Project Management in Higher Education: A Case Study

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Project management

Executive summary
The report is on project management which is based on the project of the campus renovation.
The renovation includes the refurbishment of computer labs and teaching rooms of the QAHE
QA Higher Education situated in London, Manchester, and Birmingham. The event has to be
organized for the launching and opening of newly renovated campus which will be organized on
the day of fresher's in September. The principles of project management are considered while
handling a project. The methodology used and applied is PRINCE2. The entire project involved
the staff in the form of stakeholders, students, investors, designers, professors, etc. The report
includes the Work Breakdown Structure and the Gantt chart which gives detailed information
about the progress of the report.

Table of Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Project initiation document..............................................................................................................5
Objective......................................................................................................................................5
Budgetary information.................................................................................................................5
Timescales....................................................................................................................................5
Approach......................................................................................................................................6
Key staff.......................................................................................................................................6
Stakeholder...................................................................................................................................6
Work Breakdown Structure.............................................................................................................7
Risk analysis....................................................................................................................................7
Short report......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
Appendix........................................................................................................................................12
Appendix 1: Timescales.............................................................................................................12
Appendix 2: Stakeholder Analysis.............................................................................................12
Appendix 3: Work Breakdown Structure...................................................................................13
Appendix 4: Work Breakdown Table........................................................................................14
Appendix 5: Gantt chart.............................................................................................................14
Appendix 6: Risk Analysis........................................................................................................15

Introduction
Project management includes the tools, skills, techniques, and knowledge to meet the
requirements of the project. The project management includes five groups which include
initiating, executing, planning, controlling, and closing. It draws knowledge on the areas of
scope, integration, quality, procurement, communication, cost, time, human resources,
stakeholder management, and risk management. The project management brings its focus on the
resources, schedule, and goals. The report made is based on the project management techniques
that are used for handling and managing the project of the campus renovation. The project
involves all the information regarding the project with the Gantt chart and work breakdown
structure. These are used so that the progress of the project can be analyzed. It also includes the
budgetary information and the analysis of the stakeholders. The risk register is also made that is
provided in the appendix which shows the impact of the risk and how it can be overcome. The
methodology used is PRINCE2 which is also discussed in detail and how it helped in project
management.

Project initiation document
Project name: Inaugural Ceremony of QAHE
Date: 01/08/2019
Author: StudentName
Owner: Management Member
Document code: Document File
Version: The version of the document (e.g. v2.12)
Objective
The goal is to renovate the computer labs and teaching rooms of the campus. The objective of
this project chosen is to give the environment to the students that can give them the motivation to
study, research, and to do experiments. It will also provide a good experience to the teachers and
also make them motivated to deliver the best to the students. Various new technologies are
introduced for making the teaching and learning interesting. Project management is used for the
successful completion of the project and to well manage the project. The procedure of the
project, project management involves many points.
Budgetary information
The proper budget of the project should be generated and it should be clear. This is the best
practice for the management of the project. The total budget provided for the project is £50,000.
The entire amount is required to split into different events that will be held in the party. This
includes the expenses of the event organization, formal ceremony, drinks and food, and some
informal events for staff and students as well. This also includes the printing of invitation cards
and sending those invitations to local and national guests.

Timescales
Managing time is necessary for keeping the information on the budget. This is very essential in
project management. For timely delivery, the deadlines are set on which the clients expect to
have the project. Therefore, the project should be initialized on time with proper planning and
scheduling of the project tasks. This helps to manage the time and work and enables to
successfully complete the work on time. It also helps to set the milestones on time. To manage
the project and to schedule the task, timescale is produced in a table format. The table for the
timescale is given below in Appendix 1.
Approach
The approach for project management is the use of PRINCE2 methodology. It stands for
PRojects IN Controlled Environments. It is a methodology that is very efficient and optimal.
The framework of PRINCE2 methodology needs the following: the controlled and organized
start, middle, and end. There are many roles in this project management for this particular project
of campus renovation. One of the roles is the role of a project manager who takes the
responsibility of managing the project from the beginning to the end. They select the people who
hold the ability to handle the project. The second role is the role of the project board which
consists of the suppliers, customers, and senior users. The project board has to be reported to the
manager of the project on a regular basis. The third role is the role of suppliers who are
responsible for supplying the product or services to the customers. The fourth role is the role of
the customers who receive the outcome and results from the supplier and in turn, pays for the
same. The techniques used project assurance and project support.
Key staff
The staff involved in the project plays a vital role in project management. They help in the
working of the project directly or indirectly. The staff includes a team of developers, investors,
stakeholders, project managers, students, professors, and many more. They affect the working of
the project. The stakeholder is the key staff and without their support, the working of the project
is affected and hindered.

Stakeholder
Stakeholders are the investors who invest their funds in the working of the project and are
responsible for affecting the action of the organization with the use of their policies, principles,
and objectives. They show their interest in the results and outcome of the project. there are many
types of stakeholders and some of them which are included in this project are sponsors, lecturers,
managers of the project, the team of developers, and many more. They are responsible for
affecting the working of the project positively or negatively. They play a vital role in project
management. They are held responsible for the success or failure of the project. stakeholders can
be either a group of individuals, an individual, or a group or organization. The analysis of the
stakeholders are given below in Appendix 2.the table includes the stakeholders and their impact
on the project. It also includes how they are responsible for blocking the working and how will
they manage.
Work Breakdown Structure
Work breakdown structure (WBS) is a structure that shows the division of the tasks. The tasks
are divided into small modules and each task contains several modules. It includes the product,
service, or combination of both. This particular project also needs efforts and work from
different members for different tasks. For the representation of the tasks, the work breakdown
structure is made which is attached below in Appendix 3. The explanation for the work
breakdown structure is provided in Appendix 4. For showing the scheduling if the planned
project is described in a Gantt chart which is attached and given below in Appendix 5. All the
tables give the proper scheduling and planning detail. Since the tasks are divided into many
sections and small modules, then to manage such projects becomes easy but time consumption is
high. To overcome such time issue planning is necessary for advancement.
Risk analysis
The term risk defines the probability of the harm and damage to the project. There are many risks
that are involved in project management. Some of them are budget risks, disputes, and resource
risks. The budget risk is related to the project's budget, resource risks are related to the resources
that will be used in the project. These risks are required to be eliminated for the smooth working

of the project. Risk management is the process of minimizing and eliminating the risks from the
project. The risks that are encountered are necessary to be handled and the handling of such risks
is done through this process which makes the project optimal. The table for the risk analysis is
given below in Appendix 6.
Short report
Report to the sponsors
Date:
From:
To:
The project sponsors
Director of operations
Report
Dear XYZ,
Project management is done by the leader and the manager of the project who is the person that
has the capability to lead the team. The project management is necessary and beneficial for the
successful completion of the project. The leader should have the qualities of leadership and
should be able to manage the small tasks or modules of the project. The person who tends to be
the manager should have specific goals in mind and should be ambitious towards his/her goals. If
the person is not capable of leading the team, then he/she is not able to become the leader of the
team. The manager should have the qualities of leadership and should know and be aware of how
to coordinate the workflow done by the members of the team. They should be able to motivate
the members of the team. The leader should have guts and should be courageous so that he/she
can accept any challenge that will come across the path. Also, they should have the capability to
deal with various kinds of risks. Clear planning and scheduling of the project modules should be

done so that fewer risks and errors be encountered. Hence, the leader and the manager should be
appropriately chosen.
Comparison of project management methodology:
Methods Strengths Weakness Recommendations
Waterfall
This is a sequential
process and is a
traditional approach
that does not allow us
to go to the best step
until the previous
step has successfully
completed.
After the completion
of the previous phase,
the next phase starts.
Making a change in
this methodology is
difficult and
impossible as one
cannot go back to the
previous step.
It is the less
recommended
methodology because
of its weakness.
Agile
This is the
methodology that
allows the
collaboration with the
clients and also
allows continuous
delivery.
The main goal of the
methodology is to
satisfy the clients and
to maintain the
transparency within
the team.
In this methodology,
the budget for the
project is not fixed
and is varied.
This methodology is
recommended for
every project.
PRINCE2
This methodology is
used in projects that
use project
management.
In this methodology,
the risks are
evaluated and many
analyses are done as
well for the
betterment of the
project.
This is a very
expensive
methodology and
needs lots of efforts.
This methodology is
very efficient in
project management.

Conclusion
The report includes the strategy of project management using which the project of campus
renovation has taken place. The renovation is of the computer labs and teaching rooms of the
QAHE QA Higher Education premises situated in Manchester, Birmingham, and London. The
report describes the management of the project and the involvement of the staff. The report
includes the project initiation document (PID) and the stakeholder analysis. It also includes every
minute details of the project along with the proper planning of the tasks and its schedule. The
planning and the timescale are described in detail and shown in the form of work breakdown
structure and Gantt chart.

References
Charvat, J., 2003. Project management methodologies: selecting, implementing, and supporting
methodologies and processes for projects. John Wiley & Sons.
de Carvalho, M.M., Patah, L.A., and de Souza Bido, D., 2015. Project management and its
effects on project success: Cross-country and cross-industry comparisons. International Journal
of Project Management, 33(7), pp.1509-1522.
Eskerod, P. and Huemann, M., 2016, February. Rethink! Project stakeholder management.
Project Management Institute.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Kerzner, H., 2018. Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John Wiley
& Sons.
Kliem, R.L. and Ludin, I.S., 2019. Reducing project risk. Routledge.
Meredith, J.R., Mantel Jr, S.J. and Shafer, S.M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Wideman, R.M., 2002. Comparing PRINCE2® with PMBoK®. AEW Services, Vancouver, BC,
Canada.