1. Course Project
Part 1 – Building Your Project Plan
You and your project team must develop a new project (product
or service oriented) for your organization. Company
Background
Tell the story (who, what, when, where, how) of the company or
organization for which this project is being done.
· Who founded this company? Who are its leaders?
· What does this company make or do? What is its target
market? What is its financial performance?
· When was the company founded? Where was/is it located?
· How does the company operate? How effective is the company
in its industry? How are its competitors placed in the market?
If using a company website, be sure to cite the source!Current
Process
What is the current process or existing scenario for
accomplishing the company’s goals? In other words, how does
the company conduct business? If, for example, it is a
construction business building new homes, what would be the
process that encompasses the company’s procedure from
advertising through getting customers, doing the project and
closing out the project deliverable. This current process might
be something like:
1) Receive customer specifications
2) Design preliminary floor plan and elevation
3) Send preliminary documents to customer
4) Receive and execute customer changes
5) Create bid for customer contract
6) Run bid through technical and legal departments
7) Ship bid to customer
8) Follow up with customer
9) Negotiate details of bid acceptance
10) Build the negotiated architectural design
11) Oversee construction budget

2. 12) Deliver agreed upon product to customer
13) Receive payment
14) Close out project using lessons learned approach
Your project must fit within the framework of the company’s
business. In other words, if the company builds single family
residences, your project would not be for an office building. It
must be related to a specific type of single family
home/townhouse. Project Overview
The project overview is a report on the project undertaking and
a discussion of the general situation management finds itself in.
This provides important context for the project management
team to use in determining methods, approaches, and
timeframes, as well as a scope.
For example, if building a new home, you should state whether
it will have one or two stories, three or four bedrooms, and any
other rooms that are to be included. There may be important
details regarding the lot, area of town, and other issues such as
landscaping. Be as detailed as possible, since this will assist the
instructor in understanding and ultimately approving your
project based on his/her belief that you have a viable project
topic for a team of 3-4 persons. Objectives
Objectives describe concrete outcomes that a project will meet
so as to be deemed a success. Goals need to be described as
specifically as necessary-but no more specifically than that. The
purpose is not to artificially constrain the project but to limit
the project to as wide a range of acceptable outcomes as
possible. Targets are measurements of how well the goals were
met. For example:
Goals
Targets
1) Provide construction blueprints to customer
Excellent = < 4 days
Good = < 1 week
Acceptable = < 2 weeks
2) Decrease delivery time on all raw materials from 10 days
Excellent = -40%

3. Good = -30%
Acceptable = -15%
3) Reduce amount of rework from inspections
Excellent = -80%
Good = -65%
Acceptable = -50%
5) Decrease cost overruns
Excellent = -40%
Good = -30%
Acceptable = -15%
General Approach
What will be the general project approach taken, in terms of
managerial and technical changes, to create these changes
through the project? For example:
Managerial approach – These items relate to how the managers
will plan, organize, direct and control the project resources
toward the targeted outcome.
Technical approach – These items relate to the procedural
aspects needed, including logistics of moving equipment to and
from the site, designing the blueprints to meet customer
expectations, utilizing computers, etc. Constraints
Describe the things that will limit the project. For example:
1) Budget constraints—This project will increase profitability
by perhaps 30%, but therefore should not cost in excess of three
times this savings to ensure that its payback period is relatively
short.
2) Time—This project must be completed in the time agreed
upon by builder and customer in the contract terms (proposed to
be 90 days’ time).
3) Customer contracts—The project must not impact operations
for current customers nor fail to meet the customer demands for
this project.
4) Regulatory standards—Rework and shutdowns caused by
inspections that are not up to code will delay and potentially
kill the project.

4. Part 2 – Developing the Work Breakdown Structure
Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) for your project
based on the first project assignment. The process is as follows:
1) Create a detailed list of the components of the project,
through work packages, tasks, and subtasks. Use the intended
scope of the project to help you determine all the project
components.
2) Determine the resource needs for the project (i.e., personnel,
facilities, and equipment).
3) Determine the relationships between the project components
and the people. For example, for each component, at least one
person will be responsible for its completion, while others may
be involved as consultants or decision approvers.Example Work
Breakdown StructureAbbreviated Personnel Table
Name
Department
Title
Joe Evans
Accounting
Bid Manager
Sim Elezar
Projects
Project Manager
Kim Astair
Engineering
Systems Architect
Leo Biel
Operations
Operations Manager
Tara Simmons
Operations
Logistics Manager
NOTE: If you do not have names, you can identify the personnel
by job such as Master Plumber, Journeyman Electrician #3,
etc.Abbreviated Sample Work Breakdown Structure

5. WBS
1
Improvement Project
Main Project
1.1
Deliverable 1: Bid response time
Deliverable 1
1.1.1
Map current bid process
Work Package
1.1.1.1
Interview bid team
Task
1.1.1.2
List bid steps and process relationships
Task
1.1.2
Conduct value-added process study
Work Package
1.1.2.1
Determine value added by each process step
Task
1.1.2.2
Separate process steps into necessary vs. unnecessary
Task
1.1.3
Reform process to eliminate unnecessary and non-value-
added steps
Work Package
1.1.3.1
Pare down to only necessary and value-added steps
Task
1.1.3.2
Identify ways to improve and shorten remaining steps

6. Task
1.1.3.3
Create new process map
Task
1.2
Deliverable 2: Increase customer response rate
Deliverable 2
1.2.1
Interview customers
Work Package
1.2.1.1
Create survey
Task
1.2.1.2
Find non-responsive and responsive customers
Task
1.2.1.3
Deliver survey
Task
1.2.2
Analyze removing response rate barriers
Work Package
1.2.2.1
List primary reasons for low response
Task
1.2.2.2
Order reasons for priority/feasibility
Task
1.2.3
Implement new measures
Work Package
1.3
Deliverable 3: Reduce bid complaints and calls
Deliverable 3
1.3.1
Interview customers

7. Work Package
1.3.1.1
Create survey
Task
1.3.1.2
Find unhappy customers
Task
1.3.1.3
Deliver survey
Task
1.3.2
Analyze resolving complaint root causes
Work Package
1.3.2.1
List primary reasons for bid complaints
Task
1.3.2.2
Order reasons for priority/feasibility
Task
1.3.3
Implement new measures
Work Package
1.4
Deliverable 4: Decrease bid package size and complexity
Deliverable 4
1.4.1
Interview customers
Work Package
1.4.1.1
Create survey
Task
1.4.1.2
Identify customers with bid size complaints
Task
1.4.1.3
Deliver survey

8. Task
1.4.2
Determine appropriate bid content
Work Package
1.4.3
Implement new bid construction process
Work Package
1.5
Deliverable 5: Increase customer contract sign rate
Deliverable 5
1.5.1
Identify existing market bids
Work Package
1.5.1.1
Benchmark market leaders
Task
1.5.1.2
Analyze price ranges
Task
1.5.1.3
Analyze bid features
Task
1.5.2
Normalize bid features and ranges to market expectations
Work Package
1.5.2.1
Identify target market
Task
1.5.2.2
Match bid creation process to intended market
Task
NOTE: Instead of the diagram above, you can simply copy and
paste your Microsoft project view obtained by inputting all
tasks, indenting as necessary, and inserting the column WBS for
the coding/numbering. The WBS does NOT include any dates,

9. predecessors or durations. These are aspects of scheduling while
the WBS is simply a breakdown of all aspects of the project
deliverables.
Example Responsibility Matrix
The example above can be modified using letters and/or
numbers instead of the symbols give. You must, however,
explain what it means to be responsible, to support, etc. Also,
given the extensive nature of your real-world project, your list
of work packages (WP) and the personnel involved will be much
more detailed. Instead of the names of people, you may use your
resource job description, such as master plumber, journeyma n
electrician, etc. Again, you can copy from your Microsoft
Project’s Gantt chart/input view at the work package/tasks
level. Do not assign resources to the sub-deliverables (those in
bold lettering).
Part 3 – Project Risk Assessment
You must analyze all risks that could prevent completion of
your project. To do this:
1) Generate a list of likely risk factors. Use sources to support
that these could be possible risks. Do not simply make up things
you believe to be risks without investigating reliable sources.
Internet websites are fine for your research. Be sure to copy
these and cite them in your analysis.
2) Discuss the risks in terms of likelihood and impact. Again, to
do this find sources for support. In other words, if doing a
construction project in Houston in August, and you indicate the
risk of a hurricane then what is the likelihood of a hurricane
hitting the Houston area in that month?
3) Develop strategies for handling (or accepting) these risks.
The above risk analyses will require the following two matrices
with explanations..
First: Risk Assessment matrix requires the research identified in

10. item 1) above. When you determine a number on the scale of 1
to 5 for likelihood, impact and detection difficulty, you should
refer to a designated scale that you determined. For example, 1
might mean 20% or less, 2 might be 21-40%; 3 might be 41-
60%, etc. or 1 might be defined qualitatively as Very Unlikely;
2 as Unlikely; 3 as Somewhat likely, etc. Whatever scale you
use should reflect the research that you conducted. You may
not be able to find as much on Impact and Detection Difficulty
in the literature but, again, define your scale to define your
terms and number scores.
Risk
Likelihood
Impact
Detection Difficulty
When
Major injury requiring immediate medical attention
3 (state here the % of major injuries in construction)
3 (may indicate a short work crew for duration)
1 (easily observed that worker is severely bleeding or in shock)
During the project
Hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast
1 (this will depend upon your project’s start and end dates, I’ve
assumed we are working in November)
5 (must shut down and evacuate the site including all equipment
and loose objects)
3 (weather reports can be followed but often off as to exact
location hit)
During the exterior deliverable
Second: Contingency Matrix clearly indicating the risk and
action taken. Be very clear in identifying your Trigger. The
trigger is that which causes you to put an action into place. The
trigger for a hurricane would be different depending upon the
close proximity of the storm. If the hurricane is 2 days out, you
could mitigate damage by actions to secure the site. If the
hurricane suddenly changed course and you are now in danger

11. of a direct hit, you may have to accept the risk and get people
off site quickly. If it is possible, you could avoid the hurricane
damage by not building in the Gulf Coast area in August. So,
the trigger involves when you see this risk happening.
Risk
Response
Trigger (what is observed)
Contingency Plan
Who responsible
Major injury requiring immediate medical attention
Transfer
Worker has cut hand badly and is bleeding profusely from wrist
Contact ambulance service to take him to hospital
Site supervisor
Hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast
Mitigate
Weather report indicates your site is in direct path of storm due
in 48 hours
Batten down the site; move equipment and personnel to safe
location
Project manager
Overall, be very clear in your analysis throughout these two
matrices and graph. Be sure you research and explain with
Works Cited evident!
Part 4 – Developing the Project Schedule
Before you start your input, you need to specify the
holidays/non-working days in your project. You must also
specify the working times for the project. Default is Monday-
Friday from 8-12 and 1-5. In construction, for example, this
may not make sense. You can set different working days for a
specific resource once that resource is entered in Part 5. You
can also, set different working times for any resource or group
of resources once they are entered. For this section, state your

12. working times and add predecessors and durations for each
activity (not sub-deliverables!) in your WBS from Part 2.
Everything is not “1 day”! And if something is one day, be sure
to remove the default “?” from that duration entry. You can
change your project start date using Project tab and you can
change the default from days. If something takes only a couple
of hours, then type in “2 hrs” and MS Project will convert this
into fractions of a day (if that “days” is your project default).
The scheduling output includes the Gantt Chart view clearly
showing durations, times and beginning/ending dates with the
Gantt chart, the network diagram (or Tracking Gantt), and a
statement of the critical path. Remember that if you group by
critical, you get a list of the critical activities but these may be
on multiple paths. You MUST check your network and/or
tracking Gantt to identify the critical path(s)! Also, a critical
path is a statement of the activities, not the line numbers or an
alphabetic identifier.
Part 5 – Managing Your Project’s Resources
Now, that you have a schedule and ideal project duration, you
must add your resources to each activity. (See Part 6 below for
Resource Sheet view). Overallocated resources will be
identified in the Gantt chart view as well as in other views;
again see Part 6 below. You must resolve any overallocations.
Your resource-leveling procedure should be consistent to
utilizing your resources identified. The key to this is
maximizing the use of project resources while minimally
disrupting your project schedule from Part 4. It may be
necessary to use several iterations. Thus, you must consider
first that the project is time constrained and level within slack.
Identify any resources now no longer overallocated.
If you cannot resolve all overallocations, then level outside of
slack, assuming that your project is resource constrained.
Identify changes made.
Lastly, if neither approach works, rethink your resource usage

13. by Maximum Units and/or allocations to activities.
Your project section should identify what you did and why. It
must show your revised schedule including your new Gantt
chart view, etc. In particular, there is a Report of Who Does
What When that will show your resources as not being
overallocated (Task and Resource Views do this as well).
Part 6 – Developing the Cost Estimates and Budget
For your project we are concerned only with labor costs in
support of your project narrative and scope statement. Your
budget will roll up from the labor costs entered into the
Resource Sheet. If a person is salaried, you need to compute
the hourly cost for this resource. If you have a flat bid rate, you
can enter this as Cost/Use but it will be easier to level this
resource if again, you calculate the cost per worker.
A crew can be entered in more than one way. You can list as
your resource Architectural Designers (for example) and if there
are 2, your Maximum Units will be 200% (2 people working 40
hours per week). If they are paid at different rates, you can refer
to each as Designer 1 with his/her rate and Designer 2 with
his/her rate.
Resource Name
Type
Material Label
Initials
Group
Max. Units
Std. Rate
Ovt. Rate
Cost/Use
Accrue At
Base Calendar
Joe
Work
S

14. 100%
$25.00/hr
$40.00/hr
$0.00
Prorated
Standard
Sim
Work
P
100%
$45.00/hr
$60.00/hr
$0.00
Prorated
Standard
Client
Work
C
20%
$0.00/hr
$0.00/hr
$0.00
Prorated
Standard
Lim
Work
S
100%
$10.00/hr

15. $20.00/hr
$0.00
Prorated
Standard
Leo
Work
P
100%
$25.00/hr
$45.00/hr
$0.00
Prorated
Standard
Tara
Work
E
100%
$20.00/hr
$35.00/hr
$0.00
Prorated
Standard
Kim
Work
E
100%
$20.00/hr
$35.00/hr
$0.00
Prorated

16. Standard
Conference Room
Material
E
$0.00
$250.00
Start
You should Set Your Baseline (budgeted) cost, Save, and Insert
a Baseline column. Then conduct an earned value analysis using
a status date approximately one month from the schedule you
determined after leveling resources. You can insert Earned
Value columns into your Gantt View and/or use the Earned
Value Report for your analysis.
Actual costs can be entered if you turn off the Option (default)
for Microsoft to automatically calculate costs. Then you can
enter the Actual Costs. If you do not have actual costs, you can
use the % Completed assuming that at the status date, you are
on time. This needs to be explained in your report.
Part 7 – Conclusions
You need to relate your project results to your scope statement,
risk assessment, goals, objectives, etc. This is not a section for
what you learned doing the project in this class. It wraps up
your project by stating clearly what you observed. What
changed from the beginning schedule? If you believe that the
duration is now too long, what changes would you consider?
Overall, what statements regarding this project would you give
to management?