CMGT 410 WEEK 4 ASSIGNMENT 1

ASSIGNMENT 1

Learning Team: Project Costing

The allocation and cost of resources need to be carefully monitored if a project is to be delivered on-time and on-budget.

At a minimum this section will contain the following:

• Allocation of resources to project tasks (both labor and material)
• Cost estimates for project resources
• Gantt diagram showing duration estimates for all tasks and their sequencing (including precedence relations) and highlighting any critical path(s) arising from task dependencies ultimately determining the minimal duration of a project

In addition summarize any relevant facts about the project duration, number or type of resources, critical task sequencing, or how duration estimates were arrived at, and any financial implications (for example, budget or cost reports of the project as well)

• Develop a baseline for your project plan so that all future variances are captured.

Learning Team Instructions: Team Project (Preparation)

Note to Faculty: The Weeks Two, Three, Four, and Five Learning Team assignments have been identified as a tool to assist in the university’s Programmatic Assessment Project. As such, completed student assignments may be periodically sampled for program analysis purposes. To assist in maintaining the integrity of the data collected, do not change the content of this assignment. Please delete this note before submitting to students.

Complete a 12- to 16-page paper. Include the following components in the paper:

Choose a project involving an IT requirement with multiple tasks and human resources. This project must come from a business situation—for example, hardware procurement and installation, network acquisition, implementation, or expansion—in which each Learning Team member contributes background details.

Project Charter (Due in Week Two)

This is a consolidated source of information which lays the foundation for successful completion of any project by identifying your project vision and communicating the overall approach for a project to all key stakeholder audiences.

At a minimum the charter will contain the following:

• Background of the organization and any information or statement of needs that helps explain how the project came to be
• Goals and objectives of the project in language that is both concise and explanatory
• Project scope delineated so that all parties involved are aware of what the project includes as well as what it does not
• Budgetary limitations
• Explanation of sponsors, stakeholders, and as well as how the project team is structured so that there will be no confusion concerning roles and responsibilities
• Project approach your team intends to take to fulfill meeting deliverables of the project

Write 3 to 4 pages on your findings.

Project Schedule (Due in Week Three)

This is the core of any project plan used to communicate what tasks are needed and the order of sequence to be done to meet deadlines and deliverables.

At a minimum the section will contain the following:

• Business requirements document (BRD) that provides additional details regarding the expectations (such as user, system, and functional) that must be met for achieving project goals
• Work breakdown structure (WBS) showing discrete work tasks and grouped hierarchically that helps to organize and define the total work scope of the project

Write 3 to 4 pages on your findings.

Project Costing (Due in Week Four)

The allocation and cost of resources need to be carefully monitored if a project is to be delivered on-time and on-budget.

At a minimum this section will contain the following:

• Allocation of resources to project tasks (both labor and material)
• Cost estimates for project resources
• Gantt diagram showing duration estimates for all tasks and their sequencing (including precedence relations) and highlighting any critical path(s) arising from task dependencies ultimately determining the minimal duration of a project

In addition summarize any relevant facts about the project duration, number or type of resources, critical task sequencing, or how duration estimates were arrived at, and any financial implications (for example, budget or cost reports of the project as well)

• Develop a baseline for your project plan so that all future variances are captured.

Write 3 to 4 pages on your findings.

Project Evaluation and Control (Due in Week Five)

A project must be executed effectively and with minimal waste to establish confidence. A plan for performance measurement requires identifying which critical element should be measured, how they are measured, and when they are measured to communicate if the project is on track.

At a minimum the section will contain the following:

• Measurable objectives identified as milestones on the Gantt chart
• Risk mitigation strategy for analyzing and reporting unplanned changes as well what procedures you will plan to implement for handling change control issues
• Description of project reporting regarding the on-going evaluation and status of project efforts to stakeholder and participants on the project team
• Method for determining whether the project has met its objectives and how the project is terminated

Learning Team Instructions: Team Project Presentation (Preparation)

Prepare a 10- to 12-slide Microsoft^® PowerPoint^® presentation of the entire Learning Team Project, as completed in Weeks Two, Three, Four, and Five.

Include detailed speaker notes.

Learning Team: Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® Finalized Presentation

Prepare a 10- to 12-slide Microsoft^® PowerPoint^® presentation of the entire Learning Team Project, as completed in Weeks Two, Three, Four, and Five.

Learning Team: Project Evaluation and Control

Revise and submit all sections of your Learning Team project along with the Week Five section below. 

It is essential for establishing confidence that a project will be executed effectively and with minimal waste. A plan for performance measurement requires identifying which critical element should be measured, how they are measured, and when they are measured to communicate if the project is on track.

At a minimum the section will contain the following:

• Measurable objectives identified as milestones on the Gantt chart
• Risk mitigation strategy for analyzing and reporting unplanned changes as well what procedures you plan to implement for handling change control issues
• Description of project reporting regarding the on-going evaluation and status of project efforts to stakeholder and participants on the project team
• Method for determining whether the project has met its objectives and how the project is terminated