Project Management

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management
Name of the Student
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Table of Contents
1. Project Report Elements..............................................................................................................2
1.1 WBS.......................................................................................................................................2
1.2 RACI Chart............................................................................................................................2
1.3 Schedule 1 – Gantt.................................................................................................................2
1.4 Schedule 2 – AON.................................................................................................................3
1.5 Resource Overloads...............................................................................................................3
1.6 Budget....................................................................................................................................3
1.7 Progress Reporting (Timeline)..............................................................................................4
1.8 Progress Reporting (EVM)....................................................................................................4
1.9 Risk Management..................................................................................................................4
1.10 Change Management...........................................................................................................4
1.11 Stakeholder Identification....................................................................................................5
1.12 Project Closure.....................................................................................................................5
2. Project Plan..................................................................................................................................5
2.1 WBS.......................................................................................................................................5
2.2 RACI Chart............................................................................................................................8
2.3 Schedule 1 – Gantt.................................................................................................................9
2.4 Schedule 2 – AON...............................................................................................................13
2.5 Resource Overloads.............................................................................................................14
2.6 Budget..................................................................................................................................14
2.7 Progress Reporting (Timeline)............................................................................................18
2.8 Progress Reporting (EVM)..................................................................................................21
2.9 Risk Management................................................................................................................22
2.10 Change Management.........................................................................................................22
2.11 Stakeholder Identification..................................................................................................22
2.12 Project Closure...................................................................................................................23
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................24

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1. Project Report Elements
A project report is defined as a document that contains all the relevant information
regarding the project. There are a number of different elements in the project report that are
discussed as follows.
1.1 WBS
A WBS or work breakdown structure is defined as the breakdown of the activities that
are specified for a project. Generally, when developing a plan for the project, it is divided into a
number of deliverables, work packages and activities. When these attributes are arranged in a
chronological order and then connected with predecessor / successor links, the total outcome is
known as work breakdown structure. A work breakdown structure serves multiple purposes in a
project management report as it can be further utilized to develop a project schedule in the form
of a Gantt chart and the project budget by allocating resources and unit costs to the activities.
1.2 RACI Chart
An RACI chart or Responsibility Matrix is defined as a matrix in which the roles of the
project stakeholders / team members are specified with respect to the work required for the
project. There are four different responsibility attributes that can assigned to the stakeholders – R
for Responsible, A for Accounted for, C for Consulted and I for Informed. For each activity,
each stakeholder can only have one of the responsibility types assigned based on his / her role or
involvement in that particular activity.

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1.3 Schedule 1 – Gantt
Gantt chart is one of the most common tools that is used to develop an estimated
schedule for a project. The gantt chart is developed directly from a work breakdown structure by
assigning specific durations to the activities and a project start in order to develop a final
schedule for the project.
1.4 Schedule 2 – AON
Activity on Network (or AON) is a systematic diagram that shows the durations of all the
activities in the project. Unlike the Gantt chart, the AON does not deal with any specific start or
end dates but only show the durations of each activity. There are a number of variations of an
AON diagram – one simple variation only shows the connections between each activity without
any duration or any other attributes whereas some other more complex variations show estimated
duration, early start and late start scenarios, total slack and others.
1.5 Resource Overloads
Resource overload refers to the condition in the work breakdown structure when one or
more resources are assigned to multiple activities at the same time. In most of the cases, there are
fixed working hours for each activity and the resources have to work in both the activities
simultaneously. In order to avoid resource overload, resource leveling is done to increase the
number of resources in the activities or increase the duration of each activity where overloading
occurs.
1.6 Budget
Budget is defined as the total estimated cost required for execution of the project. A
budget can be developed from the work breakdown structure of the project by allocating the

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resources to each of the activities. If the unit rates for human resources and total costs of material
resources are set, the total budget of the project can be easily developed.
1.7 Progress Reporting (Timeline)
Progress reporting refers to the reporting of the percentage of the project that has been
completed at a certain point of time in the project. The progress reporting is required to
determine if the project is going in the right direction and if not, certain changes are made to the
project as well as the schedule to bring the project back on track.
1.8 Progress Reporting (EVM)
Progress reporting in a project can also be done using the Earned Value Management
process (EVM). In this case, the schedule progress is not assessed, rather this type of reporting is
done entire based on the budget of the project and the amount spent during a certain interval of
time in the project. Earned Value Management technique helps to keep track of the expenses in a
project and hence, it is very much preferred by the project managers.
1.9 Risk Management
Risk management is an integral part of any project as it involves identification and
mitigation of the risks that may occur during the course of the project. In this process, the risks
are first identified from the analysis of the project and then their chances of occurrence and
impact of the project are calculated. Based on the risk values thus generated, the risks are
arranged in order of priority and appropriate risk mitigation techniques are developed and
deployed.

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1.10 Change Management
Change management is required when the project moves in the wrong direction and
changes are required to bring the project back on track. In this case, the project manager reviews
the problem that has been created due to wrong direction of the project. Accordingly, the project
manager decides some changes and then determines if these changes will have any negative
impact on the project or not. Accordingly, the change is gradually implemented and the project is
brought back on track.
1.11 Stakeholder Identification
Identification of stakeholders in the project is required so as to allocate suitable roles in
the project to specific personnel involved. First, the work duties and relevant information of the
project are analyzed and then the personnel are identified who will be to manage and perform
various activities in the project. Accordingly, the stakeholders are identified and suitable roles
are allocated to each of them.
1.12 Project Closure
Project closure is done when the project is completed, handed over and is ready to be
closed. After the project is handed over to the client, it is reviewed and appraised before
finalizing all payments and signed off. After all the stakeholders have signed off from the
project, the project can finally be closed.