Project Selection and Business Case

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Note: Developing a project management plan requires specific steps that must be carried out in a certain order. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.

Project Selection

In Assessment 5, you will submit a project management plan. To prepare for Assessment 5 and all the other assessments in this course, select a project to study. You may choose any case study that will serve your purposes for completing the project management plan. As stated earlier, when an organization selects a project to expend resources against, it is often in support of achieving an organizational or business goal. When you select a project to study, think of a goal the project will support. Therefore, read Assessment 5 before you begin Assessment 1.

Here are some suggested project ideas:

  • Implement a plan for a new, or for updating, current software for a business.
  • Implement a plan for a new, or for updating, an existing network for a business.
  • Implement a plan for relocating a data center. The data center supports a large government agency in California. Your project is to move the center to Austin, Texas.
  • Implement a plan to renovate the “W” hotel in Washington, DC.
  • Implement a plan to refurbish a 1965 Ford Mustang or any other vehicle that is at least 30 years old.

Once you have selected your project, use it complete the business case, following the instructions provided below.

Business Case

Once you have chosen your project, develop your business case, which identifies the business need for the project. It includes such items as:

  • The objective of the project.
  • The current situation or issue.
  • An analysis of options that could be used to resolve the business need.

A business case is one of the first documents created by PMs to plan the project and forecast what actions it will require. In the role of a PM, complete a business case for your project. For this assessment, high-level information is sufficient. Include the following information in your document:

  • Introduce your business case to stakeholders. Also provide any useful background information. Be concise; write no more than two paragraphs.
  • Articulate the business objectives for your project.
    • Describe what the project will result in once it is complete. For example, improve services, reduce long-term costs, and eliminate risks.
    • Analyze option and recommendation. What will be your methodology to determine the solution? For example, brainstorming, survey, et cetera.
  • Write a situation and problem or opportunity statement. Describe why this project is necessary. For example, “because of the costs of doing business in California, data center needs to move to Texas to save costs.”
  • Provide preliminary project requirements. Identify the high-level work to be completed in the project, due date for completion, et cetera. For this assessment, 35 high-level requirements are sufficient. You will identify more requirements as you develop your plan.
  • Provide high-level estimates for schedule and financial costs. Include the following:
    • Budget estimate and financial analysis. A high-level rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate is sufficient for this assessment. For example, 1 million dollars for materials, 2 million dollars for labor, and so on.
    • Schedule estimate. This is to include an estimated timeline for completing the project.
    • Potential risks. Identify any risks. For example, weather, labor issues, et cetera.
    • Critical assumptions and constraints. What assumptions and constraints are you considering. For example, costs, schedule or time, et cetera.
  • Include exhibits (optional). Include any diagrams, tables, or charts that should be presented with your business case.

Additional Requirements

Your assessment should meet the following requirements:

  • Written communication: Make certain that your assessment is professionally written and free of grammatical and spelling errors.
  • Length: There are no page length requirements. Ensure the information required is included in the document.
  • References: Include a complete list of references, including books, Web sites, articles, and other resources.
  • APA format: Resources and citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
  • Font and font size: Arial, 10 point.

Assignment 5 Overview for referral for assignment one

For this final assessment of the course, compile all of the assessments you have completed into a final project management plan. Please note that, in addition to the components you have already built, there are other sections of the final plan you must complete. Include your Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio (if any) documents in your final submission. Since the project management plan is primarily a Microsoft Word document, be sure to clearly direct the reader to all other documents within the appropriate sections.

You can use the Project Plan Template and the Overview of Project Budget spreadsheet linked in the Resources under the Suggested Resources heading to organize your final plan. Your final project management plan must include the following sections in the order given:

  1. Title Page. (Must meet current APA guidelines).
  2. Executive Summary. An overview of what the project is about and what is in this plan.
  3. Table of Contents.
  4. Project Components:
    • Project Selection and Business Case.
    • Project Charter.
    • Scope Statement.
    • Project Management Gantt Chart.
    • Scope Management Plan.
    • Work Breakdown Structure.
  5. Project Conclusion. Sum up the plans and planning process as you would for the business sponsor.
  6. References.
  7. Appendices (Optional).
  8. Personal Insights:
    • What did you personally learn from the project?
    • How might you apply these skills to a future IT or business project? 

Be sure to apply edits to the work you did in previous assessments, based on faculty feedback, prior to submitting this assessment. Your project management planas described abovewill be evaluated on the following criteria:

  • Develop a comprehensive project charter. Include the principles of integration management.
  • Develop a project management plan Gantt chart and a WBS. Provide details that would be valuable to a project sponsor.
  • Produce a complete preliminary scope statement document. Include the principles of integration management.
  • Apply the principles of scope management in the scope management plan within a project.
  • Assess the use of a project management plan as it relates to a project. Provide details and examples that would be valuable to a project sponsor.