Project Management: A Comprehensive Guide

This document provides a comprehensive guide to project management, focusing on the importance of project management in achieving organizational goals. It includes a sample project initial document, a work breakdown structure with 20 items, a risk register, and a risk management plan using the PRINCE2 theory. The document also discusses QA Higher Education's event planning strategies and the stakeholders involved.

Project
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................1
1. Sample project initial document..............................................................................................1
2. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with at least 20 items.....................................................3
3. Risk register............................................................................................................................7
4. Risk management plan and PRINCE 2 theory........................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Project Management can be understood the practice of initiating, planning, executing,
controlling and closing the work of a team by preparing the specific objective to achieve the
goals of an organisation. The main objective of any of the project management is to accomplish
the target by considering the available resources of a company. If any of the organisation doesn't
take the help of project management for completing any of the project then there are higher
chances that company might faces number of problems (Braglia and Frosolini, 2014). The report
is completely based upon QA higher education where university is going to conduct an event in
college where they are going to inform about the refurbishment of classrooms and computer labs.
For the purpose of conducting the even successfully various things are needed to be conducts
which starts by preparing the budget, time scale for its competition and even objectives will also
required to prepare. Also, other topics will be discussed in the file which will include short report
analysis which will be presented in front of number of people. Also, PRIENCE2 theory will
applied.
TASK
1. Sample project initial document
Title of Project:- “Attract students towards the university and enhance the competition in
market.”
Estimate Budget :- For the purpose of conducting the event the amount which has been
distributed is £50,000. It will be crucial for the the manager of a university to utilise the fund in
suitable manner which can guide that how goals can b accomplished. It is necessary to
understand that whole of the budget should be utilise properly where standard can be met. The
main things which is necessary to be focused is that the maximum part of the budget should be
used within the advertisement activities as that will be crucial in accomplishing the goals which
company wants to attain.
Timescales :- The event which is going to be conducted within the university will be
done at a greater platform which means planning and plotting should be done at least one month
before the date. Here, 20 days will be required to conduct the advertisement and promotional
work whereas remaining days will be required for selecting the guest, event organising place,
preparing the invitation cards and many more.
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Objectives :- It is one of the event where QA higher education university is looking that
how they can accomplish the goals of attracting the number of new students towards the
university. The main target to attract the students will be from London, Manchester and
Birmingham (Burke, 2013).
Approach :- The main approach is that how university can make this particular event
attractive and for that they can do promotional work in different area. The main source of
advertisement should be in the area of social media, newspaper, magazines, digital marketing and
many more. This is being students always like to collect different reviews from number of place
before visiting to any of the particular place.
Stakeholders Analysis :- There are number of stakeholder who are connected with QA
higher education University. List of some of the stakeholder of university are Donors,
Governments and university head and suppliers . Below, there is the detail information about all
of this stakeholder: Donors (High power, high interest) – In university like QA higher eduction University,
Donors will play the crucial role where they are the one who take most of the important
decision because their capital is directly or indirectly invested within the company. In
addition, manager helps in number of occasion for taking any of the business decision for
donors of the company (Eskerod and Jepsen, 2016). Government (High power, low interest) – In university like QA Higher Education, the
government plays the vital role just because of the power they have but even they shows
low interest in taking any of the decisions. It is said that there are number of situation in
which university might be affected just because of the decision which are taken by the
government. University Head (Low power, high interest) - This are those stakeholder of the company
who plays the crucial role within the university where they are given very less number of
power but they always shows their interest to take any of the decision for the betterment
of university. It includes chairman, board of directors etc.
 Suppliers (Low power, low interest)– They are the one who supplies the raw material for
the conducting the event successfully. It will include material like foods and drinks,other
colleges or university, suppliers of books, stationery and many more.
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2. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with at least 20 items
Work Breakdown Structure is defined as the distribution of working into multiple
category for the purpose of completing any of the specific project on given time period. This
structure gives the idea that how any of the work is needed to be done. Work breakdown structure
can be the crucial for manager of university because it will give the idea that in how many part
any of the task is needed be conducted. While talking about, QA Higher Education University
they have classified the whole event into multiple task which will help them to uplift the morale
through which goals can be easily accomplished. For understanding about the task which
manager of the university have divided, it is explained below:
1. Establish Objective - The main objective which has been developed by the QA Higher
Education is to inform the maximum number of students about the refurbishment done
within the university to grab more students (Fortune and et.al., 2011).
2. Market research - Here, market research will be done for the purpose of determining
potential of students living across the nations.
3. Selection of suitable ideas – For this respective event, it is be crucial for QA Higher
Education to select the students which they will target the most.
4. Develop plans of activities – It is one of the bigger event in context of University so it
will be crucial for them to prepare the plans and policies for every activity which they are
going to conduct.
5. Design promotional and advertising activities – By looking at the students who are
connected and going to be connected with university, they will required to do promotion
and advertisement.
6. Up date Websites – It will be important for QA Higher Education University to update
about the event and changes which they have made to attract more number of customers
towards the company.
7. Conduct analysis – In this respective stage, QA Higher Education University will
required to analyse that how many customers are there who is attracted towards the
promotional activity conducted by the organisation.
8. Evaluate Decision – Meeting is required to evaluate each and every decisions which are
taken by the university (Hanisch and Wald, 2011).
9. Market Feasibility: Idea which has been developed are to be analysed in detail.
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10. Demand Forecasting – QA Higher Education is required to do forecasting for
conducting this particular event.
11. Data Collection – It is necessary the manager of University to collect all of the data and
relevant information which are required at the time of conducting the event.
12. Evaluate Data – For the purpose of effective result it is necessary that data should be
evaluated in a systematic manner.
13. Develop Budget – As each and every things has been evaluated above, now it is crucial
for QA Higher Education University to distribute the budget which can help to distribute
the fund.
14. Set activities accordingly – Once, budget has been prepared, it will be crucial for project
manager to classify the activities according to the budget available.
15. Books Ambiances – It will be crucial for manager to book the ambiances by looking at
the budget which is available in front of them.
16. Develop invitation cards – It is necessary for QA Higher Education University to
prepare the invitation card for guest to attain the function.
17. Book caterers – Then, caterers are required who will play the crucial role within the
event for making it successful (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
18. Invite media – To increase the promotional activity, it will be important for QA Higher
Education University to invite the media who will covers the whole event.
19. Hire bloggers – QA Higher Education University will require to hire bloggers who will
write content about the event of university which will be published with the help of
digital marketing.
20. Analysis effectiveness – Feedback and suggestion are the most significant part of any
project because it will allow to perform better in future period time.
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3. Risk register
Risk register is explained as the tool which is used for the purpose of identifying the risk
so company can get the opportunity to tackle with the problem. It is necessary to determine the
risk which comes in front of the company so that company gets the opportunity to overcomes the
problem for accomplishing the targets. Below, there is the detail description about the risk
register in regards to QA Higher Education University (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
Risk Mitigation Action Contingency Action Pre action
score (Out of
10, where 10 is
high risk and 1
is low)
Post action
score (Out of
10, where 10
is high risk
and 1 is low)
The product
which were
needed to be
there at the time
of event were
not delivered on
time.
For the purpose of
overcoming from the
problem related to
delay in delivery,
QA Higher
Education University
must form the
agreement where it
should be mentioned
that if products will
not be delivered on
time then legal
actions can be taken
In this types of
situation, it will be
crucial for the
University to form
the alternative plans
which will help to
tackle with any of
problem which
company faces.
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upon the company.
Requirement of
students doesn't
match with the
services being
provided by the
university.
Situation changes
due to which it is
necessary that
university must fulfil
the demand of
students.
For the purpose of
overcoming this
respective risk, it
will be important for
QA Higher
Education University
to deliver the
facilities to student
and even their
demands should also
meet and for that
university has the
option to take
feedback.
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If in any of the
situation
requirement of
any of the
specific
resources
changes then it
will directly
change the
scenario of
budget which
has been
prepared by
University.
Here, it will be
crucial for the
project manager of
the task that they
must try to select the
suitable strategy
which will help them
to allocate the fund
in systematic manner
in each of the area.
This situation can be
easily tackled by the
QA Higher
Education University
where they can seek
for short term loan
which will not allow
to raise the problem.
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4. Risk management plan and PRINCE 2 theory
(a) Risk Management Plan
Risk Management Plan can be explained the method or techniques which an company
choose through which they can easily analyse about the risk so that suitable form of strategies can
be formed. It can be crucial for company because it will allow them to reduce the percentage of
risk which will directly impact on achieving the goals of an organisation. In context of QA
Higher Education University, they will have the option to save the time and even company can
easily determine that how they are needed to work (Klein, Biesenthal and Dehlin, 2015).
Effectiveness of risk management plan is mention below along with the impact of ignoring risk :-
 Identification of risk :- If QA Higher Education University will implement the risk
management plan they they will have the option to determine about the risk which can
create problem for university. It will allow university to identify internal as well as
external factors which will directly help to commence better plans and policies.
 Assure high quality work :- Here, risk management plan will help to identify the risk
and according to that QA university will find the way to design plans, policies and even
different types of regulation. In addition, those regulations will help to accomplish the
target within the specific time period (Meng, 2012).
(B) Prince 2 Theory
This theory is applied by the company when it has to launch a new project and it mainly
focus on three aspects that are related to events which helps in controlling the events and helps in
managing the events from their start to their finish so that the completion of the project can be
done in an efficient manner (Parker, Parsons and Isharyanto, 2015). Through this framework the
project manager of QA Higher Education University can analyse the strengths and weaknesses
related to the project :
Strengths : Predictable : By implementing this theory the project manager of the university can
predict the risks that are associated with each events so that their management can be
done effectively. This will help in completing the project on time and in an efficient
manner.
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 Time and cost effective : This method will help the manager to complete the project in a
cost effective manner and also all the events can be well managed so that the project gets
completed on time and with the stipulated budget.
 Standardisation : This theory will help the manager in standardising the events of the
project so that miscommunication can be decreased and efficiency can be increased in
effectively completing the project in an efficient manner. The events can be well
organised by applying this theory so that all the events can be well managed and
monitored (Ramazani and Jergeas, 2015).
Weaknesses Complex : This theory is very complex to apply in the projects which are tough and
complicated. This decreases the efficiency of this project and also the project manager of
the university will have to spend more funds so that the staff members can be effectively
trained which will help in applying this framework efficiently.
 Not realistic : The theory is non realistic as not all the steps can be effectively applied.
Also the risk management cannot be done effectively as in complex projects large numbe
of risks are involved (Walker, 2015).
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CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be easily concluded that whenever any of the events are
needed to be conducted within the organisation then number of activities are needed to be
conducted. It helps to determine the accurate potential of company as customers. Also, it is
understand if any of the organisation do proper planning then they can easily able to achieve the
target which company wants to accomplish within the specific time period. PRINCE 2 theory is
very useful for any of the organisation because it can easily determine the strength and weakness
through which can find that what are the area where improvement should be done. In addition, it
is the responsibilities of manager that they must try that how they can use the available resources
and in this condition if manager fails then target cannot be accomplished in any of the situation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Braglia, M. and Frosolini, M., 2014. An integrated approach to implement project management
information systems within the extended enterprise. International Journal of Project
Management. 32(1). pp.18-29.
Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Eskerod, P. and Jepsen, A.L., 2016. Project stakeholder management. Routledge.
Fortune, J. and et.al., 2011. Looking again at current practice in project
management. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business. 4(4). pp.553-572.
Hanisch, B. and Wald, A., 2011. A project management research framework integrating multiple
theoretical perspectives and influencing factors. Project Management Journal. 42(3).
pp.4-22.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Klein, L., Biesenthal, C. and Dehlin, E., 2015. Improvisation in project management: A
praxeology. International journal of project management, 33(2), pp.267-277.
Meng, X., 2012. The effect of relationship management on project performance in
construction. International journal of project management. 30(2). pp.188-198.
Parker, D.W., Parsons, N. and Isharyanto, F., 2015. Inclusion of strategic management theories to
project management. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 8(3),
pp.552-573.
Ramazani, J. and Jergeas, G., 2015. Project managers and the journey from good to great: The
benefits of investment in project management training and education. International
Journal of Project Management. 33(1). pp.41-52.
Walker, A., 2015. Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.
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