Business Project Management - Coursework Example

Business Project Management Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 5 April Outline ProductDescription (Leaflet description)  2) Product Breakdown Structure  3) Work Breakdown Structure  4) Critical Path  5) Gantt Chart  6) Coast Breakdown Structure  7) Cash Flow  8) Risk Analysis  9) Product Evaluation  Business Project Management 1) Product Description The leaflet will contain information relating to the courses offered by the department. The information will include the number of courses required to complete the courses, the modes of study available such as open learning, online classes, part time and full time options.

In addition, it will have information relating to admission requirements and semester duration and critical dates. The leaflet will also list the benefits of studying at this institution, such as its long history of training business professionals. The main material for the leaflet will be A4 glossy paper that will fold into three flaps. The information will be in three columns on both sides. They will be on landscape layout. 2). Product Breakdown Structure  The product breakdown structure shows the components of the product.

It has different elements that constitute the final product as shown in Figure 1 below. Figure 1: Product breakdown structure for the marketing leaflet In this project, the product has four distinct elements. The first one is the course structure, followed by institutional information, and thirdly the admission requirements. In a strict sense, the product breakdown structure shows the physical components of the project. This is the reason why the glossy paper is a distinct component of the project. 3) Work Breakdown Structure  The work breakdown structure shown in Figure 2 shows the relationship between different aspects of the project.

1 It includes tasks and the processes needed to complete the project. Unlike the product break down structure, it does not focus on the physical elements only. Figure 2: Work breakdown structure In this project, the leaflet design will require seven distinct tasks under two major areas. The first area is the gathering of information while the second on is the physical design processes of the leaflet. 4) Critical Path  The process of development of the leaflet is straightforward. It will have five key tasks starting with information gathering and research.

It will then go to the final development stages within which the graphic and layout design will take place. It will culminate in the printing and folding of the leaflets. Figure 3 shows the critical path of the project highlighted in red. This is because of the time required for the clarification of the course admission requirements and procedures. Figure 3: Network diagram showing the Critical Path 5) Gantt Chart  A Gantt chart shows the relationship between the tasks in a project in graphical way.

2 It gives more visual information relating to the duration of the tasks better than a network diagram. The Gantt in Figure 4 shows the relative duration of this project. The longest task will be research on the institutions background because there is a lot of information relating to it, which will require careful consideration. The rest of the tasks will take the same amount of time. That is why they have the same size of sliding bar. Figure 4: Gantt chart of the leaflet production project. 6) Cost Breakdown Structure and Cash Flow The Cost breakdown structure in Table 1 below presents the costs associated with each of the project tasks.

Some tasks do not require any finances, but all of them require some time commitment. The most expensive cost will be the cost of printing the leaflets. The costs indicated came from estimates for printing of 1000 leaflets at the unit cost of $0.5. This brings the total cost to $500. Cost Item Cost Time Money($) Information research and creation Research on the institutional background 16 hrs 0.00 Clarification of course admission requirements and procedures 8 hrs 0.00 Leaflet layout design and printing Layout design 8hrs 100.

00 Leaflet printing 8hrs 500.00 Folding and packaging 8hrs 100.00 Total 48 hrs 700.00 Table 1: Cost breakdown structure 7) Cash Flow  This section of the project will not be income generating, and will not have other regular project expenses. In that sense, it is not sensible to construct a full-scale cash flow statement. All the financial requirements will fall in the last section of the project. 8) Risk Analysis  The best way to conduct risk analysis is by using a risk matrix to identify risks, their impact in terms of probability of occurrence and severity, and the mitigation measures required to avoid or reduce the impact of the risk.

3 Table 2 below shows the results of a risk analysis for this section of the project. Risk Probability of Occurrence Severity Mitigation measures Insufficient or overabundance of information High Low Development of a research outline before going out to look for information Poor graphic design of the leaflet Medium High Present samples to graphic designer Monitor the design process Delay at the printer low High Book printing services early and identify a backup printer in case of any delays. Ensure the project begins on time.

Table 2: Project risk matrix 9) Product Evaluation/ Lessons learnt Planning for a project is a very skilled operation. There are several issues to consider and each of them contributes something unique to the overall success of the project. Some of the elements help with the costing of the project while others assist with time management.4 The key lessons learnt from this exercise are that it takes a number of skills to develop a strong project plan. There is a need to use analytical skills to determine the duration required to complete the phases of a project.

On the other hand, several other sections call for good estimation skills such as the cost of task, and the assessment of risks. The impact of undertaking this exercise is that it has made it possible to understand the practical application of project management tools. Reference List x Flannes S & G Levin, Essential People Skills for Project Managers. Vienna, VA: Management Concepts, 2005. Froeb L & BT McCann, Managerial Economics: A Problem Solving Approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2009.

Kerzner H, Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, 10th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2009. Meredeth JR & SJ Mantel, Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 8th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. x