Project Management: Family Reunion Project Planning and Execution

This project management assignment focuses on planning and executing a family reunion. It includes a detailed Gantt chart outlining tasks, durations, start and finish dates, and predecessors for each activity within initiation, planning, execution, and closure phases. The assignment also addresses the critical path and network diagram. The project management principles of balancing scope and budget are discussed. The document highlights the interrelationship between budget, scope, and time, emphasizing that the scope is the most influential factor. It explores strategies for budget reduction, such as decreasing activity durations and reallocating resources. Finally, the document provides references to relevant project management literature, including works by Kerzner, Schwalbe, and Walker, to support the concepts discussed.

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

1PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Schedule for Gantt Chart
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Family Reunion in Florida 29 days Tue 5/1/18 Fri 6/8/18
Initiation Phase 3 days Tue 5/1/18 Thu 5/3/18
Meeting with Family
Members
1 day Tue 5/1/18 Tue 5/1/18
Decide on a Trip Date 1 day Wed 5/2/18 Wed 5/2/18 2
Hire Event Manager for
Family Reunion Event
1 day Thu 5/3/18 Thu 5/3/18 3
Planning Phase 10 days Fri 5/4/18 Thu 5/17/18
Select a Suitable
Destination
2 days Fri 5/4/18 Mon 5/7/18 4
Agreement of All Families
Regarding Destination
1 day Tue 5/8/18 Tue 5/8/18 6
Prepare List of Resources
Required
1 day Tue 5/8/18 Tue 5/8/18 6

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Determine Budget for
Project
1 day Tue 5/8/18 Tue 5/8/18 6
Remove Additional Costs 1 day Tue 5/8/18 Tue 5/8/18 6
Finalize Trip Date 3 days Wed 5/9/18 Fri 5/11/18 7,8,9,10
Book Flight Tickets 2 days Mon 5/14/18 Tue 5/15/18 11
Book Hotel Rooms 2 days Wed 5/16/18 Thu 5/17/18 12
Book Adventure Program
for Families
2 days Wed 5/16/18 Thu 5/17/18 12
Provision of Activities for
All Age Groups
2 days Wed 5/16/18 Thu 5/17/18 12
Take Approval from
Family Members
2 days Wed 5/16/18 Thu 5/17/18 12
Clearance for the Trip 2 days Wed 5/16/18 Thu 5/17/18 12
Execution Phase 14 days Fri 5/18/18 Wed 6/6/18
Family Adventure 3 days Fri 5/18/18 Tue 5/22/18 13,14,15,16,17
Ski Resort 3 days Wed 5/23/18 Fri 5/25/18 19
Charlotte Harbour Tours 1 day Mon 5/28/18 Mon 5/28/18 20
Hooked on SUP 1 day Tue 5/29/18 Tue 5/29/18 21

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Visit Stump Pass Beach
and State Park
1 day Wed 5/30/18 Wed 5/30/18 22
Trip to Gulf Island 1 day Thu 5/31/18 Thu 5/31/18 23
Order Food 1 day Fri 6/1/18 Fri 6/1/18 24
Group Photo Session 1 day Mon 6/4/18 Mon 6/4/18 25
Take Group Photos 1 day Tue 6/5/18 Tue 6/5/18 26
Host Music Show 1 day Wed 6/6/18 Wed 6/6/18 27
Meet Special Requests of
Family Members
1 day Wed 6/6/18 Wed 6/6/18 27
Chatting Session 1 day Wed 6/6/18 Wed 6/6/18 27
Closure Phase 2 days Thu 6/7/18 Fri 6/8/18
Gather Feedback from
Family Members
1 day Thu 6/7/18 Thu 6/7/18 28,29,30
Return Home 1 day Fri 6/8/18 Fri 6/8/18 32

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Gantt Chart and Critical Path
Figure 1: Gantt Chart with Critical Path in Red

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(Source: Created by Author)
Network Path
Figure 2: Network Diagram
(Source: Created by Author)
3. Balancing Scope and Budget
Balancing scope and budget is an essential aspect of project management. There are triple
constants of a project – budget, scope and time. These three constants are mutually related to
each other change in one of these results in significant changes in the other two. Hence, it is
required to make a balance between the three in order to get the best results (Kerzner & Kerzner,
2017). Of these three factors, scope is the most important as it can control the other two
constants. For instance, if the scope of the project is increased, the budget and time significantly
increases. Even if the time is not a constraint, the budget will continue to increase. Again, if the
scope of the project is reduced, the budget requirements are also reduced. However, balancing of

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the three constants depend on the pre set requirements of project. For instance, if one of the
factors is kept constant with no chance of increase or decrease, then the other two are changed
accordingly to establish balance (Schwalbe, 2015). On the other hand, if two of these factors are
kept strictly constant, the third factor cannot be changed under any circumstances. Again, if one
of the factors is changed without even considering the other two, the other two will automatically
change and they can be accordingly arranged in order to make a balance.
During preparing a budget, it is often seen that after allocation of resources to activities,
the estimated cost exceeds the initial budget estimated. Since this is not desired, it is needed to
change certain aspects of the project to bring the cost below the estimated budget especially if
the initial budget must not be exceeded. In order to reduce the overall budget, the durations of
the certain activities can be decreased (Walker, 2015). This will decrease the resource usage and
in turn will reduce the overall budget. Again, the resource allocation in each of the activities can
be changed especially in the activities where over allocation of resources are done. Due to over
allocation, the budget rises steeply and crosses the estimated budget easily.

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References
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 Div American Mgmt
Assn.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Walker, A. (2015). Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.