Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT

BSS052-6 Projects and Operates Management

Project Management Portfolio

Baker Brothers Jewellers Limited

Name of the Student: Laura Daniela Banica

Student ID: 1820079

University of Bedfordshire

2023
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2

1. Project Time Management and Project scope.....................................................................3

1.1 Network diagram and critical path analysis................................................................3

1.2 Activity list- Phase 3 of the project plan: Marketing Initiatives......................................5

1.2 Resource allocation and acquisition management including resource loading and

resource levelling...................................................................................................................6

2. Critical discussion and reflection of the lessons learnt from the project............................8

2.1 Review of lessons learnt from the project...................................................................8

2.2 Consider what you have learnt about working in a group.........................................10

2.3 Reflect on individual learning...................................................................................12

Conclusion................................................................................................................................12

References................................................................................................................................14

Appendix..................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction

The project management plan is based on the selected live project for Baker Bros.

Jewellery Limited (BBJL). The company specializes in the hand-picked diamond of highest

quality to ensure on sparkle at the fantastic price (Diamonds 2023). The target audience of the

company is aimed in the luxury or designer lifestyle and with the disposable incomes. The

audience of the website included 35-54 years and 60/40 split male or female (Zoominfo.com

2023). The people those are interested in the sports and fitness, shoppers or value shoppers

and news and politics are target audiences. The project plan is focused on growing customer

base by optimization and future proofing of the e-commerce websites so that the company

can offer customers to full experiences by making improvements in usability of the website

and enhancement of the customer’s journeys. The main scope is to implement marketing

activities which helps the business to attract new customers, the Millennials and Generation

X. It's crucial to focus on loyalty, and recognize that this groups has more than a fragile touch

on social media. Acording to Statista (2022), between 92% and 95% of Millennials use

YouTube, 70% - 78% uses Facebook, 69%- 79% percent Instagram, and 53% - 64%

Snapchat, so social media marketing can be an effective strategy for reaching them by

utilizing various social media channels, provide pertinent material, and continue to engage

with the audience. The more interaction is created, the more company’s brand reputation will

grow. When it comes to Generation Z consumers, for whom using the internet is already a

normal part of life, the content presented must be entertaining and self-contained. So

improving user-generated content by creating polls and livestreams, submissions, contests,

hashtags will help the digital marketing campaign and can increase the customer base.

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1. Project Time Management and Project scope

The BBJL is aimed for the project plan towards implementation of the recommended

marketing activities plus initiatives to increase in the customer base. The possible

deliverables of the project plan are included marketing activities as well as initiatives to make

improvements in the customer base, grows the customer base as well as future proof for the

e-commerce website.. The plan provides with the network diagram and critical path analysis

with list of the project activities. The plan also provides with discussion on the resource

allocation as well as acquisition management to provide with resource loading and levelling.

The study discusses on lessons learnt for the project on review of lesson learnt from the

website development project along with individual learning from the project work. Project

Time Management

1.1 Network diagram and critical path analysis

The project network diagram shows the visual representation of the project plan and it

is included series of the connected arrows as well as boxes to describe relationship among the

project activities involved in the plan. It shows the arrangements of the project tasks and it is

required for the project management to streamline execution phase of the work. It is

significant for this project plan as it shows the project teams to visualize the activities that are

required to finish over duration of the plan (Goel, Ganeshand Kaur 2020). It is provided with

critical project context such as duration of the task, project sequences as well as

dependencies.

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Figure 1: Network Diagram

The critical path analysis is the project management method that can lay out the project

activities requited to finish the task; time will take to finish the project activity as well as

relationships among the project activities. From the perspective of the project management,

the critical path is longest sequence of the project activities that are finished on the time to

finish the work (Filippetto, Limaand Barbosa 2021). They can rank the project tasks as per

the priority of the project; ensure complex tasks get attention as required. It can also prevent

from becoming delayed as the team overlooks significant project tasks.

Figure 2: Critical path analysis

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1.2 Activity list- Phase 3 of the project plan: Marketing Initiatives

ID Activity Duration Predecessors

1.1 Optimization of SEO 20 0

1.2 launch Google Merchant 25 1.1

1.3 launch social media content 15 1.1

1.4 launch new brands 30 1.3

1.5 Optimise new slaters audience 15 1.2

1.6 Website design 15 1.5

1.7 Architecture design 20 1.4

1.8 Improvement in side performance 15 1.6

1.9 Prototype design 25 1.8

The project planning phase is focused on identifying the main requirements; create schedule
and plan risks and changes for gaining a customer base.

The second phase is market analysis, reflects on taking interview of the target audiences and
reporting the business requirements to develop the e-commerce website.

The third phase is marketing initiatives, which is the main phase of the scope project focused
on launching of the Google Merchant, social media contents optimization of the newsletter
audiences, website design, focused on the prototype design, architecture design and
improvement in performance of the e-commerce website. This phase is including in creating
the website as per the requirements of project client..

In the fourth phase website improvements are page load speed, implementation of the
desktop mega menu and Google review widget and others. The improvements in the website
required for managing the marketing initiatives as well as activities that the business engages
to make improvements in the customer experiences, grow the customer base as well as future
proof of the e-commerce website.

The fifth phase is final development of the website considering the user interface, creation of
contents and implementation of database.

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Figure 3: Gantt chart

The above chart is a representation of the activity list, which includes the main tasks to be

completed in order to implement successfully the third phase of the project, which focuses on

the Marketing initiatives taken to reach the purpose of the plan.

1.2 Resource allocation and acquisition management including resource

loading and resource levelling

In the project management, the resource loading is a process of loading the total

available hours of the employees with respect to the project plan. The project team members

are assigned with percentage of the project work, and they are assigned additional

percentages until they have reached 100% of the hourly work week (Kim, Chang, and Castro-

Lacouture 2020). Once the project team reaches 100%, then they are not to be scheduled for

more additional work.

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Resource Name Work

Project Manager 296 hrs

Identify business requirements 16 hrs

Develop planning document 56 hrs

Scope statement 72 hrs

Scheduling 104 hrs

Requirement specifications 48 hrs

Budget Director 16 hrs

Plan changes 16 hrs

Website designer 424 hrs

Use cases 48 hrs

Prototype design 96 hrs

Page load speed 48 hrs

Embedded video 56 hrs

Google review widget 32 hrs

User interface 48 hrs

Database implementation 96 hrs

Marketing Manager 184 hrs

Interview of the target audiences 80 hrs

Optimisation of SEO 56 hrs

Launch social media contents 16 hrs

Optimize newsletter audiences 32 hrs

IT Manager 280 hrs

Risk planning 48 hrs

Architecture design 72 hrs

Implementation of desktop mega menu 40 hrs

360 product images 48 hrs

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Industry award recognition 72 hrs

Website Developer 264 hrs

Rollover images 32 hrs

Improve mobile navigations 56 hrs

Google tagging 104 hrs

Content creation 72 hrs

Marketing Consultant 256 hrs

Reporting requirements 120 hrs

Launch Google Merchant 32 hrs

Launch new brands 64 hrs

Improvement in the site performance 40 hrs

The resource levelling is required the project manages to get an understanding of the

critical part of the project. When the resources are being used, then the resource levelling

indicates that the start and end dates of the project is to be adjusted to reduce project conflicts

(Levy2018).

2. Critical discussion and reflection of the lessons learnt from the

project

2.1 Review of lessons learnt from the project

The project plan reflects on the marketing initiatives that the business engages to

make improvements in the customer experiences, grows the customer base as well as future

proof of the e-commerce website. From this project, following are the list of lessons learnt:

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a. As the project is related to develop e-commerce website for the company, I

started to make simple version of the website with required functionality.

There is no planning of details from starting and it will discover the details

used into the solution (Lee et al. 2018).

b. The project is based on developing an e-commerce website, therefore the first

thing is adding log and handle the errors in the website development. It is

lesson learnt that the system are bigger in handful lines of the code, therefore

it is required to know the things what is happening into the program.

c. It is learnt to conduct the group meeting by gathering details on metrics is

holding the project team meetings with the project team members. The project

team members are working on the individual aspects of the plan and providing

in-depth analysis of the project processes. It is considered to host the project

meetings at end of the project work (Kerzner 2019). It is ensured to record the

meetings such that it is not missed any confidential information of the project.

It is also learned that the project related information is gathered by

administering the surveys and questionnaires sessions in workplace.

d. Once the project gets success, there is consultation of the team regards to areas

of the improvements. There is writing down of reasons behind the project

issues and obstacles that are to be presented for rest of project plan. The issues

are causing the plan to continue beyond the completion of the deadline and

require too many resources. It is lesson learnt to document the issues that are

to be originated from it (Kerzner 2018). Extra context can facilitate better

understanding when it comes to read the notes plus compile the lessons

learned work. In order to manage the issues related to the project, impact as

well as recommendations is provided to manage required improvements.

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e. As the success of the project plan is based on skills plus strengths of people

involved, therefore the project plan requires to have dedicated and talented set

of the individuals those are working towards meeting the project goals

(Nicholasand Steyn 2020). It is lesson learned that the project team members

should have knowledge plus experiences to make the decisions; therefore

knowledge management is required for the project team members.

f. It is lesson learnt that there is proper distribution of the project resources;

therefore it is ensured that no employee is under or over allocation with the

work. If there is any over allocation of the project resources, then extra

resources should help them to manage the workload (Portnyand Portny 2022).

g. From the project, it is also learned that usage of the project management tools

help the project manager to schedule the plan and track current status of the

project (Kerzner 2022). It also helps to provide visual representation of the

entire project plan so that there is looking at the start and end date of the work.

2.2 Consider what you have learnt about working in a group

The lessons learnt included building trust among the project team members is

foundation of an effective teamwork. It is required to trust each other abilities and skills in

the time management so that the project can finish within scheduled timeline. Trust can make

time to build as well as it is part of challenge of the teamwork. Work environment is required

to plan a project by building good relationships in the team to foster the teamwork (Hao et al.

2020). The lesson learnt is managing conflicts as it is possible to have conflicts among the

team members as the members are from different cultures and backgrounds. In order to

manage the team conflicts, it is required to invite them during the project meetings so that

they can discuss on their concerns and challenges faced while working in the website

development project. It is also learnt that communication is required among the project team

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members to reap out of benefits of the teamwork (Fordand Lyneis 2020). Verbal

communication such as presentations, chats, feedback are required to lead the team to

exchange the project related information with other group members. About working in the

group, it is learnt that the all the team members should open with each other and be good

listener. They should be visible in addition accessible mainly in times of the difficulties while

creating the network diagram, work breakdown structure and Gantt chart for the specific

project to manage the marketing activities and develop e-commerce website (Kim, S., Chang

and Castro-Lacouture 2020). All the team members should focus on the project objectives to

grow the customer base and build profits for the business.

From the teamwork, it is also learnt that holding regular conversations with the senior

team members about development of the project will help to get an understanding of the

current project status. It is required to provide value to people and provide instant feedback to

colleagues about their individual performance. It is required to learn on collaborative problem

solving that would provide better project outcomes (Portny and Portny 2022)

Each of the person is to do work based on the super power-whether it creates great

contents, design, effective campaign, sales processes and follow-up with the customers.

Reflecting on my experience with the group work, I learned to be more open, ask

others to become open as well as not able to take the critique as personal (Hao et al. 2020).

Good interaction is mainly required in the teamwork so that it allows project to progress on

the time and in smooth way. It makes sure that there is alignment of the team members on the

project goals and understands the things which are to be expected. It helps in building trust

such that each one should work in better way from starting to end of the project plan.

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2.3 Reflect on individual learning

My individual learning is breaking the large tasks into smaller and actionable steps.

At the starting, there is listing of the project goals to meet with the project deliverables to

provide the network diagram, critical path diagram, and Gantt chart and resource allocation.

Therefore, there is breaking of the project deliverables into manageable ones.

I wondered why I always required an extra motivation to plan a project. I started to do

the things without having any queries. Recently, it is discovered that in the project

management, there are no such specific project requirements. It is required scheduling each

of the project activities to meet with the critical project deadlines. As this project is required

collaboration among the stakeholders, therefore there is required direct influence on

stakeholders. It means that there is prioritizing of the work in such a way that the things are

not delayed. I recall various situations where I failed due to impatience plus inability to let

the circumstances go. Therefore, it is required doing the things in effective way by taking

time. In order to ensure that the project moves towards right direct plus produce desired

deliverables, I started to thing in creative way.

Conclusion

The study concluded that good time management helps in maintaining the project

work so that there will be proper management of the time and resources. Time management

helps in planning and controlling of the time spent on the project activities, mainly helps in

increasing the effectiveness of the work and business productivity. The network diagram

helps in providing a proper visual project plan. The study also mentioned that the network

diagram is to be updated with the actual values once there is completion of the project tasks.

It is identified as the task to be completed on the time for the entire project plan to be finished

on scheduled timeline. It is to be identified that the project tasks are delayed if there is

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allocation of resources to catch up with the missed project tasks. The critical path is longest

path of the network diagram that has an impact on deadline of the plan. If there is delay in the

project activities, then there will be delay in the schedule. The study also concluded that the

network diagram allows the manager to track the project activities plus share the status with

other project team members. The project management tools provides with visual

representation of the project progress for the stakeholders. There is also establishment of the

project workflows. The project plan also mentioned that the project management tools help in

minimizing the delays in the production and managing the conflicts among the project team

members. From the entire plan, it is concluded that communication is required among the

team members to coordinate the project purpose and objectives to other members. It also

helps in building a strong relationship to keep track on the project progress. Conflict

management is required in the group project to identify and manage the conflicts on fairly

way.

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References

Diamonds, B.B. (2023) Welcome to Baker Brothers, Baker Brothers Diamonds. Available at:

https://www.bakerbrothersdiamonds.com/ (Accessed: January 1, 2023).

Eight Media Online Solutions, Inc. (2020). Generational Marketing: How Do You Market to

Every Age Group? [online] Available at: https://eightmedia.ph/blog/generational-marketing-

how-do-you-market-to-every-age-group/./ (Accessed: January 11, 2023).

Filippetto, A.S., Lima, R. and Barbosa, J.L.V., 2021. A risk prediction model for software

project management based on similarity analysis of context histories. Information and

Software Technology, 131, p.106497.

Ford, D.N. and Lyneis, J.M., 2020. System dynamics applied to project management: a

survey, assessment, and directions for future research. System Dynamics: Theory and

Applications, pp.285-314.

Goel, A., Ganesh, L.S. and Kaur, A., 2020. Project management for social good: A

conceptual framework and research agenda for socially sustainable construction project

management. International journal of managing projects in business.

Hao, W., Shah, S.M.A., Nawaz, A., Nawazc, M.A. and Noman, S.M., 2020.The impact of

CPEC on infrastructure development, a-double mediating role of project success factors &

project management. Revista Argentina de ClínicaPsicológica, 29(4), pp.737-750.

Kerzner, H., 2018. Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John

Wiley & Sons.

Kerzner, H., 2019. Using the project management maturity model: strategic planning for

project management.John Wiley & Sons.

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Kerzner, H., 2022. Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to

measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.

Kim, S., Chang, S. and Castro-Lacouture, D., 2020.Dynamic modeling for analyzing impacts

of skilled labor shortage on construction project management. Journal of Management in

Engineering, 36(1), p.04019035.

Lee, C.Y., Chong, H.Y., Liao, P.C. and Wang, X., 2018.Critical review of social network

analysis applications in complex project management. Journal of management in

engineering, 34(2), p.04017061.

Levy, S.M., 2018. Project management in construction.McGraw-Hill Education.

Nicholas, J.M. and Steyn, H., 2020. Project management for engineering, business and

technology.Routledge.

Portny, J.L. and Portny, S.E., 2022. Project management for dummies.John Wiley & Sons.

Zoominfo.com (2023) Baker Brothers Diamonds - Overview, News & competitors |

Zoominfo.com. Available at:

https://www.zoominfo.com/c/baker-brothers-diamonds/371090126 (Accessed: January 1,

2023).

Appendix

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