BA Business Administration / BSc Air Transport Management
EA303KM: Project Management
COURSE WORK (PROJECT CHARTER)
The aim of this assignment is to test your knowledge and understanding of the following Learning Outcomes:
- Select and evaluate project management tools and techniques that need to be applied for the effective and successful implementation of a project.
- Schedule and appraise key aspects of industrial or knowledge-based projects within the scope of the indicative content.
Please be guided by the following:
- a) Students are required to demonstrate their understanding and application of the course principles taught in the module.
- b) Course lectures / slides and prescribed textbook will assist you to complete the assignment, however it is expected that students would do some additional research and apply own company knowledge or work experience when using examples to illustrate points made during written submissions.
- c) Please ensure all submissions are in Arial 12 font with 1.5 spacing and all responses are numbered as per the question sheet.
- d) Please respond only to the question asked – your response should be guided by the word count and the marks allocated to the question.
- e) Referencing and Bibliography following “Harvard Style” is a compulsory requirement.
- f) 10% of the total marks will be awarded for overall structure and content of the report, when measured against both syllabus requirements and the materials studied. e.g. 10 marks (Arial font, margin, bibliography Harvard style, number of pages, introduction, table of content, conclusion, recommendations)
- g) Deductions will be applied for a late submission:
(10% – 1 week late; 20% – 2 weeks late)
Scenario:
You are working as a Project Manager assistant for AERIAL company.
Your company just receive new offer/ new contract to deliver service in Portugal. You are expert but you never deliver this kind of service in Portugal. Within your working environment you are required to help to generate a Project Charter for a project which is:
‘to open new firefighting base in Portugal”
You are required to:
- Compile a full and all-encompassing Project Charter for the project using the standard project charter format (example attached); ensure all sections /headings of the template are fully covered.
- Submit a Charter that, where possible, is a real project within your company environment.
- Obtain the sign-off and approval from the executive committee or project sponsor, if you can.
Use all the knowledge you have acquired to fully complete the charter, so that it can be used as a ‘living” example by you and your company. The grade you will receive will depend on the completeness of the Charter, the use of skills learned, tools used, and the research carried out to complete the Charter.
Special note: Due to time constraints between issuing the assignment and the return for marking I have elected to eliminate the full budget portion from the Charter assignment, however please do not lose sight of the cost estimate elements and include them in the relevant section; a Project Charter (PC) is not complete without a full budget and if required to submit one in the business environment it must be included to complete the document.
Word limit: Minimum 3,500 words; maximum 4,000.
The PC is worth 100 marks (90 marks [PC] + 10 marks [structure])
The report is to be submitted by the date shown on Moodle.
As per heading usage in Charter
What is the problem you have identified that you wish your project outcome to address
Project Description
Provide a concise and succinct summary of the intent and motivation for the realization of the project objective using / noting the defined problem statement which has led to the initiation of the project and its ultimate objective. This section should describe and support the business opportunity and / or the change that the project is intended to create. SMART applies
Vision
Write a concise qualitative vision statement that summarizes the purpose and intent of the project and describes what the “world” will be like when the project is completed. The vision statement should reflect a balanced view that will satisfy the needs of diverse customers as well as those of the developing organization. It may be somewhat idealistic, but it should be grounded in the realities of existing or anticipated customer markets, enterprise architectures, organizational strategic directions, and cost and resource limitations.
Consider using the following template:
For (target customer)
Who (statement of the need or opportunity)
The (product name)
Is a (product category)
That (key benefit, compelling reason to buy or use)
Unlike (primary competitive alternatives, current system, or current business process)
Our product (statement of primary differentiation and advantages of new product or service)>
SMART Objectives
Project objectives
Project Objectives and Success Criteria
Describe the most relevant outcomes of the project in a way that is quantitative and measurable i.e. how the outcomes will be measured to gauge the overall project successfully. These outcomes could include revenue increases, cost savings, return on investment, process improvements or target release dates. Determine how success will be defined and measured in terms of this project. Describe the factors that are likely to have the greatest impact on achieving that success. Establish measurable criteria to judge whether project has met its business objectives. – Caution this does not pertain to the measurements used to determine the overall success of the project management aspect of project
Objectives of the business
Project Scope
In Scope -The project scope defines the range of the actual activities that will be preformed during the project to deliver the project objective. Scope can be represented using a context diagram i.e. WBS structure, 100% rule.
Out of Scope – It’s also important to define what activities that the project will not include, so describe limitations and exclusions, such as product features or characteristics that a stakeholder might anticipate, but which are not planned to be included in the project.
Deliverables
| Deliverable | Components | Description |
| 1 | · | |
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| 4 |
Customers
Stakeholders Identification / Analysis
Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or organizations that are actively involved in a project, are affected by its outcome, or can influence its outcome. The stakeholder profiles identify the project sponsor, project manager, customers for this product, and other stakeholders. Identify business-level customers, target market segments, and significant user classes. For each stakeholder category, describe the major benefits they will receive from the product, their likely attitudes toward the project, what constitutes a win or success for the stakeholder, and any known constraints that must be accommodated. You might include a table that lists affected business areas and organizations and describes the impact the project will have on them.
| Stakeholder | Major Benefits | Attitudes | Win Conditions | Constraints |
| Project Sponsor | ||||
| Project Manager | ||||
| User Class #1 | ||||
| User Class #n | ||||
| etc. |
<
The key roles have been defined for this contract:
| ROLE | RESOURCE NAME | STATUS | ORGANIZATION |
| Project Sponsor | Assigned | A | |
| Project Board | Assigned
Assigned Assigned Assigned |
A
B C D |
|
| Project Manager | Assigned | B | |
| Project Leaders
|
Unassigned | A | |
| Unassigned | B | ||
| Unassigned | C | ||
| Unassigned | D | ||
| Unassigned | E | ||
| Unassigned | F |
Stakeholders’ responsibilities
Project Sponsor
Project board
Project Manager
Project Leaders
Assumptions and Dependencies
Record any assumptions that were made (as opposed to known facts) when conceiving the project outcome. Note any major internal or external dependencies the project assumptions rely upon for success, e.g. specific technologies, third-party vendors, development partners, or other business / task relationships. Also identify any other projects that are related to this project in some way or may have a bearing on its outcome.
Project Structure
‘Develop tree’
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Approach
| PHASE | OVERALL APPROACH | |
| 1.Initiation |
|
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| 2.Planning
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| 3.Execution
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| 4.Closure |
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Identify and tabulate any known project constraints which will or might impede the project delivery. The following table identifies some of the primary the parameters of the project’s key drivers (top priority objectives) and possible constraints to work within.
| Dimension | Constraint (state limits) |
Driver (state objective) |
Degree of Freedom (state allowable range) |
| Features | |||
| Quality | |||
| Cost | |||
| Schedule | |||
| Staff |
Quality
Provide an overview in narrative form of the manner in which Quality will be approached and managed during the project cycle ensuring TQMS, QA and QC philosophies are covered in your submission. E.g.
| Process | Description |
| Time Management | |
| Cost Management | |
| Quality Management (six sigma) | |
| Change Management | |
| Risk Management | |
| Issue Management | |
| Procurement Management | |
| Acceptance Management | |
| Communication Management |
Financial Plan / Budget
Provide an overview in narrative form of the methodology that will be applied to compile a project Budget – no actual budget is required only a narrative detailing steps required to compile a project budget.
| Expenditure Category | Expenditure Item | Expenditure Value |
| Total | ||
| Variance – / + 10% |
Summarize the major business risks associated with this project. Estimate the severity of each risk’s potential impact and identify any risk mitigation actions that could be taken to negate / mitigate against the risks identified
| Risk | Source | Impact | Mitigation |
Provide a detailed overview of how you will manage communication during your project execution focusing on the who, how, when and what will be communicated
Project Issues
Summarize the major project issues associated with this project, such as conflict, team skills, scope creep competition, timing issues, user acceptance, implementation issues, or possible. Estimate the severity of each issues potential impact and identify the handling methodology / actions that could be taken.
| Issue | Source | Impact | Handling Methodology |
Resources
Tabulate the known key resources that management must commit to the project at this time. Human resources include key individuals, teams, organizations, subcontractors or vendors, and support functions. This is not the place for the detailed team staff roster of individual names. Identify critical skill sets that team members must have. Other resources could include funding, computers, other equipment, physical facilities such as buildings and rooms, hardware devices, software tools, and training. If the project team organization is known at the time of chartering, include that information here, perhaps in the form of an organization chart.
| Resource | Description and Source |
Milestones
Determine / identify a list of the major project milestones, key deliverables and their envisaged target dates as well the team role or individual who is responsible for each one. It’s not necessary to include the target date for each milestone unless they are fixed constraints. The following table illustrates some typical milestones; change this list as appropriate for your project – schedule indication
| Event or Deliverable | Target Date | Responsibility |
| Project charter approved | ||
| Project plan completed | ||
| Project plan approved | ||
| Project team assembled | ||
| Project execution initiated | ||
| Project execution completed | ||
| Customer acceptance | ||
| Project closed out |
Dependences
| Activity | Impact | Degree / Critically |
‘Tree’
‘table’
Schedule & resource allocation (Gantt chart)
CPM /CPA (might be consider / helpful)
PERT (might be consider / helpful)
Contingency plan
Exit plan
14 Project Approvals / Authorizations
List the names and positions of the individuals who must approve the charter for it to proceed to the full planning stage. You may wish to add some descriptive text to make sure all of these individuals agree on what their signature of approval means. For example, approving the charter could mean that the signatory agrees with the content as presented here, agrees to use this charter as a basis for the project, and agrees to keep the information in the charter current and relevant.
Approval Decision/s:
¨ Approved, development of detailed project plan is authorized
¨ Approved, project execution is authorized
¨ Approved, but project is on hold until future notice
¨ Revise charter and resubmit for approval
¨ Charter and project proposal are rejected
| Role or Title | Name and Signature | Date |
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| Name | Date | Reason For Changes | Version |
