Project Management Project 1

This report pertains to plan a project for taking 30 students studying in Sustainable Business Course of the QAHE to a field trip to understand the sustainable business practices in the African nation of Uganda.

Project Management -
Project 1
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Part A...............................................................................................................................................3
Project Initiation Document (PID)...................................................................................................3
1.1 Project Objectives.................................................................................................................3
1.2 Purpose of the document.......................................................................................................3
1.3 Project information...............................................................................................................3
1.4 Project Background...............................................................................................................5
1.5 Project deliverables...............................................................................................................5
1.6 Project Scope.........................................................................................................................5
1.7 Key assumptions...................................................................................................................5
1.8 Key executive members........................................................................................................5
1.9 Key Risks..............................................................................................................................5
1.10 Key Success factors............................................................................................................5
1.11 Key Constraints...................................................................................................................6
1.11.1 Time .......................................................................................................................6
1.11.2 Quality....................................................................................................................6
1.11.3 Cost ........................................................................................................................6
1.12 Stakeholder Analysis...........................................................................................................6
1.13 Approvals............................................................................................................................6
Part B...............................................................................................................................................6
Work Breakdown Structure........................................................................................................6
Critical Path Analysis and its rationale.......................................................................................6
Reflection....................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
A project is planned, designed and managed according to a specified activities that are
being planned to be undertaken (Shumaev and et. al., 2018). This report pertains to plan a project
for taking 30 students studying in Sustainable Business Course of the QAHE to a field trip to
understand the sustainable business practices in the African nation of Uganda. This report
includes preparation of the Project Initiation Document (PID). Further, a work breakdown
structure has also been prepared to develop network path and identify critical path and their
importance for the project. In the end, a reflection has been made on the project activities thus
undertaken so far.
Part A
Project Initiation Document (PID)
1.1 Project Objectives
 This project has an objective to plan for a trip to take a contingent of 35 people (30
students + 5 staff) to Uganda to explore sustainable business projects there.
 Project has an objective to plan the trip in the month of March 2021 within a budget of
£60,000.
1.2 Purpose of the document
Project initiation document contains the project information in summary (Cheng and
Tsai, 2019). Hence, most important purpose of this document is to develop a direction to project
information and deliverables that will guide the project team in planning, organising and
managing the project in both planning phase as well post-planning phase.
1.3 Project information
 Basic information - This project is scheduled to be planned to organise a two-week field
trip for 35 people in the month of March 2021. The project has been sponsored and a
budget of £2,000 per student has been provided. This project will be organised in
partnership with Makerere University, Kampala as university partner and Uganda Green
Enterprise Finance Accelerator as African Field partner to arrange for the field trip to
various sustainably ethical business projects.
 Budget for the project is as mentioned below:
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Preliminary Budget
(2-Weeks trip to Kampala for 35 people)
Per head Amount (in £)
Fund available:
Students 2000 60000
Total 60000
Expenditure:
Travel expenses
Air tickets 19250
Visa charges 1400 20650
Accommodation expenses
Hotel bookings 11450
Transportation expenses
Car Rental 3200
Local sightseeing 1100 4300
Food expenses
Food 4500
Travel and health Insurance
Travel insurance 6000
Health insurance 7000 13000
Other expenses 600
Total 54500
Contingency @ 10% 5450
Total 59950
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 Time-scale:
1.4 Project Background
Undertaken project has been planned for the QAHE Business Management Faculty. They
have designed a degree course in Sustainable Business which is mainly focused on ethical and
environmental business issues. Course is now in its second year with 30 fellow students in it. As
part of practical demonstration of the theoretical knowledge provided to the students, Business
faculty has planned a 2 weeks field trip to explore some interesting sustainable projects in
Uganda.
1.5 Project deliverables
This project plans to deliver:
 A detailed project plan and itinerary for the field trip in collaboration with Makerere
University, Kampala and Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator.
 Making bookings for the two-way air tickets and stay accommodation as well as arrange
for visa to Uganda, travel insurance and health insurance for the travellers.
1.6 Project Scope
Project scope management undertakes the development of extent and scope that the
project intends to cover (Zong and et. al., 2019). This project has all the project planning and
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organising activities under its ambit. On the other hand, arranging for extra funds or negotiating
with governments of two countries for relaxation in travel restrictions or quarantine restrictions
is out of the scope of this project team.
1.7 Key assumptions
Most important assumption while planning for this project is related to the global
pandemic conditions. It has been assumed that since vaccination drive is going on in all
countries, situation will be in favour and the plan would be successfully executed at the
originally planned time as well as under the originally provided budget (Nicholas and Steyn,
2017).
1.8 Key executive members
Key executive members of this project committee would include project team from the
QAHE as well as the counterparts from the foreign associates. Head of the Business
Management Faculty would be the Project Manager. Project manager would be assisted by 2
staff members and 2 students from the Sustainable Business course to carry out different
activities related to the planned project. These five people would together form Project team.
Foreign counterparts of the project team would be the officials from the Makerere University and
Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator who would be associating with the project team in
planning, organising and executing the trip.
1.9 Key Risks
Project is expected to be encountered with many different types of risks, some of which
are below mentioned:
 Cost risk - Poor project planning or the unexpected contingency can lead to failure of
completion of project under the stipulated budget provided plus contingency reserved
(Habibian and Hosseinzadeh, 2018).
 Scheduling risk - Due to prevalent global pandemic situation, travel restrictions has been
put on place which has forced project team to first delay the project or cancel it for the
time being.
 Collaboration risk - Collaboration with the foreign associates didn't work out, making
project planning and execution additionally challenging.
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 Sponsorship risk - In case of contingencies, sponsors refuses to provide additional funds,
leading to many risks in the projects.
1.10 Key Success factors
This is the silver lining which is expected to make project successful. Almost all the
major risks stems out from the global pandemic situation and therefore, vaccination drive is that
external factor which is expected to be a key success factor. Further, proper planning with time
and cost contingencies in place along with an elaborate risk management plan are expected to
play key success factors in the management of this project. In addition, vigilance of project team
and regular follow-up of project plan as per the scope of the project to identify variances is also
expected to be playing a key success factor in this project.
1.11 Key Constraints
Constraints are the limiting factors that are capable of limiting the project activities
(Zhang and et. al., 2019). Some of these are mentioned below:
1.11.1 Time
Project planning is marred by time constraint because of the risk of delay in project
timing due to health and safety issues. Pandemic situation across countries can not only delay in
planning but also execution as well.
1.11.2 Cost
Time constraints along with other risks can lead to cost constraints (Heldman, 2018).
This constraint exist as it has limited budget availability and all the project cost has to be
managed within it. Anticipating this constraint, a contingency of 10% has already provided for it
in the budget.
1.11.3 Quality
Project aims to achieve quality in the sense of executing field trip on scheduled time
under scheduled budget in which students have been able to visit and explore various sustainable
business practices in the Uganda. Therefore, other than cost and time constraints, quality
constraint refers to non-achievement of those scheduled visits.
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1.12 Stakeholder Analysis
Stakehold
er
Contact
Person
Impact Influence What is
important
to the
stakeholde
r?
How could
the
stakeholde
r
contribute
to the
project?
How could
stakeholde
r block the
project?
Strategy
for
engaging
the
stakeholde
r
Project
Team
members
Project
manager
High High Project
planning
and
execution
Project
planning
and
execution
By
planning
poorly
By proper
communic
ation with
team
members
QAHE
College
authorities
Director of
degree
apprentice
ships
High High Project
planning
and
execution
By
providing
freedom to
plan and
execute
project
By
restricting
project
team
By giving
every
update to
the
authorities
Associates
from
Makerere
University
Project
executive
Medium Medium Project
planning
and
execution
Developm
ent of
itinerary
By
delaying
project
planning
By sharing
every
relevant
informatio
n over
email
Associate
from
Uganda
Green
Enterprise
Project co-
ordinator
Medium Low Project
planning
and
execution
Developm
ent of
itinerary
By
delaying
project
planning
By sharing
every
relevant
informatio
n over
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Finance
Accelerato
r
email
Booking
Agency
Agencies
heads
Low Low Business
done with
them
By making
bookings
on time
By
delaying
bookings
By sharing
every
relevant
informatio
n over
email
Sponsors Head High High Project
planning
and
execution
By
providing
funds
By
delaying
funds
allocation
By sharing
every
relevant
informatio
n over
email
Governme
nt
Concerned
authority
High High Project
respecting
governme
nt orders
By
providing
permission
s to travel
By
delaying
or denying
permission
s
By sharing
every
relevant
informatio
n over
email
Students Students'
head
Medium Medium Project
and their
health and
safety
By giving
consent to
travel
By
denying
consent to
travel
By sharing
every
relevant
informatio
n over
email
Accommo
dation
Service
Hotel
manager
Low Low Bookings
made with
them
By
providing
safe and
By
denying
booking at
By sharing
every
relevant
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hygienic
stay
last
moment
informatio
n over
email
Taxi travel
service
Cab owner Low Low Bookings
made with
them
By
providing
safe and
hygienic
travel
By
denying
booking at
last
moment
By sharing
every
relevant
informatio
n over
email
1.13 Approvals
This project has to undergo approvals at multiple level (Levchenko and et. al., 2018).
First, it has to undergo approval from college authorities and sponsors. Then, detailed project
plan must be prepared in agreement with foreign associates which should have been agreed by
students as well. Finally, college authorities must get approval for the project from the
government, considering the travel restrictions due to pandemic.
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Part B
Work Breakdown Structure
Work Breakdown structure is a project management tool which breaks down the project
activities in smaller tasks targets (Ma and et. al., 2017). It makes this easier to understand and
execute by project team. It is important in a project as it makes project deliverables more specific
in both chronology and sequencing.
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Critical Path Analysis and its rationale
Critical path refers to that path of activities that specifies most efficient time-scale for the
project (Antonyuk and et. al., 2019). As seen above, critical path is marked in red and shows the
sequence of activities that optimise project activities. It is important for resource management.
Reflection
In the project of organising a trip for 30 students, I feel great to be a part of it. In this, I
have improved my knowledge about project management initiation which is a first step in life
cycle of project management. Herein, I have decided about requirements of the project and the
ways it will be beneficial for students along with business management faculty. In the project
management task, project initiation document plays key role as it includes scope, management
along with success criteria of the whole project which have guided me and the team to carry out
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all activities successfully. My project objective was to plan along with organise a tour for 30
students to Uganda of Sustainable Business Course in the month of March 2021 with estimated
budget of £60000. Project initiation document have guided or directed me to understand the
context together with expectation from planning activities for setting directions so that all the
project deliverables are attained promptly. In this, I have improved my understanding about
process of devising project initiation document. I have learned that there are certain aspects
including project information, background, deliverables, scope, key assumptions, members of
project, success factor and constraints. Work breakdown structure have helped me in developing
a quick schedule through allocating effort estimates.
While completing the whole project, I was feeling cheerful and delighted as at each stage
of preparing project initiation document. A successful start of any project determines success
fairly early on. Prior starting the project, I was completely unaware about what to be done and
how to initiate. However, the whole situation have made be feel motivated to actually initiate
practices for achieving success.
There are certain aspects which went good and well as I have produced a quality of task
within agreed deadline. At same time, working in the project initiation document have consumed
my huge efforts, resources and time that was one of thing which didn't went well. In this, I have
contributed my past knowledge and huge efforts to achieve success to organise a trip for
students. From the situation, I have analysed that things went well due to my high patience level
and enthusiasm to learn about project initiation document. In contrary, things didn't went well
because of miscommunication with business faculty management. From the whole scenario, I
have concluded that project initiation document is assembled from series of various documents
that are part of business case, communication plan, project tolerances, risk register, specific
controls and common approach. For handling the situation in better ways, I need to develop
certain number of skills such as time management skill, conceptual skill, decision-making skill,
interpersonal skill, problem solving skill and technical skill. It was a positive scenario for me as
this have influenced me for organising resources, devising strategies and implementing practices
so that all required objectives are accomplished within determined frame. In future, if I am
required to do same thing then I will change my pattern of working and will adopt smart
practices so that trip is organised in limited time frame.
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References
Books and Journal
Antonyuk, N. and et. al., 2019, September. Online tourism system development for searching
and planning trips with user’s requirements. In Conference on Computer Science and
Information Technologies (pp. 831-863). Springer, Cham.
Cheng, K. H. and Tsai, C. C., 2019. A case study of immersive virtual field trips in an
elementary classroom: Students’ learning experience and teacher-student interaction
behaviors. Computers & Education. 140. p.103600.
Habibian, M. and Hosseinzadeh, A., 2018. Walkability index across trip purposes. Sustainable
cities and society. 42. pp.216-225.
Heldman, K., 2018. Project management jumpstart. John Wiley & Sons.
Levchenko, T. P. and et. al., 2018. A project-based approach to ensuring the competitiveness of
a region's tourism-recreation complex. Journal of Environmental Management &
Tourism. 9(8 (32)). pp.1706-1711.
Ma, Z. and et. al., 2017. Estimation of trip travel time distribution using a generalized Markov
chain approach. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. 74. pp.1-21.
Nicholas, J. M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Taylor & Francis.
Shumaev, V. A. and et. al., 2018, June. Innovative aspects of agritourism project management.
In SERVE 2017, Financial and Economic Tools Used in the World Hospitality Industry-
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Management and Technology in
Knowledge, Service, Tourism and Hospitality (pp. 241-8).
Zhang, K. and et. al., 2019. A novel generative adversarial network for estimation of trip travel
time distribution with trajectory data. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging
Technologies. 108. pp.223-244.
Zong, F. and et. al., 2019. Trip destination prediction based on multi-day GPS data. Physica A:
Statistical Mechanics and its Applications. 515. pp.258-269.
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