Consider that you are the systems manager who is now responsible for redesigning the organizational structure. What areas need to be addressed for the transition and how will they benefit the company? How will you interact with the upper managers in the company? How do you make this a transition with the least impact on the employees and the customers?

ALL Weeks Checkpoints

PROJ430 Week 1 Checkpoint Solution (Jones and Shephard Accountants (Chapter 3, pp 138 – 140)

  1. Provide a synopsis of the Jones and Shephard case.

  2. Highlight three enterprise management causes/considerations and three project management causes/considerations for the situation. Include what seemed to be missing.

  3. Consider that you are the systems manager who is now responsible for redesigning the organizational structure. What areas need to be addressed for the transition and how will they benefit the company? How will you interact with the upper managers in the company? How do you make this a transition with the least impact on the employees and the customers?

  4. How should the transition to a new project management operation be accomplished? Consider what the enterprise should need to know about project management and the new structure. How much time do you recommend for the transition to the matrix organizations? Be sure to include your rationale.

  5. What other organizational changes should be made? How do you work with the manager of operations to gain his/her support for your organizational changes?

PROJ430 Week 2 Checkpoint The Trophy Project (Chapter 5, pp 264 – 266) 100% Correct Answers

  1. Provide a synopsis of the Trophy Project case study. Highlight your observations about the project.

  2. Did the project appear to be planned correctly? Why or why not? Relate your answers to the expected documents for proper project planning.

  3. Citing evidence from the case, do you think functional management teams were committed to the project? What evidence do you have from the case study to substantiate your views?

  4. Citing evidence from the case, do you think senior management managers were supportive and committed? What evidence do you have from the case study to substantiate your views?

  5. What would you have done differently?

PROJ430 Week 3 Checkpoint Habitat for Humanity – Simulation

  1. When the project first started, you were asked to order the tasks to build the WBS. How did you decide the order tasks should appear in for the WBS? In a typical project, how do you think a WBS should be created, and what stakeholders or team members should be involved?

  2. What challenges did you face during the simulation, and what solutions did you propose? Indicate any research that you did In order to gain your own knowledge about remodeling a bathroom and how it helped you.

  3. When faced with the challenges, what information did you use to make your decision, and what tradeoffs did you contemplate?

  4. How did your decisions impact the project’s critical path? How was the critical path impacted as you tried different options?

  5. Based on the simulation and on what we discussed this week in class, what additional information or resources would have helped you make better project decisions?

PROJ430 Week 4 Checkpoint The Reluctant Workers (Chapter 6, Page 294) 100% Correct Answers

Tim Aston had a normal expectation to be the “best project manager” in his new assignment. What seems to have caused him to change his outlook? What approaches would you take to improve communications between Tim and the team members?If you were in Tim’s position and were listening to his manager, Phil Davies, refer more than one time to the average age of the staff, what would be your reaction? How would you use this information to improve your working relationships with the staff?Tim seems positioned to respect the customer’s wishes to attend a test. How would you (as his manager) counsel him about honoring or rejecting that request? Support your answer with examples of managing customer relations.Phil Davies said, “…people think that they come first and that the project is second.” What message is he really conveying? What does Tim seem to be missing in his next statement or reply?

PROJ430 Week 5 Checkpoint Crosby Manufacturing Corporation (Chapter 12, pp. 552 – 554) 100% Correct Answers

Livingston made some mistakes initially. Describe at least two of them and provide how you would handle the situations. How do you think the functional employees feel? Support how you might feel if you were in their position by citing points from the case study? Are there any other alternatives? Explain at least three alternatives. Explain your thoughts about the appointment of Tim Emary as project manager. Consider what is expected of a project manager and senior managers’ support for projects. How long do you think it should take to develop a detailed project schedule and why?Is a completion date in as short as 18 months realistic? Why or why not? Analyze this question using the information from Exhibit 12-2 (Typical schedule in months). Explain what other areas may suffer as time constraints increase.

PROJ430 Week 6 Checkpoint The Bathtub Period (Chapter 15, pp. 708 – 709) 100% Correct Answers

Should Jerry go to the General Manager? Why or why not? Think back to what is expected of a project manager and the project charter. Should the key people be supported on overhead? Why or why not? If this were a cost-plus program, would you consider approaching the customer with your problem in hopes of relief? Why or why not? If you were the customer of this cost-plus program, what would your response be for additional funds for the bathtub period, assuming cost overrun? Why or why not? Would your previous answer change if the program had the money available as a result of being under budget? Why or why not?How do you prevent this situation from recurring on all yearly follow-on contracts?

PROJ430 Week 7 Checkpoint 100% Correct Answers

Will project management work in all companies? Why or why not? Provide examples of companies or industries to support your answer. Consider a project in which all project planning is performed by a group. After all planning is completed, including the program plan and schedule, a project manager is selected. Is there anything wrong with this arrangement? The director of project management calls you into his office and informs you that one of your fellow project managers had a severe heart attack midway through a project. You will be taking over his project, which is well behind schedule and overrunning costs. The director of project management then “orders” you to complete the project within time and cost. How do you propose to do it? Where do you start? Should you shut down the project to re-plan it? Do cost overruns just happen, or are they caused? Once the functional manager and project manager agree on a project schedule, who is responsible for getting the work performed? Who is accountable for getting the work performed? Why the difference, if any?

  1. PROJ430 All Weeks Course Project on Customer Care Website Implementation

Course Project: Final Report

Objective

Each student in Advanced Project Management (PROJ430) will choose a project that will be used to develop various documents that are developed and used throughout the project lifecycle. The project documents will be completed and submitted in eight parts due in each week throughout the course.

Guidelines

The topic you select should be a project that will take between six months to two years to complete. Choose a business or community related project topic in which you are interested, and have knowledge, to make it easier for you to complete these assignments.

The intent of the Course Project is that the project will be sufficiently complex to require consideration of a number of project management issues. In completing the sample project documents for this course, consider the full breadth of the project work required, but remember that you will develop the details to a lesser depth than would be required in reality.

As a reminder, your project topic MUST be a business or community-related project topic. This will allow you to complete all sections of the project. Try to find a project at your workplace or community organization that you can use as a basis for completing these assignments.

You should keep in mind that your project must meet all of the characteristics of a project:

A specific and defined objective A defined life span with a definitive start and a definitive end Involving multiple departmental organizations and professional staff members Doing something unique, not having been done before Defined and specific schedule, budget, and quality/performance requirements

Deliverable Schedule

Week

Project Lifecycle Area(s)

Information and Activities

Deliverable Directions

1 Initiate, Define, and Organize Your Project

Establish the project organization, Define Project Parameters, and Plan the Project Office and Framework

This week, you are defining and organizing your project. This is the first step in analyzing your concept by gathering information needed for all the project documents that are created during the Project Management process. Often an organization will require months to complete this work. For this course project, you will be creating sample documents that give you an idea or example of the type of information needed to create similar types of project deliverables.

Download the Course_Project_Week_1.docx from Doc Sharing to start this assignment. The Course_Project_Week_1.docx template contains all the sections that you will need to complete, including instructions to help you work through this part of the course project. You will submit this deliverable to the Week 1 Course Project Dropbox.

2 Continue to Define and Organize Your Project, and Start the Planning

Define How the Project Team Will Work Together, and Define Major Deliverables and Milestones

This week, you are continuing to define and organize your project. Your focus will be on the project team (members and team organizational structure), and how the team will function. You will also define and describe the major project deliverables (and sub-deliverables) and milestones.

Download the Course_Project_Week_2.docx from Doc Sharing to start this assignment. The Course_Project_Week_2.docx template contains all the sections that you will need to complete, including instructions to help you work through this part of the course project. You will submit this deliverable to the Week 2 Course Project Dropbox.

3 Define WBS and Work Packages

Develop the WBS with Schedule, Resources, and Costs using Microsoft Project

This week, you will be using Microsoft Project to develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and work packages for your course project. You will also be developing the project schedule and project budget. You can access Microsoft Project from theiLab under Course Home.

You will submit your Microsoft Project file to the Week 3 Course Project Dropbox.

4 Plan your Project by Analyzing Resources

Analyze Resources and Optimize Trade-offs

This week, your focus is on resource planning. This includes work resources (people) and material resources. Being thorough and complete is very important, and you need to analyze if you identified all the resources you need and the workloads for each. You will use your Microsoft Project file to perform the analysis and complete this week’s assignment. You can access Microsoft Project from the iLab under Course Home.

Download the Course_Project_Week_4.docx from Doc Sharing to start this assignment. The Course_Project_Week_4.docx template contains all the sections that you will need to complete, including instructions to help you work through this part of the course project. You will submit this deliverable to the Week 4 Course Project Dropbox.

5 Plan your Project by Analyzing Project Risks

Develop a Risk Management Plan

This week, you will develop a risk management plan for your course project. This portion of the planning process includes analyzing potential risks that could impact the project, determining who is responsible to manage the risk, and what actions should be taken to minimize the risk.

Download the Course_Project_Week_5.docx from Doc Sharing to start this assignment. The Course_Project_Week_5.docx template contains all the sections that you will need to complete, including instructions to help you work through this part of the course project. You will submit this deliverable to the Week 5 Course Project Dropbox.

6 Plan your Project by Defining how to Track, Manage, and Report Project Status

Collect Status Information and Plan how to Take Corrective Actions

This week’s focus is on project information. As a project manager, you will need to keep your finger on the pulse of the project. You need to identify the information that you are monitoring, collecting, analyzing, and reporting. Based on the information, you and others will need to make decisions regarding the project.

Download the Course_Project_Week_6.docx from Doc Sharing to start this assignment. The Course_Project_Week_6.docx template contains all the sections that you will need to complete, including instructions to help you work through this part of the course project. You will submit this deliverable to the Week 6 Course Project Dropbox.

7 Close the Project

Close out the Project and Archive Project Documents

This week’s focus is project closure, with the assumption that your project will go through execution as planned and will be formally closed. While the project has been the project manager’s focus since project initialization, it is also very important for the project manager to help transition team members back to their functional organizations as well as assure that all project documentation is archived. A significant final deliverable of the project is a Lessons Learned document and meeting.

Download the Course_Project_Week_7.docx from Doc Sharing to start this assignment. The Course_Project_Week_7.docx template contains all the sections that you will need to complete, including instructions to help you work through this part of the course project. You will submit this deliverable to the Week 7 Course Project Dropbox.

8 Course Project Report

Formal Report that is a Compilation of All Planning Documents from Weeks 1-7 plus Change Management

The Final Report for your Course Project will be a formal report that you will present to the Project Sponsor (your Professor). You will be using the information that you have been preparing each week of the course. You will prepare the report using excellent report writing skills and with content that would be read by an executive of an enterprise. Now is the time to organize and present the information in a way that is understandable and meaningful to your Project Sponsor.

Write the report as though the Project Sponsor is reading the planning details for the first time. You have prepared information each week during the course, and that information will form the foundation for this report. For the Final Report, you should augment that information with further explanations to facilitate the comprehension of what you are presenting. You will need to demonstrate in your report that you have thought through all that is required to manage your project successfully. Continued funding and resource assignments will depend on how well you have planned, estimated, and communicated all aspects of your project. You will submit your final report to the Week 8 Course Project Dropbox. See the course Syllabus for Due Date requirements.

Submit your Assignments to the Dropbox located on the silver tab at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these Step-by-Step Instructions or watch this Dropbox Tutorial.

Grading Rubrics

Section/Category

Points

Description

Executive Summary

10

Concise, no more than a half to three quarters of a page.

Integration Management

10

The information for each of these sections comes from what has been developed in Weeks 1 – 7 plus Change Management. It needs to be organized according to the course textbooks and the PMBOK Knowledge Areas.

Report contains more content than the Weeks 1 – 7 submissions. It reflects further explanation to demonstrate your communication skills.

Scope Management

10

Time/Schedule Management

10

Cost Management

10

Quality Management

10

Human Resource Management

10

Communications Management

10

Risk Management

10

Procurement Management

10

Conclusion and Recommendations

10

Concise, no more than a half to three quarters of a page.

Format and writing quality: Title Page, Page Numbers, Headers, Font Type and Size, Length, and APA Compliance

15

Report is formatted using this Rubric as a guide for content and sections. Tone addresses the Project Sponsor directly and professionally.

Table of Contents shows each section with at least two outline levels. Each section is clearly labeled in the body of the report.

Core report length 1,500-2,000 words (no limits on appendices, charts, graphs, supporting documentation). Report is APA-compliant with accurate in-text citations supporting full citations on the reference page.

Report contains no spelling, grammar, typographical, or formatting errors; all links functional; graphics and charts are clear and legible. Writing quality is excellent – clear, organized, and professional.

Total

125

A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the above requirements.

Project Tutorials

Tutorials

Project-2010-quick-reference-guide

Getting-started-Microsoft-Project-basics

Getting-started-with-Project-2010

Best Practices

The following are best practices in preparing this paper.

Cover Page: Include who you prepared the paper for, who prepared it, and the date. Table of Contents: List the main ideas and sections of the paper and the pages where they are located. Illustrations should be included separately. Executive Summary: Use a header on your paper. This will indicate that you are introducing the paper.

  1. Introduce the subject and why the subject is important;

  2. Preview the main ideas and the order in which they will be covered; and

  3. Establish the tone of the document.

Include in the executive summary a reason for the audience to read the paper. Also, include an overview of what you will cover and the importance of the material. (This should include or introduce the questions you are asked to answer in each assignment.)

Body of the Report: Use a header with the name of the project. An example is, “The Development of Hotel X: A World Class Resort.” Proceed to break out the main ideas: State the main ideas, the major points of each idea, and provide evidence. Show some type of division, such as separate, labeled sections; separate groups of paragraphs; or headers. Include the information you found during your research and investigation. Summary and Conclusion: Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing but presents the gist of the material in fewer words than the original. An effective summary identifies the main ideas and the major support points from the body of the report; minor details are left out. Summarize the benefits of the ideas and how they effect the subject.Work Cited: Use the citation format specified in the Syllabus.

Additional hints on preparing the best possible project follow.

Apply a three step process to writing: plan, write, and complete. Prepare an outline of the research paper before going forward. Complete a first draft and then go back to edit, evaluate, and make any changes required. Use visual communication to further clarify and support the written part of the report. Examples include graphs, diagrams, photographs, flowcharts, maps, drawings, animation, video clips, pictograms, tables, and Gantt charts.