Introduction Estimating project budgets is far from an exact science. Many of us have heard of projects running over budget. Why is this? Why do we co
Introduction Estimating project budgets is far from an exact science. Many of us have heard of projects running over budget. Why is this? Why do we consistently forecast low? There are many reasons for this inconsistency, including everything from improper funding at the beginning of the project to taking shortcuts that should never have been taken. The project management schedule helps you and your project team evaluate progress and assess whether or not the project will be completed by the deadline. It is also a way to identify bottlenecks in the process so you can creatively reallocate resources and adjust timelines to ensure the project remains on time and within budget. As the project manager, you are responsible for forecasting and completing the cost budget and managing the project’s schedule. Be sure to review the assignment instructions, rubric, and Project Management Plan template to familiarize yourself with the unique set of requirements for each and how the Project Management Plan ultimately affects your workplace project or Cosmo, Inc. (Refer to Cosmo Business Case [PDF] Download Cosmo Business Case [PDF]as needed.) Instructions Using your same chosen project (either Path 1 or Path 2), as well as the information from your Week 4 assignment and your work breakdown schedule, complete the Project Management Cost (Budget) section of your template: Develop a project cost (budget) section. Prepare a cost estimate for the project by identifying the costs of each task and creating categories to prioritize project expenditures. Prepare a preliminary budget using the cost estimate for your selected project. Note: Copy and paste the Summary Table and Comments into the Project Management Cost (Budget) section of the template. Develop the project management schedule section. This should identify the time frames within which the costs will be incurred. Note: Link your MS Project timeline that meets project duration requirements. Identify project stakeholders and roles and responsibilities for these sections of the project management plan template. Using your work breakdown schedule and MS Project, identify the activities that must be performed to produce the project deliverables and include the following as part of the Project Management Schedule section of the template: Summarize the intent of using a project schedule for the selected project. Develop a Microsoft Project plan for your project schedule. Include an introduction and link to this section of your plan. Create a Gantt chart showing: Resources assigned to each task. Note: Limit project tasks to 10 business days or fewer. Shorter task durations make it easier to assess project progress. Provide additional amplifying information about the schedule in your project plan, as applicable. Predecessors to tasks. Project tasks, milestones, and other measurable, tangible, and verifiable outcomes or results must be produced to complete the project. Deliverable Format References: There is no set number of references required for this assessment. Use scholarly or academic sources where applicable. Format: Use the Project Management Cost (Budget) and Project Management Schedule components of the template provided. The Project Management Cost (Budget) and Project Management Schedule are professional documents and should therefore follow the corresponding MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines, including single-spaced paragraphs. Use APA style and format for references and in-text citations. Visit Evidence and APALinks to an external site. for help with APA as needed. Length: Follow the template, including the title page and reference page. question 2 mba 5008Overview The first step in creating meaningful information to develop a business report for decision-making. The business report includes the analyzed raw data, effectively presents the analysis results in text and graphical format, as well as calculate any required statistics. The second step is interpreting and explaining the graphs and statistics in order to understand the impact in the practical business context. In the last assignment, you were asked to create the first part of your business analytics report by introducing a company, analyzing company stock data, developing graphs, and calculating some descriptive statistics. In this assignment, you will adjust your business report to minimize limitations of one year’s worth of data. You will use the same company for this assignment and you will use 5 years of data. You will also enhance your introduction/business context section of your business report based on your new graphs and your interpretation of the data graphs and descriptive statistics over a five year period. Your interpretation efforts of graphs and descriptive statistics will explicitly connect in the conclusion area. Conclusions and recommendations are the final effort in the development of a practical business report and should be supported by citations. Remember opinion is not allowed. Scenario Your supervisor has asked you to prepare a report for the quarterly company meeting. The first part of the task was to download the data and create scatterplots and histograms, and to calculate mean, median, and mode of 5 years of stock prices for your report. Now you must analyze and interpret those graphical representations of the company stock and write the report of your findings and recommendations for your supervisor. Your Role You are an analyst using the same company and five years of stock data. Having accessed the company data and placed it in an appropriate graphical format, you must now use descriptive statistics and analysis to develop a report to inform business decisions. Instructions After reviewing and integrating your instructor’s feedback on your previous assignment, complete the report as follows: For each graph you created, write at least one well supported paragraph interpreting the graph: What does that graph represent? What does the shape of the graph tell you about how the data have changed over time? For each statistic you calculated, include at least 2–3 well-supported sentences explaining what the statistic represents: What does the mean tell you? How do you know? What does it imply if the median is different from the mean? What does the standard deviation tell you about the volatility of the data? Write a new conclusions section in which you explain how these interpretations can be used in the company: What are some trends about which company leaders should be aware? How might the information you have provided be used in decision making in the company? What are other analysts indicating about the stock? Explicitly connect other analysts’ comments and recommendations to your interpretations to possible impact to the business context. Lastly, should your company invest of partner with the company/stock being evaluated?