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Schedule, Cost Estimate, and Integrated Change Control

Introduction

This portfolio work project includes a project schedule, project budget, and an integrated change control plan, based on your selected business or IT project. You may base your assignment on the Cosmo, Inc. case study, a developer and distributor of wearable technology, or a project of your choice.

Project integration management is defined as “the processes and activities to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within the Project Management Process Groups” (Project Management Institute, 2017, p. 569).

Throughout a project life cycle, processes and activities involved in project integration management include identifying, defining, combining, and unifying processes and activities that are implemented throughout the entirety of the project. Project schedule, costs, and change control are components of an integrated approach to successful project outcome. Change management is considered integrated, because it considers the impact of any change in cost, schedule, scope, quality, risk, resources, or customer satisfaction on all the other factors.

Scenario

For this assignment, choose Option A or Option B; you do not need to do both.

Each option will be graded using the same scoring guide.

Option A: Based on the analysis completed by a task force at Cosmo, Inc., the marketing department is to develop, implement, and test a new marketing campaign focused on maintaining current customer levels and increasing their customer base through the utilization of new technology. Refer to the Cosmo, Inc. business case document in Course Resources for more information.

Option B: You may choose a business of your own. It must include (but is not limited to) the following criteria:

• There is a clear business objective and a specific completion outcome.
• The project team has at least three members in addition to yourself and each member has defined roles and responsibilities
• The completion window is 180 days.
• Cost estimates that serve as the basis for a budget are used as part of the plan development process.

Your Role

You are the project manager.

Requirements

Refer to the Software Preparation and Technology access study in Unit 1 for information on accessing Microsoft Project.

Practice using Project in this course helps prepare you for future professional PM roles and responsibilities. Please use Project for those tasks supported by Project. In addition, you may use a variety of other tools including Microsoft Visio, PowerPoint, and Word, as appropriate.

Use the PMBOK® Guide as the model for developing the deliverables.

Part 1: Project Schedule Activity Sequencing

Create a diagram using software of your choice that shows the logical relationships among the schedule activities that your project involves. Note that finish-to-start is the most commonly used precedence relationship in activity sequencing.

In your activity-sequencing diagram, show logical relationships and consider the following types:

• Finish-to-start – The predecessor activity needs to finish before the successor can start.
• Finish-to-finish – The predecessor activity needs to finish before the successor can finish.
• Start-to-start – The predecessor activity needs to start before the successor can start.
• Start-to-finish – The predecessor activity needs to start before the successor can finish.

Part 2: Project Cost Estimate

Prepare a cost estimate or budget for your selected project:

• Identify the costs of each task and create categories (Labor, Materials, Contractor, Equipment, Misc., et cetera) to prioritize project expenditures.
• Identify and quantify:
  • Constraints: Activities or elements that affect the execution of a project and impact time, costs, or performance.
  • Dependencies: Activities or elements that have either a negative or positive dependency on costs, time, or performance.
  • Assumptions: Factors considered to be certain, without proof, that impact project time, costs, or performance.
  • Provide graphical representation or representations of budget.

Part 3: Integrated Change Control Plan

Design your team’s integrated-change-control-plan document for the project. Include the following items (at minimum):

• Instructions for setting up a change-control board and scheduling recurring meetings.
• Procedures for reviewing and approving requested changes.
• Procedures for managing approved changes.
• Areas that need to be updated after approved changes are implemented.

Preparation

Use the software of your choice to develop the deliverables for this assignment.

This assignment has three deliverables:

• Deliverable 1: Develop an Activity Sequencing document using your choice of word-processing applications, including Microsoft Word.
• Deliverable 2: Using the Cost Estimate Template [XLS] (linked in the Resources), include the following in the Project Cost Estimate or Budget.
• Deliverable 3: Develop an Integrated Change Control Plan document using your choice of word-processing applications, including Microsoft Word.