Assignment
To reinforce the project management skillswe have learned so far, this week you will be doing anassignment in project management. Please note:
• You MUST utilize the project management principles that we have covered so far when doing this assignment. It is important that you re-visit all materials we have covered (initiation phase, requirements, WBS, work packages, activities, logical relationships, estimations, etc.). You will need this knowledge to do well on this assignment.
• As it is perhaps your first time completing such an assignment, I do expect some uncertainty and questions. That is normal and exactly the point of doing this assignment. Each of those uncertainties and questions will help you learn. However, you should be familiar enough with the basics covered in the lecture materials so that the uncertainties are not due to a lack of having studied the materials.
• If you need any guidance or if you have any questions, please email me so that I can help.
Scenario
You are a project manager tasked with managing the 18-year old version of yourself to obtain your desired job. While your desired job may be an executive level position (e.g., CEO), which is great because I want all of you to aim high, for this exercise pick a reasonable entry to mid-level job that one would expect to attain immediately after college graduation.
Belowis the scenario based on which you should operate:
• You are 18 years old and just graduated from high school.
• Your ultimate goal is to land your desired entry to mid-level job. This is what you know about your desired job:
o You know that your desired job will require a college degree.
o You have a general idea aboutthis job, but you have not yet researched or looked at any job postings related to your desired job to gain a better understanding of what's out there and what qualifications you need to obtain that job. For example, you are not yet sure:
- What type of college degree it requires,
- What other qualifications it requires aside from a college degree (e.g., certificates, knowledge of software, interpersonal skills, etc.),
- How much it pays,
- Even more basic, what thespecific job titles are within the general type of work in which you are interested.
• You should assume that the job you have in mind, or a job with almost identical characteristics, will be available when you are ready to apply for it.
• You should assume that you will not change your mind about the type of job between now and obtaining the job (your first day of employment).
For example, you know that you want to obtain a job as a forensic scientist within a police department's crime lab, in order to solve crimes using the power of forensics. But you have not yet researched or read a specific job posting to know what type of college degree, trainings, certifications, or qualifications you need in order to get this job.
Your task, therefore, is to start from a person who just graduated from high school, who has a general idea about a desired job, and end with a person who walks into their first day ofemployment in that position. You need to think about ALL of the steps that are required to complete this project. The project ends when you walk into the door on your first day.
So, the objectives and the scope that you are currently aware of is:Obtain a job as a XXXXXXXX.
Your Assignment's Deliverables - what you need to turn in
1. A WORD Document - 150 points
2. A MS Project Document (.MPP) - 150 points
The WORD Document Must Contain:
Initiation
1. Business Need: within the context of organizations, business need describes the reason (the need) for the project. What need the project will solve? In this context, you should describe in detail why there is a need for you to obtain this job. Business need must be convincing. You should lay out the case for why you need to embark on this project and what the underlying needs are.
2. Business Value: describes how the project will solve the business need and provide value. Explain how obtaining the job will help resolve the need you mentioned above. Use quantitative measures if possible. For example, if "making more money to support my family" was a need, describe how this job will solve that problem. For example, you could say, "this job pays $75,000 a year, whereas another job pays $40,000 a year. This job will help me gain over $1,000,000 over the next 30 years." Please do not copy this specific example. There are many needs and values you can think about.
3. What is the scope of this project? Remember you are still in the initiation phase, so it is ok if your scope is more general at this point. Yet, you should be able to explain in some detail what the final product is (I have already told you this one. The final product, at this stage is, "to obtaining a job as a XXXXXXX or in the field of XXXXXXXXX" or maybe even a bit more detailed.
4. What are the estimated timelines for this project (high-level at this point). At this point, you should have a general idea, but it will be more precise as you begin the planning process.
5. What are the estimated costs for this project (high-level at this point). At this point, you should have a general idea, but it will be more precise as you begin the planning process.
6. Identify all stakeholders in this project and their authority, influence, interest, involvement level. (e.g., you may identify a supportive friend; he/she may not have a lot of authority in you obtaining a job or going to college, but he/she may have a lot of influence in pushing you further and further in order to complete this project). I can think of so many stakeholders in this project. Name at least 6, their relationship to the project, and the information requested above.
7. Develop a project statement of work (SOW) and the project charter (find out from lecture notes what goes into SOW and Project Charter).
Planning
1. What are your project's requirements? Requirements describe (in a specific and measurable way, if possible) the characteristics of the end product (e.g., job must be in the field of x; job must be located in city x; job must pay x, ......). You collect requirements by interviewing or workshops. Interview the 18-year old version of yourself and come up with a list of requirements for your desired job.
2. Develop the project's detailed Scope Statement. Now that you have a list of requirements, your scope can be way more focused and detailed than the one in the initiation stage.
3. Draw a work breakdown structure to decompose the project all the way to work packages. Think: what big tasks go into successfully obtaining your desired job when you have just graduated from high school (research, college degree, acquiring skills, applying.....). Then decompose until you are comfortable with the resulting work packages. Keep in mind, work packages must contain 100% of the work that must be done for the project (make sure you don't leave anything out).
Remember, you are not decomposing all the way to activities at this point. You are decomposing to Work Packages, which are the smallest, logical chunks of work that must be done. Each Work Package will then be broken into a number of related activities.
As you know, WBS is a visual representation, somewhat like an organizational chart. You can draw a WBS with Microsoft Visio or by using shapes and arrows in WORD (which is more difficult). You can also draw one on paper (completely fine with me) and take a picture of it and insert it in your WORD document. Please make sure that I am able to read your WBS.
4. For each work package, list ALL activities required to complete the goal of the Work Package. You must type this. Just make sure I know which set of activities relate to which Work Package. Look at example on last page.
5. Sequence the activities for each Work Package (identify predecessor and successor activities and logical relationships between them FF, FS, SS, SF). You can either type this or draw a diagram (AON diagram). I would like the activities for each package to be sequenced separately at this point.
6. Assign a duration for each activity.
1. The MS Project Document must contain:
1. Your Activity List.
2. All of the sequencing and logical relationships you have listed on paper must be accurately portrayed in the MS Project document.
3. Duration for each activity.
4. Resource for each activity (the only resource in this project is you since you must complete all of the tasks).
5. The cost can be listed as $40/hour for now, if required.
6. Your Project's Start and End Dates (Use Start Date of 3/1/2019) for your entire project.
Example of how to clearly indicate which activity list goes with which work package.
• Pay attention to the numbering system in the WBS below (I only did half, but you should follow the same trend for the entire WBS).
Activity List for 1.4.1.3 (Non-Vegie Food):
Activity 1. Gather list of non-vegetarian food items
Activity 2: Call 3 catering agencies and get quote
Activity 3: Review the ratings of the same 3 catering agencies
Activity 4: Analyze the quotes and ratings
Activity 5: Select a caterer
Activity 6: Sign the contract with the caterer.
From there, you will sequence these activities, either using an AON diagram or just by putting them in order and writing their logical relationships.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.
Attachment:- Project-Planning.rar