Project Management Report Assignment Sample

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Introduction

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Project management reports are mainly important to get an idea about the factors associated with a project. It also can be used to understand the project performance idea about this particular project. Here in this assignment the case study of company X is given. This company wants to transfer their office to Manchester after closing their three showrooms. To transfer their office from one place to another, it is needed to plan the project. In this report an external project manager is making the whole report on the issues faced and impacts of the issues for this company. These issues related to the project are to be mitigated to help the company to set up in the new location.

Context of the report

Company X is mainly a car retail group that has already closed their three site stores and is trying to open a store in Manchester, UK. They had closed their stores in Halifax, Bradford and Leeds. This process is also associated with department restructuring. They are trying to open this site with 4000 cars, 128 sales staff and 42 managers. The stakeholders have connected two partners to set up the fund for the relocation of this company. They had accumulated a sum of £250,000 which will be repaid when the firm starts gaining profit (Ika et al. 2020). The Manchester area is also a little bit controversial for making the showroom of the company. This place is very close to the green nature reserve and community group. The green crusaders are continuously protesting for that shop. They have chosen the media platforms to protest. The local authority has given permission to open this retail showroom. The car stock is also very low for the recent covid pandemic situation. For this new opening of the store only 40% stocks are available.

Issues affecting project performance

Here in this assignment the company X is trying to relocate their business to another location by closing their showrooms in three locations. For the store closure in Bradford and Halifax, company X faced a huge loss and now they are under financial problems. They need funds for setting up their new showroom in Manchester UK. This company is struggling to collect funds for this new setup (Tereso et al. 2019). Two of the partners of this company have given £250,000 to help financially. They have to repay the money once they start generating revenue. 

The next problem in this company is their new location. They are trying to open their new showroom in Manchester, UK. The location is a little bit controversial for the company. This is a green area. The protesters are protesting against the setup of their new store.

Project management is one of the important tasks to identify the issues that are affecting the success of the project. There are some main constraints in a project. These are: Time, budget and project scope. Resource availability is one of the important factors that can affect the project. According to the Harvard business review in this project of company X, the issues that are affecting project performance of this project are listed below:

Scope Creep: One of the common problems in any project is scope creep. In these situations the cons related to that project are much higher than the pros associated with that project. In this case, resources are limited and skills are also limited (Copola Azenha et al. 2021). If the goals and the objective start not clear before taking action then the project can suffer due to this. In this case, company X has some problems in their project objective and project goal. The company X has closed their three stores to transfer their store to another location. They have closed their two stores in Bradford and Halifax. These two stores were making profit while they closed these two stores. This was a serious issue. Because of this they are now struggling to arrange money for this new store.

Lack of communication: Effective communication in all the levels of the project management team is necessary for improvement of the project (Thesing et al. 2021). In this project of company X a new team is made for their project management purpose. Communication should be proper in this team. Then only the project will be properly done.

Lack of clear success criterion: Another issue in this project is project clarity or unclear project goals for lack of proper plan almost 39% project fails to meet their goals and objectives. Here in the case of Company X, closing the profitable stores were the mistakes. This issue is affecting the new project as for this the company is facing financial issues for the new store. 

Budget related issues: Financial issues are one of the issues that can affect the growth of a project. As in this project the company X is facing a financial crunch to open their new store in Manchester. They are taking money from their partners (Toljaga-Nikoli? et al. 2020). They have arranged some money for that and the money is needed to repay when the store will start producing revenue. This budget related issue can badly affect the company project.

Inadequate skills of team: Skills of the workers is another important factor for the project success. Performance of the project team is highly dependent on the skilled workers and the skilled team leader. For the project growth here in this case a new team is made. This team is highly skilled and this may help the company to get their project outcome.

Risk management: Risk management is related to managing risk factors that arise in a project. Several risk factors are associated with a project. Assessment of that factor and prioritizing the factors according to their importance is very necessary for the success of a project (Ma et al. 2018). After identifying the risk factors of that project, risk management measures are done according to that. In this company X there were several gaps in proper risk management. Risk management can help this company to improve their project timeline.

Lack of accountability: Lack of accountability is also related to a project. If the people in this project are not feeling responsible towards the project and not acting properly for that project then the project can be delayed.

Location choosing: Location is one of the important factors connected to the project. Location can choose the type and market associated with a business. Here location is being the bearer of the project. The location chosen by this company is a little bit controversial (Zasa et al. 2020). This location is near green reserve and protesters do not agree to give the area to that car retailer store. This factor can be another reason behind the delay of the project.

Impact of the issues on time viability

In this assignment several reasons behind the delay of the project are described. The effects of these reasons are mentioned below for the project.

• Here for Company X, there is evidence of scope creep. They have closed their two profit making stores to build a big showroom in Manchester, the UK. Scope creep can be an effect of several impacts on any project. This issue can extend the timeline of the project, can require many skilled personnel to make the project proper and to make the plan properly (Buganová and Šimí?ková, 2019). It can decrease the quality of the product made by the project. As they are facing financial issues, their project is being delayed and the quality of the project can also be compromised to save some funds.
• Lack of communication can lower the project standard, Because of this communication problem, members can lose their track from the project. Lack of communication is the reason behind workforce misunderstanding, it makes the ROI of that company weak and it also reduces the revenue of company X.
• Project success criterion is very important for the project performance. In this project of company X, a defined goal can improve project timeline, undefined goal can delay a project (Barbosa et al. 2021). Project work will never be feasible for these parameters.
• Company X is facing budget related issues in this project as they have taken money from the partners to do the project work. Budget is necessary for the project to maintain expenses and income. Here in this project of company X, they needed to appoint a new project manager and needed to set up a new team for working properly about all the issues this company is facing. Salary all of the activities of the team is needed to be managed by creating a budget. So shortage in budget can decrease the product quality and also can extend the timeline of the project.
• Lack of teamwork in a project can enhance project timing, enhance the cost, increase risk in a project and can create trouble in achieving project objectives (Vrchota et al. 2020). As a new team is hired to maintain all the issues faced by company X, communication among that team members is also important to mitigate the risk.
• Risk management is one of the important factors of a project. Several issues can work as risk factors in a project like company X. proper identification of the risk factors and risk management according to that is necessary for any project. Improper risk management in a project can create a gap in team communication, and can increase the work budget also. So proper risk management is very important.
• Lack of accountability can also be a huge problem in a project. When the team members of the project do not think about the budget and timeline of the project, it can create problems in the project. Because of this, the whole organization can suffer. If the time span of a project will extend then the whole budget will extend (Bondarenko et al. 2018). As company X is facing issues to collect their fund so they should properly plan their project timing.
• Location is another important factor for any project. In this case, company X is facing a huge problem regarding their location of the new showroom. As the location of this new showroom is near the green reserve, the green crusaders are continuously protesting against opening the new showroom. This is delaying that project. Delay in this project can be disadvantageous for them. Company X has closed their three showrooms to open their new showroom in Manchester (Nijhuis et al. 2018). Two of the existing showrooms were making profit. But they have chosen such a location in which they are facing problems. So this can delay their project.

Solutions for these issue

In the case of company X, there are several issues addressed in this new project of showroom migration from existing three places to Manchester. There are several issues in this project. All of these issues are mentioned in the above section. All of these factors are responsible for increasing the timeline of a project. The main three issues related to this project of company X is timeline, scope and objective and budget of the project. The solutions of these issues are mentioned in this stage.

• Project creep is one of the main issues that can affect the timeline of a project. In this case of project development, the company X is opening their new showroom in Manchester after closing their showroom in Leeds, Bradford and Halifax. Two of these showrooms were making profit (Owusu et al. 2019). This is the cause behind their financial crunch. To remove project creep related issues from any project, engagement of all the team members is necessary. Participation of the team members in the time of planning activities and budget can help to clear the scopes more for the participants. Planning all the resources, activities, and usage of talents are necessary to plan properly to avoid this issue.
• The next issue in a project is lack of communication. Lack of communication in this project can be disadvantageous for this project timeline planning. For removing such issues from this project, a transparent and time bound method needs to be used. Involvement of all the stakeholders is very important for proper planning of a project.
• Using SMART (Specific measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goals and telling every team member about the project goals and project expectations is very important. This can be beneficial for project management.
• Creating a proper budget is very necessary before any project for its success. In this case, company X is suffering from a financial crisis because of closing two showrooms in two places. Their intention was to open a new showroom after closing the existing showrooms (Fridgeirsson et al. 2021). They have received a sum for performing their task of showroom migration from their partners. They have to plan their budget in such a way so that it can be beneficial for them. A proper budget scheduling tool is important for this. The budget must be made by keeping all the goals and objectives in mind.
• The next challenge is regarding the skills of the workforce. For this reason a project manager and a team is assigned to plan the whole budget and the whole project according to the objective. In the first stage of this project plan, the project initiation plan is done. The main motive of this plan is to plan the resources and the goals. The project will be done after that is dependent on the initial goal identification and the documentation regard\ding that project.
• Risk management is very important to identify risk factors and then calculate the risk factor prioritization. Risk mitigating is only possible after identifying risk factors. According to the risk factors, planning and budget allocation is done.
• Lack of accountability is another factor in planning a project. Such issues in this project can be mitigated by alerting all the members to work towards common goals and objectives. Another solution for this problem is proper forecasting of the future. This can be calculated by using separate business analysis tools. Using these tools it is possible to predict the future by calculating past and present trends. Regular checking all the problems and risk monitoring is very important for increasing accountability.
• The last issue for this company X is location related issues (Sabini and Alderman, 2021). The location of company X's new showroom is Manchester and that place is near the green reserve. So the people are protesting against that. This issue should also be resolved quickly so that the company can generate revenue from that. As the company is receiving money for this showroom from the two partners of this company, they have to repay that money after making revenue. So resolving the location related issue is very important for company X.

By using all these solutions the issues related to these projects can be resolved.

Financial report and discussion

Financial report of company X can give a brief on the financial situation of this company currently and this can give ideas about the project plan of this company also. As they are facing a financial crunch, they need to create a team for setting up their new showroom in Manchester. Under a new project manager a new team is formed in which a new account manager and a new sales manager is appointed. Remaining are the site managers from that company X. They have obtained £250,000 from their partners in Germany. This amount will be used in payment of the new team formed as per their work.

The team will perform several activities like the interior, exterior and content of this project of making a new showroom. In the interior section the tasks are: install fixtures and fitting, connecting utilities, planning space usage, designing interior decoration, planning and installing lighting, designing layout and staff location and planning management offices of the new showroom in Manchester. The exterior work was related to rendering the brickworks, planning location and installing CCTV, installing floodlights and marking floor layout. The other contents are: group stock and schedule delivery, other setup of furniture and equipment. Planning and conducting marketing campaigns, setting up a grand opening program and introducing the new staff to that showroom and other services (Dunmade et al. 2021). Several costs are associated with this like the charges of Building contractor, consultant, sales manager, account manager and new manager. The other charges are: administration and overhead cost. All of these members are operating on the above tasks and according to their working weeks their total money is calculated.

According to the tasks, the building contractor is working for 11.5 weeks and earning total money of £34, 500. Consultant is operating for 4.5 weeks and he is getting the payment of £15, 750. Administration and overhead cost is applied for 3 weeks for which the total cost is £ 9000. Sales manager is working for 3.49 weeks and a total amount of £4188 is spent on that. Account manager is working for 2.833 weeks and £4249.995 is spent on them (Lee et al. 2018). At the end, the new manager is working for 2.67 weeks and the total money spent on them is £2666.67. Total money spent on these tasks are £ 70,354.667. They were getting a total sum of £250,000 and from that amount the calculated money can be used in this task.

Work breakdown structure

Work breakdown structure in this project will help to provide an outline to all the tasks of that team and budget allocation according to their working time. In this task the breakdown structure is made based on the payments of several elements present in this task.

The above section is showing the timeline of the tasks. Total time taken by this project will be 134 days. In this items are: building contractor, consultant and administration and overhead cost. The project teams include: sales manager, account manager and new manager. All of their working days are also mentioned beside them. The gantt chart for this time frame is described in the section below.

This structure is the cost breakdown structure of this chart. Here three costs are in items and three costs are project team members. According to their individual working hours their payments are also calculated and this is the estimated budget for this project. This is also called the deliverable based work breakdown structure (Al-Hajj and Zraunig, 2018). It mainly decides the budget of the project.

All the activities in this project can also be created in such a way of work breakdown structure. Here all the activities are enlisted from interior to exterior planning of this project. This breakdown structure is called a planning breakdown structure. Planning breakdown structure of the project is attached below. This system is also called the phase based work breakdown structure. Here the top element is called the level one elements and these are major areas of the planning. In the second phase elements are the elements that are under the first element (Akhmetshin et al. 2019). The points at the end are the level three elements and these elements are under the level two elements. This structure helps to segment the entire task and plan according to that structure.

Here in this level one activity the main point is project activity. In the level two section, the activities are Interior, exterior and content. And all the remaining points are in level three planning for this project.

Approach and strategy

Project strategy is invented after the calculation of budget. Budget calculation is done according to that prepared plan. The main strategy and approach of this project is to make a plan properly, implementation, performing evaluation of the project and at the last getting feedback for pepper implementation of the system. There are several approaches to any project management. These are: waterfall methodology, agile methodology, scrum methodology, Kanban methodology, lean methodology and many more (Chawla et al. 2018). According to company X the main approach is the waterfall method. This is one of the traditional approaches to perform project management. According to this approach one single project is segmented in several parts and each of the parts are addressed at a time to solve that particular problem. This process is a combination of the sequential tasks. These are: Requirement listing, analysis, designing proper planning and budget, construction process, testing or evaluation and last but not the least maintenance and project deployment.

Applying this methodology can be used in a certain condition. This methodology of project management can only be used if the pals are properly specified in the project, if the stakeholders are engaged in the business decisions, if the project is predictable and consistent, if the tracking documentation is proper and sufficient, if the project expects new involvement of people in the midway of that project.

In this project of company X the goals are properly specified, all the members are devoted to the project, here new members are connected to this project in the middle so this methodology is proper for this project of company X (Rahardja and Lutfiani, 2020). First all the goals and the objectives of the company project are specified and after that the budget is made accordingly as per requirements.

There are several parameters that should be considered before identifying the methodology of the project management. These are:

Budget or costing: Budget is one of the important parameters that can decide the strategy of the project. Here the company is suffering from a financial crunch and the company has taken funds for the partners of this company. According to the activity the project manager has decided the tasks in this project and the budget is decided according to that.

Team size: Team size is directly connected to the project planning process (Frefer et al. 2018). If the team is self organizing and compact, communication is good in the team then the team management and project management is easier. If the team communication is not good then this challenge should be eradicated.

Risk taking ability: In every business there is a risk factor, here for company X there are several risk factors like, the company had shut three showrooms to open a new showroom in Manchester. IN these three sites two of them were participating in profit. For closing these showrooms, the company is facing a financial crunch (Dasovi? et al. 2020). The new chosen location is also facing several issues. These are the risk factors which need to be considered for applying a methodology or strategy.

Flexibility: It is directly related to the scope and objective of the project. Here for company X the main objective is to open a new showroom in Manchester, The UK.

Timeline: Here for company X all the activities and their suggested times with the budget is explained in the above section. All the issues related to this project need to be removed to apply proper strategy to end the project in time.

Client or stakeholder collaboration: Here for company X all the activities and their suggested times with the budget is explained in the above section. Stakeholders of this company are connected to this project. This is also important for identifying strategy in the project.

Conclusion

In this assignment the main task is to define the project management strategy for opening a new showroom in Manchester after closing three sites of company X. In the first section, the issues related to this project are explained in detail. In the next section, the impact of these issues in the timeline of the project is explained. After that the ways of removing these issues are explained in a detailed manner (Hewavitharana et al. 2019). After that according to the planned activities, cost calculation is done for this project. In this project the work breakdown structure for the costs and activities are also given properly. According to all the parameters waterfall methodology is selected for this project. Proper planning and evaluation of the actions taken can improve the project planning. This tool helps to plan projects according to the requirements. Identification of the risk factors and proper measures for risk management can improve the timeline of the project and make this project successful.

Reference list

Journal

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