Overview

The semester project is a hands-on learning opportunity to reinforce the material learned throughout the course of this semester.

The semester project work will allow you to bring to life some of the concepts taught during the course and galvanize your understanding of the material. In addition, the semester project work will provide you with practical skills and experience that are highly sought after in the work place.

It may seem a little overwhelming at first, however, I will be your guide and I will be teaching you during your journey. This project will require a considerable amount of time to complete, so you should begin working on this by the second week of class.

It will require that you conduct some research, apply newly obtained skills, and interact with your instructor. If you get stuck, remember, don't spin your wheels or get frustrated - contact me for help.

Approach

• Each student will be assigned by the instructor to one project to work on (assignments will be available the second week of class - see full list below).

• You may work independently or select one other person in the class to work with. If you select one other person in the class to work with, both students must send the instructor an email by the end of the third week of class to confirm who their partner is and both students will receive the same grades for this assignment. Otherwise, I will expect you to complete your assigned project on your own.

• Research your selected project to fully understand it. You may do this by examining companies in that line of work or historical projects of a similar nature.

• Research the purpose and format of the various types of ‘project plan deliverables' that you will produce (see below).

• Thoroughly review the materials that I have provided on Blackboard as a wealth of information is available that will assist you with your project.

• Communicate with your instructor on a regular basis as you will need to confirm your assumptions, gain clarity, and gather additional requirements

• Produce draft versions of your ‘project plan deliverables' (see below) to share with your instructor as you progress to ensure that you are on the right track.

Project Plan Deliverables

1. Project Charter (Must use MS-Word or MS-PowerPoint)

• The project charter provides an overview of the project purpose and objectives (scope, cost, schedule)

• Project charters are an agreement between the client and the project manager as to what needs to be done, when, and how much it will cost.

• Project charters come in many forms, however, for this class I have provided the template that you must use.

2. Project Organizational Chart (Must use Visio or MS-PowerPoint)

• The project organization chart shows pictorially what roles are needed for the project and the reporting hierarchy

• Project organization charts differ from company organization charts. Company organization charts focus on formal position people hold within a company (i.e. Director of Marketing) rather than temporary roles people play on projects (i.e. Testing team leader, Project Manager, Construction Laborer, Quality Inspector, etc...)

• Project organization charts are a useful tool for team members to see where they fit into the big picture

3. Project Roles and Responsibilities (Must use MS-Word)

• Project roles and responsibilities describe what the specific duties are for each role on the project organization chart

• Project roles and responsibilities are a useful tool for team members to understand what they are expected to do during the project

• Project responsibilities are often bulleted one line sentences of a half dozen or more responsibilities that a role is expected to perform

4. Project Risk Register (Must use MS-Word or MS-Excel)

• Project risks identify what could potentially go wrong during the course of the project - not overall company risk.

• Generally this is in the form of a sentence or two which describes the risk and the impact (i.e. Management decisions are not made in a timely manner resulting in a delay in schedule)

• Your project should have a minimum of a dozen risks and they should be as specific as possible.

• Project risk management focuses on mitigation - minimizing the probability that a risk will occur and/or the impact if it occurs. It also focuses on contingency - what would you do if the risk actually occurred.

• Your risk register should include at a minimum for each risk identified: risk event description, probability, impact, risk response actions, and a contingency plan.

5. Project Schedule (MS-Project or MS-Excel)

• The project schedule is an organized list of activities that need to completed for a project set against a timeline to allow progress tracking

• The Project schedule must include descriptions of the activities, estimated durations, precedence relationships, start date, finish date, milestones and assigned resources.

• The Project schedule should include at a minimum 50 activities and a maximum of 100 activities using a work breakdown structure format and a minimum of 5 milestones.

Note: This is an opportunity to explore the use of Microsoft Project - which is a highly sought after skill in the work place around the world. However, it will require additional time and self-training on your part. I will help you along the way. If you would prefer not to learn or use Microsoft Project, you have the option to create your project schedule using Microsoft Excel.