Project Plan for Whitbread World Sailboat Race The following paper analyzes the Whitbread World Sailboat Race case scenario presented at the end of chapter 9 in the Gray and Larson text, Project Management: the Managerial Process. The project encompasses two main objectives; one, design, build and test a new vessel, and two, select and train a crew capable of winning the race. Both objectives must be completed within 45 weeks, the start of the race, and with a planned budget of $3.2 million. Initial projections show that the current schedule will take 50 weeks to finish with a final budget estimate of $3.152 million. Although the project estimate comes in under budget, the time frame for completion extends beyond the acceptable 45 …show more content…
The team leaders' projections show that the cost of starting the race under normal circumstances would be $3,152,000 (see table 2), however, normal conditions also dictate that the project will require 50 weeks to finish. As with any solid plan, the team leaders have also calculated crash times and costs as backup options in case the project experiences delays, or in this circumstance an imposed deadline; the start of the race 45 weeks from now. Analyzing crash times and costs we see that if each activity were crashed the project could be finished in 42 weeks, however, the budget would skyrocket to $4.952 million (see table 5). Therefore, the team will need to analyze the project network and its critical path to determine which individual activities can be crashed while maintaining the integrity of the budget. Plan to Reduce Project Duration Before deciding which activities should be crashed, Bjorn and his team first need to have a clear understanding of the project's priorities. To do this the team has first defined the project's scope and decided to develop a project priority matrix. Defining the project scope sets the stage for developing a plan and its primary purpose is to define as clearly as possible the deliverables and to focus project plans (Gray & Larson, 2006). The team has
1. What is the estimated project completion date? (Assume there are no holidays and ignore the sunk cost of the planning team’s effort)
A project has been estimated to take six weeks and cost $130,000. Cost and percent complete data are provided in the table below through 3 weeks of the project. % scheduled data can be obtained from the Gantt chart following the table.
The project path of task B(7 weeks) plus task F(10 weeks) plus task G(6.5weeks) plus task I(6.5weeks) plus task J(3.5weeks) which equals 33.5 weeks total.
According to Lebeaux (2014) “Project Scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs, and deadlines” (para. 1). Project scope is important because it becomes a very detailed roadmap of what needs to be accomplished by this project. Not only does it tell the analysts what needs to be done but it also tells the analysts what does not need to be done or included. By providing both the in-scope and out of scope requirements it allows the analyst to focus on the aspects that need to be impacted by the project.
How do the five major variables of project management-scope, time, cost, quality, and risk – relate to this scenario?
Upon project approval, I will take necessary preparations and begin observations of the work area. It will take one week to gather all the necessary data. The following week will be focused on analyzing the data to determine a solution. The only cost incurred from the investigation is the cost of my time.
The purpose of the Project Scope Statement is to provide a baseline understanding of the scope of a project to include the project’s scope and deliverables, the work required to complete the deliverables, and ensure a common understanding of the project’s scope among all stakeholders.
Bjorn Ericksen has been selected to manage the boat design and crew training process for the company sponsor. He has a hard deadline to deliver the
Every company relies on accurate budget estimates in order to provide the correct amount of allocated dollars in a budget plan that the company develops. Most companies develop budgets that look at least two years into the future. Each company is different, however typically most expect their projected budgets to be within 10% less or 25% more of the projected budget (Schwalbe 281). In order to do this, managers must allocate project costs to individual work items over the lifetime of the project. Project managers will create a cost baseline (time-phased budget) in order to measure and monitor the performance of their projects over the projects duration. Any changes or updates that are needed should be changed and reflected in a newly updated budget. Real time budget updates are vital in order to avoid financial problems. Ultimately, budgeting provides a prediction of the projects funding requirements. This article will go into detail about the best practices of determining a budget, and how they can be innovated for a better approach in the future.
This project was full of creativity yet calculated construction of a simple boat. The boat Fourtris, happened to be extraordinary and rose above the initial negative expectations. Sadly it was not the best out of them all, but it got pretty close. While doing this project there were some major components that should be discussed such as the efficiency of Fourtris (the boat), the buoyancy and it’s effects, and why our best test score was are best. Even though Fourtris could have some improvements, it was overall a successful project and was very fun to put together.
Scope is nothing but which refers to project boundaries where it determines what work will be completed during the project lifecycle. This even includes identifying the work which would not be included in the current round of product or service development. A scope in a project is nothing but the proper planning which is made for the project which involves in determining and even documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks and deadlines. The documentation which is made for the scope of the project clearly explains the boundaries of a project and also establishes the responsibilities for each team member and sets up procedures for how much the completed work will be verified and approved. The scope of the project which is made helps the project team remained focused on the given task. The scope statement also provides the project team leader or the facilitator with guidelines for making decisions about the change of request which are being made during the implementation of the project. it would be better if the project has a proper scope at the beginning or initial stages itself as it is quite natural for large projects to their parts along the way. when documenting the scope of a project the stake holders should be very specific regarding their work as one or more parts of a project ends up requiring more work, time, effort because of poor planning or miscommunication Effective scope management requires good communication in order to
The scope statement prepared prior to the project, focuses on the goals, the deliverables, and requirements. The three elements jointly have a role in the scope statement which will document the work and the structure of the project. The goals should target to be realistic, cost and quality measures, and have a time element. Having goals in place will determine the “what” of the entire project. The deliverables can be tangible, intangible, measured, or easily verified. Furthermore, it may involve good and services that can be provided to complete the project. As for requirements, it focuses on the specification of the deliverables. They describe the characteristics of the deliverables and may include elements such as dimension, ease of use, color, ingredients, and so on. (Heldman, 96).
7.0 Budget Estimate and Financial AnalysisA preliminary estimate of the cost for the entire project is $200,000. This includes the hire of a temporary project manager, and the hours used by current employees to work on the project. Project savings comes in the form of reduced health insurance cost due to a healthier workforce that makes fewer claims.
Project Scope – identifies goals, deliverables, tasks, costs, and deadlines. Project scope is part of project planning.
Among the major factors involved in the successful completion of a PhD programme are project planning and time management. Therefore, defining and clarifying the scope and objectives of a project and breaking down the work into tasks and subtasks are crucial in order to achieve the set objectives, assess the projected timing and duration and prioritise key tasks with regard to importance and urgency. Frequent monitoring of progress against the plan constitute an essential part of the project review (assessment) process and are essential in order to ensure that the project is progressing successfully [1].