Project Communications Management: Case Study Several issues have arisen on the Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project. The person from the HR department who was supporting the project left the company, and now the team needs more support from that group. A member of the user group that supports the project is extremely vocal and hard to work with, and other users can hardly get a word in at meetings. The project manager, Tony, is getting weekly status reports from all of his team members, but many of them do not address obvious challenges that people are facing. The team is having difficulty deciding how to communicate various project reports and documents and where to store all of the information being generated. Recall that the team members include you, a programmer/analyst and aspiring project manager; Patrick, a network specialist; Nancy, a business analyst; and Bonnie, another programmer/analyst. Assignment – Project Communications Management: 3 Tasks 1. Prepare a partial communications management plan to address some of the challenges mentioned in the previous paragraph. 2. Prepare a template and sample of a good weekly progress report that could be used for this project. Include a list of tips to help team members provide information on these reports. 3. Write a one-page paper describing two suggested approaches to communicating with the hard- to-work-with user. Below I have provided the templates that I was given: Communications Management Plan Prepared by: Date: 1. Introduction 2. Collection and filing structure for gathering and storing project information 3. Distribution structure (what information goes to whom, when, and how) 4. Format, content, and level of detail of key project information 5. Production schedule and resources for producing key project information 6. Technologies, access methods, and frequency of communications 7. Method for updating the communications management plan 8. Escalation procedures 9. Stakeholder communications analysis Stakeholders Document Name Document Format Contact Person Due Date Comments: 10. Glossary of terms Status/Progress Report Project Name: Team Member Name: Date: Reporting Period: Work completed this reporting period: Work to complete next reporting period: What’s going well and why: What’s not going well and why: Suggestions/Issues: Project changes Stakeholders Document Name Document Format Contact Person Due Date Comments: Solution 1. Communications Management Plan Prepared by: Joshua (me) Date: 3rd September 2015 This plan gives a detailed outline regarding communication and information exchange on the Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project. For collection and filing of information, all data will be stored on the intranet of the company, in a seperate folder named Recreation and Wellness. Only members of the project and business managers will have access to the folder. Distribution structure - there should be a free and transparent flow of information amongst the project members. .

1. Project Communications Management: Case Study
Several issues have arisen on the Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project. The person from the
HR department who was supporting the project left the company, and now the team needs more
support from that group. A member of the user group that supports the project is extremely vocal
and hard to work with, and other users can hardly get a word in at meetings. The project
manager, Tony, is getting weekly status reports from all of his team members, but many of them
do not address obvious challenges that people are facing. The team is having difficulty deciding
how to communicate various project reports and documents and where to store all of the
information being generated. Recall that the team members include you, a programmer/analyst
and aspiring project manager; Patrick, a network specialist; Nancy, a business analyst; and
Bonnie, another programmer/analyst.
Assignment – Project Communications Management: 3 Tasks
1. Prepare a partial communications management plan to address some of the challenges
mentioned in the previous paragraph.
2. Prepare a template and sample of a good weekly progress report that could be used for this
project. Include a list of tips to help team members provide information on these reports.
3. Write a one-page paper describing two suggested approaches to communicating with the hard-
to-work-with user.
Below I have provided the templates that I was given:
Communications Management Plan
Prepared by: Date:
1. Introduction
2. Collection and filing structure for gathering and storing project information
3. Distribution structure (what information goes to whom, when, and how)
4. Format, content, and level of detail of key project information
5. Production schedule and resources for producing key project information
6. Technologies, access methods, and frequency of communications
7. Method for updating the communications management plan
8. Escalation procedures
9. Stakeholder communications analysis
Stakeholders
Document Name
Document Format
Contact Person
Due Date

2. Comments:
10. Glossary of terms
Status/Progress Report
Project Name:
Team Member Name:
Date:
Reporting Period:
Work completed this reporting period:
Work to complete next reporting period:
What’s going well and why:
What’s not going well and why:
Suggestions/Issues:
Project changes
Stakeholders
Document Name
Document Format
Contact Person
Due Date
Comments:
Solution
1. Communications Management Plan
Prepared by: Joshua (me) Date: 3rd September 2015
This plan gives a detailed outline regarding communication and information exchange on the
Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project.
For collection and filing of information, all data will be stored on the intranet of the company, in
a seperate folder named Recreation and Wellness. Only members of the project and business
managers will have access to the folder.
Distribution structure - there should be a free and transparent flow of information amongst the
project members. There should nit be any kind of restrictions regarding access or disemination of
information. This will be the key for the project's success.
Key project information should be stored using the APA format. The level of details should be as
in depth as possible to enable a non programmer understand the views of a programmer and vice
versa.
Production schedule should be detailed and outlined as comprehensively as possible. The

3. schedule should include the project kick off date, interim deliverables dates, what is to be
produced in terms of the content development for the interim deliverables and then the final
delivarable.
In terms of technology, the programming analyst will have to decide the best technology
paltform to be used to make it more user friendly. Access should be free for the project members
and business managers. Weekly meetings should be held.
The plans can be updated by the project members, after taking the go-ahead from the project
leader, on the folder of the project. Other members will have to be informed about the same.
For the escalation of any issues, the project leader or any business manager should be informed.
Progress report template:
Project Name: Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project.
Team member name: Joshua
Date: 3rd September 2015
Reporting period: 3rd quarter
Work completed this reporting period: During the 3rd quarter, the 4th interim deliverable has
been completed and the data and other information has been uploaded on the intranet.
Work to be completed: during the next quarter, only the last and final delivarable has to be
completed.
What's going well: the project is going on schedule without any bottlenecks and delays
What's not going well: 1 member is extremely aggressive and does not give the other members
of the group voice their opinions.
Suggestions: the aggressive member should be asked to tone down his aggression by the business
manager. This will allow other members to voice their opinion.
2 approaches for the hard to work user:
The first and more parctical approach is to confront the user and make him realize the futility of
his aggression. The person should be made to understand and realize that is aggression is turning
out to be a detriment towards the progress of the project.
The 2nd approach (in case the 1st approach does not work) is to ignore the aggressive user. By
being sidelined constantly, the user will himself realize that he is not doing something right.