London Campus Event: A Project Management Case Study for QAHE

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This project details event planning for QAHE's London Campus.

Project Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
Project Initiation Documentation.................................................................................................2
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
Simplified Risk Register..............................................................................................................6
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
WBS initial ideas.........................................................................................................................9
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................17
Importance of Strong Leadership..............................................................................................17
Methodologies...........................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................19

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Estimated Budget...............................................................................................................2
Table 2: Risk Register.....................................................................................................................6
Table 3: Gantt Chart......................................................................................................................11

Introduction
Project can be defined as set of number of activities that are organized in such a manner so that
defined objectives can be attained in a successful manner. This is assisted with the help of
project management principles which ensured that project is being implemented in an effective
manner. Therefore the current project will estimate overall cost of improving current
environment of London Campus for QAHE planning and will also analyse the needs of
stakeholders. It will also assess the risk associated with the project and further will conclude by
comparing and identifying the best methodologies used in the project.
The current project is to promote quality approaches in higher education (QAHE) in Europe and
USA by launching the event to highlight the project completion by QAHE in London Campus.
Main objective is to maximise profitability of the educational institutions and for this it is
important to attain the target of enrolling 400 potential students per year. The project of event
launch will help educational institution to develop enabling environment for promoting quality
approaches and to attract more number of students. This will consider the case study of London
Campus while ensuring that staff and students are equipped with adequate learning environment
and get access to advanced technology for escalating higher education in an effective manner so
that university can gain more competitive position in the market. This will include installation of
new software, hardware along with network infrastructure as well as classroom refurbishment,
appropriate peripherals, and furniture. The project will also consider various activities related to
successful launch of the event to celebrate the success of the project.
1

Task 1
Project Initiation Documentation
Background
Higher education is crucial in developing and transmitting new and innovative knowledge to
students by fostering innovation. The project will support improving existing environment of the
education campus with the help of improved infrastructure in terms of information technology,
infrastructure, etc. Quality Approaches to higher education planning supports graduates and
undergraduates to gain better future opportunities for their overall growth and development
(Craft, 2018). Therefore the current project is to highlight the planning developments made by
QAHE in London Campus so as to attract more number of students which further contribute
towards attainment of defined goals and events.
The main objective of London Campus is to maximise profitability by enrolling at least 400
students per year. The event is launched with the help of the project manager and other
stakeholders so that more students can be attracted to wards the changed facilities as well as
infrastructure of the campus. This will help the university to gain competitive advantage.
Title of the project: The project is related to launch of the event for celebrating the success of the
project undertaken by QAHE for completion of refurbishment of teaching rooms and computing
labs in London Campus (Beckford, 2016).
Estimated Budget: Total budget estimated for the project of launching an event is £50,000. The
amount is further bifurcated as follows:
Table 1: Estimated Budget
Elements of the event Budgeted Expenses ($)
Location Organized in campus only
Audio Video hardware and Software 18000
Decor 6000
Food and Beverages 10000
Entertainment 3000
2

Event Documentation 2000
Marketing 6000
Logistics 2000
Other 3000
Total $50,000
Time scales
Overall time estimated for the project is 5 weeks. This will include number of activities with
some specific start and end date. Overall timescale of the project can be explained with the help
of milestone below:
Milestone Start Date Completion Date
Planning and Evaluation 1 August 2019 7 August 2019
Guest List and VIPs List 8 August 2019 15 August 2019
Programme list 16 August 2019 20 August 2019
Venue 21 August 2019 23 August 2019
Catering 24 August 2019 27 August 2019
Communications 28 August 2019 30 August 2019
Event Launch 31August 2019 1 September 2019
The current project is sponsored by Managing Director and is represented by Director of
Operations.
Objectives
 To attract larger number of students towards the University by promoting QAHE
 To gain profitability
 To gain competitive position in the market
 To make students aware about innovative and advanced modes of learning and its
benefits
3

Objectives of attracting and enrolling more number of students as per the defined target can be
achieved by making guests (Students) in the event aware about the modifications and
improvements made in the infrastructure of the campus. This would be effective to make them
understand on how these quality approaches will help the student to gain better opportunities in
the future. In addition this, there might be some risk related to budget of the project that might h
be considered by the Sponsors at the initial level of the project (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). In
addition to this, with the extension of budget, the project can successfully attain all the above
objectives by hiring project management expertise. The successful event must also include
appropriate car parking facility and adequate food arrangements to show the perfectness in each
and every element of the event.
Stakeholder Analysis
Name of Stakeholder Are they
interested
in Project
Involvemen
t
Influence Role
Project Manager Yes High High Management and controlling of the
project. Looking over weekly
progress reporting, controlling of
scope and budget. Project manager
will also be responsible for finding
solution to the deviations of the
project and communicated the same
to other stakeholders (Eskerod and
Jepsen, 2016).
Employees of the
University
Yes Moderate Low Will support use of systems as well
as training of systems
Hardware and Software
vendors
No Low Low Delivery of software and hardware
for the event
Students Yes High Low Will act as volunteer for the event
Project team members Yes High Moderate Will assist project manager while
handling monitoring and controlling
of project.
Sponsors Yes High Moderate Sponsors are responsible for getting
4

reports from project members and
managers about the status of the
project.
5

Task 2
Simplified Risk Register
Table 2: Risk Register
S.
No Project Risks Owner Mitigation Contingency Actions
Risk
Likelihood
(1 for Low
5 for High)
Risk
Severity
(1 for
Low
5 for
High)
Discussion
1 Budget exceeding Project
Manager
Comparing estimated budget
and actual budget at each and
every point of conducting
activities as per the time
scale. Negotiation with
number of event managers to
get the best price
Reviewing of hardware and
software equipments installed
at the event.
4 5
2 Time issues while
conducting
activities
Project
members
Members are required to
manage the time by
prioritising the activities
They must co ordinate with
event arrangers to get the
things done on time. Delays in
the activities must be reported
3 5
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to project manager for
appropriate actions to
overcome the issues
(Chemweno et.al.2015)
3 Actual business
requirements are
not identified
Project
Sponsor and
manager
Adequate time is important
for collecting the information
and making discussions
Must focus on additional
requirements. Project managers
must co ordinate with event
organizers for meeting the
business requirements.
2 4
4 Lack of
experienced
project members
Project
Manager
Team must be chosen by
identifying the skills and
abilities of the individual
team development must be
followed by training and
appropriate leadership skills so
that each individual is aware
about their specific roles and
responsibilities
4 4
5 Inappropriate
communication
Event
organizer,
project
sponsor,
project
manager
Team meetings must be
organized on regular basis to
indentify the issues and their
solutions.
Appropriate technology must
be used so that all stakeholders
associated with the project can
co ordinate with each other for
identifying the status of the
project (Khameneh et.al.2016).
3 2
6 Lack of budget Sponsors Managing Director of the
University must plan for
some contingency reserve so
Additional elements such as
extra food items, etc must be
reduced for managing the
4 3
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that additional requirements
or risks can be handled
without affecting the project
project within the budget.
7 Additional work Event
organizer,
sponsor,
Project
managers
Additional requirements such
as projector as well as audio
video systems are to be
managed by communicating
with sponsors
Requirement of such
components must be accurately
identified at the initial stage of
the project by co ordinate with
event expertise
3 4
8 Changes at the
last stage of the
project
Sponsor,
Project
managers
Extra time must be kept in
advance to meet the
requirements stated by
Sponsor
Regular discussions with
sponsors will help to eliminate
the issues
4 5
9 Excessive
workload
decreases
productivity
Project
Manager
Project manager must make
discussions with sponsors for
hiring more project members
in the team for minimising
their workload
Work must be re allocated after
identifying the skills of project
members to raise their
productivity
2 3
10 Lack of tools for
managing
progress of the
project
Project
Members
Hardware and software tools
must be equipped at the
initial stage of the project
Additional cost for such tools
must be kept as reserve at the
initial stage of the project
4 4
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Task 3
WBS initial ideas
The project has considered Gantt chart instead of Work Break Down Structure for illustrating the project schedule and is beneficial for
the project as it will successfully break down multiple number of tasks and time lines into individual document. Project members can
use the chart for making schedule for meetings and stakeholders can keep the status update of the project. There are several other
benefits of using the Gantt chart is that it will help project managers to reduce the burden of project members by managing activities
in specific manner. Overlapping of tasks can be identified and project managers can encourage partnership and collaboration that
further support completion of activities in an effective manner. In addition to this, time can be managed in an effective manner and
project delays as identified in the risk register can be eliminated (Ong et.al.2016). Critical projects like event planning can be
accomplished with the help of appropriate decisions and timescales formulated by Gantt chart.
Critical Path Analysis is the approach that helps the team members to determine the most crucial task within the entire project. In the
current project critical path allows the team members to identify the shorten time lines. This helps to improve the overall management
of resources as critical path analysis helps to gain clear direction and improves visibility. This can also be used for comparing planned
progress against actual progress of the project.
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