Gantt Chart has to be created using MS Project For this assignment. Chicago 17th B referencing style has to be used. And need 7 peer to peer referencing is required. No google search articles or any other articles
Project Time (Schedule) Management Assignment No. 1 School of Design and Built Environment PRM530 – OUA Project Time Management. ASSESSMENT 2: Creating a WBS & Project Schedule for… ‘European Holiday’ (45%) Due date: As set out in the Unit Outline, submission is via Turnitin (Blackboard). The subject line should read “PRM530_Assessment2_Student ID”. Late submissions will be penalised as per the Curtin Late Assessment Policy in the Unit Outline. Note, you must make allowances for any transmission and reception issues that could occur to ensure that your Assessment is received prior to that time. Word Count: 1200 – 1500 words (10% leeway) excludes the WBS / MS Project - Works Schedule(s). Please read these assessment instructions carefully before attempting the assessment! ASSESSMENT INSTRUCTIONS Learning Outcome assessed 1. Create a WBS and project schedule through the analysis and application of principles and processes of time management, with specialist software, MS Project, and reflect upon and analyse the results. 2. Synthesise conceptual and theoretical knowledge to solve a project’s time management problem(s). Aim of Assessment & Background This Assessment aims to develop your skills in planning a project: creating a WBS, scheduling the work and assigning the resources required to achieve a project’s objective. It requires you to apply project management software (MS Project) to plan, analyse and report your project. The following describes a fictitious (based) but realistic project (European Holiday) where you are to plan and manage it as though you were the appointed Project Manager and an active participant (stakeholder). You are to compile a separate WBS and a schedule to plan and manage this project. You will be assessed on your ability to: conduct research on essential scheduling definitions; display an understanding of project scheduling concepts and you are expected to be able to apply the software (MS Project 2019) to a degree that enables you to record and display appropriate project data to support your responses. Advanced skills with MS-Project are not required but a clear presentation (Gantt Chart) of your plans is essential (appearing on a page). A ‘Marking Guide’ below explains how marks are distributed for this Assessment. Marks will be given to the approach you take - including the layout, compliance to stated requirements and presentation of arguments (with peer reviewed citations). The Project (Current day) You live and work in Perth, Western Australia with your partner/spouse and 2 pre-teen children. You work as Senior Manager of a major engineering consultancy. With the poor economic performance of the region in recent months due to the COVID-19 outbreak, you have successfully driven a reorganisation of your company and introduced a ‘skills development program’ focusing on the project management competency of your staff. This approach has markedly reduced overheads and improved profit performance, despite reduced sales growth. On a Commonwealth level, the member countries have agreed to share knowledge on boosting the economy and Scotland is hosting a Commonwealth conference to facilitate this. As a consequence of your contribution, the company has invited you to present a paper explaining your innovative business strategy at this conference, which is to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, for 3 days from 8 September 2020. You will be presenting a keynote paper at the start of the conference and you are expected to represent the company over the duration of the conference, where you hope to gain some significant business connections. Your family are very enthusiastic about this opportunity. They have recently been discussing the idea of an overseas family holiday now that some regions have opened their borders again and a vaccine is in place (before the youngsters become too old to enjoy travelling with the family). In a family meeting, it is determined that the whole family will travel and make this a 3-week European family holiday which must include at least 3 countries (including Scotland) with at least 5 full days (excluding travel) in each country visited to appreciate the sights and the culture. You will be using your leave entitlement for the time away from work. Your family members understand that they will need to seek alternative arrangements (excursions) over the conference time but otherwise, you will travel as a family. Due to time constraints with work, you will have to start your trip with Scotland being the first country visited. Having accepted these constraints, you proceed to plan your holiday. Being the ‘Project Manager of the family,’ you undertake all project management tasks and make all the plans, delegating tasks to the other family members, as required. Your work commitments are such that you cannot leave Perth until after an all-day industrial hearing that you are required to attend in Perth on 3 September. COVID Status COVID has mostly been eradicated in Western Australia and is managed in areas of Europe and the UK and between these regions travel is being promoted to boost the respective economies. The additional medical requirement for travel is a vaccination at least 2 weeks prior to departure. Assessment Requirements and Marking Guide Part A Task: Create a Project Schedule (40 marks max. possible) Word Count Marks 1. 2. 3. Develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for this project. Show all activities required to meet the project’s objectives including planning, delivering, and concluding all related activities. Develop this WBS to the level of detail you require; however, project activities that you generate for this assessment should show circa. 50 to 75 items (i.e. between 50 to 75 lines in the WBS). Note this is not a restriction on the level of detail for your planning, but a restriction on the level of detail of your reporting. Based on your WBS (for the project), estimate the required resources and durations for each of your project activities. Provide a Gantt chart showing the schedule for your project, including dependencies between the activities that comprise your project schedule and show the resources and the estimated durations of the activities that you schedule. In your Gantt chart, clearly identify the •start and end of the project, •the resourcing, •the Predecessor Column’, and •the dates planned for the activities include any milestones to achieve/manage the execution of the project. Explain (with the help from academic sources) what constitutes an ‘assumption’ and a ‘constraint’ and identify a minimum of four ‘project assumptions’ and ‘four constraints.’ Highlight any constraints that may impact your schedule and give reasons. NB. There are a few assumptions and constraints in the ‘assessment brief’ above, that should get you started. 200 20 15 10 Part B Task: Time Planning and Control (20 marks max. possible) Word Count Marks 1. 2. The sequence of the tasks in a project schedule is based on dependencies, which may be either: · Hard/mandatory; Soft/discretionary; or External Briefly describe (with the help of academic sources) these different types of dependencies and illustrate specific examples taken from Part A - project schedule. Your answer should be approx. 200 words. Explain (with the help of academic sources) an ‘effort-driven task.’ Select an effort-driven task from Part A - WBS. Describe how you have estimated the duration of this task (including the method or technique used) and the basis for any assumptions made. As a guide, your answer should not be more than 200 words. 200 200 10 10 Part C Task: Managing a Variation (30 marks max. possible) Word Count Marks 1. 2. On the first day of arrival in Scotland, the British Government, alarmed by a major secondary outbreak in Europe, decides to lock down the borders and prohibit any travel in or out of the UK for 2 weeks. This is a complete lockdown, and no one is permitted to enter or exit the country – no exceptions. However, domestic travel (in the UK) and travel between the UK and Ireland is still permitted. In response, the Australian government has followed suit and will only allow Australian residents and citizens to return where a 2-week mandatory quarantine is strictly observed. As an Australian citizen you are permitted to self-quarantine (at home). Your company fully supports working from home and the two weeks quarantine has no impact on your annual leave allowance. You are therefore encouraged to achieve the set objectives (i.e. attending the conference). Re-plan your project’s schedule to include this variation. Ensure you can manage any significant risks associated with this change. Provide a revised Gantt chart with a WBS, for the project include your progress on the project to the time of the variation (note, the variation to be clearly visible e.g. highlighting relevant tasks in yellow). Explain any changes and the effects of these changes (e.g. travel plans, quarantine, etc.) on the schedule; and advise of any additional project activities and/or those that have changed or are no longer required. Explain any other requirements and how you can meet the objectives of your project within these new constraints. As a guide, your explanation should be no more than about 350 words. N/A 350 25 10 Instructions - Word Count and Formatting Requirements: · This is an individual Assessment that requires you to present your own work. All source material MUST be acknowledged, and any form of plagiarism will result in the appropriate measures being taken. Do not copy other student’s work or assist by showing your work to others. · Present your work in a report format that follows the structure, mentioned below. · Cover Sheet; Table of Contents; Introduction; Body of Work (with headings); Conclusion; References; and Appendices · Work is to be referenced according to Curtin University guidelines… (Chicago 17th B). · Your Assessment is to be submitted as single soft copy (pdf file) via Turnitin on Blackboard. Ensure that you comply with the Guidelines for Submitting Soft Copy Assessments - available on Blackboard under Assessments. · All Curtin policies apply to this work and you should particularly note those related to Academic Integrity, plagiarism and late submission. · Marks will be deducted for non-compliance with the Assessment instructions. · Refer to the additional information on Report Style writing (on Blackboard). Formatting Requirements Page size: A4; Line spacing: 1.5 · Font size: 11; Font style: Calibri · Margins: standard · File format: Please provide the MS Word file and MS Project 2019 (inserted as a pdf. Or image) Your report must be presented in a professional manner and include academic sources, to receive maximum possible marks associated with a professional presentation. FAQs 1. What do you mean by critical thinking? “Academic work is intended to be ‘scholarly’. This means it should be of a high standard and appropriate to the level of study it represents. An important way to demonstrate the quality of your arguments, or evidence in