E18 POG351 Resit Project Management

E18 – POG351 Resit - Project Management – Indicative structure and content

2750 Business report Coursework

General notes

• International Short term Project
• Focus is on a FTSE 500 organisation with international operations
• The report is expected to cover the project Lifecycle phases (Initiation - Planning - Execution including Monitoring and Control - and Closing
• The Report (Project Plan) is expected to help unlock new opportunities while addressing possible challenges, which ultimately should generate additional profit, open new markets and strengthen your chosen organisation’s competitive positioning.

Suggested Plan

Section1: Introduction and Project Charter

• Develop the project charter and add it to section 1. Alternatively, you can attach it in the appendix section. In that case you can pull information from the Project charter in the appendix section to complete section 1.

Section 1 can include the following:

1. Provide a brief presentation of the chosen organisation, its activities and key markets
2. State the rationale for triggering the project and its Purpose
3. Outline 3 SMART Objectives for the project
4. State the project’s key deliverables while taking into account the key stakeholders
5. Outline a +/-20% Budget Estimate and elaborate the project timeline
6. Outline the geographical scope of the project vii. List the main project’s assumptions and constraints

Section2: Project Scope Baseline and Schedule

• Develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) by decomposing the scope into corresponding work packages.
• Using the PDM or CPA methodology, sequence the defined activities.
• Use the above information to develop the project schedule (Produce the corresponding Project Gantt Chart)

Section3: Project Risk Assessment and Management

• Identify the project’s risks and produce a risk register for the project. A starting point could be the project’s constraints and enterprise environmental factors identified during your research (see section 1).
• Carry out a qualitative risk Assessment alongside both “probability of occurrence” and “impact” dimensions for the project and produce a Probability and Impact matrix for the project.
• From the findings above, outline a suitable risk management strategy including an indication of who should own them. This will include a Plan addressing each of the identified main risks.

Section 4: Project Costing, Budgeting and Financial Appraisal

• Using the identified enterprise environmental factors and the scope statement including the WBS from section 1, carry out a bottom up cost estimate of each work package / activity to produce the project budget (Cost Baseline). The cost baseline needs to also account for the project constraints and risks identified earlier.
• The tasks / activities needed to complete the work packages are a good starting point.
• Forecast the expected revenue stream from the post completion phase if applicable.
• Appraise the financial viability of the project (Business case) by means of the ROI or the Payback calculation methods. Use the cost baseline and revenue stream to carry out the appraisal.

Section 6: Closing the Project and Post Implementation Review

• Elaborate on measures and mechanisms you will put in place to ensure that the project remains in the agreed scope baseline (See section 1 and 2) from its initiation to its closing stage.
• Determine the project’s key performance indicators (KPIs) to be measured against the baseline outlined in the scope statement (refer to individual sections)
• The task will also include listing and discussing key deliverables of the Handover phase (documents, etc.)

Section 7: Conclusion and recommendations

• Provide an overall and brief conclusion to the business Report
• Make justified recommendations.

Section 8: Appendix section

(Does not count towards the final word count)

Final note:

• Review your work before submission (Consistency throughout the work, Wording, Layout, Format, Referencing and Critical thinking)
• Please also note that each section is a plan, which should have numbered headings and sub-headings