Project Management: Launch Event for QA Higher Education - Report

This report outlines a project focused on the launch event for QA Higher Education's (QAHE) refurbished teaching rooms and computer laboratories in Birmingham. The project aims to publicize the new learning environment and attract new students. The report covers various aspects of the proj...Read More

Running head: PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Project on Launch Event for a Learning Environment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Executive Summary
This report is based on the Event Management Project for advertising the new
implemented features within QA Higher Education (QAHE). The project report is
intended to describe the various aspects of the project that would be needed for
designing of the project. The report discusses about the various aspects such as the
budgetary information, time scale of the project, objectives of the project, the adopted
project management approach, the necessary key staff and a brief analysis of the
stakeholders. The report also discusses about the risk that could approach to the
project. Based on the discussed risks, the necessary steps for the mitigation of these
risks have been discussed within the report. Within the concluding part of the report, it
discusses about the quality of project leadership within the project. An analysis and
critique on the adopted project management methodology within the project have been
discussed. The strengths and weaknesses of the adopted methodology have also been
discussed before the selection of the methodology for the project. The report thus
concludes with a final discussion on the overall objectives of the project and the overall
success after the implementation of the project.

2PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction....................................................................................................................3
2. Project Initiation Document (PID)..................................................................................4
2.1 Stakeholder Analysis...............................................................................................4
3. Risk Register.................................................................................................................7
4. Work Breakdown Structure..........................................................................................11
4.1 Importance of Critical Path Analysis......................................................................12
5. Report to Project Sponsor...........................................................................................12
5.1 Need for Quality Leadership within the Project.....................................................12
5.2 Analysis and Critique of Methodologies used within Project.................................12
6. Conclusion...................................................................................................................14
Bibliography.....................................................................................................................15

3PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
1. Introduction
The QA Higher Education (QAHE) is situated in Birmingham in the United
Kingdom (U.K). The university is situated in the heart of the city of Birmingham. With the
upgrade of the educational systems and technical expertise in several fields, the QAHE
had decided to refurbish their present teaching rooms and computer laboratories in
Birmingham premises (Hornstein 2015). The college authorities have discussed about
the welfare of their staff and students and thought of providing them with an excellent
working environment. With the implementation of latest technology and software, it
would be able to support the students in learning a new curriculum.
With the intimate kind of learning environment, the students would be able to
better focus on their education based on the resources available to them. The University
is capable of offering a calm and quiet learning space within the entire campus
(Cserháti and Szabó 2014). They would also be provided with a suite of computers to
help the students in catching up with the updated coursework. The student and staff can
also take the advantage of social spaces that would be able to offer a relaxing
environment.
This report discusses about the major launch event in order to publicise the new
form of learning environment. This event would help in attracting new students to the
Birmingham campus. This would incur more profits to the educational institution
(Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). The report would also discuss the different project aspects
such as defining of objectives, stakeholder analysis, and a work break structure of the
number of tasks performed within the project and risk register for the project.

4PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

5PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
2. Project Initiation Document (PID)
Title of the Project Preparation for Launch of Advertising of new education
system
Estimated Budget £50,000
Start date 19/07/2019
Finish date 10/09/2019
Project Sponsor Robert Wan
Project Manager John Smith
Objectives of Project The major objectives of the project include:
 To build a fully planned event management project for
the university
 To gain the attention of new students from this
advertisement event
 To ensure a competitive environment within the
educational environment
Major Risks within the
Project
The risks involved within the project are:
 The project might get delayed due to wrong activities
 The budget of the project might get exceeded
 There might be a risk in the event planning phase and
catering department
2.1 Stakeholder Analysis
Name of Stakeholder Why they are interested in Project, whether they are for
or against you and what you are going to do to manage
them throughout the project
John Smith – Project
Manager
The project manager would be responsible for designing the
entire planning and schedule of the event. They would plan
the different phases of the event, contact the other
stakeholders involved within the project, estimate the budget
that could be incurred within the project and thus prepare the
final plan for detailing the tasks involved within the project.
The project manager would contact the event management
team and marketing team. The manager would detail the
activities of the event and then provide the entire responsibility
over them. Hence, they would control the entire aspect of the
project that would initiate from designing of a plan, executing it
and then finishing the project after gaining feedbacks from the

6PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Head of Operations team.
Robert Wan – Project
Sponsor
The project sponsor would always be communicated
throughout the entire project planning phase. They would look
into the details of each of the project aspects and thus
sanction the project plan. They would also be responsible for
sorting out the financial plan of the event management project
and thus sanction the required budget for the completion of
each of the tasks for the project. The project sponsor would
also check the progress over the entire project.
Albert Robinson – Director
of Operations
The director of operations would handle the entire operations
that would be performed within the project. They would be
responsible for detailing out the project details of the event
plan. They should provide the entire budget of the project to
the project sponsor. They would be responsible for inviting
any guests and other persons who would attend the launch
event.
James Skith - Event
Manager
They would be contacted by the project manager during the
planning of designing of the stage. They would also be
responsible for arranging the different items that would be
required within the project. They would arrange the different
event aspects concerned within the project. They would
contact the labours, catering team and other people who
would help in designing of the event. They would sanction
payment from the project sponsor and would pay a partial
payment to the team. They would also ensure that the people
involved within the event management team would be able to
perform the tasks in a diligent manner. This would help ion
completing the project as per the requirements of the project
manager.
Robinson Kate - Caterer
Department Head
They would be responsible for managing the entire caterer
department. They would also be responsible for deciding the
entire menu of food items (Herrera 2016). The caterer
department head would also plan the entire list of food items
that would be served during the Fresher’s week of September.
The caterer department should also be responsible for
maintaining the standards of food so that it suits the people.
The caterer departmental head would also be responsible for
arranging the people who would work within the catering
team. They would also arrange the tables, chairs, food and

7PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
drinks for the event. Hence, they would plan the dining for the
entire event.
Allen Cue - Marketing Team
Head
They would be responsible for marketing the entire event. The
primary aim of the marketing team is to boost the activities
performed within the event. The marketing team head would
plan the entire activities that would be set for marketing of the
event. They would plan a social media strategy in which they
would plan the entire marketing and advertising of the event.
Hence, they would contact the developers within the team
who would design some interesting posters, which would
provide a major boost towards the awareness of the event.
After the design of posters and social media page, the
marketing team would hand over them to the project manager
who would approve them and then the social media page
would be live for people to view. The advertisements within
the online or offline platform should be in such a manner that
would attract the attention of new students and other guests
within the project.
Tim Stephens - Labour
Head
They would follow the instructions of the event planner and
would instruct the other labourers to perform the tasks. They
would shift the materials from one place to another. They
would arrange the different materials, built stage and perform
the work as per the requirements of the event management
team.

8PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
3. Risk Register
Sl.
No
Risk Description Probability
High 0.25
Low 0.75
Medium
0.5
Impact
High 2.5
Low 7.5
Medium 5
Risk Score Risk Owner Mitigating Action Contingent Action
1 The project manager
might not be able to
finish the planning
and scheduling
activities within the
proper time frame.
Scheduling of the
activities can be
considered as an
important factor that
must be handled by
the project manager
Medium High 1.25 Project
Manager
The scheduling and planning
activities should be prepared from
an early basis and each of the
stages should be approved by the
Director of Operations
The scheduling activities
should be prepared from an
early basis (Jones 2014).
The project manager should
take some extra time in their
hand and thus be able to
plan the schedule of such
activities.
2 The budget of the
project might exceed
than the normally and
planned estimations.
This might lead to the
over exceeding of the
project budget, which
would lead to project
instability.
High High 0.625 Project
Manager and
Project
Sponsor,
Director of
Operations
Each of the concerned
stakeholders should plan the
schedule of the activities. This
would help in defining the budget
for each of the scheduled
activities (Koops 2015). Planning
of the budget on a prior basis
would help in allocating the
proper resources to the project.
The appropriate budget of
each of the tasks should be
planned properly before
planning of the schedule of
the project. This would help
in planning of the different
activities in the schedule of
the project.
3 There might be risks
based on
performance of the
project. The project
might fail due to poor
level of planning. Any
Medium Medium 2.5 Project
Manager
The project manager should
properly understand the
requirements of the project. This
would help in planning of each of
the necessary activities required
for the completion of the project.
The Director of Operations
who is the main contributor
of the event should give
proper instructions to the
project manager (Tomanek,
Cermak and Smutny 2015).

9PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
activity defined within
the project schedule
that might fail to
accomplish would
hence lead to
misbalance in the
project.
This would help them in
planning of the activities
concerned for the project.
4 There might be risks
based on
management of
proper functions
within the project. The
tasks performed
within the project
could be not be
manageable by the
project manager
(Verlaine, Jureta and
Faulkner 2016). This
would lead to
mismanagement of
functions that would
be performed within
the project.
Low Medium 3.75 Project
Manager
The project manager should be
able to undertake a proper
analysis of the entire project
scenario (Stoica et al. 2016).
They should assume the entire
risks that could approach the
project during the development
stage of the project.
The risks should be properly
assumed within the project.
The project manager should
undertake different
necessary steps in order to
mitigate the risks
approaching to the project.
5 There might be some
legal risks that might
be incurred within the
project. The project
might not get a proper
approval from the
legal team who would
be in-charge of
approving the project
(Guo et al. 2014). The
project might have
Medium Low 3.75 Project
Manager, Legal
team
The project manager should
understand the legal aspects of
the project (Helmreich and Merritt
2017). They should undertake a
prior check over each of the legal
documents that might be needed
during the project designing.
The legal team should be
proactive in dealing with
each of the activities of the
legal aspects of the project
(Correljé et al. 2015). Each
of the legal documents
should be properly checked
and presented before the
Director of Operations in
order to get them properly
approved.

10PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
some problems within
the planning that
would delay the legal
aspects of the project.
6 The event
management might
not turn up or might
face some issues
within the planning
and designing of the
event. The people
involved within the
project management
team might face some
problems due to
which there might be
some lack in the
event management
team.
Low High 1.875 Event Manager The event management should
provide a proper assurance that
each of the people involved within
the team would reach to the
destination within the proper time
frame.
The event manager should
provide a proper list of each
of the concerned people
within the team. They should
also arrange for new people
if some of the recruited
people, might not turn up on
the day of event designing.
7 The caterer
department might not
be able to procure the
food materials within
the proper budget
(Bowers and
Khorakian 2014). This
would result in
incomplete procuring
of materials.
Low Medium 3.75 Caterer
Department
Head
The caterer department should
properly assure the project
manager that they would provide
exact number of labours for the
event.
The caterer department
should arrange the items on
a prior basis (Ladegard and
Gjerde 2014). This would
help them in gathering
information about any extra
needs
8 There might be a risk
based on the part of
an executive involved
within a project who
might leave during the
designing stage of the
High High 0.625 Project
Manager
The project manager should be
responsible during the allocation
of proper resources within the
project.
The project manager should
decide on the allocation of
resources (Sallis 2014).
They should also be
responsible for allocating of
new resources within the

11PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
project. The absence
of the key executive
within the project
would result in the
delay and other
problems involved
within the project.
project is a certain person
leaves the project.
9 Conflict within the
stakeholder involved
within the project
might lead to
disruption in the
project
Low Low 5.625 Project
Manager
The project manager should
resolve any kind of disrupt that
might arise during the project
(Earley and Porritt 2014).
The project manager should
listen to the concerns of the
stakeholders and solve any
situation of dispute that
might arise within the
project.
10 Different forms of
changes might lead to
risks within the
project. These
changes might not be
easily adaptable by
the project team
members
Low Medium 3.75 Project
Manager
The project manager should
handle the situations of change
and thus inform the team
members about the changes
impacting the project.
The project manager should
understand the situations of
changes that might impact
the project. This would help
them in notifying the team
members about the changes
within the project.

12PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
4. Work Breakdown Structure
Event Management
Project
Start of project Project Initiation and
Planning
Detailing of project plan
Preparing a list of
resources
Preparing a financial plan
Sanctioning of the plan of
the project
Closure of the Project
Recruiting of Resources
Contacting the Event
Management Team
Partial payment to Event
management team after
confirmation
Contacting Caterer
department
Making of partial payment
Arranging of people for
formal ceremony
Inviting of guests who
would demonstrate the
facilities
Hiring of Volunteers
Finalising of Preparations
Procuring of Materials and
Designing
Bringing of stage
designing materials
Final check on the
materials
Initiation and designing of
stage phase
Completion of Stage
Design
Bringing of caterering
requirements
Arranging of items for
catering
Bringing of crockery items
Bringing of chairs and
tables
Setting of chairs and
tables
Finalising of Preparations
Marketing of the Event
Planning of social media
strategy
Designing the social
media strategy
Publishing the event
details on the social
media platform
Completion of marketing
Event
The Event Management
Ceremony Project Closure Phase
Signing off of
procurement
Making of final payments
to each resource
Gathering feedback from
attendees of event
Distribution of leaflets for
the event
Completion of Project
Closure Phase
End of Project
(Fig 1: Work Breakdown Structure of the Project)
(Source: Created by author)

13PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
4.1 Importance of Critical Path Analysis
The identification of critical path for the project would be essential for the project
in order to detect the complexities and various other critical aspects within the project.
this include resource selection and allocation, utilizing them and identification of major
stakeholders. Hence the inclusion of critical path would prove to be beneficial for
managing different project aspects.
5. Report to Project Sponsor
5.1 Need for Quality Leadership within the Project
Project Manager – The project manager should execute proper form of
leadership skills within the project. They should be responsible for directing each of the
persons involved within the project (Carvalho and Rabechini Junior 2015). Project
manager should be responsible for detailing out the tasks to each of the persons
involved within the project.
Director of Operations – The director of operations would be responsible for
executing their leadership skills in order to make the project to run successfully
(Ahimbisibwe, Daellenbach and Cavana 2017). They would execute leadership in order
to direct the project manager for making the task to be performed diligently.
Event Manager – The event manager would show their leadership abilities
towards the caterer department and the persons involved in designing of the project.
This would help in making the tasks to be done in a proper order.
5.2 Analysis and Critique of Methodologies used within Project
Methodologies Description Strengths Weaknesses

14PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Agile This methodology
could be selected
in such projects
where the end
products could be
improved after the
phase of project
closure
This model follows
a flexible approach
to the management
of the project.
With the impact of
agile methodology,
there would be a
continuous
involvement of staff
members within the
project.
The hybrid approach
that is followed within
the concerned project
could not be applied
within global or big
organizations.
Waterfall In this
methodology,
there are several
sub-phases. This
is because
breaking down of
the sub-phases
would lead to
proper delivery of
project work and
also ensure that is
a sequence of
work that is
followed.
This model is
easiest to manage
among the three
methodologies.
Each of the phases
within the project
would be suitable
for the smaller size
projects.
The Waterfall
model would lead
to faster delivery of
the project
(Ahimbisibwe,
Cavana and
Daellenbach 2015).
The primary limitation
of the methodology is
that the phases
cannot be rolled back
once they are
completed.
PRINCE2 The PRINCE2
methodology could
also be defined as
a waterfall style of
management of
project. While
progressing with
this methodology
of project, one
section of the
project would be
completed and
then the next
stage of the
Each of the
probable risks that
would be
associated within
the project could be
defined as the
major contributions
towards the project
management.
The time and cost
of project could be
controlled by
following this
This methodological
approach could not
be applied to smaller
projects, which could
also be considered as
the major limitation of
the project
management
approach.

15PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
project would be
initiated.
approach.
While progressing with this project, the Waterfall model should be approached.
This would lead to proper delivery of the project within the proper interval of time (Blok,
Hoffmans and Wubben 2015). The project would have successful documentation of
each of the financial aspects and project stages.
6. Conclusion
Based on the discussion, it could be concluded that the project based on preparing of
the activities of the project should be planned properly by the project manager. The
activities described within the WBS should be followed during each of the stages of the
project. The project considers each of the financial aspects of the project. This would be
highly necessary for the progress of the project. The budget of the project has been
estimated at £50,000. The project manager would be responsible for planning of the
activities and allocating costs to the resources such that the budget of the project should
not get exceeded. After the allocation of the budget of the project and proper planning,
each of the activities of the project should be followed in proper order and in exact
sequence. This would ensure that the project objectives are met. The project based on
event management is mainly aimed to ensure that the students and staff should get
motivated and more students would enroll themselves within the university. The new
technology implemented within the university is mainly aimed at display the supported
benefits that would be provided by the university. Thus with the success of the project,
the university would be able to gain benefits as more students would enroll themselves
within the project.

16PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Bibliography
Ahimbisibwe, A., Cavana, R.Y. and Daellenbach, U., 2015. A contingency fit model of
critical success factors for software development projects: A comparison of agile and
traditional plan-based methodologies. Journal of Enterprise Information
Management, 28(1), pp.7-33.
Ahimbisibwe, A., Daellenbach, U. and Cavana, R.Y., 2017. Empirical comparison of
traditional plan-based and agile methodologies: Critical success factors for outsourced
software development projects from vendors’ perspective. Journal of Enterprise
Information Management, 30(3), pp.400-453.
Blok, V., Hoffmans, L. and Wubben, E.F., 2015. Stakeholder engagement for
responsible innovation in the private sector: Critical issues and management
practices. Journal on Chain and Network Science, 15(2), pp.147-164.
Bowers, J. and Khorakian, A., 2014. Integrating risk management in the innovation
project. European Journal of innovation management, 17(1), pp.25-40.
Carvalho, M.M.D. and Rabechini Junior, R., 2015. Impact of risk management on
project performance: the importance of soft skills. International Journal of Production
Research, 53(2), pp.321-340.
Correljé, A., Cuppen, E., Dignum, M., Pesch, U. and Taebi, B., 2015. Responsible
innovation in energy projects: Values in the design of technologies, institutions and
stakeholder interactions. In Responsible Innovation 2 (pp. 183-200). Springer, Cham.

17PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Cserháti, G. and Szabó, L., 2014. The relationship between success criteria and
success factors in organisational event projects. International Journal of Project
Management, 32(4), pp.613-624.
Earley, P. and Porritt, V., 2014. Evaluating the impact of professional development: the
need for a student-focused approach. Professional development in education, 40(1),
pp.112-129.
Guo, F., Chang-Richards, Y., Wilkinson, S. and Li, T.C., 2014. Effects of project
governance structures on the management of risks in major infrastructure projects: A
comparative analysis. International Journal of Project Management, 32(5), pp.815-826.
Helmreich, R.L. and Merritt, A.C., 2017, November. 11 Safety and error management:
The role of crew resource management. In Aviation Resource Management:
Proceedings of the Fourth Australian Aviation Psychology Symposium: v. 1:
Proceedings of the Fourth Australian Aviation Psychology Symposium. Routledge.
Herrera, M.E.B., 2016. Innovation for impact: Business innovation for inclusive
growth. Journal of Business Research, 69(5), pp.1725-1730.
Hornstein, H.A., 2015. The integration of project management and organizational
change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(2), pp.291-298.
Jones, S., 2014. Distributed leadership: A critical analysis. Leadership, 10(2), pp.129-
141.

18PROJECT ON LAUNCH EVENT FOR A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to
planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Koops, B.J., 2015. The concepts, approaches, and applications of responsible
innovation. In Responsible Innovation 2 (pp. 1-15). Springer, Cham.
Ladegard, G. and Gjerde, S., 2014. Leadership coaching, leader role-efficacy, and trust
in subordinates. A mixed methods study assessing leadership coaching as a leadership
development tool. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(4), pp.631-646.
Sallis, E., 2014. Total quality management in education. Routledge.
Stoica, M., Ghilic-Micu, B., Mircea, M. and Uscatu, C., 2016. Analyzing Agile
Development-from Waterfall Style to Scrumban. Informatica Economica, 20(4).
Tomanek, M., Cermak, R. and Smutny, Z., 2015. A conceptual framework for web
development projects based on project management and agile development
principles. arXiv preprint arXiv:1502.04297.
Verlaine, B., Jureta, I. and Faulkner, S., 2016, May. How Can ITIL and Agile Project
Management Coexist?. In International Conference on Exploring Services Science (pp.
327-342). Springer, Cham.