P7+D2 - carry out a review of the project management process and evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used to plan the project.

Jonny Smart

In this essay I am going to carry out a review of my project management process. As well as evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used to plan the project. It is important to evaluate to the strengths, weaknesses and improvements of a project so that the project can improve and expand. My information blog for John Bentley School meets the requirements of the project brief given to me at the start of the project. My brief was as follows; you have been voted by The John Bentley School sixth form to design and create a blog for news and events across the year. The blog will include information about all key dates such as exams, prom, holidays and any another important information. The best way to review my project is to specify the strengths, weaknesses and improvements.

Strengths

My information blog covers important information for a variety of audiences. For example, there is information for different year groups and their parents. In addition, there is a very interesting colour scheme that makes the blog more interesting to navigate. With this in mind, because I chose the simple blog template in blogger, the pages are very easy to navigate. This makes the information on my blog more quickly accessible. A user can quickly access the important information needed with little hassle. However, even though these features are good, it doesn’t mean the blog is perfect.

Weaknesses

Although the information I have is very useful, I could do with more of it. For example, more information like contact details is very handy for parents because if they didn’t find the correct information on the blog, they could phone the school and get a direct and detailed answer.  Furthermore, I could’ve included features that made my blog more interactive so the user finds the blog more interesting. If I wanted my blog to look more professional and complex I could’ve used some my detailed software instead of blogger, for example Squarespace. Blogger is a very basic blogging site and doesn’t offer the more professional features like other sites.

Improvements

After reviewing my information blog; I now know the improvements I need to make. Introducing more information and features that make my blog more interesting to navigate will improve the popularity of my blog. In addition, I also think introducing interactive features will particularly boost this because it is something few blogs have, most modern blogs nowadays are strictly written based. If I was to repeat the process again I would select a more detailed blogging site because blogger is a very basic site which lacks the complex features that other sites use.

In this project I have used various different tools to plan and complete me information blog. To gain a detailed understanding on the success and floors of my project I need to evaluate the effectiveness of these tools.

To gain a detailed understanding of the 5 steps of project management I used Photoshop to create a detailed and informative poster. It was very detailed software tool originally designed for photography. I wanted to use it despite this because I wanted to use the large variety of shapes it has to offer. It was every good at making my poster interesting to look at however, it was difficult to write the text because you can’t produce text boxes to hold the text.

To present some of my findings I used Microsoft PowerPoint to present my work. It is a software program that I am very familiar with. Therefore, it was very easy to use which meant it didn’t provide much time and effort. I was able to make my presentation look very appealing by using the design templates and exporting interesting images into my PowerPoint. However, PowerPoint doesn’t have the more interactive features that software programs like Prezi contains.

To hold all my work in one place I used Blogger so that I could hold all my work in one place as well making it easy for my assessor can access my work.

I used Blogger to write essays as well as import work from different software programs like videos. It was very good at holding my work in an easy and accessible place, as I previously mentioned, there is a very interesting colour scheme that makes the blog more interesting to navigate. With this in mind, because I chose the simple blog template in blogger, the pages are very easy to navigate. This makes the information on my blog more quickly accessible.

If I wanted my blog to look more professional and complex I could’ve used some my detailed software instead of blogger, for example Squarespace. Blogger is a very basic blogging site and doesn’t offer the more professional features like other sites.

In conclusion, in my project management unit I managed to generate a successful and interesting information blog that met the project criteria. It shown important like dates, events and was easily accessible to users. It was successful thanks to the effective software programs I used to complete the tasks. They were all simple programs that performed effectively, saving me time and money.

P5 - Plan a project using IT

P4+M2 - Produce a project specification and assess the impact of potential risks to a project.

Jonny Smart

In this essay I am going to produce a project specification. In a project specification you need to identify the following aspects; stakeholders, business requirements, benefit and success factors, constraints and various other factors. However, these aspects in project specification can uproot some potential risks that can impact on the whole project design. Such as technical issues, costs, team based and inputting and reporting. These are very important features of project management, therefore they should be thoroughly researched and analysed to gain an in-depth understanding. 

A stakeholder is either an individual, group or organisation that has a significant impact on a business. Such as the owner, manager, worker, costumer, supplier, lender or the community. The owner is the person most interested in the profit in the business as they are the ones funding the business. There are two types of stakeholders, internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. External stakeholders are groups outside the company, for example costumers. Whereas, internal stakeholders are people inside the company like the owners or managers. Stakeholders are important in any project specification because they are they groups of people who are needed for the company to run.

In a business there are a few business requirements that must be met for a project to function correctly. Such as standards, customer satisfaction and company objectives. If a company has poor standards, they will struggle to perform tasks properly. In addition, if they have poor customer satisfaction they will have few customers returning to their business and they will go elsewhere instead. A business also needs objectives or targets to meet so that the company can expand and improve.

In project management there are many contributing success factors that should be considered in the project specification. Such as solid testing, communication and staff involvement. When projects lack these success factors they are likely to miss deadlines, disagree on important business decisions. It is important to consider these factors when planning the specification for a project.

Constraints are restrictions in project management that limit the project reaching its objectives. The most influential constraints are the cost, schedule and scope. The cost for resources is important in any project and most projects will need extensive financial support. Therefore, when planning the specification for a project you must make sure you have the correct amount of financial support to fund the project. Keeping up to date with the schedule of the project is also very important. Monitoring your time productively is a very useful skill to have in a project or business because in a professional environment, time is money. Products will have a specific deadline which should be met because it will affect the profits of the organisation. Another constraint is the scope. The scope is usually decided at the start of the project; it is designed to decide whether the project will be successful. However, the scope can also change during the project and the final outcome can change. The schedule and the cost are very influential aspects that provide evidence for the scope. Therefore, the scope is a very important constraint which the project manager should consider seriously when planning the specification of the project.

In this part of the essay I am going to assess the potential risks to a project. Risks are also very important to understand when planning a project because they can affect the overall outcome of the project. Risks like time, communication, finance and skills can potentially impact of the final result of the project. Needless to say, that this should be assessed in great detail to gain the best understanding.

Time is one of the biggest problems project managers face, if your project doesn’t calculate the correct amount of time to complete the project there can be saviour consequences. By missing deadlines, you are risking the functionality of the company. A successful project needs to be functional as well as effective.

Communication skills is something employers look for when employing a new colleague. Effective communication is useful for many things; it can improve interaction with other members of the team as well as help transfer improving ideas to the company or organisation.  Communication can also be digitally transferred through email or social networking sites. With this in mind, if a colleague struggles to confidently communicate to other people or the company hasn’t established a company email account they will lack an effective communication system. This can lead to potential misunderstandings between colleagues. They would also lack important convocations that notify the strengths and weaknesses of the company, meaning the company will never move on and improve.

Finance, as I have previously mentioned, is vital in a project. It is important to have the correct amount of finance to support the project. The cost for resources is important in any project and most projects will need extensive financial support to fund these resources. Without the correct finance the project manager won’t be able to employ workers, provide the correct equipment or supply the much needed resources to build the project. 

Skills are important in any project; they help us to develop talents which we can us in our professions.  However, a lack of skills can restrict the projects progression. One of the project managers most important jobs is to select the correct people with the correct skills for the project on hand. If the project manager doesn’t select the correct employees with the right skill set, they will have to spend more time and money on training these employees with the correct skills. As a result, they would be behind on schedule and therefore, the lack of skills would impact on the functionality of the project.

In conclusion, there are many potential risks to project management. Risks are very important to understand when planning a project because they can affect the overall outcome of the project. Risks like time, communication, finance and skills can potentially impact of the final result of the project. It is vital project managers consider the features of project specification as well as the risks to ensure the success of the project.

P3- Discuss issues affecting project management.

Jonny Smart

In this essay I am going to discuss the issue affecting project management. Needless to say, project management is a very complex industry which brings up new issues all the time. Such as motivation, communication, corrective actions and legislation. These factors can influence project management negatively as well as positively. Therefore, it is very important for project managers to understand the positive and negative effects caused by these factors.  

Motivation is key in any situation, having a passion or interest for a specific job can boost your motivation and therefore improving your effectiveness in that task. However, a lack of motivation can have the opposite effect. Colleagues who have no interest in being a part of the project can have a negative effect on the team’s performance. Tasks will take longer and the colleague in question would be extremely awkward to work with. If a project manager finds himself in this awkward situation there are many ways to improve a colleague’s motivation. Such as; a pay rise, positive attitude towards the colleague or assign them a job that they have a better interest in.

Communication skills is something employers look for when employing a new colleague. Effective communication is useful for many things; it can improve interaction with other members of the team as well as help transfer improving ideas to the company or organisation.  Communication can also be digitally transferred through email or social networking sites. With this in mind, if a colleague struggles to confidently communicate to other people or the company hasn’t established a company email account they will lack an effective communication system. This can lead to potential misunderstandings between colleagues. They would also lack important convocations that notify the strengths and weaknesses of the company, meaning the company will never move on and improve.

Corrective Actions is where weaknesses in the project are rectified. Its main purpose is to make sure the project on track meeting deadlines, budgets and targets. It is important the project sticks to the original project plan, the correction action is used to ensure it is. Therefore, it is a positive influence of project management as it can improve the performance of the project so that the project meets the criteria of the original project plan.

Guidelines and Legislation must be followed by project management; they are rules that give rights to employees, for example the Data Protection Act. There have been many Data Protection acts over the years (1984, 1998, 2000) and their main purpose is to protect personal information from unauthorised users. This information could be names, addresses, contact information, employment history, medical conditions, convictions and credit history. These guidelines are put in place to protect colleagues and act as a positive influence in project management.

In conclusion, these factors can influence project management negatively as well as positively. Therefore, it is very important for project managers to understand the positive and negative effects caused by these factors in project management. Motivation, communication, corrective actions and legislation and guidelines are common factors in project management, therefore it is crucial a project manager is notified on the potential impact of these factors so that their project is successful. 

P1+M1

P2+D1