QUESTION 1 Task Various tasks as outlined below after the case background. Case Background As the project manager you are required to present an initial project report to the project sponsor that shows how you propose to implement this project. As the project manager you may make any assumptions you think are necessary. Case study – Grand Wines You are an employee of Grand Wines Ltd and project leader of a proposed project to equip each of the company’s 20 sales representatives with a wireless data entry device by which they could instantly communicate customer orders to the company’s central sales database in Sydney. The sales representatives operate over all areas of NSW and service around 400 independent wine and liquor stores in the state. Currently, the sales representatives complete customer orders manually and after leaving a copy with the customer, they forward the customer orders by mail or fax to the sales department in Sydney, where the orders are entered into the sales database and processed through the inventory system for shipment to the customer. The problems with the current process are: • At least one-day is lost in supplying customers with products because of the delays in getting orders into the system. • Sales representatives do not know the latest inventory position of their products when they accept orders from the customer. Delays in delivery can result when orders are placed on “back-order” because of a lack of stock. • Orders are often “lost” or entered into the sales database incorrectly through human error. • The sales representatives and many customers are dissatisfied with the current situation. Competitive wine companies have improved their order systems and are outperforming Grand Wines Ltd in terms of delivery speed, order accuracy, availability of ordered stock and overall customer satisfaction. Your CEO has stressed the importance of the project to the company and asked you to use your skills as a project manager to make sure the project is successful by following the relevant project management processes. You have been assigned a project leader of this project. Your manager has given you guidance that the project needs to be completed within 6 months and that costs should be minimised wherever possible with given budget of AUD 60000.00. Task 1: SWOT ANALSIS – 10 marks Conduct SWOT analysis giving 5 points each for S, W,O,T as per descriptions below to help project managers. Task 2: Prepare Project Charter as per below template – 5 marks per topic – 30 marks Template for Project Charter Basic details Including: Title of the project, Name and email of the Project Manager(yourself), Duration of the project, and High level budget Project Objectives o Clear, concise reasoning for why the project is being performed o Clear, concise definition of what the project’s activities will entail o Brief description of primary deliverable(s) o Clear description of the project’s benefits to the organisation o Recognition and description of any limits that the project will not cover and address Acceptance Criteria o Identification of specific factors against which the project can be compared to determine success/failure o Identification of specific deliverables not only for class, but for the project as a whole o Agency-specific deliverables o Inclusion of due dates for the deliverables o Clear identification of milestone and milestone exit points o Factors should include a specific metrical comparison Assumptions and Constraints o Any assumptions made during the course of the project o List of constraints that entail the limitations that are required to be addressed Stakeholder List o Complete list of stakeholders including the sponsor, PM, executive members and few important members that are required to contribute to high level decisions Lessons Learned o Identification of pitfalls to be avoided, based on the student’s past experience o Evidence of thought as to what can and cannot affect the project in terms of how the project will run Charter Sign off Task 3: Prepare Communications Plan as per the template given- 20 marks Communication Plan Template • Plan purpose – A brief description of why and how the plan was developed, and an overview of the overall team communication philosophy. Also states types of communications planned, for lateral, downward, and upward communication. • Identification of stakeholders – The “who” in the project that requires information, (i.e. team members, project sponsor, class professor, etc.) and also the responsible parties to receive and/or communicate information. • Information to be shared – The “what” in terms of project information communication. Describes types of information that the team uses to communicate amongst its own team members, and also to the agency sponsor and the class professor. • Frequency of information exchange – The “when” describes how often communications will be held (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, as needed, etc.) • Location of information exchange – The “where” states the location of the meeting or other interactions • Purpose of communication – The “why” description assures that communications are held effectively. • Mechanism for communication – The “how” describes the media for communication (i.e. physical meeting, email, phone, message group, etc.) • Change management – Description on how the team will handle changes in the project, whether it is in terms of project scope, schedule, or resources. This includes how the team plans to communicate changes as well as how the team plans to make decisions about changes. • Meeting agenda – Gives a brief overview of what the team plans to accomplish in each of its meetings, how it documents goals and objectives for meetings, and defines and assigns actions for the team to accomplish project objectives. Rationale This assessment task covers first five topics and has been designed to ensure that you are engaging with the subject content on a regular basis. More specifically it seeks to assess your ability to: • Identify the responsibilities of a Project manager when participating in a real world project; • Define the role of management in projects, particularly from the view point of the practitioner as a member of the project team; • Apply project management skills, methods, techniques and tools to a real world problem typical of a project manager; • Explain areas of knowledge relevant to project management; and • Discuss the many problems facing the project manager and to note the "best practices" being utilised in order to produce effective, efficient and quality projects on time and within budget Marking criteria SWOT Analysis o Strengths – what the organization currently has the capability to do well. o Weaknesses – areas in which the organization is not competitive. o Opportunities – possible things a project team can do for additional success. o Threats – areas where outside competition may limit effectiveness. o Each of these provides insight into the possible choices of projects as well as how to structure each to capitalize on strengths and opportunities and to avoid or overcome weaknesses and threats. • Requirements • Students are required to submit the range of documents describing their proposed project solution for the above tasks. • • All referencing in the project material must be in accordance with the APA style guide. A guide to the APA style of referencing (the style now used by the Faculty of Business) is available at: http://student.csu.edu.au/study/referencing-at-csu • • Online submission via Turnitin is required for this assignment. QUESTION 2 Project Management Plan Task This assignment follows from the case study used in Question 1. For the same case study, complete the following tasks by creating the following: 1. Scope management plan( including Requirements, In scope-out scope items, Deliverables and scope verification process) to direct your efforts. (10 marks) 2. WBS first using either the free-form or the org chart format. (20 marks) 3. Gantt chart-Take the WBS you have already developed. Define all of the activities that will be necessary to create each deliverable in your WBS. Create a schedule for your project. First create the schedule by hand using Post-it® Notes, and then put the information into MS Project. Take screenshots of the schedule to be pasted ni your word document that you are submitting. Be sure to include all of the summary rows (including the first row for the project title) and any key milestones. Make sure the critical path is easy to see.- 10 marks 4. Create a time-phased budget for your example project using bottom-up estimating. To the extent your sponsor will supply rates for workers, use those. Approximate rates for ones you cannot get. Ask your sponsor how they treat indirect costs. Be sure to include direct labour costs for you and your team mates and add 20% for fringe. State all assumptions and constraints you have used when creating your budget. State how confident you are in your estimates and what would make you more confident. Give examples of known knowns and known unknowns on your project. Tell how you have budgeted for both of them plus how you have budgeted for unknown unknowns. (15 marks) 5. Create a risk register ( 4 risks- 3 negative and 1 positive risk)for your example project. (20 marks) Rationale This assessment task covers topics 1 to 9 and has been designed to ensure that you are engaging with the subject content on a regular basis. More specifically it seeks to assess your ability to: o demonstrate how a practicing project manager actually applies project management skills, o methods, techniques and tools ; o use an industry standard project management software tool (Microsoft Project); o apply project management skills, methods, techniques and tools to a real world problem typical of a project manager; Requirements Students are required to submit the range of documents describing their proposed project solution for the above tasks. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) o The first major section (1.0) should be project management and include the various project management deliverables such as charter, WBS, schedule, progress reports, etc. o Deliverables should match those in the charter. o Each item on the WBS should have a unique name. If there is possible confusion between two items add an extra adjective to differentiate them. For example, two items could be “first draft report” and “second draft report.” o Each line should be numbered with major sections being 1.0 then 2.0, etc. o Each major section should be broken down into between three and twelve subsidiary sections. If further breakdown is needed, more levels should be used. o All items on WBS are deliverables oriented (they are the “whats” of the project). Activities are defined as an outgrowth of the WBS and will appear in the schedule. o The WBS can be submitted in free-form, org-chart, or indented-outline format. o The WBS should appear to be complete with all interim and ending deliverables included. Schedule / Gantt chart o The schedule should appear to be complete given the charter and WBS. o The schedule should appear to be reasonable without requiring heroics to complete on time. o Include WBS column to left of task name column. o Include overall project name as top row. o Have all summaries stated in noun only format (or adjective noun – but on present tense verbs). o Have all tasks (activities) stated in present tense verb-adjective-noun format. o Have all milestones stated in noun and past tense verb format. o All tasks should have dependencies shown – no loose ends. o Display Gantt portion of schedule as large as possible. o Show critical path in red (or distinctive hash marks if printer is only black). o Show arrows with dependencies. o Include no more than 40 lines per page – ensure it is large enough to read easily. o Include no more pages than necessary so there is little need to align multiple pages for reading unless it is a large schedule. All referencing in the project material must be in accordance with the APA style guide. A guide to the APA style of referencing (the style now used by the Faculty of Business) is available at: http://student.csu.edu.au/study/referencing-at-csu Online submission via Turnitin is required for this assignment.