project management homework

Project Management For Beginners: How To Manage A Project From Start To Finish

You don’t have to be a project manager to be “doing” project management. Whether you’re a freelancer, an in-house manager, or someone who’s just stepped into a manager’s role, learning about the basics of project management will help you manage your work better. 

In this article, you’ll learn how to plan and manage a project from start to finish. Specifically, you’ll learn:

• What is project management?
• Importance of project management
• Roles & Responsibilities within the project teams
• Phases of a project’s life cycle
• Project management methodologies
• Steps involved in the project management process
• And, project management tools

Project Management Basics

Before we look at the steps involved, let’s first understand the basics of project management.

What Is Project Management?

Project management is the process by which a project is planned, tracked, controlled, and reported. Each project has a specific start date and end date. In addition, a project produces a specific deliverable.

Proven project management processes help move a project towards completion. These include:

• Planning & scheduling
• Resource management
• Risk management
• Task management & monitoring

Project managers are responsible for planning and executing a project along with the project team to produce the desired deliverable and meet stakeholder expectations.

You might also like » 10 Proven Project Management Tips For Small-Team Project Managers

Why Project Management Is Important?

According to PMI, organizations that do not value project management report 67 percent more projects as failed . Also, the same report finds that poor project management results in an 11 percent wasted investment.

With so much at stake, following proven project management practices should be a no-brainer. Here are the reasons why project management is important:

• Ensures an alignment between the team and the delivered value.
• Provides leadership and direction to projects.
• Ensures smooth communication between the project team and clients.
• Creates a roadmap for executing projects and meet business goals.
• Improves planning by providing realistic work estimates.
• Ensures that a project stays on schedule.
• Extracts learning from past projects.
• Reduces risks in delivering the project.

Project Management Roles And Responsibilities

A project does not happen in isolation. You need people to execute a project. And, these people need to play a well-defined role. 

Let’s look at the common roles and responsibilities in project management.

• Team members: Team members are skilled persons who are responsible for executing the project and producing the deliverable. 
• Suppliers: Suppliers are often external teams who sub-contract part of a project where internal resources or skilled team members are not available.
• Project manager: Project managers are responsible for planning, tracking, and controlling the project. In addition, they also lead the team members, manage suppliers, and guide the project towards completion.
• Program manager: Program managers are responsible for a set of related projects. One or more project managers report to a program manager.
• Project sponsor: Project sponsors (or account managers) are senior managers accountable for the project deliverables. They’re answerable to a client and also the single point of contact between the team and the clients.
• Project portfolio manager: Portfolio managers manage projects of one or more clients across the organization. 
• Stakeholders : Stakeholders are the people that are directly or indirectly affected by the project. Their inputs and feedback are sought to define the project’s deliverables.
• Clients: A project is finally delivered to clients, who, pay for it.

What Are The Four Phases Of Project Management?

Next, we need to understand the four phases that define a project’s life cycle . From start to finish, every project goes through these four phases:

• Initiation phase: This starting phase is all about understanding the goals, scope, risks, and priorities of a project. 
• Planning phase: In this phase, project activities and required resources are identified. Also, managers create an estimated timeline required to complete the project.
• Execution phase: Skilled team members come together to turn the project plan into deliverables. Managers track project progress.
• Closure phase: Teams hand over deliverables, analyze project performance and are finally dissolved.

Project Management Methodologies

How you execute these four project phases is up to you and your team. However, over years, project management professionals have come up with tried and tested methodologies that can make life simpler.

Three project management methodologies are popular among teams:

• Waterfall: The Waterfall methodology follows a linear approach to project management — gather detailed requirements, put a plan together, build a solution, test, and deliver it. This method works great when the requirements are clear.
• Agile: The Agile project management methodology follows an iterative approach. Each phase of the project is time-boxed and the complete project features are delivered iteratively. This method works for projects where you want to see quick wins and can be built over iterations.
• Lean: Lean project management is an iterative approach that focuses on reducing waste. The lean methodology tries to reduce three types of wastes: useless activities, overburdened team members, and unevenly distributed workloads.

How To Manage A Project From Start To Finish?

The project life cycle gives you a high-level overview of the phases a project goes through. In practice, there’s a lot more in each of these phases.

Initiation Phase

As discussed above, the initiation phase is all about understanding the project. This involves meetings, discussions, and documentation. However, there’s very little planning that goes into this phase.

High-level role players including clients, client-side stakeholders, project sponsors, and project managers are involved in this phase.

Key steps involved in this phase include:

Step# 1: Identify project goals and deliverables.

A project kickoff meeting starts the project management process. All the high-level role players in the project attend this meeting.

The objective is to identify the project’s goals and deliverables from the clients’ perspective.

At the end of this step, key goals and deliverables are documented.

Step #2. Uncover project risks, constraints, and priorities.

Once the high-level goals are documented, it’s time to identify all the internal and external variables that can impact the project’s progress adversely. These include:

• Risks: Factors that negatively impact the project’s goals, schedule, or budget.
• Constraints: Factors that limit the project’s execution, such as, budget, schedule, or resources.
• Priorities: Factors that impact the order of the project including dependencies between project activities.

Identifying these threats early can help you manage risks and plan your project better.

Step #3. Establish Project Scope

Now that you know all the factors that can affect your project, you can start breaking down the goals and deliverables into activities. Based on the identified constraints in step #2, scope boundaries are set.

Project scope defines what’s included and what’s not included in the project.

It’s critical to document the agreed-upon scope and freeze it mutually with the client before proceeding further.

Failure to do so results in scope creep. Further, scope creep results in over-delivery, poor management, and ultimately project failure.

While you can manage scope creep , it’s best not to let your project’s scope increase during the execution phase.

Step #4. Submit the project proposal

All the information collected in the initiation phase is documented and presented to clients as a project proposal. In addition, the project proposal also includes a high-level budget and timeline, based on the project scope.

Unlike a project plan, which includes a detailed schedule, the proposal includes a high-level schedule.

At the end of the initiation phase, the project sponsor and manager present this proposal to clients. Here’s an example proposal template .

Planning Phase

Once the client approves the project proposal, the project moves on to the planning phase. 

It’s important to note that project planning is not a one-time activity in the project’s life cycle. A lot of things can change as the project moves forward. Client goals may change, resources may become unavailable, or estimates may go wrong. 

That’s why planning is an ongoing activity that happens throughout the life cycle of a project. As things change, you may need to revisit and adjust your plans accordingly.

A project manager is the main role player for this phase. The steps involved in this phase are:

Step #5. Create a project roadmap

To create a project roadmap , the high-level project activities identified in the project proposal are mapped on the timeline. The project roadmap is presented using Gantt charts .

When creating the project timeline , a project manager needs to consider the risks, constraints, and priorities documented in the proposal. In addition, project managers also need to consider resource allocation .

For larger projects, the timeline is divided into phases. At the end of each phase, the project team delivers some deliverables to the client. The end of a phase marks a milestone . Milestones are checkpoints to evaluate a project’s progress.

A project manager creates a project roadmap and presents it to the client for approval.

Step #6. Create a detailed project plan

Once the client approves the project roadmap, a project manager creates a task-level project plan by breaking down roadmap activities. 

Tasks are low-level project activities. Team members take up tasks and are responsible for completing them. That’s why a task must include all the information necessary for a team member to complete the task.

Execution Phase

Once the initial project and resource plan is in place, the project moves on to the execution phase. 

This is where the actual work happens. Skilled team members work on the planned tasks and move them from to-do to done. 

However, task management is not all that happens in this phase. A project manager also needs to:

• Revaluate and adjust the project plan based on changes
• Communicate the project’s progress

Step #7. Manage tasks and track project progress

Task management involves managing the task workflow and monitoring task progress.

A task workflow is a sequence of steps where a task moves from planning to completion. Workflows can be simple as To do → Doing → Done. Or, they can involve complex steps as in the case of software projects. As a project manager, you’re responsible to ensure that the team has everything they need to move the task along this workflow.

The second activity a project manager needs to look at is tracking task progress. Delayed tasks can sometimes derail the entire project.

Step #8. Review and adjust the project plan

The project moves towards closure as tasks get done, milestones are achieved, and deliverables are delivered to clients. However, often things don’t go as planned. Estimates go wrong, suppliers miss a deadline, or client priorities change.

That’s why, at least after every milestone, a project manager needs to review the project’s progress. Review resource availability and priorities. And then, adjust the project plan and schedule accordingly. 

Step #9. Communicate project progress

Project managers spend most of their time on task management and reviewing plans. However, they also need to communicate the project’s progress with all stakeholders from time to time.

Typically, the project sponsor does this at the end of a phase or on reaching a milestone.

Keeping clients up to date with project progress helps in the following ways:

• Demonstrates progress to clients and prevents any last stage surprises
• Provides an opportunity for the client to review the deliverables and adjust priorities accordingly
• Acts as an opportunity for the project team to get project feedback from stakeholders and correct the course if necessary

A project manager creates status reports to communicate the project’s progress. This can be a simple email or an elaborate document.

Closure Phase

Finally, after clients are satisfied with the results and sign-off on the deliverables, it is time to close the project.

Step #10. Handoff deliverables, analyze performance and release resources

Activities involved at this stage include:

• Handover of deliverables: The project team hands over the deliverables to clients including documents and manuals.
• Analyze performance: A retrospective analysis of the project’s performance helps the team extract learnings from the project.
• Release resources: The project manager releases team members and other allocated resources back into the resource pool.

The most important responsibility of the project manager here is to analyze the project team’s performance. This is for both — to celebrate the successful completion of the project, as well as, to extract learnings from it.

Finally, team members document the extracted learnings. This helps avoid or manage challenges in other projects.

Project Management Tools & Templates

According to PWC , 77 percent high performing projects use project management software. 

Project management software not only helps in managing projects but also handles communication between the team and clients. Capterra found that two out of three project teams use project management software to communicate with clients.

What is the best project management tool?

Choosing a project management tool depends on your budget and your team’s needs. 

However, reliability, ease of use, and ease of integration are the top criteria that project leaders use to choose a project management tool.

We’ve compiled a list of top project management software tools spanning budgets and features. Shortlist a few that you like and try them out to find a tool that suits your needs.

Toggl Plan: A Simple Project Management Tool

Toggl Plan is an online project management tool. Unlike other tools, Toggl Plan makes it easy to manage projects across remote teams by encouraging transparency and accountability.

It comes with:

• Gantt chart timelines for creating project roadmaps and plans.
• Team timelines for managing your team’s workloads.
• Kanban-style boards to manage tasks with customizable task workflows.
• Read-only views for clients and stakeholders.
• Notification emails to keep everyone in the loop.

Pricing-wise, Toggl Plan comes with a free plan for solo users that has all the above features. You can use the free plan for unlimited projects and up to five team members. Team plans start at $9 per user, per month. 

Jitesh is an SEO and content specialist. He manages content projects at Toggl and loves sharing actionable tips to deliver projects profitably.

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Project Management Basics: Definitions, Methods and Tools

Welcome to project management 101. Project management can seem like a daunting discipline, but once you get a grasp of the fundamentals and combine that with some intuition, you’ll be on your way to leading successful projects, no matter your situation.

Maybe you’ve been unexpectedly assigned to lead a project and a big promotion is on the line, or maybe you’re a team member who wants to better understand their role in the project. Regardless, we’re going to give you a brief overview of the major details involved in project management for actionable information.

If you need more help with project management, check out all of our resources and project management tools for reaching your full potential. ProjectManager is powerful project management software that can be used by both experienced and beginner project managers and team members to manage projects. Get started for free today.

The first project management basic is the definition of a project, which allows us to understand what project management is and why it’s so important for any type of organization.

What Is a Project?

A project is a sequence of tasks that lead toward a singular goal. Projects have boundaries, such as the time, people and resources needed to complete the project. These all depend on what results you want to achieve and when you want to achieve them.

Those results are your outcome, which produces deliverables. They’re anything that’s produced or provided because of the project. Deliverables can be both the result of the project itself, but also the results of the process of the project, such as the project plan , reports or other documents. Projects are made up of deadlines. Each task and phase of the project has a due date, which means your project has a schedule.

Budgets are also part of a project. You need money to pay for the resources to meet the demands of the project within the time allotted. Typical resources include the workforce, work supplies and equipment. A project budget outlines these expenditures. Now that we’ve determined what a project is, we can define project management as a discipline.

What Is Project Management?

Project management is a discipline that consists in using project management methodologies, tools and techniques to manage the project life cycle, which is a set of stages that are common to every project. While there are several project management roles within a project team, the project manager is usually in charge of overseeing the process of planning, executing and monitoring projects from start to finish.

Let’s review four foundational project management concepts that shape the project management discipline: the project life cycle, the triple constraint of project management, the project management knowledge areas and some of the different project management methodologies you can use as a project manager.

Project Life Cycle

The project life cycle describes the five phases all projects go through. Here’s a quick overview of each.

• Initiation: Here’s where you set out the project scope , the goals, the organization of the project, its business case, its constraints, who the stakeholders are, what the risks are, the project controls, the reporting framework, etc.
• Planning: This is where you build the roadmap to take you from point A to Point B, which means creating a schedule of the tasks, deadlines and resources needed to complete everything on time.
• Execution:  The project begins and the project plan is put into action.
• Monitoring & Controlling: To ensure the project is proceeding as planned, you need to set up mechanisms for monitoring progress. If the project isn’t proceeding as planned, work to control and resolve issues before they become problems.
• Closing: Projects are temporary endeavors, so they eventually come to an end and need to be formally closed . But it’s not as simple as producing deliverables; there’s paperwork to sign off on, resources to reallocate and other loose ends to tie up.

The Triple Constraint

Regardless of the method you use to manage a project, understanding the triple constraint is key. All projects are carried out with certain constraints. These are cost, time and scope. That is, projects must come in within budget, be delivered on time and meet the agreed-upon scope.

If you think of the triple constraint as a triangle , then if you’re managing the cost, time and scope, the triangle is quality. So, if you’re managing the cost, time and scope of the project, then you’re going to meet the customer’s quality requirements.

But the triple constraint is more than that; it’s like the ballast on a ship and keeps the project balanced no matter how rough the waters get. For example, if you need more money, then you’re going to have to adjust the time or scope of the project. Accordingly, if you’re short on time, then the budget or scope will have to change.

If you keep the triple constraint in mind while managing your project, along with the project phases and management tools, then you have the means to make the necessary adjustments that can keep the project on track. It’s the formula for success.

Project Management Knowledge Areas

Project management knowledge areas can be simply defined as categories that describe the different types of work that are done by project managers and team members to complete projects successfully. Project managers should be very knowledgeable in each of these 10 project management knowledge areas so they can guide teams through the project life cycle and make sure the triple constraint is well balanced.

• Project integration management
• Project scope management
• Project time management
• Project cost management
• Project quality management
• Project human resource management
• Project communications management
• Project risk management
• Project procurement management
• Project stakeholder management

If you’re interested in this topic, you can check out our project management knowledge areas blog for more information on these key principles of project management.

Project Management Methodologies

There are many ways to structure a project’s process, and project managers are experts in one or more of them. The most traditional is called waterfall, which follows a linear approach to managing a project, breaking down the project into a very structured sequence.

A different approach that is gaining popularity is called Agile , which comes from software development. It’s a process that works in small phases or cycles called “sprints,” and lends itself to small teams. Like its name, the process embraces change and is flexible and is continuously changing direction according to client feedback.

Why Is Project Management Important?

Every business, non-profit or any other type of organization needs to execute projects, which makes project management important for any organization.

Effective project management not only means that your team will deliver projects on time and under budget but also brings other organization-wide benefits such as increased productivity, reduced costs, better leadership and motivated employees.

In a nutshell, project management helps organizations become more efficient through planning and monitoring of tasks, goals and team performance.

What Is a Project Manager?

A project manager is the person in charge of the project. That much is clear, but that might be too simple of an explanation. The project manager leads the project through every phase. That means they’re responsible for first selling the project to stakeholders, then planning and defining the scope of the project.

What Does a Project Manager Do?

Project managers figure out all the tasks necessary to achieve the project goals, then they sequence those tasks into a schedule. Those tasks and schedules are then given the resources needed to achieve the project’s objectives. That means assembling a team, getting the tools and supplies they need and securing a site and the necessary resources.

The project manager is also the person who creates the project budget in order to pay for those resources. They’re responsible for managing all the documentation and then archiving those documents at the end of the project. They also manage risk and monitor project progress to make sure people are working unobstructed and within the schedule and budget.

So essentially, anything project related is under the purview of the project manager. They are the leaders of the project and manage the teams that are executing the project plan. However, they’re not the boss. The project manager has sold the idea of the project to a sponsor or stakeholder, and they report to them on the project’s progress.

Therefore, a project manager is a very well-organized person, one who is goal-oriented and passionate about the process. A project manager must work well under pressure, provide leadership and know how to motivate people to do their best. Beyond people skills, communication skills are paramount. And they must know the methods and techniques that help deliver projects successfully.

Project Management Tools

As you may have noticed, projects can be complicated. You plan, schedule and monitor to make sure all elements of the project are running smoothly. The more tools in hand, the more manageable the project and your tasks.  Project management software  can contain all the tools needed to help project managers and team members with every aspect of their projects.

When project management software is cloud-based, data and collaboration can happen in real-time, which provides a more accurate picture of the project and helps in decision-making. Plus, project management software often contains many of the major tools for managing projects, like those discussed below.

Project dashboards gather metrics from all parts of the project. Those numbers are then displayed in easy-to-read charts and graphs, giving a manager or a team member a live look at project progress and data. Dashboards can also assist in reporting. Running a project means reporting to the project’s sponsors on the progress of the project. Graphs and charts can be filtered to deliver just the data you need for targeted reports.

Gantt Charts

Online Gantt charts are great tools for planning because they display your task list graphically over a timeline. Each task has a deadline, which creates a line marking the start and finish of that task. Tasks can then be linked, if dependent.

Ideally, you can share the Gantt with your team and track their progress as they update their statuses. With some Gantt charts, the bar between the start and finish dates will fill in as the team works on their tasks, and if you need to change the schedule, you can simply drag and drop the bar to reflect the new due date.

Task Management Tools

There are task management tools that allow you to create to-do lists for yourself and assign tasks to team members. These tasks can sometimes have notes, files, links and images attached that relate to the task, and team members can dialogue and collaborate at the task level. You can also automate email notifications to know when a task is completed and to remind people of impending deadlines.

Timesheets and Workload Tools

In terms of managing the people working on the project, which can be a project by itself, there are timesheets . These are online documents that make it easy for each employee to track and record their hours worked, and they can be filed to the manager when complete for sign-off.

When it comes to managing the workload, resource allocation tools allow you to see at a glance if you’ve allocated your resources properly across the project so that everyone is working and the workload is balanced. In some cases, you can run reports from your workload management software, too.

Project Management Templates

We offer dozens of free project management templates to help you save time and streamline your projects. Here are some essential project management documents you can download for free.

Project Plan Template

A project plan is a document that explains everything about your project from how it’s scheduled to how it’ll be executed and completed. This free project plan template will help you get started with your projects.

Project Budget Template

Every project needs resources such as people, materials and equipment. These resources cost money, so you’ll need to estimate all your project costs to create a project budget. This free template is ideal for beginner project managers.

Project Timeline Template

It’s important to create a project timeline that maps out how project work will be carried out, including start and end dates for all your tasks. This free project timeline template helps you do so.

What Is Project Management Software?

Project management software does the heavy lifting to allow managers to easily plan, schedule and track projects in a much faster and more efficient manner than traditional methods such as drafting project schedules by hand.

Project management software can be defined as a type of software that incorporates the project management tools mentioned above, along with other features such as timesheets, real time team-collaboration or unlimited file storage, so that project managers and teams can keep track of projects in one central platform.

However, not all project management software works in the same way. There are many options on the market and while some are easy to use, they might not provide all the planning, scheduling and tracking tools that you need.

How ProjectManager Helps With Project Management

ProjectManager is online project management software that helps you manage every aspect of your projects. It’s equipped with all the project management tools any project manager would need, regardless of your expertise level. Project management software like ProjectManager is what makes managing a project manageable.

Store Documents

All the paperwork generated during the project initiation phase can be saved to ProjectManager. This way, you can collect everything in one place, making it easy to find what you need. Don’t worry about uploading large files and images, ProjectManager has unlimited file storage.

Plan & Schedule Work

When you plan your project, ProjectManager does the heavy lifting. An online Gantt chart helps you schedule by mapping all your tasks across a project timeline. Now you can link dependencies, set milestones and even start assigning team members.

Monitor Progress

As teams execute their tasks, they can use ProjectManager’s tools to monitor and control their progress. Resource management features make sure that no one team member is carrying the entire load and their workload is balanced. Plus, our real-time dashboard can track progress, cost, health and more.

Of course, there’s more to project management than the information in this project management 101 article. It gets deep, and it’s constantly evolving. However, there’s one constant in the eye of the hurricane that’s managing a project: tools.  ProjectManager is online project management software with real-time dashboards, online Gantt charts and features to manage workload, resources, schedules and every aspect of your project. See how it can help you succeed by taking this free 30-day trial today!

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The Project Management Blueprint

Doing Your Homework

Preparing your new project for success by gathering and reviewing all available pre-project work, documents, and information.

“Nothing is more powerful for your future than being a gatherer of good ideas and information. That’s called doing your homework.” — Emanuel “Jim” Rohn

The What and Why:

Starting a new project can be a daunting task for even the most experienced project manager, especially if we are not prepared. The good news is there is often a wealth of information available to us to help begin the journey—if we’re willing to take the time to do the work of gathering and reviewing this data. Everything from business case studies, to other similar projects that have come before, and even the project proposal itself, can be chockfull of information that we should be aware of. Reviewing these documents before diving headfirst into the project can help minimize false starts and wasted effort, and help set ourselves up for success.

First, we must review things like business case analyses and studies, technical research and trades, and any risk investigations that might have been performed. Finding and studying these resources can provide valuable insights into the scope, feasibility, and potential threats to the project, as well as provide solution ideas and possible next steps. Doing this will give us a good understanding of the current state of the project and help us identify issues or challenges that we may need to address.

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Next, review the project proposal (if one exists). This includes examining any prior failed proposals, along with any reviewer's comments or feedback on those previous attempts. This will give us a deeper understanding of the project goals and objectives, as well as any challenges or roadblocks that may have been encountered in the past, along with specific requirements or constraints that need to be taken into consideration. It is also helpful to re-summarize the proposal in our own words, as this can help us better understand the key points and ensure that we understand fully what needs to be done.

Besides reviewing the proposal, it is also important to learn from others who have successfully—or unsuccessfully—worked on similar projects in the past. This can include reviewing "lessons learned" documents from other projects, talking to other project managers and technical staff, and gathering any other relevant information that can help us avoid common pitfalls and ensure a successful outcome for our project.

Reviewing all pre-project information is important, but it is equally vital to remember that this is only a starting point. It is easy to get locked into pre-project thinking and to assume that the ideas and solutions presented in initial analyses are the best or only options. It is important that we maintain an open mind and consider all other possibilities as the project progresses. There may be better ways to approach specific aspects of the project, and it is important to remain flexible and adaptable in order to find the most effective solutions. Pre-project work can be valuable, but it can lead to sub-optimal solutions if we take that information as unquestioned gospel.

The Bottom Line:

In summary, reviewing pre-project information is an essential step in the early project management process. By gathering and analyzing all relevant data and analyses, we can help ensure we have a solid foundation to build upon and can make better, more informed decisions as we move forward with the project. Taking the time to do this work leverages resources and allows us to bootstrap the project, setting ourselves up for success. That’s called doing our homework.

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8.6 Exercises

Exercises at the end of the chapter are designed to strengthen your understanding and retention of the information recently acquired in the chapter.

Essay Questions

Write several paragraphs to provide more in-depth analysis and consideration when answering the following questions.

• Compare the Gantt and Network charts. Describe the uses of each type of chart.
• Choose a project with which you are familiar (it could be a simple project like John’s move) and describe how the project could be crashed using each of the methods described in the text.
• Describe what size project could be done using general purpose word processing and spreadsheet software and how you could structure the data in those documents to make it easier to transfer that data into a project management software, if necessary.

The exercises in this section are designed to promote exchange of information among students in the classroom or in an online discussion. The exercises are more open ended, which means that what you find might be completely different from what your classmates find, and you can all benefit by sharing what you have learned.

• Describe a personal experience where the average amount of work required of you was appropriate but the scheduling of that work was so uneven that there were periods when you could not get the work done on time and other periods when you did not have enough to do. Describe how you would have used resource leveling and free float to distribute your workload if you had been the manager. Consider the situations and solutions offered by classmates and suggest other ways they could have distributed their workloads more evenly.
• Describe your experience working with a spreadsheet to manage data such as expenses or activities. How would the ability to treat them like data by sorting and filtering help you to prepare reports?

Project Management from Simple to Complex Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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We Cover All Major Topics for Project Management Assignment

Get Help for Papers on Project Management Concepts, And Enjoy Freebies.

Topics We Cover:

• Project Management Framework
• Project Management Methodologies
• Project Planning and Risk Management
• Project Proposal and Waterfall Methodology
• Project Schedule and Controlling Resources
• Scrum Methodology and Resource Allocation
• Project Management Tools and Project Ideation
• Change Management and Leadership Role
• Several Phases of a Project Plan and more

What Is Project Management?

Project management refers to the practice of using techniques and skills to complete a series of assigned tasks in an organized manner. Having said that, it takes a lot to master the skills of managing an entire project and leading a team through the thick and thin of resource constraints and other odds.

From helping you with papers on PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) to acquiring the right references and insights for assignments on Six Sigma and Kanban Method – we do everything. Connect with us today for project management assignments solutions, and part ways with your “ Do my project assignment ” dilemmas. You are only a call away from acquiring in-depth project management knowledge through personalized papers crafted by the best academic minds. 

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Top 6 Phases of Project Management

Project Management comprises six important phases, each having its own share of benefits. These include:

• Project Initiation and Strategy Development
• Project Design and Planning
• Execution and Testing
• Project Launch and Training
• Support Launching

Project Initiation and Strategy Development : This is the first phase any project goes through. Here. The team initiates the project and decides on a specific strategy to proceed with.

Project Design and Planning: The next phase involves design and planning based on a roadmap, client requirements, resources and deadlines assigned.

Execution and Testing: Here, the project managers hold a kick-off meeting in order to ensure everybody understands the job. Efficient workflow patterns are decided during this stage.

Project Launch and Training: The team hands over the final product to the stakeholders. If everything goes well, the manager gets final approval and gears up to launch the project. In case of complicated products and services, the team may provide training on how to use the new system/product.

Support Launching: Some managers may choose to establish long-term support systems or advantages to help the project users leverage them correctly for optimum outcomes.

Closing: Once the quality control measures are set, it’s time to close the project by allowing the stakeholders to decide the project’s success based on goal assessments and responses.

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Essential Skills for Excelling as a Project Manager

Both hard and soft skills are a part of the project management expertise. From analyzing a challenging task to preparing a progress report of a particular project – there are several skills project managers must hone to determine success.

Here’s a glimpse of the essential project management skills you should master.

• Communication
• Active Listening
• Risk Management
• Negotiation
• Time Management

Communication: You must learn how to communicate ideas both verbally and through writing in order to keep your clients informed and team members updated through multiple channels.

Leadership: One must develop the ability to lead, inspire, and motivate a team to wrap up projects successfully so that clients are completely satisfied with the outcome.

Active Listening: Active listening is an imperative skill one must develop in order to understand, assess, and plan projects with the aim of ensuring success at the end of the day.

Risk Management: This particular skill helps managers to take calculated risks for various projects. This requires strong confidence and the ability to comprehend project risks.

Negotiation: This refers to the ability to negotiate terms with suppliers, vendors, stakeholders, and clients associated with various projects that have several organizational goals.

Time Management: Developing excellent time management skills will save projects from the clutches of odds like non-adherence to deadlines, scarcity of resources, and the like.

Let us know if you need project management homework help online  for this topic or if you need assistance with other prompts. We are dedicated to curating all project management assignment answers with the utmost care, diligence, and precision.

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Why Do Students Select Our Project Management Assignment Writing Service?

There are not one but several reasons and incredible features that make our online education and assignment aid platform one of the most popular names in the industry. Are you eager to figure out them? Here you go.

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Why Do US Students Seek Project Management Assignment Help?

From Boston to Webster and Norwich to Bellevue University, every four out of five universities in the USA offers extensive academic courses on Project Management. Guess what? A project manager’s total pay can range anywhere from $62,857 to $179.217.86 per month. Quite a figure, isn’t it? While these reasons are enough to compel youngsters to pursue Project Management and get the right academic help to determine success, we have some more reasons to go gaga over. 

Here's why US students prefer seeking project management assignment help from MyAssignmenthelp.

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Online Project Management Assignments Writing Help in the USA

Are you looking for MBA assignment help for your next paper on Project Management? Look no further and get your project management assignment questions answered by the finest writers associated with MyAssignmenthelp. Being one of the leading management assignment assistance providers, we know what it takes to deliver exemplary solutions on time. Here’s a glimpse of our expertise in this matter.

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Topic-Based Assistance: We are dedicated to providing project management paper aid across all topics and sub-disciplinary areas. These include Marketing Management, Risk Management, Different Phases of a Project, and more.

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Types of Project Management Assignments Covered by Our Professional Writers

Our professional writers are dedicated to covering a myriad of project management papers. Now that you are eager to learn more, here’s a glimpse of some of the most sought-after project management assignments we cover:

• PRINCE2 and more ….

Waterfall: Get your papers written based on thorough research and comprehension of all essential elements, including a clearly defined sequence of execution, development process, analysis, testing, and the final outcome.

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Getting started: Introduction to project management

In this article, history of project management, project management basics, connect with other project users.

Did you know that Gantt Charts have been around for over a hundred years? Bet you didn't. The discipline of project management has evolved and been refined for longer than you might suspect.

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In a nutshell, project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to complete a specific goal. And then everything goes wrong. The following articles can arm you with the basics to manage a project and deal with the problems that come up.

Experienced project managers and Microsoft Project users can be the most useful resource for a new project manager. There are many methods of joining the community and finding answers to your questions.

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Project Management

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Project management is one of the many important parts of management. The topic includes a series of activities which work to achieve defined objectives and results within a specific time frame. Every project has a specific beginning and end time. It also, however, has a defined scope and a certain amount of resources. An important feature of a project is that it is unique. What is common to all projects is that they use a specific set of operations (processes) designed to achieve defined results.

Project management processes include these five groups:

• Initiating - This is the first phase of the project which defines a business case or problem. At this stage, it is necessary to define the goal that is to be achieved and how it can be achieved. A team that is working on this project gets clearly defined directions to be performed within a certain deadline.
• Planning - The project plan includes many details about how the project work will be carried out. At this stage, it is also crucial to find a way to easily monitor and control all parts of the project and determine how you can make communication among the team faster and more efficiently. You ultimately need to recognize the most critical points of the project and to pay attention to these.
• Executing – The team who is working on the project needs to know exactly what that project includes, the time frame, and they also need to understand the criteria by which each task in that project is deemed complete.
• Monitoring and Controlling - Monitoring is a systematic and continuous assessment of the progress of the project, which includes monitoring of all critical parts of the project, such as: costs, time frame, resources etc. Controlling represents a group of actions which are focused on correcting actions and materials which do not meet the standards and need to be re-done.
• Closing – This is the final stage of the project where it can be formally closed and given a final review. Experience that is collected on this project should be used on every new project. In this way the team working on a similar project will make fewer mistakes and thus save time.

Project management has wide application in all areas of science and business.  We can use project management in sports, civil engineering, biology, and many other areas.

Who is a project manager? This is typically a highly educated person with a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a relevant field such as economics or management. The project manager is the person who manages the project and is responsible for the successful completion of it. 

A good project manager should possess these attributes:

• effective communication skills
• teamwork orientation
• ability to prioritize
• empathy towards team members
• good coping skills under pressure
• ability to solve problems

Why is project management important?

     Project management is important because it helps the organization to complete a project with minimum cost, resources, time etc. It is beneficial to utilize a professional project manager to undertake a specific project.  

To fulfill our tutoring mission of online education, our college homework help and online tutoring centers are standing by 24/7, ready to assist college students who need homework help with all aspects of project management. Our business tutors can help with all your projects, large or small, and we challenge you to find better online project management tutoring anywhere.

College project management homework help.

Since we have tutors in all Project Management related topics, we can provide a range of different services. Our online Project Management tutors will:

• Provide specific insight for homework assignments.
• Review broad conceptual ideas and chapters.
• Simplify complex topics into digestible pieces of information.
• Answer any Project Management related questions.
• Tailor instruction to fit your style of learning.

With these capabilities, our college Project Management tutors will give you the tools you need to gain a comprehensive knowledge of Project Management you can use in future courses.

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Our tutors are just as dedicated to your success in class as you are, so they are available around the clock to assist you with questions, homework, exam preparation and any Project Management related assignments you need extra help completing.

In addition to gaining access to highly qualified tutors, you'll also strengthen your confidence level in the classroom when you work with us. This newfound confidence will allow you to apply your Project Management knowledge in future courses and keep your education progressing smoothly.

Because our college Project Management tutors are fully remote, seeking their help is easy. Rather than spend valuable time trying to find a local Project Management tutor you can trust, just call on our tutors whenever you need them without any conflicting schedules getting in the way.

What Is Project Management? (A Comprehensive Guide)

Plan, manage, and organize your projects with this comprehensive guide. Because projects are how things get done.

Caylin White

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Who doesn’t love a good project? If you want to deliver project goals on time and within budget, all while satisfying stakeholders, efficient project management is essential. But what does ideal project management include? What are the best frameworks, and which tools are critical to success? 

This definitive guide to project management with Salesforce addresses all the questions you may have — no matter what size your business. You will gain insights into project management processes, optimal frameworks, and managing a project effectively, as it should be.

Here’s what we’ll cover: 

What is project management? Why is project management important? Who uses project management? What are the five stages of project management? What are the four types of project management? Eight tips for successful project management

What is project management?

Project management is the process of leading a team to achieve all goals within specified constraints. Typically outlined in project documentation created at the project’s inception, the main constraints include scope, time, and budget. 

For instance, your objective may be to launch a new product, develop software, or organize a networking event. To attain your end goal, project management encompasses:

• Establishing goals
• Scheduling tasks
• Managing teams
• Monitoring progress
• Collaborating with stakeholders

Numerous structured frameworks, such as Agile , Kanban , or Scrum , can be employed to reach your project objectives. While these frameworks take different approaches, each is focused on bringing the necessary steps to complete your project on time and within budget.

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Why is project management important.

Project management is vital as it provides the leadership, motivation, and problem-solving skills to introduce new products or services, boost revenue, and meet organizational objectives. 

Prioritizing effective project management styles enables proactive and continuous workflow improvement, preventing mistakes and overspending. The most successful companies understand how to manage a project efficiently and productively.

Who uses project management?

Organizations of all sizes, from large enterprises to small or medium-sized businesses , employ project management. Whether you’re leading a team in the office or managing remote teams globally, effective project management ensures your organization reaches its goals. 

Project management encompasses various project types, including (but not limited to):

• Product and service development
• Software engineering
• Event planning
• Construction projects
• Marketing campaigns
• IT system implementations

Traditionally, a project manager leads the project team and is responsible for the project’s overall success, assigning tasks to team members, monitoring progress, and ensuring deadlines and budgets are met. Multiple team members can share project management responsibilities in smaller teams without a dedicated project manager.

What are the five stages of project management?

Successful project management begins by designing and following a straightforward road map to set expectations. The number one thing to do before initiating any project is to outline the project roadmap at the beginning. Because if you want to go somewhere, and you don’t have a map, you’ll probably get lost.

To help you create your roadmap, let’s delve into the five essential phases of project management. Here’s a high-level overview of each:

1. Initiating

In the project initiation phase, essential preparations are made to complete the work on time and within budget. This phase involves:

• Defining the project scope
• Providing a high-level project overview
• Establishing budgets

For larger projects, a project charter or Project Initiation Documentation (PID) may be created to delve deeper into these areas. Planning and creating a clear and deliberate project plan ensures all team members work toward a common goal. During the project planning phase, you will:

• Select project team members
• Outline deliverables
• Estimate required project resources
• Determine associated activities
• Set key milestones and dates

Additionally, you can outline your team’s project management methodology with options such as Agile, Waterfall, Scrum, Lean, or Kanban.

2. Executing

During the execution phase, you will carry out your project plan to deliver products to stakeholders. This stage runs concurrently with the monitoring and controlling phase and may involve:

• Managing workflows
• Recommending changes
• Suggesting corrective actions

Ultimately, it’s about maintaining control, collaborating with the entire team, and staying on track.

3. Monitoring 

Regular monitoring is essential in any project life cycle to answer the question: Where are we versus where should we be, per the project plan? Effective monitoring requires:

• Regular project check-ins
• Use of proper project documentation and tracking tools to visualize project progress. Visual and real-time monitoring is more effective.

4. Controlling

When you’re in the controlling phase of your project you’re essentially taking what you learned in the monitoring phase and making positive changes to the course. You see where things are going well or not so well, and you course correct. This includes: 

• Altering the goals of the project
• Enlisting help from various stakeholders to change course
• Using new tools to provide insights into your project progress

The closing phase, also known as “project delivery” or project closeout, involves wrapping up all activities and delivering the final product. This handover could be to the client, an internal team, or an external stakeholder. It may include concluding contracts or agreements and conducting a comprehensive review or audit.

What are the four types of project management?

Various project management types and frameworks can lead to successful project management. Choosing the right one is crucial, as it determines how you structure your team and plan and monitor your projects. 

Here are the descriptions of the leading project management frameworks:

1. Waterfall

Waterfall project management focuses on meticulous planning, breaking down, and scheduling the entire project from start to finish sequentially. It’s best suited for teams capable of defining all project requirements upfront and comfortable with fixed deadlines.

Agile is an iterative approach that enables quick responses to project feedback. It prioritizes adaptability, collaboration, and incremental delivery, making it ideal for complex projects with evolving requirements, especially in software development.

Kanban focuses on continuous improvement through visualizing and managing the flow of work. Tasks move across the Kanban board as the project progresses, allowing for rapid adaptation and resolution of bottlenecks. It is beneficial for projects with unpredictable workloads.

Scrum divides larger projects into shorter sprints, adapting to project demands as it evolves. It defines rules for team size, roles, planning, meetings, and deliverables.

Eight tips for successful project management

Effective project management allows companies to develop products or services, optimize operations, and provide value to customers with minimal friction and greater efficiency. To succeed in project management, follow these tips:

• Invest in the initiation and planning stages to avoid later confusion.
• Choose the proper framework or methodology for your project.
• Promote a culture of transparency and ownership to improve communication and collaboration.
• Define a realistic project scope to prevent scope creep.
• Prioritize efficient scheduling for better time management.
• Practice effective resource management to maximize efficiency.
• Engage your stakeholders and maintain strong communication throughout the project.
• Leverage tools like Salesforce to streamline project management workflows and facilitate decision-making.

PRO TIP : Enlist artificial intelligence (AI) for your project management needs. AI is ushering in a bold era of effectiveness in project management. Project managers who fully embrace AI are 30% more likely to deliver their projects on time, and 23% more likely to meet or exceed return on investment (ROI), according to a recent PMI survey .

Be a project management pro

Help your project come to life with the right tools and processes in place. There is nothing better than seeing a project become reality. From small business to enterprise, your projects make a big impact. Start mastering project management with Salesforce today and unlock the potential for successful and efficient project delivery.

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Caylin White is a Senior SEO Lead on the 360 Blog team at Salesforce. She has written content for over 15 years for many SaaS industries, like WordPress and BuzzSumo. She specializes in SEO, but is sure to add a human-centric angle to every piece.

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The 5 Best Excel Project Management Templates

• Last updated March 21, 2024

Fact Checked By Cindy Wong

Looking for Excel project management templates? You’ve come to the right place! I like using pre-designed templates because they save time and help me manage my project more effectively.

If you’re looking for project management templates in Excel, click “ Home ” > “ More Templates .” Then, you can search for an appropriate template that fits your needs.

Table of Contents

Benefits of Using Excel for Project Management

An Excel project management template is handy for several reasons, including:

• Efficiency and Saving Time: Excel templates save you time because you don’t need to create your own from scratch. They’re also dynamic, changing depending on the input, making them very efficient.
• Clear Task Assignment and Management:  Excel project management templates help break down project tasks into manageable components. They assign responsibilities to team members, set deadlines, and track task progress, all aided by helpful features like checkboxes, drop-down lists, and progress bars.
• Communication and Collaboration:  The templates help to establish effective communication between you and your team. Comments, notes, or discussion sections within the template allow team members to communicate and provide feedback on tasks or project components.
• Resource Management: They help you plan for and manage project resources, including human resources, inventory , materials, equipment, and finances. And there are many more for businesses. Check out my expense report templates .
• Quality Management:  They define quality standards and requirements for project deliverables, establish quality assurance processes, and implement quality control measures to ensure that project outcomes meet you and your team’s expectations.
• Change Management: Excel project Templates help you manage changes to project scope, schedule, and budgets, especially when working with a large team. Additionally, you can track document change requests and obtain necessary approvals before implementing changes.
• Progress Tracking and Reporting : Project management templates help you monitor project progress against established milestones and timelines and track key performance indicators (KPIs). They also make it easy to generate progress reports to keep you and your team informed about project status and performance.
• Document Management:  The templates help centralize project documentation, including project plans, schedules, inventories, meeting minutes, and other relevant documents, to ensure easy access and retrieval by your team members.

The most efficient Excel project management templates include the following features:

• Project plans
• Budget sheets
• Risk assessment forms
• Communication plans

How To Find Excel Project Management Templates in the Excel Template Gallery

As mentioned earlier, Excel has a wealth of free Excel project management tracking templates that you can easily access.

If you have never used the Excel gallery before, follow these simple instructions and enter a new world of efficiency.

Here’s how to find a project management template in Excel’s template gallery :

• Open Excel and go to “ Home” > “More Templates .”

• Type “ Project ” in the search bar and hit “ Enter .”

• Scroll and find a template you like.
• This will open a new workbook with your template, and you can start customizing it.

Depending on your version of Excel, you can also go to the “ Home ” menu, click “ New, ” and search for free project management Excel templates from there.

Now, let’s look at some of my favorite project management Excel templates.

Some of my favorite project management templates in Excel are free in the online template gallery. Below is a mix of templates available in Excel’s gallery or my pre-made templates.

If you want to use any of these templates, you download and customize the template rather than making one from scratch.

Just make sure you click on “ Edit a copy ” in the top right corner or “ File ” > “ Save as ” > “ Download a copy .”

1. Project Planner Template

Access the Template

The Project Planner Gantt template is a free Excel project management template that you can find in the template gallery.

This template has a simple table for inputting your activities and periods and a Gantt chart dashboard for visualizing the timelines for each activity.

I particularly like this template because it is excellent for tracking the timelines of tasks in a project. However, the downside is that it uses periods for intervals instead of dates, which might not suit your project (that’s why I’ve included a custom Gantt chart in this list, too).

The template has the following features:

• Columns for activity names, statuses, planned start, start duration, and end duration.
• A Gantt chart to visualize the timeline for each activity in the project
• Visual indicators, such as color-coded cells or icons, indicate the progress of the project statuses  (e.g., plan duration, actual start, completed).
• Filters and sorting options to organize projects by status, priority, or deadlines.

2. Custom Project Management Spreadsheet Template

Access Template

If you’re looking for an all-rounder Excel Gantt chart template for project management, this template is for you.

Our Project Management spreadsheet template is versatile and suitable for various project management components.

It’s similar to the standard Microsoft Excel library, but I’ve made it easier to track calendar dates. I have also included more room for project details.

The best features of this template include:

• Detailed task list with columns for task names, descriptions, assigned resources, start dates, end dates, durations, and statuses.
• Drop-down function to highlight overdue tasks, upcoming deadlines, and completed tasks.
• Filters and sorting options to organize tasks based on various criteria.
• A Gantt chart to visualize the timelines for each task.
• Automatic calculation of task durations and end dates based on start and end dates.
• Task tracking for complex projects.

3. Project Tracker Template

This project plan template is simple and easily customizable, with features that let you track multiple projects.

It is a straightforward solution for maintaining a centralized list of projects. This project-tracking Excel template is designed to help project managers monitor and oversee the progress of multiple projects simultaneously and divide labor throughout the projects’ workload.

The key features include:

• A comprehensive table view to track multiple projects simultaneously.
• Columns for project names, descriptions, statuses, start dates, end dates, and assigned employees and project managers.
• A color-coded progress bar to track the progress of each task.
• Work breakdown structure for several projects as part of
• Interactive features, such as drop-down menus, for user-friendly navigation and data entry.

4. Project List Excel Template

This template is also part of Excel’s online template gallery. It is a simple table with columns for different aspects of the project you want to track.

This Project List Excel template is the best for beginners since it’s easy to understand and edit.

One thing to note is that there is no Gantt chart or other visualization, making it more appropriate for smaller projects with fewer stakeholders or employees.

It offers a structured approach to task management, enabling users to create task lists, prioritize activities, assign responsibilities, and track progress seamlessly.

It includes the following features:

• Customizable spreadsheet with columns for different project management components (e.g., task name, assigned to, duration, and work hours).
• Standardized formats for documenting project information.
• Built-in formulas for automatic calculations, data analysis, and reporting.
• Conditional formatting to flag work hours under specific values.
• A “setup” tab will allow you to alter drop-down lists.

5. Project Timeline Excel Template

The Project Timeline template is another Excel template available in the online template gallery.

Using timelines as project management tools makes it easy to visualize the business plan throughout the entire project.

It provides a clear and concise overview of project milestones, deadlines, and critical events, enabling you to understand project progress and milestones at a glance. This task management Excel template is an excellent asset for time-sensitive projects.

• A simple list format to track basic project information such as activities, start dates, end dates, and notes.
• An editable timeline to highlight critical project milestones or deadlines.
• Various sorting options to arrange projects alphabetically, by start date, or by status.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can excel be used for project management.

Excel has many useful features for project management. These include:

• Drop-down menus
• Progress bars

These features create an excellent project management template, depending on your needs. I like to incorporate task list tables with a Gantt chart in my templates to keep track of project components, but there are plenty of options in the template library.

Does Excel have a Project Management Template?

Plenty of free project management Excel templates exist in Excel’s template gallery. Alternatively, you can visit Excel’s template gallery to see the full range. Go to “ Home ” > “ More Templates .”

Wrapping Up

In this guide, I’ve explored five of the best Excel project management templates, including some from Excel’s template gallery and some of our own.

These templates are designed to streamline project planning, execution, and monitoring. Each template offers unique features tailored to specific project management needs. Alternatively, look at our guide for the best Excel business templates . I also have a guide especially for project managers who use Google Sheets. You can find that guide here .

Which template did you find most useful? Are there any from the template library you think we should add to our list? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Assignment 1 overview

Assignment 1 – project proposal.

This assignment is worth 15% of your total grade.

• Due date: Friday, Week 5 by 5:00 pm (Darwin time)
• Word limit: Maximum 2000 words
• Name, student number and page number if the footer of every page (excluding title page)
• No attachments will be accepted
• No emailed submissions will be accepted

You work for a large organisation that has recently introduced PRINCE2 as a required method for managing projects. Several policies, templates and other resources have not yet been developed, which means that you might be required in this, and future assignments to provide information that covers more than one component outlined in PRINCE2.

Your employer wants to improve their profile as being more socially responsible and has decided to allocate up to $50,000, spent over the next 12 months to achieve this goal.

You and several colleagues have been asked to individually design a proposal for a project that meets the criteria stated below. Later, in assignment 2, you will evaluate your proposal against your colleagues and determine which mutually exclusive proposal is to be selected.

To receive the funding, the project must meet the following criteria:

• It is to benefit a community in the Northern Territory or a target audience in the NT. External students can use the home State or Territory.
• It is to be a unique endeavour
• It is to be completed within one (1) year
• It is to be limited to a budget between $25,000 and $50,000
• It can create income; however, proceeds are to be donated the cause
• It should relate to your area of study (degree program). If not negotiate with your lecturer.
• It is not to include additional sponsorship, grants, donations beyond the $50,000. If the organisation’s staff are required to volunteer in the project during normal work hours the opportunity costs to the organisations normal work must be included as an expense.
• All statements must have legitimate references. (Harvard Style)

Project Proposal

1.    Title page

• Project title
• Name and student number

2.    Table of Contents

3.    Executive Summary

4.    Overview

a.        Purpose or objectives of this proposal

i.    Identify the problem to be solved or need to be filled.

ii.    What will be in scope and what is not going to be included.

iii.    Explain how the project will be conducted. Will it be managed by embedding and tailoring PRINCE2 to suit the project or will you use /create another methodology? You should explain any alternative methodology in detail or provide some information to show that you understand the process embedding and the detail of your tailoring.

b.        Describe how you believe is the best way to measure the success of the project and explain why your suggested measures are appropriate over alternative measures.

5.    Expected Benefits and Dis-benefits

a.        Context and analysis

i.    To provide context, briefly explain corporate social responsibility, why your organisation might want to raise its profile and how the proposed project will align

ii.    Provide a SWOT analysis to improve a reader of your proposal a balanced understanding.

iii.    Provide further analysis using a weighted scoring model.

1.    You are to determine the criteria. The criteria should consider the way you would expect the success of the project will be measured

2.    To conduct a weighted scoring analysis, you will need to have an alternative to compare it with. You can create an alternative proposal if it can be quickly summarised, or your alternative could be the act of not doing the project.

iv.    Include more context by explain how / why you developed the idea

b.        Identify the expected benefits and dis-benefits, ensuring they are informed by the strategic context (social responsibility context you have explained above).

i.    This paragraph is an opportunity to sell the value of your project to decision makers.

6.    Project requirements

a.        List and describe the requirements needed to carry out this project.

i.    Include human resources

b.        List and describe the possible assumptions for this project.

c.         List and describe the constraints for this project.

7.    Costs

a.        Estimate how much it will cost.

i.    Breakdown to major milestones

b.        Explain how you estimated costs.

i.    e.g. If you used a three-point method, explain what it is and show a couple of examples of how you did your calculations

8.    Major Risks

a.        Identify five (5) risks and quantify their potential likelihood and severity.

b.        Indicate how each of the above-mentioned risks will be managed

i.    This could include, Avoid, Transfer, Mitigate or Accept, but you will need to explain what is meant by the terms that you use and why you plan to use them. You are not required to use all four.

9.    Timescale

a.        How long is the estimated time to complete the project?

b.        List and describe the major milestones.

10.  Conclusion

11.  References

Project Management Copyright © by Tony Allan. All Rights Reserved.