Project Management – Detailed business case & project plan PRINCE 2

Create a business case for establishing a Pendleton Christmas Land
Summary: You are responsible for creating a detailed and unique business case, including project
plan, for the project described in the following pages.

Word Limit: 3000
Part A (20%) involves preparing a presentation of your business case and project plan as detailed in
the assignment brief.
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.
Module learning outcomes covered by this assignment
1. Apply knowledge of the theory and practice of project planning and control and the use of Project Management
methods and techniques.
2. Demonstrate a sound understanding of the importance of Project Management in the development and
maintenance of sustainable and global organisations operating in complex market environments
3. Develop knowledge and application of the techniques of estimating, forecasting and resource management
4. Work independently and with others in analysing and presenting solutions to Project Management planning, control
and process problems.
5. Communicate effectively through a variety of media to different audiences.
6. Make decisions in complex and unpredictable situations using tools and techniques appropriate to the module.
7. Use terminology associated with the subject area accurately and in a way which demonstrates sophisticated
knowledge and understanding.
ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION
The assignment contains information from news and other sources.
We have sought to make this as close as possible to a live project brief.
You may wish to conduct relevant research but please do not contact anyone involved without first
contacting your module tutor.
Christmas Blunderland
th
The followmg IS from an article In the Daily Telegraph dated 12
December 2014
This Christmas tourist attraction was forced to close less than a day after
opening following a barrage of complaints from disgruntled parents.
Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, only opened its
doors on Wednesday, but was forced to pack up just 24 hours later due to its
appalling” quality.
Despite promising a winter walk, a Frozen singalong and a chance to feed
Santa’s reindeer, excited families were faced with a desolate scene of
disappointment after paying £20 per ticket.

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Mother-of-one Laura Bamforth, who is also 30-weeks pregnant, from Pontefract,
West Yorkshire, said: “We spent a total of 20 minutes in the building and we
were totally appalled with the entire event.

The event itself was nothing more than a fairground. The rides was overpriced
and the so-called Christmas market was a total of four stalls.

When leaving the event feeling very let down we told the staff on reception who
also was very rude and never tried to apologise.

I would like a refund for all the money I have spent because the treatment is
unacceptable.”

The Yorkshire Magical Winterland, set up at the Great Yorkshire Showground,
advertised the event as having “fantastic features” and offered visitors the
chance to “focus on losing yourself in our Magical Winterland”.

But the grim reality of the Christmas-themed event was that of rubbish-strewn
hallways, poorly-constructed exhibitions and sombre-looking reindeer
surrounded by a sprinkling of straw.

Disappointed mother-of-two Leanne Potter said it would take a “miracle” to
make the experience worthwhile.

She said: “It was truly awful. The event was clearly just planned to make as
much money as possible. They weren’t bothered about the quality of the event.”
The attraction responded to visitor’s complaints by closing down the event, just
hours after opening, without giving any warning to people who had pre-booked
tickets.

Kat Manson, from Skipton, West Yorkshire, who booked to take her niece Evie
to the event, said: “We’ve had a family ticket booked for a long time for this
special event.

The journey there was full of excitement and wonder, Evie was going meet
Santa!

We checked the website this morning to see what we were going to be doing but
there was no mention of any closure. We were all excited.

We arrived at a near empty car park and a lonely car park attendant ushered
us into a car parking space without saying a word.

We were met at the desk by two female staff who said sorry we are closed.
They explained that our tickets were valid for the other days but so many
people had complained that it was a waste of money that they were closed.
Assignment
You have recently been appointed by the Pendleton City Council who is
seeking to develop a Christmas Tourism Attraction of its own but they
have concerns over the problems that Harrogate had with their
‘Blunderland’ project. Your assignment is to write a report on the
prospective Pendleton Christmas Land 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 a project of this type

Part B(80%)

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,

0 Introduction

Identify the major planning problems with the Blunderland project and
suggest how project management techniques might have helped to
mitigate these problems

0 Project objectives

0 Performance Measurement/ Management of quality

0 Stakeholder analysis