Project Management

Question :

This sample will let you know about:

Discuss about the Importance of Risk Register.
Discuss about the Evaluation of Methodologies.

Answer :

Organization Selected : N/A

Introduction

The Project Initiation Document can also be termed as a Project Charter and under this, the different activities that need to be adopted in order to complete the project are detailed and the timeline along with the other details such as working people, budget etc. will be developed under project charter (Pandi-Perumal And et.al., 2015). Some critical elements that can be detailed for the intended project for QAHE are:

Budget: This tool helps in ascertaining the probable costs prior to the beginning of the project i.e. the cost that will be incurred in the completion of the entire project is estimated using this tool (Ng, 2018). In order to plan the two week trip to Uganda for 30 students of QAHE, following budget can be developed:

Particulars	Amount (Per student)	Amount (Total)
Travelling expenses	£600	£18000
Food and drink refreshments	£350	£10500
Stay expenses	£450	£13500
Medical facilities/ supplements	£100	£3000
Hiring tour operator	£140	£4200
Stationary	£10	£300
Recreational activities fund	£350	£10500
Total	£2000	£60000

Therefore, the budget developed above helps in concluding that the trip is possible within the allocated budget of £2000 per student and collectively, £600000. Order assignment help from our experts!

Timescale: The intended sports event is to be held in the month of March in the next academic year during their second year. The tried will be for a period of 2 weeks and in order to plan for that trip, there is a time of one academic year (Mousaei and Javdani, 2018). Therefore, the project will be undertaken from July 2019 to February 2020 as the trip is expected to be held in March 2020.

Objectives: The major objective is to hold a successful trip for the students at QAHE, but there are certain other objectives that have been developed:

The management of QAHE will be able to develop a more robust image in front of the other students that might be interested in the sustainability course that has been recently launched in the university.
The improved publicity and goodwill of university in front of its trustees and parents regarding the importance of all around student education.
The achievement of all the activities that have been planned under project management within the designated time period.

Approach: Since the activity is a very critical aspect, it needs to be performed in an error free approach i.e., there cannot be any inclusion of error in the approach being adopted towards the implementation of Project (Lyra and et.al., 2018). QAHE, in order to develop the tour, will implement the following guideline:

The entire itinerary of the trip should be planned intricately where all the activities that are to be performed right from the starting to the end will be planned in detail.
The core team that will be required for the undertaking of this project successfully will involve 8 teachers associated with the programme, 14 students, hod's of the different departments, dean of the QAHE University and one external party in the form of tour operator who will help in resolving the main issues related to trip.
The team will work throughout the timeline that has been developed so that the target can be achieved in a timely manner.
The schedule of study will not be compromised with so that students can carry out their educational studies along with the project where they will be given a special time slot.

Key personnel: This aspect details the key personnel i.e. staff that is required for the completion of the project successfully. As it was illustrated above, the major staff for the current project of organizing an educational trip consists of one specialist and several inside people who are involved with the decision-making (Lensges, Kloppenborg and Forte, 2018).

Stakeholder Analysis: Stakeholder analysis helps in ascertaining the interested parties in the project that is being undertaken and the decisions of these stakeholders could influence the decisions that are being taken in the project as well. The stakeholder analysis for QAHE consists of:

Stakeholders	Significance
Parents	This is the major stakeholder group where the parents can be influenced by the kind of trip tat is being organized and their approval is necessary to carry the project further.
Students	These students are the ones who are actually going and when they will be satisfied, other potential students will be recommended thus proving to be beneficial (Kliem and Ludin, 2019).
Sponsors	The investor of the project is the funder and the trustees of the University are major resource originators. They need to be regularly reported about the progress of the project.
Project Manager	Manager i.e. leader of the project must be updated regarding the activities being adopted and every crucial aspect must be examined regularly.
Team Members	They are the implementers of the project and when they are clear regarding the different roles and duties that they have to adopt in project, it becomes easier to implement them.

Work Breakdown Structure

S. Mo.	Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Predecessors
1	Trip Initiation	262 days	Mon 7/1/19	Tue 6/30/20
2	Setting up a team	1 mon	Mon 7/1/19	Fri 7/26/19
3	Assigning roles and responsibilities	0.5 mons	Mon 7/29/19	Fri 8/9/19	2
4	Coducting Feasibility study	0.5 mons	Mon 8/12/19	Fri 8/23/19	2,3
5	Stakeholder identification	1 mon	Mon 8/26/19	Fri 9/20/19	4
6	Trip Planning	35 days	Mon 9/23/19	Fri 11/8/19
7	Budget development	0.5 mons	Mon 9/23/19	Fri 10/4/19	5
8	Developing Timeline	0.25 mons	Mon 10/7/19	Fri 10/11/19	5,7
9	Selecting tour operator	0.75 mons	Mon 10/7/19	Fri 10/25/19	7
10	Developing Publicity mechanisms	1 mon	Mon 10/14/19	Fri 11/8/19	7,8
11	Trip Implementation	69 days	Mon 10/7/19	Thu 1/9/20
12	Readying the Itinerary	2 mons	Mon 11/11/19	Fri 1/3/20	7,10
13	Selecting Venue	0.25 mons	Mon 10/7/19	Fri 10/11/19	7
14	Marketing the venue	1 mon	Mon 11/11/19	Fri 12/6/19	7,10
15	Branding trip	1 mon	Fri 12/13/19	Thu 1/9/20
16	Trip Monitoring	69 days	Mon 10/14/19	Thu 1/16/20
17	Rehearsing the itinireaery	0.25 mons	Mon 10/14/19	Fri 10/18/19	8
18	Registrations	0.25 mons	Fri 1/10/20	Thu 1/16/20	15
19	Risk management	0.25 mons	Mon 10/28/19	Fri 11/1/19	9
20	Selecting volunteers and other staff	0.25 mons	Mon 12/9/19	Fri 12/13/19	14,17
21	Closure	10 days	Fri 1/17/20	Thu 1/30/20
22	Review the activities	0.25 mons	Fri 1/24/20	Thu 1/30/20	17,19,22
23	Suggestion for improvement	0.25 mons	Fri 1/31/20	Thu 2/6/20	23
24	Success of event	0.25 mons	Fri 2/7/20	Thu 2/13/20	23,24

Risk Register

The risk register helps in ascertaining what are the different risks that the project can face during the entire period it is being planned. The risks that are illustrated vary from the extreme level to the level of highly likely to occur kind of risk (Kerzner, 2019). In the following risk register, all the risks that are likely to occur for the project of trip to Uganda by QAHE have been included. The probability 1 shows that the risk is least likely to occur and the probability 5 depicts that there are high chances that the risk might occur during the project.

Risk Management Register for Sports Event at QAHE
Risk Identification				Assessment	Response		Monitoring and Control
Serial Number	Risk Event	Cause	Effect	Probability	Mitigation Strategy	Action	Responsible person(s)	Pre Action	Pre Action Weighted Score	Post Action	Post action Weighted Score
1	Risk related to external environment factors	The intended purpose with which the project was developed no longer justifies and acts as redundant.	Project failure	1	Accept	Ensure that the aim of the project is in accordance with the trends prevalent in the market. Regular environmental scanning can be done.	The changing market forces or preference of stakeholders.	Regular evaluation of the market trends.	5	Develop strategies that can minimize losses incurred.	3
2	Leadership related risk	Relevant project manager can either become ill or he might not be adequately talented to handle project in future.	Project Delay	3	Reduce or Control	Evaluate that whether a person possess the skills required to become a leader of the project.	Core team members	Develop certain knowledge based tests that can be used to select a competent person.	4	Either select new one as quickly as possible or train the new person.	2
3	Poorly developed Scope	The activities that are required to be performed or the broader perspective of the project is not considered.	Project Delay	1	Avoid	The scenarios that can occur and different aspects of the project must be developed carefully.	Project Manager/ key personnel.	Conduct a exhaustive research before finalising the scope.	3	Develop a new scope taking a better perspective.	4
4	Faulty Budgets	Actual costs exceed the budget earlier developed.	Rising project completion costs	5	Mitigate	Developing strategies that help in matching the estimated costs with the actuals ones that were incurred.	Project Manager/ Finance manager or team	Inflation rate and the expected price rise must be analysed critically before getting the budget approved.	2	Get a new budget sanctioned by relevant authority.	3
5	Communication Barriers	Team members lack integration and fail to cooperate.	Project Delay/ Project Failure	4	Reduce/ Control	The leader is responsible to cohesively gather the different ideas that the members present.	Project Manager	The roles should be clearly defined and duties need to be understood.	3	Getting team to communicate better.	5
6	Shortfall in Resources	The requirement of resources need to be clearly understood and shortage in future must be avoided.	Increased costs	5	Transfer	When resource estimation and allocation is not synchronised with the requirement, such risk is likely to arise.	Project Manager, external parties, Core Team	Estimate the requirement correctly	1	Prepare detailed backup plans and use them now.	4
7	Natural Calamities	Landslide, earthquake, draughts, heavy rains etc.	Project cancellation	1	Accept	This risk is least likely to occur and adopting precautionary steps right from the beginning is the best strategy.	No one	Evaluate and study Weather forecasts.	3	Try to bridge up the losses by exercising precautions.	2
8	Sponsors might lose interest	Project can be rejected and the funding can be withdrawn if the idea is no longer feasible.	Project failure or delay.	2	Mitigate	Every decision must be informed to the sponsors and further work should be done only after their consent.	Marketing team/ Project Manager	Report regularly about the progress of project.	5	Try to engage the sponsors back or influence new sponsors.	4
9	Legal Trouble	Law of the area in which project is to be applied must be studied carefully and complied with.	Unnecessary expenditure or Project delay or in worst cases even project failure.	3	Avoid	The compliance must be ensured at all times and if necessary hire an expert to guide.	The project Manager	Conduct a detailed legal study.	1	Identify loop holes, try third party settlement or hire legal representative.	5
10	Commercial Risks	The audience i.e. the students in this case may no longer find the project interested and project can come to a stop.	Project failure	3	Accept	Opinion of the relevant parties i.e. stakeholders must be taken into consideration regularly.	Project manager/ Idea approving committee	Hold regular meetings	3	Strong back up plan with alternate strategy	4

Importance of Risk Register

The risk register or a risk management plan helps in ascertaining what are the probable risks that the project might incur and the probability of such risks are also detailed along with the actions that can be adopted in order to bridge or reduce the risks of such risks. When a risk register is comprehensive, it takes into account all the possible risk scenarios that can occur and if the project manager and the team actually faces the risk hence ascertained, it becomes easier and quicker to implement an appropriate action plan that helps in minimizing the potential losses and hence the consequences of the occurrence of such risks can be minimized effectively. Further, the project is based on a sustainability based project and the destinations that they will visit might not be well-connected.

For instance, the risk register developed for the QAHE students educational trip to Uganda involved the risk of natural forces such as earthquakes, land slides etc. (Kerzner, 2018). Although this is a very improbable risk that might never occur but the risk register helps in accounting for even such risks where the action that can be adopted is detailed. This will help the manager in providing a safeguard to the students as quickly as possible. Similarly, another risk is the risk of itinerary proving to be inadequate i.e. the scope of the project is not well-defined or the risk of the project leader becoming sick. These risk s have a high degree of plausibility, i.e. there chances of occurrence are very high, and the risk register, provided the follow-up action plan in such scenarios also i.e. working on improving the itinerary for a long time, selecting a robust and capable manager etc. Need Assignment Samples?Talk to our Experts!

Therefore, risk register is a crucial part in the project management and contributes significantly towards the risk management plan.

Importance of Communication

In order to succeed, every project and its team members must have clear communication channels developed where the team members know whom to communicate and the procedure is clear. The communication tool also assists in developing better understanding within the groups where all are familiar with and understand the duties or tasks that they are assigned with. In the current project as well, the trip to Uganda is a very crucial takes and since it is two weeks long trip, it is necessary to plan the trip in detail (Heldman, 2018). Therefore, communication is a critical aspect here and the hierarchy that has been developed is:

Different teams respective team leader project manager/ leader relevant authority (tour operator, Hod's, Sponsors, Dean)

However, since the group for this project is significantly limited, the team member will mostly work together and therefore, there is flexibility of not following the hierarchy described and communicating the problems direct to the project manager (Sanghera, 2019). The open communication channels will help in resolving the issues as and when they arise and the complacencies will be much lesser. Therefore, in order to complete the current project of QAHE, the communication will help in addressing multiple problems of the group and also effectively quicken the process of planning and decision-making.Ask for Academic Writing Services from our experts!

Evaluation of Methodologies

In order to manage the project effective;y, there are a number of strategies that can be adopted by the project manager so that the entire project can be detailed and followed up in a pre- designated format.

Prince2 Methodology: Prince2 Methodology is a very advanced project management technology which is used at a larger scale and under this, the entire project is segregated into some critical points or stages at which the performance of the entire project is evaluated (Fewings and Henjewele, 2019). The major attraction of this technique is that does not leave any loose ends i.e. all the activities are completed in full capacity. There are certain advantages or disadvantages that are associated with the project:

Strengths

Weaknesses

The major milestones of the project management plan are addressed under this method such as budgets, PID document, Communication plan etc.
The managers can successfully identify the crucial activities that are to be performed, and they can focus their time and energy on these important aspects rather that wasting resources (Fernandes and et.al., 2018).
This methodology lacks evaluation of the soft skills that are necessary for the task of project management. Additionally, the documentation requirement is also higher and the process becomes too detailed.
The implementation of the methodology is a very complex task and only when the manager or implementer of the methodology is an experienced person, they can implement the methodology successfully.

Agile Methodology: The agile methodology is another technique under which the tasks are segregated into smaller activities and these activities are interlinked with each other very closely. The expectations of the customer segment that is being targeted are the key point in integrating them with the organizational objectives. Agile methodology has certain positive and certain negative aspects:

Strengths

Weaknesses

Under this methodology, the flexibility of changing the activities being undertaken with the change in market trends is the key advantage.
Here communication between the team members is enhanced, and they engage in regular conversation. This helps them in increasing the productivity level of the team collectively.
The different roles and responsibilities that are given to the people make it difficult to coordinate with each other and therefore chances of conflict might increase (Eskerod and Jepsen, 2016).
Under this technique as well, it is necessary that the project management should be experienced and this tactic or methodology can be used only when the person is experienced.

Waterfall Methodology: This third project management strategy can be applied when the project is operating at a comparatively lower level and the scale of project is at a lower level. Under this, all the tasks are closely interlinked and the next step can be adopted only when one stage is finished off completely.

Strengths

Weaknesses

This technique is a very simple one and it is very easy to implement this methodology. Further under this technique, the overlapping of tasks can be avoided (Dohe and Pike, 2018). This helps in avoiding the unnecessary wastage of resources.
Due to the rigidity of this method, after a task is completed, it becomes almost impossible to incorporate changes into it.
When the project is a complex or detailed one, the applicability of this method becomes difficult.
In the currently changing trends, applicability of this method becomes complex.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis above, it can be adequately concluded that the best technique for the current project of planning a 2 week trip to Uganda of the QAHE University students, the best strategy that can be adopted by the project manager is the agile methodology. Under this, the manager will be able to integrate the group together and the flexibility of incorporating changes with changing environment will be possible.

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