Scenario

Additional Information

During the initiation stage the Project Manager met with the Marketing Director to find out more about the requirements of the promotional calendar and recorded the following notes:

There has been a reduction in the order numbers at the MNO Manufacturing due in part to the increased marketing activities of its competitors. 10% of customers have not re-ordered in this financial year and staff morale is poor. A number of skilled staff have left as a result and replacement staff have not been recruited due to the reduced operation. If the project is successful, a recruitment campaign will be required to fill the existing staff vacancies and there may be a requirement for additional staff. Operational costs are likely to increase because skilled staff are expensive and difficult to find.

In financial terms, there were a total of 1,500 orders in the last financial year, each with an average profit of £2k. The Marketing department believes that sending a promotional calendar to our current and prospective customers would increase orders by at least 10% with a minimum of 10 further orders from the list of prospective customers within 12 months from the date of distribution.

The Marketing Director will be funding the project from the business marketing budget. She believes that the effect of a good company image portrayed by a successful calendar would last into a second year. She has forecast the same increase in orders for a second year and predicts that the annual employee satisfaction survey will show a measurable improvement in staff morale.

A number of alternatives were explored, including:

20% discount for all repeat customers - not cost-effective and very short term

A promotional calendar as a free Christmas gift - would target current and prospective customers and the benefits would last into a second year

A series of television and press advertisements was too expensive

A direct mail shot to all customers - benefit would be short term

Creation of an internet website - would not suit all customers

The calendar is seen as the favored option, as long as the company ' s competitors do not increase their marketing activity. Whilst the Marketing department wants a very high quality, glossy product, the project management team must be aware of the cost this will incur.

Using the Project Scenario and the additional Information provided for this question In the Scenario Booklet, answer the following question.

Which 2 statements should be recorded under the Expected dis-benefits heading?

Scenario

Additional Information

Product Description

Quality notes from the Daily Log

The Director of Information Technology Division (DIT) has been asked to ensure that any changes to the outsourced staff employment contracts adhere to employment law. The DIT will review future job descriptions of the transferred staff before the final contract is signed with the selected service provider.

The service level agreement between MFH and the selected service provider will specify the type and quality of service required. The selected service provider must follow the industry standards for providing outsourced services.

MFH has a quality management system which contains a document control procedure for all its documentation, however this does not include change management.

All project documents will be subject to a quality review. Nominated products will require a formal approval record signed-off by the quality review chair.

Extract from the draft Quality Management Strategy (may contain errors)

Introduction

1. This document defines the approach to be taken to achieve the required quality levels during the project.

2. The Project Board will have overall responsibility for the Quality Management Strategy.

3. Project Assurance will provide assurance on the implementation of the Quality Management Strategy.

Quality management procedure - Quality standards

4. The selected service provider will operate to industry standards for providing outsourced services.

5. MFH document standards will be used.

Records

6. A Quality Register will be maintained to record the planned quality events and the actual results from the quality activities.

7. Configuration Item Records will be maintained for each product to describe its status, version and variant.

8. Approval records for products that require them will be stored in the quality database.

Roles and responsibilities

9. The DIT will check that the employment contracts for outsourced staff adhere to employment law.

10. Team Managers will provide details of quality checks that have been carried out.

11. Team Managers will ensure that the Quality Register is updated with the names of team members who are involved in the review process.

12. The Senior User will review the Product Descriptions of the products to be produced by the selected service provider to ensure that they can be achieved.

Which statement applies to the Roles and responsibilities section?

Scenario

Additional Information

Product Description

Quality notes from the Daily Log

The Director of Information Technology Division (DIT) has been asked to ensure that any changes to the outsourced staff employment contracts adhere to employment law. The DIT will review future job descriptions of the transferred staff before the final contract is signed with the selected service provider.

The service level agreement between MFH and the selected service provider will specify the type and quality of service required. The selected service provider must follow the industry standards for providing outsourced services.

MFH has a quality management system which contains a document control procedure for all its documentation, however this does not include change management.

All project documents will be subject to a quality review. Nominated products will require a formal approval record signed-off by the quality review chair.

Extract from the draft Quality Management Strategy (may contain errors)

Introduction

1. This document defines the approach to be taken to achieve the required quality levels during the project.

2. The Project Board will have overall responsibility for the Quality Management Strategy.

3. Project Assurance will provide assurance on the implementation of the Quality Management Strategy.

Quality management procedure - Quality standards

4. The selected service provider will operate to industry standards for providing outsourced services.

5. MFH document standards will be used.

Records

6. A Quality Register will be maintained to record the planned quality events and the actual results from the quality activities.

7. Configuration Item Records will be maintained for each product to describe its status, version and variant.

8. Approval records for products that require them will be stored in the quality database.

Roles and responsibilities

9. The DIT will check that the employment contracts for outsourced staff adhere to employment law.

10. Team Managers will provide details of quality checks that have been carried out.

11. Team Managers will ensure that the Quality Register is updated with the names of team members who are involved in the review process.

12. The Senior User will review the Product Descriptions of the products to be produced by the selected service provider to ensure that they can be achieved.

The service level agreement looks like any other MFH document.

Project Scenario – Health and Safety Training Project:

ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.

ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.

The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company’s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.

The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.

The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:

End of the Project scenario.

Additional Information:

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.

The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.

The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.

The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company’s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.

The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost- conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.

The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.

The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.

The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.

The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.

The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.

End of the additional information.

Checkpoint reports are being produced monthly. A week after the last checkpoint report was prepared, the team responsible for developing the ' classroom-based training materials ' have realized that they will not be able to deliver the materials to the accreditor by the work package completion deadline.

Which action demonstrates application of the ' manage by exception ' principle?

The project is part of a program to increase the number of ABC courses that respond to legislation. The program manager has instructed the project manager to deliver the ' e-learning course ' incrementally. The project manager has asked the program manager how often the highlight reports are required, and what format the reports should be presented in.

Is this an appropriate approach to controlling progress, and why?

The project executive delegates assurance of sustainability targets to the Sustainability Manager from the portfolio office.

Is this an appropriate application of the organization practice, and why?

During Executing a Work package, specialist products are created and quality reviews are carried out - which management product captures the details of these reviews?

During stage 3, the project scope was extended to include a practice test for learners to take during the training course. The cost of this test will be included in the cost of the course.

The change to project scope was approved and the cost of £2,500 was paid for from the change budget. The project manager documented an increase of £2,500 in the project budget in the business case.

Is this an appropriate action, and why?

Project Scenario – Health and Safety Training Project:

ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.

ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.

The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company’s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.

The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.

The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:

End of the Project scenario.

Additional Information:

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.

The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.

The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.

The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company’s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.

The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.

The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.

The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.

The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.

The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.

The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.

End of the additional information.

PLANS

Here are three events to managing plans for the project.

In which management product (A-E) should the result of each event be recorded?

Choose only one product for each event. Each product can be used once, more than once or not at all.

Project Scenario – Health and Safety Training Project:

ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.

ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.

The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company’s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.

The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.

The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:

End of the Project scenario.

Additional Information:

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.

The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.

The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.

The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company’s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.

The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost- conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.

The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.

The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.

The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.

The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.

The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.

End of the additional information.

DIRECTING A PROJECT

Here are three actions that are carried out as part of the ‘directing a project’ process.

During which activity (A-E) should they be carried out?

Choose only one activity for each action. Each activity can be used once, more than once, or not at all.