Project Management Report: Analysis of London Skills Concern Project

This report analyzes the key characteristics of a project, the five key stages of project management, and the purpose of a project initiation document. It explores the importance of various knowledge areas in project management, including integration, scope, schedule, cost, quality, resource, communication, risk, procurement, and stakeholder management. The report also identifies five crucial attributes of a project manager and explains the purpose of stakeholder analysis. Furthermore, it includes a network diagram with the critical path and delves into a project lifecycle case study for London Skills Concern, outlining stages from project initiation to closure, detailing project scope, timeline, and deliverables. The report emphasizes the practical application of project management principles, providing a comprehensive overview of project execution, stakeholder management, and the project lifecycle.

Managing Projects

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1) Key Characteristics of any project.....................................................................................1
2) Explain the five key stages in project management...........................................................1
3) Purpose of project initiation document..............................................................................2
4) Knowledge areas in project management and their importance........................................3
5) Five attributes or characteristics of a project manager and its importance........................3
6) Explain the purpose of stakeholder analysis and why it is important in project management
................................................................................................................................................4
7) Draw the corresponding network diagram and show the critical path...............................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Project life cycle.....................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Projects refer to the task or assignment which is executed by an organisation for
achieving their organisational goals and objectives. The process of managing these projects is
known as project management which includes the planning and organising of different resources
of an organisation for performing the task or for executing the project. Taken firm for the
assessment is London Skills Concern who is supporting the young people in developing their life
standard. This report is divided into two parts. Task one is focused on characteristics of any
project, key stages of project management, purpose of project initiation document and area of
project management. Whereas task two will cover a project with the project life cycle for
providing the information to the young people regarding their job, employment along with the
time for completing the project
TASK 1
1) Key Characteristics of any project
There are various characteristics of a project out of which some are discussed below:
 Project consists of pre determined objectives which should be accomplished in a given
time with the required performance and cost.
 A project is executed by a project team which look after the planning, managing and
controlling activities of project in order to achieve the pre determined objectives and
goals.
 A project can be described as the result which responds to the opportunities of the market
and business environment.
 Project includes the future activities of the organisation due to which management of the
firms can determine the future expenses which can be used for carrying out the project.
 While implementing the project, project managers includes the coordination of work
performed by the team members.
2) Explain the five key stages in project management
Project management is divided into 5 stages which are used for designing the structure and
for planning the strategies which are required for executing the project. These 5 stages are as
follows:
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 Project Initiation: it is the first and essential phase for undertaking any project because it
sets the standards for running the project. If this stage is not done properly, then there are
chances that project can fails. Project Planning: It is the second stage for executing any project in which the planning
of strategies and other aspects is done. There are chances that this part may not be
implemented properly due to which chances of error in the work can increase which will
impact the work (Braglia and Frosolini, 2014). Project Execution: It is the third stage in which the planned strategies and other aspects
are implemented in order to satisfy the requirement of the clients. Team leader assign the
resources to the project team for executing the project. Project monitoring and control: In this stage, the project manager monitor the activities
of the project for determining whether the activities are going as planned or not. This is
essential for determining the variations in the expected and obtained results by using the
key performance indicators.
 Project Closure: It is the last stage in which the executed project is delivered to the
clients. Project team also communicate with the stakeholders, and releasing resources to
other projects.
3) Purpose of project initiation document
Project initiation document refers to the document which forms the foundation for a
company’s project. This document involves the information of various aspects of the project
such as budget, strategies, resources etc. The purpose of the project initiation document is to
capture and record basic information, which is needed to correctly define and plan the project
(Parker and et. al., 2013). Three essential documents for this are as follows:
Project goals: In this, the goals and objectives which should be accomplished by the
execution of the project are given. This document provides the essential information regarding
the goals of the project so that project can be executed effectively.
Project size: This the second document in which the project is divided into large, medium
and small based on the goals and purpose. There are also mentioned about the how long does it
takes and how many people are involved.
Project organisation: This document provides the information regarding the tasks,
responsibilities and power of authority in an organisation whose project has been undertaken.
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4) Knowledge areas in project management and their importance
There are including nine project management knowledge areas
 Project Integration management
 Project scope management
 Project schedule management
 Project cost management
 Project quality management
 Project resource management
 Project Communication management
 Project Risk management
 Project procurement management
 Project stakeholder management
Importance of these areas is as discussed below:
Project integration management: The importance of this area is that the project manager
can perform the role of directing and managing the particular team work associated with the
execution of project (Richardson, 2014). It is important for developing a roadmap for the project
to reach a successful end.
Project scope management: In this area, work break down structure is used for
presenting the project in graphical format. It is important for determining the change in the
course of the project for control the scope in situations where the project does not go according
to schedule.
5) Five attributes or characteristics of a project manager and its importance
There are various characteristics of project managers which assist them in managing and
executing the project in a proper manner. Some of these characteristics are as follows:
 Effective Communication skills
 Good decision maker
 Strong leadership skills
 Team building skills
 Technical expertise
Importance of these is discussed below:
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 Good decision maker: In project management, a manager took various decisions for
improving the process and utilisation of resources. This characteristic enables the project
manager in taking effective decisions for the execution of project in an successful
manner. Through this characteristic, project manager can take better decision for the
betterment of project.
 Effective communication skills: This skill assists the project manager in properly
conveying the ideas and developed strategies to the team members so that they can
properly understand the message or information. Through this skill, project manager can
maintain effective relations with the workers so that they can execute their assigned work
in proper manner (Chih and Zwikael, 2015).
6) Explain the purpose of stakeholder analysis and why it is important in project management
A stakeholder can be a man or woman, organization or company who's fascinated into
company consideration in direct and oblique way. They are affected by employer's actions, rules
and goals. These peoples are taking interest within the achievement and growth of the
assignment and they have tremendous and terrible impact at the agency.
The motive of stakeholder analysis is to collect data from specific sources regarding the
various stakeholders of the organisation so that their expectations and needs can be fulfilled.
Stakeholder analysis is also used for determining the various internal and external stakeholders
(Samset and Volden, 2016).
Stakeholder analysis is essential in challenge control in an effort to managing
stakeholders to provide allows them to make sure approximately the project succeed in which
other may fail. There’s additionally analysing that the interest of all stakeholder may additionally
affect or may be affected by the mission.
7) Draw the corresponding network diagram and show the critical path
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TASK 2
Project life cycle
Project Details: London skills concern is a new firm in the market of UK which is
providing support to the young people in public and private sector. The company is collaborating
with different networks such as local authorities from whom the company take authority to report
the NEET young people. The local government report these NEET young people to central
government. After the Federation government come in existence after economic downturn. The
budget for the local government was cut due to which the need for the arranging the services of
individual schools (Eskerod, Huemann and Savage, 2015). As a result, as a project manager i
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applied my IT skills in London skills concern because the senior management team does not
have the adequate knowledge regarding the careers or advisors. For managing this project, the
project manager developed a project life cycle through which the future activities can be
monitored and scheduled. The project manager has also estimated time and budget required for
the execution of the project. The project life cycle is as follows:
Project initiation: It is the first stage in which the information regarding the various
activities and areas of the project are mentioned. This information is associated with the time,
funds, resources, strategies etc. of the project. In this phase provide detailed information about
project started, named and defined about timing of the project. The aim of this stage is to provide
the information of the project to the various stakeholders and team members at broad level. This
stage provides the business case and detailed information to the team members regarding the
research done for the initiation of projects (Badri, Gbodossou and Nadeau, 2012). A feasibility
study is conducted for investigating whether each idea and suggestion is considered for the
project or not. In order to start the project, project manager needs to gather the required resources
and information using different sources so that the project can be finished in given time frame.
This project is based on IT so the project manager needs to communicate with the people from
the IT background or had done studies in the IT field. The project manager needs to conduct
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research for gathering the views of these IT people. The project initiation document for this
project is as discussed below:
Project Initiation Document
Project Title Eclips
Company Name London Skills Concern
Budget 8 million Euros
Time period 18 Months
Start date 1 June 2019
End date 1 December 2020
Project Sponsor Mr Jacob Anderson
Aim Aim is the overall purpose of the project or study which should be
clearly defined by the researcher or project manager. Main aim of
this project is to increase learning standard of young individuals.
Objective Objective is the statements which should be achieved through the
execution of the project. This project document is associated with
the chosen project which is developed for the social welfare. This
project document will cover various aspects of the products such
as business case, objectives, schedule, deliverables and significant
risks of the project plan. Changes are done in the project for
executing it in the determined time frame as well as to overcome
the challenges by changing the plans.
 The main deliverables of this project included easier
interaction of customers with the company in regards to
the advice sought as well as any type of information
required on their part.
 In addition to this, LSC aims to provide a quick and
interactive learning platform to the customers
 Provides strategic advantages in terms of service offered
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and cost of providing the service.
Project scope Scope refers to the extent upto which the project or study area is
explored by the researcher or project managers. Scope of project
is higher as it providing new standard of learning to the young
individuals. Whereas, customer base of company will also
increase after launching of software.
Project timeline Timeline is the time which will be consumed in the execution of
this project. Project will be completed in 18 months.
Project budget Budget is the determined or estimated amount of money which
will be used in this project. An amount of 8 million euro is
estimated by the company for completing this project.
Project stakeholders and
their interests
Stakeholders are the people which are associated with the
company and its project in direct or indirect manner. Stakeholders
of this project are:
Employees- Employees of company are providing their high
interest in this project because through executing this project they
will be able in increasing their efficiencies and performance level.
Investors – Investors are investing the amounts in this project
because there are higher chances of gaining better outcomes.
Customers – Targeted customer of company are young students
who wants advices for their future career.
Project assumptions Project assumption is the term which is used for the conclusion or
findings of the projects which will be attained after executing the
project. Company have assumed that this project will raise the
standard of learning within the individuals which automatically
leads the firm towards growth and sustainability in market.
Project Deliverables  Customer Satisfaction
 Integrated interaction based services
 Quick response towards queries and advice sought
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The company has applied information system from predominately face-to-face method of
advice provision to a hybrid system. There are involving limited face to face because now they
are contact and try to support with the use of social media and online use of games, which are
based on the learning of young people and provide advice to regarding their careers. In this
phase, prepared project initiation document is presented to the different stakeholders and
determine whether the project will become successful in the future or not (Córdoba and Piki,
2012). Due to coming of coalition government there is acute economic downturn due to which
the budget for the local governments were severely cut. The company has again formed initiative
by evening standard and collaboration of inner London local communities.
Project Planning: This stage states the awareness on blueprint of budget and planning
which will obtain organisation's goals. This finances is beneficial to guide the crew thru
execution of project plan. on this degree or segment strong mission, strategy may be developed
that facilitates to run a enterprise or authorities project. This planning consist of cost, resources,
results, risks and strategic planning for setting the schedule of the project for executing it
effectively (Rees-Caldwell and Pinnington, 2013). In additional, government and local authority
prepare budgets every year for measuring the performance and progress of the project so that
proper changes and actions can be taken. Such as London skills concern is registered as a charity
and providing support and guidance to young people regarding the future activities and career.
Budget of £8m is contributed by people from London and other areas. However, the coalition
government is facing economic problem as cooperation of multiple political parties is taken
which reduce the dominance of a party. To solving this situation, local government are activities
through which the NEET young people can be engaged in the schools and other educational
institutions for getting better results in terms of employment.
Budget plan – Organisation have estimated an amount of £8 million euro for completing
this project for which the breakdown of activities along with funds are given as below:
Particulars Amount (€)
Hiring developers/specialists 2 million
Purchasing tools 2 million
Marketing of product 0.5 million
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Hiring customer services executives 1.5 million
Copyright/patent 0.5 million
Miscellaneous 1.5 million
Communication plan
Communication Frequency Goal Audience Owner
Project status
report
Weekly Review the
project status for
determining
potential issues
and delays.
Project team and
sponsors
Project manager
Team meeting Daily To review the
work and
performance of
employees of
yesterday and
what they will
don today
Project team Project manager
Activities
progress
Daily To determine the
extent upto which
the project is
being executed.
Project team and
sponsors
Project manager
Post Mortem
meeting
After the end of
project
To determine
what went wrong
and what went
right in the
execution of the
project.
Project
stakeholders
Project manager
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Risk management plan – Risk is uncertain in nature that can occur in any activity of
project therefore, management had prepared risk management plan as discussed below:
Risk Mitigation Contingency In-charge Impact
Extra cost This risk can be
mitigated by
using the low cost
technology so that
extra cost of
project can be
saved.
The project
manager needs to
keep ready extra
cost in case more
money is required
from suitable
sources such as
Bank loan.
Project manager Medium
Technology
failure
This risk can be
mitigated through
keeping extra
technological
tools so that
failure of single
devices can be
quickly replaced
with another.
The project
manager needs to
keep the IT team
ready for such
conditions so that
they can control
the situation
effectively.
IT specialist High
As an IT manager in LSC, I need to emphasise my focus on the budget allotted for the
people and resources so that proper support can be provided to the young people by utilising the
funds properly. These NEET people can develop Eclips and other programme that through which
information regarding the career and can also provide the career ideas and advises to the
unemployed people for the development of the economy.
WBS
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Gantt chart and project schedule
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Project Implementation: This stage is associated with the project management which
assist the project manager in determining the budget required for the planning and executing the
project activities. This stage also provides the information to the different stakeholders through
the project initiation document in order to execute, monitor and control the project activities. It
serves main cooperation and communication in establishing a planning (Martens and Carvalho,
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2017). This includes the knowledge regarding the objectives and goals of the project along with
the required budget. In London skills concern, IT manager should focus on the project plan so
that that can be executed properly without facing any issues or involving the chances of errors.
By using new technique such as online game system, face-to-face communication, the new
product which is EClips will helps to understand the problems and providing solutions for them
Project monitoring and control: In this stage, the project manager monitors and controls
the activities of the project so that the variations can be determined and eliminated. Through this,
the project manager can make the changes in the activities for the successful execution of the
project. This stage is also useful in measuring the performance and progress of the project plan
and scope for controlling the future changes and errors. The project manager checks and
monitors the changes for ensuring whether the changes are implemented successfully or not
(Drury-Grogan, 2014). For checking and monitoring purpose, project managers use key
performance indicator because the project includes both financial and non-financial data for
measuring the degree of cost and time in different variation. The result obtained by KPI are
evaluated and improved to keep the project on track. For ensuring the success of the developed
project plan, it is highly essential for the project manager to consider the various risks and
challenges which can impact the project execution and take suitable measures for overcoming
them. As an IT manager, I needs to monitor and control all activities related to social media and
games because most of the people are engaging in playing games and using the social media for
learning purpose.
Project Closure: It is the last stage of the project life cycle in which the project is
officially declared completed and the overall level of success of the project is conveyed to the
team members and other stakeholders by the project manager. The main goal for this project is to
develop an information system that integrated interaction based advice provisioning to the
younger people and other customers of London Skills Concern (LSC). The name of this project
is EClips, which is developed by LSC. For the development of this product, company had taken
face to face interviews and other sessions with the huge customers base which mostly younger
people and disadvantaged people such as single mothers. The technology is changing and due to
these advancements, social media and online game based interactive learning are replacing the
traditional face-to-face methods (Schwindt and Zimmermann, 2015). This project is developed
for providing ease to customers in interaction regarding the advice sought as well as any type of
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information required on their part. Also the company is developing this product for providing
quick and interactive learning platform to the customers through its product EClips.
Time scale:
EClips is developed by the company with an aim to provide basic careers and study
information to the customers which was not user interactive in earlier time. The project has been
completed in 18 months. The project completion document is given below:
Project Completion Document
Completion Criteria Accomplished ( )✔
/Not accomplished (x)
Project Objectives:
 Ease of customers in interacting with company regarding the
advice sought
✔
 Providing quick and interactive learning platform to the
customers
✔
Benefits:
 To gain a strategic advantage in the market in providing their
products and services at affordable cost.
✔
Deliverables:
 Customer Satisfaction ✔
 Integrated interaction based services ✔
 Quick response towards queries and advice sought ✔
From the above discussed project assessment, it can be said that the project has been
successfully completed and can be used by company for gaining strategic advantage in current as
well as in future time in the market (Pretorius, Steyn and Jordaan, 2012).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above discussed project assessment that managing project
is very essential for the organisations and project manager so that expected performance can be
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achieved in the execution of the project. Project management is a useful framework for
managing the project which is useful in getting the required information from the different
sources as well as to plan the requirements of the project. However, before developing the
framework, organisations needs to conduct research for getting the information required for
ensuring the success of the project. There are several characteristics of the projects which
enables the project team to execute the project in an proper manner.
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