Project Management Report: ABC PLC Merger and Acquisition Project

This report comprehensively examines project management principles and the project lifecycle, utilizing the ABC PLC merger and acquisition as a detailed case study. The report begins by outlining key characteristics of projects and the purpose of project initiation documents, emphasizing the importance of scope statements and work breakdown structures. It then delves into project planning, including Gantt charts, critical paths, and various budgeting approaches. Risk management and quality methods for project success are also discussed. The core of the report focuses on the project lifecycle, detailing the stages of initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure within the context of the ABC PLC merger. Each stage is explored with relevant tools, techniques, and roles, providing a structured approach to managing the project effectively. The report highlights specific challenges, goals, solutions, and timelines associated with the merger, including budget considerations and expected benefits, culminating in a comprehensive analysis of the project's successful management.

MANAGING PROJECTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.a Key Characteristic of project.................................................................................................1
1.b Purpose of project initiation document.................................................................................1
2.a Scope Statements for a projects.............................................................................................1
2.b Role of work-breakdown structure.'......................................................................................1
3. Gantt Chart and Critical path..................................................................................................2
.....................................................................................................................................................3
.....................................................................................................................................................3
4. Approaches used for preparing budget...................................................................................3
5. Project Risk.............................................................................................................................4
6. Quality Methods used for project success...............................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................5
Project Life Cycle:......................................................................................................................5
3. PROJECT EXECUTION...........................................................................................................12
5. PROJECT CLOSURE...............................................................................................................14
Leadership and Administration and Control programmes........................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

TASK 1
1.a Key Characteristic of project
The key characteristic of project are follows-
 Project has set objectives that need to be achieve in given set of time and cost.
 All projects are unique.
 All the activities are temporary in the project but it has definite starting and ending dates.
 Project pass through an effective procedure.
 Basically, company have something at interest when undertaking a project.
1.b Purpose of project initiation document
Project initiation document (PID) is one of the most important part the project
management as it is said to be the foundation of project. The purpose of project initiation are
follows-
It makes clear when project needs to be delivered, whom to delivered and how it will be
delivered (Joslin and Müller,2015).
To make sire that the base of project has sound basis before asking program in order to
make any major commitments to project.
It also help in making the entire team of project, client and all other stakeholders to
understand about the project.
2.a Scope Statements for a projects.
Scope of project is the range of project. Project includes various elements such as
quality used to measure the strength, time undertaken for project completion, cost incurred,
resources required an communication channels used for communicate the information from the
stakeholders. In addition to this, project also include risk assessment where all the possible risk
are identified and evaluated by the project manager (Willar and et.al., 2018 ).
2.b Role of work-breakdown structure.'
Work-breakdown structure is another important element of project management as it is
the key deliverables of the project that organizes the work of team into manageable sections. The
role played by WBS as it helps in dividing the complex activities or task of the into manageable
and simpler (Meredith and et.al., 2017). It makes the readable and accurate project and it also
divide the responsibilities of the team of the project. Further, it also aids in calculating and
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estimating the time, cost and risk. In addition to this, it illustrate the scope of the project so that
all the information associated with the project can be understood in more better way.
3. Gantt Chart and Critical path.
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Illustration 1: Gantt Chart
Illustration 2: Critical Path
4. Approaches used for preparing budget.
Budget is the total estimation of the cost incurred considering the project. There are some
approaches which are used for preparing the budget are as follows-
Top-Down Approach: According to this approach, project manager use the actual work
as well as estimated cost from a same part of earlier project (Schwalbe, 2015). Project manager
use apply raw existent experience for example, from financial reports, personal logs, earlier
schedules of project etc.
Expert Judgement: This is another approach to develop the budget as it in this project
manager use to call an experts in preparing budget. Experts have deep knowledge about the all
the cost which are associated with the project and all other expenses required for project.
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5. Project Risk.
Risks are uncertain and it arise at the beginning of the project. It is anything that could
impact on performance of project potentially. The process ad identifying, analysing and
responding to the risk are called as project management of risk.
Here are the risk which are involved in project management which are as follows-
 Risk of over-budgeting.
 Operational risk.
 Reputational risk.
 Technical risk.
 Compliance risk.
6. Quality Methods used for project success.
Quality is the key to make the project successful. To maintain the quality of project life
cycles, project manager will use several tools which are as follows-
Key Performance Indicators: This is one of instrument that used to monitor the
performance on regular basis so that they can reach the project (Harrison. and Lock, 2017). For
example, budget should be kept planned, adherence to project deadlines, deliverable's success
and many others.
Benchmarking: This is another tool that is used by the project manager that helps in
identifying as well as establishing the key performance standard along with measuring and
evaluating against those standards.
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TASK 2
Project management is practice of initiating, planning, execution along with controlling
and closing the work of team to achieve specific goals as well to meet specific criteria at a
specified time. The fundamental challenge is to achieve all project goals within the given
constraints It is the way a person organised as well as manages the resources which are very
necessary to complete a project. There are five stages through which a project go through which
are initiating, planning, execution along with controlling and closure (Alexander, Ackermann
and Love, 2019).
This present report is context to ABC PLC which is one of largest food and drink
retailers. Company is considering the acquisitions of DEF Ltd. So, this assessment will plan
outline all the activities which are required successfully to manage the project.
Project Life Cycle:
Project Life Cycle is describes the process of delivering successful project. At the
beginning of the ABC M&A project, the amount of planning and work needed can seem
overwhelming. There are fives stages in the project life cycles which are as follow-
1.PROJECT INITIATION:
This is the first stage of the project life-cycle where project manager will measure the
value of project and feasibility. In order to make this merger of ABC plc successful, project
manager will use tools to identify either to pursue this project or not (Hornstein, 2015).
Business Case Document: This is the document that is prepared to evaluate the benefits,
cost and risk of the project.
Summary of the project:
This present project is based on the merger and acquisitions of ABC Plc with DEF Ltd.
ABC PLC is going to acquire DEF Ltd to increase the production capacity of the company as
well as to increase the revenue of the company. DEF Ltd is the well-known high street frozen
food retailer and it has major towns as well as cities around United Kingdom. So, the project
manager of ABC Plc is undertaking this project of merger and acquisition to reduce the overall
cost of merger.
Challenges or Goals:
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The goal of this project is to increase the production capacity of the ABC plc and to raise
revenue and sales of the company. Further, company has also aim to reduce the overall cosy of
the merger. These are the goals that ABC plc is trying to achieve (Jin and et.al., 2019).
Solution:
In order to accomplish the goals, the project manager of ABC plc will use various tools
and techniques which are as follows-
Key performance Indicators (KPI): This is the tool that is used by the project manager to manage
and evaluate the performance of the project on regular basis so that if any contradiction arise
actions will be taken as soon as possible.
360 Degree analysis: This is also one of the tool that is used for monitoring the performance
from all the angles so that project goals can be accomplish.
Expert Advise: Project manager of ABC plc merger will also take expert advise to make the
project successful. Project manager will undertake the suggestions and can save time, money and
avoid all possible setbacks.
Cost:
Cost is the total amount of money which project manager required for completing the
project. It is important to identify and evaluate all the cost and inflows so that project outcomes
can be identified.
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Table 1: Budget of the project
Benefits:
The expected benefits from this project are as follows-
 The revenue of ABC plc will be increase.
 The production capacity of ABC plc entirely increases.
 This project will raise collaboration and team working among the employees of different
organisation (Matějka and Tomek, 2017).
 This project will help in reducing the cost of merger and acquisition.
Execution Timeline
The total time that is required to deliver the project is said to be the execution timeline.
(See the below: Table No. 2)
2. PROJECT PLANNING
Once project receives green light, it requires a solid plan to guide the team as well as
keep them on budget and on time. A systematic written plan is required as it gives complete
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guidance for obtaining resources, acquire financing as well as procuring required material. In this
stage, project manager will prepare work break down structure that depicts the work flow
schedule, time taken to complete project (Walch and et.al., 2015).
Work-breakdown Structure:
This is the most important part of project management where project manager used to
divide the complex activities or task into small categories to maintain the smooth flow of the
project.
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