Assessment

Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.

The goal of this assessment is to apply the fundamental principles of the project management process to a small-scale project of your own, in which you act as project manager. Your assessment is a paper that presents your project proposal, identifies the scope of your project, and outlines your project plan.

For further guidance, you are encouraged to conduct independent research in the scholarly and professional literature of the project management field. Note: You are expected to use Microsoft Project software to track and assign your resources for this project, develop the timing, and track the costs. Microsoft Project is provided through a Toolwire virtual desktop for your use to create several of the items of your assessment. Access the software via the Toolwire resources in this assessment.

Preparation

Choose your own project topic idea or select one from the list provided below. You can use a project from your work, a personal project, or one created solely for this course. The following are suggested project topics:

• Staging a theatrical production at your community theater.
• Planning a wedding.
• Building a house.
• Planning a round-the-world trip.
• Writing and publishing a book.
• Developing, manufacturing, and selling a new product.
• Creating an e-commerce Web site.

Directions

Complete the following:

Project Proposal and Scope

A project proposal is really a selling document. It is used to convince the customer that you offer the best plan to accomplish his or her goal. In preparing a proposal, you would consider the broad overview of the project, including the need to assign resources, costs, timing, and management. The primary focus should be on presenting your strengths and defining the priorities of the customer, including the scope of his or her expectations. Many project management issues occur because the scope document or contract is not clearly defined for all parties. Can you think of examples where issues could occur because project's scope was not clearly defined?

For this section of your assessment, complete the following:

• Briefly identify your project topic and the customer for your project.
• Identify the steps for properly defining a project's scope, priorities, and work breakdown structure.
• Identify the scope of your project. What are you planning to achieve with this project (what is in the scope) and what are you not planning to achieve (what is out of scope)? Include the following sections:

o The technical proposal. Describe the problem or need that the project will solve. Communicate the project's approach, and explain the benefits of the solution.

o The management proposal.

o Explain how the work will be organized, how the work will be done, and how it will achieve the intended results.

o Explain the relevant qualifications of the principal people who will execute the project.

o List timing as an overall estimate (such as sixteen weeks, or twenty weeks).

o The cost section. List costs only in high-level general categories.

Project Plan

A project plan determines what should be done, who will do it, how long it will take, and how much it will cost. A project plan should lay out how the project will be accomplished, in detail, with a systematic arrangement of tasks for reaching the objective. The project plan is your baseline, which you will be able to use to benchmark your actual progress.

A major part of project planning is managing risk. Risk is the possibility that unwanted events might occur, which can result in loss. The effective project manager expects risk as part of project management, and discusses it with the project team.

For this section of your assessment, address the following topics:

• Risk Management. Describe the risks that are associated with the project, addressing the following:

o Risk identification: What are potential risks to the project?
o Risk assessment: What is the likelihood and potential impact of those risks to the project?
o Risk response planning: If the potential risk does occur, what can be done to potentially mitigate the impact on the project?
o Risk monitoring: How will you know if the risk has become a factor in the project?

Work Breakdown Structure. Create a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project.

o Break your project into major work elements, noting which member of your project team would be responsible for executing each of them.
o Explain whether the work element is completed concurrently with another work element, or if it is it part of a series and cannot start until a previous element is completed.

Milestone and Deliverables Schedule. Using Microsoft Project software, present the following:

o List a minimum of twenty steps for your project.
o Link related tasks that must follow, in order. Create sub-groups with activities, where applicable.
o Estimate the activity duration in hours, days, weeks, or months (depending on the time scale of your project).
o Enter project start and finish times as specific calendar dates, or as an overall number of days without calendar dates assigned.

Resource Considerations. Using Microsoft Project, assign named resources to each task in the timeline of your project. Address the following questions:

o Are any of the resources assigned to overlapping tasks?

o Is the time period in which to accomplish each task realistic, considering the resources assigned?

Cost Planning Considerations. Using Microsoft Project, complete the following:

o Allocate planning costs to each of your planning elements.

o Assume your project is about 65 percent complete. Add actual costs to each planning element. Some costs should be higher than initially budgeted, and some lower.

o Submit one of the available standard cost reports.

Additional Requirements

• Written communication: Develop accurate written communication that conveys the goals of the project and does not detract from the overall message.

• Title page: Include a title page.

• References: Format your resources and citations according to Capella's APA style and formatting guidelines.

• Length of paper: 15 pages.

• Font: Arial, 10-point.