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Project Management
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Contents

Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 3
Task 1.1&1.3. An analysis of the project of Springs of Youth 2011 in five phases .................... 3
Task.1.2. Methods for appraising the validity of the project .......................................................... 5
Task.1.4. Termination of the project .................................................................................................. 7
Task2.1. Organisation structure of Spring of Youth 2011 project; a comparison with the
matrix structure. .................................................................................................................................... 7
Task.2.2. Suggestions for improving coordination and control of project team and project
activities ................................................................................................................................................. 8
Task. 2.3. Leadership style in the project of Spring of Youth 2011 project ................................. 8
Task2.4.Human resource requirement of the project ..................................................................... 9
Task.3.1. Critical elements of a successful project plan. ............................................................... 9
Task3.2. Gantts chart and its use in Spring of Youth 2011 project ............................................ 10
Task.3.3. Methods for measuring performance to ensure the management of the triple
constraints of scope, timescale and resources.............................................................................. 10
Task.3.4. Evaluation of change control procedures of Spring of Youth 2011 project ............. 11
Task 3.5.Monitoring and evaluation of the project ........................................................................ 11
References .......................................................................................................................................... 12
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Introduction
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), a project is any work that
happens only once, has a clear beginning and end, and is intended to create a
unique product or knowledge.

A project that is examined in this study is the conducting of a fine arts festival named
Springs of Youth 2011 by an event management company called Titans in UK. Titan
is an event management company formed since 2007. It has conducted several
shows and event management programmes. The fine arts show named Springs of
Youth 2011 is aimed at conducting a dance and music festival participating young
talents from UK universities and awarding the best performers in each section. The
show is aimed to collect an amount of 15,000 by way of selling tickets and another
10000 by way of sponsorship and advertisement. Titan management appointed a
team to plan and implement the project.

Task 1.1&1.3. An analysis of the project of Springs of Youth 2011 in five

phases

Project management has five phases which are scoping the project, developing the
plan, launching the plan, monitoring and controlling and closing out the project. This
is illustrated in the following diagram:

monitoring and
scoping of the developing the launching the
controlling the
project project plan
project

closing out
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Scoping of the project:

Scoping the problem refers to stating the problem and prospect, set up a project
goal, identify the objectives, and identifies success criteria, listing of assumptions,
risks and obstacles. In the case of Springs of Youth 2011 project, the scoping is as
follows:

Stating the problem:

In the case of Titan, the project of Springs of Youth 2011 is planned not due to any
problems; instead Titan found an opportunity of earning profit from the show and
also to increase its Public Relations and popularity.

Project goal: the goal of Springs of Youth 2011 is to earn profit from selling tickets,
sponsorship and advertisement and also to increase the popularity of the company.

Objectives of the project (SMART): the objective of the project Springs of Youth 2011
is to conduct the show and earn money and also ensure the participation of the
youth and make the show a big event. Even though this requires huge money to be
spend, ultimately, it would increase the profit of the company and would help it to
make its way in earning more business.

Success criteria: when there is a huge participation of youth in the show and there is
a high sale of tickets, huge sponsorship by way of advertisement and a high
coverage of the show in the media, and there is an increase in the popularity of
Titan, the show can be deemed to be a success.

Assumptions: the assumptions are that, youth will participate in the event, tickets will
be sold out, advertisements will be demanded by companies and media coverage
will be received by the show.

Risks and obstacles: The risks related to Springs of Youth 2011 project are financial
and technical problems, non selling of tickets, non availability of sponsorships and
advertisements due to lack of popularity, unfavourable weather conditions which
would make the show a failure and any other unforeseen antisocial response against
the show.
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Developing the plan:

Developing a plan for Springs of Youth 2011 includes project tasks (WBS), estimate
duration of task, determine resource requirements, construct project network and
prepare a project proposal.

The Project tasks of Springs of Youth 2011 project are to find a venue to conduct the
show, invite applications from contestants, determine the timings of the show, sell
tickets, contact sponsors, inform the media make facilities in the venue and give
maximum popularity for the show.

Duration of estimate task: the estimated duration for completing this project is two
months and the show lasts only for four hours.

Resource requirements: Human resources to volunteer and assist the show,

participants of the show, sales personnel to sell the tickets.

Construct the project network: Titan company Participants sponsors venue

owners - viewers.

Launching the project: The project has to be launched after assessing how much
work need to be done, by whom to be done and how much funds need to be
allocated for each activity and forming teams to perform the individual process.

Monitoring and controlling the project: The whole project has to be divided into small
parts of activities as each team headed by team leaders who in turn are to be
monitored and controlled by Project manager.

Project closing: When the show is over and the revenue is earned, venue is vacated
and the Company receives a good response to the show with good media coverage,
the show is deemed as a success and thus the project can be closed.

Task.1.2. Methods for appraising the validity of the project

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Success and failure criteria: The success of any project can be measured by the
results at the end. The three elements that constitute a project are project objective,
project scope and project strategy.

Project objectives gives a focus for the project as it show what to be achieved. The
objective of Springs of Youth 2011 project is to make maximum profit by selling
tickets, gaining popularity for the show and getting media coverage.

The activities of Springs of Youth 2011 project are to conduct the show and earn
money and also ensure the participation of the youth and make the show a big
event. Even though this requires huge money to be spent, ultimately, it would
increase the profit of the company and would help it to make its way in earning more
business. The project time scope is two months and several units of Titan are
involved in this project. Spring of Youth 2011 project strategy is to improve the public
relations of Titan and maximise the profit of the company from the revenue earned.

Operational, cost and time criteria:

The operational objectives of a project must be measurable and quantifiable. The

purpose of Spring of Youth 2011 project is to provide to increase the profit for the
company and increase its popularity. The outcome is to gain popularity and earn
revenue. The success criteria in this project is whether there was a good
participation of talented contestants, whether the set as are fully booked for the
show, whether there was a good response from the sponsors and whether there
was a good media coverage and popularity for the show.

There must be a cost and time criteria for any project to fulfil and in the case of
Spring of Youth 2011 project, the estimated cost are 5000 and the time limit is two
months.

Investment appraisal: investment appraisal reveals the value that the company gets
by spending money in a project. There are several methods to calculate the
investment appraisal and a popular method is payback period method.
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Payback period method is the chosen method in this study to evaluate the
investment appraisal of Spring of Youth 2011 project .The payback of the money
invested in the project can be assessed by the end of the show. This is an important
factor in evaluating the success criteria.
Days/Weeks/Months x Initial Investment
Payback = ------------------------------------------
Total Cash Received

Task.1.4. Termination of the project

A projects come to an end at the end of its term either due to success in the project
or due to the failures. The management takes the decision to terminate a project.
Titan conducted a project audit at the end of the project. This enabled it to analyse the
current status, the operational objectives, project objective, cost, accounts, resources
involved and the issues involved. These were compared to the organisational objective.

The termination phase of a project is closing out which is usual in every project
termination. The Titan project team also prepared a punch list of unfulfilled tasks
which were negligible which includes absent participants and a few unsold tickets.
Titan conducted an audit trail which gives it a history of the project audit which was
analysed in the closing-out phase.

Titan conducted a post project proposal by receiving feedback from the viewers,
participants, sponsors, staff and media. This helped Titan to make improvements in
its future projects and plans. The project objective was finally compared with the
organisational objective which proved Spring of Youth 2011 project a big success.

Task2.1. Organisation structure of Spring of Youth 2011 project; a comparison

with the matrix structure.

Organsitonal strucutre means a formal relationship of a company, its procedures

and process of activites, control mechanisms and decison making process. Titan
adopted a functional structure for its project due to the nature of the project being
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uncomplicated. In the functional structure of Spring of Youth 2011 project, separate

teams were formed under team leaders who were entrusted with specific duties and
they were in turn answerable to the project manager. The project manager of Spring
of Youth 2011 project controls and monitors the activities of the project.

Teams: several teams were engaged in the Spring of Youth 2011 project; accounts,
customer relations, sales, operations, transport and logistics and PR department.

Comparison with the matrix structure: a functional structure has a central decision
making model when compared to the matrix structure. Functional structure warrants
steadiness while matrix structure is flexible. Employees tend to become segregated
without any relationships with other departments and this make them communication
impossible while in matrix structure there is enough room for mutual cooperation and
communication. Matrix structure is an ideal choice in the case when a company has
only scarce resources. Matrix structure helps to start project quickly and also helps
to develop cross-departmental relationships and cooperation among employees.

Task.2.2. Suggestions for improving coordination and control of project team and
project activities

Team work is a major factor behind the success of any project. The leadership of the
Spring of Youth 2011 project can improve its project management efficiency by
making several improvements in the way it handled the work. The project leader did
not take into account the upcoming event of a rock music show and thereby lost a
few sponsorships. This can be seen as a lack of foresight from the part of the project
planners. Further, there must be constant reporting of the daily developments from
the part of the teams and there must be a weekly and daily analysis of
developments.

Task. 2.3. Leadership style in the project of Spring of Youth 2011 project
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The leadership style practiced in the Spring of Youth 2011 project was that of a
participative leadership which is also called democratic leadership style. The project
manager was very cooperative with the team leaders and engaged them in the
decision making process and problem solving process. Even the team members
were greatly appreciated for their achievements in short and long term performance.
The project manager coordinated all the activities and constantly monitored the
progress of the project and he showed considerable flexibility in the plans when
situation demanded so.

Task2.4.Human resource requirement of the project

The Spring of Youth 2011 project is a multi level venture and thus requires the
support of several staff technical, professional and administrative level from all
departments. The participants required for the show are invited from UK universities
and all other staff required for conducting the show was appointed from among the
companys staff themselves and the sponsors for conducting the show were found
out from among the major business organisations in London. Being an event
management company, Titan had its own vehicles, drivers, administrative staff, PR
staff and sales personnel and presenters and coordinators and stage technicians.
Several other works were outsourced like advertising, making available of
refreshments etc.

Task.3.1. Critical elements of a successful project plan.

Careful planning is necessary for every project. The Spring of Youth 2011 project is
aimed to be conducted within time span of two months and the event itself last for
four hours including the break. The event has to be conducted in a chosen venue,
the project has to be made popular and maximum number of participants has to be
admitted. The event should invite the attention of the public and the media.

Project organisation plan: the Spring of Youth 2011 project plan can be break down
into several components. The work breakdown and organisational breakdown can be
better shown in a Gantts chart. A Gantts chart enables the managers to evaluate the
project tasks.
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Task3.2. Gantts chart and its use in Spring of Youth 2011 project

A Gantts chart is used in Spring of Youth 2011 project to show the progress of the
show. A Gantt chart helps to know what could have been achieved in a specific
period of time. It shows milestones that signify the achievements and other major
measures. Spring of Youth 2011 project used Gantts chart to schedule its project
activities and show the timescale of each process including milestone of the
achievements of the activities in the project. Spring of Youth 2011 project manager
was able to recognize the advancement of its work and the way it is gaining
momentum.

Task.3.3. Methods for measuring performance to ensure the management of the

triple constraints of scope, timescale and resources

The triple constraints in a project are scope, time and cost constraints. A project
manager should comprehend what is to be achieved, how it is to be achieved and
what resources are needed to achieve it.

Cost control: The cost controlling of the project is done by the project manager. The
project manager analysed the objectives to be achieved, made a breakdown
analysis of every kind of cost and measures to control the cost. The next step is to
assess the resources needed to materialise the objectives, the human resources
needed to perform the work and other material resources needed. An analysis of
cost would help a project manager to control the costs in an efficient manner.

Techniques: it is the project manager who allocates the responsibilities to each tam
and appoints the tam leaders. This will enable his to ensure accountability and
effectiveness in performing each task. The way in which each tasks have to be done
is determine by the project manager and thus he can ensure a proper cash flow and
work flow in the project.
.
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Performance: The cost performance analysis is performed by the project manger by

assessing the actual cost of the work, performed cost of the work, cost performance
indicators and the budgeted cost.

Task.3.4. Evaluation of change control procedures of Spring of Youth 2011

project

A project manager should be capable of managing change as a part of the project

management. Despite planning a project may require some changes when state of
affairs demands. The Spring of Youth 2011 project manager had to make some
changes in the plans of the project. Firstly, it has to reduce the price of the balcony
tickets as there were not enough audiences while there was more response from the
audience for economy tickets. This affected the estimated return from the project but
that was not a considerable amount when compared tot eh revenue earned from the
advertisements. Due to the Rock music show that was held in the nearby venue on
the previous day there was not much response from the young people still most of
the audience were families with children.

Task 3.5.Monitoring and evaluation of the project

The Spring of Youth 2011 project is a great success as the Titan event Management
Company finished its work on the project within two months and the programme was
conducted with a high level participation of talented university students. The
presence of celebrity guests also added glamour to the event which in turn attracted
audiences and added revenue to the company. The media coverage about the event
in the newspapers and television also showed the popularity and success of eh
show.
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References

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