Project Management: Case Study for Project Management Assignment Spring 2019

This document is a case study for a project management assignment in Spring 2019. It covers topics such as project initiation, work breakdown structure, risk management, and strong leadership in a project.

Running head: PROJEC MANAGEMENT
Project management: Case Study for Project Management Assignment Spring 2019
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Definition of project, management and project management..........................................................2
1. Sample project initiation document.............................................................................................3
2. Work breakdown structure..........................................................................................................7
2.1 Definition of Work breakdown structure...............................................................................7
2.2 Work breakdown structure....................................................................................................7
2.3 Importance of critical path analysis.......................................................................................9
3. Risk management.........................................................................................................................9
3.1 Definition of risk with example.............................................................................................9
3.2 Definition of risk management with proper explanation.....................................................10
3.3 Risk register.........................................................................................................................10
4. Report to the project sponsor.....................................................................................................14
4.1 Discussion about strong leadership in a project..................................................................14
4.2 Strengths and weaknesses and project methodology with recommendation.......................14
5. Gantt chart with explanation......................................................................................................17
6. Stakeholder analysis..................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................20

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Definition of project, management and project management
According to Kerzner and Kerzner (2017), a project is defined as an activity that helps in
meeting the development of unique product or service and therefore the activities that are
generally undertaken are helpful in accomplishing the routine activities which cannot be
considered as projects. The examples of failed, successful as well as the project that is in
progress is mainly reflected below:
Example of failed project: The NHS’ civilian IT project that is mainly founded for the
healthcare system in England.
Example of successful project: The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) establishes
consistent as well as reliable data for informing the financial as well as resource decisions.
Example of project that are in progress: Sydney Metro (NSW) is now the current
project that is presently in progress.
On the other hand, it is stated by Kaiser et al. (2015) that management is defined as the
combined as well as interchanged procedures of planning, decision making, leading, motivation
as well as controlling the human resources for reaching the goal within an organization.
Assets are generally defined as an item or entity that generally has the potential of
providing value to an organization. Physical assets usually refers to equipment, properties as well
as inventory that is needed by the organization (Burghate 2018). If proper physical assets are not
supplied on time then the date of project delivery can get delayed.
Project management is defined as one of the practice of initiating, planning, executing,
controlling as well as closing the work of the project tem in order to achieve proper goals and for
meeting the success criteria of the project within the specified time.

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1. Sample project initiation document
Document Information
Project name: The name of the project is to organize an event for the university that
provides excellent learning environment
Date: 01-04-2019
Author: <Please Fill>
Owner Project board members
Version: <Please fill>
Approval
Date Name and Signature
28/03/2019 Managing Director
30/01/2019 Director of Operations

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Definition
Background: QA higher education has generally completed refurbishment
of various teaching rooms as well as computer labs for
ensuring that the student as well as staffs of the university are
able to get proper environment of learning for accessing the
latest technology for supporting their studies as well as
teaching. The university generally wishes to launch an event
to attract the students for celebrating the success of the
project.
Main Goal: The main goal of the project is to attract the students for
making the university much more competitive.
Desired Outcomes: The university arranges an event for publicizing the learning
environment of the university that was created in order to
attract more number of students and for making the university
much more competitive.
Constraints and
Assumptions:
CONSTRAINTS:
 If the project manager are unable to finish the project
within the assumed budget and time then the progress
of the project get obstructed.
 If the stakeholder expectation are not met then they

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will not work effectively in the project.
ASSUMPTIONS:
 It is assumed that the project will be completed within
the budget that is around £50,000.
 As per the assumption of the project manager, the
project will get completed within 34.5 days.
Interfaces: To achieve the goal of enhancing the number of student in the
university
Project Approach: USING THE 4D PM MODEL: It is found that the project
utilizes this model in order to successfully define, design,
deliver as well as develop the project quite effectively.
Project Product Description: It is found that the event that was mainly organized in
order to publicize the learning environment that the
university provides to its staffs and students. The event
will scheduled during the fresher’s first week in
September and it is assumed that the project will be
completed within the budget that is provided.
Stakeholder List: The stakeholders who are mainly involved with the

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project are generally listed below:
 Project manager
 Project planner
 Construction manager
 Supervisor
 Contractor
 Sub-contractor
 Workers
Quality Management Approach The work that is done must be checked on regular
basis for making sure that proper quality standards
must be followed within the project for successfully
executing the project
Change Control Approach It is found that proper training facility must be
arranged for the stakeholders so that the can be able to
gain proper knowledge for communicating, consulting,
coordination so that the entire project get completed on
time.
Risk Management Approach It is quite important for the project team to utilize
proper health and safety regulations as well as
consideration of various types of legal requirements

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are considered to be important for the success of the
project.
Communication Management
Approach
It is found that in order to deal with the stakeholders
as well as with the other project team, it is quite
necessary to maintain proper communication plan so
that the entire project can be completed successfully
within the expected budget and time without facing
any type of problem. This is only possible if the project
team members does not face issues in communicating
with other members.
Project Plan: The project plan that is created helps in reflecting that
the entire project will be completed within £50,000 and
within the time period of 34.5 days.
2. Work breakdown structure
2.1 Definition of Work breakdown structure
Work breakdown structure is defined one of the important deliverable of the project that
helps in organizing the work of the team into a number of manageable sections (Siami-
Irdemoosa, Dindarloo and Sharifzadeh 2015). It helps in visually defining the scope of the
project into number of manageable chunks so that the project team can understand the project
scope as each level of the work breakdown structure helps in providing proper detail about the
project activities.

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2.2 Work breakdown structure
The work breakdown structure for organizing an event within the University that helps in
providing excellent learning environment is generally reflected below:

Organizing event
£50,000.00
Planning phase
£5824
Execution phase
£24656.00
Closure phase
£2520.00
Selection of venue
£720
Getting approval for the event
£960
Audience identification
£1544
Invitations to local/national
£1800
Listing audiences
£800
Giving invitation card
£0
Making proper arrangement for the event
£21236
Arranging seats
£360
Making proper arrangement for event
£640
Informal opportunity for tours to the students
£800
Milestone 2: Completion of planning phase
Providing the facility of food and drinks
food £180
Discussing importance of teaching rooms £1700.00
Milestone 3: Completion of execution phase
Reviewing the project
£1080.00
Providing sign off to the project
£480.00
Creating documents for the project
£960.00
Milestone 4: Completion of closure phase
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Figure 1: WBS

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2.3 Importance of critical path analysis
Critical path is considered as one of the important method that is helpful in planning the
project effectively. Critical path method is considered to be beneficial as with the help of the
critical path, all the activities as well as task duration that needs to be executed can be easily
visualized. This assists in providing higher level of insights into the timeline of the project in order
to reflect the correlation of the tasks (Darko and Chan 2016). In addition to this, it is found that
critical path method helps in providing clear direction of the project and assists in enhancing
visibility. Moreover, critical path analysis helps in comparing both planned progress with the actual
progress and thus it can be ensured that with the help of critical path, proper project planning can be
done.
3. Risk management
3.1 Definition of risk with example
Project risk is mainly referred as one of the uncertain condition that generally occurs within
the project that generally creates impact on the objective of the project. It is found that the risks are
generally categorized into number of different types of categories that include:
 Project risk
 Financial risk
 Technological risk
 People risk
 Market risk
 Process risk

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3.2 Definition of risk management with proper explanation
Risk management is considered as one of the procedure that helps in determining, accessing as
well as controlling the threats that are mainly associated with the project (Hopkinson 2017). Risk
management is considered as one of the significant approach that is helpful in properly identifying,
analyzing as well as mitigating the risks that generally can impact on the project. It is found that as
one of the important part of project management that generally lead the project towards success. It
is one of the action plan that is helpful in dealing with the uncontrolled risks that are helpful in
setting such an action that are quite beneficial in minimizing the effect of the risk.
3.3 Risk register
The risk register that is developed below helps in avoiding the different types of risks that
generally occur within the project.
Risk
ID
Risk and risk
description
Date
raised
Owner Probabilit
y
Impact Mitigation
1 Schedule
slippage: If the
project schedule is
not managed the
project will be
delayed.
11-3-19 Project
manager
High High Tracking of
project
schedule is
necessary.
2 Improper
resources: The
resources that are
required are not
10-04-19 HR
manager
Medium Medium Proper
management
of project

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available and this
can obstruct the
progress of the
project.
resources.
3 Improper
schedule
management:
Lack of
experience of the
project manager
does not manage
the schedule
properly that
further causes
problems in
finishing the
project.
15-04-19 Project
planner
High High Proper
tracking of
project
schedule by
hiring
experienced
project
manager
4 Delivery of
improper quality
of materials: If
the materials that
are delivered are
not in good
18-04-19 Quality
analyst
High Medium Maintaining
quality
standards in
the project.

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quality then
quality related
issues occur.
5 Lack of budget:
If the budget that
is assumed for the
project is not
appropriate then it
can cause delay in
the project.
22-04-19 Financial
manager
High High Proper
management
of project
budget.
6 Improper
management:
due to improper
management, it is
difficult to finish
the project on
time.
17-04-19 HR
manager
Medium Medium Proper
management
of project.
7 Inappropriate
seating
arrangement:
Due to
inappropriate
seating
20-03-19 Organizer Medium Low Providing
the facility
of proper
seating
arrangement.

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arrangement, the
team member
faces issues in
attending the
event.
8 Rising cost of
resources: The
rising cost of
resources can
cause financial
issues
26-04-19 Financial
manager
High High The budget
of the
project must
be used
properly.
9 Scope creep: If
the scope of the
project is not
followed then the
chances of scope
creep is high.
28-04-19 Project
manager
Medium Medium Following
the scope of
the project is
necessary.
10 Inappropriate
event handling:
If the event is not
handled then it
can cause
challenges in
30-04-19 Medium Medium Proper
handling of
project.

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achieving proper
outcome.
4. Report to the project sponsor
4.1 Discussion about strong leadership in a project
The skills of leadership are required by the project manager in order to manage the work of the
project effectively. It is identified that proper leadership skills are generally helpful in properly
coordinating as administering the progress of the project (Alonderiene and Majauskaite 2016). The
project managers generally needs the skills of leadership in order to complete the progress of the
project effectively. A strong leader within a project must have a clear vision, proper clarity as well as
proper practical knowledge for motivating the project team for successfully finishing the project work
(Holten and Brenner 2015). Presence of flexible leadership style is important for the project managers
for finishing the work of the project in an innovative manner.
Furthermore, in the absence of leadership qualities within a project manager generally
creates lot of issues that is quite difficult to manage. Proper quality of leadership is used by the
project team in order to properly know the objectives as well as project goals (Graham, Ziegert and
Capitano 2015). Moreover, it is identified that that it is the responsibility of the project team to
clearly understand the project goals. It is identified that in order to achieve success, it is quite
important to achieve the goals as well as objectives of the project within the expected time by using
the qualities of leadership.
4.2 Strengths and weaknesses and project methodology with recommendation
The strengths and weaknesses of different project methodologies are generally elaborated in
the table below:

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Methodologies Strengths Weaknesses Comments
Agile methodology  With the help of
the agile
methodology,
continuous
delivery of the
project can be
done
 The project can
get adapted with
the changing
circumstances
 Late changes are
also allowed
within the project
 Due to lack of
appropriate
emphasis in
properly designing
as well as
documenting the
entire project
successfully
(Vijayasarathy and
Butler 2016).

 The entire project
can be properly
tracked
Not appropriate
for organizing the
event.
Prince2 methodology  Prince2
Methodology is
considered to be
beneficial in
successfully
planning the
project (Joslin and
Muller 2015).
 Effort is needed in
order to properly
maintain the logs
effectively.
 The changes that
are done in the
project
implementation are
Not appropriate
for organizing the
event.

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 It general assists in
tracking the
performance of the
project properly.
considered to be
cumbersome
Waterfall methodology  Waterfall
methodology is
considered to be
beneficial in
properly
estimating the
timeline as well as
cost of the project
 Moving to the next
phase will only be
possible if the
earlier phase of the
project is
completed.
 It is quite difficult
to include changes
after the testing
phase of the
project.
 This methodology
is not considered is
not appropriate for
the complex
projects (Kerzner
and Kerzner 2017).
It is appropriate
for organizing the
event.
SCRUM methodology  It is generally
found as one of
methodology
within which new
types of
 Scope creep within
the project is found
as one of the
significant issue
 Leaving any of the
Not appropriate
for organizing the
event.

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development are
generally tested.
 It assists in
resolving the
problems quite
effectively.
project team
generally creates
disruption as the
project team is
entirely dependent
o collaboration
After analyzing the various types of project methodologies, it is identified that waterfall
methodology is considered to be one of the appropriate methodology that is helpful in managing the
progress of the project. Waterfall methodology is mainly selected as it is considered as one of
easiest methodology that is quite easy in understanding. With the help of this methodology, the
project manager needs to complete the earlier stage of the project properly before moving to the
next phase of the project (Mousaei and Gandomani 2018). Moreover, waterfall methodology is
considered to be beneficial in properly estimating the timeline as well as cost of the project.
5. Gantt chart with explanation
Gantt chart is defined as one of the horizontal bar chart that is mainly developed for
properly planning as well as scheduling the activities of the project. It is considered as one of the
tool that provides clarity about the timeline as well as tasks of the project into a single document.
Gantt chart helps in replacing meetings, understanding task progress, proper management of time as
well as assists in providing proper flexibility to the project (Joslin and Muller 2015). The Gantt
chart that is developed for organizing the event for the university is provided below:

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Figure 1: Gantt chart
(Source: Created by Author)
6. Stakeholder analysis
The stakeholders who are involved with the work of the project are generally analyzed in
the table below:
Stakeholders Influence Interest
Project manager High High

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Project planner High High
Contractor High High
Construction manager High High
HR manager Low High
Financial manager Low Low
Worker Low High
Supervisor Low High

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References
Alonderiene, R. and Majauskaite, M., 2016. Leadership style and job satisfaction in higher
education institutions. International Journal of Educational Management, 30(1), pp.140-164.
Bredillet, C., Tywoniak, S. and Dwivedula, R., 2015. What is a good project manager? An
Aristotelian perspective. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.254-266.
Burghate, M., 2018. Work Breakdown Structure: Simplifying Project Management. International
Journal of Commerce and Management, 3(2).
Darko, A. and Chan, A.P., 2016. Critical analysis of green building research trend in construction
journals. Habitat International, 57, pp.53-63.
Graham, K.A., Ziegert, J.C. and Capitano, J., 2015. The effect of leadership style, framing, and
promotion regulatory focus on unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of business
ethics, 126(3), pp.423-436.
Holten, A.L. and Brenner, S.O., 2015. Leadership style and the process of organizational
change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(1), pp.2-16.
Hopkinson, M., 2017. The project risk maturity model: Measuring and improving risk management
capability. Routledge.
Joslin, R. and Müller, R., 2015. Relationships between a project management methodology and
project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(6), pp.1377-1392.

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Kaiser, M.G., El Arbi, F. and Ahlemann, F., 2015. Successful project portfolio management beyond
project selection techniques: Understanding the role of structural alignment. International Journal
of Project Management, 33(1), pp.126-139.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Morse, J.M., 2015. Critical analysis of strategies for determining rigor in qualitative
inquiry. Qualitative health research, 25(9), pp.1212-1222.
Mousaei, M. and Gandomani, T.J., 2018. A New Project Risk Management Model based on Scrum
Framework and Prince2 Methodology. development, 9(4).
Siami-Irdemoosa, E., Dindarloo, S.R. and Sharifzadeh, M., 2015. Work breakdown structure
(WBS) development for underground construction. Automation in Construction, 58, pp.85-94.
Vijayasarathy, L.R. and Butler, C.W., 2016. Choice of software development methodologies: Do
organizational, project, and team characteristics matter?. IEEE software, 33(5), pp.86-94.