Students will develop an overall project plan to accomplish the project goals that includes a number of project management tools that help manage risk, cost, and communication throughout the Project Life Cycle.

Deliverables include:
Scope or Statement of Work (SOW) of the Project
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - high level hierarchical chart that breaks down the scope/SOW into deliverables. It needs to include 5 out of 10 knowledge areas.
Schedule - either in Excel or MSProject down to 3 levels that include work packages; Schedule must match the WBS, Schedule will need resource assignment; Time and duration determined
Communication Plan - take the audience/competitive analysis outputs and develop a communication plan based on key stakeholders
Budget - Cost Analysis based on the schedule, resources, fixed cost, etc.

Students may propose an alternative project of their own design that shows attainment of the corresponding course outcome. The mentor must approve the alternative project.

This outcome will include several pieces:

1. Scope or Statement of Work (SOW)
2. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
3. Schedule
4. Communication Plan
5. Budget

You'll likely be submitting 2 different files for this outcome: a Word document and an Excel file. If you want to do your Schedule in Microsoft Project, you're welcome to. If you don't have Microsoft Project, Excel will work just fine.

this may help you

• Projects, Programs, and Portfolio Management

  It is important to understand terms and vocabulary in project management. Often, in the business world, you will find that each business has their own vocabulary for project management lingo. To set you off on the right foot, we will use our base level of understand from the Project Management Book of Knowledge (often referred to as the PMBOK).
  1. Understand the terminology around projects, programs, and portfolio management.
  2. Understand the differences and distinction between projects, programs, and portfolio management.
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  PMBOK Knowledge Areas

  Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. This application of knowledge requires the effective management of the project management processes.A process is a set of interrelated actions and activities performed to create a pre-specified product, service, or result. Each process is characterized by its inputs, the tools and techniques that can be applied, and the resulting outputs. The project manager also needs to consider organizational process assets and enterprise environmental factors. These should be taken into account for every process, even if they are not explicitly listed as inputs in the process specification. Organizational process assets provide guidelines and criteria for tailoring the organization’s processes to the specific needs of the project. Enterprise environmental factors may constrain the project management options.The project processes are performed by the project team with stakeholder interaction:
  Project management processes. These processes ensure the effective flow of the project throughout its life cycle. These processes encompass the tools and techniques involved in applying the skills and capabilities described in the Knowledge Areas.
  Role of the Knowledge Areas
  The 47 project management processes identified in the PMBOK^® Guide are further grouped into ten separate Knowledge Areas. A Knowledge Area represents a complete set of concepts, terms, and activities that make up a professional field, project management field, or area of specialization. These ten Knowledge Areas are used on most projects most of the time. Project teams should utilize these ten Knowledge Areas and other Knowledge Areas, as appropriate, for their specific project. The Knowledge Areas are: Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, Project Procurement Management and Project Stakeholder Management. Each Knowledge Area within the PMBOK^® Guide is contained in a separate section.
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  Scope Management

  Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully. Managing the project scope is primarily concerned with defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project.An overview of the Project Scope Management processes, which include the following:

  • Plan Scope Management—The process of creating a scope management plan that documents how the project scope will be defined, validated, and controlled.
  • Collect Requirements—The process of determining, documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and requirements to meet project objectives.
  • Define Scope—The process of developing a detailed description of the project and product.
  • Create WBS—The process of subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components.
  • Validate Scope—The process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables.
  • Control Scope—The process of monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline.

  In the project context, the term scope can refer to:
  • Product scope. The features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result; and/or
  • Project scope. The work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions. The term project scope is sometimes viewed as including product scope.
  The processes used to manage project scope, as well as the supporting tools and techniques, can vary by project. The scope baseline for the project is the approved version of the project scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and its associated WBS dictionary. A baseline can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison while performing Validate Scope and Control Scope processes as well as other controlling processes.Completion of the project scope is measured against the project management plan. Completion of the product scope is measured against the product requirements . The Project Scope Management processes need to be well integrated with the other Knowledge Area processes, so that the work of the project will result in delivery of the specified product scope.
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  Scope of Work

  The scope of work (SOW) is a formal document that captures and defines the tasks, activities, deliverables and timeline. The scope determines the boundaries of the client project.Your scope of work becomes part of your contractual obligation to your client, so it is important to clearly delineate the entire scope without being too restrictive. The SOW will also help the client plan internal resources to accommodate the project. The SOW should address the following:
  • Work that will be performed
  • Roles and responsibilities
  • Timeline for work
  • Performance measurement
  • Payment terms
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  Work Breakdown Structure

  A work breakdown structure is a key project deliverable that organizes the team's work into manageable sections. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) defines the work breakdown structure as a "deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team." The work breakdown structure visually defines the scope into manageable chunks that a project team can understand, as each level of the work breakdown structure provides further definition and detail.Creating a Work Breakdown Structure is a team effort and is the culmination of multiple inputs and perspectives for the given project. It often consists of Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control, and a Closeout.
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  Project Planning

  Project planning is part of project management, which relates to the use of schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment. Initially, the project scope is defined and the appropriate methods for completing the project are determined.
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  Schedule Estimation

  One of the more difficult activities associated with project management is estimating time and cost.When creating schedule estimates, a good rule of thumb is to under promise and over deliver. To learn more, read articles and other sources linked to this folder.
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  Resource Assignment

  Resource allocation is used to assign the available resources in an economic way. It is part of resource management. In project management, resource allocation is the scheduling of activities and the resources required by those activities while taking into consideration both the resource availability and the project time.Estimate Activity Resources is the process of estimating the type and quantities of material, human resources, equipment, or supplies required to perform each activity.To learn more, please read Chapter 6 from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Fifth Edition and other resources in this folder.
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  Project Life Cycle

  This folder contains information about project life cycle, its four phases and nine critical management processes.Now that the project has been properly defined and the project team appointed, you are ready to plan the project in detail.The project planning phase involves creating a suite of planning documents which help guide the project team through the remaining phases of the project. To learn more, please read the chapters suggested.
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  Network Diagram

  Information on Network Diagram from its definition and importance to tips on how to build a diagram and what to take into consideration while creating it.A network diagram is essentially a flow chart that includes all of the project elements and how they relate to one another. It is widely used because it is easy to read and not only depicts the sequence of activities in the project, but also shows parallel activities and the links between each activity.
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  Critical Path

  The critical path is the sequence of activities that represents the longest path through a project, which determines the shortest possible project duration. The resulting early and late start and finish dates are not necessarily the project schedule, rather they indicate the time periods within which the activity could be executed, using the parameters entered in the schedule model for activity durations, logical relationships, leads, lags, and other known constraints. The critical path method is used to calculate the amount of scheduling flexibility on the logical network paths within the schedule model.To learn more, use the resources in the folder.
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  Forward Pass

  Forward pass is a CPM technique used to determine the early start and early finish date for an activity. It involves moving forward through a network diagram to calculate the activity duration.
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  Backward Pass

  The calculation of late finish dates and late start dates for the uncompleted portions of all schedule activities.Determined by working backwards through the schedule network logic from the project's end date.
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  Project Planning

  The project plan is produced during the planning phase. Although planning starts much earlier—even during the concept phase and requirements definition, the plan cannot be finalized until reasonable estimates of schedules and costs are made.The project plan is the formal document that guides execution of a project. Planning occurs throughout a project; that is, the planning process is dynamic and ongoing, and many planning processes will be repeated during the design and execution phases as changes are made in the project. This chapter will focus on that time at the beginning of a typical project when the bulk of the planning functions are accomplished.The project plan is not a file created and stored in a scheduling software package. The project plan is a dynamic document that coordinates all the various processes and project-planning documents used to manage and control a project. The project manager must understand how to develop a plan that addresses the core processes related to scope, schedule, and cost, as well as the facilitating processes related to risk, procurement, human resources, communication, and quality. The project plan also generates many subsidiary plans, which also are discussed in this chapter. Finally, risk management is discussed in this chapter as well because it is during the planning phase that risks are identified and documented.
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  Monitoring and Control Systems

  The Risk Monitoring & Control process involves the identification, analysis, planning and tracking of new risks, constantly reviewing existing risks, monitoring trigger conditions for contingency plans and monitoring residual risks, as well as reviewing the execution of risk responses while evaluating their effectiveness.
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  Comunication Plan

  The communication plan serves as a guide to the communication and sponsorship efforts throughout the duration of the project. It is a living and working document and is updated periodically as audience needs change. It explains how to convey the right message, from the right communicator, to the right audience, through the right channel, at the right time. It addresses the six basic elements of communications: communicator, message, communication channel, feedback mechanism, receiver/audience, and time frame.A communication plan includes:
  • “Who” - the target audiences
  • “What” – the key messages that are trying to be articulated
  • “When” – timing, it will specify the appropriate time of delivery for each message
  • “Why” – the desired outcomes
  • “How” - the communication vehicle (how the message will be delivered)
  • “By whom” - the sender (determining who will deliver the information and how he or she is chosen)
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  Stakeholder Management

  Stakeholder management supports an organization's strategic objectives by interpreting and influencing both the external and internal environments and by creating positive relationships with stakeholders through the appropriate management of their expectations and agreed objectives. Stakeholder Management is a process and control that must be planned and guided by underlying principles.
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  Cost Breakdown Structure

  A cost breakdown structure (CBS) is simply a way of breaking down and organizing costs in a structured fashion.
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  Cost Management

  Cost management is the process of planning and controlling the budget of a business or a project.Cost management is a form of management accounting that allows a business/project to predict impending expenditures to help reduce the chance of going over budget.
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  Cost Estimation

  Cost estimates are a prediction that is based on the information known at a given point in time.Cost estimates include the identification and consideration of costing alternatives to initiate and complete the project.Cost trade-offs and risks should be considered, such as make versus buy, buy versus lease, and the sharing of resources in order to achieve optimal costs for the project.
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  Budgeting

  How your budget is distributed can determine the success of a project.A project that is completed within the predetermined schedule and reaches the goals set should not in theory be considered a success unless the project meets its budgetary requirements.Therefore project managers would need a high level insight into their financials to ensure the project won’t overrun the initial financial plan.
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  Outcome 2 - Utilizing Project management tools throughout Project Life Cycle