Project Management Assignment

Dissertation on the Principles of Project Management
Project Management, Assignments 1 3, By Joan Addley
Introduction (Assignment 1) Project Management is the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources to successfully bring about specific goals and objectives associated with a particular project in a specific time frame. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve the agreed upon goals within agreed upon constraints: scope - all of the things that we set about doing time - by the specified deadline budget - within budget (money or allocated resources) quality-the spread or deviation allowed from a desired standard risk- defines in advance what may happen to drive the plan off course and what will be done to recover the situation Project management deals only with things that can be measured. All tasks have an output or deliverable, or other element that can be measured or verified, making it a vital asset to any project, regardless of its scope, specified deadlines, or budget.
When to use project management While there are many forms of project management, they all strive to optimize the end result. We tend to consider at least some form of project management when: there is more than 1 stakeholder involved, or when communication of project status, or completion status becomes an issue there is a significant degree of novelty in the project, or in other circumstances where project completion may be accompanied by a lot of risk, known or unknown the constraints (time, scope, budget or quality) are nontrivial
there is ambiguity about what is to be achieved, or when it is to be delivered.
Benefits of Project Management Good project management strives to identify risk, marshal resources effectively and make the state of the project obvious to all stakeholders. It scales to all resolutions, and through good communication and tools we achieve certain notable benefits. When there is a project management plan in place, the project goals and objectives are well known to both the stakeholders, chain of command and expectation of deliverables are noted. Its best practice to use common language to discuss project issues as this makes project planning and monitoring more effective, and is especially useful when other communication methods become more difficult on larger scaled projects. Of course, when the plan is kept up to date, any one contributing to the project can see how it is progressing, how much further work is necessary, and where problem areas are. This is usually done by using a Gantt Chart along with other project management tools. These tools also provide users with the ability to identify the critical path or sequence of priority and assess any of the trouble areas. Project Phases In project management, activities or phases follow a tried and tested sequence. Any attempt to shortcut the process will most likely lead to project failure. There are distinct phases to a project. Each of these is designed to optimise for specialised resources, and introduce control points. Each phase has measurable outputs, and the project can be cancelled at any stage. This sequence and a short description of each project phase are described below.
Dissertation on the Principles of Project Management Initiate In this first project management phase, the preliminary work is done to clarify the problem or opportunity and how a solution would look. All interested parties (the stakeholders) are consulted and the project scope what is in and what is out is clarified as well as initial costings and timelines. Plan Here, more work is done to determine whether the proposed project will be of real benefit to the organization. If it is, the project is approved and more detailed planning starts. Business benefits, project objectives, requirements, governance, scope and project management methodology is agreed. The Project Manager draws up the detailed project schedule and task and budget allocations. Execute This is where the nuts and bolts work actually gets done. Project stakeholders are interviewed to ascertain the detailed requirements, possible solutions are discussed and one decided upon. Next, the solution is designed, built and finally implemented. Project management activities in this phase also include managing the project budget and schedule, reporting project progress, communicating with stakeholders and responding to project risks, issues and proposed changes. Evaluate The purpose of this final phase is to determine whether the project was a success and what learnings can be gleaned and applied to future projects. Evaluation is typically conducted in order to answer three questions. Firstly, did the project deliver on time, within budget and to scope and quality requirements? Secondly, were project stakeholders and project team members satisfied with the project? Thirdly, did the project achieve the envisaged business benefits? Adhering to the project phases ensures that everything is done in the right order. This way, quality is checked and management approvals are gained before the next piece of work is started. Rework is minimized, saving frustration and costs all round.
Dissertation on the Principles of Project Management Characteristics of Good Project Management

Like most things we do, there are a few very simple rules involved so here is what it really boils down to: Detail task description well, clearly set the objectives of your project, and develops a detailed action plan for your project. This forms the foundations for success! The following traits characterize successful projects: Satisfied customer is the customer who pays the bill. They only pay their bill if they are satisfied with the product or service. Customer focused project delivery ensures that the acceptance criteria is met of the product or service produced. The overall outcome of learning and knowledge is excellence, which is fineness, brilliance, a distinction of quality on merit. The outcome must be that the project team and applicable stakeholders have increased their skills, abilities, knowledge and wisdom. Stakeholder support will embrace many forms both internal and external. Project typically involves who invest time and resources in the project several stakeholders. Certain state callers have a vested interest in the delivery and the outcome of the project. From pre initiation to the closing of the project it is important that they are actively involved in the project. Project managers exhibit a sense of urgency projects focused on delivering a product or a service within a specific and limited time, cost, scope and quality. Projects should progress with a sense of urgency towards the completion of milestones, previews, stages or faces until the project is closed off. The project deliverable and deadlines, the project manager should assure that are met. Project health checks are essential to a balance between the time, cost, scope, and quality and the products and services delivered regular status checks, meetings, and reminders are essential. Top management have to actively set priorities resource management is essential to the effective delivery of any project. For the duration they are required, top management and the sponsor must enable area and technical specialists to be assigned to the project. Every project manager desires the best resource for the project. This is the way it is going to cause a conflict so resource planning based on a resource matrix is vital. Project will be completed successfully with carefully
Dissertation on the Principles of Project Management planning; resources will not be stretched to the limits. It enables such control by the project management office. The Project Office reviews the organizations overall mission and strategies, establishes criteria for project selection and funding, monitors resource workloads, and determines which projects are of high enough priority to be approved. Clear approvals and signoff by sponsors clear approval points, accompanied by formal signoff by sponsors, SMEs, and other key stakeholders, should be demarcation points in the evolution of project deliverables is what project demands. Its this simple: anyone who has the power to reject or to demand revision of deliverables after they are complete must be required to examine and approve them as they are being built. Acquire the best people for the task at hand, proficient resources for the politics obtained and work SMART acquired the biggest, most suited. To render success on the project resources with the skills and abilities to ring the success must be deployed to the project, project managers must advocate to the project sponsors and stakeholders. Project sponsors and stakeholders have to be active participants, not passive customers project sponsors and stakeholders rightfully demand the authority to approve project deliverables. Along with this authority comes the responsibility to be an active player in the early stages of the project (helping to set deliverables), to complete reviews of interim deliverables in a timely fashion (keeping the project moving), and to help expedite the project managers access to SMEs, members of the target audience, and important documentation.

(Assignment 2)
Wireframe/Sitemap
Work plan (GANTT Chart)

This is the GANTT Chart for this assignment done using Gantt Project Programme.

Project Management, Assignments 1 3, By Joan Addley Here are the resources used to complete this project.
And this is the PERT Chart for the same Credit Union Project.

Budget and Risk Assessment

There is no monetary budget set for this project as it is part of the FETAC 6 Certificate Course put forth by the Digital Skills Academy and Webactivate. If not planned for and dealt with immeadiatly, any of the risks listed in the following assessment would cost me (the student/webactivator) time and possibably reduce the extent of design and input into the site. The domino effect of this would result in the participating SME not signing or extending its contract with Webactivate and Black Knight Hosting Services into the New Year. The average cost of setting up a website vary depending upon what the customer requires, and this amount can start at a few hundred euro and go as high as a few thousand euro. For the 5 plus page sites we have been working with during the programme, the cost is uaually around 100 per page to design. To purchase the domain name is another cost, ranging from aprox. $10 on an American site to buy a .com to thousands of euros to purchase a particular branded site. And finally the hosting price, which again starts at a nominal fee per month or per year for the SMEs website, depending upon their requirements can cost anything from 30 per year to hundreds of euro per year. Finally, you should advise the SME to budget their time or money in order to maintain the site, be it they have someone from the company to update the sites content or they contract the website designer to update it for them.
Risk Event Name of Possible Risk Inclement Weather Probability of Occurrence Low, Med, High Low Magnitude of Impact Med, High, No Action Med to High Risk Response Type of Action Utilize Skype from home in order to communicate with instructors/SMEs Utilize Skype and reschedule meeting Continue to contact SME for contact Isolate time to complete sites Cry and wait for John
Unable to attend class/SME meeting due to illness Slow response from SME with content Meeting academic deadlines Server Issues
Low Med Med High
Med to High High High High

Project Management, Assignments 1 3, By Joan Addley and Eoin to fix the problemagain

Introduction (Assignment 3)
This assignment covers the project plan and details of activity for the Cashel Credit Union, the second SME that I dealt with as part of the Webactivate program. Per the requirements of the FETAC Project Management Assignment, this portion of the document includes the following project details: Project Planner Document (from Moodle) SME Profile Document (from Moodle) UI Sketches SME Designs Info Grams Site Documentation H/W & S/W spec Costing & Budget Proposal Project Log Timekeeping Schedule
SME Profile Document (from Moodle) Profiling an SME Complete the questions about your chosen SME on the template Time approx 20 min Name of SME Cashel Credit Union What product/service does the SME create/provide/develop? Saving, Loans, Money Management What market/sector are they operating in? Credit Unions
Dissertation on the Principles of Project Management What recent developments have taken place within that market? Banking crisis and public losing faith in corporate banks How has the current economic climate affected their business? It has encouraged more customers to open accounts with them. What if any changes have they made to survive? None, most of the staff works on a volunteer basis and they have minimal over head What web presence does the business currently have? Is it effective? What you do differently? No web presence currently
Evidence of research Each of these credit union sites are direct competitors of Cashel Credit Union and were even designed by the same company, Proactive Design & Marketing in Galway.
St. Anthony's and Claddagh Credit Union Ltd
http://www.stanthonyscu.ie Naomh Padraig Credit Union Limited http://www.npcu.ie St. Columba's Credit Union http://www.galwaycreditunion.ie Site Sketches and Markups This is an outline of the visual representation of the client sites. Each UNIQUE design should have its outline sketched using whatever tools are suitable (gliffy, balsamiq, which is what I used, mockingbird, or scanned freehand sketches).

Home Page Layout Followed by the Contact Us Page

Dissertation on the Principles of Project Management Site Documentation In this section we include all of the data that the client needs to know when they take ownership of their site. Theme Used The Graphene theme for Wordpress 3.0 is a stylish, neat, and tight WordPress theme supporting 2 widget areas, with the ability to determine the number of columns to display in the footer widget area. It includes action hooks for greater customizability through child theme, and a jQuery slider for your featured posts. It has built-in Twitter widget, allows for customizable header and background through the WordPress admin, built-in Ad Sense placement and AddThis social sharing button, supports custom menu with drop-down navigation of up to 5 levels deep, and threaded comments of up to 10 levels deep! A one-column, full-width page template without the sidebar is included. You can hide post parameters, show post authors gravatar, use different widgets for the front page than the rest of the website, and specify font styles for header and content texts. The codes are written so that you can easily override or add functionality to the theme by using your own child theme without altering the parent themes code. This theme has been tested and confirmed compatible with IE6, IE7, IE8, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari. Translations included: Malay, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Polish, German, Norwegian, and Chinese. This theme has been distributed under the GPL, the same as most wordpress themes. No exceptions made for commercial usage. The only additional plugin I used was Contact Form 7 for the Contact Page, and for the Widgets, I just kept it simple using only 2 widgets, one for Links and the other for Archives. Security considerations
There are only 2 administration users, and no other user roles.

Users can only be created by admin users - there is no sign up procedure through the site No commenting is allowed on the site, or any other form of ping/track backs. This is to prevent spam comments/trackbacks. Disabled the meta info and Powered by WP to make it less obvious that it was a wordpress site
In so far as licensing of content and rights to graphics and images used in the site, all graphics used in the site belonged to the credit union. Wordpress plugins and themes used were distributed under the GPL, and the graphics and images are copyright Credit Union. H/W & S/W spec Hardware and software specifications (provided below) as standard.
Name HP Laptop
Details HP G72 Notebook, Intel Pentium CPU P6000, 1.87 GHz, 2GB Installed RAM, Display Resolution: 1600 x 900 Windows 7 64 Bit Operating system Home Premium Staging http://webactivate-galway02.com Server Picasa 3 Photography organizing & batch resizing Wordpress Version 3.0.1 Graphene Contact Form 7 Theme, version 1.1.2 Version 2.4.2
Role Developm ent, Testing Developm ent, Testing Developm ent, Testing Developm ent Installatio n Installatio n Installatio n

Production http://sme402.webactivate.ie Server
Production
Dissertation on the Principles of Project Management Costing & Budget Proposal This is where a mock costing takes place. We examine the work necessary to complete the project, put an hourly rate to our time and come up with a costing for the proposal. We also include incidental costs like mileage, accommodation, purchasing of graphics, themes, logos and the costs of other professionals like photographers, graphics designers or other subcontracted/ outsourced professionals. Note: Labour costs charged at 40 per hour or part thereof. Item Site set up 2 hours 4 Hours General Labour 5 Hours Communication & Coordination 10 Hours Research and Development 2 Hours Banner design 2 Hours Revision Work 2 Hours copywriting review 2 Hours Image manipulation Total Risk buffer 10% Total Risk inclusive Cost 80 160 200 400 80 80 80 80 Notes http://sme402.webactivate.i e Meetings, phone calls, status reports and training with the SME Plugin, theme and widget evaluation and research Integrating banner design into header Change requests from SME Reviewing the copy sent by the client Cropping, selection, & image SEO
116 0 + Balance to be repaid if costs 116 do not overrun 1276

Project Log This is where we keep a log of our activities on the project. Anything that impacted the schedule, any issues that arose, including technical issues with the site as well as personal issues with the client, we include here. We discuss how the issues were resolved, we discuss how we approached risk, we talk about unusual client encounters, and we discuss the hit on the budget that occurred to a certain degree. Timetable of Events 8 Nov Contacted Kathleen to arrange Face to Face meeting for that week, appointment made for 11 Nov 8 Nov Researched Irish Credit Unions and possible competitors & prepared a brief/notes in advance of the meeting 11 Met with Kathleen to discuss site details, received some Nov initial business details 11 Made up wireframe and sitemap of site with Kathleen Nov during the meeting, made it legible, and sent it to her via e-mail later that evening to have her validate that was what she wanted 12 Sent Kathleen terms and conditions to read over and Nov sign, along with project outline, for her approval prior to starting on the site 15 Receiving content from Kathleen along with T&C, and Nov her approval of site outline 15 Select site template and start design process on black Nov knight server as sme402.webactivate.ie 15 Implement plugins and widgets for site Nov 16 Communicating with Kathleen and received some Nov content 16 Logo and header design, graphics search and design Nov 17Nov Uploading content and graphics to site 18 Install Google Analitics and SEO Nov 22 Sent link to Kathleen so she could check it out and

Nov 22 Nov 24 Nov 26 Nov
validate it Last minute changes, corrections in dates and announcements Final validation from Kathleen Finished site and sent it to John for sign off
Issues and Resolution The only issues I had during my dealings with the credit union were of a personal nature and werent caused by the SME; my son was home sick from school for a number of days during which time I was supposed to be working on this project, but school work had to be put on the long finger for hours and days at a time so I could tend to my son. My resolution was to put in the needed hours around his schedule and pull many late nightsIm not 18 anymore and all-nighters dont suit me! Timekeeping Schedule This is simply a log of our hours spent on the project and tasks that we spent them on. This is done on a daily manner. Date 8 Nov Tasks Phone communication with Client (10 min) Research competitors (2hrs) Prepared note and brief for meeting (2hrs 30min) Meeting with Kathleen (2 hrs) Wireframe and site markup (1hr) Send T&C, project plan, and clean wireframes to Kathleen (1hr 30 min) Telephone conversation with Kathleen regarding what I sent Total Time 4hrs 40mins
11 Nov
4 hrs 30min
12 Nov
1 hr

15 Nov 16 Nov
17 Nov 18 Nov 19 Nov 22 Nov
23 Nov 24 Nov 26 Nov
her yesterday, validated and ready to start. Will send me content during the week (1hr) Select template, start design process, implement plugins and widgets for site Continue design elements of site, header, logo, and graphics (5hrs) Add content as I receive it to site (1hr) Add content (30min) Design elements (4hrs) Design elements and slider on front page (3hrs) Install header, slider graphics, and change background colour, and edit Contact Form 7 (4hrs) Send link to Kathleen for her validation of site (20min) Last minute corrections and tidying up (4hrs) Send email to Kathleen for her to give final validation of site Client signed off on site and returned T&C, and sign off sheet (20min) Send link to John for final validation for course requirementsDONE
4 hrs 6 hrs
4 hrs 30min 3 hrs 4 hrs 4 hrs 20min
20min 20min 20min

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Dissertation on the Principles of Project Management