MBP7002M Strategic Project Management Assignment Brief 2024-25 | YSJU

MBP7002M Assignment Description

The Haxby Station Project

The ambition for a reopened railway station at Haxby has been held for decades. An opportunity to bid for the government's New Stations Funding arose in early 2020, and an application was made for government funding. £400k was made available to fund further development work and identify a single preferred site. Following further feasibility work undertaken by Network Rail and City of York Council during 2021, the decision was made that the new station should be at a site off Towthorpe Road, Haxby.

In October 2022, councillors received an update on the project and agreed that a planning application be submitted for the new railway station at the appropriate time and to progress the project to the next stage.

Since then City of York Council, working closely with Network Rail and other partners, have developed the project further and securing additional funding to drive the project forward - being awarded a further £1.1 million development funding in 2022 and another £2.1 million in later 2024, to bring the project to "construction-ready" stage. A strategic business case was accepted and endorsed by the Department for Transport in late 2023.

A full planning application has been submitted for the construction of the new station at Towthorpe Road. However, following recent government announcements and an end to some areas of funding within the Department for Transport, City of York Council is now looking for alternative ways to community both York itself and the wider public transport infrastructure.

MBP7002M Brief

You are required to propose and evaluate 3 potential alternative strategic projects that could improve the existing services and transport infrastructure. These alternatives should be of your choosing.

You are required to produce an options appraisal showing your preferred option along with a business case that presents a robust rationale for the recommended project.

As well as providing the requisite information within the business case, you must also consider such aspects as quality, governance and reviews/audits and how these will be addressed. You should also make clear the strategic objective of the projects, for example, to address capacity restrictions, deal with ageing infrastructure, address affordability, take into account planned developments in the area, etc.

MBP7002M Learning Outcomes

You must successfully achieve the following Programme-level Learning Outcomes to pass this assessment:

• Critically analyse the key strategic project management tools and their contribution to effective project governance
• Develop a critical awareness of the relationship between organisational strategy and a balanced project portfolio to deliver benefits
• Critically evaluate the role of quality management throughout the project lifecycle.

Advice and Guidance

Your options evaluation should include clarification of the evaluation criteria used to analyse the options to support your assessment.

Your work must be underpinned by reference to academic theory, and whilst the use of media reporting may be permitted, you should be circumspect when selecting sources.

How is This Assessment Marked?

Your work will be marked according to the assessment instructions provided within this document and the selected ‘Programme-level Learning Outcomes’ (PLOs) (see above). 

Furthermore, this assessment is marked based on a rubric devised from the GAD (see below). Where a rubric has been used in place of the GAD, this is to further specify and enhance your understanding of the expectations of this assessment. 

Please note that you must meet the required baseline standards (50 – 59%), which will include the PLOs and minimum expectations of the assessment. Further still, you must ensure you meet the requirements of each grade boundary to progress to the next, i.e. you should demonstrate your learning through the standards of a Pass, Merit, and Distinction to achieve a Distinction (70 – 100%). These standards are designed to scaffold and build your learning to achieve your fullest potential in each criterion being assessed.

Each criterion will be allocated a weighting for this assessment. This is to indicate our expectations of where and how you should focus your efforts, and how marks will be awarded.

Assessment Marking Criteria