Project Management for Business

10-year National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT)

Any work submitted after the deadline will receive a mark of 0%.

Assignment Handout date:     w/c 16th June 2014
Assignment Hand in date: Friday 1st August 2014
Turn-It-In upload by 23.55 on 1st August 2014

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ THIS WARNING REGARDING PLAGIARISM

Assessments must be all your own work and must not have been copied in part or in whole from any other source, such as books or the internet, or from other students’ work. If you wish to use another author’s exact words in a short quotation this must be clearly marked up in inverted commas with the exact source given, including page number, so that the reader can clearly see which words have been copied and are not your own. Just quoting references used at the end is not sufficient.

Please see your course handbook or the Faculty website for more information on referencing and university regulations on plagiarism.

Instructions for Submission
Your resit assignment must be submitted either in person or by recorded/special delivery, with a bar-coded cover sheet* attached.   No plastic wallets or presentation folders are required and document should be printed double-sided and only stapled in the top left corner.

(*to print off a bar-coded cover sheet go to the NOVA system: https://webapp.coventry.ac.uk/nova/Students/CourseworkSubmission/MyAssessments.aspx  then login using your normal login codes.  )

Delivery to Module Leader: Dr. James M. Smith at:
c/o George Elliott Reception
Faculty of BES,
Coventry University,
Priory Street,
Coventry
CV1 5FB

Module title:         Project Development and Control
Module Number:    345SAM
Module Leader:    Dr. James M. Smith
Word limit:         1500 words
Learning outcomes assessed:
?    Evaluate current issues in project management and its application in the business environment.
?    Assess the impact of people skills on the management of a variety of different projects.
An identical copy must be uploaded through Turnitin by the deadline given above.

COURSEWORK TASKS:

Part 1:

After Richard Granger was appointed director general of NHS IT, in 2002 he said £2.3 billion will be spent modernising NHS IT over three years; and that key targets will be achieved by 2005. The programme then overran and as a solution, the deliverables and contracts were awarded at local levels and costs were revised periodically. In 2006 a revised cost became £12.4bn over a further 10 year period (up to 2016.) By March 2011 the actual spend was £6.46bn.

Using these project cost estimates, apply the Earned Value method to estimate what, in 2011, the PM would be able to estimate for the likely future costs in 2016.  Critically review and discuss how the original budget overrun would be estimated if the delays in the project were either Indicative or Incidental.
(20)

Part 2:
You have been asked to write a performance review report for the NPfIT project board as if you were appointed to the UK Government’s 10 year National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) system project, which has drawn a great deal of negative publicity from the press.  In the a Computer Weekly news article, Alistair Maughan (2010) states that the NPfIT was ‘… a system that was slow, cumbersome, insufficiently explained and poorly implemented’, which in a series of connected web articles describe s how the project suffered from poor project governance, leadership, stakeholder management and a general lack of management and transparency.
Drawing on relevant theory, you should critically evaluate the case study, focussing your report on ONE of the following two options of project management, and in your conclusions, provide recommendations on how to improve the project in that context. The report should be addressed to the NPfIT Project Board.
The two areas of project management to concentrate on must come from the following list:
1.    Project Governance and Leadership

2.    Project Roles, Responsibilities and Stakeholder Management
(80)

What is expected from students?

You are expected to produce a report that demonstrates an understanding of the project, and applies a theoretical underpinning for discussion and conclusions drawn. Any recommendations made should be justified throughout the report.

A suggested structure is as follows:

Coursework Part/ Report Section
Word count guide (approx.)    Included in word count
?    Part (1) Earned Value     300
?    Executive summary
?    Part (2) Introduction to report    150    x
?    Brief background of the project    250    x
?    Main discussion on two topics     750    x
?    Conclusions and Recommendations    350    x
?    References list
Word Count: minimum1350 to maximum 1650
Tables, diagrams, appendices and references are omitted from the overall word count.
Sections contributing to the word count are indicated.  You may also include tables, diagrams and models.  These do not count towards the word count.  Ensure that all tables, diagrams and models are labelled, include a citation and are discussed in the text.  Appendices and reference list are also not included in the word count.
Please note that an Executive Summary is a summary of YOUR findings and is NOT just a cut down version of the introduction, so use this section wisely and correctly.
Please state the number of words used on the front cover of the assignment.

Case Study Information:
The following links provide an introduction to the case study project.  These should be used as a starting point for your research.  However, for maximum marks, it is expected that you will research more widely on both the case study and theory of project management.
?    Maughan, A. (2010). Six reasons why the NHS National Programme for IT failed. Available: http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Six-reasons-why-the-NHS-National-Programme-for-IT-failed

?    National Audit Office Report (2006) The National Programme for IT in the NHS [online] available from: http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0506/department_of_health_the_nati.aspx

?    House of Commons (2012) Great Britain Parliament Select Committee on Public Accounts. Assurance for major projects fourteenth report of the Select Committee on Public Accounts. [online] available from: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmpubacc/384/38405.htm

Assessment Criteria:
Coursework element    Mark split    Mark given
Student’s proper application of study content to the coursework question
20%
Research and selection of relevant information and examples to support a reasoned case
20%
Synthesis and critical evaluation of theory in the context of the coursework topic
20%
Shows evidence of the ability to critically apply theory to practice
30%
Structure, layout and presentation    5%
Referencing, spelling, grammar and language used    5%
Coursework mark

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