Project Plan Management Essay

ABSTRACTIn recent years, thither has been a troop of progress in the turn inledge area of  confound counseling however, umteen companies continue ignoring the techniques and calamuss that assist the conduct of fancys. The depict be after phase is considered, by m whatsoever scholars, a crucial stage for the success completion of a wander, especi wholey when it comes to multi-project environments where managers and aggroup members participate in multiple, simultaneous projects. The main mark of this project is to consumption the many project direction techniques and tools to plan a seaworthiness Festival to educate the T adeninea Bay participation about the benefits of fitness and health while promoting the sport of CrossFit.PROJECT invoiceEach year, the United health Foundation and the American Public Health Association squad up to rank the health of Americas states. I was surprised to read that Florida was ranked number 33, behind many states like Colorado (ranked 8), and Minnesota (ranked 3). How could a state named The Sunshine resign be so low in the rankings? And how could I help falsify that? Three years ago, I was introduced to CrossFit, and since then, my own health has limitingd radic altogethery. I stop smoking, plumped to exercise often, and while learning about nutrition changed the way I eat. It non only changed my lifestyle, but I noticed it started to change my family and fri bars as well. In educating people around me about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, they became prompt to try it themselves.PROJECT OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this project is to create Fitness Festival that can educate the society about the benefits of fitness and health while promoting the sport of CrossFit. CrossFit confidences aerobic conditioning, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics along with more(prenominal) or less other old-school training elements like kettlebell, rope climbs, tire flipping and sledgehammer into perfunctory WODs ( workout of the day) (Upton 2013). By using Project centering skills, I ordain be able to provide a raft of what the project is to achieve, communicate the vision to entirely involved, ensure that e truly unmatchable stays snaped on the vision, motivate all involved, as well as coordinate all tasks necessary to round the project (Kleim, 1998).PROJECT SCOPEThe first step in the mean process was to direct exactly what was to be delivered as well as the major elements of work (Heerkens, 2002). The main goal of the project was to educate the community about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, but we in addition wanted to digest on promoting CrossFit. We know that CrossFit athletes are very competitive, so what a remedy way to promote the sport, but to create a friendly opposition among T amperea Bay Crossfit athletes? All tasks had to be completed under the approval reckon of $1000. DELIVERABLESFinalize Location of EventDevelop Competition WorkoutsPlan selling Strate gyInventory of EquipmentObtain frequents and/ or VendorsObtain committedness of Resources/ Volunteers pleasureMILESTONESReserve arguing location- January 18th 2014Create event flyers, website and social media- January thirty-first 2014Finalize workouts-February 10th 2014Confirm vendors and volunteers- February 17th 2014Organize swag bags- February twenty-fourth 2014Host Competition- March 1st 2014TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTSLocation moldiness be proposem the intended number of athletes and spectatorThere must be at least 1 judge for every team competingLocation must have bathroomsAll Athletes must sign a release markASSUMPTIONSAt least 15 athletes provide sign up to get byVolunteers will not receive monetary compensationSponsors and vendors will buckle under an entry feeLIMITS AND EXCLUSIONSSponsors and vendors will bring their own tent, table and chairsDJ is responsible for all music equipment including a microphoneCUSTOMER revueTaylor Smith and Nicole SmithWORK BREAKDOWN STRUCT UREThe Work sectionalization Structure (west by south) is developed by sub-diving a process, product, project, or service into its major work elements, then breaking the major work elements into sub-elements (Stewart, 1995). The WBS is the frame and foundation of every project and acts as the projects major support mechanism (Dow, 2010). I have found it to be reclaimable in not only projects, but also in any brainstorming session. It helps team members remember all major portions of work to be accomplished (Stewart, 1995). Creating a focus helps organize the team and therefore, assure that all major deliverables are recognized.The WBS graphically displays all the work items for the project in a single chart (Dow, 2010), so it can be employ as a helpful communication tool. The WBS is also used to reduce the possibility of overlap, duplication and redundancy of tasks (Stewart, 1995). There is a lot of misconception that the WBS is an organizational chart or a schedule. premenstrua l syndrome have to be very careful in explaining the function of the WBS as it does not have a sequence and should not be used as the projects schedule.PROJECT NETWORKThe engagement diagrams purpose is to sequence and logically order all tasks on a project. Its an organization of the project layout (Dow, 2010). It allows for the PM to know what tasks are being worked on, their time, when they should start and when they should hit, along with any predecessors and successors. Furthermore, the PM should identify the projects full of life thoroughfare in order to put the best team members to those tasks, as those tasks are critical to maintain apostrophize and schedule savings (Warburton, 2013). CRITICAL PATHThe critical path will assist with maintaining control and keeping the project on schedule. The critical path is derived by performing two manipulations of the schedule- a forward pass and a backward pass. The forward pass calculates the earliest prison terms (or dates) that activities can start and finish. The backward pass calculates the latest snips (or dates) that activities can start and finish (Heerkens, 2002). The critical path is the longest path and the shortest time in which a project can be completed (Warburton, 2013). The critical path activities are the ones the PM needs to indemnify most attention to as one day of slippage in a critical path activity performer one day of slippage in the overall project.COST labelI started my project with a high level/ macro estimation. I used my experience from a previous In-House competition I aforethought(ip) as the basis for estimating the current competition event I am planning. While this method is less costly than other techniques, in most cases it is also less accurate (Hill, 2009). Even though the end deliverable (host a competition) is the same, there are a lot of differences amid In-house and a community competition. The scope is much larger, the timeline is greater, a lot more resources a re needed, etcetera This is why a Bottoms-Up or Micro foretell is a better technique. This type of estimate is used when the PM wants to ameliorate the estimate and account for risk and estimation uncertainty (Heldman, 2013). Unfortunately, this technique is heavy(p) to do in the beginning stage of the project because there is not enough information at that time. The best time to use this technique is after the PM finalizes the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). During this technique, the PM will estimate the cost of separately activity in the WBS. The cost and truth are driven by the size of the individual work packages- little work packages increase both cost and accuracy (Hill, 2009).The calculations used in the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) approach recognize the division inherent in each activity and applies rudimentary statistics in a way that accommodates the variability (Heerkens, 2002). PERT uses three estimates. The most likely time is the effort to complete a task under normal or reasonable conditions. The most pessimistic time is the effort to complete a task under the worst conceivable circumstances. The most optimistic is the effort to complete a task under the best or exaltation circumstances (Kleim, 1998). PERT CALCULATIONEstimated Cost = Optimistic Estimate + 4* (most likely estimate) + Pessimistic Estimate6$800 + 4* ($1,000) + ($1,500) = $1,0506 remote BUDGETThis project is not expected to warrant a profit. Its objective is to educate the community about health, nutrition and the sport of CrossFit. Sponsors, including apparel stores, equipment stores, etc. will pay a fee of $250.00 each. The funds will go towards each athletes swag bag (which will take on a competition t-shirt). The fee will also be used for the purchase of t-shirts for volunteers and judges. All Vendors, including vitamin stores, sports drinks, and any food vendor will pay a fee of $100.00 each. The fee will be used for the market of the competi tion which will include all vendors information and advertising.RISKSRisk management is a proactive attempt to recognize what can go ill-treat and to plan ahead (Warburton 2013). Risk reporting is the act of informing team managers and senior management of those risks. RISKSCONSEQUENCESNot enough athletes will sign upPotential cancellation of project Judges/ volunteers dont show up on competition dayDelay and over-allocation of resources Athlete does not sign a waiver and gets hurt during competitionLiability to the Sponsor Property damage caused by heavy equipment Cost not in budgetEARNED VALUE (EV)The earned value concept consists of examining the past, present, and upcoming in order to determine the end point. IDBaseline EstimateSpent to DateCost to Complete Revised ForecastUnder (Over)1$1,000$200$600$800$2001.2$200$200$0$200$01.3$100$0$100$100$01.4$100$cl$0$150($50)1.5$80$95$0$95($15)TOTAL$1480$645$700$1,345$135*** topical anaesthetic companies donated money towards the proje ct in return for advertisement, which covered more or less cost within the planned budget*** RECOMMENDATIONS/ LESSONS LEARNEDEven though I understood that the project scope was one of the most important documents, I did not invest an appropriate amount of time to fully earn all aspects of the project (Heerkens, 2002). That caused a lot of wasted time on my part, as I struggled maintaining the timeline and handling over-allocation of resources. During the WBS exercise, I was clueless on what to do, so I kept focusing on how to deliver a task and ended up wasting a lot of my teams time. later understanding the purpose of the exercise, I was able to focus on what work was needed to be performed and not how to do it. The PM needs to make sure every team member understands the concepts of what each exercise is. Many SMEs, stakeholders, etc. are not familiar with project management skills. When I was working on the network diagram, I recognize I made the wrong assumption on the du ration of some tasks, and had to adjust those times in order to meet the deadline.That created even more pressure on the, already stretched thin resources. I also had to combine some tasks in order to simplify the diagram. The once separated tasks of commitment from Athletes, Sponsors, and Vendors are now combined and have the same duration time. After learning the importance of having the best people assigned to critical activities, I had to shift the assignments of resources and add other volunteers to help with the planning phase of the project. Also, I could have done a better job recognizing changes in the critical path through the ongoing schedule updates. If not done, the PM could very well spend time, money, and resources fighting fires that dont necessarily thing (i.e. not in the critical path). (Heerkens, 2002). Understanding the cost estimate is exceedingly important as it will drive the project. It took me a long time to understand the concept in relation to my project , as resources were volunteers (not paid) and a lot of the budget came from fees paid by vendors and sponsors.In hindsight, I would have preferable picking a different type of project- one that I could understandably explain each cost. The biggest frustration and biggest lessons learned came from MS Project. Not being familiar with the application I struggled completing that assignment. I learned the tool is excellent and hope to use in the near future however, the PM should not attempt to promise to deliver something without having a basic cognition of the process or tool being used. I had planned to roam the schedule based on a 7 day/ calendar week work schedule however, could not figure out how to accurately change it in MS Project, so I had to constantly manipulate the tasks and duration to try to fit the timeline. I hope to run the same exercises and use the same tools during the next CrossFit completion I get involved in. I am curious to see how I go about it and see the di fference in results.REFERENCESDow, W. (2010) Project Management Communications Bible, whoremaster Wiley & Sons, 2010. Heldman, K. (2013). PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide. John Wiley & Sons, 2013 Heerkens, G. (2002) Project Management, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002 Hill, G. (2009). The Complete Project Management Methodology and Toolkit. CRC Press, 2009. Kleim, R. and Ludin, I. (1998) Project Management Practitioners Handbook, AMACOM Books, 1998. Stewart, D. and Wyskida, R. (1995) Cost Estimators Reference Manual, John Wiley & Sons, 1995. Upton, J. (2013, May 10). The CrossFit Craze 5 Reasons You Need to Get In on It. Blog post. Retrieved from http//www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-upton/crossfit_b_3240705.html Warburton, R. and Kanabar, V. (2013). The Art and Science of Project Management. RW Press, 2013.