Project Management: Principles, Scope, Budget, and Risk Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of project management principles and their practical application. It begins by outlining the core concepts of project management, including scope management, critical path analysis, budget considerations, risk management, and quality methods. The report then transitions to a case study analysis of Wroxham Boat Builders, a company implementing an ERP system to address market changes. The case study details the activities involved in the ERP system installation, including timelines, resource allocation, and cost analysis. Furthermore, the report analyzes the skills required by the project manager to successfully implement the ERP system. The analysis covers various aspects of project management, from the initial planning stages to the final project closure, emphasizing the importance of business knowledge and financial efficiency. The report provides a detailed project plan with timelines and costs, and concludes by summarizing the key takeaways from the case study and the overall project management principles discussed.

MANAGING
PROJECTS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1. Analysis of project principles and its significance..................................................................1
2. Scope management for managing a project............................................................................2
3. Critical path analysis...............................................................................................................2
4. Considerations for developing a project budget......................................................................3
5. Risk management aspects for the project ...............................................................................4
6. Quality method associated with the project............................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Case analysis...............................................................................................................................4
Outlining activities for installing the ERP system in Wroxham boat builders...........................5
Analysing skills required by the project manager of Wroxham boat builders............................7
Evaluating project life-cycle stages to manage the project.......................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The present competitive era has changed the business outlook in a significant manner.
Companies are presently adopting different measures of attaining business objectives and
generating business results (Darren, 2012). Project management has become the integral part of
current economy where companies analysis the business issues and develop effective strategies
to resolve the stated issue in an effective and well defined manner. Thus, project management is
a process of applying different processes, methods, knowledge and skills to attain the specified
project output in a limited time frame (Andersen, Dysvik and Vaagaasar, 2009). The present
study will analyse the basic principles of project management and will evaluate the core concepts
of the subject. The initial task of the project will develop the core understanding of the subject
while the later task will develop a detailed understanding of the subject through undertaking the
case analysis of Wroxham boat builders. It will develop a clear and effective understanding
about the mentioned aspect of the analysis.
TASK 1
1. Analysis of project principles and its significance
A project is a process of undertaking finite activities for the specific purpose to produce
an observable and measurable result. It helps in attaining the business objectives in a well
defined manner. The core principles of project includes five major aspects which can be
1
Illustration 1: Different aspects of project
(Source:Project management. 2016)

categorised as specific (To resolve specific issue), measurable (attain quantitative results),
attainable (adopt specified tools to deal with the issue), realistic adopt (latest and competitive
measure) and time-bound (every project has a specified time frame) (Martin and Guerin, 2006).
The five principles of project can help in attaining the objectives of the project in a specified
manner.
2. Scope management for managing a project
Project scope management is the aspect which helps in defining the overall perspective of
the project to develop a clear and well defined analysis of the issue. It is a detailed analysis of
different aspects of project issue and considerable constraints for the same.
Justifications It focuses on defining the problem and selecting one project to resolve
the specified issue (Simmons, Bland and Wojciechowski, 2012).
Project Scope Analysing different aspects of projects and defining the measures that
the project will undertake. It helps in analysing project periphery.
Acceptance criteria The essential situations to be attained before analysing project
deliverables
Project exclusions Aspects which the project will exclude and not consider while
undertaking the project (Sadgrove, 2016)
Deliverables Project outcomes which will be attained after completion.
Assumptions Standards undertaken for addressing uncertainty of information in
order to plan the activities efficiently
Constraints Project limitations which restricts project attainment
3. Critical path analysis
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
A 4 days Mon 08-08-16 Thu 11-08-16
B 6 days Mon 08-08-16 Mon 15-08-16
2

C 6 days Fri 12-08-16 Fri 19-08-16 1
D 2 days Tue 16-08-16 Wed 17-08-16 2
E 5 days Tue 16-08-16 Mon 22-08-16 2
F 8 days Mon 22-08-16 Wed 31-08-16 3
Critical path Critical path calculation Critical duration
A+C+F 1+3+6 18 Days
Critical path can be defined as the path which may undertake the overall activities of the
project in the shortest span of time possible. Critical path for the present project is 18 days which
reflects the earliest finish time for the project may be 18 days.
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4. Considerations for developing a project budget
Budgeting is one of the fundamental aspects of attaining project results in an effective
and well defined manner. Every project has to consider the cost factor in an effective manner.
The major considerations for developing a competitive and effective budget includes different
aspects. Analysing project activities, resource planning, material requirement, quality aspect,
available finance and source of finance are the major aspects which project manager closely
evaluate for attaining effective and well defined results for the business (Lagerström, Baldwin
and MacCormack, 2015). Project budget also demands effective analysis of future needs of the
project which will help the manager in considering the future aspects of the analysis.
5. Risk management aspects for the project
Every project is prone to systematic and unsystematic risks. Effective analysis of the
mentioned risks helps in enhancing the project success aspects within the economy. Managing
risk is one of the significant aspect of the process. Different measures are adopted by the
business unit to attain effective and well defined results for the business (Levy, 2009). Managing
risk register is one of the significant aspect which helps in analysing, quantifying and measuring
risk for the business to attain valid and reliable results. The proposed aspect helps the manager in
effectively categorising risks for the business. The high risk aspects are then evaluated to seek
effective mitigation sources within the economy.
6. Quality method associated with the project
Quality audit can be defined as a process for determining quality of the final outcomes of
the project. It is one of the crucial demand of the project for attaining effective and valid results
for the project. It helps in evaluating the internal and external quality of the project. It helps in
developing effective outcomes for the projects (Martin and Guerin, 2006). Quality aspects helps
in analysing the risk associated with the project and seeking effective solutions to deal the sated
aspects. Total quality aspect is one of the effective and most significant aspect of attaining
results. It focuses on monitoring different staged of project in a proper manner. This helps in
determining the errors and issues related to the project. TQM method helps in analysing the gap
in quality aspects of the study. These gaps are then filled with applying effective and well
defined measures which in turn results in minimizing the chances of errors for the overall
analysis.
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TASK 2
Case analysis
This part of the study will focus on analysing the practical issue of an organisation and
will develop an effective and well defined result for the issue by constructing a time bound
project to achieve the objective of the study (Simmons, Bland and Wojciechowski, 2012). As per
the given case Wroxham boat builders is a well established organisation which designs and build
motor launches for the leisure industry. The company was effectively operating in the closed
market with limited competitive aspects. This helped the company in effectively balancing the
demand and supply aspects of the business.
The case however reveals that removal of trade barriers for the business unit has created a
significant impact on management of business operations. The rising competition in the economy
directly affected the demand and supply aspects for Wroxham boat builders. In order to deal with
the stated risk the company is focusing on adopting effective measure to manage and operate the
business activities (Sadgrove, 2016). The organisation has proposed to develop and adopt ERP
system which will help the business unit in managing the information in an effective manner.
The company will be able to manage the organisational inventory in an effective manner which
will help the business in providing timely deliveries to consumers while managing organisational
cost of the business.
Outlining activities for installing the ERP system in Wroxham boat builders
The case mentions that in order to deal with the market changes, Wroxham boat builders
has proposed an effective strategy of implementing ERP system of managing activities for the
business which will help the organisation in attaining effective and well defined results for the
business (Lagerström, Baldwin and MacCormack, 2015). The stated measure will help the
company in creating a significant and well defined impact managing organisational information
thus effectively planning the business activities. The activities which will be implemented in the
overall system has been effectively outlined and mentioned below.
Task Name Duration Start Finish
Pred
eces
sors
Resource
Names Cost
5

ERP project 8 Weeks Mon 08-08-
16
Fri 30-09-
16
£75,00
0.00
Internal business analysis 0.5 Weeks Mon 8/8/16 Wed
8/10/16
Project
assistant
£800.0
0
Analyzing external market 1 Week Mon 8/8/16 Fri 8/12/16 Project
manager
£2,800
.00
Competitive analysis 1 Week Mon
8/15/16 Fri 8/19/16 3 Project
assistant
£1,600
.00
Evaluating ERP system 1 Week Mon
8/22/16 Fri 8/26/16 2,4
Project
manager,
Technical
assistant
£4,800
.00
Forecasting resource
requirements 1.5 Weeks Mon
8/22/16
Wed
8/31/16 4 Finance
head
£3,000
.00
Budget analysis 0.5 Weeks Wed
8/31/16 Fri 9/2/16 6 Finance
head
£1,000
.00
Software installation 0.5 Week Mon 9/5/16 Fri 9/9/16 5,7
Project
assistant,
Technical
assistant
£3,600
.00
Developing training 1 Week Mon
9/12/16 Fri 9/16/16 8 Project
assistant
£1,600
.00
Implementing new ERP system 0.5 Week Mon
9/19/16 Fri 9/23/16 9
Project
assistant,
Technical
assistant ,N
ew ERP
system [1]
£51,60
0.00
Testing system in the business
process 1 Week Mon
9/26/16 Fri 9/30/16 10 Project
manager
£2,800
.00
Project closure 0.5 Weeks Mon Wed 11 Project £1,400
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10/3/16 10/5/16 manager .00
The above analysis clearly reflects the overall process of implementing ERP system in Wroxham
boat builders. The project duration is 8 weeks and project budget for the process is 75000 GBP.
The above project planning has been effectively kept within the mentioned limit which has
helped the company in attaining effective and well defined results for the business.
Analysing skills required by the project manager of Wroxham boat builders
The ERP system implementation in Wroxham boat builders is a critical and challenging
aspect for the company. This will help the business unit in creating a significant and well defined
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impact on the growth and development of the organisation. A project manager will be a person
responsible to evaluate the overall process of the project, plan and process the activities in the
required manner, control and monitor the process to attain effective and well defined results for
the business. The skills and competencies demanded for the project manager will have been
discussed henceforth. Business knowledge: The stated aspect of the process is significant for attaining effective
and well defined results for the business unit. Project manager of Wroxham boat builders
is focusing on developing the system and attaining effective and well defined results for
the business units (Cervone, 2006). Business knowledge within the employees plays a
significant role in enhancing business growth and development aspects. This aspect will
help the company in creating a significant impact on overall business process and attain
reliable results for the organisation. Lack of knowledge regarding business activities and
strategies may result the project manager creating chaos and confusion for the employees. Financial efficiency: Every project has to operate within the the cost and budget
limitation. This helps the company in creating a significant and well defined impact on
the success aspects of the business (Chiu-Chi and et.al, 2013). Implementation of ERP
system demands the company to enhance and develop its working aspects as per the
financial availability aspect for the business. The financial efficiency is a significant skill
for a project manager to attain effective well defined results for the business unit. Strategic thinking: Project management is an integrated part of business operations. A
project manager of the company is demanded to attain strategic operations for the
business to attain effective and valuable results for the firm. In the given case strategic
thinking is required by the project manager as it will help in attaining bushiness
objectives while managing the project aspects (Dey, Clegg and Bennett, 2010). Strategic
thinking will help the manager in developing ERP system as per the business operations
and objectives. This skill helps project manager in developing well defined objectives for
the business organisation. Negotiation skills: Project management is a combination of activities which demands a
business unit in enhancing the organisational productivity and growth within the market
(Managing a project team, 2015). A project manager need to have effective negotiation
skills in order to create a well defined impact on project management and development
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within the economy. Effective negotiation skill will help the manger in effectively
attaining the business results while creating a significant impact on managing budget time
aspects of the project. This will help the present project in attaining high growth aspects
for the mentioned business unit. Leadership skills: A project manager needs to lead and regulate the team in an effective
and well defined manner to attain the objectives of the project. The associated factors of
time and cost are to be considered closely in order to create a significant growth measures
for the project. A project manager may have to deal with different challenges within the
market. Effective and well defined leadership measures will be demanded by the business
to deal with different challenges of the business. Communication skills: Communication is the backbone of the business unit which help
companies in attaining high and well defined growth and development aspects within the
economy. Communication helps in defining roles, responsibilities and tasks effectively
within the team (Simmons, Bland and Wojciechowski, 2012). Efficiency in
communication helps the project manager in transferring the roles and responsibilities in
a well defined manner. It also helps the business unit in creating an effective success
measures for the business. It will help in integrating business objectives with employees
roles and responsibilities in an effective and well defined manner.
 Team building: This aspect of the study is significant for attaining the business goals and
objectives in an effective manner. Project manager focuses on attaining business goals
and objectives in a collaborative manner. The team building approach helps in creating
significant impact on employees and team members to attain the business objectives and
developing high success aspect (Andersen, Dysvik and Vaagaasar, 2009). A team
manager has to undertake different measures regarding employee motivation and
development for attaining high and well defined results for the organisation.
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