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Final Draft Project Management Assignmen
Final Draft Project Management Assignmen
Project Management
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Project background.................................................................................................................3
2.1 Project selection and evaluation.......................................................................................4
3. Work breakdown structure and task definition......................................................................4
4. Gantt chart and critical path...................................................................................................6
5. Task cost estimation and budgetary analysis.........................................................................8
6. Task workload estimation and project workload management............................................12
7.1 Resource management...................................................................................................14
7. Risk analyses and risk management policies.......................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................17
3
Table of figures
Figure 1 - project selection.........................................................................................................4
Figure 2 - Work Breakdown Structure.......................................................................................5
Figure 3 - Gantt Chart for the project (own figure)...................................................................7
Figure 4 - Network diagram.......................................................................................................8
Figure 5 -Comparison between early & late start budgets.......................................................12
Figure 6 - Workload profile of the project...............................................................................13
4
1. Introduction
Every project presents its unique characteristics and challenges that need to be taken
into consideration in the process of managing it. Adoption of a project management strategy
is always recommended to take the whole scope of the project into account before proceeding
with the individual tasks of the project. Implementation of a strategic project management
approach is useful as it allows for a thorough planning and scheduling of the project rather
than tackling the project on an individual task basis. The project management process has to
take into account the resources available, likelihood of risk factors, stakeholder analysis, and
cost analysis.
In this report, the preliminary project management process would be evaluated and
stage of the project, all required aspects of the project will get estimated and identified,
including – identification of risks, cost estimation, and timeline of the project using a critical
2. Project background
The project undertaken is to refurbish the garden area of a house in a suburban area.
The house has been abandoned for more than five years with no caretaker or gardener taking
active care of the garden. The owner of the house has recently found an opportunity to sell
the house during a high demand period and therefore, wants the whole garden area
refurbished to increase the appeal and valuation for any potential buyers. In order to achieve
this, the basic need identified by the project sponsor is to refurbish the garden area, which is
in a large space and also redecorate it by establishing additional facilities. The suggested
options were to establish a swimming pool and an accompanying seating area, with the
garden area plants and decorations increasing the appeal of the backyard.
5
For the purpose of this project that oversees establishment of a swimming pool and an
accompanying seating area, there are multiple different options available in terms of the
contractor to select. This is an important part of the process as due to the expertise needed in
designing a swimming pool makes it very important to select the right contractor. To evaluate
this, a project selection technique is implemented in the form of AHP theory. The three
criterions defined for selection of the most suitable candidate include – quality of work, cost
quoted by the contractor, and assured deadline for completion of the project. Quality is given
a higher weightage compared to other options as it will reflect greatly in the look and feel of
the project even after completion and will positively reflect in the price appraisal of the
swimming pool. The AHP technique-based analysis has resulted in following outcomes:
As observed in the figure drawn above, contractor ‘B’ is the most suitable for working
With the scope of the project known to include construction of the garden area of a
house by establishing a swimming pool and seating capacity next to the swimming pool, it is
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now possible to divide the project into smaller tasks using a project breakdown method. In
this approach, the larger project of refurbishing the garden would get distributed into smaller
independently manageable tasks that can be estimated individually in terms of deadline and
cost. Thinking about a larger project in this manner using numerous individual tasks can
significantly help in having an accurate and credible estimation of the overall project cost and
schedule.
For the project of refurbishing the garden area of an abandoned house by establishing
a swimming pool and an accompanying seating area, a work breakdown structure (WBS) is
designed below:
The WBS will serve as one of the most important deliverables in a project and the
top-level elements of the WBS are representative of the final deliverables of the garden
deliverable tasks are the tasks that are needed in order to complete the final deliverables and
these will be assigned to different units and workers team depending on the skill required for
completion. The top-level tasks of the project along with the definition include the following:
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Project pre-setup: this is the planning stage of the project where specific objectives
and scope of the project would be defined. After identifying the complete scope of the
project and accompanying tasks, team members would get allocated specific roles and
responsibilities to follow.
Feasibility study: feasibility study would take a look at the exact project
requirements and make decisions that make the most business sense for the project. In
this process, legal, ethical and owner’s approval would be sought for the project
Project design: in this task, the project specification would be developed with respect
to the way project will get carried out. The objective of this task is to identify the most
adequate way of completing the task out of all the available options.
Project initiation: in this task, the project is actually started with permits taken and
approval gathered. Contractors are given instructions to start the construction process
Implementation: in this task, the swimming pool and sitting area is actually
developed using construction processes. A roof area is also decided for development
over the seating area for shelter and protection for extreme sunlight. In this manner,
there would be option of both open-roof seating as well as roofed seating area for the
Project ending: this task representations the end of the project and most processes in
this stage represent a testing of the project completion along with final review of the
project.
Now with the project work tasks defined and clearly outlined using the WBS, it is
now possible to work towards establishing a timeline of the project by means of a scheduling
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method. The various activities that are included in the project are defined in the figure 3 as a
list of all activities along with the respective early start and finish timings and expected
duration. These activities have some dependency relation with each-other, which is also
For the purpose of scheduling of the activities shown in figure 3, Gantt chart is
selected as the most useful and critical tool to develop a project timeline [ CITATION
Por17 \l 1033 ]. Gantt chart is a timeline scheduling tool that represents a visual
manner[ CITATION Reb17 \l 1033 ]. Gantt chart is used in this project’s timeline
development because of its inherent support for visual representation of the critical path,
dependency representation between different tasks, and an ability to check the progress of the
accompanying seating area will consist of 12 different activities that includes some
dependency across the activities as well. This dependency is account for in developing this
Due to a relatively simple and sequential nature of this project in the later half of the
project, not much slack time is assigned to the individual tasks. As per the scheduling
arrangement, the whole project will take about 13 weeks to complete, which includes tasks
like planning, contractor selection, and getting permits from the local authority as well.
The project of refurbishing the garden area of a house in the suburban area will have a
significant cost attached to the project. In order to ensure that the project makes a business
case, it is important that the project budget is identified carefully and estimations are cleared
with the project sponsor beforehand. The most notable spending on the project is establishing
an in-ground concrete swimming pool and the seating area to accompany the swimming pool
area. In this section of the report, a cost estimation is prepared for the whole project along
with an analysis of the budget. It is noteworthy that an in-ground swimming pool in a house
garden is a luxury amenity and therefore, the cost of it is not an investment for tangible
benefits in every case rather for luxury experience and status symbol for the homeowner.
Prep-work: before the project on in-ground swimming pool starts taking place, it is
necessary to perform some pre-work on the project. First and foremost, an initial
inspection from a contractor is needed to ensure that the swimming pool is getting
developed in the right area and to obtain useful suggestions. It is estimated the
inspection process will cost about $200 and a formal contract can be finalized right
As the abandoned house only used the area allocated for swimming pool as a
garden area before thinking about turning it into a swimming pool, there is an
apparent need to put the ground through blasting process before eventual digging.
This blasting process will help streamline the construction process by getting rid of
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strong rocks and other materials below the ground surface. The cost of it is estimated
at $7 per square feet, reaching to $1,400 for the 200-sq feet area selected for the
swimming pool.
of the very first components of the filtration system. It needs to be heavy duty pump
as it will continue to pull the water from the pool and push it through the filter to
reach back in the swimming pool, for a continuous filtering cycle. The cost estimation
for an adequately powerful water pump is $250 that will suffice the need for a 180
Filter: along with the water pump, the filter is the second must-have part of a
swimming pool filtration system. The installed filter will continuously filter the water
that the water pump will push through it on an ongoing basis. The filter has to remove
any sand, debris, and other unwanted materials from the water and puts the water back
into the pool. For swimming pools, there are three different kinds of filters used –
sand filters, diatomaceous earth filters, and cartridge filters. Estimated cost for each of
Return jets: return jets in a swimming pool perform the task of returning all of the
filtered water back into the swimming pool. The return jets will also work towards
keeping the water inside the pool well-circulated, ensuring that the skimmers are able
to pick up more waste and debris from the collected water. Return jets are very
Skimmers: skimmers are placed in a swimming pool to suck the water away from the
swimming pool and enter it into the filtration system. Skimmers contain a plastic
bucket attached to the water inlet, which helps gather all of the debris that are floating
in the swimming pool water. The task of skimmers is to prevent debris from entering
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the pump. As the swimming pool is for garden area and of a limited size, one skimmer
would perform the task well enough. The estimated cost of acquiring the skimmer is
around $1,500.
Main drain: a swimming pool often requires complete drainage of water from the
pool. The main drain in a swimming pool performs exactly this task and is installed in
the deepest end of the pool. The estimated cost for the main drain is $40.
Concrete: for the swimming pool project and construction of the seating area, the
concrete type selected is cast-in-place as it is convenient and commonly used for ease
of implementation. This type of concrete will cost approximately $55 per square feet.
Paint: for the undertaken project, paint would be used as a finishing element for the
construction. Use of paint is reasonably affordable and allows the swimming pool and
accompanying area to look vibrant and beautiful. The cost of applying paint on the
Tile: for the internal area of the swimming pool that will remain mostly wet, tiles will
be placed on the surface of the swimming pool. To ensure less slippery floor of the
pool area, the tiler selected would be textured to provide additional gripping. The cost
Labor: refurbishing of the garden area will include a lot of manual work for different
tasks, ranging all across the project, from cleaning to digging and even placing the
tiles. Therefore, labor will remain involved throughout the duration of this project in a
significant way and accordingly, a major cost related to this project will account for
the labor hired to work on the project. The labor hired will start working from week
12 for task of cleaning and will stay throughout the project in an on-and-off manner,
The entire cost of the project as per estimation is listed in the table below:
The cost estimation that is represented in the table 1, is an exhaustive list of different
costs associated with the project of establishing a swimming pool and nearby seating area in
the garden area of a house. This cost estimation has been performed with a high emphasis on
accuracy of the information as well as thoroughness in estimation of the project cost. In order
to achieve this, the pricing is taken from credible sources and official supplier quotations
using different sourcing methods, such as online search and order placement websites.
14
Furthermore, the entire project sequence is accounted for in the process of identifying
all relevant processes and tasks that will incur a cost during the project lifecycle. In this
manner, the amount of $33,890 has been identified as the cost of establishing a swimming
A project usually combines numerous different independent and dependent tasks in it,
all of which need to be carried out in a highly intricate and difficult to manage
scenario[ CITATION Sal13 \l 1033 ]. A major part of the problem in any project
management operation is the limited nature of resources to spend on the project while also
ensuring that the project completes within the assigned budget and fixed timeline associated
with the project[ CITATION Wal141 \l 1033 ]. Ensuring all of this is very difficult without a
clear picture of the way resources will get allocated on the project in a dynamic manner
throughout the duration of the project[ CITATION Phi12 \l 1033 ]. This element of a project
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is known as workload and for a successful project management venture, it is important for a
In case of the swimming pool project undertaken, the workload profile of the project
is drawn below in the figure 3. This workload profile shows high and lows of resource
A review of the workload profile shows that the swimming pool project is rather a
simple project in nature and most tasks have to naturally follow each-other in the later stage
of the project. Due to this reason, there is not a prolonged period of time where the workload
depends on the quality of the resource utilization approach. For this project, the resources
required are fairly straightforward and therefore, the material and equipment needed are
known in advance such as skimmers, water pump, etc. and these equipment does not require
specific resource utilization. The resources that require management include cost and time,
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which are managed by setting a contractor to complete the task at a fixed price with the
labour working through the contractor. In this manner, even if the project takes longer than
estimated, the cost would be afforded by the contractor from profit margin. In the project
scheduling using Gantt chart, parallel activities are designed in order to ensure that the
resources are always busy with work with minimal wastage of time or human resources. The
As is the case in any project management scenario, some risks are inherent in the
pool and a seating area next to it. It is possible through good strategic management of the
undertake project to minimize the risk, but it is impossible to completely eliminate all the
risks associated. These risk factors that are likely attached with the project can cause
disruption in project quality, cause delay in completion, and even make the project over-
budget[CITATION Lev17 \l 1033 ]. As the objective of the owner is to use the swimming
pool as a luxury feature in order to increase the price of the house in the demand season, the
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project sponsor does not want the project to go over budget, have a bad quality of
construction, or cause delay. Any of these three negative elements would contribute
To account for this situation involving risk that are related to the project, performing a
Strategic risk management policy is a management approach in which all the risks that have a
all of the risks, the next step taken in strategic risk management process is to make efforts to
mitigate the risks and develop a contingency plan to deal with the risk factors[ CITATION
Mol10 \l 1033 ]. All of these processes are performed with the intent to make the project least
In this project of developing a swimming pool in the abandon house garden area, the
process of risk management is performed using the method of risk registers. The table
formulated below represents a risk register for this project, which identifies relevant risks
regarding this project while also noting the mitigation strategy and contingency plan.
immediately using
independent
inspection approach
Electronic tools arrive Only brand new and Such tools will get 5 1
faulty or malfunction branded tools would replaced
before project is be purchased immediately using
delivered warranty
Project goes over budget Budget estimations A budget 6 4
are kept accurate as monitoring will be
per current rates and adopted in a
expert quotations continuous manner
to avoid over-
budgeting
Project does not Timeline is designed More resources and 7 4
complete in time with sufficient re-structuring of
flexibility to account scheduling on an
for slight delays ongoing basis to
minimize impact of
delay
Using the risk register, the project manager can keep track of all the major and
noteworthy risks associated with the undertaken project and ensure that none of these risks
impact the project to a significant degree. The objective of implementing the strategic project
risk management process would be to firstly minimize the probably of risk occurrence and
then in a case that a risk does occur, minimize its damage by preparing a plan to adequately
References
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