Introduction:

Coventry University is one of the, leading institute of England, and comprises of 11 research institutes. Its former name is Lanchester Polytechnic. Its London campus deals with business and management courses. The growth in terms of quality education and admitted students within the School of Strategy and Leadership (SSL) at Coventry University is enormous. The requirement for decorating and constructing state of the art layout of office space in William Morris building is needed to facilitate the individuals affiliated with it. In this I am hired as the project manager for the period of one year for the re-modification of the building within the investment of £3 million.

This report elucidates the phases of planning and development in establishing the new office for the clients. This report explains theories of scope of the project along with exclusion and inclusion. The milestones are illustrated and explained by the Gantt Chart, which is a great management tool. Stake holder management is also addressed in this report along with the greater emphasis on its identification, analysis and planning. In the end risk associated with the business management is also identified and mitigated by the responsive strategies.

Project Scope:

It is referred as the totality of outcomes that results from the input work. The strong and dedicated work with little flaw will provide efficient results and the objectives of settled millstone are easy to achieve. The success of any project is dependent on the input and its scope is also identified by the efforts that are applied initially. If the performance is deviated from perfection then the scope of the project is adversely affected. The major factors that tend to influence the scope of the project include targeted aim, realistic timetables and effective performance along with proper planning. SMART (Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time bound) objectives should be followed while sticking to the goal in order to enhance the scope of the project. Company’s satisfaction is very important so the first consideration, while performing, should be given to the satisfaction of the client. The scope of the current project is to provide quality construction services to the School of Strategy and Leadership (SSL) at Coventry University with dedicated and planned management.

Project Scope Checklist:

The entire project is summarized in the form of project scope checklist. It is the document which provides all the constituents of the overall scope of the project.

Project objective

The objective of the project includes re-modification re- decoration of the office layout and re-location of the furniture and staff office by utilizing the capital of £3 million within a time lapse of one year.

Requirements and Deliverable

Consumables items and construction instruments are also included in the deliverable. Cement, bricks, wood, clinker, paint, wallpapers, floor polishes etc. Market analysis of the required material is also necessary so that the quality within minimal monetary requirement can be adjusted. (Baron, Benoliel and Pincus, 2015).

Milestones

The first milestone is the approval of the document of financial statement or budget within 1 month after proper market analysis. The other one month will be spent on hiring the required staff and in arranging the required construction items. The basic construction and final approval of the initial design required one month and then the work started. By the time period of 6 month all the work is completed and the next one month is dedicated to the paints and arranging furniture for the offices. The space is renovated before one month and this one month is dedicated for extra demand and requirements of the client.

Technical expertise

The Technical requirements include hiring of work force and trainees, architectures, interior designer and other labor. This includes training the staff in terms of coordination and collaborative work(Eliot, 2016)..

Assumption:

Proper budgeting strategy and proper distribution of capital on to different sections is included in the category of Assumption.

Constraints:

The constraints may come in the form of delayed items provisions and in terms of unexpected hazardous in term of construction work.

Exclusions:

Any unwanted circumstance and condition that is not planned earlier is termed as exclusion any accident in the construction site or any damage in terms of deliverable, workforce and technology is treated with the help of exclusion policy (Cadle et al., 2014).

Inclusions:

All the consumables and other items needed in completing the project fall in the category of inclusion. This includes workforce, their training cost and deliverable.

Work break down structure:

Work break down structure is a more sequential approach that divide the objectives and milestones in short segments and all the required detail is properly addressed. This can help in the identification of all the required steps.

Office Layout Project

Finalizing

Training

Hiring

Construction items

Market Analysis

Purchasing of items

Outsourcing

Furniture purchase

Training sessions/ meetings

Project schedule:

Gantt chart

The Gantt chart depicts the timetable of the activities and is represented below.

week	Tasks	Activities	Duration	Start date	End Date	Resource name
	A	Preparation of the initial financial statement	7 days	1/1/18	1/7/18	–
2	B	Preparation of the deliverable list	7 days	1/7/18	1/14/18
3	C	Market analysis and quotation for the items	10 days	1/14/18	1/24/18
4	D	Purchasing of items	6 days	1/24/18	2/1/18
5	E	Hiring of workforce	10 days	2/1/18	2/10/18
6	F	Starting construction work final approval of the basic structure	30 days	2/10/18	3/10/18
7	G	Construction work	6 months	3/10/18	9/10/18
8	H	Paint and other decorative work	20 days	9/10/18	10/1/18
9	I	Final remarks from the clients and further amendments requirements.	10 days	10/1/18	10/10/18
10	J	Purchasing of furniture	10 days	10/10/18	10/20/18
11	K	Final display to the client	1 month 10 days	10/20/18	12/30/18

TASK – ˅ DAYS – ˃	7 days	7 days	10 days	6 days	10 days	30 days	6 months	20 days	10 days	10 days	1 month 10 days
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K

If any of the activity is not performed in accordance with the timetable then the overall management is effected and the timely delivery of office space is not possible. Some activities are merged with other activities also like construction and purchasing of items. The construction of the office includes its re-molding and re-modification by using different woodwork designs and wall designs. This requires time and is continued until the final approval of the client. The basic work is completed in 6 months and the alteration fetches to other one month too. Similarly purchasing of items is also merged with other tasks as due to any unexpected loss of any of the item may require the other purchasing of the items.

Stake holder Assessment:

Stake holders are defined as any individual or organization that invest by any means in the certain project and is responsible in the overall outcome. The interest of shareholders in the project makes the worth of the project and they facilitates in managing the project. There are basically two major categories of stakeholders, the first one are primary stakeholder and the other is secondary stakeholders. The primary one are directly involved in the procedures adopted to complete the project and the secondary one did not share much involvement but they are influential in the procedure (Nanfack, 2015.). The overall decisions can be molded by the secondary stakeholders. Assessment of stakeholders is a step wise procedure and it requires to be done in a systematic way. The major steps of stakeholder assessment include.

1. Identification of stakeholders
2. Assessment of their overall interest and influence
3. Development and implementation of communication management plan
4. Engagement and influencing behavior towards stakeholders

The communication skills are very important in order to deal with the stakeholders (Dlabay, Burrow and Kleindl, 2017).

Identifying stakeholders:

In order to deal with the stakeholders, the foremost step is their proper identification in the category of internal and external stakeholders. The stakeholders that directly connected with the project are called internal stakeholders and those which are indirectly connected with the project are referred to as external stakeholders.

Internal Stakeholder	External Stakeholder
Manager of the project Technical workforce(architecture, plumber, interior designer) Workforce and Labor Focal person from the University	Suppliers of deliverables Government representative for assuring health and safety at workplace Competitors for the post of project manager Outsourcing companies

Assessing interest and influence:

The influence of different stakeholders is different on the basis of their authority and influential power. This may lead to the conflicts of interest, which may in turn become responsible for the demise of the project or the project quality or the delay in the project. It is mandatory that the stakeholders are very well aware about their position. The interaction between stakeholders is measured in terms of cultural and political context. The position, influence and power of each stakeholder are described by the power/interest grid or matrix. It is the most influential tool in project management(Grant, Hackney and Elgar, 2015)..

Level of Power	High	Keep satisfied Trainees, Technical workforce and employees,	Manage closely University focal person Government representative
	Low	Monitor only Competitors Outsourcing agencies	Keep informed Suppliers
			Low	High
Level of interest

Communication management plan:

Communication is the basic requirement for any manager to carry out the work. Around 80 percent of the work is related to management. Collaboration and communication are needed factors in managing stakeholders. In order to build long lasting and trustworthy relationship with the stakeholders communication is required rigorously. This can be achieved by arranging formal and informal meetings along with proper bonding events (Heagney, 2015.). Communication management plan can be handled by the timeline of communication activities. Some of the activities are listed in the table.

Information type	Stakeholders	Frequency	Type of communication	Provider
Planned report for approval	Focal person of university	Bi monthly	Meeting	Project manager
Purchase order	Suppliers	Bi monthly	E-mail and hard copy of required items	Project manager
Task distribution	Staff	weekly	Meeting that include notes taking activities	Project manager

 

Engagement and influencing stakeholders:

Stakeholder’s engagement can be strengthened by regular agenda discussions and by providing them required and timely information. This Policy is very responsive in grabbing the attention and trust of stakeholder. Timely information about the work to the university focal person is very much needed, in order to ensure trust and loyalty. Suppliers should also be informed about the required material before time so that they can deliver timely supplies and the wastage of time could be minimized. Iron triangle in project management related three variables and their particular influence in the management. These variables are cost specific, time specific and scope specific.

The budget of the project is fixed so this project of office setup cost specific. In the similar manner the time is also fixed but according to the gantt chart it is manageable and an extra month is available. Quality is also needed to do the task but specifically it is not mentioned in the requirement. The scope of this project is also a point of consideration. By the proper balance of all these factors the quality can be achieved.

Risk management

Risk is defined as any unwanted situation that may arises in an unexpected outcome. Management of risks involves its proper identification, evaluation and prevention by using various models of management sciences. The early assessment of risks can minimize their occurrence probability. In the present project the significant risk includes unavailability of construction material, exclusions in terms of hazardous accidents and unwanted situations, dissatisfaction of stakeholders that includes focal university person or trained staff. On the other hand some positive risk may also triggers the efficacy of work that includes completion of whole project before time, provision of trained staff from outsourcing companies which reduces time and cost in training session and recruiting employees(Young, 2011.). Risks affect the output of the work in delicate manner. Their presence may influence the overall performance of the project, dramatically. Some financial risk may disturb the budget and they are most difficult to manage.

Response strategies:

Risk can be mitigated with various tools and techniques. These include Delphi technique, SWOT analysis, Root-cause analysis and risk registers Risk can be mitigated by analyzing the root cause of the risks. The major root cause of unavailability of supplies is either delayed order or inefficient supplier. By analyzing the root cause there may comes two solutions. The first one is to include meeting schedule in the timetable and the second one is to choose reliable supplying agencies (Goshim, 2012.).

Delphi technique is utilized in deciding the final design of the office by the mutual opinion of focal person, project manager and architecture. SWOT analysis of risk is also useful tool for analyzing and mitigating of risks associated with certain case.

Strength Strengths of the project are determined in order to avoid risky situations. Investment of the project is the strength in this project.	Opportunity Opportunities are scrutinized so that maximum benefit can be achieved and this in turn reduces the probability of risk. Opportunity to outsource staff rather than hiring and training eliminate financial risk.
Weakness Weakness should be determined and steps are performed in order to minimize the effect of weakness. This will reduces risk.	Threats Threats associated with the project are forecasted and then eliminated by proper planning.

Risk register is updated on regular basis so that the aspect of risks can be eliminated. This is a proper document that is secured with other important documentation of the projects.

References:

1. Baron, E., Benoliel, M. and Pincus, A. (2015). Doing business. New York: DK Pub.

Cadle, J., Eva, M., Hindle, K., Paul, D., Rollason, C., Turner, P., Yeates, D. and Cadle, J. (2014). Business Analysis. Swindon: BCS Learning & Development Limited.

Dlabay, L., Burrow, J. and Kleindl, B. (2017). Principles of Business.

Eliot, G. (2016). The mill on the Floss. New York: Open Road Integrated Media.

Goshim Azeref, A. (2012). Credit Risk Management. Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.

Grant, K., Hackney, R. and Elgar, D. (2015). Strategic information systems management. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Heagney, J. (2015.). Fundamentals of project management.

Nasir, S. (n.d.). International journal of e-entrepreneurship and innovation.

Nanfack, R. (2015.). Stakeholder Management.

Young, P. and Tippins, S. (2001). Managing business risk. New York: AMACOM.