project.
Performance Risk- This may occur when the high-quality project is not delivered. This may
occur when the staff is not skilled or poor training is given to them. Due to this the quality of the
project will be not up to the mark.
For the success of the project risk management is one of the essential key. This will help the
project manager to recognize, categorize, prioritize these risk ahead of time. In a risk
management procedure risk assessment is a step (Kendrick, 2015). The probability that a risk
will become reality is being measured by the risk assessments. In this project the risk assessment
is not only the responsibility of the project managers. A meeting is being held to discuss the idea
of the entire team.
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Project managers- As the chairperson he will act and the risk assessment meeting is facilitated
by him.
Project team – The role of the recorder and timekeepers is being assigned by the project to each
members of the project team (De Bruijn and Ten Heuvelhof, 2010).
Common phases of risk assessment
Identification of risk – From the previous project experiences the project manager will have a
complete a list of risks (Lock, 2017). At the beginning of the project it will be reviewed in order
to recognize some common risks.
Categorise and group duplicated – It is way by which the risk will be identified systemically and
foundation of awareness, understanding and action will be provided. The sticky notes on a large
bard will be posted by project managers where the manager have posted the categories. For the
approval of all the stakeholders the risk identified will be documented
Quality the risk – The closer attention to the risk will be given who will have high impact on the
project (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
Documentation of risks- In order to explain all the risk, the project manager will enter all the
risk, probability impact scores and responses and maintain a document. The awareness will be
provided to the participant of all the high scoring risks throughout the lifestyle of the project.
CONCLUSION
Thus summing up the above report it can be concluded that with the help of project
planning the goals, budget, cost, etc., related to project will be decided. The risk-assessment is
being done by the project manager in order to make sure that the risk is identified and can be
corrected in the early stage of the project.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
De Bruijn, H. and Ten Heuvelhof, E., 2010. Process management: why project management fails
in complex decision making processes. Springer Science & Business Media.
Fuller, G.W., 2016. New food product development: from concept to marketplace. CRC Press.
Fuller, M.A., Valacich, J.S., George, J.F. and Schneider, C., 2017. Information Systems Project
Management: A Process and Team Approach, Edition 1.1. Prospect Press.
Haimes, Y.Y., 2015. Risk modeling, assessment, and management. John Wiley & Sons.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Hazır, Ö., 2015. A review of analytical models, approaches and decision support tools in project
monitoring and control. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), pp.808-
815.
Houghton, D.M., Schertzer, C. and Beck, S., 2018. The MSCA Program: Developing Analytic
Unicorns. Marketing Education Review, 28(1), pp.41-51.
Kendrick, T., 2015. Identifying and managing project risk: essential tools for failure-proofing
your project. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Lientz, B. P., 2012. Project Management: A problem-based approach. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lock, D., 2017. The essentials of project management. Routledge.
Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking
project management performance and project success. International journal of project
management. 32(2). pp.202-217.
Nicholas, J. M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Taylor & Francis.
Rakos, J. and et.al., 2015. The practical guide to project management documentation. John
Wiley & Sons.
Richey, R.C. and Klein, J.D., 2014. Design and development research. In Handbook of research
on educational communications and technology (pp. 141-150). Springer, New York, NY.
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Zare Ravasan, A. and Mansouri, T., 2016. A dynamic ERP critical failure factors modelling with
FCM throughout project lifecycle phases. Production Planning & Control, 27(2), pp.65-
82.
Online
Project Management Phases and Processes. 2017. [Online]
<https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_63.html/>
Risk Assessment in Project Management. 2017. [Online] <https://www.simplilearn.com/risk-
assessment-project-management-article/>
WBS structure. 2017. [Online] <https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_63.html/>
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