Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in
Project Management
Team Project Requirements

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements

Table of Contents

Contents
Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
Project Selection Guidelines ……………………………………………………………………………………… 3
Project Deliverables …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
Project Charter ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Final Project Deliverables …………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Project Learning Objectives ………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Progress Reports ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Microsoft Office and Crystal Ball ……………………………………………………………………………… 6
Project Schedule………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7
Project Evaluation and Grading …………………………………………………………………………………. 7
Appendix A: Rubric for Team Project Deliverables Team Project Grading Rubric: …………. 9
Appendix B: Team Member Contribution …………………………………………………………………. 11

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements

Introduction
The purpose of the team project is to develop an integrated project management
plan for a project and to plan and track the project throughout its life cycle. The project
requires the students to apply project management tools and techniques covered in this
course to a project that closely models a real-life situation.
In practice, the development of a project plan such as this is the result of a group effort.
Therefore, for the purposes of this assignment, the instructor will assign each student to a
team. This document specifies the detailed requirements of the team project,
including selection guidelines, schedule, progress reports, deliverables, and evaluation
criteria.
Project Selection Guidelines
Each team will select a project based on the interests of its members and consensus of the
team. Each team must select their project, assuming that the team is making a
competitive project proposal to senior management in a customer company. The
proposal is to be evaluated by the client, in a competitive setting, where the proposing
team is competing to win the contract.
The students will have flexibility in choosing their projects. For example, the projects
may include:
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Event management (presidential elections, conferences, Olympics)
Custom system development (IT projects, computer networks)
Construction (remodeling, new high-rise, new home)

The project should have about 25 to 50 tasks. The project could involve development of a
new product or service, or a major revision or release of an existing product or service. It
must be a long-term one, with duration of at least three years. The proposed price
includes cost (budget) plus profit (markup). The budget must include at least the
following three categories of resources:
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Human resources
Equipment
Consumable materials

The emphasis of this assignment is on the management aspect of the project, rather
than the industry- or project-specific issues, such as technology, price estimates, or
time estimates. For example, in a real life project, the technological viability of a project
is paramount. However, in this course, although the project must be reasonably
achievable, its soundness is not a critical factor. Using a construction project as an
example, it is not critical to lay out detailed architectural floor plans, or to make sure all

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements

the equipment and materials are accounted for. Rather, it is important that the project
have a plan, including a work breakdown structure, schedule, budget, etc.
For reference purposes, each team should choose a name for the proposing company and
the customer organization.
Project Deliverables
Project Statement of Work
Each team will first prepare a statement of work for their project for approval by the
instructor, as outlined on page 57 of Heldman (located within the eReserves area of the
Course Resources section).
Project Charter
The next step for the team is to prepare a project charter for review, discussion, and
approval. This should be no more than 10 pages and should cover the following topics in
a conceptual but not analytical manner, as well as addressing any other topics that are
relevant to your particular project:
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Overview
Objectives
Scope
General approach
Schedule
Resources
Human Resources
Risk management plans
Control methods

Consult Chapter 2 of the Heldman textbook. The Project Management Institute,
specifically, the Project Management Body of Knowledge 5th Edition, presents ten
Project Management Knowledge Areas. The scope of the project should be broad enough
to cover at least the following knowledge areas:
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Project Integration Management
Project Scope Management
Project Time Management
Project Cost Management
Project Risk Management
Project Human Resource Management

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements
Final Project Deliverables
The final project deliverable should continue, in no more than 30 pages, to expound upon
the items in the project charter and, especially, provide analysis based on the qualitative
and quantitative tools learned in the course:
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Project selection
Project scope statement
Work breakdown structure (WBS)
Project budget
Project schedule
Project resource allocation
Methods and techniques for monitoring/controlling the project
Risk analysis
Project organization and communication
Any Assumptions and dependencies
Any analysis models and/or techniques (including Crystal Ball Simulation)
Procedures for auditing and closing the project

The final report must be submitted to the designated discussion forum in the course by the
deadline specified in the syllabus. The final report must be in Word with embedded
Excel and MS Project documents, as necessary. However, the accompanying Microsoft
Project (MSP) plans should be submitted as a separate file if it cannot be legibly imported
into the main document.
Microsoft Project
MSP must be used in all cases where it provides the necessary functions for project
management. This includes at least the following:
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Project planning
Budgeting
Scheduling
Resource allocation
Reporting
Project Learning Objectives

Throughout the development of the project plan and the project status report, the
emphasis will be on the use of the tools and techniques presented in this course. This
includes MSP, PERT, Quantitative Risk Analysis using Crystal Ball, Excel Solver,
Earned Value Management and other tools and techniques as appropriate. For that
reason, project plan elements such as the communications plan, procurement plan, human

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements
resources plan, etc, will not be covered. These were included in PMAN634,
“Fundamentals of Project Management”.
Specific learning objectives include:
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Specify goals, requirements, deliverable, constraints, and assumptions, through
working with stakeholders, negotiating with them, and obtaining their approval.
Define project strategy, which is a summary of management plans from difference
management areas.
Specify performance criteria in order to ensure quality.
Specify resources.
Develop budget and schedule using cost and schedule estimates.
Develop project charter, addressing stakeholder requirements and have the charter
approved by the stakeholders.
Specify the WBS using the Scope Statement, SOW, and other project documents.
Control project using earned value analysis.
Develop a comprehensive project plan as a roadmap for project execution and
control.
Produce timely and regular project progress reports. Progress reports must be
reviewed, in a public discussion topic, by other class members and the instructor.
The project team must incorporate review comments, as necessary, in the
following progress report.
Define and refine control limits.
Develop the risk management plan, defining how project risk is formulated and
applied to the project. Also define how the project team responds to both positive
and negative risks.
Obtain final acceptance from the stakeholders.
Progress Reports

As specified in the Project Schedule section, each team will submit their project progress
reports at the specified sessions. Class members will review the reports, providing
insights, comments, or questions.
Microsoft Office and Crystal Ball
Microsoft Project must be used in all cases where it provides the necessary functions for
project management. This includes at least the following:
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Project planning
Budgeting
Scheduling
Resource allocation
Reporting
Tracking

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements

Similarly, Crystal Ball must be used for risk analysis where applicable; for example, in
cash flow analysis, cost estimation, or schedule estimation
Project Schedule
Your project has a number of milestones and a final report. Several of the milestones
require progress reports, as specified below:
Session
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
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9
10
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12

Progress Report
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No

Project Phase
Team Formation
Project Statement of Work
Project Charter
Planning
Budgeting
Scheduling
N/A
Scheduling
Risk Analysis
Monitoring and Controlling
Execution and Monitoring
Final Project Review

Project Evaluation and Grading
Your project grade has three components:
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Team Project Deliverables (TPD)
Team Member Contribution (TMC)
Project Reviews (RPC)

The percentage of each grade is specified in the syllabus.
Your project grade is a function of the following:
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Degree of complexity of the project
o Number, variety, and inter-dependence of tasks
Completeness of the project
Quality and contents of each progress report
Responses to review questions
Clarity of written presentations
Handling of questions following progress report presentations
Reviewing progress reports presented by other students and providing input
following their presentations

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements
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On-time posting of your reports to the designated conference in the course for
class review

Appendix A specifies the evaluation criteria for the Team Project Deliverables (TPD).
Note that your TPD grade is not just for your final report; rather, it is a reflection of
all the progress reports that you have submitted throughout the semester. See also
the course syllabus for additional grading information.
Upon completion of the project, each team member will evaluate the contributions of
other members. The instructor will use this evaluation to assign a Team Member
Contribution (TMC) grade to each student. The Team Member Evaluation form in
Appendix B must be submitted to the Assignments folder.
The Team Project requires a number of progress reports, specified in the Project Schedule
section of this document. All progress reports must be posted to course conferences for
review and discussion by other class members. Each class member will receive a
Project Review (RPC) grade for his or her contribution to these conferences. The
rubric for this grade is the same as the rubric for Class Participation.

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements
Appendix A: Rubric for Team Project Deliverables
Team Project Grading Rubric:
Criteria
Marks
• The project management plan is sufficiently complex to demonstrate all
required project management knowledge areas.
• All the required knowledge areas are substantively and thoroughly addressed
by the final report.
• Each progress report thoroughly covers the topics that are assigned to that
progress report.
• There is evidence of extensive use of MSP for all applicable areas.
A
• There is evidence that the team has studied external references for their
project, and references are cited in the final project report.
• The final report adheres to APA guidelines.
• All deliverables are posted on time.
• Each report is clear, easy to read, free of grammatical errors, and can be
understood independent of other reports.
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The project management plan is reasonably complex to demonstrate all
required and optional project management knowledge areas.
All the required knowledge areas are reasonably addressed by the final report.
Progress reports contain mostly relevant information about the topics that are
assigned to the reports.
MSP has been used for some of the main areas.
The team has studies some external material, and references are cited in the
final project report.
The final report substantially adheres to APA guidelines.
All deliverables are posted on time.
Reports are reasonably clear to read and follow.
The project management plan is not complex enough to demonstrate all the
required project management knowledge areas.
A subset of required knowledge areas are substantively and thoroughly
addressed by the final report.
There is little evidence of use of MSP for the project.
The team has not referred to external sources for their project.
The final report has some violations of APA guidelines.
The report is not easy to follow.
The project management plan is incomplete or not defined enough to
demonstrate all the required project management knowledge areas.
A subset of required knowledge areas are substantively and thoroughly

B

C

D

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements

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addressed by the final report.
There is no evidence of use of MSP for the project.
The team has not referred to external sources for their project.
The final report has major violations of APA guidelines.
The report is not easy to follow.

PMAN635
Quantitative Methods in Project Management
Team Project Requirements
Appendix B: Team Member Contribution
Evaluating Member
Team Member Names
Proactively
communicated with
other team members
Contributed to research
and understanding
Contributed to preparing
progress reports
Contributed to preparing
CSA reports
Proactively moved
forward the task of the
team
Overall grade
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This form is used for evaluating contribution of team members to all team
assignments, including the project and CSAs.
Evaluating member is the name of the person filling in this form.
Across the top, write the names of your team members that you are evaluating. Do
not include yourself.
Evaluate your team members according to the following scale and enter your
overall grade in the last row:
o
o
o
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5: Excellent contribution
4: Good contribution
3: Some contribution
2: Very little contribution
1: No contribution at all