Study Skills & Project Management: Task 2 Business case

The study is about the project that is carried out by the Challenge UK which is an independent holiday organization of the country. It is found that the organization offers holiday courses for the people of all age group and currently operating at four different locations. The project portfolio includes Gantt Chart, Risk register table, cash & cost analysis, communication strategy, table of resource analysis, fundamental & non-fundamental requirement and stakeholder analysis.

Study Skills & Project
Management: Task 2
Business case

Executive Summary
The study is about the project that is carried out by the Challenge UK which is an
independent holiday organization of the country. It is found that the organization offers holiday
courses for the people of all age group and currently operating at four different locations It is
suggested that the challenge UK needs to implement computing and IT techniques for betterment
of business. The project portfolio includes Gantt Chart, Risk register table, cash & cost analysis,
communication strategy, table of resource analysis, fundamental & non-fundamental requirement
and stakeholder analysis.

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Case Study analysis:........................................................................................................................3
Recommendation for best solution..................................................................................................5
Project portfolio...............................................................................................................................5
Gantt Chart:.....................................................................................................................................5
A Risk Register Table......................................................................................................................6
Costs / cash flow Spreadsheet..........................................................................................................6
Resource analysis table:...................................................................................................................7
Functional and non functional requirements...................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12

Introduction
Project management is about managing a project successfully in order to attain the set
project goals efficiently. It is related to completing different stages of projects efficiently.
Without effective project management, it is quiet difficult to accomplish the project goals. While
completing a project, different activities are performed in order to attain the set goals (Fewings
and Henjewele, 2019). Main aim of the present study is to analyze the effectiveness of the
project that is undertaken by the Challenge UK. In the present study, challenge UK is taken into
consideration that offers holiday courses. It is known as one of the independent holiday specialist
that is headquartered in Sheffield. It offers holiday courses for the people of all age group and
currently operating at four different locations such as British isles, Wales, Cumbri and
Derbyshire. They offer accommodation services to the people who are taking the course. The
present study will cover the problems that are being faced by the respective holiday company. It
will include suitable recommendations and project artifacts including different elements of the
project. Here, the project articulate will include elements like Gantt Chart, risk register, cash
flow spreadsheet, table related to resource analysis along with a list of functional and non-
functional requirements and analysis of stakeholders.
Case Study analysis:
The project is carried by a holiday specialist organization named as challenge UK. It is a
small independent activity holiday specialist, headquartered in UK. It offers activity holiday as
well outdoor courses for the people of different age group. They are operating at 4 location and
each centre of the entity offers courses of different level of difficulty and lengths. There are
courses such as canoeing, rock climbing, caving etc. All the course offered by the organization
also include the price of accommodation hence people have option to book into a hostel if the
free space is available. The each course centre has the capacity of accommodating nearly 160
people at a time. The course are scheduled for a specific time of the year and it is generally
booked by the mixture of the companies, school parties and the individuals. Additionally, there is
a whole project team who is managing the project. There is managing director who is the
superior person and take all the necessary decisions. Issuing clerk, booking manager, activity
manager and accounts manager work under the managing director to attain the pre-defined goals

of the project. Apart from this, there are booking clerks, hostel managers, accounts clerks who
also work in order to make the project successful. However, the company is keeping all the
records manually. They are lacking in terms of use of technology. Hence, they are carrying
looking forward to implement efficient IT techniques in order to facilitate efficiency in the
business. The main aim of the project is to enhance the efficiency of the organization so that they
can manage the information of bookings in an efficient manner. It will help in minimizing the
last minute hassle and will help the organization to attain the project goals.
Solution for the case study
 It is identified that the company is lacking in terms of efficient use of IT software and
tools. Due to this, they are not able to maintain the data of booking in an appropriate way.
Looking at this problem, it is suggested that the company needs to use IT techniques and
the computer based system for keeping the record of course booking in a proper way. It
will help in minimizing the last minute hassle during the course booking. Additionally,
effective IT system will allow the entity in maintaining the proper record of course
booking for the future reference.
 The agency that is hosting the website of company and offer suitable information for
marketing has not developed the online booking website till now. However, accept the
online booking will help the company in enhancing the sales of course. In addition, it will
also assist the organization in maintaining positive interaction with the guest. It will
provide feasibility to the customers to book the course through online medium.
 It is suggested that there is requirement of using computing technology to maintain the
accounts properly. It is important in order to prepare the invoice and ledger. The
company is doing this work manually till now. There is high probability of
misinterpretation while managing the accounting data manually. It is suggested that the
organization is required to maintain proper software and tools so that the financial data
can be maintained appropriately. Challenge UK is already facing a lot of issues that
might turn in worse if they will not utilize the technology efficiently. It will help in
dealing the holiday voucher issue efficiently. Also, the accounts department can easily
maintain the record of profit and loss in the best possible way.
 There is requirement to maintain proper coordination between different departments. All
the operations are controlled by the head office. Further central booking office has the

necessary information which they provide to the accounts department so that they can
keep the proper records. Sometimes, due to the in-efficiency in paper work, right
information cannot transmit from one person to other. The paperwork is majorly done by
the hostel desk and accounts department. Sometimes, the departments are not able to
maintain the information accurately. It further crate challenges for other divisions.
Hence, there is requirement to maintain proper coordination between all the departments
in order to maintain the data of course booking in an appropriate way.
Recommendation for best solution
From the case study analysis, it is identified that there are ample of issues are being faced
by Challenge UK. They are not able to maintain the data properly. They are lacking in terms of
internal management which somewhere can affect the market position of the entity in the
external market place. From the above mentioned solutions, implementation of computing
based system is the most feasible recommendation for the respective company. Presence of
software and tools will help the business entity in maintaining the data of course booking
efficiently. In addition, it will also minimize the ambiguity between different departments that
will further make the organization enable to attain the set goals in an efficient manner.
Justification: The main rational behind the selection of the above recommendation is the
current market scenario. In the present time, majority of the companies use IT techniques in
business. It is not possible to run the business efficiently without implementing suitable IT tools
and techniques. Also, Challenge UK is working in highly competitive environment wherein
majority of the companies use recent and updated techniques. In this situation, use of compute
based system will help the respective business entity to maintain the data appropriately. In
addition, it will also help in minimizing the level of ambiguity between different departments.
Project portfolio
Gantt Chart:
It is the basis for deciding the overall timeline of project, Gantt chart is used for dividing
the activities based on specific time duration that is to be allotted to each activity. In this present
research report each activity has a time frame that helps investigator in completing that particular
activity in proper timeline deadline (Robles, 2018). In present report the width of the horizontal

bars will represent the duration of each activity. It will illustrate the start and finish dates of the
internal element of the whole project. Gantt chart is helpful for creation of a project schedule that
is based on project timeline and the overall organizational resources that are required for the
purpose of completing of each task.

A Risk Register Table
A Risk register is a tool of project management that is used to track the risks that can
affect the success of a project. It is an essential component of project management as it allows
the project manager to anticipate the future risk and prepare suitable plan accordingly. The risk
register is also known as risk log. Preparing the risk register is an essential process of project
management. Main aim of this risk register is to identify and track the potential risks. The risk is
an uncertain component that can affect the project negatively or positively (Baranov and et. al.,
2021). When the project manager identifies the factors which can affect the project, it is assessed
by the team and also recorded in the risk register log. It is a crucial tool that is suitable when the
project get larger and complex. At this time, it is quiet difficult to measure all the aspects hence
the risk register log is used to identify and minimize the potential risk. In the current scenario,
the project risk register will help the Challenge UK to measure the risk and identify potential
solutions to mitigate those risk. In addition, it will also identify the impact of risk on the success
of the project.
ID Risk
description
Likelihood
of risk
occurrence
Impact if
risk occurs
Severity Owner Mitigation
action
1 Purpose of
project and
risk is not
well-define
Medium High High Project
Sponsor
Complete a
business
case and
ensure that
purpose is
well defined
on project
charter
2 Project
design and
deliverable
definition is
incomplete
Low High High Project
Sponsor
Define the
scope in
detail with
proper
inputs

3 Project
schedule is
no clearly
defined
Low Medium Medium Holding
scheduling
workshops
with the
project team
in order to
make the
understand
the plan
Costs / cash flow Spreadsheet
Cost is a crucial element of each and every project. While undertaking a project, it is
imperative to analyze the anticipated cost that can incur during the project. It helps the project
manager to identify whether the project is beneficial or not. In addition, the cost flow is crucial to
take suitable steps so that the overall cost of the project can be minimized. Cash flow analysis is
an another element which is used to identify inflow and outflow of cash in the organization. It
includes the assessment of different sources to acquire the cash. Further, it also included different
sources of cash payment (Patil and et. al., 2021). In current scenario, there are various sources of
cash recipes such as investment, estimate sales of course and more. Further, the cash payment
will be done for ample of variable and non variable expenses. Moreover the cash flow statement
will help the business entity in monitoring the availability of cash during a specific period of
time. In this context, cash flow analysis is given below:
Cash receipts Amount
Cash in hand 2500
Investment 6000
Estimated sales 40000
Loan 9000

Total cash receipts £ 57500
Cash payments
Fixed cost
Interest on loan 1000
Insurance 1500
Salary of employees 6000
Variable cost
Electricity cost 600
Wages 2000
Total cash payables 11100
Cash flow £ 46400
Project Cost
Ongoing operations and Maintenance costs Year 1
External costs
and expenses- for
identifying the
categories, identify the
major type of items
Hardware 1000
Software 2000
Personal service 1500
Maintenance 800
Other purchased service 600
Internal prices Salaries, wages 2000

and expenses
Employee benefits 1800
Service charges-
telecommunication
500
Total $10200
Resource analysis table:
Resources are the crucial part of each and every business. During a project there is
requirement of ample of resources so that the project can be accomplished successfully. Here,
major resources which are required for the project are equipments, tools, funds, human resource
etc. While starting a project, it is important to anticipate the requirement of resources and then
prepare suitable strategies in order to acquire those resources. To get suitable amount of
resources, future anticipation is really important. It makes Challenge UK enable to maintain
consistency in the project (Wang and et. al., 2020). Hence, the project manager and team needs
to anticipate requirement of resources and then prepare suitable strategies in order to accomplish
the project in timely manner.
Human Resource
Role Performed Number of People Cost (Per hour)
Management 6 8
Project manager 1 10
Working team coordinator 5 6
Accounting Coordinator 4 6
Booking manager 4 5
Hostel manager 4 6
Instructors 8 6
Hardware Required
Hardware Required number

Monitor 12
Microprocessor 12
Power supply unit 4
Optical disc drive 12
Functional and non functional requirements
Functional requirements: This is the basic requirements that specify what a system is
actually needs to do. Basically, it is related with the general requirement of the system when
some specific conditions are met. It is a description of service that a software must offer. In other
words, functional requirements are related to the different components of the software system.
These components can be calculation, business process, manipulation, user interaction etc (Jha
and Mahmoud, 2019). It describes the basic functions that a system needs to perform. In current
scenario, the functional requirements of Challenge UK are rules, authentication and the level of
authorization, audit tracking, external interface etc.
Functional requirements Non-function requirements:
business rules
authentication
authorization level
audit tracking
external interface
Capacity
Availability
Serviceability
Reliability
Recoverability
Non-function requirements: It is related to define the different attributes of the system
like security, reliability, maintainability, scalability etc. It is a specification which describes the
capabilities and constraints of the system which improve the functionality of system. It works on
the different aspects in order to ensure the functionality of the software in an efficient manner
(Misaghian and Motameni, 2018). Basically, it defines the constraints that affect how the system
should do it. In the current scenario, non functional requirements of challenge UK are the
capacity, availability, serviceability etc. It is important to assess the non-functional requirements
in order to accomplish the project efficiently.

Stakeholders Analysis Matrix
Stakeholder analysis is a tool that is used by the business entities in order to monitor the
position of stakeholders in business. While completing a project, all the internal people come
together who are involved in the project. These people are known as the stakeholder. Here,
stakeholders analysis means identifying those people who can affect the project even before the
beginning of the project, grouping them together as per their level of interest and maintain proper
communication with each of the stakeholders throughout the process of project completion.
High power, high interest: These are the highly important stakeholder of the business. It
is vital for an entity to put significant efforts in order to keep these stakeholders happy and
satisfied (Venturelli, Cosma and Leopizzi, 2018). It will help them in ensuring the success of the
project of Challenge UK. In the current scenario, these stakeholders are management and
shareholders. These stakeholders are important part of the entity and have the power to affect the
decision making of the company
High power low interest: These people are not interested in the business. However, they
need to keep informed due to the influence they have in the business (Laura and et. al., 2020)(.
They do not show high interest in the project. In case of Challenge UK, Government is included
in this type of stakeholders. Government is not interest in the business. However, it is important
for the company to keep the Government satisfied in order to avoid future hassles.
Low power, high interest: It is important to keep these people informed and regularly
check that they are not experiencing any problem in the project. However, these people do not
have high power but it is important to keep them inform. In context of challenge UK, employees,
competitors and suppliers are fall under this category. They cannot affect the business at high
extend but have keen interest in the business activities.
Low power, low interest: These stakeholders neither have the power nor interest in the
business. Business owner is just required to keep these people satisfied on periodically basis
(Ringhofer and Kohlweg, 2019). In reference of challenge UK, media is such stakeholder that
cannot highly affect the business operations. Hence, the company can easily operate by keeping
these people informed about activities on periodically basis.

LEVEL OF ATTENTION
LOW HIGH
POWER
HIGH LOW
A Minimal effort
Media
B Keep informed
Competitors
employees
Suppliers
C Keep Satisfied
Government
D Key Players
Management
Shareholders
Communication Strategy Table: There are various stakeholders are associated with the
project of challenge UK. In this situation, communication is really important in order to maintain
positive relation among all the stakeholders to attain the success (Minina and Mabrouk, 2019). In
this regard, a communication table has been prepared by the organization that is mentioned
below:
Target Audience Goals Tools Timetable
Shareholders Promote the program
process and get
funding
Meetings Annually
Management Continue the business
progress
Executive Summary:
briefs of target
programs
In every quarter
Employees To provide them
feedback on their
performance so that
Meetings and briefing
the documents
Weekly

they get to know what
is going well and
where they are
required to make
improvements.
Government To get suitable
assistance and support
Final evaluation report Within 180 days
Conclusion
It is analyzed through above-mentioned information that Project management is about
managing a project successfully in order to attain the set project goals efficiently. While
completing a project, different activities are performed in order to attain the set goals. The
above-study us based on the project carried out by the Challenge UK that is an independent
organization which offers holiday courses in UK. There is discussion regarding different
elements of project portfolio. Gantt chart has been prepared including different activities.
Further, it is analyzed that preparing risk register table, cost analysis, resource planning is
important to complete the project successfully. Discussion has been carried out regarding
stakeholder mapping analysis and communication strategy in order to maintain proper interaction
among stakeholders of the project. It is suggested that the challenge UK needs to implement
computing and IT techniques for betterment of business.

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