BUSS230: Portfolio Project Guidelines
BUSS230 Portfolio Project Directions, template, and grading rubric (please remove this statement when turning in your project milestones)
Insert Your Name Here
Bryant & Stratton College
BUSS230 Intro to Project Management
Dr. Evelyn L Kerney
Insert Date Here Table of Contents
BUSS230: Portfolio Project Directions
Week 6: Initiating the Project……………………………………………………………………
Week 10: Building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Week 10: Scheduling the Activities
Week 10: Allocating Resources
Week 12: Managing the Risks
Week 12: Analyzing the Constraints
Week 13: Evaluating and Controlling the Project
Week 14: Closing out the project
References
BUSS230: Portfolio Project Directions
This Assessment is worth 30% …show more content…
of your overall grade
Meets course outcomes:
1. Describe the fundamental project management concepts, techniques and processes.
2. Make effective project management leadership decisions through the study of project management and application of case studies.
3. Select appropriate project management practices, tools and methodologies necessary to execute and successfully complete the project plan.
4. Identify and manage project constraints (time, resources, scope) required to complete specific activities necessary to accomplish project goals.
5. Recommend approaches that strive for fair resolution to satisfy competing needs and objectives.
6. Measure and evaluate the overall success of an executed project plan with regard to on time, on task and on budget.
Meets Program outcomes:
• Apply contemporary knowledge and skill sets to work effectively in the business community.
• Display a working knowledge of strategic business applications, evaluative techniques, and management processes as well as the role business plays in a global economy.
• Utilize appropriate current technology and resources to locate and evaluate information needed to accomplish a goal, and then communicate findings in visual, written and/or oral formats.
• Transfer knowledge, skills and behaviors acquired through formal and informal learning and life experiences to new situations.
• Employ strategies for reflection on learning and practice in order to adjust learning processes for continual improvement.
• Follow established methods of inquiry and mathematical reasoning to form conclusions and make decisions.
Meets Institutional Outcomes:
• Information Literacy and Communication - Utilize appropriate current technology and resources to locate and evaluate information needed to accomplish a goal, and then communicate findings in visual, written and/or oral formats.
• Relational Learning - Transfer knowledge, skills and behaviors acquired through formal and informal learning and life experiences to new situations.
• Thinking Abilities - Employ strategies for reflection on learning and practice in order to adjust learning processes for continual improvement.
• Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning - Follow established methods of inquiry and mathematical reasoning to form conclusions and make decisions.
Deadlines for Portfolio Project
Week 3 - Review these instructions, the rubric, and the other parts included in this document. Be ready to participate in class discussions where you will respond to essential question (EQ). There is no portfolio assignment to submit for this week. Also, bring any questions about this project to class.
Week 6 – Complete a MS Word template, complete all parts of the section “Initiating the Project”. To be reviewed in class.
Week 10 - Complete the sections “Building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)”, “Scheduling the Activities”, and “Allocating Resources”. This will require you to complete a MS Project Schedule
Week 12 - Starting with your Word document submission, complete the sections “Managing the Risks”, “Analyzing the Constraints”.
Week 13 - “Evaluating and Controlling the Project”, and “Closing out the project”.
In Week 14 you will turn in your completed Portfolio Project.
Scenario: For this portfolio project, you will put yourself in the role of Project Manager and complete a project plan (project to be selected). In completing this final project, you will learn the importance of and will practice all of the elements of our course outcomes. For this final project, you will a) review project management theory and b) apply what we have learned from your text and discussions. In the template below, you will have to provide answers to project management theory questions (in blue boxes) and apply these lessons for your project (in yellow boxes). Please focus your responses and do not include elements of your project in the theory questions.
Ensure you select, critically evaluate, and use information effectively, ethically, and legally in your project. This will add credibility to your work and help aid in making decisions for your project. You will need these essential skills as you progress in your program and out into the workplace. You will have an opportunity to synthesize what you have learned and apply this personally, academically, and professionally. This final project will be a great piece to highlight in your portfolio. Remember, evidence such as this in your portfolio is a great tool to demonstrate your knowledge and skills when speaking with potential employers.
Week 6: Initiating the Project
Put yourself in the role of a project manager just assigned to your project. For this project, you will need to create a project plan (Breakdown of material covered in our text: Chapter 2 focuses on the behavioral and structural aspects of projects and their management Chapter 3 covers the process of planning and launching the project, construction of the WBS, and responsibility charts Chapter 4 discusses the construction of a project budget and presents a method of improving one’s estimating skills Chapter 5 covers scheduling, PERT, CPM, and Gantt charts Chapter 6 covers resource allocation Chapter 7 covers monitoring and controlling projects Chapter 8 deals with evaluating, auditing, and terminating projects)
Project Management Theory: Why is using a structured approach, like project management, appropriate for the implementation of your project? Explain how a project management plan (implementation, completion and measurement) will help this effort.
[50-100 Words]
Capturing the Project Overview
In this section, you will create a brief description of the project. This will provide stakeholders (those that need to know about this project) with some basic background as to why the project should be undertaken. List the primary deliverables together with any major events in the project timeline. There is no need to get into the detail with deliverables and schedule; you will do that in subsequent installments
[100-150 Words]
Documenting the Business Case/Project Objectives
This section includes the strategic reasons for your project. The intent of the project objectives is to communicate to company and the project team the business reason for this particular project. These reasons need to provide the team direction in prioritizing which of the triple constraints is most important to follow. Remember, the goals and objectives will ripple through the remainder of your Project Plan. Please take time to detail 3-4 concrete objectives.
[100-150 Words]
In Chapter 1 & 2, you learned about leadership and the project manager.
Project Management Theory: As the project manager, you will need to exhibit both managerial and leadership traits. Please identify four of traits (either leadership or management) and explain why they are necessary in general. Please include why they are necessary for the success of this particular project.
[100-150 Words]
Week 10: Building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
In Chapter 3, you studied scope management.
“When we are first given a project to complete, the task can seem very intimidating. One of the best ways to begin is to recognize that any project is just a collection of a number of discrete steps, or activities, that collectively add up to the overall deliverable”
For your project, you know that your final deliverable is when your project is completed. The purpose of the WBS is for you to work through the process of decomposing your plan into discrete list of deliverables that lead to this final goal.
Using the Microsoft Project template provided in our classroom, complete Step 1 to identify a list of deliverables required to complete this project
Week 10: Scheduling the Activities
In Chapter 5 (and handout), you learned about scheduling your projects. You will now apply these lessons to your project. Starting with the Microsoft Project Schedule that you modified to include your list of deliverables, you will want to:
a) Identify the activities required to complete each of these …show more content…
deliverables,
b) Set the appropriate duration for each activity,
c) Validate that it is in the right order, and
d) Assign an appropriate resource or resource group (project manager, designer, construction, testing, and communications).
e) Identify the critical path, which is “the set of activities on a path from the project’s start event to its finish event that, if delayed, will delay the completion date of the project.
Using the Microsoft Project template that you modified to include a WBS, please complete Steps 2 through 4 to your project schedule. Be sure that you identify the critical path.
Week 10: Allocating Resources
In chapters 2 & 6, you studied building a project team and allocating resources to the project. You will now apply these lessons to your project. Starting with the Microsoft Project Schedule that you modified in the last section, you will want to:
a) Assign an appropriate resource or resource group. You can select any of the following resource groups or make up appropriate groups of your own: project manager, designer, construction, testing, and communications.
Complete Step 5 starting with the Microsoft Project schedule that you modified in the last section by allocating appropriate resources.
Week 12: Managing the Risks
In chapter 3 of your textbook, you learned about managing risks. You learned that risks can fall into different categories and that they are characterized by both a likelihood of occurring and a consequence.
Project Management Theory: Risk management requires all the input of everyone on the team and all the stakeholders. Please identify a number of different methods you would use to achieve getting your stakeholders involved in risk identification. What are the benefits of getting inputs from everyone regarding risks? What are some drawbacks?
[100-150 Words]
For your project, please provide a risk for each category and identify its likelihood and consequence on a high, medium, or low ranking.
Risk Category: Statement Likelihood (High/Med/Low) Consequence (High/Med/Low)
Financial:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Technical:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Commercial:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Execution:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Legal:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Week 12: Analyzing the Constraints
Which constraints pose the greatest obstacle for your project?
Why?
[50-100 Words]
There are times when it will be necessary to expedite a project’s schedule. The term we use is to “crash” the project schedule.
Project Management Theory: What activities in our project schedule are candidates for expediting? Why? Based on what you learned about the triple constraints, what are the effects on scope and budget when we crash a project?
[50-100 Words]
Which activities would you expedite or crash based on the project schedule that you created for your project? Why are these the best candidate tasks to expedite? What would be the impacts to the triple constraints of time, budget or scope?
[50-100 Words]
Week 13: Evaluating and Controlling the Project
In chapters 7&8 you studied evaluating and controlling a project. You will now apply these lessons to your project.
Milestone Analysis
The authors of our text defines a milestone as “ Identifiable and noteworthy events marking significant progress on the
project.”
Project Management Theory: Milestones are a form of project control. There are several benefits to using them to manage your project. Please identify some of the benefits of using milestones. What are some of the drawbacks?
[100-150 Words]
Based on the project schedule you created earlier, identify three key milestones during the execution phase of the project:
Milestone 1
Milestone 2
Milestone 3
Earned Value Analysis
Imagine that you are now well into the execution of your project. You work with your team and finance team and produce the following S-Curve for the project: a) What is the Cost Performance Index (CPI) for your project?
b) If the original project budget was $800, then what is the estimated cumulative cost to completion?
c) What is the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) value for our project?
d) If the original project schedule was 12 Months, then what is the estimated time to completion?
e) In your own words, describe the state of the project based on your earned value analysis.
[50-100 Words]- Show your intermediate calculations
Week 14: Closing out the project
In chapter 8, the text identifies the project termination as a process that provides for acceptance of the project by the project sponsor, completion and retention of various project records. Assume that you and your team delivered your completed project. What type of project termination would this be an example of? What are some examples of the documentation, legal cost, and personnel closeout elements for your project?
[50-100 Words]
Lessons learned
Project Management Theory: Chapter 8 covers importance of providing evaluation criteria, the audit process and audit report. One has provide an in-depth “lessons learned” analysis based on realistic and critical review of the project”
Project Management Theory: What must a project manager do in order to set the stage for a lessons learned meeting so that does not turn into a “finger pointing” or “blame” session? Why do lessons learned programs often fail to capture meaningful information that could help guide future projects?
[50-100 Words]
References
Use this area to provide a list of external references.
Assessment(s) and Rubrics:
Insert Your Name Here
Bryant & Stratton College
BUSS230 Intro to Project Management
Dr. Evelyn L Kerney
Insert Date Here Table of Contents
BUSS230: Portfolio Project Directions
Week 6: Initiating the Project……………………………………………………………………
Week 10: Building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Week 10: Scheduling the Activities
Week 10: Allocating Resources
Week 12: Managing the Risks
Week 12: Analyzing the Constraints
Week 13: Evaluating and Controlling the Project
Week 14: Closing out the project
References
BUSS230: Portfolio Project Directions
This Assessment is worth 30% …show more content…
of your overall grade
Meets course outcomes:
1. Describe the fundamental project management concepts, techniques and processes.
2. Make effective project management leadership decisions through the study of project management and application of case studies.
3. Select appropriate project management practices, tools and methodologies necessary to execute and successfully complete the project plan.
4. Identify and manage project constraints (time, resources, scope) required to complete specific activities necessary to accomplish project goals.
5. Recommend approaches that strive for fair resolution to satisfy competing needs and objectives.
6. Measure and evaluate the overall success of an executed project plan with regard to on time, on task and on budget.
Meets Program outcomes:
• Apply contemporary knowledge and skill sets to work effectively in the business community.
• Display a working knowledge of strategic business applications, evaluative techniques, and management processes as well as the role business plays in a global economy.
• Utilize appropriate current technology and resources to locate and evaluate information needed to accomplish a goal, and then communicate findings in visual, written and/or oral formats.
• Transfer knowledge, skills and behaviors acquired through formal and informal learning and life experiences to new situations.
• Employ strategies for reflection on learning and practice in order to adjust learning processes for continual improvement.
• Follow established methods of inquiry and mathematical reasoning to form conclusions and make decisions.
Meets Institutional Outcomes:
• Information Literacy and Communication - Utilize appropriate current technology and resources to locate and evaluate information needed to accomplish a goal, and then communicate findings in visual, written and/or oral formats.
• Relational Learning - Transfer knowledge, skills and behaviors acquired through formal and informal learning and life experiences to new situations.
• Thinking Abilities - Employ strategies for reflection on learning and practice in order to adjust learning processes for continual improvement.
• Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning - Follow established methods of inquiry and mathematical reasoning to form conclusions and make decisions.
Deadlines for Portfolio Project
Week 3 - Review these instructions, the rubric, and the other parts included in this document. Be ready to participate in class discussions where you will respond to essential question (EQ). There is no portfolio assignment to submit for this week. Also, bring any questions about this project to class.
Week 6 – Complete a MS Word template, complete all parts of the section “Initiating the Project”. To be reviewed in class.
Week 10 - Complete the sections “Building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)”, “Scheduling the Activities”, and “Allocating Resources”. This will require you to complete a MS Project Schedule
Week 12 - Starting with your Word document submission, complete the sections “Managing the Risks”, “Analyzing the Constraints”.
Week 13 - “Evaluating and Controlling the Project”, and “Closing out the project”.
In Week 14 you will turn in your completed Portfolio Project.
Scenario: For this portfolio project, you will put yourself in the role of Project Manager and complete a project plan (project to be selected). In completing this final project, you will learn the importance of and will practice all of the elements of our course outcomes. For this final project, you will a) review project management theory and b) apply what we have learned from your text and discussions. In the template below, you will have to provide answers to project management theory questions (in blue boxes) and apply these lessons for your project (in yellow boxes). Please focus your responses and do not include elements of your project in the theory questions.
Ensure you select, critically evaluate, and use information effectively, ethically, and legally in your project. This will add credibility to your work and help aid in making decisions for your project. You will need these essential skills as you progress in your program and out into the workplace. You will have an opportunity to synthesize what you have learned and apply this personally, academically, and professionally. This final project will be a great piece to highlight in your portfolio. Remember, evidence such as this in your portfolio is a great tool to demonstrate your knowledge and skills when speaking with potential employers.
Week 6: Initiating the Project
Put yourself in the role of a project manager just assigned to your project. For this project, you will need to create a project plan (Breakdown of material covered in our text: Chapter 2 focuses on the behavioral and structural aspects of projects and their management Chapter 3 covers the process of planning and launching the project, construction of the WBS, and responsibility charts Chapter 4 discusses the construction of a project budget and presents a method of improving one’s estimating skills Chapter 5 covers scheduling, PERT, CPM, and Gantt charts Chapter 6 covers resource allocation Chapter 7 covers monitoring and controlling projects Chapter 8 deals with evaluating, auditing, and terminating projects)
Project Management Theory: Why is using a structured approach, like project management, appropriate for the implementation of your project? Explain how a project management plan (implementation, completion and measurement) will help this effort.
[50-100 Words]
Capturing the Project Overview
In this section, you will create a brief description of the project. This will provide stakeholders (those that need to know about this project) with some basic background as to why the project should be undertaken. List the primary deliverables together with any major events in the project timeline. There is no need to get into the detail with deliverables and schedule; you will do that in subsequent installments
[100-150 Words]
Documenting the Business Case/Project Objectives
This section includes the strategic reasons for your project. The intent of the project objectives is to communicate to company and the project team the business reason for this particular project. These reasons need to provide the team direction in prioritizing which of the triple constraints is most important to follow. Remember, the goals and objectives will ripple through the remainder of your Project Plan. Please take time to detail 3-4 concrete objectives.
[100-150 Words]
In Chapter 1 & 2, you learned about leadership and the project manager.
Project Management Theory: As the project manager, you will need to exhibit both managerial and leadership traits. Please identify four of traits (either leadership or management) and explain why they are necessary in general. Please include why they are necessary for the success of this particular project.
[100-150 Words]
Week 10: Building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
In Chapter 3, you studied scope management.
“When we are first given a project to complete, the task can seem very intimidating. One of the best ways to begin is to recognize that any project is just a collection of a number of discrete steps, or activities, that collectively add up to the overall deliverable”
For your project, you know that your final deliverable is when your project is completed. The purpose of the WBS is for you to work through the process of decomposing your plan into discrete list of deliverables that lead to this final goal.
Using the Microsoft Project template provided in our classroom, complete Step 1 to identify a list of deliverables required to complete this project
Week 10: Scheduling the Activities
In Chapter 5 (and handout), you learned about scheduling your projects. You will now apply these lessons to your project. Starting with the Microsoft Project Schedule that you modified to include your list of deliverables, you will want to:
a) Identify the activities required to complete each of these …show more content…
deliverables,
b) Set the appropriate duration for each activity,
c) Validate that it is in the right order, and
d) Assign an appropriate resource or resource group (project manager, designer, construction, testing, and communications).
e) Identify the critical path, which is “the set of activities on a path from the project’s start event to its finish event that, if delayed, will delay the completion date of the project.
Using the Microsoft Project template that you modified to include a WBS, please complete Steps 2 through 4 to your project schedule. Be sure that you identify the critical path.
Week 10: Allocating Resources
In chapters 2 & 6, you studied building a project team and allocating resources to the project. You will now apply these lessons to your project. Starting with the Microsoft Project Schedule that you modified in the last section, you will want to:
a) Assign an appropriate resource or resource group. You can select any of the following resource groups or make up appropriate groups of your own: project manager, designer, construction, testing, and communications.
Complete Step 5 starting with the Microsoft Project schedule that you modified in the last section by allocating appropriate resources.
Week 12: Managing the Risks
In chapter 3 of your textbook, you learned about managing risks. You learned that risks can fall into different categories and that they are characterized by both a likelihood of occurring and a consequence.
Project Management Theory: Risk management requires all the input of everyone on the team and all the stakeholders. Please identify a number of different methods you would use to achieve getting your stakeholders involved in risk identification. What are the benefits of getting inputs from everyone regarding risks? What are some drawbacks?
[100-150 Words]
For your project, please provide a risk for each category and identify its likelihood and consequence on a high, medium, or low ranking.
Risk Category: Statement Likelihood (High/Med/Low) Consequence (High/Med/Low)
Financial:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Technical:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Commercial:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Execution:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Legal:
[Enter risk] [Enter likelihood] [Enter consequence]
Week 12: Analyzing the Constraints
Which constraints pose the greatest obstacle for your project?
Why?
[50-100 Words]
There are times when it will be necessary to expedite a project’s schedule. The term we use is to “crash” the project schedule.
Project Management Theory: What activities in our project schedule are candidates for expediting? Why? Based on what you learned about the triple constraints, what are the effects on scope and budget when we crash a project?
[50-100 Words]
Which activities would you expedite or crash based on the project schedule that you created for your project? Why are these the best candidate tasks to expedite? What would be the impacts to the triple constraints of time, budget or scope?
[50-100 Words]
Week 13: Evaluating and Controlling the Project
In chapters 7&8 you studied evaluating and controlling a project. You will now apply these lessons to your project.
Milestone Analysis
The authors of our text defines a milestone as “ Identifiable and noteworthy events marking significant progress on the
project.”
Project Management Theory: Milestones are a form of project control. There are several benefits to using them to manage your project. Please identify some of the benefits of using milestones. What are some of the drawbacks?
[100-150 Words]
Based on the project schedule you created earlier, identify three key milestones during the execution phase of the project:
Milestone 1
Milestone 2
Milestone 3
Earned Value Analysis
Imagine that you are now well into the execution of your project. You work with your team and finance team and produce the following S-Curve for the project: a) What is the Cost Performance Index (CPI) for your project?
b) If the original project budget was $800, then what is the estimated cumulative cost to completion?
c) What is the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) value for our project?
d) If the original project schedule was 12 Months, then what is the estimated time to completion?
e) In your own words, describe the state of the project based on your earned value analysis.
[50-100 Words]- Show your intermediate calculations
Week 14: Closing out the project
In chapter 8, the text identifies the project termination as a process that provides for acceptance of the project by the project sponsor, completion and retention of various project records. Assume that you and your team delivered your completed project. What type of project termination would this be an example of? What are some examples of the documentation, legal cost, and personnel closeout elements for your project?
[50-100 Words]
Lessons learned
Project Management Theory: Chapter 8 covers importance of providing evaluation criteria, the audit process and audit report. One has provide an in-depth “lessons learned” analysis based on realistic and critical review of the project”
Project Management Theory: What must a project manager do in order to set the stage for a lessons learned meeting so that does not turn into a “finger pointing” or “blame” session? Why do lessons learned programs often fail to capture meaningful information that could help guide future projects?
[50-100 Words]
References
Use this area to provide a list of external references.
Assessment(s) and Rubrics: