Project Management Plan: How National Conference Help Australian Computer Society To Fulfil Their Goals?

Question

Introduction
Thank you for your comprehensive due diligence report setting out the strategy, costs, and timing of ACS’s National conference. It is with pleasure that we advise your organisation of our intention to proceed with Stage 2 – Project Delivery.

ACS would like to proceed with the ACS National conference in October 2019 following presentation and approval by the ACS Board of a Project Management Plan (PMP) prepared by the Project Manager.

REQUIREMENTS OF STAGE 2 – PROJECT DELIVERY
Your team has recently been appointed as Project Manager by ACS for the delivery of the ACS National conference. As Project Manager you are required to prepare a PMP for the successful delivery of the project and secure client approval before implementation.

This PMP is your first significant project ‘deliverable’ and should communicate your intentions for an effective planning and control framework to guide the successful delivery of this project

It is expected that the Project Manager will submit and present the PMP to the client. Following client feedback the Project Manager shall make appropriate changes and resubmit the final PMP for client approval and implementation.

The objective of a successful PMP is that it clearly sets out a plan for ‘management’ of the project and can be clearly communicated to the project team, the client and relevant project stakeholders. Marks will be discounted for padding or excessive detail as this would reduce the Project Manager’s ability to get buy in and ownership of the PMP by the project team/stakeholders.

It will be expected that the Project Manager will use their experience to make informed reasonable assumptions around likely project circumstances in preparing the PMP. Any assumptions made should be articulated to the client through the draft version of the PMP and feedback sought to ensure the final version clearly captures the Principals Project Requirements, which are then linked to the proposed methodology and governance framework.

Below is an extract from the original project brief to remind you of the importance of this exercise in terms of ensuring seamless planning and delivery:

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is a professional association that represents the interests of I T Project Management as a profession across all sectors and disciplines. Its focus is on maintaining the professional reputation of Project Management as a philosophy, provides useful information to its members, runs various training courses and upholds industry recognised accreditation standards

Following the success of recent regional conferences, the board of directors has decided to hold an ACS National conference in October 2019. ACS does not have the in-house capacity to coordinate such an event. As the governing body for Project Management, ACS acknowledges that this event needs to be meticulously planned and delivered to the highest standard possible

REQUIREMENTS OF THE PMP
This PMP sets out the plan for delivering the project and should, as relevant for this particular project, concisely respond to each of the key questions set out below:

1)What?

• What is the project’s Background?
• What is the project’s Objectives?
• What are the project’s Success Criteria and how will the Achievement of the success criteria be Measured?
• What is the Scope of the project?

2) Who?

• Who fulfils the Key Project Roles?
• Who is responsible for the Project’s Governance?
• Who are the Internal Resources on the project?
• Who are the External Resources on the project?
• Who are the Internal Stakeholders on the project?
• Who are the External Stakeholders on the project?
• Who will receive Project Communications?

3) How?

• How is the project being Approached?
• How will the project Risks be identified and controlled?
• How is the project being Controlled?
• How are Procurement activities being planned and who is responsible?
• How will the project be Implemented?

4) When?

• When are the Project Milestone Dates?
• When are the key Meeting Dates?
• When are Key Decisions due?

5) How Much?

• How much money is available in the Project Budget to achieve the set objectives and fulfil the success criteria?

The PMP is a Project Control Document that needs to be approved by the Client. It is also a live document and will be updated as the project progresses through the key Project Milestones. Revisions to the PMP need to be formally tracked and approved by the Client.

Answer

Executive Summary
Australian Computer Society (ACS) examined in this project management plan is a non-profit organisation that wants to conduct national conference for ICT professionals. Several industry experts and attendees will be attended for this project. However, for successful conference event, project management is required by the authority. As ACS is a non-profit organisation they don’t have larger capability resources. Henceforth, this project management document will be quite helpful to determine project delivery. The purpose of this document is to determine project estimation, cost, delivery and other important aspects of management. Additionally, the report will provide risk management, communication, and change management plan. As the senior project manager, with expertise of project management, the components for successful project delivery is determined in this project management plan.

Introduction
The Australian Computer Society illustrated in this project management plan is a professional association which represent interest of information and communication technology members in Australia. Furthermore, the aim of this professional body is to expand professional excellence in IT as well as to promote Australian ICT technology resources for development (ACS - The Professional Association for Australia's ICT sector n.d.). Additionally, ACS focuses on delivery of authorities’ independent knowledge, technology insights, provide useful information to members, conduct several training courses for adoption of technology for benefit of government and society. ACS as a professional body of conduct arranges several regional conferences in the cities. Now, board of directors want to hold ACS national conference in month October 2019. However, ACS is unable to co-ordinate a bigger event for the first time at national level. ACS as the active part of Project Management wants to plan and deliver high quality project. Therefore, project management plan is required so that effective project delivery can be achieved. Project Management Plan will work as first significant project deliverable that will illustrate effective planning and control framework for successful delivery of project. In previous first stage due diligence report was approved. In the second stage, PMP will demonstrate control plan for successful national conference delivery.

The following sections will determine project plan for successful delivery. It includes project description, constraints or difficulties, key project roles, stakeholders involved, project resources, project schedule, cost budget, risk management plan, communication plan and quality assurance evaluation.

Project Scope and Background
Project management plan is a widely used concept that has been implemented by several private, government and non-profit organisation. Furthermore, studies shows that project management is a frequently used tool by organisation to increase their productivity and efficiency (Mir & Pinnington 2014). Australian Computer Society has only one purpose to conduct innovation in ICT community. This national conference is quite important to be successful so that ACS can full fill their goals. These types of events are quite essential so that ICT professionals can have a platform to share their research globally. Therefore, to achieve successful project delivery management is very crucial part. Without proper organisation of the project management and control, conference can have negative impact.

Australian Computer Society was established on 1 January 1966 as the combination of existing state computer societies (Philipson 2017). After so many years, national conference project is taken into consideration for having global reach. Hence, scope of this project is delivering a successful conference for ICT professionals. This report will address project control and monitoring plan so that successful delivery can be achieved.

Aim and Objectives
The project aim and objectives of associated with this Project management plan or PMP document are as follows.

• Establish a project management plan that covers all the major information on project delivery.
• Define key roles and responsibilities for the project team members.
• Provide estimated cost and schedule for project deliverables.
• Create a risk management plan with potential risk and mitigation strategies.
• Create a quality and evaluation criteria for project control and management facilities.
• Provide change management and communication management plan for the project delivery.

Project Plan
The project plan includes various activities which will be taken for planning the whole conference. This part of project management plan will discuss project descriptions, assumptions, constraints, project organisation, key roles, marketing, resources, estimation, cost budget, and stakeholders involved. Furthermore, various types of project plan will be used such as, change management, risk management and communication plan as well as quality control and evaluation.

Project Deliverables (considered how project is approached in steps)
These are project deliverables required for project management plan which will be accomplished while Australian Computer Society’s national conference will be held in October 2019.

1. To contribute to the development of ICT project management industry by conducting successful 3-day conference.
2. To provide various opportunities to the bright attendees by making their connection to the industry experts.
3. To facilitate information for attendees by giving them insights and ideas for career development and day to day work.
4. Implement marketing strategies like social media or brand placement so that sponsorships can be gathered for the project successfully (Cornwell & Kwak 2015).
5. Collaborate and coordinate with team members so that conference can be executed.
6. Licence and administration permit must be provided for guidelines and seeking approval.
7. Proper arrangement of transport facilities such as air or bus for participating attendees for project management plan.
8. Select venue which is near from transport facilities and has ample hospitality requirements.
9. Arrangement of meeting place where workshops and conference will held for three days.
10. Provide food, refreshments, and dinner to the attendees in the evening.
11. Allot certificates to the attendees in the participation of conference event.
12. Implement safety surveillance and regulations for successful project completion,
13. Allocate resources such as hardware and software to the participants.
14. Disclose entire conference in collaboration and cooridination with attendees as well as industry experts.

Project Assumptions and Constraints
Project assumption in project management plan is something that is believed as truth on the basis of knowledge and expertise. Whereas, project constraints refers to something that restrict actions of project team like cost and resources (Assumptions and Constraints in Project Management - projectcubicle 2018). In this section of project management plan, project assumptions and constraints for conference is discussed successfully.

Assumptions

• The total count for people available in auditorium will be approximately 250 including attendees, industry experts and project team members.
• Experienced speakers with good inter personal skills will operate the whole conference for three days.
• Rydges World Square will be the venue where conference will be held for three consecutive days.
• Refreshment like tea breaks, lunch and dinner will be offered to the participants with food and safety measures taken into consideration.
• Occupational health and safety services for the people attending conference in case of emergency.
• From approximately 250 people 50 will be industry experts and rest will be participants, speakers and team members.

Project Constraints
Each project has limited constraints that should be addressed properly. According PMBoK six factors are important and must be considered for project management plan effectively by the project manager such as scope, quality, schedule, budget, risk and resources (Snijders et al. 2013). In this project management plan, these six constraints are assessed as main priority.

• The scope of project involves only 250 people as the conference participants.
• The quality evaluation for facilities of transport and hospitality should be rechecked.
• The project schedule does not have more time. Additional participants cannot squeeze in short time.
• The budget for implementation cost cannot be bound over the estimation.
• Risk can occur anytime within project execution.
• There are only limited resources present for the project delivery.

Project Organisation
The organisation of project management plan includes major key roles that will be played by the team members involved. Furthermore, internal and external stakeholders that were involved as well as project governance structure will be described.

Project Key Roles and Responsibilities

Internal and External Stakeholders
Internal stakeholders of project management plan were those who were involved in this project internally such as project management development team. While, external stakeholders were those who were involved in project indirectly and still had important impact.

Project Governance
The role of Project Governance in project management plan is to determine various stakeholders that are involved in the project. For example, partner board include sponsorships, steering committee include operational, risk, technical and operational manager. Additionally, quality control and other project operations are controlled by project management team. Hence, our project organisation includes these governance bodies.

Source (Project Management Structure - ADAS&ME n.d.)

Project Marketing and Project Resources
The project resources required for project management plan identify the requirements which will be necessary for management of conference.

Human Resources

Technical Resources

Participants

Project Costs
The project budget and cost estimation for project management plan was determined from starting of project, making conference arrangements, project execution to project successful closure. The total cost of project for conducting conference is calculated as $58,000.

What is the Project Schedule for Project Management Plan?
The project schedule is based on three months prior the planning of conference date which is 15, 17 and 17 October 2019. Furthermore, decisions due as well as responsibilities for each task with milestone date is discussed in the schedule below.

Project Risk Management Plan

Project Change Management Plan
Change management discussed in this project management plan is an important aspect which determines requirements of the entire project. Following steps are taken into consideration for change management plan which is conducted for project development.

• Request Project Change: The changes that are considered is requested from the owner effectively.
• Record Project Change: The project changes are recorded for the project management request being made.
• Change evaluation: Evaluate the change processes which are taken after making request and recording.
• Accept: The changes made for project are accepted effectively.
• Endorsement: It is a process in which changes goes through senior authorization and validity.
• Modifications: Modifications are implemented for the change management approval.
• Change announcement: Changes for project are announced in this step of management plan.
• Change anchoring: The changes which are performed for the project are kept into sustainability for longer run.

Communication Management Plan
Just like project management plan, Communication management plan is also essential and demonstrate the communication among project team members, internal and external stakeholders involved as well as other groups that were associated with project management task. Furthermore, plan includes communication stages, audience, medium and frequency of that particular task. The communication plan for national conference planning is defined in below table.

Evaluation and Quality Delivery
To ensure that project delivery is of proper quality evaluation is done for the project management processes. Henceforth, this section of Project management plan underlines various quality control measures that should be taken while conducting project management task. Additionally, this will also monitor project progress and control management.

References
ACS - The Professional Association for Australia's ICT sector n.d., viewed 7 October 2019, .

Assumptions and Constraints in Project Management - projectcubicle 2018, Project management plan viewed 7 October 2019, .

Cornwell, T & Kwak, D 2015, "Sponsorship-Linked Marketing: Introduction to Topics", in , Journal of Sport Management, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 133-136.

Mir, F & Pinnington, A 2014, "Exploring the value of project management: Linking Project Management Performance and Project Success", in , International Journal of Project Management, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 202-217.

Philipson, G 2018, a Vision Splendid: The History of Australian Computing, Australian Computer Society, Sydney, pp. 1-356.

Project Management Structure - ADAS&ME n.d., viewed 7 October 2019, .

Snijders, P, Wuttke, T, Zandhuis, A & Newton, S 2013, Project management plan PMBOK Guide, 6th edn, Van Haren Publishing, Zaltbommel.