Project Management Report: IT Infrastructure at New Euro Centre

This report delves into the intricacies of project management, beginning with an introduction to key characteristics, project initiation documentation, feasibility studies, and the nine knowledge areas in project management. It examines the attributes of a project manager and the benefits of network diagrams. The second part of the report presents a project management report on the development of IT infrastructure for the New Euro Centre, outlining project objectives, scope, work breakdown structure, and the five stages of the project life cycle: initiation, planning, execution, evaluation, and control. The report also covers budget allocation, timeline management, and stakeholder identification, along with an analysis of potential risks and their mitigation strategies. The content is contributed by a student and published on Desklib.

MANAGING PROJECTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1. Key Characteristic of project...................................................................................................3
2. Purpose of Project Initiation Documentation (PID)................................................................3
3. Purpose of feasibility...............................................................................................................4
4. Nine knowledge areas in project management and it’s importance........................................4
5. Characteristics of Project Manager..........................................................................................4
6. Network Diagram....................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
PROJECT MANAGEMENT REPORT..........................................................................................5
Project Objective.........................................................................................................................5
Scope............................................................................................................................................6
Work Breakdown Structure.........................................................................................................6
Project Life Cycle Stages.............................................................................................................7
Project Management Processes..................................................................................................12
Expected risks and their management.......................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Project Management is an extremely detailed and intricate process that involves too many
activities that are to be managed and work that is to be performed within the constraints so that
the desired objectives can be achieved (Binder, 2016). This report involves analysis of two tasks
where general information and terms related to project management will be evaluated in the first
task and the project management report will be prepared on Ne Euro Centre case study in the
second part of the report.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
1. Key Characteristic of project
There are various characteristics of projects such as projects are unique in nature that
provides brief definition from beginning to ending date. Projects are considered completed when
it’s goals and objective are met within timeframe. There are five key characteristic of the project
such as scope, resource, time, quality and risk which supports to access that project is valid and
attainable to achieve or not. Scope defines significance of project for the future perspective.
While resources are those authentic sources which provides adequate information in order to
achieve scope. Time defines number of tasks that will be undertaken within specific period.
Quality is the term of maintaining standard of content that will be recorded in this project. Risk
defines consequences that can be taken place while conducting project. There are various
stakeholders of the project such as top-management,project team, resource manager, internal and
external customers, project manager and government who plays different role in the project. The
main goal of stakeholder analysis is to determine key stakeholders and examine their needs in
order to create and deliver best quality or service in the first attempt. These stakeholders support
to gather qualitative informationrelated to project.
2. Purpose of Project Initiation Documentation (PID)
The main purpose of project initiation document is to cover and record general information
that requires to authentically define and plan the project precisely (Keersand van Fenema, 2018).
PID is important for planning in order to gain all framed goals and objectives within timeframe.
So, it is considered one of the major factorsof achieving project aims. There are three factors that
could be founded in the PID such as project background, project scope statement and
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communication plan. These are important elements that supports to maintain quality of the
project.
3. Purpose of feasibility
Feasibility study provide brief information about companies and analyse that project
manager and project are pursuing the rules or course of action while conducting project or not.
The main purpose of the feasibility study is applied to identify the possibilityof an idea i.e. assure
a project is technically and legally viable and economically justifiable or not. It is essential for
business development and it allows management to determine risk and opportunity at both levels
technical and economical, based on the assessment takes effective decision by project
management to conduct project effectively.
4. Nine knowledge areas in project management and it’s importance
There are various knowledge areas of project management such as project integration
management, project time management, project cost management, project quality management,
project HRM management, project communication management, project scope management and
project procurement management which supports project to achieve all framed objectives and
goals within timeframe (Matinheikkiand et.al., 2016). Project communication management plays
essential role in project progress such as it will avoid misunderstanding and delay consequences
which can lead to project failure. Thus, this factor ensures stakeholders and project staff that they
are secured in their knowledge. While project risk management supports to control all possible
consequence that can occur in project processing. Thus, this factor makes individuals proactive
to response over risk creatively.
5. Characteristics of Project Manager
Some of the key attributes that need to be necessarily present in a project manager include:
 Strong leadership and decision making skills
 Technical know- how and integration for the use of different software and tools
 Good communication skills
 Effective pressure handling skills
 Excellent competence
 Team- building characteristics
 Develop a shared vision and complete tasks according to that vision developed.
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It is necessary to always close a project appropriately because it helps in avoidance of any
adverse risks or unfavourable scenarios (Dohe and Pike, 2018). The closing of the project
indicates that project as officially been closed and hence does not indicates wrong perception of
the time taken or the resources utilised on the project. Only after proper closure of a project, the
next or another new project can be begun.
6. Network Diagram
Some key benefits of network diagram are:
 It provides a clear time estimate for the completion of the project and the most productive
or profitable manner in which the sequence of activities should be performed (Fewings
and Henjewele, 2019).
 It indicates the interdependencies of the activities which in turn helps in better planning
and organising of different activities.
The network diagram can be showed as:
The critical path can be indicates by the activities in red boxes which show the time that
will be taken for the completion of the project. As indicated, the critical path is 4- 6- 7 i.e. D, F
and G. therefore the time taken would be
6 weeks + 7 weeks + 4 weeks = 17 weeks
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TASK 2
PROJECT MANAGEMENT REPORT
Project Objective
The project that is being launched i.e. development of IT infrastructure in the New Euro
Centre requires construction and installation of the IT infrastructure and this involves various
aspects that needs to be covered so that the entire conference centre can be proper equipped with
IT facilities. The objectives can be developed in following manner:
 To develop a comprehensive project schedule for meeting different IT infrastructure
requirements of the New Euro Centre.
 To provide IT facility for marketing and booking and to create TV and telephone
provision for the conference and activity halls.
 To install CCTV and other IT facilities and equipments in the centre.
 To analyse all the aspects of the project such as estimates resources requirements,
budgets, timeline etc.
 To complete all the due work within the allotted time limit and budget.
Scope
The scope of the project extends only to the development of IT infrastructure in New Euro
Centre (Harrison and Lock, 2017). All the activities undertaken will fall within the purview of
the claimed objectives that is to create IT infrastructure and facilities in the conference room and
activity halls in the premises. It will also include the meeting rooms under its area of operation
and all the area of the centre apart from the above mentioned one would be beyond the scope of
the project being undertaken. And further, only IT infrastructure related services will be given in
the New Euro Centre thus sticking to the objectives.
Work Breakdown Structure
Work breakdown structure is basically the clear segregation of the different activites that
are to be completed in a shorter or more concise manner (Heldman, 2018). This helps in
increasing the efficiency and clarity amongst the project members and can also increase the
monitoring and evaluation of these aspects.
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Project Life Cycle Stages
The overall process of project life cycle involves five major stages through which all the
activities required in the project are performed and all the nine key knowledge areas also gets
covered into these five broader stages. The five broader stages are project initiation, project
planning, project execution, project evaluation and finally project control (The Project
Management Plan, 2019). For the current project of developing IT infrastructure at New Euro
Centre, the different aspects can be illustrated in a following manner:
Project Initiation: In this first stage of the project life cycle, the main intention is to critically
identify and acknowledge the objectives that are to be fulfilled and develop an overview of the
entire activities that are to be completed together. In the current project of New Euro Centre, the
objective is to develop an IT infrastructure that is properly integrated and adapted (Kerzner,
2018). The project manager is expected to understand that what would be the exact requirements
of completing the project and how the investors can be attracted and kept satisfied so that the
viability of the entire project is ensured. In the initial stage the project manager also has to take
into consideration, the constraints that are available with the business such as limited time of 16
months only that is given to complete the entire project. The allocated budget is also constrained
to £ 200000 only which is another important aspect of the project. These assumptions are
identified in the initial stages only so that the pact that these will have on the overall activities of
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New Euro
Centre
Project
Initiation
Project
Planning
Project
Execution
Project
Evaluatio
n
Formulation
of the Idea
Formulation
Of Aim
Budget
and Timeline
Segregation
of Activities
Implementat
ion and
execution of
the Project
Interpretatio
n of Results
Monitoring
and
Evaluation
Reflection
Closure

the project can be mapped in advance. The feasibility of the project idea is also tested in this
stage only where it is evaluated that the project being undertaken is a viable option for the
company i.e. HCL in this case or not (Lensges, Kloppenborg and Forte, 2018. ). It is necessary to
ensure that this project will be profitable for the company.
Project Planning: In this second stage, entire outline of the project at New Euro Centre will be
prepared by the project manager where the specific focus is on the development or segregation of
the budget amount into different resources, stakeholder mapping and the timeline evaluation.
Budget:
Budget is basically an approximation of the expenses that indicate maximum limit or
amount that can be spent over an activity (Meredith, Mantel Jr and Shafer, 2017). For the
installation of IT infrastructure, the budget can be developed in following manner:
Resources Name Cost ( in thousands)
Labour £ 5
Suppliers and contractors £ 16
Experts required £ 56
Machinery and equipment £ 70
Technological assistance £ 30
Telephone and communication £ 0.5
Stationary £ 0.5
Salaries £ 5
Refreshments £ 2
Others £ 15
Total £ 200,000
Therefore, these are the potential expenditures that the project team might incur while the
installation of the IT infrastructure is successfully carried out in the New Euro Centre.
Timeline:
The timeline can be categorised as the second most important aspect in the project which
helps in estimating that how much time should be apportioned for the different activities that are
required to be completed so that the relevant milestones can be achieved and ultimately the
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objective of installing IT infrastructure can be achieved. In the given project, the time within
which the project is to be achieved is 16 months only.
Stakeholders:
Stakeholders are those parties which are interested in the project activities and the overall
success of the project financially (Mousaei and Javdani, 2018). In the present case, the relevant
parties are the senior management of the HCL, team members, the management of New Euro
Centre and lastly, the investors and financers of the project.
Project Execution: This is the third critical stage and here the planning that the project manager
has done till the previous stage is actually implemented i.e. work genuinely and productively
starts in this phase. All the scheduling and implementation is done in this phase where the
sequential form in which activities will be completed is illustrated and implemented and in the
current project of New Euro Centre, the scheduling has to be done within 16 months i.e. the
entire project needs to be wind up within this time (Schwalbe, 2015). In this stage, the entire
focus is on ensuring that the plans that have been developed are closely followed and the two
constraints in this case i.e. time and money do not exceed too much from what has been allotted
to the different activities.
Scheduling:
The proper scheduling of the activities increases the clarity amongst the team members
regarding which activity can be performed after which activity and it also simplifies the
monitoring of the entire procedure (Sadgrove, 2016). In the current case of the New Euro Centre,
the scheduling of the activities related to the installation of IT infrastructure can be done in
following manner:
S. Nos. Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
1 Project Initiation 40 days Tue 9/1/20 Mon
10/26/20
2 Idea formulation 0.5 months Tue 9/1/20 Mon 9/14/20
3 Developing aim and
objectives 0.5 months Tue 9/15/20 Mon 9/28/20 2
4 Building up project
initiation document 1 months Tue 9/29/20 Mon 10/26/20 3
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5 Project Planning 90 days Tue 10/27/20 Mon 3/1/21
6 Developing budget 1 months Tue 10/27/20 Mon 11/23/20 3,4
7 ascertaining timeline 1.5 months Tue 11/24/20 Mon 1/4/21 4,6
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identifying and
attracting suppliers and
experts
2 months Tue 1/5/21 Mon 3/1/21 6,7
9 Project Execution 170 days Tue 1/5/21 Mon 8/30/21
10 Developing a schedule 0.5 months Tue 1/5/21 Mon 1/18/21 7
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Implementation and
installation of the
necessary systems
5.5 months Tue 3/2/21 Mon 8/2/21 8,10,6
12 Obtaining of results 1 months Tue 8/3/21 Mon 8/30/21 11
13 Project Evaluation 60 days Tue 8/31/21 Mon
11/22/21
14 Monitoring and
controlling 2 months Tue 8/31/21 Mon 10/25/21 11,12
15 Success evaluation 1 months Tue 10/26/21 Mon 11/22/21 12,14
16 Closure 10 days Tue 11/23/21 Mon 12/6/21
17 End of the project 0.5 months Tue 11/23/21 Mon 12/6/21 15
On the basis of the scheduling done above, a Gantt chart can be developed which
indicates the overall flow in which the activities will take place so that the maximum benefit can
be drawn.
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The activities above can be implemented in a step by step manner and within the time
limits in order to meet the timeline and the budgetary constraints. The New Euro Centre and the
project manager can adopt and implement all the phases in a properly phased manner and ensure
that no overlapping of the activities takes place. This will ensure that the resources utilised are
minimum and the regular monitoring and measuring of the activities will also help in immediate
rectification if any is required (Lyra and et.al., 2018). This is the longest stage as the entire work
gets done in this phase only and hence it is extremely crucial as well. Hence the project manager
should engage in regular scanning of the changing market trends if there are any and avoid any
unnecessary risks to the project that might be incurred.
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Project Evaluation: In this stage, the project manager, after the implementation of all the
activities, uses different monitoring techniques so that the efficiency of the project can be
evaluated (Heagney, 2016). The monitoring of the IT infrastructure installation at New Euro
Centre throughout the process will help in identifying that whether the project is undergoing in a
planned manner or not and what are the problems that are arising so that they can be resolved
immediately. The monitoring and evaluation also helps in comparing the standard costs and time
with the actual costs and time so that if there are any significant deviation between the two, then
it can be identified and removed as soon as possible. Techniques standard costing,
benchmarking, 360 degree feedback, setting performance standards etc. can help the project
manager in this case (Fernandes and et.al., 2018). This also helps in reporting any strategical
change that is required in the project and helps in clearly identifying if the project inclines
towards a wrong direction.
Closure: This is the final stage in the entire project management process and in this stage, the
project manager just ties up all the loose ends of the project and after the successful evaluation
winds up the entire project (Schwalbe, 2015). In the present case, the project manager of New
Euro Centre will evaluate that whether the entire infrastructure that has been implemented is
properly functioning or not and whether the management of the Centre is satisfied with the entire
work or not. If necessary, then any significant risk can or change might arise in this stage and the
project manager also has to ensure that all the objectives that were developed have been
achieved.
Therefore, in this manner, the five different stages in the project life cycle can be
implemented for the achievement of the goal that has been set up for the New Euro Centre and
hence the project can be a success.
Project Management Processes
In order to manage the entire project of the New Euro Centre, there are a variety of project
management processes that can be adopted by the project manager. Techniques such as Agile
methodology, waterfall technique, critical path management, Prince2 Methodology etc. are
available for the overall management, but in the current case however, the best technique that the
project manager can use for New Euro Centre is Prince2 Methodology (Walker, 2015). Since the
project is for a long time period of 16 months and has multiple numbers of objectives that are
intricately associated, the best aspect would be to adopt this methodology. The project manager
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