Project Task Execution and Communications

Outcomes addressed in this activity:

Unit Outcomes:

• Identify the purpose and important characteristics of the Change Management Plan.
• Identify the documents that are required to be changed when the project scope changes.
• Discuss the important Monitoring and Controlling techniques you can use when monitoring the performance of the project.
• Effectively communicate to a wide variety of stakeholders about project progress
• Describe the importance and purpose of the Closing process including sign-off.
• Discuss the process for identifying and documenting “Lessons Learned” in the project finalization process.
• Research and execute Project tasks

Course Outcome:

IT499-1: Analyze a complex computing problem and apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.

IT499-2: Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program’s discipline.

IT499-3: Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.

Purpose

In this Assignment you will create/update a WBS – Schedule to include a detailed Project Task Tracking document and continue to develop your Final Project. You will also create a communications piece to update people about the project. It will be a word document (as an email proxy), and you would attach your completed WBS – Schedule Project Task Tracking spreadsheet to the email.

Assignment Instructions

Search the following terms for your project type: “Check Lists,” “Project Guides,” and “Characteristics of a successful project.” Using information obtained from your research and from extending the scenario in an imaginative direction to add detail, you will develop your project task list as you work on the project.

Your research this week should be focused on identifying specific technical areas and tasks related to your project that you may not have previously identified as being important. These tasks should involve new and/or extended learning in the subject area of your project type.

1. Update your WBS / Schedule to include Project Task Tracking (Use and extend your pre-existing WBS / Schedule) following the instructions below.

See below for some detail on the meaning and information contained within these documents.

In any project, execution, control, and monitoring are accomplished using The WBS / Schedule. In many cases, they may be separate documents, but for our purposes, they have been combined into one document. The PM will periodically (daily / weekly) review the task completion progression with the responsible parties and update the WBS / Schedule as required.

You will have already completed a detailed WBS / Schedule. Now you will look to add more detail to it based on what you are actually doing. When the assignment is complete, you will really have a single document WBS / Schedule / Task Tracking document. The updated document will show the tasks that have already been completed and may include new tasks that were not in your original WBS. Did you miss a detail in your original task breakdown? If so, now is the time to add those tasks. If a task is already complete, indicate the date the task was completed.

Your updated and more detailed WBS / Schedule / Project Task Tracking will include the new tasks, completed tasks, and tasks that should have been completed and provide an indication of the status. For new tasks just added use font color Purple.

These statuses should be used (complete / in-process % / not started / at issue). Include data (add these columns to the spreadsheet), status, date completed, planned start date, actual start date, reason description for tasks that are behind schedule or at issue. Highlight problem issues with Red font color and Green Font color for successfully and 100 % complete tasks. You will need to modify the spreadsheet to include status and completion dates as well as explanatory text areas.

1. Create a Project Execution Review – Email (as a word document)

You will send an email to all project stakeholders. The purpose of the email is to provide a brief summary of project task completion. Using a word document as a proxy for the email, provide an explanatory text introduction as to the purpose of the email, stage of the project, and overview of project completion. Also, highlight known problems and successes/progress.

Attach your updated and more detailed WBS / Schedule / Task Tracking document (zip both for dropbox submission).

Assignment Requirements

The project documents are shown to and referenced at the highest level of the organization. In order for your project to be successful, these documents will need to be formatted in a business professional manner. They will be completely consistent, clear, and concise.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is an act of academic dishonesty. It violates the University Honor Code, and the offense is subject to disciplinary action. You are expected to be the sole author of your work. Use of another person's work or ideas must be accompanied by specific citations and references. Whether the action is intentional or not, it still constitutes plagiarism.

For more information on University’s Plagiarism policy, refer to the current University Catalog.

Directions for Submitting Your Assignment

Name your Assignment document according to this convention: IT499_Unit6_Assignment_yourname (use your own name of course). Submit your completed Assignment to the Dropbox for this unit by the deadline.

Review the rubric before beginning this activity.