BSBPMG810 Prioritise projects and programs 26Apr25 to 28Jun25

Welcome to our second unit for 2025, BSBPMG810 Prioritise projects and programs

These are some of the docs we'll use for the assessment task 2:

Go to the bottom of the blog to see the sample docs from the last workshop

BSBPMG810 workshop notes weeks 1-7

Numbat strategic objectives FY25/26

Numbat financial info 31May25

Numbat ebikes organogram

Numbat ebikes mission statement

Numbat executive committee profiles

Week 1: Saturday 26Apr25

In the workshop, we'll look at a very short article when discussing the differences between doing tasks when working on projects and doing tasks when working in operations:

Back to Basics: How Are Projects Different from Operations?

We'll discuss why projects have become a greater part of our modern workplaces and working lives, across all industries and roles. This will lead us into a good Harvard Business Review article. It is quite long so we'll read it in parts, with worksheets to assist us in understanding the concepts discussed.

Article A: The Project Economy Has Arrived HBR NovDec21

Article A worksheets: The Project Economy Has Arrived

In Part C of today's workshop, we will look at some project management basic concepts

Project life cycle: The 5 phases explained

Project team roles and responsibilities (with examples)

In week 2, we'll begin by looking at some key concepts and tools in project management. This will lead into our discussion on the need to prioritise our firm's existing and potential projects. We'll then develop an understanding of how to prioritise them, developing decision-making criteria and a decision-making tool to do so.

Week 2: Saturday 03May25

This week we'll discuss:

• some key concepts and tools used in project management
• the planning of an example project: GM Garden Supplies (GMGS)

A good site for you to read up on some PM basics is:

Project Management Basics: Definitions, Methods and Tools

We'll look at a Gantt chart, a budget and a resources schedule for a market research project for GM Garden Supplies (GMGS). Before doing so, we'll get up to speak on what market research is and some of the tools that a firm can use when it wants to understand its customers, competitors, supply-chain partners and the operating environment generally

10 Essential Methods for Effective Consumer and Market Research

GMGS market research project Gantt chart, budget, resources schedule

Week 3: Saturday 10May25

This week we'll discuss:

The example project from last week

the importance of understanding your firm's strategic objectives when prioritising potential projects (choosing which to do now and when and which to reject or postpone).

One tool which will help us identify strategic objectives for a sales growth default goal is an Ansoff Matrix.

The Ansoff Matrix: A Powerful Tool for Business Strategy and Growth

Week 4: Saturday 17May25

We'll look at EBC's mission statement and current strategic objectives. They are the starting point for us in assessing all of our potential projects (which have been proposed by members of the executive team in early 2025).

The first part of this content is above in week 3's narrative.

We'll explore various strategic objectives a firm could pursue in a year or a 3-5 year period, and how this changes as the firm grows and its industry matures. We'll look at where EBC's market is and its current strategic objectives - these are on the EBC website, on the student resources webpage.

We'll also discuss EBC's mission and its vision and values.

These are all a good starting point to then be able to assess EBC's potential projects for the upcoming financial year, each of which has been proposed by one of EBC's executive committee members. EBC will not be able to put every proposed project into its current project portfolio (it is limited by the resources and capabilities it has (time, cash, expertise, physical resources) - it must rank and then choose which projects to do now, to postpone and to reject.

At the end of today's session, you'll have an appreciation for how important strategic objectives are for compiling a firm's project portfolio.

Week 5: Saturday 24May25

Today we will start on page 23 of our workshop notes. We will finish off our look at strategy and how it impacts our decisions regarding which projects go into our current project portfolio (which projects to do now, which to postpone and which to reject). Today we will look at a sales growth strategy using the Ansoff matrix.

We have renamed our case study company numbat ebikes

https://numbatebikes.wixsite.com/nswhe/about 

Numbat ebikes website

Week 6: Saturday 31May25

In the past few weeks we've looked at the firm's mission, vision and values, and its current strategic directions, so that we understand them well when applying our selection criteria to the many proposed projects we need to consider to accept (to do) in the current year, to postpone or to reject. To repeat our main point in this discussion -we can only accept projects that contribute to our current strategic objectives. 

We can only accept projects to our current or future project portfolio when they contribute to our firm's value. In other words, a project will be considered only when it adds a significant amount to our current and/or future profit, as it is our firm's profitability which is the basis of its value.

Today we will value projects using net present value (NPV). We will also use the payback method when we have done that. To be able to apply a NPV to each proposed project, we first need to understand:

• the time value of money
• compound interest and how to convert a future payment into its present value
• the annuity valuation formula

Once we understand this, we can apply the NPV method to assessing the value of each proposed project, with a view to ranking it's financial viability relative to the other proposed projects we will consider taking on, or not.

Week 7: Saturday 07Jun25

We will today look at a couple more things we need to consider when assessing potential projects (to decide whether to add them to our current or future portfolio). We will need to record, as accurately as possible, a proposed project's risks and its resource requirements relative to firm resources/ capabilities. We'll also consider a projects duration and the timing of cash and other resources invested in and delivered to us from the project. When we have done this, we will have examined in detail five elements of criteria for our decision-making model:

1. alignment with strategic objectives
2. value contribution
3. risk
4. resource availability
5. duration and timing of inputs and outputs

Last week we used the discounted cash flow approach to calculate a net present value of a proposed project - something we need to do for each one. We'll extend this analysis to calculate the payback period for the investment. This was our second approach. Today, we will test the robustness of that valuation by considering some variables that may cause our valuation to be different from that expected. Anything causing something to be uncertain is, by definition, a risk, so this will be the first area we look at when identifying, analysing and evaluating the risks of a proposed project.

Our look at risk will have two elements, these being the risks that the:

• project does not go as planned (and so doesn't achieve its objectives, as planned
• firm will be exposed to in its operations if they proceed with the proposed project.

We'll discuss the first one of these first up today. We will conduct sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis of our proposed project's valuation.

Week 8: Saturday 14Jun25

Today we'll introduce two new proposed projects for Numbat ebikes (NEB), Project B and Project C.

This means NEB's executive committee will need to assess and compare the relative merits of:

Project A: to manufacture ebike frames (to make ebike frames in Numbat's Broadmeadows factory instead of importing them)

Project B: to install rooftop solar panels on the premises (to generate solar electricity at Numbat ebikes' Broadmeadows premises)

Project C: to deliver ebike safety training (to provide ebike safety training (online and physical) to riders, to enhance brand reputation and engagement with riders)

We'll construct discounted cash flow projections and analyse these additional two potential projects and calculate their NPV and payback period. We'll also calculate each project's internal rate of return, another metric to extend our analysis of week's 6 and 7.

We'll then appraise each project in each of our 5 elements of criteria to formulate a view of its attractiveness, and therefore decide if NEB should proceed with each one, given the constraints that we'll decide on also. We'll construct a template for this and fill it in. The elements of criteria we'll use to assess each project individually and relative to the others are:

1. alignment with strategic objectives
2. value contribution
3. risk
4. resource availability
5. duration and timing of inputs and outputs

Week 9: Saturday 21Jun25

Today we will finish our summary page comparison of our three projects to consider undertaking, where we will give each project a rating for each of the 5 elements of criteria we'll use to assess it's attractiveness, and an overall rating.

We'll then discuss Numbat's strategic objectives again and its present circumstances, giving consideration to:

• its balance sheet, present and budgeted cash flow and access to different types of funding
• its senior executives workload and the resources it has at its disposal for project work
• its competitive environment, especially in relation to the operating risks it faces, leading to an assessment of its appetite for risk

When this is done, we will be able to choose which project or projects to undertake for financial year 2025/26, and to construct a simple project register 

Week 10: Saturday 28Jun25 (final Saturday before a two week term break)

We will go through Assessment Task 2 today

In Assessment Task 2 you will play the role of a member of Numbat ebike's (NEB's) executive committee. In this task you will need to understand/ analyse the 3 projects that have been proposed by different Numbat managers for the firm to undertake in the coming financial year 2025-26, which begins on 01Jul25 and to decide which of those projects NEB should undertake. You will do so using a decision-making framework which you establish for the firm to use now and in future appraisals of proposed projects.

In this Assessment Task 2, you will work in a group or two or three students for all activities, where each group member can submit the same content to the assessor. Please ensure that all group member's names are on each piece of written work you submit.

First, you will need to develop a decision-making framework to assess each proposal and decide which one(s) to undertake in the coming year and then to present this framework to the CEO for approval. Once approved, your framework can be used in future years by NEB for its regular significant project assessment and approval process. 

You will then use your framework to analyse and assess each of the three projects that have been proposed by different NEB managers recently (Project A, Project B and Project C, respectively) and present that analysis/ assessment, including your recommendations (which project(s) NEB should undertake) as a report to the board of directors for their approval.

Assessment task 2 

This is the Assessment Task 2 (practical task) created for this unit:

BSBPMG810 Assessment Task 2

You need to submit onto the LMS the following five (5) items for Assessment Task 2:

1. Submission 1A. A report on the decision-making  framework you developed (pdf file)
2. Submission 1B. A pdf file of your presentation slides 
3. Submission 1C.  A jpg/ png image of the BSBPMG810 Task 2 Presentation Observation Checklist  
4. Submission 2A: A written report of how you used your framework for 3 projects (pdf file)
5. Submission 2B: A spreadsheet (Ms Excel file) with the seven (7) required worksheets

We developed samples in the workshops. Those samples are below:

Assessment task 2 sample answers

BSBPMG810 Submission 1B workshop sample

BSBPMG810 Submission 2B spreadsheet workshop sample