Dream Vacation Project: Project Management Plan for Chicago Trip

This project is a comprehensive plan for a dream vacation to Chicago, applying project management principles to ensure a successful trip. The project begins with defining project management concepts and applying them to the vacation, establishing objectives, deliverables, and milestones. It includes a detailed scope statement, stakeholder analysis identifying key parties like trip advisors and hotel owners, and a priority matrix to manage scope, cost, and time trade-offs. The project also addresses risk management by identifying potential risks such as budget overruns and natural calamities, along with risk assessment and response strategies. The leadership section explores organizational currencies and their application to stakeholders. Finally, the project examines managing project teams, decision-making processes, and the project's lifecycle, offering insights into effective project execution and team dynamics.

1DREAM VACATION PROJECT TO CHICAGO
Name, Student ID number, Assignment 1: Dream Vacation Project
1. Definitions and Introduction
1.1 Meaning of Project Management
Project Management can be defined as the application of different kind of experiences,
methods, processes, skills and knowledge for the major purpose of achieving the objectives set
within the project. It can be further determined that the project that might be considered would
be set within a particular time period (Meredith, Mantel Jr & Shafer, 2017). It would be set
within a fixed starting period and also would end in proper time.
The concerned project is based on preparing a dream vacation project in which a trip
would be need to be planned. The start and end date of the project would be maintained and the
project would also be need to be completed within the concerned budget.
1.2 Yin and Yang Concept of Project Management
Based on the concept of Yin and Yang, it can be discussed that with the help of such
concept, it would be easy to manage the different form of changes within the project (Li, 2016).
This concept could be used for assessing the risks within the dream vacation project.
1.3 Brief Introduction and Content for the Dream Vacation Project
The project is based on planning the different aspects for the dream vacation project. The
trip would be planned from Canada to Chicago. The particular area to which the trip would be
planned is Chicago Riverwalk.
The application of three principles of project management within the Dream Vacation
project could be understood as:
1. Project Processes – In this phase, the location of the vacation would be chosen. The
budget and time would be planned (Joslin & Müller, 2015). Different other kind of processes
would be planned in this phase.
2. Project life cycles – with this principle, the different stages of project such as concept
phase, planning phase, execution phase and closeout phase would be determined (Nicholas &
Steyn, 2017). Based on them, the different phases of the vacation would be planned.
3. Project management systems – In this phase, each of the concepts would be chosen
that would help in easy planning of the trip (Webb, 2017).
1.4 Importance of the Project
Based on the developing the plan of the project, it would help in understanding the
complexities present with managing of activities (Too & Weaver, 2014). It would also help in
managing the project within the defined costs. The overall aspect of project management would
be developed by performing this project.

2DREAM VACATION PROJECT TO CHICAGO
2. Scope Statement
2.1 Project Objective
To deliver a high quality plan that would describe and manage each of the necessary
details needed for planning a trip to Chicago. The development of proper planning of the project
would help in gaining knowledge about the aspects of project management, time and planning of
schedules.
2.2 The Main Deliverables
The deliverables of the project includes:
1. This includes the entire listing of activities in the schedule. The vacation is being
planned at Chicago Riverwalk.
2. The sanctioned budget for the trip is CAD $ 3000. Hence, a strong financial plan needs
to be produced that would list the trip costing, cost during hotel stay and food budget.
3. The trip includes the tour conduct in waterways, visiting live music bars, visiting the
museums and other monuments.
2.3 Milestones during Planning of Project
The milestones for the project includes: Approval of financial and project plans,
completion of initial planning and estimation, completion of booking tickets, staying at hotel and
end of trip.
2.4 Technical Requirement, Limits and Exclusion, Review of the Customer
The technical requirement for the project includes the developing of the project plan. It
would include the entire planning of activities, scheduling them while linking them to the
previous steps.
The limitations of the project is the number of days and costing for the project.
The exclusions from the project includes the planning of tours outside the region of
Chicago.
Based on the review of the customer, it could be discussed that each of the plans have
been proper and set for the suitability of the project.
3. Stakeholder Analysis
3.1 Project Stakeholders and their Relation with the Project
The two stakeholders who would be impacted from the project are:
1. Trip Advisor – The trip advisor would be responsible for providing an entire guide
during the entire process of the trip (Milosevic & Martinelli, 2016). They would also be
responsible for discussing the trip related aspects with the customer who would be travelling.
2. Hotel Owner – The hotel owner would also be benefited from the vacation as they
would be able to serve the customer in the best possible way. This would also help them in
earning some profits during the stay of the customer.
3.2 Impact of the Project on the Stakeholders

3DREAM VACATION PROJECT TO CHICAGO
1. Trip Advisor – Based on providing good expert advice to the customer, it would help
the trip advisor to earn some profits from the customer. A proper planning of activities based on
the visit of the customer would help the customer to complete the vacation within the estimated
time and budget.
2. Hotel Owner – The hotel owner would be benefited as they would make an
impression over the mind of the customer. They could also guide the customer by providing
them with the best details about the tourist locations of the place, which would further help the
customer in planning over the trip progress.
4. Priority Matrix
4.1 The Priority Matrix
#1 Priority #2 Priority #3 Priority
Scope
Cost Preparing
financial and
project plan
Time Booking of
flight tickets
4.2 Explanation of Trade-off Decisions
The time, cost and scope could not be achieved at the same time because a balance would
need to be created while preparing for a project. This could be possible by creating two aspects
and then balancing them.
The project priorities defined for the project could be defined as the preparing of the
project plan for the project. During the defining of trade-offs, certain aspects need to be
considered. The management of trade-offs within the project would be highly essential for the
development of the project (Lock, 2017). The use of proper schedule for developing the plan of
the vacation project would need to be taken into consideration. The factors of cost of maintaining
the vacation project would need to be considered. As a sanctioned budget is defined for the
project, the activities planned for the vacation should be planned properly.

4DREAM VACATION PROJECT TO CHICAGO
Name, Student ID number, Assignment 2: Dream Vacation Project
1. Risk Management
1.1 Risk Identification
The most important negative risks that might affect the outcomes for the dream vacation
project could be listed as:
1. Budget of the Project might get exceeded – During the financial planning for the
project, it might happen that the entire financial plan might collapse. This might happen due to
several forms of areas in which the cost for the project might get exceeded (Larson & Gray,
2017). It might also happen that the sanctioned budget for the project might fall short due to
which the entire project planning and vacation might get cancelled.
2. Natural Calamities – Natural kind of calamities might lead to tremendous risks
towards the project. It might happen that the vacation trip might get cancelled due to happening
of natural calamities in the city of Chicago one week prior to the trip (Carvalho & Rabechini
Junior, 2015). The Government of the country might cancel all kind of activities and might block
all activities. This might lead to risks based on project cancellation.
3. The Procedures performed before the project might get delayed – Due to poor
planning of activities, the project might get cancelled. The project might also get delayed due to
extreme kind of slow performing of activities within the project. The project manager might not
be able to perform their duties in a full-phased manner (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016). This
might lead to the fact the project might get delayed due to which the vacation trip might not even
start.

5DREAM VACATION PROJECT TO CHICAGO
1.2 Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment Form
Risk Event When Likelihood
(Probability)
Impact Detection Difficulty Risk Value
Budget of the
Project might get
exceeded
During
financial
planning
Medium High The risk might get detected after a certain phase of
planning.
High
Natural Calamities One week
prior to the
vacation
High High The detection might be difficult because it would
depend on the weather forecast reports (Pritchard &
PMP, 2014).
High
The Procedures
performed before
the project might
get delayed
Before the
vacation
Low Medium It might be easy to detect the poor form of planning
activities that would be performed for the project.
This would be based on the planning phases of the
project.
Low

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Risk Severity Matrix
Likelihood
5
4 High
3
2 High
1 Low
1 2 3 4 5
Impact

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1.3 Risk Response Development
Risk Mitigate Avoid Transfer Share
Budget of the
Project might get
exceeded
The risk could
be mitigated
based on proper
kind of planning
within the
project (Kaiser,
El Arbi &
Ahlemann,
2015). The
project manager
should be thus
responsible for
planning the
project as per the
requirement of
the customer
Natural
Calamities
The risk could be
transferred by
cancelling the
vacation (Kerzner,
2019). The trip could
be planned on a
different schedule
with the same kind of
resources.
The Procedures
performed
before the
project might get
delayed
The risk could
be avoided by
noticing the
activities
performed by the
project manager
(Qazi et al.,
2016). They
should be
contacted every
day and thus be
asked about the
progress over the
trip plan.

8DREAM VACATION PROJECT TO CHICAGO
2. Leadership
2.1 Leadership
Based on the understanding of the different stakeholders involved within the project, the
common traded organizational currencies in relation to the project are – task-related, position-
related, inspiration-related, relationship-related and personal-related.
The most important stakeholders involved within the project are – trip advisor and hotel
owner. The trip advisor would be highly responsible for planning the entire plan for the project.
They would suggest the best places to the person making the trip. Thus they would also need to
satisfy the project owner during the entire trip and thus making it affordable as per The hotel
owner would also be responsible for providing the best room to the person in order to develop
better relationships with the customers during their trip period.
The organizational currency that could be selected for the trip advisor is relationship-
related currency. Based on the understanding of the currency, it could be discussed that the trip
advisor would closely link with the customer by providing them with the best kind of advice and
support during the entire trip.
The organizational currency used for the hotel owner is inspiration related currency. The
hotel owner would be involved with engaging with the customer and thus do their tasks in the
perfect manner. They would also decide over the right form of standard based on providing the
best room to the customer. This would help in increase of efficiency of the hotels based on
properly serving the customer and building strong relationships with the customer for better
outcomes.
3. Managing Project Teams
3.1 Orchestrating the decision making process
a) In terms of the lifecycle for the project, most of the time was spent during the
execution phase of the project. The time taken for the completion of this stage is 5 days. Based
on the discussion of the punctuated equilibrium model, when I was executing the project, a
natural transition point had risen. This transition point had arisen during the time in which I was
planning for the completion of the days within the project (Labusch, Aier & Winter, 2014). I had
to wisely choose each of the days that could be taken to visit the entire place. The timing had to
chose carefully such that it would cause a hindrance towards the completion of the project within
the allocated time and budget.
b) Before performing work over the next course in a different manner, it would be highly
necessary to choose the timings in a different manner. Each of the stages that would be
performed within the project should be done should be considered wisely and thus the timing for
the project should be chosen accordingly. A core knowledge would also need to be acquired
based on scheduling each of the stages accordingly in a precedence format. Based on scheduling
each of the activities and choosing the precedence task, the following task would follow and
hence the project could be completed within the proper estimated time. The resources used
within the project should also be planned as per the needs of the budget such as to complete the
project cost estimations within the pre-estimated project budget.

9DREAM VACATION PROJECT TO CHICAGO
4. Lessons Learned
4.1 Approach and Reasons towards the Dream Vacation project
During the designing of aspects over the project, it could be defined that there could be
some ways in which the planning for the project could be done in a better manner.
1. During the planning for the project, I would have taken a brief of each of the places I
would have visited during the dream vacation. The prices of each hotels could have been
calculated by directly contacting them. The planning of schedule for the project would also be
need to be proper and within the pre-planned manner. Each of the activities need to be scheduled
in a proper manner and thus they should synchronize with each other.
2. I would have also consulted a trip advisor and would travel with a group of few people.
This would be helpful in reducing the financial costs incurred for the project. I would focused
over the financial aspects of defining the project.
4.2 Approach towards being a Project Manager
Managing different aspects of the project can be difficult for a project manager.
However, the hardest part is to plan the different schedules in a proper manner. Collecting the list
of activities would be highly crucial. Any kind of missed estimation of activity could lead to
tremendous implication towards the overall aspect of the project.
Yes, I would like to be a project manager. This is mainly due to the reason that I want to
plan each of the activities within a project. I also feel interest in collecting the necessities in
relation to the project. I want to explore each of the tools and techniques that are needed to plan
for the project. I also want to learn about innovative ways in which any project could be planned
and thus executed in a successful manner.

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References
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performance: the importance of soft skills. International Journal of Production
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project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(6), 1377-1392.
Kaiser, M. G., El Arbi, F., & Ahlemann, F. (2015). Successful project portfolio management
beyond project selection techniques: Understanding the role of structural
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Kerzner, H. (2019). Using the project management maturity model: strategic planning for
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