Project Management: Operational Planning and Budgeting - Assignment 4

This document provides a comprehensive solution to a Project Management assignment, focusing on operational planning, budgeting, and key performance indicators (KPIs). It begins by defining operational planning and its importance in achieving organizational objectives, particularly in adapting to internal and external changes. The solution addresses attracting elderly individuals to fitness training centers as a specific strategic objective. It then explores project management tools like Fishbone diagrams, Gantt charts, and business process modeling. Budgeting processes, including bottom-up estimation with a detailed table example, are discussed. Finally, the document outlines alternative ways to develop KPIs and highlights relevant legislative and regulatory contexts to consider. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments and past papers.

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management: Assignment 4
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Answer to Question 1
Operational planning is defined as the development of a suitable strategy that will benefit
the overall actions of an organisation. The actions referred here can be both internal and external
and they have significant impact on the growth and progress of the organisation. While the
organisation runs on a particular pre-determined operational planning, there are often various
internal and external changes that require changes in operational planning as well (Kerzner,
2017). Operational planning is often associated with an operations project through which, the
new strategies are gradually deployed in the operations of the organisation. Operational planning
takes into consideration both positive and negative sides of the current operations and the plan is
focused on minimizing the impacts of the negative sides on the organisation.
Answer to Question 2
Operational plan plays a significant role in achieving an organisation’s objectives. Any
organisation has a certain set of goals and objectives but with the ongoing operations, it may not
be possible to reach such goals and objectives. Accordingly, a new operational plan is prepared
that brings a lot of changes in the existing operations and drives the organisation towards
reaching the goals and objectives (Todorović et al., 2015). In other words, operational plan helps
to develop a roadmap that the organisation can follow to reach its ultimate goals and objectives.
Answer to Question 3
The specific objective from the strategic plan is to attract more elderly people to join the
fitness training centre. This is mainly because, while there are many youths already working out

2PROJECT MANAGEMENT
in the fitness training centers (as a result, high competition), there are very few senior people
participating in the fitness programs (less competition and new market).
Answer to Question 4
Three examples of operational planning and project management tools and methods are
as follows.
Fishbone Diagram – This is a diagrammatic representation of the causes and effects of
one or more faults within a particular process or a project. Hence, it is also called a cause-effect
diagram and it is especially useful when developing appropriate change management plans for a
project.
Gantt Chart – This is a popular project management technique that helps the user to
develop an overall schedule for a project. It utilizes the work breakdown structure and is able to
generate a schedule for a project with great accuracy.
Business Process Modeling – This is a very effective operational planning tool for
business organisations. This tool can be used to develop an entire operational plan of a business
organisation without having to go deep into technical and internal details.
Answer to Question 5
There are several budgeting processes that are used in a business organisation and among
them, two of the most common are bottom up and top down estimation. Top down estimation is
a straightforward estimation of resource costs and is more or less inaccurate (Kylili, Fokaides &
Jimenez, 2016). On the other hand, bottom up estimation uses work breakdown structure for

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allocating resources and calculation of budget based on resource usage. This technique is much
more accurate and can also be easily utilized. An example of bottom up estimation is shown in
the following table.
Task Name Duration Start Finish Resource Names Cost
Project Planning
Phase
24 days
Wed
2/20/19
Mon
3/25/19
$44,320.00
Create Team for
Project Management
2 days
Wed
2/20/19
Thu 2/21/19 Project Manager $3,200.00
Create an Idea
Regarding Project
Roadmap
2 days Fri 2/22/19
Mon
2/25/19
Construction
Manager
$1,920.00
Prepare Project
Charter
6 days
Tue
2/26/19
Tue 3/5/19 $11,760.00
Develop Project
Scope
1 day
Tue
2/26/19
Tue 2/26/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$1,960.00
Determine
Schedule Baseline
for Project
1 day
Wed
2/27/19
Wed
2/27/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$1,960.00
Determine 2 days Thu Fri 3/1/19 Construction $3,920.00

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Budget Necessary for
the Project
2/28/19
Manager, Project
Supervisor
Determine
Project Feasibility
2 days
Mon
3/4/19
Tue 3/5/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$3,920.00
Release Tender
Regarding Project
Contractor
3 days
Wed
3/6/19
Fri 3/8/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$5,880.00
Select Contractor
for the Project
2 days
Mon
3/11/19
Tue 3/12/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$3,920.00
Discuss the
Requirements of the
Project
5 days
Wed
3/13/19
Tue 3/19/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$9,800.00
Discuss about the
Human Resources
Required for the
Project
1 day
Wed
3/20/19
Wed
3/20/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$1,960.00

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Discuss
Timeframe, Budget
and Design
3 days
Thu
3/21/19
Mon
3/25/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$5,880.00
Proceed with the
Project
0 days
Mon
3/25/19
Mon
3/25/19
Construction
Manager, Project
Supervisor
$0.00
Answer to Question 6
The alternative ways to develop key performance indicators are as follows.
Establish Goals and Objectives – It is important to develop appropriate goals and
objectives for a project before KPIs can be developed. Without any appropriate goal, the KPI for
a project is non-existent.
Establish Critical Success Factors – KPI of a project is strongly dependant on the critical
success factor (CSF) of a project and hence, establishment of the CSF is a primary necessity.
Develop Strategy – A project can have a large number of KPIs but the KPIs must be
chosen based on the specific goal or target of the project. Hence, developing an appropriate
strategy is required before the KPIs are chosen in a project.
Answer to Question 7
The relevant legislative and regulatory contexts to be considered are as follows.

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 All operations of the company must be done if sufficient business license is
available.
 All legal obligations must be fulfilled.
 All employees of the company must be aware of all the regulations and
requirements they need to abide by throughout their course of work.

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References
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to measuring
and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Kylili, A., Fokaides, P. A., & Jimenez, P. A. L. (2016). Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
approach in buildings renovation for the sustainability of the built environment: A
review. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 56, 906-915.
Mir, F. A., & Pinnington, A. H. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: linking
project management performance and project success. International journal of project
management, 32(2), 202-217.
Todorović, M. L., Petrović, D. Č., Mihić, M. M., Obradović, V. L., & Bushuyev, S. D. (2015).
Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in project
management. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), 772-783.