University Project Management Report: Hotel IT Infrastructure (SIM335)

This report analyzes the key aspects of project management, using a case study involving the supply of IT infrastructure to a new hotel. The report begins by defining essential characteristics of a project, including consistency, flexibility, scope, and uniqueness, and discusses the significance of a well-defined scope statement. It then presents a Gantt chart illustrating project timelines and identifies the critical path. The report explores factors involved in project budgeting, including labor, materials, and equipment costs, along with risk management techniques such as avoidance, reduction, acceptance, and transfer. The report then examines the importance of project evaluation, monitoring, and control, and the skills and competencies required by the project team, including project management knowledge, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and technical documentation. Finally, the report discusses the project's background, the skills needed by the project team, activities for successful project management, tasks to be completed, and leadership and administrative challenges, offering a comprehensive overview of project management principles and their practical application.

Running head: MANAGING PROJECT
Managing Project
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1
MANAGING PROJECT
Table of Contents
Task 1...................................................................................................................................2
Answer 1..........................................................................................................................2
Answer 2..........................................................................................................................3
Answer 3..........................................................................................................................3
Answer 4..........................................................................................................................4
Answer 5..........................................................................................................................4
Answer 6..........................................................................................................................5
Task 2...................................................................................................................................7
2.1. Introduction...............................................................................................................7
2.2. Background...............................................................................................................7
2.3. Skills and Competencies required by the Project Team...........................................8
2.3.1. Communication Skills.....................................................................................10
2.3.2. Critical Thinking..............................................................................................10
2.4. Activities required for successfully managing the project.....................................11
2.5. Tasks that are needed to be completed...................................................................13
2.6. Leadership, Administrative and Control Problems................................................14
2.7. Conclusion..............................................................................................................14
References..........................................................................................................................16

2
MANAGING PROJECT
Task 1
Answer 1
One of the most important need of a project is that it should have a well-defined start and
end point. One of the most important characteristics of a project is that a project should typically
be executed for its customers (Lock, 2017). Furthermore, it is essential for a project to have a
unique set of requirements that will drive the project towards success. A particular project is
needed to be delivered within its identified boundaries. Apart from that, the main characteristics
of a project are as follows-
Consistency: A project and the project management process should be consistent right
from the initiation of the project to project end.
Flexibility: A project that is flexible has better chances of achieving success. Thus, one
of the major aspects of project success is flexibility.
Scope: This is another significant characteristics of a project as it defines what is
included in the project.
Quality: This indicates the deviation that is allowed in the project in a desired standard.
Uniqueness: Every project has its unique needs and it is one of the most fundamental
characteristics.
Unfamiliarity: By its characteristics, every project involves unfamiliarity
Temporary Activities: Each and every project involves certain temporary activities and
is one significant project characteristic.

3
MANAGING PROJECT
Cross Functional: A project should involve a cross functional team as per its
characteristics. It ensures people with different working background come together for a project.
Implementation of a project indicates that an organization has put something on stake for
the project. Therefore, a major characteristic of the project includes a process of working that
ensures that the set goal is achieved.
Answer 2
Scope statement can be described as a significant tool in outlining the deliverables and
the scope of the project. A scope statement mainly incorporates the constraints, assumption and
the success factors of the project (Heagney, 2016). A well-defined scope of the project helps in
defining the project boundaries and therefore it is important to have such a statement.
It is important to have a scope statement as it ensures that every team members remain in
agreement while implementation of the tasks. Scope statement helps in management of the issues
like necessary change management, re-examination of the issues, overwhelming of the financial
plan and problems associate with task schedule.
Answer 3
The required Gantt chart is shown in the figure below-

4
MANAGING PROJECT
Figure 1: Representing the Gantt chart of the scenario provide
The Critical path of the project is marked in red. It will take 11 days to complete the
project if Saturday and Sunday are considered to be non-working day; or else, it would take 9
days to complete the project, if both these days are considered as working day.
Answer 4
There are a number of factors that are needed to be considered prior to the development
of project budget. At first, the direct labor cost is needed to be defined apart from estimating the
material cost needed for the project (Allen, et al. 2014). The material and the labor cost
constitute the major part of project budget. Apart from that, the equipment and the administrative
cost are needed to be defined prior to the development of project budget. Apart from that, in case
of any software development project, it is necessary to define the cost of a software or a
hardware of the project. These costs are needed to be defined and considered prior to the
development of project budget.
Answer 5
Risk management is a vital aspect of project management. There are a number of risk
response technique associated with the management of the risks. The four major response to any
risk or threats associated with a project includes risk avoidance, transferring of the risk, risk
mitigation and risk acceptance (Harrison & Lock, 2017). The risk response can be described as a
process of controlling the risks identified in the project (Pritchard & PMP, 2014). Apart from the
above mentioned risk response, the other responses to the risk can be share, contingency,
enhance and exploit. These risk responses can be taken into consideration for appropriate
management of a project. The following point indicates the approaches to risk management-

5
MANAGING PROJECT
Hazard Avoidance: One of the significant risk response is wiping out the reason
behind a particular hazard. Example of a hazard avoidance technique is providing responsibility
to a contractual worker instead of someone unexperienced.
Risk Reduction: Reduction of the effect of attack is another risk response technique.
Providing appropriate training to the workers regarding the dangers associated in a project site is
one example of risk reduction.
Risk Acceptance: Accepting a risk when its impact is low. Acknowledgement of the
hazard and bringing in necessary changes to the project as per that is an example of risk
acceptance.
Mitigating Risk: The risk mitigation approach incorporates the process of diminishing a
risk or a danger. For example, the use of innovation instead of cutting edge technology can
possibly mitigate a risk associated with an item.
Risk Transferring: The risk transferring is a risk response that indicates insuring a
particular risk so that is transferred to a third party. Example of risk transfer is fire insurance of a
construction site.
Sharing Risk: It is a process of risk distribution where in case of a loss, each
shareholder of the risk is penalized. Example of risk sharing includes joint ownership of a
particular project.
Answer 6
In order to ascertain that a particular project is successfully completed, the project
manager or the team need to ascertain appropriate project evaluation, monitoring and control. A

6
MANAGING PROJECT
combination of appropriate project monitoring, control and evaluation is needed in order to
ensure successful completion of a project. Project monitoring checks whether the project is
implemented as per the identified specifications (Acebes, et al. 2014). In accordance to the
project monitoring needs, appropriate control is needed to be enforced so that a project can be
implemented according to the plan. After the implementation of the project, or after the finish of
each phase of a project, the need for project evaluation arises. Project evaluation can be
described as a systematic and objective assessment of an ongoing project or a project which is in
its completion stage. The main aim of a project evaluation phase is to check the level of
achievement of the project objectives along with evaluation of identified objectives,
effectiveness and the impact of the project.
In order to ensure an appropriate project evaluation, I will appoint a project supervisor
who will check whether the project is being implemented as per the scheduled plan. In order to
complete a project successfully, appropriate project control are needed to be introduced along
with effective project monitoring. I will ensure regular project progress reports are generated and
circulated among the stakeholders of the project.

7
MANAGING PROJECT
Task 2
2.1. Introduction
The aim of this report is to outline the various activities that is associated with the
successful management of project related to supplying of IT infrastructure to a new hotel that is
to be constructed in City Towers. The contract of supplying the IT infrastructures to the new
hotel is given to Hotel Communications Ltd. This project is quite crucial for Hotel
Communications Ltd. Mainly because this is the firm time, the company has been commissioned
to work in a five star hotel. Successful implementation of this project is therefore necessary to
bring and enhancement in competitive advantage of Hotel Communications Ltd. (Agyei, 2015).
The report discusses the skills and competencies needed by the project team along with the
processes of project management associated with the implementation of this project. The
implementation process will involve discussion of the concerns associated with the project. In
this context, the different stages of project life cycle will be evaluated for better management of
the project. The leadership style and the administrative problems associated with the new
initiative by Communications Ltd is evaluated in the following paragraphs. It is essential to
address the problems related to the normal implementation of the project in for mitigating the
related risks.
2.2. Background
Hotel Communications Ltd is known for supplying IT infrastructure to the hospitality
sector. The company has managed to secure a contract for supplying IT infrastructure for a new
hotel (Lock, 2017). This project is quite crucial for the company as successful completion of the

8
MANAGING PROJECT
same enhances the competitive advantage of the company. Therefore, appropriate planning is
necessary to for efficient project implementation.
2.3. Skills and Competencies required by the Project Team
This project is very crucial for Hotel Communication Ltd as it is one of the first big
projects undertaken by the organization. Therefore, it is crucial for the organization to choose a
competent and skilled project team for appropriate project implementation (Relich & Muszyński,
2014). The skills and competencies required by the project team of Hotel Communication Ltd
are discussed in the paragraphs below-
At first, it is essential for the project management team to possess an accurate project
management knowledge. The basic project management tools, techniques and processes and its
knowledge ensure that the project team execute a particular project in an effective manner. The
supply of IT infrastructure to the new hotel requires effective planning (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017).
The project manager needs to have a clear idea of the project specifications in order to plan a
successful project implementation.
Certain skills are required to be possessed by the manager or the leader of a project in
order to ensure successful project implementation. Problem solving skill is one critical needs of a
project manager as a project manager should be competent enough solve the issues associated
with a project (Naber & Kolisch, 2014). It is integral for the project team to easily identify any
issues associated with a project, for which it is necessary for the project leader to possess
problem solving skill.
Conflicts are common in project team and therefore, it is essential for the project team to
possess the skill of conflict resolution. Conflict resolution is a technique with the help of which

9
MANAGING PROJECT
two parties find a peaceful solution to a problem (Braglia & Frosolini, 2014). There are a number
of reasons of disagreements among the project team, which include personal reasons, financial
reasons or emotional reasons. It is important for the project team to resolve any sort of
disagreement as soon as it arises as disagreement among the team members can lead to project
delay.
The project team should be able to provide appropriate technical documentation to the
project team. Appropriate documentation is important for the project team as it stores the
essential details of the project team (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017). Appropriate documentation
skills incorporates the skills of application programming interface, process documentation and
troubleshooting documentation.
Risks are inevitable in any projects. Therefore, it is essential for the project management
team to possess a knowledge of different techniques of risk management (Rolstadås et al. 2015).
The risk management is not only a consideration for the project manager but also for the team
members as well (Verzuh, 2015). Accurate identification of the project risks helps in better
analysis of the potential issues and identification of the risk mitigation approaches.
The project team should be competent enough to manage the customer and the clients
associated with the project. A project is mainly implemented for its customers and therefore, it is
vital for the project team to maintain a good relationship with the customer or the clients
(Fleming & Koppelman, 2016). The project team therefore, should possess a skill of customer
client management in an efficient manner.

10
MANAGING PROJECT
Apart from that, effective project leadership is an important need of project management.
A combination of effective project management skills and competencies is required to effectively
lead a project team towards success.
Therefore, in order to successfully manage the new initiative that is undertaken by the
Hotel Communication Ltd, it is essential for the project management team that is selected by the
organization to possess the above discussed skills and competencies in order to ensure successful
project completion. Apart from that, it is needed for the manager or the project leader of the
project to possess effective decision making ability for easier management of the different issues
associated with a project.
2.3.1. Communication Skills
Effective communication skills is an important requirement of project management. This
is particularly because project communication effectively conveys the key information associated
with the stakeholders of the projects (Marchewka, 2014). The project team should be able to
determine appropriate communication channel and communication method to ensure that the
issues associated with project communication are correctly communicated to the stakeholders
associated with the project. In order to possess appropriate communication skill, it is essential for
the project team members to be an active listener (Heagney, 2016). This will help in
understanding the problems in a more effective manner. Therefore, possessing effective
communication skill is one of the significant needs of project management.
2.3.2. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is a skill that is important for project manager to possess as it determines
the validity of project progress. With critical thinking the project team is able to accurately

11
MANAGING PROJECT
maintain the objectivity of the project. Critical thinking helps in integrating a project with the
cross functional objectives, which contributes to the success of a project.
2.4. Activities required for successfully managing the project
The project of supplying the IT requirements to the new hotel is important for hotel
Communications in order to increase their competitive advantages (Harrison & Lock, 2017).
There are a number of activities that will ensure successful management of this project. This
project is crucial for the company and therefore the activities associated with the successful
project management are discussed in the paragraphs below.
Planning: Project planning is an important activity associated with the management of a
project. Prior to the formulation of the project plan, the Hotel Communications Ltd is required to
identify the needs of the project and the hotel (Leach, 2014). For that, meetings with the client
are needed to set up followed by the inspection of the project site. The inspection will help in
collection of data related to the system requirements of the project (Harrison & Lock, 2017).
With the collection of data, the Hotel Communications Ltd will develop a project plan that will
incorporate the project details such as schedule, cost and project needs.
Initiation: The project initiation activities include detailing the project needs,
development of the framework of project implementation and development of the procedural
method of implementing the project (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017). Therefore, the initiation phase is
important for project implementation and the activities in the initiation phase are needed to be
completed prior to the execution phase of the project.
Execution: Project execution is one important stages of implementation of a project. The
execution phase of this project by Hotel Communications Ltd involves a number of crucial

12
MANAGING PROJECT
activities that will ensure successful project completion (Hornstein, 2015). The very first activity
associated with the execution phase of this project by Hotel Communications Ltd is to develop a
project team. The project team should be assigned with appropriate project resources who are
competent enough to execute the project on time. Therefore, resource allocation is one of the
most crucial activities associated with the execution of the project. After allocation of the
resources, the project is executed according to the project management plan.
After completion of appropriate procurement management, it is needed for the project
team and the manager of the project to direct and manage project towards successful execution.
It is the duty of the project manager of Hotel Communications Ltd to check whether the project
is being implemented according to the plan (Iyer & Banerjee, 2016). In order to track the project
in an appropriate manner, the project team will be setting up a tracking system. The project
supervisor will check whether the tasks that are assigned are actually executed on time. Other
activities of the project execution phase include project status meetings, progress update and
modification of the project plan if needed.
Another major activity associated with the execution phase of the project includes the
appropriate project monitoring and control. Project monitoring is important as it is a process of
supervising the project team on basis of the works that are completed and the tasks that are
needed to be completed (Andersen, 2016). If any issues are identified in the project monitoring
process, appropriate control is required to be enforced to the project management team so that
the project is implemented according to the plan well (Tenera & Luís Carneiro, 2014). The
process of project monitoring and control involves tracking of the effort required and the project
resources in order to ascertain that the project is formulated according to the project plan. The

13
MANAGING PROJECT
performance of the project is measured in the project execution phase as it takes into
consideration the issues and the risks related to the project.
In the project execution phase, the Hotel Communications Ltd will be supplying the
necessary IT infrastructure to the new hotel, City Towers that is set to be constructed in
Dockland area of London. It is therefore the longest phase of this project that is undertaken by
the Hotel Communications Ltd. Followed by this phase, the Hotel Communications Ltd will be
holding a testing phase to ensure that IT equipment that are being supplied by Hotel
Communications Ltd are fully functional. Therefore testing phase is important to ascertain that
the project is being conducted as per the specifications provided.
Project Closure: Project closure is another important phase of project management. The
activities of this phase ensures that the project that is being implemented is successfully executed
(Marcelino-Sádaba et al. 2014). The different activities associated with the project closure phase
include formal customer sign off, analysis and evaluation of the project scope, release of the
resources associated with the project, project procurement and the related project documentation
(Špundak, 2014). These activities are needed to be completed by Hotel Communications Ltd in
order to successfully close the project. The project closure phase is the last and one of the most
important phases of project life cycle.
2.5. Tasks that are needed to be completed
The project undertaken by Hotel Communications Ltd includes a number of task and
activities related to the project involving the new hotel in City Towers. The project work
undertaken by the Hotel Communications Ltd include installation and testing of the different IT
and communication infrastructure in hotel. Specific aspects of project management include the

14
MANAGING PROJECT
provisioning of the required IT facilities related to marketing and booking. The marketing
include advertising on TV and radio. The hotel rooms are needed to be installed with CCTV to
ensure appropriate IT facilities. The installation of the IT facilities in an appropriate manner is
essential to ascertain that a particular project is successfully executed.
A project plan will be developed in this regard to ascertain that a project is executed in a
successful manner (Svejvig & Andersen, 2015). The project team will be developing a project
plan that can help in better implementation of a project well (Tenera & Luís Carneiro, 2014). The
chosen project team should be competent enough to draft a project plan for appropriate project
implementation.
2.6. Leadership, Administrative and Control Problems
Hotel Communications Ltd had not handled any complex projects previously and
therefore, the project team will might face certain administrative and control problems. The
analyzing the different tasks and the activities that the project team needs to fulfill, it has been
observed that the administrative problems in the project might arise due to issues in leadership.
Since the size of the project is huge, the project team is expected to be large as well (Tenera &
Luís Carneiro, 2014). Inappropriate project communication can result in increase in the project
complexity. This complexity arises at multiple levels mainly because of lack of appropriate
leadership and port execution of the task. Thus, appropriate control is needed to be enforced in
order to execute the project in an efficient manner.
2.7. Conclusion
The assignment evaluates a case scenario associated with the supply of IT equipment to a
new hotel in city Towers. The report discusses the major project needs, project lifecycle and the

15
MANAGING PROJECT
activities that are needed to be completed for ascertaining that a project will be executed in a
successful manner. The report discusses the major tasks that are required to be completed in for
achieving the desired goal. The project is vital for this organization as it aims in enhancing the
competitive advantage of the organization. The report discusses the issues and control problems
associated with the project which are needed to be addressed to ascertain that the project will be
implemented accurately.

16
MANAGING PROJECT
References
Acebes, F., Pajares, J., Galán, J. M., & López-Paredes, A. (2014). A new approach for project
control under uncertainty. Going back to the basics. International Journal of Project
Management, 32(3), 423-434.
Agyei, W. (2015). Project planning and scheduling using PERT and CPM techniques with linear
programming: case study. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 4(8), 222-
227.
Allen, M., Alleyne, D., Farmer, C., McRae, A., & Turner, C. (2014). A framework for project
success. Journal of Information Technology and Economic Development, 5(2), 1.
Andersen, E. S. (2016). Do project managers have different perspectives on project
management?. International Journal of Project Management, 34(1), 58-65.
Braglia, M., & Frosolini, M. (2014). An integrated approach to implement project management
information systems within the extended enterprise. International Journal of Project
Management, 32(1), 18-29.
Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Heagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.

17
MANAGING PROJECT
Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change
management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.
Iyer, K. C., & Banerjee, P. S. (2016). Measuring and benchmarking managerial efficiency of
project execution schedule performance. International Journal of Project Management, 34(2),
219-236.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Leach, L. P. (2014). Critical chain project management. Artech House.
Lock, D. (2017). The essentials of project management. Routledge.
Marcelino-Sádaba, S., Pérez-Ezcurdia, A., Lazcano, A. M. E., & Villanueva, P. (2014). Project
risk management methodology for small firms. International journal of project
management, 32(2), 327-340.
Marchewka, J. T. (2014). Information technology project management. John Wiley & Sons.
Naber, A., & Kolisch, R. (2014). MIP models for resource-constrained project scheduling with
flexible resource profiles. European Journal of Operational Research, 239(2), 335-348.
Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Routledge.
Pritchard, C. L., & PMP, P. R. (2014). Risk management: concepts and guidance. Auerbach
Publications.

18
MANAGING PROJECT
Relich, M., & Muszyński, W. (2014). The use of intelligent systems for planning and scheduling
of product development projects. Procedia computer science, 35, 1586-1595.
Rolstadås, A., Tommelein, I., Morten Schiefloe, P., & Ballard, G. (2014). Understanding project
success through analysis of project management approach. International journal of managing
projects in business, 7(4), 638-660.
Špundak, M. (2014). Mixed agile/traditional project management methodology–reality or
illusion?. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 119, 939-948.
Svejvig, P., & Andersen, P. (2015). Rethinking project management: A structured literature
review with a critical look at the brave new world. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(2), 278-290.
Tenera, A. M. B. R., & Luís Carneiro, P. (2014). A Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project management
improvement model. SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE 27TH IPMA (INTERNATIONAL
PROJECT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION), 912-920.
Verzuh, E. (2015). The fast forward MBA in project management. John Wiley & Sons.