Project Management Report: Managing Relocation for a Consultancy Firm

This project management report focuses on the relocation of a London-based consultancy firm aiming to reduce costs and increase business income. The report outlines the necessary projects, including construction, IT infrastructure upgrades, and telecommunications setup. It evaluates suitable methodologies like the Waterfall model, assesses project feasibility considering operational, system, and financial aspects, and details the project's management structure, roles, and responsibilities. A comprehensive project plan is included, along with alternative team structures and quality management processes. The report also identifies potential risks and issues, such as IT system challenges, and proposes monitoring and appraisal strategies. The document provides a detailed overview of the project's phases, from planning to completion, ensuring a structured approach to successful relocation and business growth.

Project
Management
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 1....................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Projects required to successfully carry out the relocation.....................................................3
1.2 List of project and necessary project sub division.................................................................3
Activity 2.........................................................................................................................................4
1.3 Description and evaluation of suitable methodologies for chosen project...........................4
1.4 Feasibility of project .............................................................................................................5
2.1 Structure for management and administration of project .....................................................5
2.2 Roles and responsibilities for staff which will manage the project.......................................5
Job description and personal specification .................................................................................6
Activity 3 ........................................................................................................................................9
2.3 Detailed project plan..............................................................................................................9
Activity 4.........................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Alternative team structure......................................................................................................9
3.3 Process of quality management for the project ..................................................................10
3.4 Management of project change proposal.............................................................................10
Activity 5.......................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Identification of the risk and issues which can become barrier for the project...................11
4.2 Issue and challenges which can be encountered in final stage of project ...........................11
4.3 Monitoring and appraisal status of project .......................................................................11
5.1 Detecting and managing issue arising in course of project.................................................12
Activity 6.......................................................................................................................................12
5.2 Task needed to be completed in final stage of the project ..................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
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Illustration Index
Illustration 1: The Waterfall model .................................................................................................6
Illustration 2: Structure of Project....................................................................................................8
Illustration 3: Network diagram ....................................................................................................13
Illustration 4: Alternative structure ...............................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
In modern era, the competition among industry is becoming more and more intense.
Therefore, in order to achieve competitive advantage business are required merge their project
management strategies with their business goals and objectives. Project management can be
termed as a a process of evaluating, designing, developing and analyzing an activity or task.
Further it can be also defined as the application of knowledge and skills in order to achieve the
objectives of a project or task. This report is based on a London based consultancy firm which
provides services to businesses all around the world. Further the company is planning to relocate
its office in order to reduce its cost. This report highlights the projects which will be required for
relocation along with various methodologies which can be used by the consultancy firms. Other
than this, the report covers overall aspects of project management.
ACTIVITY 1
1.1 Projects required to successfully carry out the relocation
The London based consultancy firm is planning to relocate its office in order to lower
down its cost and for this purpose it has chosen areas around Banbury, Oxfordshire. Further there
are some objectives which the company wants to achieve with the help of this relocation. It aims
at reducing physical cost and growing business income by 10% every year. Other than this, it
also focus on retaining its earning capacity. Therefore, it can be stated that the above stated aims
and objectives will help the company to grow and expand in future. In addition to this, it will
also helps in increasing profitability and sale of services. After carrying out the assessment of the
objective, it can be stated that these objective will are very effective. The consultancy firms has
developed specific objectives which will provide direction to the firm. Other than this, it is also
time bound which states that the company will required to achieve them within give mainframe.
Therefore, the objective can be appraised as they will benefit the firm to a great extent. The
company wants to gain high market share and it can be done with the help of improving the
existing IT system. It will also helps in improving communication and flow of information
between clients and the consultancy firm. The projects which will be required to carry out
relocation include construction of building, cabling and LAN services installation of Wan and
telecommunication services. In the end, improvements will be done in IT systems.
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1.2 List of project and necessary project sub division
Every company is required to divide their projects in various small parts and activities in
order to carry out the whole project in effective manner (Turner, 2014). Further segregation of
activities helps the project manager to focus on each and every aspects of the task. The
consultancy company can use the model of Work breakdown structure in order to sub divide its
activities. The structure breaks down the projects into various kind of manageable pieces. In
addition to this, it is the initial process and also considered as the foundation of project, other
than this, the structure will also help the consultancy company to schedule and assign resources
to their activity of relocation. The amount of financial resources required can be calculated with
the help of forecasting technique. Further it will take various aspects such as cost of construction
of new office premises, transportation cost and legal formalities into consideration. It can be
stated that the relocation process will required one month of time and it will also required lots of
human, technological and financial resources.
Following mentioned are the resources required for the project:
 Time- Every project requires time to get completed which can be either long or short. To
complete this project adequate time will be required and it is one of the major resource
required.
 Cost- Before undertaking any kind of project, managers are required to determine
estimated cost of the same. A significant amount of financial resources will be required to
carry out this project in effective manner. Further if these resources are not arranged then
the entire project will become a failure.
 Human resources- People will be also required to implement the project and achieve its
objectives. Human resources needs to have knowledge about technology in order to get
the best possible outcome.
ACTIVITY 2
1.3 Description and evaluation of suitable methodologies for chosen project
The process of relocation can be completed by using various kind of methodologies.
Further these methods will help in carrying out the activity in a cost effective manner (Larson
and Gray, 2011). The method will be selected for relocation will be water fall project
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management. This will help in designing the activities of project in proper sequence so that the
progress can be easily measured and monitored.
It is required by the company to choose suitable method for the project as it will result in
achievement of aims and objectives regarding the relocation. After carrying out the evaluation
of the methodologies, it can be stated that the waterfall model is very easy to implement and the
amount of resources required in this is also very less. Other than this, it has a high degree of
visibility as the output gets generated after each and every stage. The management of project has
also become very easy after applying this method. Further it has also enhanced the overall
quality of the entire project as it gives more importance to quality rather than giving focus to cost
and schedule after carrying out the evaluation, it has been also found that if the user or client is
not having adequate knowledge of IT then it can be very difficult for him to use this
methodology.
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Illustration 1: The Waterfall model
(Source: Hass, 2007)

1.4 Feasibility of project
It is also required by the company to take care of the feasibility of the project. Some of
the aspects by which feasibility can be checked are mentioned below as: Operational feasibility- This aspects help businesses to identify whether the previous
problems faced by employees has been resolved or not (Kerzner, 2013). Further the main
objective of constancy company behind relocation is to lower down its overall cost. This
will help in increasing profitability and retaining the business earning capacity.
 System feasibility- Main task of the company is to deliver consultancy services to
customer all across the world. Further it needs to ensure that its system is effective and
fast services are delivered to people. The relocation will lower the cost and will also
make the system more productive and cost effective.
 Financial feasibility- The activity of relocation can be also termed as financially feasible
as they can be organized from various sources of finance available.
This project can be termed as feasible in terms of operations, system and finance. Further
it will help in identification and rectification of the problem which has been faced by the
employees. On the other hand, it will also make the system more effective and efficient in terms
of delivering services to customers. Further they finances required for this project will be made
easily available. The issues here is related with IT system and it can be overcome with the help
of new system. This project plan will plays very important role in supporting the technology and
then developing it to produce the best possible outcomes. The project plan has been prepared
under the budget and the finance regarding same will be allocated easily. Feasibility is a
parameter which identifies whether it is possible to carry out the plan practically or not. Thus, it
can be stated that the entire project will be feasible in every aspect.
2.1 Structure for management and administration of project
The structure of project will describe that how the activities will be manage and
administered (Meredith and Mantel Jr, 2011). Further vertical structure is used by the company
which is also termed as tall structure's. In such kind of structure the to level of management
makes the whole decision regrading the project and delegates authority and responsibilities to
lower level managers. In addition to this, such type of structure always have well defined roles
and responsibilities (What is project management?, 2015). Therefore, the manager and people
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related to the project will have a better understanding about their respective roles, duties and
responsibilities. Other than this, by using vertical structure the company will be able to manage
their activities and task regrading relocation in more effective manner.
2.2 Roles and responsibilities for staff which will manage the project
It is also important to define the roles and responsibilities of the staff members which will carry
out the project. Further the roles and responsibilities are mentioned below as:
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Illustration 2: Structure of Project

 Planning- Plan can be termed as the process in which detailed plans are made in order to
carry out the task or activity (Baker, Murphy and Fisher, 2008). It is the responsibilities
for staff members to determine an action plan for the relocation process. Further they are
also required to determines the amount of human and technological resources which will
be required during the project. Budgeting- The staff members will be also required to carry out the process of budgeting.
It will help in determining the amount of financial resources required during the project.
The activity of budgeting will help the consultancy company to carry out the complete
relocation process in a cost effective manner. Management and control- Staff members will be also responsible for managing and
controlling the activities of relocation (Winter and Cicmil, 2006). Further they have to
ensure that all the activities are carried out in desired manner. Along with this, they will
be required to identify barriers in the process and eliminated them in order to achieve the
aim and objective of project.
 Monitoring and evaluation- The team of staff members will be responsible for
monitoring and evaluating relocation of consultancy company (Highsmith, 2009).
Monitoring will help in identify the loop holes in project and evaluating will help in
determining whether the desired results have been achieved or not.
Job description and personal specification
Job description can be defined as a statement which reflects the duties, roles and
responsibilities for a person. The job description for project manager is mentioned below as:
Job description for project manager
Position- Project manager Reports to- Managing Director
Department- Project department Location- London
Job responsibilities:
 Planning out the project and discussing its scope with senior management of company.
Further he will be also responsible to determine the human, financial and technical
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resources which will be required to complete the project.
 Staffing the project is also one of the most important responsibility of a project manager. In
addition to this, he is required to take care of activities such as recruitment and selection of
employees for the project
 Implementing the project according to the plan made.
 Controlling the entire project and monitoring the budget band cash flow during the entire
project.
 Evaluating the project and ensuring that it is completed on time and within the budget.
On the other hand, personal specification defines the skills and attributes which are
required by person in order to complete the given task. The personal specification of project
manager is mentioned below as:
Person specification for project manager
Essential Desirable
Attainments
Experience Five year of experience Candidate needs to have five
year of experiences in
handling projects along with
good communication skills.
Qualification and training University degree in project
management
The candidate is required to
have a degree of project
management from a
recognized university
General intelligence
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Knowledge and expertise Expertise in English and
computers
Candidate should have good
command over English and
should be expertise in word
processing, simple
accounting, data base
management, spreadsheets,
E-mail and Internet.
Aptitude
Personal attributes Must have some interpersonal
skills
Candidate must have verbal
and no-verbal
communication skills. He
must be self confident and
critical thinker along with
problem solver. It is also
required by the project
manager to have time
management skills. Further
he must have ability to
accept constructive
feedback.
Disposition
Change management Must be ready to work in
flexible hours
Candidate should accepted
changes and should be
capable of adapting them.
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ACTIVITY 3
2.3 Detailed project plan
Plan can be determine as the steps taken to achieve the aim and objectives of a project.
Further the plan for relocation is mentioned below as:
 Gathering information- The plan for the project will begin with collecting adequate
amount of information required for the relocation. Further the information will be related
to new system, resources and policies (Cicmil and et. al., 2006). The information
regrading what the additional services which can be used by the consultancy firm to
improve its efficiency will be also collected.
 Creating task list and breaking up of work structure- The second step in project plan will
consist of creating the list of task and then breaking down those activities. This will help
in implementing the project plan in more effective manner (Atkinson, Crawford and
Ward, 2006). Listing of task will also help in prioritizing the activities and determination
the new roles and responsibilities.
 Execution- The third step in the plan will consist of execution process which will include
various activities such as assigning new roles and responsibilities to all new and old
employee of the company (Shenhar and Dvir, 2007). In addition to this, along with
structure, the culture of the consultancy will also change.
 Project measurement and control- It will be required by the project manager to measure
and control the overall activities of relocation (Leach, 2014). Further he will be required
to compare the actual results with the desired results of the project. The manager will be
required to take corrective measure if the desired results are not achieved.
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Setting of business
objectives 2 days Thu 07-01-16 Fri 08-01-16
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