Instructions for assessment

Coursework Details

Formative (not marked – for guidance only): You will be given an opportunity to produce outline samples of your assignment work (using a pre-structured form) and share it with your seminar classmates for peer review in small groups. In addition, informal feedback will be offered by the seminar tutor but you will not be marked.

 

Individual Summative (Main) Assignments x3: These assignments are based on a fictitious case study that presents students with a business project scenario. You are free to choose the case study from the four options provided.  You must take the role of Project Manager and are required to analyse the case study, research the best approach to managing it and develop the following items of project planning documentation, to be submitted as three separate component assignments at various points through the semester:  Assignments are individually marked.

Assignment 1 – to be submitted in week 5 (30% of module mark); 2pm, Friday 28/02/20

1. Sample Project Initiation Document (PID) including budgetary information, timescales, objectives, approach, key staff and stakeholder analysis (approx. 750 words plus diagrams, etc.);
2. Work breakdown Structure containing at least 20 items in the WBS. The WBS should be presented in the form of a diagram that includes dependencies, milestones and a hierarchy of tasks. You are free to deliver this as a Gantt chart (use MS Project to develop this) but it is not All diagrams should be embedded into your report as images. In addition include with this table a referenced paragraph explaining how a WBS can be used to help manage the

tasks on a project and give a further paragraph briefly explaining the importance of critical path analysis;

Assignment 2 – to be submitted in week 10 (30% of module mark); 2pm, Friday 03/04/20

1. A risk register containing at least 10 fully documented risks, including owner, mitigation and contingency actions, pre-and post- action weighting and scores.
2. In approximately 500 words describing the way in which a risk register forms a crucial part of an overall risk management plan, using examples to show what happens when risk is not properly managed on projects. Please refer also to separate document called ‘Assignment Guide for Students’ which gives more task-by-task information.

Assignment 3 – to be submitted in week 13 (40% of module mark); 2pm, Monday 04/05/20

1. A short report written directly to the project sponsor (approx. 1,500 words) containing An analysis and critique of methodologies that might be used to run the project case study, principally comparing Agile, Waterfall and PRINCE2 methodologies. Explain their strengths and weaknesses and give your recommendation to the sponsor as to which methodology you believe would be best to use. There is no right or wrong answer for this and hence marks will be given on the basis of how well you have explained and justified your decision. As with the other assignment elements, reference examples and reference to theory is very important.

Note: Submit copies of your previous two assignments (from weeks 5 and 10) as appendices to this third piece of work so that the marker will be able to see continuity between these earlier assignments and this final one.  Simply paste them in at the end and submit as one large document.  If you did not submit assignment 1 and/or 2 but do wish to submit assignment 3 then simply note at the end that you do not have anything to submit for 1 and 2 (you will be given a capped resit opportunity for each non-submitted assignment).

 

IMPORTANT: So that there is no confusion or doubt, for ALL elements in all assignments, substantial reference must be made to established project management theory. As this is a fictitious project case you are free to make assumptions where necessary and these should be clearly stated in your submission.  Furthermore, you are required to use multiple real project examples (both good and bad) as additional reference sources. These will help you demonstrate what good practice project management looks like and what happens when it is not applied.

It is also recommended that you include an appendix that contains all relevant assumptions that demonstrate how you arrived at your estimates – see separate student assignment guide.   

 

Project Management Case Study Options – Choose One Only

Academic Year 2019/20 only

The Project Management Assignments require students to develop a number of pieces of documentation relating to a particular case study. For the last two years we have just given one case study scenario which has been mandatory and required to be delivered as one large piece of work at the end of the semester. This year, in response to student feedback regarding case study choice and reduction in risk of having to submit a whole module’s work at once (to avoid ‘eggs in one basket’), and also to reflect the wide variety of ways in which project management techniques can be applied, we are allowing students to choose between four different fictitious scenarios. Choose one of the four and then answer all of the assignment questions, to be submitted at three separate points in the semester – weeks 5, 10 and 13 (after Easter break), worth 30%, 330% and 40% of the module total mark respectively. You must use the same case scenario for all questions as it is expected that you will link your three pieces of work.

Case scenario 1

You are the Project Manager for a sporting event, organising a sort of ‘Olympics’ between London Universities, known as the London Inter-Varsity Games.  The senior management of Roehampton University have asked for this as they wish it to be a flagship event that helps market the university’s facilities and grounds.   Assume you have the full academic year to organise this, with the events taking place in July or August on the Roehampton University playing fields.  You have a budget of £20k per university taking part and you should assume around 10 universities will be involved although if more join in then that will allow for more budget.

Case Scenario 2

The university wishes to improve the spaces available for business students and has asked you to project manage the refurbishment and redevelopment of the Chapman Hall in Queen’s Building. The preference is for tiered seating that can be retracted, together with acoustic panels on the walls to make it a better teaching space. You have been asked to project manage this process with support from the Facilities Management department at the university and have been given a provisional budget of £100k.  Bear in mind that the work must not cause disruption to teaching timetables.

Case Scenario 3

The university has recognised that students do not always know what is going on at the university outside of timetabled class sessions and in addition can find it difficult to contact representatives from clubs and societies. Hence, in order to help increase student engagement with extra-curricular activities, the university’s Student Union has asked you to project manage the development of a new Roehampton Recreation mobile phone app which will provide day by day details of university clubs and societies’ events, links to contact details and the freedom for students to publicise their own events.  Grant funding from O2 (one of their directors is a former Roehampton Business School student) has given you a budget of £200k and the university, although supportive, wants it ready to be used by students at the start of the next academic year.

Case Scenario 4

The Business School at the university has designed a new degree course in Sustainable Business, focusing on ethical and environmental business issues.  This is now in its second year so at the start of the next academic year the 30 students on the course will be going into their final year. The Business School has secured funding to support a two week field trip to see some interesting sustainable projects in Uganda, intending that this takes place in March of Semester 2. The Programme Convener has asked for your help in organising this trip and you are doing so as a project management task in place of your dissertation. Each student will be funded a max of £2,000 to enable them to go, thus meaning there is a total of £60,000 available for the whole trip.

 

IMPORTANT: You do not need to have any technical knowledge of construction, IT, app development etc. in order to do well with any of the above as it is the use of the project management processes that will be marked and not detailed technical understand of a particular industry.