Project Management Assessment 1: Virtual Delivery System

This report includes investigation of the project and construction of the project management plan for Virtual Delivery System. It also includes a critical analysis of each element within the project management plan such as stakeholders, risk, budget and many others.

Project management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Introduction of the Project......................................................................................................3
Project Scope..........................................................................................................................4
Budget Assumptions...............................................................................................................5
Assumptions...........................................................................................................................5
Constraints..............................................................................................................................6
Stakeholders and their involvement.......................................................................................7
Project Organisation Structure and Roles and Responsibilities.............................................8
Project Control Mechanisms..................................................................................................9
Reporting Framework...........................................................................................................10
Project Planning with Milestone..........................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
The process of project management is concerned with the application of methods,
knowledge, processes, skills and experience for meeting the specific objectives and goals of the
project as per the criteria of project acceptance within certain parameters. The concept of project
management has final deliverables which are constrained to defined time period and set budget.
The purpose of project management is to execute a project from its starting to its ending and
facilitates each part of business in order to run in a smooth way. Within this report, the project of
Virtual delivery system is taken into consideration and different aspects in relation to this project
are going to be considered (Aanbari and Kwak, 2018). This report includes investigation of the
project and construction of the project management plan. Along with it, this report also includes
a critical analysis of each element within the project management plan such as stakeholders, risk,
budget and many others.
MAIN BODY
Introduction of the Project
Within this report, the project of Virtual Delivery System is considered in which The
University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) which is located in London has switched its
face-to-face form of delivery system of the lectures to online delivery system in the month of
February, 2020. At that time, the pandemic situation of COVID-19 hit the United Kingdom and
impact all types of business sectors and service sectors. Therefore, in order to bring continuity
within the process of delivering lectures to the students, the university has decided to provide
online lectures to its students. Now, in present time, the respective university has switched to
Hybrid delivery in which the students who want to come to campus and take lectures through
face-to-face mode of delivery can come at university while others who do not want to come at
the university campus can take their lectures through online mode. However, now the conditions
become normal within the United Kingdom for restarting the process of face-to-face delivery
system (Ansah and Sorooshian, 2018). Thus, the main aim of this project is to gradually return
the students as well as staff for the full-time face-to-face delivery of the lectures within the
University campus itself. There are various critical success factors in relation to return to face-to-
face delivery of lectures and some of these success factors are discussed a below in relation to
The University of Wales Trinity Saint David:

 Following government guidelines regarding the pandemic: It has become the key
success factor for the respective university after the pandemic situation of COVID-19.
The teachers as well as students who come at the university campus for face-to-face
delivery of the lectures are required to follow the guidelines of the government of country
in a strict manner (Fewings and Henjewele, 2019). They all are required to wear the mask
during the whole session, sanitize their seats and hands regularly and maintain social
distancing with one another by keeping a minimum distance of one meter.
 Interpersonal interaction: It is considered as another success criteria for the university
to return to the face-to-face delivery of lectures. Through the process of interacting with
one another, students can get better understanding of the concepts and topics as there will
be no communication barrier such as networking issue, etc. When the teachers as well as
the students will interact with one another then they can be easily communicated and
share their problems and doubts.
 Use of highly upgraded technologies for lectures: The success criteria of using highly
developed technologies in the process of giving lectures through face-to-face mode is
very effective and will help both the students and the teachers in easily getting the
concepts and topics of lecture. Through watching videos related to the lectures on smart
boards and other technologies will help the students in clearing their issues and concepts.
Project Scope
Within project management, the scope is said to be the functions as well as the features of
a project or the scope of the task required to accomplish the project. The project scope includes
getting information needed for commencing a project along with the attributes that are required
for its completion. The scope of Virtual delivery system project is given as under:
 Project's objectives: The key objectives of the respective project includes providing
quality education and developing various skills and abilities of the students. Another
objective of providing face-to-face lecture is to enhance the efficiency and base of
knowledge of the students (Galli, 2018). The achievement of these objectives will help
the students in making them effective personnel and gaining competitive advantages over
others in this competitive world.
 Parameters: It is essential for universities after the pandemic to follow major parameters
which are helpful in increasing approach of students towards the education. Key

parameters like segmentation of students, bifurcation of subjects according to
specialisation area and eligibility standards should be taken into consideration. In order to
implement best practices related to parameters and their following, universities must
develop an appropriate planning and strategic framework.
 Expected quality: The expected quality in context to deliver face-to-face lectures is to
provide better and effective education to the students (Goel, Ganesh and Kaur, 2020).
Another quality that is expected from the respective project is to develop team-building
skills through completing the assignments in group and to enhance the concentration
level of the students.
 Expected cost or budget: Budget estimation helps in identifying the estimated cost of a
particular activity within the project.
 Expected time: In order to determine the expected time, Gantt Chart is chosen as an
effective technique that will help in identifying the project schedule for delivering face-
to-face lectures within the university campus.
 Project expectations: The expectations of respective project includes gaining maximum
strength of the students and providing safe and secure environment to the teachers as well
as students. Other expectations are related with using effective technologies for better
giving lectures in an effective manner.

Budget Assumptions
Budgeting assumptions are the expectations concerned with the presumed or expected
expenditures as well as income that are generated while working on a project.
Particulars Unit
cost(£
)
Amount (
£)
Cost in purchasing raw material 45000
Employees Benefit Expenses 30000
1. Tools and
modern
technology
8000
2. Training to
project team
members
35000
miscellaneous Expenditures 10000
Cost of scheduling 14000
Other cost 10000
Total cost 60000
Available financial information:
Projected cost £60000
Projected benefit £75000

Cost of capital 30.00%
PV of projected cost:
= 60000/ (1+30%)1
= £46,153
PV of projected benefit
= 75000/ (1+30%)1=
= £57692
Cost benefit analysis: £57692/£46153
= 1.25
Assumptions
An assumption is something that is assumed by a personnel to be the case even without
proof. In a person makes assumption then it accept that it will happen or is true without having
any kind of evidence or proof (Guertler and Sick, 2021). In context to Virtual delivery system
project, there are different assumptions and some of these includes strength of the students at
university campus after pandemic situation of COVID-19, learnings of the students, size of
teachers and staffs, cost of using highly developed technologies and many more. Other
assumptions include resource assumptions, cost assumptions, schedule-based assumptions,
quality assumptions, environment assumptions, etc. In relation to The University, it is assumed
that the strength of the students should increase at the university campus after the pandemic. An
assumption is also made that there will be requirement of the new and skilled teachers who are
aware of the latest technologies regarding the education system. The cost of the new teachers as
well as technologies is also assumed within the project in order to effectively run the lectures to
the students at the university campus.

Constraints
 Overview of project's main purpose: The main purpose of the project is to gradually
return both the students as well as the teachers for the full-time face-to-face delivery of
the lectures at university campus (Kerzner, 2018). Key objective of this project is to give
education of better quality and developing a wide variety of skills and abilities within the
students through providing lectures face-to-face.
 Identification of risk and other constraints impacting project: In context of Virtual
delivery system, the risks that are identified in this system includes uncertainty of higher
waves of COVID-19, negative impact on environment, withdrawal of students, poor
management of face-to-face delivery of lectures, improper management of technologies
used in providing lectures, safety and security of the students and teachers, lack of
medical assistance, financial loss, space related issue, risks related to hygienic food,
improper parking arrangements within university.
 Risk analysis: It is the study of uncertainty that is underlying within a given course of
action and it identifies and assesses the factors that could adversely impact success of the
project. In relation to Virtual delivery system project, the risks with their mitigation is
given as under:
No Risk Effect Possibility Mitigation
1 Uncertainty Moderate Low Forecasting future uncertainties in
advance and formulating plans to deal
with them.
2 Negative impact
upon environment
Low Moderate Focusing upon environment safety
and security
3 Improper
management of
delivery of face-to-
face lectures
High Low Making arrangement of all the key
requirements of lectures (Kerzner,
2019).
4 Safety and security Low High Assuring security and safety at the
time of teaching students.
5 Lack of medical Low Moderate Proper arrangement of medical

assistance support for the staff and students
6 Safety of staff High Moderate Taking safety measures for the staff at
university (Kerzner, 2022).
7 Financial loss Low Low Arranging funds according to the
requirements of technologies and
resources.
8 Hygiene of food High Moderate Maintain the level of hygiene in food.
9 Lack of staff
members
Low High Hiring required number of skilled
teachers for delivering face-to-face
lectures
10 Improper parking
arrangements
Moderate Low Making arrangements for parking
vehicles of students and teachers.
Stakeholders and their involvement
Project stakeholders are those persons that are having an interest within a project and can
either impact or be impacted by the project. The stakeholders are actively involved within the
project and results in the execution or successful completion of the project. In context to Virtual
delivery system project, the key stakeholders include, teachers, students, staffs, higher
authorities, government, society, etc. Internal stakeholders include students, teachers, staffs,
university management, professors, etc. while external stakeholders include government, society,
higher authorities.
 High power and high interest: Teachers, staffs and professors, management of
university are grouped under this category (Mavi and Standing, 2018). These stakeholder
provide funds and have high level of interest within the respective project that greatly
impact its success. Therefore, they have high interest and high power and should be
managed in an appropriate manner.
 Low power and low interest: Society is thoughtful within the respective category
although it should be monitored but excessive communication and waste of energy
should be avoided.
 High power and low interest: In this category of stakeholder analysis, government and
other higher authorities are included. Even if their interest is low still their concentration

is on satisfying them. Therefore, the information regarding the virtual delivery system
project along with other essential detail should be given to them on the regular basis.
 Low power and high interest: Students are categorised under this category. They have
high interest within the project because of which they ensure the success of the project
and therefore, such group cannot be avoided (McLaren and Loosemore, 2019). Balanced
information should be given to them that satisfies their interest.
Project Organisation Structure and Roles and Responsibilities
In context to Virtual delivery system, the university is following hierarchical
organisational structure in which the commands and instructions are flowed from top level
management to lower level of management. The roles and responsibilities of different human
resources within the university are given as under:
 President: The key role of president within the university is to give the vision for the
university and regular direction and leadership to plan and operate all the aspects of the
programs as well as services of college. Another role of president within the university is
to develop an agenda in cooperation with the committee chairs, faculty and management.

Coordinating the preparation, review as well as distribution of minutes along with
reviewing the actions of faculty within the administration are another responsibilities of
president within the university.
 Vice President: Within university, the role of vice president is to assist the president of
the university in overseeing the campus and observing its activities after pandemic (Pan
and Zhang, 2021). Working with the deans in order to plan, execute as well as coordinate
educational programs of the college.
 Deans: The key role of dean is to look after the functions of the faculty, mentoring along
with supporting the members of faculty on return to the face-to-face delivery of the
lectures. They are also responsible for attracting the suitable persons in order to teach at
the faculty through face-to-face mode. Dean is expected to lead the process of curriculum
as well as teaching method review at the Faculty of university.
 Department heads: Within the university, the role of department head in the project of
virtual delivery system is to lead, develop and manage the development of campus for
making sure that it is attaining greatest standards of excellence in providing information
regarding the delivery of the lectures through face-to-face mode. It should also maintain
the discipline of students as well as staffs of the department.
 Staffs: The key duty of staff in context to virtual delivery system project is that they are
responsible for delivering face-to-face lectures to the students of the university. They are
also responsible for academic advising, counselling of students, continuous development
of curriculum through assessment and many others.
Project Control Mechanisms
The project of Virtual delivery system can be controlled through various techniques such
as management mechanism, health mechanism and learning mechanism, etc. Management
mechanism will help in controlling the overall management of the project such as scheduling of
the lectures, scheduling of the examinations that are related to the lectures provided to the
students by the teachers, management of the staff in specialised subjects, etc (Picciotto, 2020).
Health mechanism will help in controlling the project of virtual delivery system of the face-to-
face lectures such as lectures in relation to the health and hygiene of the students. The
mechanism of health will also control the food habits of the students as well as the teachers. In
context to learning mechanism, this technique will help the project through enhancing the

learning skills and abilities of the students such as retention of knowledge or information. In such
way, these project control mechanisms will help the project manager in controlling all the
aspects of the project of Virtual delivery system.
Reporting Framework
Within this section, the aspect regarding the flow of communication within the project of
Virtual delivery system is discussed. The people such as teachers, vice president and president of
university, staffs and other members will communicate in an hierarchical order. There will be a
proper flow of communication within the project (Sreedharan and Sunder, 2018). Instructions
and commands from the senior level management will be given to the lower level management.
There will be top to bottom flow of communication.
Project Planning with Milestone
 Initiation: The project will be initiated by making sure that all the elements used within
it and data provided is collected in a proper way.
 Planning: This project will start from the planning of virtual delivery system of the
project through face-to-face mode at the university campus.
 Execution: In order to execute project, the various tasks of the project will be divided as
per the roles and responsibilities of members within it.
 Monitoring and controlling: The project will be monitored as well as get controlled by
higher officials in order to seek that quality of the project is maintained.
 Closure: In order to close the project, it is required by the manager of the project to seek
the objectives and the goals of the project are attained and the project gets completed in
an effective manner.
CONCLUSION
From above explanation of the report, it has been concluded that the concept of project
management is significant within an organisation because it provides strategic alignment of the
project activities and also helps in clearly focussing on the goals and objectives of a specific
project. This report has been included a construction of the project management plan that is
based on the project of Virtual delivery system. Within this project management plan, there has
been a description of the core elements that are concerned with the operations of project. The
stakeholder analysis has been conducted along with an organisational structure chart as well as

roles and responsibilities. Moreover, project control mechanisms have also been discussed in this
report and reporting framework that includes flow of communication has been explained in this
report. Furthermore, a risk management plan has also been performed in order to mitigate the
risks that occurred in the process of project management.

REFERENCES
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framework and research agenda for socially sustainable construction project
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