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#1
DUE 01/03/2019
400–600 words/In text citations/ APA verifiable references/
Please note: Requires use of the Microsoft Project 2010 (or later) software application. Microsoft Project. Project management software such as Project 2010 allows project managers to input data related to the project and monitor the project’s progress. One of the first activities a Project Manager performs is to determine the project scope, which is the description of the final deliverable of the project. Once the scope has been defined, project managers can determine the work breakdown structure based on the work needed to the performed in the project. The tasks to get the work done are input into the project’s schedule. In Project 2010, the tasks can be input prior to creating the work breakdown structure.
Based on your experience and assigned readings for the week, provide 3 reasons why project management is important today.
How different is it today from the past?
Be sure to share examples to support your answer.
Pick 1 of the following concepts, define it, and provide an example that models it:
Project
Program
Portfolio
Project management
Project life cycle
Project stakeholders
#2
Due Date: 1/7/19
Deliverable Length: Stakeholder analysis: 2–3 pages + title and references
The discussion on stakeholders went better than expected. Everyone seems to be on the same page. But now, the team is unsure of who should be included as stakeholders in the communication management plan. The team realizes that there are a lot more stakeholders on the project than expected. In addition to the team itself, there are other internal and external stakeholders who must be considered.
Although all of your team members work in the sales and marketing function, they all bring unique skills and experiences to this project. Many have worked in other departments prior to their new role or have duel responsibilities in the company.
“This is a make-or-break project for us at this point,” says Jim. “We have to get it right the first time. If we miss any stakeholders in our communication, it could be devastating to the success of the project.”
Jim turns to you. “I need you to lead the team in conducting a stakeholder analysis. We need to make sure to include all of the stakeholders, their background, contribution to the project, and level of priority to the project communication. You will be working with your four teammates in performing the stakeholder analysis and transferring this information to the project charter for review.”
“Okay,” you say. “Can everyone give me a little bit of background about work experience and education?”
“Sure,” says Jerry Lawson. “I have an MS in Business Management and several IT/PM certifications as well as 6 years with the company.”
“I have a lot of procurement and acquisition experience, but have an engineering background,” says Sara Jenkins. “I earned an MBA and a BS in electrical engineering. I have been with the company for 4 years.”
“I have done business analysis, quality assurance, and risk management, but have a construction background,” says Melissa Grant. “I have an MSM in project management and a BS in electrical engineering as well as 6 years with the company.”
Mike Green, a technician who previously worked in the public relations and marketing department says, “I have done a lot of hands-on electrical work and testing. I earned my MBA in marketing and two undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and IT management. I have been with the company for 5 years.”
“Great, thanks,” you say.
Jim hands you a document, saying, “Here is a project charter, a stakeholder register, and SOW templates for you to use as a guideline.”
After Jim leaves, you and the rest of the team get busy discussing how to conduct a stakeholder analysis and how to justify stakeholders’ inclusion in the project communication. You also begin to review the project background information to develop your SOW.
Assignment
Back at your desk, you write the stakeholder analysis in an essay-style format using MS Word or the stakeholder register template. Notes from your team discussion help you defend your position on the stakeholders’ inclusion. If you use MS Word, your essay should outline who they are to the project, their roles, responsibilities, and positions at the company (internal or external), and their level of influence on the project.
Fill out all of the sections in the given templates with as much information as possible. The goal is to document everything you know and everything others need to know about this project thus far.
#3
Due Date: 1/09/19
Deliverable Length: 400–600 words
*Process. A systematic series of activities directed towards causing an end result such that one or more inputs will be acted upon to create one or more outputs. Processes will generally be project processes or product processes. Processes can also be either iterative or integrative. Last week, you defined what the project life cycle is. Based on your readings and discussions this week, discuss the following:
How do project management processes overlap with and support success throughout the project phases?
What is the difference between project processes and product processes?
According to the PMBOK® Guide, a statement of work (SOW) is a narrative description of products or services to be supplied by the project. In comparison, the project charter is the document that formally authorizes a project.
Discuss the importance of these project documents, and why they should be produced.
What 3 critical missions does the charter serve when it is published?
Why should every project have a work breakdown structure (WBS)?
*This definition is taken from the Glossary of Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017
PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
#4
Deliverable Length: 5–7 pages
Due Date: Wed,1/13/19
Assignment Description
After completing your stakeholder analysis and developing your stakeholder register, you started working on your next project, which will be to develop a project charter. You started to gather information from various stakeholders via interviews and e-mails. The latest e-mail you sent caused quite a response. Several meetings were centered on the project charter, statement of work (SOW), work breakdown structure (WBS), and enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets that you will use to complete the second and most important deliverable at this stage, the project charter. Jim comes to your desk one afternoon for further discussion.
“Our team meetings on the SOW, project charter, WBS, and environmental factors and organizational process assets have been very productive,” says Jim. “Thanks for getting this project charter moving in the right direction.”
“Anytime,” you say.
“So, based on our last team meeting, do you think we are ready to write a concise SOW and the project charter?” asks Jim.
“I think we have enough information to assess risks, assumptions, define scope inclusions and exclusions, objectives, business need, milestones, high-level budget breakdown, acceptance criteria, and constraints,” you say.
“Have you ever prepared a WBS before?” asks Jim<.>
“I have,” you say. “Prior to working at ACH, I was an associate project manager for an engineering firm on the West Cost.”
“Oh, that’s great!” says Jim, handing you a document, saying, “Here is a simple template that combines all three deliverables: the SOW, the project charter, and the WBS. Do you think you can update the project charter for me with all of the required information?”
“Sure,” you say, looking at the document. “You know, in my previous job, we developed three separate documents for these three deliverables.”
Jim smiles and says, “Oh, believe me I know that, but as you know we’re a small organization and have developed our own ways of managing project records within the overall project management PMBOK® Guide framework. Remember, the PMBOK® Guide framework is a tool kit and we’ve taken from it what works well for us here.”
PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
Assignment
Click here for the Project Charter Template.
Project Name
Project Number
Project Team
Prioritization
Owner(s)
Start Date:
Scheduled Completion Date:
NOTE: Remove this note and all instructions in the template for a business professional document.
Mission/ Purpose
What is your project going to accomplish? How does this project relate to overall strategic goals and objectives of the company? Is it part of a program or larger project?
SOW: Project
Description and Project Product
What will this project create? What are the outcome products being created with this project? At a high level, how do you plan on completing the work required for this project? List at least five high-level deliverables (outputs) that will be generated from the execution of this project. This section will help to prepare for your project scope and WBS later in the course.
The SOW must contain an appropriate level of detail so all parties clearly understand what work is required, the duration of the work involved, what the deliverables are, and what is acceptable. This section should provide a general description of the project as well as highlight the project’s background and what is to be gained by the project. As the SOW often accompanies a request for proposal (RFP), the SOW introduction and background is necessary for bidding vendors to familiarize their organizations with the project.
Objectives
What objective is this project designed to meet? List a high-level objective statement for the overall project and at least three to five goals required to meet this objective. These must be measurable. For example, if an objective of the project is the cut cost, then by how much will costs be cut?
Business Need
Why should we do this project? What will be gained, changed, or modified? Is there a financial or business reason to do this project? Explain, in detail, how this project will be beneficial to the project owner.
Milestones
What are the key milestone dates associated with the project? Milestones may show the completion of a set of major deliverables or phases. List at least 10 milestones and provide estimated end dates for each. Milestones must have associated dates.
Budget
What is the estimated budget for this project? Do not research your project cost; this is an estimate. This does not need to be close to your project’s actual costs when your project planning is complete in Week 6. This is an order of magnitude estimate.
Estimated Labor
Estimated Materials
Estimated Contractors
Estimated Equipment and Facilities
Estimated Travel
Total Estimated Cost
User Acceptance Criteria
What are the minimum success criteria as defined by the key stakeholders? How will you monitor and measure the project quality? How will the project owners determine if the project is a success or not? These must be detailed and measureable.
High-Level Project Assumptions
What are the assumptions on which the project is based? What 7–10 statements do you believe to be true or will become true about the project during project execution but cannot be sure at this time?
High-Level Project Constraints
What are the major limiting factors that affect the project? What 8–10 rules, regulations, requirements, laws, processes, or procedures are you bound by on this project?
Exclusions and Boundaries
What are the boundaries of the project? To ensure that your project scope is properly constrained, identify 8–10 things that will be excluded from the project plans. What items will be not be included in the project?
Major Risks
What are the major risks affecting the project? List a minimum of 7 to 10 risks. These risks must occur during the project, not after the project finishes or before the project starts. The risks defined should be directly associated with the project implementation.
Work Breakdown Structure The PMBOK defines the WBS as “a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables”. So your WBS should start by outlining those major deliverables you outlined in your SOW or in your scope document, if one has been developed. The lowest level of your WBS is called a work-package. Please review your textbook and the PMBOK on ways you can create your WBS. You should keep your WBS here at a very high-level. Here is a simple example of a WBS.
Project: Remodel Basement Room
– 1.0 Project Management
– 2.0 Structural Work
• 2.1 Frame walls and door
• 2.2 Install wallboard and tape/sand
• 2.3 Install egress window
– 3.0 Electrical Work
• 3.1 Install additional circuit
– 3.1.1 Upgrade electrical service
– 3.1.2 Install separate circuit for computer and lighting
• 3.2 Run wiring
• 3.3 Install outlets and ceiling lights
– 3.4.1 Install GFI outlets
– 3.4.2 Install track lighting opposite window
– 3.4.3 Test
– 4.0 Paint Room
– 5.0 Lay Carpet
__________________________________________________________________KEY KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Project Core Team
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) (What resources will you need with special expertise?)
APPROVALS
Type Name
Signature
Date
Project Manager Approval
Customer/Sponsor Approval
After Jim leaves, you start working on the project charter for the next meeting. You use all of the information you gathered and follow the direction under each section of the Project Charter Template to ensure completeness.
#5
Due Date: 1/17/19
Deliverable Length: 400-600 words
Now that you have completed your stakeholder analysis and developed the stakeholder register, project charter, SOW (scope document), and your WBS, it is time to start building your project schedule baseline.
Schedule Baseline. The approved version of a schedule model that can be changed using formal change control procedures and is used as the basis for comparison to actual results.
Project Schedule. An output of a schedule model that presents linked activities with planned dates, durations, milestones, and resources.
These definitions are taken from the Glossary of Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017.
The project schedule should include start and finish dates for all activities. Remember, if an activity is not in the schedule, it will not be done. Establishing the schedule will allow you to estimate activity cost, and thus help you develop a budget. Therefore, a schedule helps you establish a time and a cost baseline for your project.
Discuss how you would go about assigning or completing the schedule elements, such as dates, durations, milestones, predecessors, and resources.
How would you go about completing resource assignments, both human and material? How would you determine to buy (acquire) or make your resources?
Discuss the importance of building slack in your project schedule.
Once your schedule is fully developed, what information would any of your stakeholders learn from it?
Looking back at the agile versus waterfall methodologies, how does this traditional schedule development differ from agile schedule development?
#6
Due Date: 1/20/19
Additional Information
At the next meeting, you and the team had a very productive discussion on your findings related to the identification of all of the project activities that must happen to start and finish your project. You even took a step further in working with your team members to estimate resources and cost for each of the activities. Everyone feels that it is time to present your findings to Sam and Gloria and provide them with a baseline estimate of how long this project will most likely cost in terms of time and dollars.
“Thanks for educating us on the schedule development planning,” says Jerry to you. “We have some great information here, but I think it is too much detail to present to Sam and Gloria.”
“I agree,” says Melissa. “Does anyone have any ideas on how best to present this information?”
“We should go ahead and plug this information into a project schedule that both Sam and Gloria know and will appreciate. We ought to establish a project baseline at this time. We should define the tasks, start and finish dates, durations, predecessors (sequence of activities), resource names, and possibly cost,” says Sara.
“The project schedule should account for all of the activities that must happen. It must not be less than 30–50 activities and subactivities,” you say.
“Oh, that’s great!” says Jim. “Do you think you can prepare it for the team by next week?”
Assignment
Tips: Start by looking at the WBS activities that you defined last week. Think about how you could decompose your work packages into activities and subactivities to complete this coffee house project. You should use all of the project artifacts (deliverables) you produced so far and the given project scenario to identify all of the activities that are needed.
You should be able to come up with 30–100 activities easily for your schedule baseline. Once those activities have been identified, finish your schedule by plugging in start and finish dates, durations, predecessor relationships, and adding cost and resource names. Resource names and cost can be added in the main summary page or directly in the resource sheet. Your project name must go in the first row, and all other activates should be indented under it. You should link all activities to summary tasks and subactivities to the main activity. You may make assumptions for any of this work, and estimates do not need to be real. You should save the finished project file as: “Week 3 deliverable your name.”
#7
Due Date: 1/24/19
Deliverable Length: 400–600 words
Quality. The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.
*This definition is taken from the Glossary of Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017.
*This definition is taken from the Glossary of Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017
Alternately, a project manager wears many hats. Every one of these roles involves dealing with people. If a project manager has these roles (leader, communicator, negotiator, problem solver, influencer, integrator), it obviously means they must develop the skills in these areas. That is why soft skills for project managers are absolutely critical. A project manager spends 90% or more of his or her time communicating.
Why is quality important in a project? Who should be in charge of quality on any given project?
Discuss how you would go about developing a quality management plan for the course project you have been working on. What quality assurance tools would you use? Why? How would you measure and monitor quality control?
For your given course project, discuss how you would go about obtaining the human resources needed to complete the project (both material and people)?
#8
Due Date: 1/28/19
Deliverable Length: 1–2 pages
Additional Information
You will need to use MS Project Software for this assignment.
The team returned and discussed their ideas about the budget impacts on the project scope. The brainstorming session went very well, with a lot of input from the entire team. You now have more than enough project cost information to share with Sam and Gloria. The discussion again turns to the best way to present the information. Jim shares some insight on Sam and Gloria with the team.
“Sam and Gloria will have different concerns and issues on project human resources and quality management,” says Jim. “Sam will focus more of his attention on the qualifications of people, while Gloria will be concerned with the cost of additional resources and services and quality for the project.”
“Sam and Gloria really liked our MS Project schedule presentation,” says Jerry.
“I agree, we should just continue to build our MS Project schedule and this time assign cost and human resources for all activities,” says Sara. “We should include a plan on how we’re going to manage quality; otherwise, they will ask us how we plan to handle that. Let’s just prepare a simple 1-page quality management plan using this template and present it with the updated MS Project schedule” says Jerry.
“The MS Project cost should include the salary and budget information that we shared in our team discussion,” you say. “We should also consider the cost of possible overtime pay. And yes Jerry, I can fill out this simple quality management plan document.”
“Don’t forget the cost of additional people, equipment, and technology for team members and the cost of the services rendered by the vendors,” says Sara. “It should include additional maintenance and training costs as well.”
“Oh, that’s great!” says Jim, turning to you. “Do you think you can prepare another version of the MS Project Plan and the Quality Management Plan for the team? You did such a great job the last time.”
“Sure,” you say. “I’ll have it ready to review at our next meeting.”
Assignment
During your final check of your MS Project schedule, you review your notes from the meeting to be sure you have covered salary and budget information from your discussions, and the cost of overtime, additional people, equipment, and technology. Also include the cost of services rendered by the vendors.
For your quality management plan, please find any template or ask your instructor for one. Just make sure you focus on the quality management processes shown in the PMBOK® guide.
PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
#9
Due Date: 01/31/19
Deliverable Length: 400–600 words
As with everything else in our lives, the way in which projects are managed has evolved and will continue to evolve as technology and customer demands and expectations change. Whether you are managing a local or an international project, culture usually shapes the way in which organizations transform themselves and the way in which team members work with one another. Despite cultural differences, a PM must recognize these differences and learn how to appraise cultural issues to avoid pitfalls that could impact the delivery of the project.
Agile project management has been one of the most important emerging trends in project management. It is about doing more with less, working with the customer side by side, delivering something to the customer on a constant basis, working as a focused team, and managing change better. Agile is gaining more attraction in the technology sector but has recently been used in non-IT sectors.
Communications management is the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and ultimate disposition of project information. Plan communications management is the process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications based on stakeholders’ information needs and requirements and available organizational assets. Alternatively, risk management is the process of managing negative or positive project risks to ensure the heath and wealth of project status and delivery. It includes the process of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling project risks.
Based on your readings and research, explain the general difference between the agile and waterfall (traditional) project management methods. Why would you use one method over the other? Name and describe one of the agile methods you came across.
Why is it important to manage project communications? How would you go about preparing a project communications management plan? What information would you want to account for and include, and why?
Why is it important to create a risk register to identify and manage project risks as soon as a project is assigned to you? What are the differences between negative project risks and positive project risks? Provide examples of each. What are some of the strategies to handle either risk type?
#10
Due Date: 02/04/19
Additional Information
Jim asked you to join him to present the team’s leadership discussion to Sam and Gloria. The meeting got a little heated, but nothing went beyond your control. Overall, the meeting went very well. You addressed your concerns, highlighted some key problem areas that were shared by the rest of the team, and connected everything back to how their actions are impacting the success of the project. They now realize that their behaviors and actions are putting the project at risk along with many project risks you and the team have identified.
They were also pretty embarrassed with the type of behaviors they displayed in the meeting as the company leaders. Both Sam and Gloria were very receptive to the ideas that you presented to them. In fact, so receptive that they both said they see a lot of leadership potential in you.
“We are both sorry about the whole ordeal. We will both work together to control our emotions and not let it take over us again,” says Sam.
“Yes I agree. I will approve the project budget, but to ensure everyone is on the same page and that project risks are managed properly, we need to see a simple project communication plan and a risk register. We need to understand your approach better going forward,” says Gloria.
Jim turns to you, handing you a template for both the risk register and the communications plan. “You have done such an excellent job throughout this entire project. Would you be willing to complete these plans?”
“Of course.” you say.
“Because of this incident and the leadership that you have displayed over the past few months, we would like you to take over Jim’s position as the new project manager,” says Sam to you.
Assignment
Back at your desk, you start filling out the risk register template. For your risk register, you will need to define 5 negative risks and 5 positive risks and fill out the rest of the information in the template. For your communications management plan, please find any template or ask your instructor for one. You need to account for all communication types with your stakeholder. Please follow the instructions in the template for both deliverables.