Course Project

Objectives | Guidelines | Milestones | Deliverables | Grading Rubrics

The objective of the course project is to give you an opportunity to practice the skills learned in class regarding the planning methodologies of a project. These skills are directly applicable toward your senior project.

For this project you may choose one that is of interest to you, or you may choose to begin planning for your senior project. When selecting a project, avoid picking one that is either too big or too small. For example, do not decide to build a new stadium for your local sports team (too big) or to plant your summer garden (too small).

Some successful project ideas:

• The opening of a coffee shop
• An open house for a local social service agency
• A meditation pool and platform
• A redevelopment of a local playground
• Design and installation of a computer network for a small business
• Software development project

A project to build a house is NOT acceptable.

• Due Week 2: Project Selection
• Due Week 3: Scope Statement
• Due Week 4: Work Breakdown Structure and Network Diagram
• Due Week 5: Risk Management Plan
• Due Week 6: Resource Management Plan
• Due Week 7: Communication Plan
• Due Week 8: Final Project Package

Due Week 2: Project Selection

Provide a one page description of your project which will make it very clear to me, your boss, what you are planning. Keep in mind that you will be using this project for all team activities for this session.

For your new project, please develop a project team (citing names, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers) and show how you will manage team dynamics in a project environment.

Be certain to include:

1.       How can team leadership be instrumental in ensuring a successful project?

2.       Choose from the various organizational formats, including pure project, matrix, and functional structures.

3.       How can team dynamics and performance be pivotal in producing deliverables and meeting customers’ expectations?

Please put this in proper business writing format. Consider me to be your boss.

If working in a group, include a statement of participation, describing how each person contributed to this project deliverable. Please have each person sign the statement.

Due Week 3: Scope Statement

Prepare a scope statement using the model on page 105 in the text as a template. Please also describe how your proposed budget is reasonable and appropriate for your project objective (this may be a rough order of magnitude estimate, but it does need to be reality based!) Remember to be tangible, measurable, and specific.

Deliverables:

·        Project scope statement (in MS Word)

·        If working in a group, include a statement of participation, describing how each person contributed to this project deliverable. Please have each person sign the statement.

Due Week 4: Work Breakdown Structure and Network Diagram

According to the PMBOK, “the WBS is 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.” In other words, it lists the tasks, the sub-tasks, the sub-sub-tasks, etc., for the project.

For this phase, you will create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the project you selected during Phase One. Remember that the WBS starts with your major deliverables (that you stated in your Scope Management Plan) at the highest level. The lower levels have the tasks required to complete those deliverables. You should have at least three tasks under each deliverable, but you may have as many tasks as needed to ensure that the deliverables are complete. Review the textbook (and the PMBOK, if you have it) for some suggestions on how best to create a WBS. From your work breakdown structure, develop a project task list with dependencies. Add durations. Then submit a network diagram (using MS Project) and a project schedule.

Develop the Work Breakdown Structure

·        Your WBS should have a minimum of 25-30 tasks and be three subtasks deep.

·        Make sure to use verb/object task names (for example, “Develop software”).

o   Enter tasks in MS Project.

o   Create the predecessor relationships to create a network diagram.

o   DO NOT LINK SUMMARY TASKS!

o   In the Gantt Chart Tools tab, check the box marked “Outline Number” in the Show/Hide group.

Deliverables:

·        In MS Project, print the following:

o   Gantt Chart Entry Table on no more than three pages [View > Tables > Entry]

§  Include Task Name, Duration, Start, Finish, and Predecessor columns with Gantt Chart.

o   Schedule Table on one page [View > Tables > Schedule]

§  Include only the default columns (Task Mode, Task Name, Start, Finish, Late Start, Late Finish, Free Slack, Total Slack) and do not include the Gantt Chart. Make sure that all columns are wide enough to read completely.

o   Network Diagram on one page [Task tab > View group > Network Diagram]

§  Highlight Critical Path and Circle Milestones.

§  Justify why you chose your milestones. (Hint: use milestones from the scope statement or look for key merge or burst activities.)

§  Also print out the network diagram on two to three pages so that task information can be read.

o   Using the Resource Sheet (View > Resource Sheet) develop and print a list of resources required for your project. Include Max.Units and Costs (Std. Rate, Ovt. Rate, Cost/Use).

·        If working in a group, include a statement of participation, describing how each person contributed to this project deliverable. Please have each person sign the statement.

DO NOT ASSIGN RESOURCES AT THIS TIME!

Due Week 5: Risk Management Plan

1.       Establish the project’s priority matrix (constrain, enhance, accept). See Figure 4.2, page 107.

2.       Identify a minimum of 10 project risks, when it will occur in the project life cycle, and determine the probability of the risk occurrence.

3.       Create a matrix similar to the one from the your text (Larson/Gray, Figure 7.5, page 217), making sure that it is consistent with your priority matrix.

4.       Justify the use of your risk scoring matrix.

5.       Assess your risks according to your matrix.

6.       Rank the risks according to their total risk score.

7.       Prepare the Risk Response Matrix for each risk–Risk, Response, Contingency, Trigger, Responsible Person–as presented in the Larson/Gray text page 224, Figure 7.8.

Deliverables:

·        Use the Risk Management Analysis Template spreadsheet (risk management analysis template.xls) found in Doc Sharing (there is a separate tab for each portion of the Risk Management Plan)

·        If working in a team, include a statement of participation, describing how each person contributed to this project deliverable. Please have each person sign the statement.

Due Week 6: Resource Management Plan

A project plan cannot be considered complete until the resources have been assigned (including the bottoms up cost estimate) and leveled, ensuring that the resources are available to complete the work.

Tasks:

1.       Assign resources to tasks.

2.       Print out resource sheet.

3.       Identify resources that are over allocated.

4.       Print Gantt chart and entry table.

5.       Print reports (or tables) showing the costs of the resources and the cost by work package. Is this an acceptable cost for your project? That is, is it within the budget proposed in the scope statement?

6.       Level project within available slack.

7.       Print the new entry table (do not include the Gantt chart).

8.       Identify resources that remain over allocated.

9.       If resources are still over allocated, clear leveling and then re-level without the slack constraint.

10.    Identify how this has affected the project duration (how many days and new completion date).

11.    Assume that no other resources are available. What will your team do to complete the project on time? Instead of assigning overtime, add a new resource for a cost 1.5 times the normal labor cost. What is the cost for the additional resource and the total project? Is this revised cost within the amount developed in the scope statement? If you chose to not add a resource, your project completion may be delayed. Is a delay in the project due date acceptable? Why or why not? Submit supporting documentation from MS Project as needed.

Deliverables:

1.       A journal of project activity. Describe what you did on each step, and the results of your actions.

2.       MS Project printouts (as above). Please indicate on the printouts which step they support.

3.       Final time and cost results. Describe how these meet the needs as defined in the scope statement. If your team believes that the original scope statement needs to change, describe the changes, why the changes were necessary, and include the modified scope statement in the deliverables.

4.       Include a copy of your original (and revised, if necessary) scope statement with the deliverables.

5.       If working in a team, include a statement of participation, describing how each person contributed to this project deliverable. Please have each person sign the statement.

Due Week 7: Communication Plan

According to the PMBOK, “the Communications Planning process determines the information and communications needs of the stakeholders; for example, who needs what information, when they will need it, how it will be given to them, and by whom.” In other words, it lists the general communication requirements for the project.

This week, you will create a simple communication plan for the execution of your project. This plan should have the following information: contact information for all affected parties, major deliverables and how progress on the deliverables will be communicated to the affected parties (as well as who the affected parties are and when communication will take place), and any other miscellaneous information about communication on the project.

Deliverables:

·        Business memo summarizing the submission for the week.

·        Communication plan.

If working in a team, include a statement of participation, describing how each person contributed to this project deliverable. Please have each person sign the statement.

Due Week 8: Final Project Package

You will need to create a project plan. This plan should be completely integrated and presented in a logical order. It should be written professionally and should be mistake-free in terms of spelling and grammar. The final project plan should incorporate any changes that occurred along the way, including corrections and advice given by colleagues or your professor.

Any tables and/or graphs should be labeled correctly. Your final project plan should consist of the following:

·        Table of contents

·        Scope statement

·        Work breakdown structure

·        Network diagram

·        Risk management plan

·        Resource management plan

·        Communication management plan

Deliverables:

Project plan consisting of:

·        Business memo summarizing the submission for the week

·        Complete project plan

·        Lessons learned document (to be completed individually, even if the balance of the project was performed as part of a team):

o   1. What went well in the project? What could have gone better?

o   2. If working in a group:

§  What did you learn from working in a project group? How did the interpersonal dynamics affect your participation?

§  If there were conflicts, how were they resolved?

o   3. What did you learn in completing this project about yourself and how you work in a team environment?

o   4. What could have made this project a better learning experience?

If working in a group, include a statement of participation, describing how each person contributed to this project deliverable. Please have each person sign the statement.

Grading Rubric (Week 2)

Grading Rubric (Weeks 3-7)

Final Project Package Grading Rubric