Project Management Plan Report: Project Planning and Management

This report provides a detailed analysis of a project management plan, encompassing two key tasks. Task 1 focuses on project planning, delving into the characteristics of a project, the significance of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the utilization of Gantt charts, techniques for investment appraisal, risk management strategies, and aspects of project quality. Task 2 offers an introduction to project management, defining project scope, and exploring project failures and successes. It highlights unique features of IT project management, the project management life cycle, and key areas like scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, and risk management. The report utilizes various references to support its arguments and provides practical insights into effective project management methodologies and their application in real-world scenarios. The report also discusses the different phases of project management life cycle like design, requirement gathering, testing, coding and maintenance and the software development model.

Project Management Plan
February 12
2017

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Table of Contents
Task 1:.........................................................................................................................................................3
Project Planning..........................................................................................................................................3
Characteristics of a project..........................................................................................................................3
Significance of Work Breakdown Structure.................................................................................................3
Gantt chart..................................................................................................................................................5
Techniques for investment appraisal..........................................................................................................7
Risk Management Plan................................................................................................................................7
Aspects of project quality............................................................................................................................8
References:..................................................................................................................................................9
Task 2:.......................................................................................................................................................10
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................10
Project definition and scoping...................................................................................................................11
Project failures and successes:..................................................................................................................11
Unique features of IT project management..............................................................................................13
Project management life cycle..................................................................................................................13
Project scope management.......................................................................................................................14
Project time management.........................................................................................................................15
Project cost management..........................................................................................................................16
Project quality management.....................................................................................................................16
Project human resources management.....................................................................................................17
Project communication management.......................................................................................................18
Project risk management...........................................................................................................................18
References.................................................................................................................................................20

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Task 1:
Project Planning
Characteristics of a project
A project can be defined as a set of interrelated activities which are required to be completed
within given a deadline and budget. Following are the key characteristics of a project:
A project has well-defined performance requirements like response time, scalability, the
accuracy of results, ease of navigation, security, workload specifications, energy efficiency etc.
Every project has a pre-decided start date and end date. There may be delays in schedules but the
project manager should ensure to meet the deadlines (Ahmad, Mallick and Schroeder, 2012).
Each and every project is different. The project variables like features, scope, financial resources,
human resources, technical resources, timelines, processes, quality, risks etc. make every project
unique.
The entire project can be divided into several smaller tasks. This helps in project management.
A project is intended to provide benefits to the organization. For example, a construction project
helps to generate revenues (Ahmad, Mallick and Schroeder, 2012).
Significance of Work Breakdown Structure
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is used in project planning and execution. The entire project
is split into manageable chunks of work that can be easily executed by the project team. WBS
helps to understand a complex project in a better manner because each level provides detailed

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information. WBS helps to estimate the project cost and time required for completion (Beghini,
2013). This can be done by allocating time and budget to each section. WBS can also help in
making assessments about possible risks in a complex project. On the basis of WBS, the project
manager can develop a communication plan.
Following is a simple example of Work Breakdown Structure for development for a new
product:
On the basis of the level of WBS, resources are allocated and responsibilities are assigned to
team members. The level-1 of WBS includes market research, product design, product
development, marketing and project management. The level-2 of WBS includes focus groups,
research evaluation, and preparation of design document, bill of materials, production design and
marketing strategy (Beghini, 2013)

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Figure 1: WBS for a project that aims to create a toy for children belonging to the age group of
5-9 years
Gantt chart
The critical path for the given project is: A-B-C-F-H
22 days are required to complete this project.

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Figure 2: Activity on the Node (AON) network diagram
TASK-A
TASK-B
TASK-C
TASK-D
TASK-E
TASK-F
TASK-G
TASK-H
12/26 1/5 1/15 1/25 2/4 2/14
START DATE
DURATION (DAYS)
A(3) B(2)
C(3) E(5)
F(8) H(6)
D(1)
G(2)

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Figure 3: Gantt chart for the given project
Techniques for investment appraisal
It is important for an organization to make assessments regarding long-term and short-term
investments. Investment appraisal is done for equipment, Research & Development activities,
property, promotional campaigns etc. There are several techniques for investment appraisal like
the rate of return, Net Present Value (NPV), payback period, benefit/cost ratio, Return on
Investment (ROI), life-cycle cost analysis etc (Henderson, 2004).
Risk Management Plan
Any project can face unexpected challenges. Risk management plan is an effective tool that
identifies potential challenges that can hamper the project. There are several risks in a project
like technical issues, changes in market conditions, increase in cost, ill-managed schedules,
political issues, manpower shortage, natural calamities etc (Altunel, 2017). Different risks are
encountered in different phases of a project. A risk management plan involves risk avoidance,
transfer, acceptance, and reduction. Risk can be avoided by not undertaking activities that can
threaten the completion of the project or cause deviation from quality standards. Project
managers can reduce the impact of risk by taking corrective actions in a timely manner. Risk can
be transferred by signing legal contracts with clients or third parties like insurance agencies. Risk
management plan involves risk identification, risk evaluation (on the basis of likelihood and
impact), risk mitigation and development of contingency plan (Altunel, 2017).

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Aspects of project quality
Project quality means meeting all the required project specifications while satisfying the clients
or customers. It is important to ensure adherence to expected deliverables. Project quality is
monitored with the help of periodic audits, project testing and preparing checklists (Atkinson,
Crawford and Ward, 2006). There are several aspects of project quality like performance,
aesthetics, conformance to industry standards, reliability, durability, prevention of failure,
customer satisfaction and continuous improvement over time. The project should be designed in
a manner that meets the customer expectations (Atkinson, Crawford and Ward, 2006). The cost
of Quality (COQ) is associated with poor quality and failures. It includes expenditure associated
with prevention of errors, inspection of project elements, internal failure, and external failure. An
organization should strive to improve its products/ services provided to clients and manage
project issues in a systematic manner. The project should be capable of achieving the desired
objectives like Return on Investment (ROI) (Atkinson, Crawford and Ward, 2006).

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References:
Ahmad, S., Mallick, D. and Schroeder, R. (2012). New Product Development: Impact of
Project Characteristics and Development Practices on Performance. Journal of Product
Innovation Management, 30(2), pp.331-348.
Altunel, H. (2017). Agile Project Management in Product Life Cycle. International Journal
of Information Technology Project Management, 8(2), pp.50-63.
Atkinson, R., Crawford, L. and Ward, S. (2006). Fundamental uncertainties in projects and
the scope of project management. International Journal of Project Management, 24(8),
pp.687-698.
Beghini, G. (2013). Work Breakdown Structure, lo strumento cardine della gestione di un
progetto. PROJECT MANAGER (IL), (14), pp.33-38.
Henderson, L. (2004). Encoding and decoding communication competencies in project
management – an exploratory study. International Journal of Project Management, 22(6),
pp.469-476.

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Task 2:
Introduction
This report will develop a great understanding regarding the project management plan. The
objective of the report is to help the project manager to understand how to manage the relocation
project of an organization through his knowledge and skills. The use of the different project
management concepts and theories by the project manager such as the stages of the project
lifecycle, project management schedule and plan and its implementation with the different
methodologies which will be helpful for the success of the project management will be discussed
in the report.
A project has been explained as a non-permanent endeavor that does possess a definite start and
conclusion. It brings out some unique result, product, and the services. The project in concern is
progressively discussed which means that the work is performed in various phases.
The project management is nothing but properly progressing and managing the task by balancing
the constraints of quality, scope, schedule and time with the cost effective resources included
some risks in view. It can be accomplished by planning, Initiating, monitoring, performing,
directing and then at the end closing. A manager of the project should have proper knowledge
and understanding for the project he is working upon so as to get the desired goals accomplished,
he should also have proper skills and appropriate knowledge about the project management tools
and techniques.

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Project definition and scoping
When any of the projects is chosen or considered, its comprehensive feasibility study is acted
upon and performed based upon so many project selection methods such as the Scoring Model,
Expert Review, Cash-flow techniques etc. by which the project is chosen for forwarding
development. Here the project sponsor makes the project charter plus selects a manager for that
project to look after the resources and the project itself. Here, first of all, the Project definition
comes. For Illustration, it may be making up of an Interface that extracts useful data from the
SAP system to main Reporting system (Atkinson, Crawford and Ward, 2006).
All kinds of the Project scopes are very clearly discussed and explained. What are the main or
the most needed requirements as far as the project is concerned? An intelligent project manager
should have the skills to pay proper attention to all the aspects of the project management cycle
plus he should follow those channels with proper attention. The Stake holder's Milestones, name
and business cases are discussed.
Project failures and successes:
Being the project manager of the project will look at the aspects which may result in the success
and the failure of the project. There are so many aspects which result in the failure of any
project; some of the most important kinds of them are discussed as below if proper care being
taken the projects can be saved from being getting wasted:
Failure:
The improper and wrong analyzation of the significant facts of the cash-flows down.In
conditions of any sudden high risks condition, the unavailability of any quick mitigation plan
leads to the failure of the plan. Big and ambitious projects do often get failed in the interim as the

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managers do not possess any such plan which may prevent that plan in case of any future
unexpected risks or challenges (Atkinson, Crawford and Ward, 2006).Most of the time, improper
understanding of the facts of the projects also leads to the failure of the same, wrong techniques
and their selections also results into the project failure.
The Improper availability of funds to run the project efficiently or less budget than to run the
show smoothly or also the security of the availability of the resource leads to the project failure,
schedule mismanagement is yet another fact which results in project failure.
Successes
A project which has been studied completely and whose requirements are well explained to all
the workers working on it, or those projects which are well-defined leads to certain success and
achievement of the required goals.
The efficient and hard working team deployed to run the project is yet another fact which ensures
that the project ends up to be a success story. Improper staff leads to wastage of resources to a
greater extent and finally leads to failure at each step. Apart from the workers, the manager who
is the responsible person to run the show is also to be a learned man, with proper managerial
skills, he is, in fact, the most important key to the success of any project (Ahmad, Mallick and
Schroeder, 2012).
Ability to take quick and big decisions also ensures that the project does not fall prey to the
adverse circumstances if any in future. Plan B which donates the shifting of a plan to another
safe mode if the plan do not works ensures that there is no wastage of the resources and the
productivity of the project do not get hamper.