This assignment is a group assignment (individual for distance education students) and it includes two parts: Part A and Part B. Each part is explained in detail below:

PART A

Part A of the assessment item requires you to consider:-

• earned value management

…you must then analyse a supplied earned value report. The earned value report has been provided to meet the requirements outlined in the PMBOK (2013) and conforms to the requirements of the progress evaluation techniques (p.108) outlined in Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (2009).

• Task

• Your task is to consider the overview above and analyse the earned value and S-curve report. You will be graded upon how well your analysis of the earned value and S-curve reports have been completed and reflects information based on a case study.

• Purpose

• The primary purpose of this assessment item is to help you to develop skills in the contents and compilation of earned value and S-curve report.
• The secondary purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to consider the role of progress evaluation techniques and control within a project life cycle.
• The assignment will also give you the opportunity to enhance your analysis and written communication skills; particularly in the areas of rigorous structured assignment writing.

• Structure

• Your submission must be made using the supplied earned value report template. You should complete all of the required parts of the earned value and S-curve reports in a manner as you deem appropriate. The instruction boxes in the report will provide more information.

PART B

Part B of this assessment item requires you to consider:-

• event-driven controls, and
• time-driven controls

…you must then analyse the items listed above for the supplied case study. A template for the controls report has been provided to meet the requirements outlined in the PMBOK (2013) and conform to the progress and project control requirements outlined in Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (2009).

• Task

• Your task is to consider the overview above and develop and complete the required items in the report. You will be graded upon how well your submissions have been completed and reflect the case study.

• Purpose

• The primary purpose of this assessment item is to help you to develop skills in the definition and development of event and time driven management processes.
• The secondary purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to consider progress and project control requirements within a project life cycle.
• The assignment will also give you the opportunity to enhance your analysis and written communication skills; particularly in the areas of structured assignment writing.

• Structure

• Your submission should be made using the supplied case study and controls report template. You should complete all of the required parts in as complete manner as you deem appropriate. The instruction boxes in the report will provide more information.

Your assignment will be assessed on the extent and quality to which it meets each of the following criteria.

• A complete and correct analysis of the earned value report? (40%)
• A complete and correct analysis of the controls report? (40%)
• Appropriate and well structured, concise and clear expression of project management arguments in response to the assessment task? (10%)
• Clarity of expression, grammar and spelling? (10%)

This assignment is a group assignment (individual for distance education students). This assessment item requires you to consider:-

• audit plans and reports,
• project termination plans and reports,
• project governance,

…you must then analyse a supplied audit, termination and governance report(s). The project audit, termination plans and reports have been provided to meet the requirement outlined in the PMBOK (2013) and conform to the requirements outlined in Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (2009). The governance documentation has been provided to meet the requirement outlined section 2.2.2 in the PMBOK (2013) and conform to the requirements outlined in Appendix B in Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (2009).

Task

• Your task is to consider the overview above and analyse audit plans and reports, project termination plans and reports and project governance report. You will be graded upon how well your analysis of the audit plans, project termination plans and governance reports have been completed and reflect the supplied case study.

Purpose

• The primary purpose of this assessment item is to help you to develop skills in the contents and compilation of audit plans and reports, as well as project termination plans and governance reports.
• The secondary purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to consider the role of audit plans and reports, as well as project termination plans and governance reports within a project life cycle.
• The assignment will also give you the opportunity to enhance your analysis and written communication skills; particularly in the areas of structured assignment writing.

Structure

• Your submission should be made using the supplied audit, termination and governance report template. You should complete all of the required parts in as complete manner as you deem appropriate. The instruction boxes in the report will provide more information.

Your assignment will be assessed on the extent and quality to which it meets each of the following criteria.

• A complete and correct analysis of the audit and termination report? (40%)
• A complete and correct analysis of the project management governance documentation? (40%)
• Appropriate and well structured, concise and clear expression of project management requirements in response to the assessment task? (10%)
• Clarity of expression, grammar and spelling? (10%)

Assignment Overview

Project Management in various domains is considered to be a relatively mature discipline. There is extensive body of knowledge that promotes project management and supports its main object of delivering successful projects. This knowledge base is supplemented by a well-established standards that have been evolving over years such as PMBOK and Prince2 to equip project managers with the knowledge, tools and skills to perform their role.

Having said that, project delivery in various domains is still unsatisfactory. Many recent studies and audits have revealed that project management fails to deliver successful project outcomes with alarming frequency. In the case of construction, for example, recent figures show that around 50% of projects fail to meet the delivery targets. Those problems are not exclusive to the construction sector. The IT sector projects also encounter an estimated 70% failure rate. This should be alarming to project management professionals and practitioners whose main duties are to ensure successful delivery of projects.

Since project management is supposed to improve project delivery, it is essential to fully appreciate the reasons behind project failure. Understanding the reasons for project failure will help protect management profession work towards achieving more consistent project delivery.

This is a group assignment (individual for distance education students). This assessment item requires you to consider:

1. Project execution,
2. Project success factors,
3. Reasons for cost and time overruns,
4. Application of project control systems,
5. Stakeholders' influence on project performance

You must demonstrate your understanding of the above in the context of a project of your choice and submit a critical analysis report. You are encouraged to use assignment output and ideas that you may have developed from previous practical assignments within this unit as supporting evidence for your analysis.

Task

• Your task is to consider the first two learning outcomes (L1 and L2) in the context of this unit. This assignment requires you to examine a significant project of your own choice from any discipline (perhaps from personal experience or professional network). You are required to produce a detailed report which forwards a critical analysis of project control approaches used to ensure successful completion of the project and stakeholders’ influence. The report should include a demonstration of the range of control systems and evaluation of their application and whether or not a poor application of the control systems and lack of stakeholder’s management has contributed partially or fully to the project failure.

Purpose

• The primary purpose of this assessment item is to help you to develop and demonstrate your skills in the use of project management concepts, principles, theories and arguments about the project management execution phase. You are particularly required to demonstrate your understanding of the real application of control system. You must then be able to analyse and argue what type of control systems will enable better or worse project outcomes.

Structure

Your report should be of 4000 words (excluding references and appendices). The report should include the following 7 key sections:

1. An introduction to the project you have chosen;
2. Explanation of the range of used control systems for cost, schedule, quality and scope.
3. An analysis of the reasons that explain the cost and/or time overruns encountered during the project;
4. An analysis of the extent to which the project execution team could be held responsible of the incurred time and/or cost overruns;
5. An analysis of the relationship between the problems you identify in (3) and the stakeholders’ needs and influence;
6. An analysis of the project management actions that could have been taken to better control the project and stakeholders in order to increase the chance for successful delivery;
7. A conclusion which identifies the key lessons that Project Management can learn from the experience of the project.

This assessment also involves researching your assigned topic to enhance your understanding of project management concepts and utilisation of academic literature. Whilst you should use the recommended textbooks you may also refer to relevant peer reviewed academic journal articles. You will be expected to present information and evidence from, and cite from the reading material from the unit. You are also encouraged to cite other material that is peer reviewed.

• Note: start your assignment early in the term as it will require you to research and find a suitable failed project case study by either searching the web or searching for appropriate journal articles by using the library website. .

The report will be generally assessed on the quality of the work presented, the extent and coverage of the key aspects, and understanding of the issues involved. More specifically, your assignment will be assessed on the extent and quality to which it meets each of the following criteria.

• Familiarity with project context, issues and applicable control systems (30%)
• Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of applied control systems and stakeholder’s management (40%)
• Appropriate and well structured, concise and clear understanding of project management arguments in response to the assessment task? (20%)
• Clarity of expression, language, format and presentation of the written report (10%)