Your task
Individually, you are required to prepare a project management plan to open a new branch of a mental
health retreat by outlining key project management concepts, such as triple constraint, planning and
scheduling, budget, and costs.
Assessment Description
The purpose of this assessment is to assess students’ ability to identify and determine the critical
components of the project management plan, including considerations for resource management and
communications, while also addressing scope, cost and schedule baselines and their relationship with
other areas of the Project. This will also develop the student’s ability to describe how the processes will
be executed, controlled, and monitored, guiding the team through different stages from the initiation to
the closing of the Project.
Assessment Instructions
For the purpose of this assessment, you are to imagine that you are hired by Palladium Private
(https://www.palladiumprivate.com/) as a Project Manager. Palladium Private started in 2003 and is a
health organisation in Brisbane (Qld) that focuses on mental health issues. Palladium Private has been
very successful over the years and currently still growing. The management team views further growth
potential by starting a new branch in Melbourne, Victoria, which will focus on the Greater Melbourne
area with similar services to those offered in Queensland. In your project you are to develop the project
management plan which includes the renting and installation of an office and treatment space, the
recruitment of a small staff (1 office manager and 5 therapists), all systems and also the marketing
within Victoria focussed on GP’s, Hospitals, health insurance companies and the general public. The
Palladium management team set the objective to have the new branch up and running by 1 March
2024, as the Victorian autumn is starting then and research has demonstrated that the colder and grey
climate creates more mental health problems and is obviously a great moment to start the branch by
then.
Your Project Management Plan should describe the following information to a broad audience of
stakeholders:

Step 1: Outline the Project’s context, objectives and purpose.
Step 2: Indicate how the tensions of the triple constraint affect each and your advice on the
management of time, scope, budget, and quality.
Step 3: Define the project scope, key deliverables, milestones, success criteria and
requirements.
Step 4: Outline the planning and scheduling.
o Briefly describe the project phases, the key milestones and key deliverables.
o Then describe a three-level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the Project (maximum
15 tasks)
o Determine the dependencies between the tasks. You are required to indicate a minimum
of 8 interdependencies.
o Schedule all the tasks in a graphical visualisation or Gantt chart (you may use Excel,
Ganttproject.biz or another appropriate free software tool)
Step 5: Outline the costs and overall budget based on cost estimates utilising the concepts and
techniques from week 9. To be able to estimate costs, you will have to do some research into
the cost levels specific to Victoria and Melbourne
o Create a budget table using the phases and tasks indicated in the WBS.
Step 6: Write a brief conclusion (maximum 100 words) in which you summarise the project’s
scope, timeline, and budget.
As this is a professional report, you are expected to complement your research with matrix diagrams,
tables, or other formats to present your findings clearly and concisely in a way that aligns with best
practices in project management. Also, your report must include the following:
o Title page, table of contents, introduction, context and project objectives.
o The project phases (including a brief description per phase).
o The WBS, the Budget outline and the Gantt chart. You may include the full Gantt chart in
the appendix.
Assumptions and reference

• Examples of the tasks and costs to be considered are, but are not limited to:
  o Demolition of the old structure.
  o Assembling different types of equipment.
  o General labour.
  o Licences to be granted.
  Please refer to the assessment marking guide to assist you in completing all assessment criteria.
  Please note that if you focus on any other project than the one outlined in this guideline, your
  submission will receive a grade of zero.
  You must use at least eight (8) sources of information and reference these in accordance with
  the Kaplan Harvard Referencing Style. These may include websites, government publications,
  industry reports, census data, journal articles, and newspaper articles. These references should be
  presented as a reference list at the end of your report.