You will be planning a project for Vernon College. As such you are going to identify some process that is deficient, an
area to expand or an area that is missing and you will plan the project to remedy that issue within the college.
This is a
multi-part project that will be combined into a single document at the end of the semester.
As each part is turned in feedback will be provided. That feedback, and issues arising from future thought/development of
the plan should be incorporated into any previous part to ensure the final project plan is all encompassing and as correct
as possible.
Project Management is not necessarily an easy skill to learn. Updates, corrections, revisions are very
common up through the actual completion of the project. This paper will primarily focus on the planning of a project.
What you will not spend a great deal of time on is the monitoring and adjusting aspect while the project is active and being
implemented.
1) Pitch the Idea
Identify the project and “sell” why it was selected
b. How will performing this project help?
c. What is the current state of operations related to the project? Where is it that we want to be in the future?
2) Outline the project
a. Give major milestones and expected dates of delivery for each
b. Identify the risks throughout the project and articulate the contingency plans addressing each
c. Identify the resources required to complete the project and the sources of acquiring those resources
3) Organizational structure
a. What is the current structure/culture/roles involved
i. What are their strengths and weaknesses?
b. How will the structure/culture/role be impacted by the project’s completion?
4) Who are the stakeholders
a. Identify all the stakeholders and prioritize them according to their importance/interest in the project
b. Create an engagement assessment matrix for each stakeholder
5) Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
a. Within each major milestone what will, individually, need to be performed to accomplish the milestone
b. Inside of an Excel spreadsheet, assign worktimes and deliverables for each individually required item
c. Identify critical paths
i. Where is time/resource/success required for work to continue along the WBS
6) Allocating resources based on a budget
a. For each task, assigned people/material needed to perform that task to include time/money involvement
b. If a task would need to be outsourced, include that in the allocation as well (costs, deliverables etc)
7) Sticking to a budget
a. Assume the project has run 20% over budget half-way through.
b. What changes or compromises will you make in order to return to budget?
i. Implications for stakeholders, deliverables, timetable?
