Summary: This is an individual assignment where you are responsible for creating a detailed and unique business case, including a project plan, for the project described in the following pages. Your assignment will be in two parts.
Submission deadline: August 7th 2016
Submission modality: Electronically through RKC’s OnlineCampus Please include Part A in
the same document as Part B.
Word Limit: 3000 +/- 10%
You have recently been appointed by the Dundee City Council who is seeking to develop a tram system of its own but they have concerns over the problems that Edinburgh had with their tram project. Your assignment is to write a report on the prospective Dundee tram system as a project – considering what is likely to go well and what not so well. Your report should therefore focus on the project management aspects including the key risks e.g. loss of money and overrunning its schedule and not meeting the performance requirements expected from an infrastructure project of this type.
Part A: Project Plan Presentation notes and slides
Part B: Main report
Part A (20%) involves preparing the presentation of your business case and project plan as detailed in the assignment brief below.
Part B (80%) involves the creation of a detailed business case, project plan, and schedule, and discussion of other relevant issues.
More detail on the assignment requirements is provided in the project brief that follows – continue reading!
Edinburgh Trams is a tramway in Edinburgh, Scotland, operated by Transport for Edinburgh. It is
a 14-kilometre (8.7 mi) line between York Place in New Town and Edinburgh Airport, with 15
stops.
Construction began in June 2008, but after encountering a number of delays it did not open until
31 May 2014. The scheme had an initial estimated cost of £375 million in 2003, but by May 2008,
when contracts were signed, the cost had risen to £521 million. After extra interest payments are
factored in, the final cost is expected to top £1 billion.
Part A (20% of assignment mark)
Preparation of a PowerPoint presentation of your business case and project. You are required to
prepare the slides along with associated written notes for submission with Part B.
Part B (80% of assignment mark)
Produce a detailed business case and project plan, and any recommendations to the
Project Board that you consider appropriate. You may want to use some of the sub-headings
below, but that is entirely up to you: this is not a template.
• Introduction
o Identify the major planning problems with the Edinburgh Tram System and
suggest how project management techniques might have helped to mitigate
these problems for the Dundee project.
• Project objectives
• Performance Measurement/ Management of quality
• Stakeholder analysis
• Activities to be carried out and scheduling including any milestones: your project
plan must include a schedule created with Microsoft Project (MSP) or equivalent.
• Resources to be used including project budget
• Constraints and Risks
• Communications to be used
• Include a bibliography of your sources.
In addition please discuss the following in your report:
• Possible success/ failure factors for this project
• Considerations concerning future operations
