Scenario
If you haven't already done so, carefully read over the information in the The ATA case study on Kate Greenwood’s experience as an international project manager for The Alternative Technology Association (The ATA).
We recommend you watch *all* of the ATA videos before you begin your assessment activities. You may need to review these specific videos for this assessment task:
Video 1: Introduction to The ATA and its East Timor Project
Video 2: Business Case and Planning
The ATA is a small Australian Non-Government and Not-for-profit Organisation (NGO & NFP) that started an East Timor (ET) Solar Project in the early 2000s. For further information on The ATA’s activities in this area, please refer to their website (http://www.ata.org.au/).
Assume you are back at the beginning of ET Solar project and have been appointed by Kate Greenwood to assist her in planning the execution of this project. Your first task is to put together a Project Execution Plan framework so that Kate can discuss her approach with the CEO before proceeding with further work. This Plan and the associated Business Case will be the main documents on which The ATA Board bases its approval decision. Also, The ATA is planning to approach Google for funding support and will require a sound Project Execution Plan in addition to the Business Case (the Business Case is not part of this task).
Background
At this point, you should have done some research on the type of project execution plans that are in use in various industries. As a minimum, having worked through Modules 1 and 2, you should know the major sections in the project execution plan. You may have noticed through your research that regardless of the industry sector from which the project execution plan comes, the format, (i.e., section headings) is roughly the same.
If you feel out of your depth with too many unknowns and uncertainties or even a feeling of ‘I don’t know what I am doing’- welcome to the world of project management. It is not uncommon that a manager ventures into a discipline that he/she is not familiar with and has to learn ‘on the run’. Between the PMBoK reference, the Module’s notes and your own research, there should be more than sufficient information for you to tackle this task.
We are looking for the thinking that supports your decisions and/or recommendations, and the underpinning logic, not how well you can repeat what you have been taught or have read.
Scope of the task
Kate requires only an outline of all the section and subsection headings of the project execution plan. For example, the Plan begins with an Executive Summary, Project Description and then the Project Management Plan with the relevant sub-plans.
Under each heading and subheading that you have chosen to include in the Plan, within the context of this East Timor Solar project, explain the reason why these sections are needed and the issues that you believe are important to address, with reference to academic and/or professional body publications. Similarly, if you have excluded certain sections from the Plan, explain why they are omitted and what could be the potential risk of not including them, again with reference to the published literature.
At this stage, available information on East Timor in relation to this project is sketchy, though through Kate’s video, you should already have some ideas about the issues she faced during the execution phase of the project. You should include the issues she mentioned in the video under the relevant heading or sub headings as matters that require either further investigation or work so that they can be addressed. Also, you are welcome to conduct further independent research on East Timor to assist you in putting this project execution framework together.