Managing Successful Business Projects

3 P2 Produce a project management plan.4 P3 Produce a work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart. 6 TASK 28 P4 Carry out small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods.8 P6 Communicate appropriate recommendations10 TASK 410 P7 Reflect on the value of undertaking the research to meet stated objectives and own learning and performance. “Continental Consulting Limited” is a research and business consultancy firm did not upgraded its technology that affected its performance.So they are planning

Managing Successful
Business Projects

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Devise project aims and objectives.......................................................................................3
P2 Produce a project management plan. ....................................................................................4
P3 Produce a work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart........................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P4 Carry out small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods..8
P6 Communicate appropriate recommendations......................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P7 Reflect on the value of undertaking the research to meet stated objectives and own learning
and performance........................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................12
LOGBOOK....................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
A business requires skills to manage and implement a project successfully. There is a
need to develop a plan to carry out activities that meets a certain aims and objectives of a
business. Digital technology revolutionized organizations through transforming the functions and
operations digitally. It reduced human efforts in business activities which is the major source of
productivity before the modern era (Drucker, 2012). “Continental Consulting Limited” is a
research and business consultancy firm did not upgraded its technology that affected its
performance. So they are planning to upgrade its technology in order to improve its recital in the
marketplace. The firm is adopting cloud technology to improve its business. Therefore, a report
is prepared to accomplish the project which has aims and objectives. The report also covers a
project management plan, work breakdown structure, Gantt chart, qualitative, quantitative
research along with recommendations and reflection .
TASK 1
P1. Devise project aims and objectives.
“Continental Consulting Limited” is a business processing re – engineering company
which targets small and medium manufacturing firms. The SMEs are the main customers of the
organization but in present time it lost business due to lack of upgraded technology. As given in
the scenario the organization upgraded its technology before eight years and after that it does not
updated the technology. This causes to lose the competitive advantage in the market because the
firm was not exposing itself in the marketplace. Now, after eight years company is planning to
adopt the cloud technology to increase the software utilization and storage of the information.
This will be beneficial for the organization because there are several cloud technologies through
which it can improve its efficiency and store the important software in the virtual cloud (Hillson,
2017). The company is opting cloud technology to fulfil its aims and objectives and to raise the
level of productivity through using various kinds of cloud technology. Although, these
technologies vary regarding their functionality and operations of services. These services are
have different purpose that can be adopt by the company in order to increase the space to store
the confidential data and software of its clients. There are so many company which are using
cloud computing to keep their data stored on a large space of cloud. While this is a business
process re-engineering firm and it have various customers, so in order to provide them facilities
3

it needs to be adopt an effective cloud technology such as (Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)).
That is used to store the information as back up on virtual machines and network.
Aims : To analyse the impact of cloud technology on the growth and performance of
small business. A case Study on “Continental Consulting Limited”
Objectives:
 To determine the concept of cloud technology on company.
 To analyse the importance of cloud technology in the growth and performance
“Continental Consulting Limited”.
 To identify the different techniques of cloud technology.
Questions
 What is concept of cloud technology on company?
 What are the importance of cloud technology within “Continental Consulting Limited”?
 What can be the different ways of techniques cloud technology?
P2 Produce a project management plan.
“Continental Consulting Limited” is adopting a cloud technology to improve the
productivity of the organization. The firm can adopt a private cloud which is beneficial for it
because there is no disturbance or noise of other organisation. An organization can keep the data
securely within the adopted cloud with a secured private key. That key will remain to the firm's
owners so that they can protect the data. Further, its maintenance can be authorized to the third
party (the organization which is deploying the system) and they will securely manage the
information. It is also easy to use the technology from anywhere within minimal time. In order
to execute the project in a smooth way the project manager needs to focus on a project
management plan. So that the entire project can be implemented successfully (Adzic, 2011). A
project management plan comprises of some specific elements that are crucial to analysed with
focus and all of these elements are mentioned below -
Cost –The most essential thing to start a new project is to estimate the requirement of the
investment. Cost is the crux of the project that's why the project manager should analyse the
requirement of the project that is essential to maintain, monitor and control the expenses. The
“Continental Consulting Limited” needs human resources, machinery and other equipments to
needs funds to spend on them (Nicholas and Steyn, 2017). All of these resources are used to
maximize the profit of the company by minimizing the efforts. The cloud technology is used to
4

host the software applications over the internet. Thus, the organization is owning the space over
the internet in order to store its heavy and important software. But in order to achieve the goals
and objectives of the “Continental Consulting Limited” it requires to estimate the cost to spend
on the project. That's why the project manager should estimate the total cost of the project such
as the human resources, machinery, equipments and so on. All of these needs to prepare a budget
plan in order to identify the lump-sum cost of the project implementation (Shattock, 2010). Cost
is necessary in conducting the research project in a better manner the cost that will be required to
complete this project is £18000.
Scope - “Continental Consulting Limited” can attain several benefits by implementing
cloud technology. There are numerous tools through which can be utilized to gain competitive
advantage. “Continental Consulting Limited” can acquire the opportunities to stand out among
the rivals. It has significance importance to make the process easier as it can is easy to adopt
virtual space with the complete security algorithms. As it protect the data effectively from the
adversaries so that the its entire information will remain safe whether it is about the project or
their customers. It is also used to save the time, accessibility and keeping back up of the
sensitive data.
Time – According to the project manager Cloud technology can be implemented within 4
months after analysing all the aspects of the projects. The supervisor needs to focus on some
particular things such as the budget, medium to provoke changes, analytics and data collection.
After considering all of these factors the project can be started in an effective way. This time will
also be utilize to recognize the competitors and their strategies to prepare a powerful strategy to
gain profit for the organisation (Eckerson, 2010). Time period that will be required in complete
this project is about 1 year.
Quality - This is the crucial aspect of the project because the technology impacts upon
the business of the organization. The project should maintain the quality that can deliver the
prosperous output. For an example, if “Continental Consulting Limited” is adopting the cloud
technology then they wants to assure about the security over the cloud. As it is the most essential
factor that needs to be protected from the hackers. There are various adversaries who have
hacked the systems for several time and stole the information that's why it needs to be secured in
an effective way. The organization works as a third party for the small and medium
manufacturing companies to manage their workflow. Thus, it needs to update their software so
5

that it can effectively manage their information. Therefore, it is necessary for the project
manager to deliver an immense quality of the project.
Communication - In order to interact with the intended clients of “Continental
Consulting Limited” the firm should utilize an effective communication sources. The company
can use e - mail, text messages, voice messages, pop - up messages connect with the customers
who are looking for services. If the company is utilizing the Cloud technology then it will be
easy to reach towards the clients as chat bots stores the information that can be used to send
them emails and text messages and communicate with them (Jeston, 2014).
Risk – “Continental Consulting Limited” can face several risks such as funds that can
stop the progress of the project. If finance is not available then it will be difficult to manage the
project growth. There are other factors also exists that can raise risk for the project such as the
competition. There are several business organisation which are already are using cloud
technology that can generate risk in the growth of the business. In order to overcome risks the
project manager should plan the strategies in an effectual way so that the project can be executed
in successful manner.
Resources – There are several resources are required to accomplish the cloud technology
project such as the staff, machinery and funds. The project manager needs to manage all the
resource in an organized way so that the project work can be managed in a systematic way.
P3 Produce a work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart.
In order to complete the project on time and in a well- ordered manner the project
manager needs to organize the tasks in planned way. So that a fruitful output can be gained by
applying specific set of strategies. There are two essential tools of project management which is
used by the project manager to control the activities and operations of the project. Work
breakdown structure and Gantt Chart are the two primary tools that are used by the manager. The
description of these tools are stated below -
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) : This tool is used to decompose complex projects
into simple and manageable modules. The project managers use this tool to divide a large project
into small chunks in order to supervise and estimate the budget along with the required activities
of each piece of task separately (Keller, Parameswaran and Jacob, 2011). The project manager
can use WBS for Cloud technology project for several reasons such as to assign the
responsibility to the project team, setting up the goals, estimation of the cost, time and risk.
6

These are core purposes of the WBS that arranges a large cloud technology project in small
chunks so that the project can be managed in a systematic way. For an example, there are
different activities which are used in cloud technology and they all requires some machinery to
manage the activities. Thus, it can estimate the budget which is required to set the machinery in
each block and then on the top level of the project the entire investment can be determine
(Gareis, 2010).
Gantt Chart : It is used for project management by denoting activities and tasks against
the time in which they have to be completed. The activities are displayed with beginning and
ending time in the form of bars. The size of the bars shows time scale of the task in which that
are completed. The project manager can use Gantt chart to manage the each task of Cloud
technology project in the following format :
 Project activities
 The beginning and finishing time of each task
 The time duration taken by each activity
 Starting and ending date of the project
These are the two essential tools that can be used to manage the project task in order to
gain the valuable output and within limited resources and time.
7

8

TASK 2
P4 Carry out small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Research is the most popular tool which can is used by “Continental consulting Limited”
to get some important information for the business or increasing the knowledge about the cloud
technology.
Qualitative Research : This research is used to gain the information about the update of
cloud technology. While adopting the technology an investigation will be conducted on the
employees/ customers to identify their perceptions and point of view (Turner and Zolin, 2012).
By using this method organisation get the initial understanding of few people and their thoughts
that can be beneficial for the business. It uses non structured techniques to get information like
in-depth interview, individual interview and group discussion. The feedback of the people plays
an important role to adopt the technology.
Quantitative research : This research based on the logical or statistical technique for
drawing effective result. In this research ,sufficient number of individuals are taken to get final
course of action. It is performed by using structured techniques such as surveys, questionnaire
and observations. This method is used to know the attitudes, behaviour and other variables of
the people. The “Continental consulting Limited” can measure the perceptions of the people
through the use of various methods.
Primary data : Primary data is the data which is collected for the first time by the
researcher. They gather this type of information through doing field research. This is data or
information which is collected for some specific purpose. The organizations adopts this methods
to get the fresh information from the users. As data is gathered for the first time that's why it is
quite new and helps the firm to identify the customer's perceptions, ideas, and needs. So that they
can provide the stuff which has some value for the potential buyers. This research can be conduct
through observations, surveys (includes online surveys, face to face surveys, test marketing),
interview and group discussions. This research will aid to assists to identify the actual customer
requirement.
Secondary data : Secondary data is readily available because it was collected by an
individual earlier. These are data which are gather from some secondary source which is book ,
journals and many more thins. These figures are not reliable as compare to primary data because
it was undertaken by an individual due to some other motive (Viaene and Van, 2011).
9

The researcher can use primary data to cater the fresh information which is beneficial for
them. In order to conduct an effective research “Continental consulting Limited”is utilizing the
primary research through asking some questions in the personal interviews and surveys.
Sampling- It is procedure of using in the stastical analysis under which predetermined
observations are to be taken from large population. There is 30 sample size taken from the total
population to collect information and data related to specific project area. In context to this,
random sampling method is used through an investigator because it gives the equal chance to all
respondents.
1. Can cloud technology useful for Continental consulting limited?
a. Yes
b. No
2. Is cloud technology beneficial for increasing company performance?
a. Agree
b. Disagree
3. How cloud technology impact on Continental consulting limited for enhancing its growth?
a. Increasing productivity
b. Providing security
Theme 1: Cloud technology is useful for “Continental consulting limited”
1. Can cloud technology useful for
“Continental consulting limited”?
Frequency
a. Yes 21
b. No 9
10

Source: Survey
Interpretation : From the above figure it is clear that 21 percent of employees/ customer
voted in the favour of cloud technology. They are aware about the importance of adopting the
technology but on the other side remaining 9 percent people does not support to the up -
gradation of the technology. It is beneficial for Continental consulting limited because it speed
ups the business activities. The employees can access the data wherever and whenever they
want. They can access the data with within a few seconds. Thus, the employees/customers can
take the advantage of cloud technology which is also beneficial for the company as they does not
need to store the clients information physically. Moreover that, the business also can avail the
benefits through storing its account and software on the clouds which are safe.
Theme 2 : Benefits of cloud technology
2. Is cloud technology beneficial for
increasing company performance?
Frequency
a. Agree 20
b. Disagree 10
Source: Survey
11
0
10
20
30 21
9
Cloud technology is useful for
“Continental consulting limited”
a. Yes
b. No
0
5
10
15
20
20
10
Benefits of cloud technology
a. Agree
b. Disagree

Interpretation : According to the above graph, 20 percent employees/ customers among
30 respondents are agree to increase the benefits through cloud technology. On the contrary, 10
percent are not satisfied with the technology due to some threats. The 20 percent
employees/customers who agrees with it are considering the cost and time which are most
important. As before the client technology it was difficult for the organisation to access the
information at globally. In addition it saves their time cost that is thirty times less than the
previous methods of data security.
Theme 3 : Impact of cloud technology
3. How cloud technology impact on
“Continental consulting limited” for
enhancing its growth?
Frequency
a. Increasing productivity 17
b. Providing security 13
Source: Survey
Interpretation : Among 30 respondents 17 percent voted for productivity and 13 percent
employees/ customers for security of the data as well. Thus, they both are in favour of cloud
technology features that can impact on “Continental consulting limited” growth. It enhances the
reliability on the new technologies in terms of data protection and flexibility. The data can be
stores on a huge pool and it can be extend when needed. It delivers the right amount of
12
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
17
13
Impact of cloud technology
a. Increasing
productivity
b. Providing
security

information to the exact location where it needed. It use to transfer the data with the increasing
use for the organizational purpose. This impacted on the organization productivity through
removing the barriers which causes to avail profits.
Theme 4: Cloud technology assist in increasing the revenue and profitability
4. According to you, cloud technology assist
in increasing the revenue and profitability?
Frequency
a. Yes 23
b. No 7
Source: Survey
Interpretation : As shown in the above figure, it can be recognize that out of 30 people 23
percent are agreed to increase the revenue and profit of “Continental consulting limited” but 7
percent employee/ customers are disagreed with this. As the clod technology is enhancing the
productivity and that is the main reason to encourage the revenue and profitability of the
business. It reduces the network latency that creates causes to cohesion in the network. By
adopting a private cloud it decreases the efforts. Thus, it raise the profit and revenue of the firm
through charging the minimum cost of the system.
P6 Communicate appropriate recommendations
Cloud technology is a beneficial for the firm to manage the clients. This is one of the
most crucial application of the information technology. “Continental Consulting Limited” can
use these technology to improve the performance and enhance the productivity of the business.
There are numerous ways that can be used to amend the performance through Cloud technology.
13
0
10
20
30 23
7
Cloud technology assist in
increasing the revenue and
profitability a. Yes
b. No

Recommendations Cloud technology eliminates the risk of monitoring the unauthorized
access such as the hackers. They are the biggest threat for the company to steel the sensitive
information.
 Through using this technology company can also reduce the burden of filtering the spam
mails that are not valuable for the firm. Thus, it saves time and enhances the productivity.
 Regarding adopting the cloud technology, it is necessary for firm to provide the training
to staff members.
 Organisation should update the technology with in limited time period so that it can make
some innovation in it.
TASK 4
P7 Reflect on the value of undertaking the research to meet stated objectives and own learning
and performance.
While preparing for the cloud technology project there are several things which I have to
managed by using my knowledge such time management. As this the most crucial thing to
deliver a quality project which has no defects. Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart are the
two crucial tools that supports me to manage the project in simple and organized way so that the
task finished on time. Funds are also essential source to conduct the activities in an appropriate
way so there will be no obstacle. Hence, there was no wastage of the resources during the
execution of the Cloud technology project. It improves the functionality and operations of the
organization, if company adopts the specific type of cloud technology according to their need.
My experience at the time of collecting data is not so good because I face some issues mainly
related to collecting the data. But I gave my better performance and understand them the reason
behind conducting this project. After facing all issues, I collected the data and information to get
the better outcomes.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that there are various things that plays a vital
role in successful execution a project. This report states that if a firm is adopting a technology so
it should have an aim and objective in order to measure the success. The project manager should
consider an effective project management plan before getting started the project because a
strategic plan organizes the activities and functions of the tasks. Work breakdown structure and
14

Gantt Chart is the most crucial tools that used by the project manager in order to manage the
activities in a well – organized way. Cloud technology has a wide range of services that can be
owned to attain the goals and objectives of the organisation. This affects on the increasing
productivity and performance of the organisation. It increases the speed to access the data resides
in the virtual spaces which has several advantages such as security, cost and minimum time.
15

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Drucker, P., 2012. Managing for results. Routledge.
Hillson, D., 2017. Managing risk in projects. Routledge.
Adzic, G., 2011. Specification by example: how successful teams deliver the right software.
Manning Publications Co..
Nicholas, J.M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Routledge.
Shattock, M., 2010. Managing successful universities. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Eckerson, W.W., 2010. Performance dashboards: measuring, monitoring, and managing your
business. John Wiley & Sons.
Jeston, J., 2014. Business process management. Routledge.
Keller, K.L., Parameswaran, M.G. and Jacob, I., 2011. Strategic brand management: Building,
measuring, and managing brand equity. Pearson Education India.
Gareis, R., 2010. Changes of organizations by projects. International Journal of Project
Management. 28(4). pp.314-327.
Turner, R. and Zolin, R., 2012. Forecasting success on large projects: developing reliable scales
to predict multiple perspectives by multiple stakeholders over multiple time
frames. Project Management Journal. 43(5). pp.87-99.
Viaene, S. and Van den Bunder, A., 2011. The secrets to managing business analytics projects.
MIT Sloan Management Review.53(1). p.65.
Reiss, G. and Rayner, P., 2012. Portfolio and programme management demystified: managing
multiple projects successfully. Routledge.
Den Hertog, P., Van der Aa, W. and De Jong, M.W., 2010. Capabilities for managing service
innovation: towards a conceptual framework. Journal of service Management.21(4).
pp.490-514.
Doherty, N.F., Ashurst, C. and Peppard, J., 2012. Factors affecting the successful realisation of
benefits from systems development projects: findings from three case studies. Journal
of Information Technology.27(1). pp.1-16.
Opelt, A., Gloger, B., Pfarl, W. and et. al., 2013. Agile contracts: creating and managing
successful projects with Scrum. John Wiley & Sons.
16

LOGBOOK
Project Logbook for the chosen
organisation: Apple
Name of the learner: Name of the Supervisor:
Project Title: Managing Business
Successful
Date:
Update of weekly research/ tasks
achieved (Account for a minimum
of six weeks with dates)
 What have you completed?
 Did you fulfil Task
requirements?
 Are you on track and within
deadlines set?
 Did you need to make any
changes to your project
management plan?
Comments
Digital technology have a
major impact on business
activity.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Any risks and / or issues
identified?
 Did you identify risks/issues
with a lack of skills required
for undertaking research
tasks?
 Did you identify any
additional risks/issues that
have an impact on the
project management plan?
No
No
Problems encountered
 What barriers did you face? Absence of sufficient
17

 How did you overcome them?
duration and minimum
financial resources because
need is much more higher
then expected.
With the help of my
collogues and group
members in order to attain
final outcome.
New Ideas and change of project
direction
It must be accomplished for
determining the various
techniques of improving
organisational performance.
What Have I learnt about myself
this week?
 How did I feel when I had to
deal with tasks/problems?
 Did I find it useful to
complete the tasks?
 How well have I performed?
What did I contribute?
 What can I improve on next
week?
I feel stressed and puzzled.
Yes
My performance
automatically get improved
after getting suggestion
from senior.
Resolutions of obstacles.
Tasks planned for next week
 Which tasks are priority?
 Have you set aside sufficient
time for completion?
Accumulation of
Information.
Yes, I get adequate
duration.
Project plan status to date (on,
ahead, behind)
Up to date
Supervisor comments to address
Signature of the Supervisor and
18

date:
Template for Performance Review
Template to be attached with the
report by the learner:
11 What was the Project supposed to accomplish?
This project is to be considered as the important points which are
mentioned in the assignment.11 Did the project succeed in its aims/ how do you know?
Specifically, please outline any evaluation and assessment
undertaken.
Yes, the project has attained its objectives and aim successfully as
its major goal was to analysed the effectiveness of Cloud technology
to get success and enhance growth of small business.11 What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all
aspects of the project (e.g initial inception, project activities and
project outcomes) from a range of perspectives.
I had worked according to the plan of particular assignment
which support in completing the project in systematic manner.11 What problems emerged during the project and how were they
tackled? Was there timely identification of issues and resolution
during the project process?
The hard process was sampling and data interpretation which
have gained for completing the project and its objective.11 What did you learn from undertaking the project?
I had learnt more things about the analyse information by
effective communication procedure.11 How would you rate your performance as a management
19

consultant leading the project?
I will give rate 8 out of 10 to myself.11 What strengths and weakness of your performance did you
identify?
There are some major strength of mine as communication skill
and researcher approaches where as major weaknesses are team
leading approaches.11 How will this inform and support your continuous professional
development?
This assignment will helping to improve my future performance of
research.
20