PMP Consultants Pty Ltd 31272 PMP Assignment 2

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PMP Consultants Pty Ltd 31272 PMP Assignment 2

31272 PMP Assignment 2

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY

31272 Project Management and the Professional

Assignment 2 – Spring 2017

Marks: 25 marks (25%)

Submission Components: Hardcopy and softcopy report

Submission Due: 5pm, Wednesday 18 October 2017

Submission To: Assignment drop-box CB11.05 (hardcopy) / UTSOnline (softcopy)

Length: Approximately 9,000 – 10,000 words

Anticipated Commitment: 16-18 hours per student in group

Objectives / Graduate Attributes: 1, 2, 3, 5 / A1, A2, A3, A5, E1, E2, E3

This is a Group Assignment (4 to 6 Students) with Peer Assessment

Background

PMP Consultants Pty Ltd 31272 PMP Assignment 2

The CEO of PMP Consultants Pty Ltd has been in talks with management of the recently reorganised

Vista Events Group regarding initiatives to modernise facilities, introduce new methodologies and

update infrastructure across Vista‟s Australian operations. As stated by the new Managing Director at

their annual general meeting, Vista intend to adopt a much more proactive, disciplined and project-

based approach to doing business, “… leaping ahead from passively organising seminars and club-

tours for visiting speakers and performers to the orchestrating of noisy, extravagant, highly-publicised

and ever-larger entertainment events”.

Vista recently won a bid for running a large full-day concert in January 2019 concluding the Festival

of Sydney. However, as a first-of-its-kind happening they recognise that this will be a challenge to do,

especially since they don‟t have an existing system or procedures capable of managing the

complexities of large events. Consequently, PMP Consultants (with their solid reputation for project

competence) has been invited to assist by preparing a project management briefing paper for the

Vista Board covering development planning for a new Events Management System (EMS). If the

anticipated report is clear, detailed and complete, Vista have suggested this could not only form the

basis for running the Festival concert but potentially lead to a profitable ongoing business

arrangement for PMP including:

1. A proposal for the two companies to jointly develop the EMS and associated software. A success

with this initial venture could prompt a long-term partnership offer for PMP to help Vista fulfil a

range of other (still confidential) entertainment and sports industry projects. These significant

joint activities would become a lucrative (and high profile) income stream for PMP over the next

5 years – plus give a competitive advantage over rival consultancies still unaware of the

aggressive scale of Vista‟s intended market expansion or richness of their client list.

2. A highly regarded submission has potential to see the PMP CEO offered a non-executive

Directorship on the Vista Board of Directors. He regards this potential appointment, if it were to

happen, as an excellent opportunity for personal networking among the high-status peer group of

the entertainment and sports industries, opening business/social options not normally available.

3. Vista‟s parent company, Recreation Amalgamated Holdings (RAH), is considering a „preferred

supplier‟ arrangement with a proven information technology consultancy. The chosen firm would

not only provide services to one subsidiary (such as Vista) but act as primary technology

consultant/advisor to the entire conglomerate. This is an opportunity potentially worth tens of

millions of dollars for the enterprise selected. Exhibiting superior proficiency in working with

Vista could make PMP eligible for the appointment.

Needless to say, professionalism and thoroughness of the project management briefing report is

important for both the future of PMP Consultants and to its CEO personally.

31272 PMP Assignment 2

Tasks

This assignment is based upon the attached project scenario (see page 6).

The project briefing paper must be submitted to the PMP CEO (or member of his executive team) by

the time/date nominated. Failure to meet deadline means your CEO will not be able to deliver it at

Vista‟s June Board meeting where he has been invited to present. This would be highly embarrassing

for him – and with possible „career-limiting‟ repercussions for the associated PMP team members!

The project planning document must contain the following sections (although others can be added):

Section 1 – Business Overview

 Document introduction, purpose and background;

 Objectives of the Event Management System (EMS) and key success criteria;

 Short discussion of the project‟s Measurable Organisational Value (MOV) and potential benefits;

 Outline of project scope (including specific requirements traceability, identification of out-of-

scope items and noting of project assumptions and constraints).

Section 2 – Specific Project Management Planning and Control Strategies to be Adopted

(Hint: refer to lecture notes and tutorial workshop activities for guidance)

 Stakeholder management and communication;

 System development approaches for creating the EMS (i.e. Waterfall vs Agile) and respective

advantages/disadvantages for this project are well discussed and final recommendation made;

 Risk management strategy and planning (including completion of a preliminary risk register);

 Quality management strategy and planning;

 Project monitoring and change control strategy.

Section 3 – Preliminary Project Management Activities and Estimates

 High-level work breakdown structure (WBS) of the EMS project (approximately 100 tasks);

 Task sequencing using activity-on-node (AON) network dependency diagram (NDD). If needed

place a high-level summary NDD in the report body with more detailed AON PERT in appendix

(including a CD or inexpensive USB stick to hold detailed appendices is acceptable);

 Task scheduling on a Gantt chart (must reflect both the WBS and the detailed PERT);

 Identification and discussion of key milestones (should be at least 8 but more are OK);

 Discussion of identified critical path dependencies;

 Best estimate of time duration (with reasoning) needed to complete the project from start to end.

 Validation of project budget using two methods. First, initial „top-down‟ budget ($850,000) must

be realistically allocated to key project phases/activities/deliverables; second, an additional

„bottom up‟ estimate must be undertaken for the same tasks. Outcomes of the cross-validation are

to be discussed and recommendations made (e.g. is the initial budget too high/low? Should a

formal request for budget increase/decrease be made? Should a contingency fund be established?);

 Human resourcing estimate (i.e. Roles needed? How many people? For how long?).

Section 4 – Conclusion

 Relevant approvals desired for key project areas;

 Summary of major points;

 Concluding remarks, recommendations and suggested next steps to get the project underway.

Section 5 – Overall Professionalism and Presentation

 Report looks profession (covered, bound, etc.) – suitable for submission to senior executives;

 Appropriate title page, table of contents, heading and page numbers, grammar, punctuation, etc.;

 Communicates well, concise, good executive summary, good structure and language flow, etc.;

 Satisfactory completion and inclusion of peer assessment forms per instructions on page 3.

The assignment product is a professional-level Project Briefing Report. PMP is, as yet, only engaged

to provide this single deliverable. Further arrangements to develop the actual GMS are still pending -

although PMP hopes to win the contract and a good impression with the initial assessment report will

be central to that happening!

31272 PMP Assignment 2

Assessment

Report Marking Scheme

Remember, this is a professional document for senior management and should look and read as such.

Section 1 + 4 Overview, Conclusion and Recommendations 4 Marks

Section 2 Planning Approaches and Governance Strategies 8 Marks

Section 3 Project Activities and Estimates 10 Marks

Additional Professionalism of Report and Completed Peer Review Forms 3 Marks

TOTAL 25 Marks

Group Work and Peer Assessment Instructions

The assignment will be undertaken by groups of approximately five students and peer assessment

forms are required to be submitted along with the report. The whole group is responsible for team

performance and meeting deliverables. If you have trouble with group organisation or colleagues

within the group (including members not contributing) it is important you settle these issues early. If

conflicts persist then arrange to meet with your tutor (ideally as a whole group) as soon as possible.

Team member contribution should be addressed via the Peer Assessment process. Using the Peer

Assessment form found at the end of this assignment, allocate a mark from five (5) down to zero (0)

for each member of the team (including yourself) along with an appropriate comment. Ratings should

use only whole numbers. A mark of five shows the person is an effective and efficient member of the

team; zero indicates the person has not contributed to the team effort. If all members of the team have

contributed appropriately then a mark of five should be given to all.

You must also indicate on the form whether you prefer to have Peer Assessment applied or not. Peer

Assessment will apply if 50% or more of the team vote in favour. Each completed form should be

placed in a separate envelope (one form per envelope per team member), sealed and submitted with

your assignment. Student name, ID and tutor name should be printed clearly on the envelope front.

 Groups responding YES to Peer Assessment will have the assignment mark weighted by Peer

Assessment rating to give an individual mark. This may lead to some team member(s) attaining a

result less than others and potentially failing this assessment task.

 Groups responding NO to Peer Assessment receive the same mark for all team members.

Repeating Students

If you previously attempted 31272 after 1 July 2016 then you may re-use your mark from that time in

place of undertaking this assignment. If so, you MUST email the subject coordinator with your

request by 5pm, 8 September 2017. Return confirmation should be kept. Failure to obtain written

approval by the nominated date means this assignment is to be undertaken normally.

Submission Requirements

Assignments are required in BOTH hardcopy and softcopy. Final-version hardcopy must be

presented to subject drop-box (CB11.05) or your tutor by due time/date nominated and corresponding

softcopy submitted to Turnitin via the 'Assignments' tab of UTSOnline. Failure to provide a softcopy

will be deemed an incomplete submission incurring a penalty of up to half of the assessment mark.

Assignment Return

Assignments can be collected from the Subject Coordinator after the end-of-term Exam period.

Expected Standard of the Work

You are expected to conceptualise the problem or issue, find relevant references for context, facts,

theory and examples, come up with a point of view and support that point of view with discussion and

citation where appropriate. Your submitted report should be written as a business document submitted

to a business audience (and not simply attempting to satisfy an academic course requirement).

Also, students are reminded of the principles laid down in the "Statement of Good Practice and Ethics

in Informal Assessment" (in the Faculty Handbook). Unless otherwise stated in a specific handout, all

assessment tasks in this subject should be your own original work. Any collaboration with another

student (or group) should be limited to those matters described in "Acceptable Behaviour" section of

31272 PMP Assignment 2

the Handbook. Students should pay particular attention to the recognition of "Plagiarism" as described

in that section of the Handbook. Any infringement by a student will be considered a breach of

discipline and will be dealt with in accordance with Rules and By-Laws of the University. Penalties

such as zero marks for assignments or subjects may be imposed.

Late Penalty

Overdue assignments will attract a late penalty per the Subject Outline. Any special consideration for

late submission must be arranged with the Subject Co-ordinator well before the deadline.

Referencing Standards

All material derived from other works must be acknowledged and referenced accordingly using the

Harvard/UTS referencing Style. The following link will help:

http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/help/referencing/harvard-uts-referencing-guide

Additional

Improve Your Academic and English Language Skills

HELPS (Higher Education Language and Presentation Support) Service provides assistance with

English language proficiency and academic language. Students who need to develop their written

and/or spoken English should make use of the free services offered by HELPS, including academic

language workshops, vacation intensive courses, drop-in consultations, individual appointments and

Conversations@UTS (www.ssu.uts.edu.au/helps). However, HELPS will not proof-read assignments!

HELPS is located in Student Services, on level 3 of building 1 (phone 9514-2327).

The following links also provide extensive information about the services and support available to

students within the Faculty:

 Faculty of Engineering and IT intranet MyFEIT

http://my.feit.uts.edu.au/myfeit

 Faculty Student Guide

http://my.feit.uts.edu.au/modules/myfeit/downloads/StudentGuide_Online.pdf

31272 PMP Assignment 2

31272 SPRING 2017

PEER ASSESSMENT FOR GROUP WORK

SAMPLE

Assignment

Number

Assignment 2

Your Name Brigitte Bardot

Tutor Name Grant Mooney

Student No. Group Member Name

Rating

(0=low, 5=high)

Reason for Rating

11111111 Ben Bolt 4

Contributed less than others. Missed some

group meetings and deadlines.

12222222 Brigitte Bardot 5

Contributed well to all needed tasks

13333333 Bob Brown 5

Contributed well to all needed tasks

14444444 Betty Blue 4

Often late on work contributions which

slowed down other team members.

15555555 Bugs Bunny 5

Tends to do work at the last minute but has

good quality contributions.

Apply Peer Assessment to this Assignment? (Default is NO): YES / NO

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALL STUDENTS MUST COMPLETE THE TABLE BELOW FOR EACH TEAM MEMBER

Allocate only whole marks (no fractions) and place each completed form in a separate sealed envelop

Assignment

Number

Assignment 2

Your Name

Tutor Name

Student No. Group Member Name

Rating

(0=low, 5=high)

Reason for Rating

Apply Peer Assessment to this Assignment? (Default is NO): YES / NO

31272 PMP Assignment 2

CASE STUDY

Vista Events Group

Background

In early 2015, a collection of venture capital investors and small-to-medium sized recreation firms

examined the possibility of amalgamating to provide an umbrella company for the easy management

of large-scale health and holiday resorts around Australia. They decided to form Recreation

Amalgamated Holdings (RAH) - a major publicly listed corporation dedicated to the provision, rollout

and management of recreation services around the country. From this formation, and numerous

subsequent acquisitions of other high value firms in its target markets, the parent corporation now has

five autonomous and substantially-funded divisions: Pacific Resorts Group; Snowy Mountains

Resorts Group; Family Fitness Group; Southern Golf Group; and Vista Events Group. Although

strategic directives and annual profit targets are issued by RAH, each division has its own Board of

Directors, internal operations structure, independent decision making and profit/loss accountability –

thus, operating as wholly-owned commercial subsidiaries within their individual industry segments.

Recently, due to the wide-ranging disparity of systems and capability inherited from its mergers and

acquisitions, RAH has prioritised the development of a suitable integrated infrastructure to administer

the day-to-day needs of clients and staff and to better monitor and provide services to its chain of

affiliates. The subsidiary covering its event management activities, Vista Events Group, has been

given the go-ahead as the first of the five divisions to be modernised. To meet the timeline issued by

their parent company, Vista feels that design of an appropriate information systems architecture (and

development of associated tools) should be outsourced to an experienced consulting group with a

track record of successfully integrating diverse information needs with the latest technological

advances. Upon selection by the Vista Board, this consulting firm would lead the upgrade program

under Vista oversight – and potentially across other RAH divisions once the initial 18-month trial

program with Vista has been deemed successful.

Currently headquartered in Sydney, Vista also has branch offices located in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Traditionally, it has operated as a management company for club tours, speaking seminars and small-

scale entertainments by overseas performers. More recently, it has acquired two rival firms of similar

size, growing total staff to nearly 100 people - prompting an internal reorganisation and the hiring of a

new managing director with very aggressive plans for the expanding company.

During 2017 Vista‟s updated client account and sales structures encouraged them to bid for larger and

more significant engagements, including Australian tours by international artists and the management

of large-scale concerts and performance events. In fact, two months ago Vista put in a bid to manage

an open-air concert scheduled as one of the concluding entertainments for the 2019 Festival of

Sydney. The Festival is a January-long annual celebration jointly sponsored by Sydney City and the

NSW State Government, attracting millions of people into Sydney and with events often televised

across Australia and parts of South-East Asia. Needless to say, it is very high profile. Much to the

surprise of more experienced rivals (not to mention their RAH parent company who weren‟t

expecting things to move so quickly), Vista actually won the contract!

The company is now faced with a serious dilemma. It has people with event management and

entertainment industry knowledge but insufficient information infrastructure to run a concert that is

much grander and more extensive than anything they have ever attempted before. To help overcome

this they have decided to automate as much as possible as quickly as possible – completely replacing

31272 PMP Assignment 2

old equipment with a new technology platform and streamlining internal operations. An immediate

priority within their modernisation program is developing a bespoke software system to integrate

and coordinate the various activities needed to run a significant concert or similar event. This is

urgent. Existing packages they have reviewed have been found unsuited to their needs and Vista

simply cannot afford to have the Festival concert fail - their reputation and future business is now

riding upon orchestrating a successful event!

Vista openly state that they are not information systems project experts. Thus, they have engaged

PMP Consultants to prepare a Briefing Paper outlining work estimates, resourcing and preliminary

planning for building a robust Event Management System (EMS) using a typical project management

disciplines. While it is understood that the organisation actually doing the development work may

have their own methodology for ensuring successful delivery, Vista hope that this initial Briefing

Paper will allow their oversight of the process to be an informed one. Although an initial budget of

$850,000 has been allocated to the EMS project the Vista Managing Director has emphasised that

money is less important than time – they can always allocate further funds to do the work (if justified)

but the EMS must be fully developed, tested and implemented prior to the Festival concert scheduled

for 30 January 2019.

Objectives for the Proposal

To provide for the easy running of significant entertainment events by automating management

processes currently requiring heavy human intervention. At a minimum, this should encompass:

1. Maximising event attendance;

2. Ticketing and registration of audience attendees;

3. Venue management;

4. Easy management of event suppliers;

5. Simplified scheduling and management of performances;

6. Managing the booking of performers;

7. Managing event budgets;

8. Managing sponsorships;

9. Continuous improvement in the operating of future events.

Initial Scope and Requirements

Vista has resolved to issue a contract for a new state-of-the-art, automated and integrated Event

Management System (EMS) to largely replace disparate individual methods currently in use. They

envisage the new system will allow:

 Targeted marketing of an event. The system should be able to manage and track push-advertising

over multiple channels including email campaigns and social/online media feeds as well as

website access. It should also be able to note the schedule and track delivery of paid advertising

segments on mass-market media such as radio and TV.

 Integrated/online ticketing, registration and payment. Permit individuals to acquire tickets using a

number of different online payment options including cash, credit card or PayPal account. Tickets

can be dispatched electronically to an email address for local printing or physically posted to a

mail box if postage details are provided. Tickets can also be sold at the venue itself. Entry to the

event is via electronic registration at the venue gate(s).

 Venue management. A detailed site plan of seating, entry/exit locations, stage areas, service areas,

running of cables, lighting/sound placement, etc. should be able to be easily constructed and made

available for a venue. This will allow attendees, performers and event management staff

knowledge of required service facilities, specialised areas and public-permitted versus off-limit

areas. It will also be useful if management needs to guide emergency services or security to

specific locales within the venue.

 Event risk management. List of mitigation strategies and action plans in case of emergencies

(medical, fire, etc.), poor weather, poor audience behaviour, no-show of performers, etc.

31272 PMP Assignment 2

 Supplier network management. Suppliers for an event should be noted, geographically placed

within a venue and able to be managed during an event. This includes, food/drink vendors,

merchandising, emergency services (e.g. medical), janitorial services, security services, etc.

Specific arrangements, service location assignments and on-call staff details should be recorded

and tracked.

 Performance management. Performance schedule, location for each act (if more than one stage is

to be used), set-up time needed, specialised equipment needed, sound/lighting, back-up

alternatives, etc. should be recorded and tracked for each act booked to appear at an event.

 Artist management. Performer booking details, travel itinerary/arrangements, accommodation

details, entourage associates, special needs, communication contacts, contract details, appearance

fee, additional costs, etc. should be recorded and tracked for each performer (or group) scheduled

to appear at an event.

PMP Consultants Pty Ltd 31272 PMP Assignment 2

 Event budgeting. Expenditures associated with staging an event including detailed tracking of

planned versus actual costs, unplanned overheads, management approvals for cost items, expense

reconciliation against supplier invoices, contingency allocations, etc.

 Sponsor management. Sponsorship arrangements for events should be captured, maintained and

managed. This will allow for sponsor tracking, venue/grounds corporate advertising, access to

VIP areas, patron backstage passes and introductions to performers, sponsor special services, etc.

 Data Analytics. A series of reports should be generated covering events summaries, financials

information, audience numbers, ticketing demographics, etc. These reports should be informative

and useful in helping measure the degree of event success and/or identify areas needing attention

for future events of this type.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. PMP Consultants should include additional scope items in the

briefing paper if such are judged useful/essential to the Event Management System‟s (EMS) final

product. Vista plans on selecting from among a short list of development firms by no later than mid-

January 2018, leaving approximately 12 months for the winning company to complete this project and

deliver a working system. All involved understand that this is a tight deadline but it also has some

very big benefits for both Vista and the partnering consultancy if, together, they are able to pull it off.

Once the EMS is complete, Vista intends investing a further 12 months undertaking a comprehensive

modernisation program (this latter series of projects has yet to be scoped or budgets assigned).

Out of Scope Components (i.e. not to be addressed in your Project Briefing Document)

While some items might need to be later considered for the actual project when it is commissioned,

they are not of immediate interest to the Board. Therefore, for the purposes of the Briefing Paper, the

following items are known to be out of scope:

 Buildings, space and general office fit-out for the EMS Project Office and its staff;

 Administration staffing and support personnel not directly engaged in Project development;

 Back office, financial and other systems not directly related to EMS project development;

 Sourcing of „non-project‟ hardware not directly linked to EMS development/testing (i.e. concert

hardware will be acquired by separate negotiation direct with equipment vendors);

 Provisions for issues and risk related to legislation, environment, land and governing bodies (e.g.

Tax Laws, Immigration Laws, Property Development applications, local council permits, etc.);

 Direct management of the 2019 Festival Concert (although recommendations are welcome).

Additional Notes (some possible project considerations identified)

At the last monthly meeting of the Vista Board certain items relating to the proposed Briefing Paper

were discussed. After the meeting, the CEO of PMP Consultants had an informal discussion with the

Board Secretary and wrote down some bullet points over coffee regarding areas of importance to the

Board. These notes are made available below although the PMP CEO has not assessed their

relevance to preparation of the Briefing Paper – they are almost certainly incomplete, may not be

relevant to immediate project decisions and are not in any set order. However, the PMP CEO has

provided them to help provoke thought about activities the project plan might include:

31272 PMP Assignment 2

1. Sourcing, modifying and installing concert hardware;

2. Preparation of a list of potential suppliers needed by a large concert event;

3. Finding and fit-out of the EMS project location;

4. The Festival Concert venue and start/finish time are yet to be confirmed. At the moment The

Domain on Sydney Harbour is likely but is by no means finalised as discussion with Sydney City

are ongoing. Vista would welcome input from PMP regarding locations and times that would

help assure a good event.

5. Day to day project administration including human resources management, organisational health

and safety compliance, performance reviews, staff leave records, etc.;

6. Warranty period for the delivered EMS system (i.e. length of free support once implemented);

7. Maintenance contract post-implementation (i.e. support arrangements once free period expires);

8. Negotiations with owners of two additional event management firms are currently progressing.

An agreement-in-principle for sale of both companies to Vista is expected by November 2017.

This would increase Vista staff to 190 and extend national coverage to Adelaide and Perth.

9. Planning, development and integration of:

 VIP member cards for Vista-run events;

 Appropriate fall back procedures to replace or bypass equipment;

 Business continuity and disaster recovery planning for any potentially catastrophic event;

 A mobile phone application (mobile app) to easily check event updates (and possibly

additional services for VIP members);

 Co-existence with, or replacement of, pre-Vista websites;

 Backup processes for all data captured in relation to the EMS;

 Data mining and modelling software for ongoing system analysis and improvement;

 Robust security and system software to protect the entire operation.

10. Vista is currently bidding to run an international celebrity golf tournament in late 2019. It would

be run jointly with the NSW Golf Club and with proceeds going to charity. It would be useful if

requirements for such an event would be catered for by the proposed Event Management System;

11. The January 2019 Festival Concert is likely to go after dark into evening. Fireworks are likely.

12. Complete testing of all components to analyse reliability, ease of use, repair and replacement;

13. Some events for which that Vista win management contracts are likely to be recurring at least

annually;

14. Satisfactory testing of the disaster recovery plan;

15. The January 2019 Festival Concert is a family-friendly event so children will be attending.

PMP Consultants Pty Ltd 31272 PMP Assignment 2