Project Management Assessment: ABC PLC Acquisition of DEF Ltd

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MANAGING PROJECTS ASSESSMENT
QUESTION
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Contents
TASK 1:........................................................................................................................................... 3
TASK 2:........................................................................................................................................... 8
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 15
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Project management is a group of activities which starts from planning and organizing the
resources of company for executing the different tasks of the event. The activities of project
management start with setting of objectives and end with accomplishing those objectives. A
project is unique operation of company and it is not done regularly but when the opportunity
arises or when company wants to solve a problem. This report includes important features of
project which is mandatory before starting a project. Moreover, this report also includes the
important features of ABC PLC when the company is preparing a project to acquire DEF Ltd.
TASK 1:
1) a.
Project is termed as the actions which are used to achieve the desired aims and targets
of the project. It is not used to complete the objectives of daily routine and it is an
integration of quality assurance, time management and proper utilization of resources.
The project was aimed to achieve something unique which was done for the first time.
The overall project is well-defined in terms of cost, required performance and schedule.
This is a temporary activity and done for the first time, therefore, its activities are
unfamiliar to people. The key aim of the project is to attain particular aims or objects
(Saunders et al., 2016).
b.
This document describes the project and it aids in defining the success of the overall project.
The primary purpose of PID is to collect and record the correct information required for
carrying out the project properly. PID consists of the aims of the project and the explanations of
the importance to achieve these goals. It is used as a primary document of the project which
assists the project manager to calculate the progress, issues of change management and
continuous feasibility questions (Wingate, 2016).
2) a.
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Project Scope Statement is a tool used to define the deliverables of the task and also to
define the assumptions, constraints and key factors of success. In simple terms, it
defines the project boundaries. It is prepared before starting the project, team members
and other stakeholders agree on a particular statement before starting to implement
the project (Raza, 2019). The elements included in the project scope statement are as
follows:
 Describing project scope
 Defining project deliverables
 Criteria for user acceptance
 Project limitations
 Assumptions and restraints of the project
Work breakdown structure categorizes and defines each activity in detail which also helps in
defining the scope of each activity. WBS divides the whole project into a small achievable task
so that the scope of each activity should be completed properly.
3)
Gantt chart of this project is as follows:
Tasks Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6
A
B
C
D
E
F
Critical path
The path followed to complete the overall venture can be in four several ways which are as
follows:
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1. Start-A-B-C-D-E-F-Finish
2. Start-A-B-C-E-F-Finish
3. Start-A-B-D-E-F-Finish
4. Start-A-B-C-D-F-Finish
Hence the critical route selected for completing the project can be A-B-C-D-F and the time
required to finish the project is 17 days.
4)
There are a total of two approaches which are used at the time of generating a budget
for an exact project budget are:
 Bottom-up approach: the budget is prepared after consulting with the team
members regarding each activity and the cost involved in each activity. This
approach starts with calculating the cost from the lowest activity and then
adding up each activity to get the overall cost of the project. Both direct and
indirect costs are added up in calculating the budget. The advantage of this
approach is that the budget will be more accurate. It also increases the morale of
the team as team manager involves each team member at the time of
developing the budget. The disadvantage of this approach is that it requires
details of each activity which is required to complete the whole project (Schmid,
2019).
 Top-down approach: the decision regarding the cost is taken by the senior
executive of the project. This is not a guessing budget and the individual has to
explain how the work will be completed in the allocated budget. The budget will
only be realistic if it was prepared from the experience. The main benefit of this
method is its emphasis on finishing the project within the budget and reducing
the wasteful practices (Harrison and Lock, 2017). The disadvantage of this
method is that it assumes that the individual developing the project has
complete knowledge about the project and this specialized in this task.
5)
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The danger in the project arises if there are unskilled or people do not have proper
knowledge about the project and likewise when the concept of the project is not
evidently defined.
Therefore it should be managed with a risk management plan which will help in
decreasing the risk factor from the project. There are five ways which help in decreasing
the risk from the project are identifying and analyzing the risk factor, assessing the risk
in terms of probability and severity, after that searching for different methods to
manage the risk and then observing the risk so that project activities should be properly
managed (Kendrick, 2015).
There are five responses which can be taken within project management to minimize or
reduce the risk in the project and these are as follows:
Avoid: means to remove the cause of risk which can be done by modifying the project in
some other way so that it can avoid the risk.
Mitigate: there are some risk in the project which cannot be avoided but the strategies
should be developed to minimize the impact of risk on the project.
Transfer: it means to transfer the risk to other party or a third party and its examples
are a guarantee, insurance, warranties and many more.
Accept: sometimes the risk may be accepted because of no choice or it has less impact
on the project.
Share: distribute ownership with the third party such as supplier or partner so that they
can increase the benefits by using shared technology or resources.
6)
Project evaluation methods
1. Return on Investment (ROI)
It is used to calculate the investment from the project, and a higher ratio shows that
higher return from investment and more acceptability (Thomas et al., 2018). The
method suitable for calculating return in the project is Return on Capital Employed
(ROCE) which is calculated by applying the following formula:
ROCE= net profit minus tax
total investment capital
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Also, there is the second method to calculate the success of the project in terms of ROI
which can be calculated by applying the following formula:
ROI= Amount of profit
amount of investment
Project monitoring and controlling method
This method are divided into two categories which are a quantitative and qualitative method.
The quantitative method measures these activities in numerical terms such as financial
auditing, total hours an individual spent on the project and so on. The qualitative methods
measure the success of the project in non-numerical terms such as developing reports,
assessing project documentation or it can be an interview with the people involved in the
project.
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TASK 2:
Executive summary
This report includes the important features which a manager must consider to achieve the
administrative objectives and areas. The project manager of ABC PLC should undertake
necessary responsibilities for the acquirement of DEF. This report focuses on the benefits from
the perspective of both companies.
Introduction
Proper implementation of the project is very essential for accomplishing the pre-defined
objectives. The ABC Company has been known for successful mergers and acquisitions and it is
planning to acquire DEF Company to expand its business in the new product line. This report
includes will help in determining the future operations of ABC company for expanding the
business. This project mainly focuses on key aspects of acquisition and the benefits of this joint
venture to both companies. John, functional manager of the ABC PLC has the responsibility to
successfully acquire DEF Ltd. and undertake all responsibilities of planning, execution or
termination of the activities of this project (Kerzner, 2017). This project also includes the time
obligatory to finish the project as well as cost in the project. In addition to this, project life cycle
phases and control and leadership techniques are also included in this project report.
Body of the report:
Purpose of the project
The primary objective of the project is to forecast future activities, risk, or problems so that all
activities must be completed on time. In other words, it is also used to plan the activities,
convey it to others as well as having full control of execution of these activities. The project was
planned to achieve pre-defined objectives or goals or accomplishing some particular purpose.
The objective of this project is to complete the acquisition of one company by another company
(Lock, 2017). The case study shows that ABC PLC wants to acquire DEF Ltd. so that it can
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connect with the new customers of DEF Ltd. and expand its business across various cities of the
UK. The reason behind this acquisition is because of their successful acquisition over the past
few years which helps the company to achieve its objectives. To make this project successful, it
is very vital to identify the skills, competencies, and knowledge of the project manager. It is
because the project manager has to assess different phases of project management and to
implement them.
Scope of the project
The scope starts with the documentation of the project objectives. This project also focuses on
finding the total cost and period required to finish the project. This project covers several
factors such as determining the cost of project, requirements, process and its importance, the
significance of communication in achieving the objective and so on. This project also consists of
identifying the limits or boundaries of the project based on the cost. The scope of this project
also includes the concept of change management to build coordination between external and
internal stakeholders. The scope of this project can be calculated based on the cost (Nicholas
and Steyn, 2017).
Benefits of the project
Benefits of the project mean the advantages the stakeholders can take from completing the
project. The main advantage that both companies can get from this acquisition is to increase
the profit by increasing the customer base. This project also includes some of the disadvantages
i.e. even after completing this project many of the advantages will remain unrevealed.
Therefore it will be beneficial for the stakeholders to find the benefits within the period.
Moreover, the other benefits of this project include assessing and decreasing the risk, increase
in efficiency and effectiveness of the activities to get more output, this will also develop and
improve the reputation of the company.
Project scheduling
This is a tool which is used to plan and execute the tasks which are mandatory to attain the
objectives of the project. This includes performing all activities properly so that it can be
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completed on time. Without planning or project schedule, it becomes tough for the project
manager to complete the project. This also comprises developing the budget of this project
which makes it more effective and more applicable. The project manager also has the option to
use project management software for controlling or managing different activities of this project
and also calculating the overall cost of this project. To complete this project smoothly, the WBS
will help in identifying different steps and its sequence to complete the project (Boctor and
Kadri, 2016). The project schedule also reflects the milestone which will be accomplished after
achieving the objectives.
Competencies and skills of project manager
The project manager should arrange and allocate all factors properly so that each activity
should be completed within pre-defined time. Further, the project manager also has to consider
some important factors for governing and observing the activities of the overall project. John,
who is a project manager of ABC PLC, has to analyze, allocate, monitor and control the project
and he can also take the help of suitable technique for doing the same.
Figure 1: Project manager competencies
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Project
manager
competencies
Planning
Motivation
Decision making
Judgement
Communication
Goal setting

The above diagram shows the expertise and capabilities required in any project manager. The
descriptions of these competencies are as follows:
Planning
This is the primary requirement for any project to be fruitful. It is because the planning of the
project starts in advance to execute the project. He develops the strategies and plans before
fulfilling the project activities. The planning of the project includes setting objectives, defining
activities, allocation of resources in terms of time and cost required for each task (Brière et al.,
2015).
Goal setting
The setting of the goal is done before planning. Before starting to plan different activities it is
essential to outline the goals and objectives of the project and then identifying what resources
are required to achieve that goal. During setting goal, the project manager should focus on the
distribution of resources, properly defining terminologies of the project and also includes time
scheduling.
Communication
Communication is required to share their ideas i.e. team members. Communication skills will
aid the project manager to follow the specific structure of the project so that they can face any
issue or challenges faced at the time of completing the project (Liikamaa, 2015).
Judgment
At the time of completing the project, there are several situations arise where the project
manager has to take judgment and the correct result will help in completing the project
successfully.
Decision making
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Taking the right decision at the right time will help in a project manager to achieve the
objective, therefore the experienced project manager is selected for planning and executing the
project. The achievement of the project reflects the usefulness of the decision.
Motivation
This skill is connected to the ethical thought of the manager. It is because a new individual faces
several challenges and difficulties at the time of implementing each activity. Therefore, it is the
duty of the manager to motivate each member so that they can fulfill the task allocated to
them (Ramazani and Jergeas, 2015).
Work Breakdown Structure
WBS is a instrument used to highlight the sequence of activities and the time required to
complete each task.
Activities Start date Duration End date
Initiation and planning of
acquisition
1/07/2019 4 5/07/2019
Developing the outline of
the project
6/07/2019 10 16/07/2019
Taking permission for top
authority
17/07/2019 1 18/07/2019
Communication with all
stakeholders
19/07/2019 2 21/07/2019
Supplier’s agreement 22/07/2019 1 23/07/2019
Distribution of resources
and preparing budget
24/07/2019 6 30/07/2019
Allocating task to team
members
31/07/2019 1 1/08/2019
Providing training according
to their task
2/08/2019 10 12/08/2019
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