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PMLS GROUP ASSIGNMENT
Summary: You are responsible for creating a detailed and unique business case, including project plan, for the project described in the following pages.
Submission deadlines: TBA
Word Limit: 3000
Part A (20%) involves preparing a presentation of your business case and project plan as detailed in the assignment brief.
Part B (80%) involves the creation of a detailed business case, project plan, and schedule and discussion of other relevant issues.
More detail on the assignment requirements is provided in the project brief that follows.
This assignment is worth 50% of the total mark for the Project Management Leadership and Skills module. The other 50% will be assessed by an individual exam at the end of the module.
Module learning outcomes covered by this assignment
1. Apply knowledge of the theory and practice of project planning and control and the use of Project Management methods and techniques.
2. Demonstrate a sound understanding of the importance of Project Management in the development and maintenance of sustainable and global organisations operating in complex market environments
3. Develop knowledge and application of the techniques of estimating, forecasting and resource management
4. Work independently and with others in analysing and presenting solutions to Project Management planning, control and process problems.
5. Communicate effectively through a variety of media to different audiences.
6. Make decisions in complex and unpredictable situations using tools and techniques appropriate to the module.
7. Use terminology associated with the subject area accurately and in a way which demonstrates sophisticated knowledge and understanding.
ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION
The assignment contains information from news and other sources.
We have sought to make this as close as possible to a live project brief.
You may wish to conduct relevant research but please do not contact anyone involved without first contacting your module tutor.
Christmas Blunderland
The following is from an article in the Daily Telegraph dated 12th December 2014
This Christmas tourist attraction was forced to close less than a day after opening following a barrage of complaints from disgruntled parents.
Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, only opened its doors on Wednesday, but was forced to pack up just 24 hours later due to its “appalling” quality.
Despite promising a winter walk, a Frozen singalong and a chance to feed Santa’s reindeer, excited families were faced with a desolate scene of disappointment after paying £20 per ticket.
Mother-of-one Laura Bamforth, who is also 30-weeks pregnant, from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, said: “We spent a total of 20 minutes in the building and we were totally appalled with the entire event.
“The event itself was nothing more than a fairground. The rides was overpriced and the so-called Christmas market was a total of four stalls.
“When leaving the event feeling very let down we told the staff on reception who also was very rude and never tried to apologise.
“I would like a refund for all the money I have spent because the treatment is unacceptable.”
The Yorkshire Magical Winterland, set up at the Great Yorkshire Showground, advertised the event as having “fantastic features” and offered visitors the chance to “focus on losing yourself in our Magical Winterland”.
But the grim reality of the Christmas-themed event was that of rubbish-strewn hallways, poorly-constructed exhibitions and sombre-looking reindeer surrounded by a sprinkling of straw.
Disappointed mother-of-two Leanne Potter said it would take a “miracle” to make the experience worthwhile.
She said: “It was truly awful. The event was clearly just planned to make as much money as possible. They weren’t bothered about the quality of the event.”
The attraction responded to visitor’s complaints by closing down the event, just hours after opening, without giving any warning to people who had pre-booked tickets.
Kat Manson, from Skipton, West Yorkshire, who booked to take her niece Evie to the event, said: “We’ve had a family ticket booked for a long time for this special event.
“The journey there was full of excitement and wonder, Evie was going meet Santa!
“We checked the website this morning to see what we were going to be doing but there was no mention of any closure. We were all excited.
“We arrived at a near empty car park and a lonely car park attendant ushered us into a car parking space without saying a word.
“We were met at the desk by two female staff who said sorry we are closed.
“They explained that our tickets were valid for the other days but so many people had complained that it was a waste of money that they were closed.
Assignment
You have recently been appointed by the Salford City Council who is seeking to develop a Christmas Tourism Attraction of its own but they have concerns over the problems that Harrogate had with their ‘Blunderland’ project. Your assignment is to write a report on the prospective Salford Christmas Land as a project – considering what is likely to go well and what not so well. Your report should therefore focus on the project management aspects including the key risks e.g. loss of money and overrunning its schedule and not meeting the performance requirements expected from a project of this type
Part A (20%) involves the preparation of a PowerPoint presentation of your business case and project plan as detailed in the assignment brief. You are required to prepare the slides along with associated written notes for submission with Part B.
Part B(80%)
Produce a detailed business case and project plan, and any recommendations to the Project Board that you consider appropriate. You may want to use some of the sub-headings below, but that is entirely up to your team: this is not a template.
• Introduction
Identify the major planning problems with the Blunderland project and suggest how project management techniques might have helped to mitigate these problems
• Project objectives
• Performance Measurement/ Management of quality
• Stakeholder analysis
• Activities to be carried out and scheduling including any milestones:
• Resources to be used including project budget
• Constraints and Risks
• Communications to be used
In addition please discuss the following in your report:
• Possible success/ failure factors for this project
• Considerations concerning future operations
Include a bibliography of your sources.
As a brief appendix please summarise your teamwork.
Weighting for task B: 80%. Please note that you are being assessed on your understanding of Project Management and not the discovery of the ‘correct answer’. The marking scheme will be provided separately.
You will also need to take the following into account when completing your assignment:
Quality of executive summary (does it give a brief complete summary of your paper for an executive to read?)
Allocation of credit and sources used (have I included references and citations to the material I have used?)
Clarity of argument and intergration of different components of the report
Overall report presentation including spelling and grammar
Word processed (letter size 12, times new roman, 1.5 space), fully referenced (Harvard Referencing System)
Please remember that marks for the assignment will also be awarded in relation to presentation and structure, and aspects such as use of examples, figures, tables, illustrations and statistics that indicate wider/independent reading.
You are required to follow the University’s regulations regarding plagiarism and citing sources and references used. Assignments may not be submitted late. Marking penalties for late submission will follow the University regulations for PMC and late submission. Lecturers are not able to give extensions.
Criterion / Mark range
90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 0-39
Overall level
(indicative – not for grading) Standard comparable to journal publication Standard comparable to conference paper publication Distinctive work for Masters level Merit work for Masters level Acceptable for Masters Below Masters pass standard Significantly below Masters pass standard
Scope Outstanding clarity of focus, includes what is important, and excludes irrelevant issues. Excellent clarity of focus, boundaries set with no significant omissions or unnecessary issues. Clear focus. Very good setting of boundaries includes most of what is relevant. Clear scope and focus, with some omissions or unnecessary issues. Scope evident and satisfactory but with some omissions and unnecessary issues. Poorly scoped, with significant omissions and unnecessary issues. Little or no scope or focus evident.
Understanding of subject matter
Outstanding with critical awareness of relevance of issues. Outstanding expression of ideas. Excellent with critical awareness of relevance of issues. Excellent expression of ideas. Very good with critical awareness of relevance of issues. Outstanding expression of ideas. Good with some awareness of relevance of issues. Ideas are expressed, with some limitation. Basic with limited awareness of relevance of issues. Limited expression of ideas. Poor with little awareness of relevance of issues Little or no understanding of subject matter is demonstrated.
Literature
Comprehensive literature review. Evaluation and synthesis of source material to produce an outstanding contribution. Excellent independent secondary research. Sources are evaluated and synthesized to produce an excellent contribution. Very good independent secondary research. Sources are evaluated and synthesized to produce a very good contribution. Good secondary research to extend taught materials. Evidence of evaluation of sources, with some deficiencies in choice and synthesis. Limited secondary research to extend taught materials. Limited evaluation of sources, deficiencies in choice and synthesis. Little or no extension of taught materials. Poor choice and synthesis of materials. Poor use of taught materials. No synthesis.
Critical analysis based on evidence Standard of critical analysis – showing questioning of sources, understanding of bias, independence of thought Excellent standard of critical analysis – excellence in questioning of sources, understanding of bias, independence of thought A very good standard of critical analysis. Sources are questioned appropriately, and a very good understanding of bias, showing independence of thought Critical analysis with some questioning of sources, understanding of bias, independence of thought. Analysis evident but uncritical. Sources are not always questioned, with limited independence of thought. Little or no analysis. No valid analysis.
Structure of argument, leading to conclusion Well-structured, compelling and persuasive argument that leads to a valuable contribution to the field of study, paving the way for future work. Argument has excellent structure and persuasiveness, leading to very significant insights and relevant future work. Well-structured and persuasive argument Insightful conclusion draws together key issues and possible future work. Structured and fairly convincing argument leads to conclusion that summarises key issues. Argument has some structure and development towards conclusion with limitations in summary of issues. Argument is unstructured, no recognizable conclusion. No evidence of argument or conclusion.
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