Project Management Report: Project Management Aspects

This report delves into the core aspects of project management within organizations. It begins by outlining project characteristics, followed by an explanation of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the creation of Gantt charts for project scheduling, including critical path identification. The report then explores various investment appraisal techniques used for project selection, alongside a detailed examination of risk management plans aimed at mitigating project risks. Furthermore, it includes a comprehensive report on project management, elaborating on the roles and responsibilities of a project manager, crucial for successful project execution. The study covers techniques for investment appraisal, risk management, and the major aspects for monitoring the project quality. This report is a valuable resource for understanding project management principles and practices.

MANAGING PROJECTS
STUDENT NAME:
STUDENT ID:
UNIVERSITY:
1

Executive summary
The study on the topic discusses the characteristics of the project within organisations. The Work
Breakdown Structure for the projects is stated in the study. The techniques used for investment
appraisal on the projects are discussed in the later portion of the study. The risk management
plan is done for the reduction of risks within the projects of an organisation is elaborated within
the study. Further, the study discusses on the project management and the aspects of project
manager in the form of report and is included in the later part of the study.
2

Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
1. Characteristics of project.............................................................................................................4
2. Explanation of Work Breakdown Structure................................................................................4
3. Projection of Gantt chart and identification of critical path with the information of project
completion.......................................................................................................................................5
4. Different techniques for investment appraisal of project selection.............................................6
5. Explanation of Risk Management Plan.......................................................................................6
6. Major aspects for monitoring the project quality........................................................................7
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Report on project management........................................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
Reference list.................................................................................................................................16
3

Introduction
The processes of project initiation, planning of the entire project, proper execution, control over
the processes with closing the processes of the team involved in the project to achieve the
specified targets and gain sure success for the organisation criteria are collective called as
managing projects.
The aim of the study is to explore the managements involved in the projects of an organisation.
Further, it is included with the different benefits and the limitations from project managements.
The study also elaborates the competence of the managements related to the projects and various
elements involved in the project management. The study discusses the importance of project
management for any organisation.
Task 1
1. Characteristics of project
The project is generally the set of employees and various resources that are temporarily gathered
to achieve some specific objectives with the fixed budget within some specified period of time.
The projects are generally in association with procedures and the products which have to be done
for the first instance or taking some predefined and known procedures that can be altered. It has
some characteristics. Projects have specific goals and do require resources and have sufficient
budgets. It must be scheduled with the contribution of various efforts of different functional
people. The project must be unique and temporary and should be in trial and error methods. It
must consist of the clear target. The outcome may be uncertain.
4

2. Explanation of Work Breakdown Structure
The work breakdown structure is the major deliveries from the project which organise various
team works within some manageable sections. It defines the space of manageable chunks which
can be understood by the project team. Each section of the breakdown parts is defined to their
aspects and identities. According to Cusworth and Franks (2013, 63), the entire project is split
for making the work easy and can be processed with small member team for proper completion
of it. It is also considered as the map or outline of the specific project for an organisation. The
project member does create the work of the project into broken parts to identify the major
functional deliveries. It helps to understand the project purpose and the team are able to complete
within specified time.
3. Projection of Gantt chart and identification of critical path with the
information of project completion
The Gantt chart for project completion:
The various processes of the project are indicated as "a" to "h" serially and according to this the
Gantt chart is prepared.
Figure 1: Gantt chart
(Created: By self)
The critical path for the project:
5

Figure 2: Critical Path
(Created: By self)
The tasks which are done in the section of a, b, c, f and h seems to be the critical path for the
entire processes of the project. To complete the project total time taken is 30 days from the
beginning of the same.
4. Different techniques for investment appraisal of project selection
Investment appraisal for any projects has to be provided before the same can be started. This is
because the project depends only on investments by the organisation. the investment has to be
done with the analyses of return that can be yield from the outcome of the project. There should
be the estimation of project cost and the ultimate profit that the organisation can get after the
completion of the project. The proposed capital has to be evaluated by the project manager. The
techniques used for the appraisal of investments on the project are Payback and Return On
Capital Employed (ROCE).
5. Explanation of Risk Management Plan
The plans which are meant for reducing the risk factors that may occur from the project of an
organisation are termed to be the Risk Management plan. It is the formal information which
describes the process to deal with specific risk and their management actions that are to be taken
for reducing the threats of project processes and the outcomes from the project. Huemann and
6

Silvius (2015, p.600) stated that, in order to reduce the risk there should be some risk migration
plans which are for managing the threats of the project. The risk management plan consist of
project definition, the purpose of the project, software to be used, contents of the project, proper
approaches for the project activities, proper finish up with the project and evaluation of the same.
6. Major aspects for monitoring the project quality
Every project should be monitored and the purpose of doing such thing is for the beneficial of
the project. The operational manager of an organisation has to monitor the entire processes of the
project. The quality of the project has to be monitored for accessing the right path of work done
for the project and analyse the gaps or risks that may outcome from the project process.
Jacobsson et al. (2016, p.760) stated that, it is also done to reconstruct the project plans
whenever there is found any fault within the processes of it. It is monitored for ensuring the
critical success factors of the project. The project is measured continuously throughout the entire
processes of the project for proper completion of the project, which can yield sure success from
the project.
Task 2
Report on project management
Introduction
Organisations are responsible for delivering the products which can be used by the people
directly or indirectly. The productivity of the organisation requires various stages which are
performed by many workers and employees of the organisation. The different productivities are
done within some specific projects for which the project manager has to manage all the activities
for the project which are some effective ways to yield expected outcomes from the projects. Thus
7

the project manager is the responsible person for the proper productivity for any organisation.
The responsibilities of the project manager have been discussed in these reports which are
helpful to understand the roles and responsibilities of the project manager for an organisation.
The organisation which has its headquartered in the United Kingdom need to relocate their
business and all of its processes to a safe place which is free from the threats of terrorists.
According to D. Bushuyev and Friedrich Wagner (2014, p.305), being a project manager for the
organisation it can be suggested various things which can make benefit the organisation with
effective costing to establish their existing business to the new location. The new client is the
global leader of business and detects the threat of terrorism within public as well as the privet
sector business organisation. The organisations which have to be there in the business industry
has to be operated by some operational manager and project manager for their entire processes
which can yield better productivity with less cost with effective productivities. Every
organisational process is very critically analysed by the operational manager or project manager
which has to be properly judged and implement some theories and methods that can make the
processes easy for the workers and employees (Marabelli et al. 2013, p.320). These would help
the organisation to achieve their target as expected by them.
Description of a project manager of an organisation
The person who is responsible for all the charges within the planning and proper execution of
any particular project is termed to the project manager. The project manager who performs the
similar activities for an organisation is the project manager for that particular organisation. Thus
the project manager is the professional person who deals with the management of the projects.
Roles of a project manager
8

The project manager is responsible for project delivery for an organisation. She has to lead and
manage the team involved in the project since she has the responsibility as well as the authority
provided by the organisation. The project has to be managed with daily basis within the
processes of the project. Ramazani and Jergeas (2015, p.50) opined that, the controlled
environment of the project is generally called as the standard management of the projects and
this applies to every kind of projects. The project manager has the essential role to interact with
the project and the related business areas of the organisation. She has the role to communicate
and encourage the workers and employees which are the transformed and changed in the
business space in the random process so as to deliver new outcomes from projects which are well
capable of delivering effective productions. For sure success, the project manager has to play an
essential part within the organisation. She has to monitor every critical part within the project
processes and these are done for better completion of the project within the business organisation
(Brady and Davies, 2014, p.25). The roles of the project manager have to play the role with some
effective responsibilities.
Responsibilities of the project manager
The project manager is responsible for various things which have to be remembered during
management of the processes within the organisation. According to Turner et al. (2016, p.850),
the project manager is responsible for making design and applies the same to the appropriate
standards of project management that are for the effective gateway for the organisation's
productivity. She is responsible for management of the production for the organisation which are
required by them to be delivered. Planning the projects and monitor over the same are also
within the main responsibilities of the project manager. She has to adopt any delegation for using
the assuring roles of the project within the reporting structures that has been agreed. She has to
9

prepare the project structures along with its stages and relevant exceptional plans which are
required for better outcomes from the projects.
The project manager is also responsible for monitoring the entire project and manages the risks
from it along with developing the contingency plans for the project. She is responsible for
maintaining the project team and their work and providing job role according to the worker's
efficiency and ability. DeMarco and Lister (2013, p.68) stated that, appropriate technology and
strategies with better quality and standards are implemented by the responsibility of the project
manager. She has to identify and provide support and advice that are essential for proper
management, plan and control for the project. She is also responsible for managing the project
administration. Within her responsibility, it is her duty to conduct the evaluation review of the
project and assess the quality of the project and its segments. With the proper evaluation of the
project, she is responsible for providing any action recommendation which can provide better
outcomes from the completion of the project. The responsibilities of the project manager have to
fulfil for ensuring better management of the project which could benefit the business and yield
better productions for the organisation.
Skills required by the project manager
The project manager should be aware of the projects and the productions that the organisation is
related to. She must understand the requirement and expectations from the outcomes of the
business organisation. She must be able to well communicate with the workers and the
employees within the project. According to Du et al. (2014, p.832), proper communication
creates better delivery of the requirements to the team member and correct analyses can be done
to monitor the entire project. She should have the ability to develop the project and maintain the
10

same with perfect planning and segmenting it. She needs the skill to understand the business case
and the processes of risk management. She must be able to tailor with expert knowledge which
can meet certain specific circumstances. The proper planning and management of the financial
aspects have to be done by the project manager to meet the objectives of the organisation with
effective costing for all over processes of the organisation. She must be able to build and
communicate effectively with the different other roles which are involved in the project. She
should have the skill to apply processes and principles of quality management.
Understanding the project
The project manager has to understand the project for which she has been appointed and can
make betterment in the business of the organisation. Projects are the group of employees along
with various resources which are gathered for short span of time for achieving the specified
target of the organisation within the specific time allotted for the completion of the project. The
project generally is set for achieving specified target with some resources provided to complete
the project.
In the early days, the project management was done without the knowledge of ultimate outcome
from it. During those days the pyramids were built with some technology that has yielded the
principles of sound project management. The project managers in those days did not know about
the sound project management however they had succeeded to do so without prior knowledge of
the principles. Che et al. (2015, p.820) opined that, the projects in the modern times have to be
proper understood by the project managers which should prove the success and growth of the
organisation. the projects are to be managed by some person with better ability and efficiencies
and are termed to as project managers. Understanding the projects require the understanding of
11

the business trends which the organisation relates to. Development in the business and its trends
are embracing all the relevant aspects to manage projects within the organisation.
Life cycle of project
Every project has a beginning and the ending and comprises of four stage life cycle. The stages
of the project lifecycle are building concepts and initiate the project phase, designing the project
and develop the same, project construction and implementation of various activities for the
project and finishing of the project (Basu, 2014, p.180). The four stages of the life cycle of the
project are done to complete the project according to the organisation requirements followed by
the evaluation of the project that may be effective or not to generate better production from the
business. There are various models of theory or the life cycle of the project.
They are:
 Defining of project requirements.
 Planning of different tasks involved in the project.
 Gathering of the workforce, resources, funds, and times for the project activities.
 Execution of implementation and making the report for the project.
 The closing of the project.
The project varies according to the requirements and can be classified as:
 Change driven- the projects are implemented for making the change in the operations
which can match with the environment.
 The market is driven- projects are driven with respect to the needs of the market.
 Crisis-driven- whenever there is urgent requirement to produce any requirement the new
projects are implemented.
12