PROJ 587 Effective Communication - tutorialrank.com

PROJ 587 Advanced Program Management Course
Project
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Course Project: Portfolio Management Plan
Your Professor will determine whether the Course Project is an
individual or team assignment. If the project is completed as a team,
your professor will assign teams promptly. (Watch for an announcement.)
Objectives | Project Deliverables | Schedule and Grading Rubric | Paper
Guidelines | Best Practices
Objective
The project for this course is a portfolio management plan for a
company of your choice. You may use your own employer or a public
company you can research to provide necessary details. To get started,
you need to know the company's strategic plan and strategic capacity
plan.
Project Deliverables
Your portfolio management plan should include the content below.
Organization's strategic plan Organization's strategic capacity plan
Portfolio management process Project selection criteria Program
management plan Plan to Identify and resolve possible areas/sources of

conflict related to cost, schedule, or quality Change management plan:
Develop a plan to manage organizational and cultural change and
conflict that may occur due to project/program/portfolio implementation.
Resource utilization plan: Analyze and plan resource utilization to
achieve maximum/optimal capacity utilization.
Schedule and Grading Rubric
Week 2: Outline due (ungraded but required)
Week 4: Draft is due in class Week 4
Week 7: Final portfolio management plan
Week 8: Presentation
Grading Rubrics for Draft and Paper
Category
Points
Description (draft outlines these sections—9 points each)
Draft
45
Organization Strategic Plan Organization Strategic Capacity Plan Flow
Chart of Portfolio Process Outline of Project Selection Criteria Program
Management Plan
Category
Points
%
Description
Organization’s strategic plan

20
8%
Overall mission, long-term goals, and principal methods for attaining
those goals for the organization
Organization’s strategic capacity plan
20
8%
How organization matches resource requirements with available
resources
Portfolio management process
20
8%
Overview of the entire PPM process
Project selection criteria
20
8%
Addresses both qualitative and quantitative criteria for selection
Program management plan
20
8%
Overall plan for how projects in the program will be managed
(especially Quality, Scope, and Schedule)

Plan to Identify and resolve possible areas/sources of conflict related to
cost, schedule, or quality
20
8%
You you’ll ensure that your stakeholders will be “on the same page”
regarding priorities of cost/schedule/quality among the projects in the
portfolio.
Change Management Plan: Develop a plan to manage organizational and
cultural change and conflict that may occur due to project/program/
portfolio implementation
20
8%
NOTE: This is not a scope change management plan but a plan for
promoting, communicating, and gaining acceptance of PMO, PPM
within the organization.
Resource Utilization Plan:
20
8%
Analyze and plan resource utilization to achieve maximum /optimal
capacity utilization
Content Total
160
64%

Contains All Project Portfolio Management Plan Deliverables
Documentation and Formatting
40
16%
Follows APA guidelines for citing sources. Paper may be in a
professional business format, using good design and attractive
formatting. Use of tables, graphics, charts, and other PM communication
elements are encourage. Paper MUST be in a single MS Word document!
Organization and Cohesiveness
40
16%
Good flow and clear presentation of the 8 required content Deliverables.
Editing
10
4%
Corrections made as suggested in the first draft and appropriate peer
reviewed changes made
Total
250
100%
A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the above requirements.
Grading Rubrics for Presentation

Category
Points
%
Description
Flow
50
20%
All parts of the presentation flow seamlessly from one presenter to the
next.
Participation
50
20%
All members of the team present equally.
Professionalism
50
20%
Handouts, PowerPoint, participation, and so on are presented or
conducted in an appropriate and professional manner. Includes actions
of team members when not presenting.
Time Limit
50
20%

The presentation is within the 5–10-minute time limit.
Grammar
50
20%
All participants and materials use proper grammar.
Total
100
100%
The presentation will meet or exceed the above guidelines
Paper Guidelines
Papers must be 10 to 15 pages in length (this would be roughly one page
per area included in the report), double-spaced, and in 10-point font.
They must include a cover page, table of contents, introduction, report
body, summary or conclusion, and works cited. Even though this is not a
scientific-type writing assignment, and is mostly creative in nature,
references are still very important. At least six authoritative outside
references are required (anonymous authors or web pages are not
acceptable). These should be listed on the last page, titled "Works
Cited." Appropriate citations are required (in APA format). All DeVry
University policies are in effect, including the plagiarism policy. Papers
are due during Week 7 of this course. Any questions about this paper
may be discussed in the weekly Q & A discussion topic. This paper is
worth 250 total points, plus 30 points for the rough draft, and will be
graded on the quality of the research topic, quality of paper information,
use of citations, grammar, and sentence structure (see grading rubrics).

Best Practices
Below are best practices in preparing this paper.
Cover page: Include who you prepared the paper for, who prepared it,
and the date. Table of contents: List the main ideas and sections of the
paper and the pages where they are located. Illustrations should be
included separately. Introduction:Use a header on your paper. This will
indicate that you are introducing the paper.
The purpose of an introduction or opening is to
introduce the subject and why the subject is important; preview the main
ideas and the order in which they will be covered; and establish the tone
of the document. Include in the introduction a reason for the audience to
read the paper. Also, include an overview of what you will cover and the
importance of the material. (This should include or introduce the
questions you are asked to answer in each assignment.) Body of the
report: Use a header with the name of the project. An example is, "The
Development of Hotel X: A World-Class Resort." Proceed to break out
the main ideas: State the main ideas and the major points of each idea,
and provide evidence. Show some type of division, such as separate,
labeled sections; separate groups of paragraphs; or headers. Include the
information you found during your research and investigation. Summary
and conclusion: Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing but presents the
gist of the material in fewer words than the original. An effective
summary identifies the main ideas and the major support points from the
body of the report; minor details are left out. Summarize the benefits of
the ideas and how they affect the subject. Work cited: Use the citation
format specified in the Syllabus.
Additional hints on preparing the best possible project are below.

Apply a three-step process to writing: plan, write, and complete. Prepare
an outline of the research paper before going forward. Complete a first
draft and then go back to edit, evaluate, and make any changes required.
Use visual communication to further clarify and support the written part
of the report. Examples include graphs, diagrams, photographs,
flowcharts, maps, drawings, animation, video clips, pictograms, tables,
and Gantt charts.
*************************************
PROJ 587 Final Exam
PROJ 587 Final Exam
*************************************
PROJ 587 Week 3 Quiz

Question :
(TCO A) You work for Holt consulting company, which has been asked
to recommend organizational improvements for CDC Software
Company. You have been assigned to present PPM. Your boss has
informed you that CDC Software Company knows nothing about PPM
and you will need to cover the items below in your presentation.
• What is a PPM?
• Compare PPM, PgM, and Project level
• Benefits of each (PPM, PgM, and Project)
• Why should CDC Software Company implement a PPM?
2.
Question :
(TCO B) In project orientation it is important to determine both the
project needs from the project’s perspective and from the organization’s
perspective. From the project’s perspective, the main areas of concern
are project scoping, project programming, and project autonomy. In your
own words, explain what is meant by project autonomy.
3.
Question :
(TCO C) The program management life cycle was developed to not only
ensure successful realization of organizational/program strategies but
also to create a process to plan, identify, and resolve specific cost,
schedule, or quality problems associated with the program. The five
phases of the program life cycle are formulation, organization,

deployment, appraisal, and dissolution. In your own words, describe the
appraisal phase and how it aids in planning, identifying, and resolving
specific cost, schedule, or quality problems associated with the program.
4.
Question :
(TCO C) The following acronyms are used when working with project
budget or schedule: PV, AC, EV, & BAC. Define these acronyms,
explain how they are calculated, and how they are used to measure or
explain the projects budget and schedule.
*************************************
PROJ 587 Week 5 Case Study THiS Corporation
This is a two part assignment.
Part 1
First, develop project selection criteria and a high level process for
applying the criteria and managing the portfolio. The criteria should be
consistent with the business environment for the industry, consistent
with your company's overall mission/strategies, and consistent with the

mission and strategies of your strategic business unit. You are proposing
a process, not individual projects.
The deliverable for Part 1 is a written proposal for the project selection
criteria and a high level description of a proposed portfolio management
process. You may also be expected to make an informal presentation of
the report in class.
The proposal should be in the form of a memorandum to your Vice
President (your instructor) outlining your proposal. The memorandum
should be no more than 10 pages, including any figures and tables. It
should be double-spaced, 10 or 12 point font with one-inch margins.
This is a summary for an executive, so be concise, to the point, and leave
out the fluff. If you don't need 10 pages to document your proposal fully,
I am sure that your Vice President will be happy with less as long as it is
complete. Using appropriate grammar, spelling, punctuation, and
sentence structure will be part of your grade.
The actual proposal should include the following:
1. A description of the proposed portfolio process. You are explaining it
to the executives.
2. The reasons it was selected (tie to strategies as appropriate.)
3. A description of the proposed selection criteria. How will the process
be applied in your SBU?
4. The method for applying the selection criteria, and the justification for
both. How are you going to score the projects and evaluate the scores?
Hints for a Successful Part 1:

This is not a complete project proposal or even a complete status report.
You are making a specific proposal to management of a “Project
Portfolio Evaluation and Selection Process”.
All reports and memos to executives should include an executive
summary at the beginning. This one is no exception.
The discussion of the organization should be limited to how the SBU
organization supports projects and the PPM process. It is not necessary
to discuss the total company.
Pay attention to the specifics requested in the deliverables. Do NOT
make your memo a list of questions and answers. That is not the way a
business memo is written.
It is easy to select a process that is presented in a reference but you must
propose one that works for your SBU.
When you think you are finished put yourself in the role of someone
who was not working on the solution and read your presentation. You
can assume you know the basics of PPM.
· Does your presentation provide a good description of the process and
how it will be applied?
· Are there obvious questions that it raises that are not answered?
This is not a classroom assignment, it is a business memo. Also it is not
a research report and you are not trying to demonstrate your academic
expertise and how well you are read.
Part 2
In Part 1 of the project, the new Vice President (your instructor) of your
Strategic Business Unit had asked you to create a portfolio management

process and project selection criteria for use by the SBU. It is now time
to apply this process in selecting this year’s projects for your portfolio.
In the annual budget cycle, your SBU was allocated $24 million dollars
of funding uniformly spread over the next year for your portfolio. This
means you have $6 million dollars to spend any given quarter. You may
select any of the below projects to be included in your portfolio, but you
cannot spend more than the allotted dollars allocated to your SBU. Your
task is to select those projects, using your selection criteria, that most
benefit the overall company without exceeding you quarterly budget of
$6 million dollars. You must also lay out a plan for what quarter your
selected projects will start in.
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PROJ 587 Week 5 Case Study
Purpose
The purpose of this case study is to get you used to incorporating
Microsoft Project charts and reports directly into your project’s progress
reports. By now you should be able to work through the mechanics of
loading tasks, predecessors, resources, and costs into MS Project. But

the real challenge facing project managers is how to interpret the data in
MS Project and how to make it “useful” for you and your stakeholders.
In this case study you will be given a scenario and asked to load the
project information into Microsoft Project. However, the purpose of this
case study is bigger than just properly loading the Microsoft Project file.
This case study requires you to interpret the MS Project results and
incorporate the issues and results in your communication with key
stakeholders. Your output of this case study explores the “softer” side of
project management, including how to communicate your results to your
key stakeholders in a clear and concise manner and to include MS
Project views directly in the document to illustrate your points for your
reader.
[NOTE: Please read carefully and plan ahead.Get am early start on this
important assignment. It constitutes 20% of your entire grade for the
course. It is very important that you understand that while the case study
is broken into three sections, you will not be submitting your answer to
each section separately, and you will not receive feedback from your
instructor after each section. Rather, you will work through and submit
your responses to all of the sections at one time--in a single MS Word
document.] Also, take time to practice capturing images from the MS
Project reports and pasting them as graphics into your single Word
document (!!!) so that you submit just one self-contained document that
contains everything your "manager" needs to know. Background
NutroBalance produces a line of weight loss supplements and nutritional
snacks. A couple of years ago it introduced Ultra, a weight loss
supplement geared primarily towards men who lift weights and do
cardiovascular exercises. The Ultra pills have been a big success. Part of
NutroBalance’s strategic goals is to build off of that success by
formulating the Ultra pills to target other segments of the work-out

population. NutroBalance’s board of directors has decided to invest in a
pill called UltraMAX geared toward women who also lift weights and
do cardiovascular exercises. Since the core of the product has already
been produced, the project to introduce UltraMAX to the work-out
world really boils down to seeing if UltraMAX produces as good of
results in women as Ultra does in men.
You have been chosen to be the project manager of this weight-loss drug
study. The board of directors has fast-tracked this project and have given
you 175 WORKING days (NOT calendar days) to identify your target
consumers, have them test the product, and then analyze and report on
the results. Your project (i.e., Task #1) will commence on January 30,
2012. (NOTE: This 2012 date MUST be the start date for your project in
this Case Study!)
You have been given a team of four individuals:
Leontyne, an analyst who is new to NutroBalance but who can help you
recruit and screen test subjects Tristan, a senior level analyst who has
conducted drug studies for NutroBalance before Rinaldo, an IT
programmer Norma, a statistician who is highly competent at analyzing
and interpreting results.
*************************************
PROJ 587 Week 6 Quiz

Question :
(TCO D) As a project manager, dealing with conflict is part of the job.
There are many sources of conflict; one source that is often overlooked
is the manager. Based on the Week 4 reading and lecture, what major
ways do people deal with conflict? Share a personal experience of
conflict and how you dealt with the situation.
2.
Question :
(TCO E) In order to have a high-performance team you must first
recognize the qualities of a high-performance team. Describe at least
five qualities of a high-performance team and then what can be done to
develop those qualities in a team.
3.
Question :
(TCO F) The PMI Code of Ethics is made up of four areas:
responsibility, honesty, respect, and fairness. Discuss the area of respect
and what it means for you, the project manager.
4.
Question :
(TCO F) Value management (VM) is the application of value
methodologies with the purpose of improving organizational
effectiveness. Value management is made up of five subprocesses:

sensemaking, ideation, elaboration, choice, and mastery. In your own
words, explain what mastery is and how it is used in VM.X
*************************************
PROJ 587 Week 7 Team Assignment Course Project
PROJ 587 Week 7 Team Assignment Course Project
*************************************

PROJ 587 Effective Communication - tutorialrank.com

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