Project Management

Maldives National University Faculty of Science

Assignment II

Project Plan Report

Alaska Fly-Fishing Expedition Project Project Management (MGT 215)

AHMED ADNAN (34235) Bachelor of Information Technology

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Table of Contents 1. Executive Summery----------------------------------------------------------------3 2. Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------3 2.1. Project Scope-------------------------------------------------------------------4 2.2. Project Deliverables-----------------------------------------------------------5 2.3. Milestones-------------------------------------------------------------------------5 2.4. Technical Requirements-----------------------------------------------------5 2.5. Limits and Exclusions-----------------------------------------------------------5 3. Project Leadership And Project Governance-----------------------------6 4. Project Scheduling------------------------------------------------------------------7 4.1. Resource Scheduling---------------------------------------------------------7 4.2. Work Breakdown Structure-------------------------------------------------9 5. Risk Assessment And Mitigation-----------------------------------------------10 6. Project Monitoring And Evaluation-------------------------------------------13 6.1. Monitoring------------------------------------------------------------------------13 6.2. Evaluation------------------------------------------------------------------------14 7. Conclusion-----------------------------------------------------------------------------15 8. References-----------------------------------------------------------------------------16

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMERY Great Alaska Adventures (GAA) has been asked to plan a fly fishing trip by the president of BlueNote, Inc. The president is rewarding the top productive management team for their work by giving them an all-expense-paid fly fishing trip in Alaska. The management for GAA will be responsible for organizing and leading this fishing trip. This trip will last for five days in June and be on the Tikchik River, and the cost is not to exceed $27,000. The leadership at GAA will figure out all requirements and meet back with the president of BlueNote, Inc to make sure everything is correct and both sides understand their requirements for this project. This paper will explain why each one of the steps of the project is important. First it is important that a leader be chosen and this person is the project manager that is responsible for making sure everything happens on time and that the project stays on budget. This project is about a fly-fishing trip where the project manager will be from the adventure group and will make a plan where everyone understands what their role is in this trip. 2. INTRODUCTION This project focuses on the planning of five-day fly-fishing expedition that has been arranged for the top management team of Blue Note, Inc. at the request of its president. This expedition is arranged and leads by The Great Alaska Adventure (GAA) a firm that involves in arranging these kinds of outdoor expeditions for organizations and teams. Alaska State is a part of the United States of America where there are more than 3 million lakes under 20 acres areas. Dillingham is a city of Alaska which is set on an inlet of Bristol Bay of Alaska and is very popular part for the salmon industry and outdoor expeditions. Since Dillingham Bristol Bay often sees 20 million Red salmon in its waters every year, it is a superb destination for planning sport fishing such as fly- fishing.

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2.1. PROJECT SCOPE This is a five-day fly-fishing expedition that has been arranged for the top management team of Blue Note, Inc. at the request of its president. The expedition will be arranged and lead by The Great Alaska Adventure (GAA), a firm that involves in arranging these kinds of outdoor expeditions for organizations and teams. The expedition is scheduled to be held at the site located in the remote back country of Tikchik River from June 21 to 25, 2015. Since the area is popular because of its wildlife and rugged terrain, people who wish to engage in sport fishing prefer to be in this area which is also best known for its salmon fishing. The cost of the expedition is not to exceed $27,000. All the expenses of the expedition will be paid by the Blue Note, Inc. however the cost pertaining to their own transportation to the Dillingham base Camp and from Dillingham base camp back to Alaska and the equipment and clothing required for fly-fishing are excluded. Moreover, the GAA will provide Air Taxi transportation from Dillingham to the Camp site one and at the end of the program from the second Camp site located in “Tikchik” River Basin back to Dillingham. Along with that, boat transportation with motors, camping equipment such as tents, cots, beddings and lanterns , three meals a day, experience tour guides and a four-hour fly-fishing training instruction will also be provided. Furthermore, fishing licenses for all the guests along with four experienced river guides will be granted.

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2.2. PROJECT DELIVERABLES The deliverables for this project include the following:  Provide air transportation from Dillingham, Alaska, to Camp I and from Camp II back to Dillingham.  Provide river transportation consisting of two eight-man drift boats with outboard motors.  Provide three meals a day for the five days spent on the river.  Provide four hours fly-fishing instruction.  Provide overnight accommodations at the Dillingham lodge plus three four man tents with cots, bedding, and lanterns.  Provide four experienced river guides who are also fly fishermen.  Provide fishing licenses for all guests. 2.3. MILESTONES  Contract signed January 22.  Guests arrive in Dillingham June 20.  Depart by plane to Base Camp I June 21.  Depart by plane from Base Camp II to Dillingham June 25. 2.4. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS  Fly in air transportation to and from base camps  Boat transportation within the Tikchik River system  Digital cellular communication devices  Camps and fishing conform to state of Alas 2.5. LIMITS AND EXCLUSIONS  Guests are responsible for travel arrangements to and from Dillingham, Alaska.  Guests are responsible for their own fly-fishing equipment and clothing.  Local air transportation to and from base camps will be outsourced.  Tour guides are not responsible for the number of King Salmon caught by guests.

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3. PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND PROJECT GOVERNANCE

Project manager plays the most important role in the project management team. Project Manager is responsible for successful planning, execution, monitoring, control and closure of the project. Project manager has to assemble project management team and assign roles to them. Therefore, it is important that a leader be chosen as a project manager who is responsible for making sure everything happens on time and that the project stays on budget. This project manager for this project will be from the adventure group and will make a plan where everyone understands what their role is in this trip. The leadership at GAA will figure out all requirements and meet back with the president of BlueNote, Inc to make sure everything is correct and both sides understand their requirements for the project.

Project based structure will be used to manage this project in which project managers have a high level of authority to manage and control the project resources. The project manager in this structure has total authority over the project and can acquire resources needed to accomplish project objectives from within or outside the parent organization, subject only to the scope, quality, and budget constraints identified in the project. In the project based structure, personnel are specifically assigned to the project and report directly to the project manager. The project manager is responsible for the

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performance appraisal and career progression of all project team members while on the project which will lead to increase project loyalty. Moreover, complete line authority over project efforts affords the project manager strong project controls and centralized lines of communication. This will lead to rapid reaction time and improved responsiveness. 4. PROJECT SCHEDULING 4.1. RESOURCE SCHEDULING The resources of the project consist of people, materials, equipment, knowledge and time. Organizations typically have limited resources; therefore, tradeoffs on what project resources are expended and when are made every day within project. A resource allocation plan is an important tool in effective management of scarce resources. Resources for this project are:  Motel rooms for two nights,  Fishing licenses,  Meals,  Boats with motors,  Tents,  Lanterns,  Digital cellular communication devices,  Cots,  Bedding,  Transportation flights to and from base camps,  Fly-fishing training,  Medical emergency supplies,  And trained guides. All these resources must be planned in advance and several may need to be reserved far in advance due to constraints of resources. Since this will be the time of year where all the adventure groups that sell flyfishing trip will need the same resources that our company may need,

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it’s vital to make the necessary arrangements to get resources as soon as possible. In a trip like this where one resource is flying people to and from base camps needs to be shared can be done with planning ahead. One of the main problems most projects face is shared resources (Jacob, & McClelland, 2001). If the project manager lays out the critical path of needed resources, he can plan ahead and share some of the resources with other flyfishing groups. For example the plane that is being used could plan certain times that it will pick up passengers from one location in the morning and a second location in the afternoon. Depending on the distance the panes could make even more trips per day. Most of the resources, like the boats, will be used by the group for the whole trip. It is important that the customers know what to expect and that they arrive on time for the fly-fishing adventure. If there are any delays it will most likely affect future fly-fishing trip that are scheduled after this group’s trip. GAA and BlueNote, Inc signed the contract on January 22. Fly-fishing trip will begin with the guests arriving on June 20th in Dillingham, Alaska. They will depart for the fly-fishing trip by flying to Base Camp I on June 21st. They will spend five days and four nights on the Tikchik River. They will then be flown back to the Dillingham lodge on June 25th. The guests are responsible for transportation cost with any fish they wish to return with them.

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4.2. WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE Work breakdown structure (WBS) is a chart in which the critical work elements, called tasks, of a project are illustrated to portray their relationships to each other and to the project as a whole. The graphical nature of the WBS can help a project manager predict outcomes based on various scenarios, which can ensure that optimum decisions are made about whether or not to adopt suggested procedures or changes. The WBS is an extremely valuable tool to the project management methodology. It can make or break a project. It sets the foundation for the rest of the project planning. A solid WBS helps ensure proper project baselines,

estimating,

resource

use,

scheduling,

risk

analysis,

and

procurement. Fig 1.2 shows the work breakdown structure of the project.

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5. RISK ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATION GAA needs to identify all the risks associated with this fly-fishing trip and have contingency plans for any possibilities of problems with the project. It is important to identify all potential risk and then take any actions that may help prevent the risk from happening or make plans that will only be needed in case of emergencies. There is risk that must be identified that could stop the trip from starting or cause problems later in the middle of the trip that could cause it to be stopped. Most of the potential risk can be overcome by planning ahead and developing any training that might help the guides in emergencies. Possible risk are:  Medical emergencies,  Weather conditions,  Late arrival,  Plane problems associated with trip to and from base camps,  Camp sites along river,  Lost equipment,  Communication,  Licenses due to problems acquiring them, or training. Page 10 of 16

Risks are simply the potential for problems that could cause problems in a particular phase of the project (Cohen, & Palmer, 2004). Since by being ready for problems the team and the trip will be successful, project manager must understand that by being proactive and developing contingency plans for all the known risks the final project is more likely to succeed. Risk analysis tools that will identify potential risk and give information that will aid the team will be used. Furthermore, the team will brainstorm possible risk and analyze the potential problems with each of the risk that have been identified. By performing a risk assessment the team can identify all possible risk and the impacts these risks will have on the fishing trip.

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The table below shows Risk Assessment Chart. Risk Event Plane Problems Weather problems

Likelihood

Impact

Detection Difficulty

When

Low

Moderate

Low

To and from base camps

Moderate Moderate

Low

Before and during the trip

Health Problems

Low

Moderate Moderate

During trip

Accident / medical problems

Low

High

Low

During trip

Late arrival

Low

Moderate

Low

Before trip

Lost Equipment

Low

Low

Low

During trip

Communication

Low

Low

Low

During trip

(Cochran, 2012) Once the risks have been identified the team can build a risk response matrix and identify the problem, how to respond to the problem and the person to contact for each type of problem. The table below shows Risk Response Matrix.

Risk Response Matrix Risk Event

Response

Contingency Plan

Trigger

Who is Responsible

Plane Problems to and from Base Camps

Evaluate problem to see time impact

Have 2nd source ready for emergency

Soon as time delay is established

GAA

Have temp. emergency plan in place Guides have training for health emergencies Guides have training for health emergencies Depends on how late arrival

Have emergency evacuation plan ready Have emergency evacuation plan ready Have emergency evacuation plan ready Fewer days of fishing

Trigger depends on severity of weather

GAA

Trigger depends on severity of health problem

GAA/ BlueNote

Trigger depends on severity of problem

GAA/ BlueNote

When customers do not arrive on time

BlueNote

Lost Equipment

Have backup equipment

Have more equipment sent

Once equipment is lost

GAA/ BlueNote

Communication

Have backup at base camps

Have backup equipment

Once equipment breaks use backup

GAA

Weather problems Health Problems Accident / medical problems Late arrival

(Stan Cochran, 2012)

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6. PROJECT MONITORING AND EVALUATION 6.1. MONITORING Monitoring is the routine collection and analysis of information to track progress against set plans and check compliance to established standards. It helps identify trends and patterns, adapt strategies and inform

decisions

for

project

management.

The

figure

above

summarizes key monitoring questions that will be used to monitor this project as they relate to the log frame’s objectives.

Note that they focus more on the lower-level objectives – inputs, activities and (to a certain extent) outcomes. This is because the outcomes and goal are usually more challenging changes (typically in knowledge, attitudes and practice/behaviours) to measure, and require a longer time frame and a more focused assessment provided by evaluations.

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6.2. EVALUATION Evaluation of a project can be defined as an assessment, as systematic and objective as possible, of a project, its design, implementation and results. The main aim is to determine the relevance and fulfilment of objectives,

developmental

efficiency,

effectiveness,

impact

and

sustainability of the project. An evaluation provide information that is credible and useful, enabling the incorporation of lessons learned into the decision-making process of both recipients and donors. Diagram (below) summarizes key evaluation questions that will be used, which tend to focus more on how things have been performed and what difference has been made.

Evaluations involve identifying and reflecting upon the effects of what has been done, and judging their worth. The findings allow project managers and stakeholders to learn from the experience and improve future interventions.

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7. CONCLUSION This fly-fishing adventure may seem like a simple project but when started defining the fly-fishing trip it is more understandable there is more to the task than one might think. It is extremely important to develop a project scope that will help define the trip and will serve both the supplier and the customer needs. The project scope will show everyone involved all the issues and responsibilities of everyone. The project scope will identify the objective of the project, all the deliverables that need to be furnished, a milestone chart that gives a time-line of the project, any technical requirements, limits and exclusions, and all this will be reviewed with the customer to make sure everyone knows what the final outcome is to look like. The project team then can develop the schedule and make plans on the use of resources, identify any constraints, identify responsibilities, address risks, outsource any needed parts of the project, and establish a cost budget. It seems crazy that all this is required for a fly-fishing trip but when a company is selling adventure packages the customer has more expectations than if they went fishing by themselves. The expectations are higher and the results are more demanding. This simple project requires lots of planning and developing to make sure everyone has fun and they remain safe. Since the project team has addressed all the potential risks and resources have been planned the fly-fishing trip will be successful.

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REFERENCES Jacob, D. B. & McClelland, W. T. (2001). Theory of Constraints Project Management: AGI Goldbratt Institute. Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://www.pmiswva.org/vault/jacob_and_mcclelland_2001_theory_of_constraints_pm_intro.pdf Cohen, M. W., & Palmer, G. R. (2004). Project Risk Identification and Management. AACE International Transactions, 1 Cochran, Stanley. February 10, 2012. Milestone Chart. Cochran, Stanley. February 9, 2012. Risk Assessment Chart. Cochran, Stanley. February 10, 2012. Risk Response Matrix.

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