Undertake a Project Essay Example for Free

Undertake a Project Essay Q1. A project is a defined set of planned and managed activities carried out for a period of time, which has a defined start and end time. (State of New South Wales, Dep of Education and Training 2013, Topic 1, p.1) E.g. the erection of bus stop shelters on all bus stops in the suburb of Wellwish. The features of a project include: * Having a defined beginning and end date. (The project will run for approximately 7 months) * It has unique purpose with specific objectives that meet the client’s goals and requirements within specified quality and performance criteria. (The bus shelters will provide protection from the sun and rain in summer and rainy for bus commuters in the suburb). * Uses resources, such as money, time, people and equipment that have been allocated to the project. (This project will be go source of income to the local community as they will be employed to undertake most of the work) * Usually follows a planned and structured approach to meet their objectives. (The will be road and foot path closures in the areas where the construction of the bus shelter will be, but there will be notices in advance of which roads will be affected. This will minimise any unforseen accident from the members of the Wellwish suburb). * Have a primary sponsor or stakeholders who provide directions and funding. (Apart from the local council being the main sponsor of this project, the local community will be given up-to-date information on the progress of this project and any disruptions which might occur in the process). Q2 1.Planning Originates Controlling: In planning process, the objectives or targets are to be set, and to achieve those goals, control process is required. So we can say that Planning precedes control. 2. Control sustains planning: Controlling directs the course of planning. Controlling spots the areas where planning is required. 3. Controlling provides information for planning: In controlling, the performance is compared with standards and deviations, if any, are to be recorded. The information collected during any type of control, is used for planning also. 4. Planning and control are inter-related: Planning is the initial step of a project and controlling is in the process and required at every step. For the same both are dependent upon each other and inter-related. 5. Both are forward looking: Planning is always for the future and control is forward looking. No one has the control on past, it is only the future, which can be controlled. There are tools which will be using in the smooth operation of the project of erection of bus shelters in the suburb of Wellwish. In this project I have decided to use three tools which will assist us in the planning and controlling of activities throughout the duration the project, they are the work breakdown schedule (WBS), the Gantt chart and the critical path method. THE WORK BREAKDOWN SCHEDULE (WBS): This tool will help us high light the goals of the project, its objectives, its tasks and sub-tasks and all the work activities which will be undertaken during the construction the bus shelters in the suburb (State of New South Wales, Dep of Education and Training 2013, Topic 2, p.12). THE GANTT CHARTS: This is the most used chart in most projects undertaken. They will be used to demonstrate various forms of project schedule information during the construction of the bus shelters. This chart will help us to see if the anticipated start and finish dates for the activities called for in a plan are on schedule. (Cole,2013, pp.505).They will be represented in a series of horizontal bars or lines in a given month/months. CRITICAL PATH METHODS This tool will be used to analyse the duration of the project by calculating the longest path within the project i.e which task will take the shortest period and longest period to complete. This will help us to focus and manage closely the task which might take long to complete (State of New South Wales, Dep of Education and Training 2013, Topic 2, p.14). Q3 Initiation A solid project initiation will not only set your project up for success but it will also lay the groundwork for all future stages. During initiation, I will get the project team members assigned, brief them on the overall project goals and ask the client or project owner as many questions as possible so you can plan the project efficiently. This is also a great time to build team enthusiasm about the project and collect any last minute details that might influence project planning. (Stricker, 2013) Planning Once I have initiated the project and gathered all relevant information, I will then begin planning the project. Katie Stricker (2013) explains that the planning stage will depends on the size of the project, how much information i have to organize and how large your team is. The end result of planning should be a clear project plan or schedule, from which everyone will follow their assigned tasks. Using a project-planning program such as Microsoft Project or Basecamp will be extremely helpful when planning a project. I will be using Excel and Word to create my plan and communicate it to the team will be the most effective way. Execution This is stage in which the team can begin executing the project against their assigned tasks (Stricker, 2013). This is the stage where everyone actually starts doing the work. I will officially kick-off the execution stage with in-person meetings to ensure everyone has what they need to begin executing their part of the project. Getting the team started on the right track is essential to project’s success, so a well-articulated schedule and communications plan will made clearly to all the team members. Monitor and Control While the project is in the execution stage, i will begin monitoring and controlling it to ensure its proceeding along as planned. There are a variety of ways I will be monitoring and controlling the project. Casual check-ins with team leaders, organized daily stand-ups† or more formal weekly status meetings are effective. The information that comes out of these meetings or communication channels will inform the feedback loop and ultimately any re-planning and adjustments that will be necessary to the project (Stricker, 2013). Project Close Once all the details and tasks of the project are complete and approved by the council of Wellwish, then I will finally close the project. The closing of a project is just as important as its initiation, planning and execution. I will be documenting all the information from the project and organize it neatly so if there will be need to go back to it, the information will be readily available. This will be also a good time to hold a review on the project so all team members can reflect on what went right, or wrong during the project. This should also be documented so the outcome can be shared with other project members and filed in a project history fold (Stricker, 2013). KEY ES| | EF| S| | | LS| | LF| PART 2 Activities of the critical path. 1| B| 6| 5| $45| | 6| 5| 11| 6| D| 10| 5| $52| | 11| 4| 13| 10| F| 14| 4| $56| | 14| 4| 18| 18| H| 20| 0| $30| | 18| 2| 20| 0| A| 1| 5| $20| | 5| 1| 6| 3| E| 5| 8| $40| | 11| 2| 13| 10| G| 13| 3| $36| | 13| 3| 16| 1| C| 3| 8 | $30| | 9 | 2| 11| 16| I| 20| 0| $60| | 16| 4| 20| (S=LF-EF or S= LS-ES) Cost ($000’s) b) The duration of the critical path was 6 months Activity| 1m| 2ms| 3ms| 4ms| 5ms| 6ms| 7ms| 8ms| 9ms| 10ms| 11ms| 12ms| 13ms| 14ms| 15ms| 16ms| 17ms| 18ms| 19ms| 20ms| A| $20| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | B| | $45| $45| $45| $45| $45| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | C| | $30| $30| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | D| | | | | | | $52| $52| $52| $52| | | | | | | | | | | E| | | | $40| $40| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F| | | | | | | | | | | $56| $56| $56| $56| | | | | | | G| | | | | | | | | | | $36| $36| $36| | | | | | | | H| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | $30| $30| | | | | I| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | $60| $60| $60| $60| Cost ($000’s) REFERENCE LIST: Stricker, Katie 2013, The five stages of a project, Viewed 09/09/13, http://www.management.about.com/od/projectmanagement/a/Five-Stages-of-a-Project.htm Cole,K 2013, Management: theory and practice, 5th edn Pearson Australia, NSW State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2013, Define project, TAFE NSW, Sydney, NSW State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2013, Develop project plans, TAFE NSW, Sydney, NSW