| Course | PM 310 Project Planning and Performance (PM/310) |
|---|---|
| Week | 5 |
| Paper type | Project management plan |
| Length | about 1,087 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | BS in Business |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PM 310 Week 5
One Plan for Two Seasons: The Integrated Project Management Plan for Canal Automation at an Idaho Irrigation District
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
PM/310: Project Planning and Performance
Week 5 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Basalt Bench Irrigation District, its plan, baselines and figures are composites written for a model paper.
Over the past four weeks, this course has tracked the imaginary Basalt Bench district on the Snake River plain as it got ready to automate 46 canal headgates and launch an online water-ordering portal. Its stakeholders were analyzed, its team formed, its hybrid approach chosen and its gate work estimated, scheduled and budgeted. This paper brings those pieces together into the project management plan the district board will approve. It summarizes what was developed earlier, adds the quality and risk plans and the change rules and explains how the plan will stay current.
Purpose of the Plan
The current standard describes planning artifacts as tools that help teams coordinate work and that should be scaled to the project's needs (Project Management Institute [PMI], 2021). Besner and Hobbs (2006) surveyed practitioners about the value of project management tools and found that many planning tools were widely seen as valuable, but their perceived contribution depended on using them well rather than merely producing them. For Basalt Bench, the plan has one job: to let the board, the crews, the vendor and the grant office work from the same picture of what will be delivered, when, for how much and how changes will be decided.
Objectives and Success Criteria
The project's purpose is to deliver water more precisely, reduce losses and give growers easier ordering. Its success criteria are:
All 46 gates automated and accepted by the end of the second installation window.
Spill and overdelivery losses reduced by at least 15 percent on automated laterals, measured against the three-year average.
At least 60 percent of water orders placed online by the end of the second season.
Manual overrides below 5 percent of gate operations by midway through the second season.
Total cost within the authorized $7.2 million.
Grant reports filed on time with independently checked water-savings data.
Baselines
The scope baseline is the five-deliverable breakdown from Week 4: gate structures, power and telemetry, control system, training and procedures and project management, each with work packages and acceptance criteria. The portal's scope is managed as a prioritized backlog with a fixed budget, outside the formal scope baseline.
The schedule baseline sets these milestones: actuator specifications approved and ordered by May 20 of year one; civil design approved by September 15; 22 gates and portal release one accepted by March 25 of year two; all 46 gates and the full portal accepted by March 25 of year three; closeout by December of year three.
The cost baseline is $6,740,000, including $720,000 in contingency linked to identified risks. A $460,000 management reserve sits outside the baseline under board control.
Subsidiary Plans in Brief
Stakeholder engagement: the register, current and desired engagement levels and strategies from Week 1, reviewed monthly.
Communication: monthly board reports, a weekly team check-in, a grower calendar of lateral automation dates and quarterly data sharing with the watermaster.
Resources: the ten-person core team from Week 2, two installation crews and the vendor's field and software staff.
Development approach: predictive and incremental for gates, two-week iterations for the portal, synchronized at shared reviews and gates, as set out in Week 3.
Procurement: a fixed-price equipment contract, a unit-price installation contract and the vendor's iteration-based portal agreement.
Quality and risk: described below.
Quality Plan
Quality targets focus on what growers and the watermaster care about. Each gate's flow meter must read within plus or minus 3 percent of a portable reference meter at acceptance and at the start of each season. Gates must respond to a setpoint change within 10 minutes. The portal must confirm every order within 5 minutes and show delivery status that matches the meter. Zwikael and Globerson (2004) developed a model for judging project planning quality and found in field data that the quality of planning was related to project outcomes; for this project, quality planning means building acceptance tests into each work package rather than inspecting at the end. Every gate will be tested dry after installation and wet in the first week of water, with results logged in the asset record.
A gate that reports the wrong flow is worse than a manual gate, because people trust the number.
Risk Register
Six risks lead the register:
Actuator delivery delay (medium likelihood, high impact): ordered early; vendor penalty clause; temporary manual operation as fallback.
Cold-weather construction delays (high, medium): float protected; heated enclosures for concrete; contingency of $140,000.
Radio coverage gaps on two laterals (medium, medium): signal survey before design; second repeater funded from contingency if needed.
Rider distrust leading to overrides (medium, high): rider design role, parallel manual checks and joint override reviews.
Low grower adoption of the portal (medium, medium): phone ordering kept; help sessions; text confirmations.
Meter data not accepted by the watermaster (low, high): early review of meter specifications and calibration method.
Every line names the person who watches it and the signal that sets off the response; the team walks through the list every second Monday.
Change and Configuration Control
Changes follow the district's limits: the project manager approves changes under $20,000 that leave the critical path alone, the district manager approves those up to $75,000 and the board approves anything larger or any use of management reserve. Approved changes update the affected baseline and are recorded in a change log. Configuration control covers gate firmware versions, control setpoints and portal releases; no firmware is updated during the irrigation season without a rider present and a rollback plan.
Keeping the Plan Current
The project manager, Marisol Ayala, reopens the document with her team at each phase gate, after each installation window and whenever a change is approved. A one-page plan summary will be posted in the district shop and the office so that crews and staff see the same milestones the board sees. At closeout, the success criteria will be measured and reported to the board and the grant office, and a lessons-learned record will be kept for the district's next capital project.
Conclusion
The project management plan joins the course's work into a single, consistent guide: measurable objectives, baselines for scope, time and cost, subsidiary plans for the people and processes involved, quality targets that protect trust in the gates, a risk register tied to contingency and clear rules for change. It is meant to be used, revised and checked, so that two seasons from now Basalt Bench can show its growers that more precise water delivery was planned, delivered and measured.
References
Besner, C., & Hobbs, B. (2006). The perceived value and potential contribution of project management practices to project success. Project Management Journal, 37(3), 37-48. https://doi.org/10.1177/875697280603700305
Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.
Zwikael, O., & Globerson, S. (2004). Evaluating the quality of project planning: A model and field results. International Journal of Production Research, 42(8), 1545-1556. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207540310001639955
What the PM 310 Week 5 instructions ask
The final PM 310 assignment usually asks students to create or outline a project management plan for a project, often the one developed across the course. Typical requirements include an introduction with the project's purpose and objectives, the scope, schedule and cost baselines, subsidiary plans for areas such as stakeholders, communication, resources, quality, risk and procurement, the chosen development approach and how changes will be controlled. Some instructors provide a template; others want a narrative paper with headings for each component. Expect to integrate earlier work rather than paste it, keep all figures consistent and say who will keep the document current and when. Cite the standard and scholarly sources in APA format.
How this PM 310 Week 5 example is built
This final example pulls four weeks of planning into one document for the canal project. It opens with the business case, objectives and success criteria in measurable terms: water saved, orders placed online, override rates and on-time completion. The scope, schedule and cost baselines are summarized from Week 4, with milestone dates and the $6.74 million baseline. Eight subsidiary plans follow in short form, from stakeholder engagement to procurement, with new detail on quality targets for gate accuracy and a risk register of the top six risks. Change control and configuration rules show how the baselines are protected. A section on keeping the plan alive sets review dates, and the conclusion explains how the plan connects the board's goals to the crews' work.
PM 310 Week 5 grading rubric: where the points go
Assessors judge the final plan on completeness, consistency and usefulness. Top papers include all required components, state objectives and success criteria that can be measured and summarize the baselines with figures that match earlier work. The subsidiary plans should be specific enough to guide action, and new elements, especially quality and risk, should be developed rather than mentioned. Graders reward plans that show how the components connect, such as risks that link to contingency and stakeholder needs that shape communication. A clear statement of how the plan is approved, controlled and updated shows understanding that a plan is a working tool. Organized sections, consistent numbers and dates, sound sources and accurate APA formatting earn the highest marks.
PM 310 Week 5 help: mistakes to avoid
Final plans are often too long in the wrong places: pasted earlier papers sit next to one-line quality and risk sections. Summarize earlier work and spend new words on what is missing. Inconsistency is the second big problem: a budget that changed in Week 4 but not in the plan, or milestone dates that contradict each other. Read the plan once just for numbers. Some students also omit success criteria, so nobody can tell when the project has worked. State them with targets. Change control is frequently vague; name who approves what and how baselines are updated. Finally, explain how the plan stays current, since a plan filed and forgotten will not help anyone. If you would like a consistency read before submission, our tutors can do one.
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- PM 310 Week 3: Development Approach and Life Cycle
- PM 310 Week 4: The Planning Domain
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PM 310 Week 5 questions, answered
What does PM 310 Week 5 usually cover?
It usually covers an integrated project management plan that brings together baselines for scope, schedule and cost with subsidiary plans for stakeholders, team, communication, quality, risk, procurement and change control.
Where can I find a free PM 310 Week 5 sample paper?
The complete Week 5 project management plan above, written for canal automation at an Idaho irrigation district with baselines, a risk register and quality targets, is posted free.
What is included in a project management plan?
Typically the project's objectives and success criteria, the scope, schedule and cost baselines, subsidiary plans for areas such as quality, risk, communication, resources and procurement and the change control process.
What are project baselines?
Approved versions of the scope, schedule and cost plans that serve as reference points for measuring performance. They change only through formal change control.
How often should a project management plan be updated?
Whenever an approved change affects it and at planned review points, such as phase gates, so that the plan always reflects how the project is actually being run.
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