Formative Assessment 1
This is a suggested structure for Project Management in Business Report.
Please have:
A cover page with your Student ID number and
Table of contents included for good academic practice for report writing.
Reference your work in adherence with Harvard Referencing System.
Introduction:
Provide an introduction and background to your chosen project with report’s aims and objectives / purpose clearly presented.
The role of projects in delivering organisational strategy
o Definition of term project, projects vs BAU…
o Role of projects in delivering organisational strategy? -e.g., competitive advantage, enabling change; support decision making…etc.
o How and why the outcomes and beneficial changes need to be aligned to organisation’s strategy?
The process of initiating, planning, and managing projects
o Analysis of the process of initiating projects.
e.g., the creation of project initiation documents, defining purpose, objectives, key performance indicators (KPIs), scope, deliverables, constraints, quality, assumptions, development of formal business case, success criteria, resource requirements (people, finance, equipment, time), Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), risk analysis and assessment, defining project organisation, project team roles, stakeholder analysis, communications strategy
o What are the impacts of legal, organisational, and ethical factors on projects?
E.g., Health and safety at Work Act, General Data protection Regulation 2018; code of conduct, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, values, and culture…etc
Tools and techniques for planning and managing projects
– Tools and techniques for Planning
o How to set up, plan, organise and manage a project and resources using relevant tools and techniques?
E.g., Gantt charts, milestone charts, network diagrams, project plans, Critical Path Analysis (CPA), Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), project methodologies/project lifecycle approaches (waterfall, iterative, hybrid, PRINCE2…etc.)
o Evaluate how different contexts, e.g., project size, level of risk and complexity, timescales…etc may impact the choice of project methodology/project lifecycle approach?
o How important is it to identify and work collaboratively with stakeholders? -e.g., identify needs, build consensus, create communication plan, clarify roles, empower others…. etc.
– Methods used for monitoring against project plan
o What are the methods used for monitoring the execution/implementation of the project plan? – e.g., time, quality, and cost outputs, maintaining logs of quality issues and exceptions, planned vs actual monitoring forms, project meetings, risk review…etc
o Evaluate methods used for monitoring project progress and performance against outcomes (Qualitative and quantitative)
o What are the methods used for reporting on project outcomes? -e,g, production of reports, other means of communication with stakeholders…etc
– Project Closer
o Assess approaches for project closure – e.g., administrative closure (e.g., handover, team celebration, feedback from stakeholders, lessons learned/good practice workshops, re-allocate resources, finalise accounts, archive data and information, knowledge management…etc
