Posted: February 11th, 2015

Project Management

Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

**Assignment Task: Please note the 2,500 word limit is excluding appendices, figures, references, etc.

**Task:Project scope, time and cost are interwoven—this relationship is sometimes known as the ‘triple constraint’ or the ‘project triangle’ (some even use the term ‘golden triangle’). Managing these competing constraints often consumes a large proportion of a project manager’s most precious resource—his or her time. Yet, in determining project success or failure, management tends to focus disproportionally on budget – think about why this is?

**Structure the assignment following the questions that are in the additional files.

Assignment Task

Please note the 2,500 word limit is excluding appendices, figures, references, etc.

Task

Project scope, time and cost are interwoven—this relationship is sometimes known as the ‘triple constraint’ or the ‘project triangle’ (some even use the term ‘golden triangle’). Managing these competing constraints often consumes a large proportion of a project manager’s most precious resource—his or her time. Yet, in determining project success or failure, management tends to focus disproportionally on budget – think about why this is?

Consider a project in which you are, or have been, involved with and examine the way in which the project is/has been managed.

Structure your assignment in the following way:

1. Give a brief description of your organisation and the project being considered. Restrict your description to issues which are of relevance to the following sections. (5 marks)
2. Describe how the project’s cost objectives were established and subsequently managed. (10 marks)
3. Critically analyse the practices that you described in Question 2 and discuss how each influenced the success or failure of the project. (15 marks)
4. Drawing on the results of your analysis, describe, giving reasons, the improvements that you would make to these practices and outline any additional practices that you feel should be adopted to improve the management of project cost in your organisation. (15 marks)

Five (5) marks will be allocated to presentation, bibliography and referencing.

Notes

1. If you have any sensitivity about criticising your own organisation or any other organisation, remove any specific reference to the identity of the organisation, the people within it, or the identity of any projects referred to. The assignment is intended to develop your analytical skills and ability to suggest improvements.
2. Do not exceed the word limit. Give concise descriptions of projects and avoid irrelevant technical detail. In marking the assignment, attention will be paid to clear concise expression of ideas. Include and refer to appendices if you feel they are required to provide a clearer understanding of the relevant project details, however, extensive attachments will not be read. Including unreferenced appendices will lose marks.
3. A bibliography (list of references you have quoted or referred to in completing the assignment) must be submitted. The bibliography should be properly referenced using the Harvard system.
4. 4. This assignment has been structured to allow candidates to examine a single project in detail or the practices of organisations where smaller projects, usually of a similar type, may be handled.