Name : Chan Pui Pui

Student ID : MEI 1343

Assessment Task 1

1. List three project management tools and explain their use in project
management.

Project Management Tools Use in project management

Dashboards The dashboard might be the most important
tool in your project management toolkit. When
this tool is part of online PM software, then
you’re getting that data in real-time, which
allows you the time to make the right decisions
based on the most accurate information.
Online Gantt Chart It’s easy to add tasks and due dates, or upload
your spreadsheet with this information, and
then the tasks and their durations populate your
online Gantt chart instantly, giving you a visual
timeline of the project schedule.
Project Scheduling Project scheduling allows you to create task lists
for your team that can be updated anywhere
and at any time, because you’re online. These
tasks can then be viewed as a personal task list
for you or an individual team member, on the
dashboard and online Gantt chart, of course, but
also on calendars, so there’s no reason for
anyone to be out of the loop.

2. Explain the use of a GANTT chart in project management.

A Gantt Chart is a table that illustrates the course of a project and all the
elements involved. This visual was first developed by Karol Adamiecki in 1896,
then Henry Gantt devised his own version which illustrates a project schedule in
the 1910s. Gantt Charts are a useful tool when you want to see the entire
landscape of either one or multiple projects. It helps you view which tasks are
dependent on one another and which milestones are coming up.
Name : Chan Pui Pui
Student ID : MEI 1343

3. Explain the use of a PERT chart in project management.

PERT is a project management planning tool used to calculate the amount of
time it will take to realistically finish a project. PERT stands for Program
Evaluation Review Technique. PERT charts are tools used to plan tasks within a
project - making it easier to schedule and coordinate team members
accomplishing the work. PERT charts were created in the 1950s to help manage
the creation of weapons and defence projects for the US Navy. While PERT was
being introduced in the Navy, the private sector simultaneously gave rise to a
similar method called Critical Path. PERT is similar to critical path in that they are
both used to visualize the timeline and the work that must be done for a project.
However with PERT, you create three different time estimates for the project:
you estimate the shortest possible amount time each task will take, the most
probable amount of time, and the longest amount of time tasks might take if
things don't go as planned. PERT is calculated backward from a fixed end date
since contractor deadlines typically cannot be moved.

4. Explain the use of a work breakdown structure in project management.

The Work Breakdown Structure is a method for getting a complex, multi-step
project done. It's a way to divide and conquer large projects so you can get
things done faster and more efficiently. Work breakdown structure (or WBS) is a
hierarchical tree structure that outlines your project and breaks it down into
smaller, more manageable portions. You can build a WBS by creating folders and
subfolders, and can even go further to divide individual tasks into subtasks. The
goal of a WBS is to make a large project more manageable. Breaking it down into
smaller chunks means work can be done simultaneously by different team
members, leading to better team productivity and easier project management
overall.

5. Explain the use of the critical path method in project management.

A critical path in project management is certain tasks that need to be performed
in a clear order and for a certain period.

If part of one task can be slowed down or postponed for a term without leaving
work on others, then such a task is not critical. While tasks with a critical value
cannot be delayed during the implementation of the project and are limited in
time.

Critical Path Method (CPM) is an algorithm for planning, managing and analyzing
the timing of a project. The step-by-step CPM system helps to identify critical
and non-critical tasks from projects’ start to completion and prevents temporary
risks.

Critical tasks have a zero run-time reserve. If the duration of these tasks
changes, the terms of the entire project will be “shifted”. That is why critical
Name : Chan Pui Pui
Student ID : MEI 1343

tasks in project management require special control and timely detection of

risks.

6. Outline three types of documents and sources of information that are used to
define the parameters of a project.
Time
Your project deadline is bound to be one of your most important parameters.
What is the finish time and why? There may well be a relationship between the
budget and the deadline, in that you may have to work within a particular
financial year or account to a funder for money spent over a particular period.

As well as your final deadline, there are certain to be a number of critical time
points that need to be taken into account. We go into these in more detail in our
Project management course but it is important to be clear, right from the start,
that in order to achieve the final deadline, several other ‘mini-deadlines’ will
have to be met.

Cost
You may have to draw up the project budget, or it may have been set by others.
You will certainly be responsible for ensuring that the budget is not overspent
and that income (if appropriate) is raised according to plan. You may need to
ensure that the phasing of income and expenditure is achieved successfully so
that you have enough money for the project’s needs in plenty of time.

How much leeway do you have, as Project Manager, in moving the project spend
from one cost heading to another? If you are overcommitted on your print
budget but have some left over in the training cost centre, can you rob Peter to
pay Paul?

It is important to be clear:

 How much income you must raise to fund the project, if any?
 How much you can spend and on what?
 How much income the project is intended to generate?
 Must you raise the income before you start to spend or not?
 How much discretion do you have about changing the details of the
budget – for example, moving money from ‘post’ to ‘stationery’ if that’s
what you think is needed?

In large organisations, especially in the public sector, it is common for Project

Managers to be very vague about the budget for their project. "Finance deals
with all of that" is a phrase we often hear at the Centre. However, it is unlikely
that financial considerations will not affect your project at all and it is wise, as
well as good practice, to get as clear a picture as you can of all the income and
expenditure constraints involved with your project.
Name : Chan Pui Pui
Student ID : MEI 1343

Quantity
Some projects have no quantity parameters at all; others are very focused on
quantity. For example, if the project aim is to design a leaflet informing people
about services, then the quantity of leaflets produced is not one of the most
important parameters. You need to produce enough for your needs, but the
main factors to be monitored will be the quality of the information given, its
appropriateness to the audience, the cost involved and the print deadline if any.

However, in the example of employment training for young people, quantity is a

key factor. Funders and other stakeholders will have set clear standards for the
number of young people receiving the training and the numbers successfully
placed in work.

7. Explain the importance of planning for risks in a project and three processes that
can be used to identify risks as part of a risk assessment process for a project.
The risk planning is to identify potential problems that could cause trouble for
your project, analyse how likely they are to occur, take action to prevent the
risks you can avoid, and minimize the ones that you can’t.

When you’re planning your project, risks are still uncertain: they haven’t
happened yet. But eventually, some of the risks that you plan for do happen,
and that’s when you have to deal with them. There are four basic ways to
handle a risk.

Avoid: The best thing you can do with a risk is avoid it. If you can prevent it from
happening, it definitely won’t hurt your project. The easiest way to avoid this
risk is to walk away from the cliff, but that may not be an option on this project.

Mitigate: If you can’t avoid the risk, you can mitigate it. This means taking some
sort of action that will cause it to do as little damage to your project as possible.

Transfer: One effective way to deal with a risk is to pay someone else to accept
it for you. The most common way to do this is to buy insurance.

Accept: When you can’t avoid, mitigate, or transfer a risk, then you have to
accept it. But even when you accept a risk, at least you’ve looked at the
alternatives and you know what will happen if it occurs. If you can’t avoid the
risk, and there’s nothing you can do to reduce its impact, then accepting it is
your only choice.
Name : Chan Pui Pui
Student ID : MEI 1343

8. Explain the importance of a risk management plan in identifying and managing

risks for a project.
Risk management is recognised as an integral component of good management
and governance. It is an iterative process consisting of steps, which, when
undertaken in sequence, enable continual improvement in decision making.

Risk management is the term applied to a logical and systematic method of

establishing the context, identifying, analysing, evaluating, treating, monitoring
and communicating risks associated with any activity, function or process in a
way that will enable organisations to minimise losses and maximize
opportunities.

Risk management is as much about identifying opportunities as avoiding or

mitigating losses.

9. Discuss risk avoidance in project management.

Risk avoidance is the act of taking some sort of action or putting plans in place
that will greatly reduce the likelihood of the risk event even happening, not just
reducing its impact. This, of course, is not always possible. But on the risks that it
is possible for, it can mean a great deal to your overall bottom line on a project.
In the backup example above, let's assume the data you have is extremely
critical and highly sensitive possibly financial in nature. And it is for high-dollar,
high-visibility projects. No one can really afford to take a hit on that type of data
loss.

By moving into risk avoidance mode on this by, say, using clustered data storage
technology, you've now virtually eliminated the risk altogether. Albeit at a
considerably greater implementation cost. But if it's critical enough to avoid,
then it may well be worth it. You've spent more on the process and technology,
but you've eliminated the worst-case scenario of 24-hour data loss in the risk
mitigation example.

10. Discuss the use of risk mitigation strategies in project management.

Risk mitigation is the act of working to minimize the risk impact should the risk
actually occur. Working to mitigate risk means that you come up with a plan to
lessen the impact on your project or your customer should the risk event
actually happen.

An example of this may be to recommend that a data centre moves from weekly
backups to daily backups to ensure that the client never loses more than 24
hours worth of data in the event of a disaster or crash. By taking this action
you've not eliminated the risk, but you've potentially greatly reduced its impact
should the risk event be realized.
Name : Chan Pui Pui
Student ID : MEI 1343

11. Explain the concept of risk acceptance in project management.

Risk acceptance does not reduce any effects however it is still considered a
strategy. This strategy is a common option when the cost of other risk
management options such as avoidance or limitation may outweigh the cost of
the risk itself. A company that doesn’t want to spend a lot of money on avoiding
risks that do not have a high possibility of occurring will use the risk acceptance
strategy.