You are a project manager working with a large insurance company. You are based at the corporate headquarters in the Sydney CBD.
The company is nearly 10 years old, and in a recent meeting with your supervisor you were assigned the responsibility for project managing a function to celebrate this milestone. She provided the following brief from the CEO (and founder) in order to better understand his vision for the function.
N The CEO wants the function to be a genuine celebration of the organisation's first ten years and an opportunity to say thank you to all employees and clients and their partners.
N The date is to be as close as possible to the 10 year anniversary - 20 July.
N The CEO also wants the employees to have a "buy-in" to the arrangements in relation to the specific date, venue and entertainment and requested that you ensure that you take all steps necessary to get this "buy-in".
N All employees and current clients (including partners) are to be invited. This is approximately 500 invitations (including fifty from interstate who would need to travel and have accommodation).
N The CEO mentioned that he expected the function to cost between $100,000 and $200,000 (with $200,000 being the upper limit of expenditure), but wants "value for money". He agreed to review and approve the budget after the employee "buy-in" takes place so that he can assess whether the expenditure matches the potential to achieve the real celebration that he has in mind.
N He also wants representatives from the Make a Wish foundation to be present as he wants to mark the occasion with a very large donation on behalf of the company.
After the meeting with your supervisor you reflected on the discussions and decided that one of the key success elements is to include employees in the development of the project. You decide to have meetings with Rick Jaga, Christine Taylor and Bethanie Peters. Rick runs the company social committee and has organised the past two work Xmas functions; Christine is the Customer Engagement Manager and works closely with the current clients; and Bethanie is the office manager for the Melbourne branch, the only other office apart from Head Office.
After phoning each of these people to brief them, you arranged to meet to discuss their thoughts and ideas. Each of them will socialise the plans with their respective teams and share their collective views.
A summary of their views is listed below:
Rick
· Really positive and excited about the planned function
· Shared that the majority of employees wanted a harbour cruise for last Xmas party, but they were unable to book at late notice and was aware of a number of high-end cruise companies that could easily cater for the expected numbers
· Felt that the function should be a formal dress occasion but with a band and lots of dancing for a fairly young workforce
· Full dinner service and finger food as guests arrive; waiters to serve drinks and have plenty of water available
· Thought that a Friday or Saturday night would be best
Christine
· Also really positive and excited about the planned function
· Thought that it would be a great opportunity for the CEO to present the company vision whilst key customers were present and for the customers to see the great values and culture in the organisation in a more relaxed manner than the normal day-to-day environment
· Also felt that the function should be a formal dress occasion but thought the band needed to be a bit more "middle of the road" - nothing too outrageous
· Needed to be a classy, elegant affair with guests seated for dinner at properly appointed table settings - maybe a small gift for guests as a token of appreciation
· Thought that a Saturday night would be best to allow interstate customers time to fly-in
· Suggested that we look at assisting interstate customers with flights and accommodation
Bethanie
· Was pessimistic about whether employees from Melbourne would be willing to pay for flights and accommodation to attend and asked whether the company would cover that cost
· Passed on that a number of the Melbourne team had shared that they hoped the function would be a harbour cruise
· General sense of excitement from the team about meeting their counterparts from Head Office - at least those that they had only spoken with on the phone
· Thought that a Saturday night would be best to allow team members time to fly-in
· Agreed that the occasion was fitting for a formal dress occasion and also thought that it was important to have some corporate presentations, but short and sharp to leave time for people to socialise
· Thought there should be a sit down meal as well as finger food as it would be a night cruise lasting about 4 hours, and plenty of food may help soak up the alcohol
· Also noted that there are a couple of team members with special dietary needs and suggested that this be considered when making arrangements
So, whilst there were some differences, the main themes seemed to be unanimously agreed between the stakeholder representatives.
With this knowledge in hand you set about developing a proposal for approval that the CEO will be pleased with, so that the detailed planning work can then commence. There are two cruise companies that seem very keen to secure your booking and they have both indicated that they could cater for dining on board or arrange with restaurants at Manly, Taronga Park Zoo or Fort Denison (all a quick stroll from a wharf). They suggest that with the number of guests that you are considering, dining away from the vessel would make the cruise more comfortable and enjoyable for guests, especially with setting up the band and dance floor. They suggest a 4.30pm start with an afternoon cruise of the harbour; dinner at 6.00pm and recommence the cruise at 8.00pm to enjoy the nightscape of the city, music and dancing
Assessment Task 1
In this Assessment Task, you are required to prepare an outline of your understanding of the project. You need to complete the following tasks:
1. Prepare a Project Scope Statement using the below template that identifies the important components of the project and the essential components of the project.
2. Prepare an overall Project Statement using the below template that identifies the inclusions, exclusions and assumptions.