Project Management Fundamentals

Assignment Brief Report – 4000 words

1. Report Assignment Background You are employed by a start-up company in the renewable energy sector to oversee the day-to-day delivery of one of their pilot projects. The purpose of the project is to install photovoltaic (PV) modules on 20 houses in a small residential district, which is still being designed. The company will use data from this and other pilot projectsto plan and design their long-term growth strategy. As a project manager of this pilot project, you will need to very closely liaise with the developer, including all their teams, ranging from the design stage, through the building stage, to the landscaping stage, to ensure a successful delivery of the project goals. The power plant, which will provide storage facilities for the energy, generated through the PV modules, and which will be able to buy and sell on any excess of the produced energy, is another key stakeholder with whom you will need to work closely. You will also need to remain engaged with the government in order to effectively manage the subsidies for this initiative.
2. Report Assignment Aim

The aim of this assignment is to prepare an end-of-project report that assesses and evaluates the delivery of the pilot project and offers recommendations about delivering similar future projects on a larger scale. Within your assignment you will demonstrate an understanding of project planning and implementation by designing a project plan and using it for project monitoring and control. Assignment Questions:

• Prepare an end-of-project report that assesses and evaluates the delivery of the pilot project.
• Critically examine project performance and offer recommendations about delivering similar future projects on a larger scale.
• Evaluate strategic recommendations regarding project or programme management for the future.

The report should answer the following questions as a minimum:

▪ What is/was the project aiming to achieve?

▪ Why is/was it important to achieve it?

▪ How will be/was the project undertaken?

The report itself should demonstrate analytical and evaluation skills in discussion of the topic and a clear understanding of strategic project management issues. In order to avoid failing, please do not overuse bullet points, or do not submit just a literature review, as you are required to evaluate a specific project case for the purpose of this report. Number all pages.

Structure of the report All reports should contain:

Title page: giving the following information:

▪ The full title of the work

▪ The award for which the project is submitted in partial fulfilment of its requirements

▪ The year of submission

▪ The word count (excluding acknowledgements, diagrams, references, bibliography and appendices).

Executive summary: A brief summary of the aim, methodology, contents, and conclusions of the report. This section is not included in the word count, but should be no longer than 400 words.

List of contents: A breakdown of the project into its constituent parts and locating them by page number. It is good practice to also include a list of figures, tables and, if applicable, appendices.

Introduction: Presenting and justifying the pilot project (business case) and introducing the approach taken to delivering the project objectives and their alignment with the broader organisational strategy.

Body of the report: This part should be arranged in a way appropriate to the topic, presenting a review of relevant literature, results and discussions and a synthesis of relevant findings, critical analysis of facts and/or ideas, using chapter headings, with paragraphs and spacing for ease of reading and cross-reference.

Conclusions and recommendations: An assessment of the findings along with any recommendations; this section should, explicitly or implicitly, establish the validity of the work in relation to its field.

References: Harvard format citation system must be used for in-text citations and the “References” section at the end of the repo