Project Management Report: QA Higher Education Freshers Week Event

This project management report details the planning and execution of a launch event for QA Higher Education, focusing on the refurbishment of teaching rooms and computing labs. The report comprises a Project Initiation Document (PID) outlining budget, timescales, objectives, and stakeholder analysis; a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with 20 items, demonstrating task organization and critical path analysis; and a Risk Register containing 10 documented risks with mitigation strategies. The event, scheduled for Freshers' Week, aims to attract students and enhance the university's competitiveness. The report covers various aspects of event management, including stakeholder analysis, WBS, risk management, and overall project planning for a successful launch.

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
1. Initial document of sample project..........................................................................................1
2. Work breakdown structure with 20 items................................................................................3
3. Risk register containing 10 fully documented risks.................................................................8
Short project report......................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Event management is regarded as project management part where an individuals or group
form or conduct events on huge scale like wedding, college events, ceremonies and others. In
order to organise events in efficacious way, a project planner required to perform several
practices like scheduling, budgeting, arrangement of transportation and many more (Meredith,
Mantel and Shafer, 2017). As per the case, this is on QA Higher Education (QAHE). It is going
to organise an event into college in September during fresher week. For instance, overall
accountability of conducting event in efficacious way is provided to project manager. So, for
effectual events, project manager may able to perform practices as well as plans such as budget
preparation, time framework for their accomplishment, setting objectives, recruiting employees
and grabbing attention of stakeholders. Moreover, development of work breakdown structure of
practices that is performed for conducting event effectively. They prepare risk register that they
may face at the time of events pre or post action. Apart from this, the analysis of short report that
is represent in front of organiser, operations director and so on. Also, evaluation as well as
analysis of strengths and weaknesses with the assistance of PRIENCE model is discussed in this
report.
TASK
1. Initial document of sample project
Project Title: Grab the attention of students as well as develop university more competitive.
Estimate Budget: Budget is prepared to organise as well as conducting events for
grabbing the attention of student as well as enhancing competition within marketplace and
Managing Director facilitates estimate £50,000 to project manager. It is the budget for overall
things that is going to perform as well as needed for efficacious and proper event like developing
or ambiance, foods and beverages, invitation and others. From the provided budget, funds will be
expend upon promotion as well as advertisement practices. Moreover, the arrangement of food
and beverages also needed more budget (Schwalbe2015). So, University have to perform
promotion and advertisement practices for grabbing the attention of London, Manchester and
other pupil.
Manager of project decide to categorised the overall budget part as per the practices that
is performed at event like about 20% will be spends upon food and beverages, 50% on invitation
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to media partner and people. For this event, University needs media for promoting its efficacious
as well as advance classrooms, computer rooms effectually. Prepare budget of about £50,000,
out of which 20% will be needed to organise ambiance to conduct events for around 2000
people. In addition to this, 20% that is remaining will be utilised into miscellaneous practices
like recruiting employees, hiring offices and others.
Timescales: This is regarded as time period that is needed to perform overall
investigation of conduction events appropriately (Kerzner2017). For instance, project manager
required to form team of proficient members that perform research to find efficacious people for
its classrooms as well as computer labs. In order to accomplish and organise events, organiser
needs about one month so that they can able to plan as well as arrange resources efficaciously.
From which, for promotion and advertisement they needs around 20 days. Moreover, project
manager requires about 2 days in order to book all things like speakers, mic, caterers for food
and beverages and others.
Objective – It is very important for this university to attract more and more students for
studying. The main objective of this event is to increase the number of students in the university
and to improve the pupil from London, Manchester as well as Birmingham. This will lead to
attract as well as improve number of students towards the respective organisation.
Approach – There are different approaches that can be used by the project manager of
the QA Higher education. It is very important to select the most appropriate and effective
approach that will help in attracting large number of students towards the project (Fleming and
Koppelman, 2016). The QA Higher Education manager should be concerned about the
promotion of such events via social media like Instagram, face book, twitter, any search engines
and many other in order to make as much as advertisement for popularising the program. Extra
focus can be made on other sources like printing pamphlets, newspaper and posters providing all
the relevant information about the project.
Stakeholders Analysis – The directors, suppliers and collaborative partners are different kind of
stakeholders in an organisation. Out of such individuals some are very crucial for the business
while few of them are not much effective in working. It has been observed that the stakeholders
of QA Higher Education are divided into 4 parts, namely, Donors, University head, Government
and the supplier. The parts of stakeholder are elaborated below.
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Donors: Such people are always at high power and invest large amount of funds to the
functioning of the university for high and smooth operations. Such donors includes, trustee,
research councils, politicians, parents and many more. These people are quite participative and
take active role in making crucial and important decisions associated with the working of
university. They also formulate ways to increase the profitability and rate of students admission.
Government (High power, low interest: It can be referred to the stakeholders of the
University who have more power in respect to activities and have less or very low interest
(Fortune and et.al., 2011). Government is responsible for developing rules and regulations along
with number of strategies and policies that can effect the decision making process as well as
operations of the University. Strategies and plans for events in QA higher education are also
developed by the government. There are chances that may effect activities and processes.
University Head (Low power, high interest):There are individuals and even a group of
individuals who have more interest in organisational tasks and processes. Dean and board of
directors of QA higher education University have less power and more interest in event which is
going to be conducted in the University.
Suppliers (Low power, low interest):Suppliers are the individuals or group of individuals
who supply resources to the university. In universities such individuals or group of individuals
provide resources such as food, stationary and electronics and so on (Braglia and Frosolini,
2014). Role of supplier in event which is going to be conduct in QA university is to provide
eatables, sound systems, furniture and many more.
2. Work breakdown structure with 20 items.
Work breakdown structure is characterised as technique wherein all the activities are
bifurcate into distinct small portions that leads towards successfully completing task. The
structure includes dividing entire work so to plan activities as per convenience (Harrison and
Lock, 2017). The structure is majorly used to process business modelling along with covers
diverse phases. It helps in developing work efficiency and is effectively designed and properly
managed. In context to QA Higher Education, the managers are planning launch event for the
new classes addition to promote teaching methods as well as computer labs. In addition, critical
path analysis encompasses identifying the time for finishing activities along with dependencies
of individual activity on others. This tool plays important role at QA Higher education as with
this scheduling of project activities are done and event is managed effectively. Moreover, the
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tool helps to identify critical path along with activities that may act as barriers for event success.
The event manager of QA Higher Education divide entire workings in 20 activities that are as
mentioned:
1. Setting objective: In this, appropriate objective are set that QA Higher Education wants
to deliver to audience regarding the advance technological classrooms addition to
computer lab.
2. Attracting investors: Herein, the event planner of QA Higher Education will attract
investors so to get funds for the successfully launching the event.
3. Market research: Herein, authorities of QA higher education will perform market
research activities so to identify potential audiences that are belonged to local or
international locations for the event (Turner, 2016).
4. Choosing suitable idea: At this element, suitable idea will be chosen by respective
university to select audiences as per the information collected through market research.
5. Selecting Venue: At this, venue will be selected by event planners of the university
where the event will be organised.
6. Contractual set-ups: In this, QA Higher Education will make various contractual set-ups
for the event.
7. Preparing budgets: Administrators of QA Higher Education will prepare budgets for all
the activities so to get estimations for the expenditures.
8. Updating websites: Respective university will update their websites with all the
necessary information about the launching event (Besteiro, Souza Pinto and Novaski,
2015).
9. Hiring manpower: Event planner of respective university will hire competent manpower
so that all the activities will be smoothly carried out.
10. Staff Coordination: After hiring manpower by the respective university planner,
activities are allocated to them and all their workings are coordinated with each other.
11. Developing project plan: In this, QA higher Education develops entire project plan for
the workings that has to be conducted.
12. Preparing guest list: Herein, guest list about who are to be invited for the launching of
event is prepared by planning team.
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13. Outlining food and beverages: As per the guest list, food and beverages are outlined by
event planning team of QA Higher Education.
14. Equipment hiring as well as testing: In this, all the required equipments are hired from
various sources and are tested by QA higher Education team.
15. Publicity: Herein, special adjustments are made by the planners of respective university
so to enhance awareness of the targeted audiences regarding the event.
16. Marketing campaigns: Marketing team of QA Higher Education will conduct marketing
campaigns for promoting the event.
17. Developing entertainment activities: Herein, various entertainment activities are
developed by planning team for the respective university for the event.
18. Implementing safety measures: Safety measures are implemented at the selected venue
in order to reduce occurrence of unfavourable circumstances at the time of event of QA
Higher Education.
19. Making Seating arrangements: In this, all the seating arrangements are made so that the
guest do not face any inconvenience while attending the event.
20. Analysing effectiveness: Herein, event planner of QA Higher Education carefully
analyses effectiveness of all the workings in proper manner.
21. Post launch activities: In this, all the post launch activities are executed by QA Higher
Education so to achieve success in the event.
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3. Risk register containing 10 fully documented risks.
Risk register is one of tool that helps in documenting all risk types so that they are
managed properly. It is important as it provides information about occurrence of distinct risk
prior to event as well as helps in overcoming them (Garvey, Book and Covert, 2016.). It is very
essential for QA Higher Education to identify risk and reduce them through suitable measures. In
context to QA Higher Education, following are documented risks for the event:
S. No Risk Severity Responsibil
ity
Mitigation as well as
contingency actions
Scores
(out of 10)
1 Natural
calamity
High Insurance
team
It is connected with
natural disaster that may
occur due to changes in
nature as well as the event
can be protected by
making arrangement at
indoor place or big hall
(Webb, 2017).
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2 Reputation
loss
High Event
organiser
It is concerned with loss of
reputation of University
and it can be overcomes
through ensuring that all
the facilities are provided
to attendees as per set
criteria and pursuing
activities through ethical
conduct.
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3 Cancellation
at last
minute
High Marketing
head
This risk is concerned
with cancellation of
attendees at last minutes
due to poor promotions
and marketing. To prevent
this risk type, marketing
manager is responsible for
advertising the event at
large scale so to gather
more people.
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4 Delays in
required
product
High Event
Planner
It is concerned with delay
in getting the required
product and to prevent it,
event planner is required
to plan other strategies if
such situations arises (Luo
and Et. Al., 2019).
9
5 Equipment
loss
Medium Department
of
technology
It is concerned with stage
breakdown or issues in
sound or video system. It
can be mitigated through
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keeping a backup plan as
well as double testing the
equipments prior to event
commencement.
6 Food
hygiene
Medium Catering
Team
It is generally concerned
with hygienes of food
items and to mitigate it the
catering team must adopt
effective hygiene factors
including clean utensils,
wearing gloves and so on.
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7 Shortage of
financial
resources
Medium Finance
manager
This risk is concerned
with fund shortage which
may be faced while
executing activities for the
event. To mitigate the risk,
reserves of funds are kept
for emergency situations.
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8 Breakdown
of
coordination
Low Event
planner
It is related to
coordination breakdown
when one person gets
injured then it impacts
entire working system. In
order to mitigate it, the
event planner is needed to
provide safety measures to
staff members (Hossain,
Abbott and Chua, 2017).
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9 Mismanage
ment among
Low Event It is connected with safety
to attendees when too
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audiences Organiser much population causes
inconvenience to others.
For preventing it, various
volunteers are allocated
responsibilities to manage
the crowd at distinct
location at the venue of
event.
10 Food
shortage
Low Catering
executives
This risk is concerned
with food shortage that
may cause negative impact
on university and its event
image. It can be mitigated
through keeping additional
stock or quantity of food.
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Short project report
Project report
Need for quality leadership for the project
For all the project managers it is very important to make sure that effective leadership is used
while guiding the subordinates so that the goals which are related to the business could be
accomplished successfully. As QA higher education university will organise an event for the
refurbishment of the computer labs and class rooms therefore it is very important for the
managers to make sure that they are having effective leadership skills. With the help of them all
the goals which are formed for the completion of the project could be achieved. All the
activities which are planned in advance could be performed in systematic manner with the help
of effective leadership (Crawford, 2014). If the managers will not be able to supervise the
employees then it may result in failure of project. When all the subordinates will get proper
guidance from their leaders then it will be beneficial for them to work productively and giver
preference to the organisational goals along with their personal objectives. If the leader get fail
in delivering appropriate leadership to the staff members or the individuals working for the
project then it may create the situation of huge failure of the event. The value of effective
leadership is very high as with the help of it risk regarding a project could be mitigated and the
common aims could be accomplished collaboratively.
Analysis and critique of different methodologies which could be used to complete the
project
At the time of conducting this event, it is very essential for the project manager to adopt suitable
methodology so they able to perform various activities in order to complete their task in
appropriate way. QA Higher Education University refurnished their labs and classes so they
conduct promotional strategy for that. There are some methodology which they used such as
Prince 2, Agile and Waterfall. Under the Agile methodology, manage perform in different
teams or manage various project at the same time which further help in maximising effectively
or efficiency of team through enhancing team member. In Waterfall model, they need to
segregation the different activities in the steps that requirements for design, implementation,
verification and maintenance. Under Prince 2 methodology, they divide the entire project at
difference steps which are controllable and manageable by the managers (Prince2 methodology,

2019). It is the most effective or controllable method which enhance the communication for the
successful completion of this project. Negative aspect is that they required huge time to perform
their task but helps in accomplish goals of the project.
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Recommendation for BOD:
It has been recommended that above mention methodology used by the project manager is help
this event to successfully complete. They adopt prince2 methods which helps the mangers to
control each activities which required for this project goals. It help the project managers to
successfully complete this event which further helps in refurnishing labs or classes.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Meredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J. and Shafer, S. M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Braglia, M. and Frosolini, M., 2014. An integrated approach to implement project management
information systems within the extended enterprise. International Journal of Project
Management. 32(1). pp.18-29.
Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Fortune, J. and et.al., 2011. Looking again at current practice in project
management. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business. 4(4). pp.553-
572.
Besteiro, É. N. C., de Souza Pinto, J. and Novaski, O., 2015. Success factors in project
management. Business Management Dynamics. 4(9). p.19.
Brindley, C., 2017. Supply chain risk. Routledge.
Garvey, P. R., Book, S. A. and Covert, R. P., 2016. Probability methods for cost uncertainty
analysis: A systems engineering perspective. Chapman and Hall/CRC.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Hossain, M. A., Abbott, E. L. and Chua, D. K., 2017. Design for safety knowledge-based bim-
integrated risk register system. In 9th International Structural Engineering and
Construction Conference: Resilient Structures and Sustainable Construction, ISEC
2017. ISEC Press.
Luo, N. and Et. Al., 2019. Structure of whey protein emulsion gels containing capsaicinoids:
Impact on in-mouth breakdown behaviour and sensory perception. Food hydrocolloids.
92. pp.19-29.
Turner, R., 2016. Gower handbook of project management. Routledge.
Webb, A., 2017. Using earned value: a project manager's guide. Routledge.
Crawford, J. K., 2014. Project management maturity model. Auerbach Publications.
Online
Prince2 methodology. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.prince2.com/uk/prince2-methodology>
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