Assessment Task 2: Project communication management

Task summary

In this assessment task, you are required to create a project communication management plan to support the objectives of a case study project. You are also required to establish and modify a cloud-based project information management system.

This assessment is to be completed in the simulated work environment in the RTO.

Required

· Access to textbooks and other learning materials

· Computer with Microsoft Office and internet access

· Project Management Policy and Procedures

· Project Communication Management Plan Template

· Place for a meeting

· Role play participants

Timing

Your assessor will advise you of the due date of these submissions.

Submit

· Answer all questions

· Email with Draft Project Communication Management Plan attached.

· Email with an invitation to join a Slack Workspace

· Email with Project Communication Management Plan Baseline attached.

Assessment criteria

For your performance to be deemed satisfactory in this assessment task, you must satisfactorily address all of the assessment criteria. If part of this task is not satisfactorily completed, you will be asked to complete further assessment to demonstrate competence.

Re-submission opportunities

You will be provided feedback on their performance by the Assessor. The feedback will indicate if you have satisfactorily addressed the requirements of each part of this task.

If any parts of the task are not satisfactorily completed, the assessor will explain why, and provide you written feedback along with guidance on what you must undertake to demonstrate satisfactory performance. Re-assessment attempt(s) will be arranged at a later time and date.

You have the right to appeal the outcome of assessment decisions if you feel that you have been dealt with unfairly or have other appropriate grounds for an appeal.

You are encouraged to consult with the assessor prior to attempting this task if you do not understand any part of this task or if you have any learning issues or needs that may hinder you when attempting any part of the assessment.

Assessment Task 2 Instructions

Carefully read the following:

Boutique Build Australia was established in 1990 and is a boutique building company based in Sydney that specialises in the design and build of high-quality designer homes for the Sydney metropolitan and surrounding areas. The company employs approximately 50 staff including the CEO, Operations Manager, Human Resources Manager, Marketing and Sales Manager, Customer Service Officers (6), architects (2), Site Managers (3) and a large team of tradespersons, some of whom are employed, and some are contractors.

The personnel are generally managed as three overlapping teams: administration, sales, and on-site.

The company is in a period of growth and has opened an office in Brisbane with the goal of expanding into the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast over the next five years.

At a recent executive meeting, it was decided that Boutique Build Australia should participate in the upcoming Australian Home Show in Brisbane. It will run from Friday through Sunday, from 10am to 5pm, and be widely publicised in the media.

You will be managing the Home Show project, reporting to the company’s General Manager. You are responsible for the ongoing development of the conference in cooperation with several other staff members, who will use their expertise in different areas to support your project management as described below. A conference steering committee has also been established which includes the CEO and two Board members. The role of the steering committee is to provide overall direction to the project.

As the project will involve many people from different parts of the company, it has been decided that effective communication is of primary importance and a new approach should be taken for intra-company communication. After much discussion and research, it has been decided to use the cloud-based system Slack, which allows team communication and collaboration on projects, and this new system should be up and running as soon as possible. To ensure that this system is properly integrated into the project management, it has been decided that a Project Communication Management Plan should be the first project document that is completed.

It is anticipated that project communication will include:

· A monthly update for staff of Manager Networks

· Weekly or fortnightly meetings for the project team.

· Direct emails and social media marketing for prospective attendees.

· Brochure with covering letter sent to all registered attendees two weeks before conference date.

· A written report on the project’s progress will be sent to the CEO by the Administration Manager each month.

Complete the following activities:

1. Develop a draft Project Communication Management Plan

You are required to develop a Project Communication Management Plan that will support the achievement of the project objectives.

Review the case study information and the Project Management Policy and Procedures to identify and analyse the information requirements of the project.

Search the internet for ideas from Project Communication Management Plans created for similar scenarios.

Your plan should include the communication responsibilities for:

· The project steering committee

· The Project Manager

· The Project Team

Your Project Communication Management Plan should include the following:

· The purpose of the Project Communication Management Plan

· The project’s communication and information objectives

· The communication and information responsibilities of the project manager, team and steering committee.

· A description of the project communication and information processes

· The timing of the project’s communication and information

· The communication and information metrics that will be used to determine whether the project’s communication was effective.

· How the project’s communication and information will be controlled.

Research the cloud-based communication system Slack at:

https://slack.com/hc/en-us

Review the information at the web site above and write a short report to present at the team meeting. Your Project Communication Management Plan should explain the use of the system and its key features and how it will be used during the conference project. It should include, as a minimum:

· What is Slack?

· The Slack workspace and its use for the conference project

· Working in Slack (including how members are invited to the workspace)

Use the Project Communication Management Plan Template to guide your work.

You will be reviewing the plan to reflect the feedback that you receive from the Management Team, so save this version of the document as Draft Project Communication Management Plan

2. Send an email to the Project Team (your assessor).

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should introduce and summarise the contents of the attachment and ask for their feedback.

Attach your draft project communication management plan to the email.

3. Review your Project Communication Management Plan

When you have received the email response from the Project Team members, revise your plan to incorporate this, establishing baselines for each item.

Save this document as Project Communication Management Plan Baseline.

4. Establish the project information management system.

Following the instructions within Slack, set up the workspace for the conference project. Name the workspace after the company and create a channel for the project.

Invite your assessor to become a member of the workspace and the channel.

Your assessor will be able to confirm that you have established a project information management system and will be able to see how this system is maintained during the project

5. Send an email to all project team members (your assessor).

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should introduce and summarise the contents of the attachment.

It should seek their final approval of the Plan and advise them that they will soon be invited to the Slack Workspace.

Attach your Project Communication Management Plan Baseline to the email.

6. Implement project information and communication processes.

You are required to resolve potential communication and information management system issues by setting up a reminder in Slack for the weekly project team meetings.

The reminder should send out an email to the team requesting project progress reports. As your assessor is a team member, they will be able to check that they have done this.

Assessment Task 2 Checklist