NAME : KEMBOI K DAVID

REG NO : BBIT/2020/63755
UNIT NAME : PROJECT ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT
UNIT CODE : BBM3219

CAT

1. a) Clearly define a project and differentiate it from a plan. (5 Marks)

 project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore
defined scope and resources.
 A project plan is a formal document that defines how a project is going to be carried
out. It outlines the scope, goals, budget, timeline, and deliverables of a project, and it’s
essential for keeping a project on track.
b) Project preparation is key component of a project cycle. Identify and explain three major
activities that a project designer needs to carry out at the planning stage of the project.
(5 Marks)
 Initiation Phase – This is initiation phase, the project objective or need is
identified; this can be a business problem or opportunity. An appropriate
response to the need is documented in a business case with recommended
solution options. A feasibility study is conducted to investigate whether each
option addresses the project objective and a final recommended solution is
determined.
 Planning Phase – This where the project solution is further developed in as much
detail as possible and the steps necessary to meet the project’s objective are
planned. In this step, the team identifies all of the work to be done. The project’s
tasks and resource requirements are identified, along with the strategy for
producing them. This is also referred to as “scope management.” A project plan
is created outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies, and timeframes.
 Project Execution- This is the phase that is most commonly associated with
project management. Execution is all about building deliverables that satisfy the
customer. Team leaders make this happen by allocating resources and keeping
team members focused on their assigned tasks.
 c) Differentiate between feasibility study and project appraisal. (5 Marks)

 A feasibility study determines whether the project is likely to succeed in the first
place. It is typically conducted before any steps are taken to move forward with a
project, including planning. It is one of the - if not the- most important factors in
determining whether the project can move forward. The study identifies the market
for the project (if applicable); highlights key goals for the project based on market
research; maps out potential roadblocks and offers alternative solutions; and factors
in time, budget, legal and manpower requirements to determine whether the
project is not only possible but advantageous for the organization to undertake.
 Project appraisal follows the project formulation phase resulting in the preparation
of feasibility report . The main objective of project appraisal is to ultimately decide
whether the project proposed/sponsored in the feasibility report has to be accepted
for Capital Investment, or be rejected. The initial appraisal of the project sponsored
also aims at, if need be, recommending the steps or ways in which the project can
be redesigned or reformulated with a view to better technical, financial, commercial
and economic viabilities; also mitigate or minimize any adverse on negative
environmental impact
2. a) Describe the major preparations a project manager need to put in place before
implementing a project. (5 Marks)
 Define Objectives- The first thing is to understand what you need out of the
project. Read the “Statement of Work” and decipher each item listed there. This
document spells out the objectives, timeframe, scope, assumptions, high-level
requirements, resources and everything else about the project
 Research And Due Diligence - Once you’ve defined the objectives and scope and
had them approved by all parties involved, it’s time to determine where you
stand, in terms of the project. Your research team needs to create a detailed
report including the market opportunities and challenges.
 Plan Of Action - Your plan of action begins with defining roles and
responsibilities. Some of the key players in a project are: Client/Project sponsor,
Business experts, Project manager and Project team.
 Contingency Plan - What if your Plan A fails? Developing a good “Plan B” is
important. As discussed, there can be times, despite good planning, when things
go wrong. This is why you need to invest your time and effort in contingency
planning. This again includes risk assessment and determining what could go
wrong.
 b) Explain the difference between project management and operations management.
(5 Marks)
Project management is a critical practice that applies knowledge of process, skills,
tools, deliverables, and techniques to project activities to ensure a solid path to
project success by meeting goals and requirements.
Roles
 Determining the plan and scope projects
 Managing project teams, schedule and budget
 Overseeing project execution
 Assessing and reporting on project progress

Operations management ensures the business’ overall operations continuously run efficiently,
delivering for customers in the most efficient manner possible. Operations managers oversee
the core business process that transforms an input into an output.
Roles and Responsibilities
 Overseeing day-to-day operations processes
 Isolating issues and identify opportunities for improvement
 Overseeing budget, planning, reporting, and auditing
 Ensuring compliance
 Establishing policies and procedures for operations

c) Explain the sections considered in project appraisal. (5 Marks)

 Economic Analysis: Under economic analysis, the project aspects highlighted include
requirements for raw material, level of capacity utilization, anticipated sales, anticipated
expenses and the probable profits. It is said that a business should have always a
volume of profit clearly in view which will govern other economic variables like sales,
purchases, expenses and alike.
 Financial Analysis:Finance is one of the most important pre-requisites to establish an
enterprise. It is finance only that facilitates manager to bring together the labour of one,
machine of another and raw material of yet another to combine them to produce
goods.
 Market Analysis:Before the production actually starts, the marketer needs to anticipate
the possible market for the product. He/she has to anticipate who will be the possible
customers for his product and where and when his product will be sold.
 Technical Feasibility:While making project appraisal, the technical feasibility of the
project also needs to be taken into consideration. In the simplest sense, technical
feasibility implies to mean the adequacy of the proposed plant and equipment to
 produce the product within the prescribed norms. As regards knowing how, it denotes
the availability or otherwise of a fund of knowledge to run the proposed plants and
machinery.
 Management Competence: Management ability or competence plays an important role
in making the organization success or otherwise. Strictly speaking, in the absence of
managerial competence, the projects which are otherwise feasible may fail.

3
a) Forecasting of demand is mostly a matter of chance getting it right, discuss how project
managers can improve the quality of their forecasts. (7 Marks)
 A vision to describe the future that this organization wants to create and an overall
strategy to create it. The vision should be an inspiration for the people interacting with
this organization.Based on this vision in the mid- and short-term, there’s the need to
define a mission that can be broken down into several objectives.
 Demand management is the process an organization puts in place to collect new ideas,
new projects, new needs, and so forth. This collection will support the portfolio
definition, as well as produce a list of new programs/projects/actions to be assessed,
prioritized, and selected concurrently with ongoing components
 Ongoing components. These existing Components must be verified and assessed. They
represent the past strategic direction and most of the time they are still actual and there
is a convenience to complete them even if they subtract budget to new components.
 Budgeting could be described as the process to define and approve the amount of
resources needed/available for the realization of the coming portfolio cycle of
proposed/selected components
 Prioritize and Select means to rank the components on their alignment with the
strategic direction and then select the best aligned set of components that are feasible
within the budget available at the level of risk accepted
 Reporting means not only to report the status of single projects/program/operation, but
also the status of the whole portfolio and, moreover, the degree of achievement of the
strategic objectives and benefits produced at a certain state of progress.
 Portfolio Governance means to define roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities and
also to define the communication and reporting during the portfolio cycle
 Benefits realization is the verification of the real value realized by the components for
the organization. This benefit could be, or not be, aligned with the strategic direction
and could be released during, after, or far after the completion of the related
component.
 b) Briefly discuss how the following marketing strategies can be used to improve project
performance in an organization; (8mks)
i. Product positioning- is the creation of a clear image in the minds of consumers
within the targeted segment about the nature of the product and the benefits
to be gained from purchasing the product. Positioning is the compliment of
segmentation.
ii. Sales promotion - companies use sales promotions to increase demand for their
products and services, improve product availability among distribution channel
partners, and to coordinate selling, advertising, and public relations. A
successful sales promotion tries to prompt a target segment to show interest in
the product or service
iii. Target marketing- The beauty of target marketing is that aiming your marketing
efforts at specific groups of consumers makes the promotion, pricing, and
distribution of your products and/or services easier and more cost effective and
provides a focus to all of your marketing activities.
iv. Pricing strategies- will help you reach your pricing objectives requires serious
consideration. A crucial aspect to examine is aligning price with value. You can’t
sell a valuable product for a ridiculously low price and expect to make a profit.
Similarly, no one will buy an overpriced product that they feel is not worth their
money. Figuring out how valuable your product is in the eyes of consumers
helps you find the “sweet spot” between price and value in order to optimize
success.

4
a) Distinguish between project monitoring and project evaluation and show major reasons why
monitoring and evaluations should be done in an organization. (8 Marks)
 Project Monitoring refers to the process of keeping track of all project-related metrics including
team performance and task duration, identifying potential problems and taking corrective
actions necessary to ensure that the project is within scope, on budget and meets the specified
deadlines.
Why is it important?
 When project managers make important decisions without verified data, it is like taking a stab in
the dark. Your decisions will be based on very little to no evidence so the action may not be very
efficient and could only be a waste of time and resources.
That’s why it is important to monitor projects diligently and use the data you gathered to come
up with intelligent decisions.
  Project evaluation is a systematic and objective assessment of an ongoing or completed project.
The aim is to determine the relevance and level of achievement of project objectives,
development, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability.
Why is it important?
 Evaluation is a process that critically examines a program. It involve collecting and analyzing
information about program activities, characteristics and outcomes. Its purpose is to make
judgment about program, to improve its effectiveness and/ or inform programming decision.

b) Explain three factors that contribute to high project failure rates in

government projects. (6 Marks)
 Inadequate Documentation and Tracking- This is the responsibility of the project
manager. Tracking milestones is how you are going to know whether you are meeting
expectations. Proper recording and monitoring lets the project management identify
where more resources are needed to complete a project on time.
 Bad Leadership - When we see this word, leader, we usually think, the project manager.
However, the people at each management-level have a responsible to ensure that the
project is successful. Management should not micromanage but provide support to
ensure that the project management can follow through with the expectations placed
upon them.
 Culture or Ethical Misalignment - Organization culture must be comprised of
competence, pro-activeness, and professionalism. If it isn’t, team members will not be
motivated to do their best. Basically, everyone involved must be invested in their part of
the project to successfully complete it.