Project Management For Company Retreat: Planning, Budgeting, And Execution

Task/Activity in Project

Question:

Discuss about the Company retreat to another Company.

iPixel Creative is a Singapore based organization that develops and designs web applications and provides web solutions to its customers. The organization has an employee base of over 850 employees. The organization has successfully completed numerous web based projects and recently accomplished the project of developing a web application for a client. The project team constituted of 30 employees which included operational team members, Project Manager, Project leader and several other resources as well. In order to celebrate the success of the project and to reward the employees for their efforts, the client decided to provide a retreat to the project team members. The document is the project report covering the project planning and analysis details (Mallery, 2011).

Objectives

The primary objective of the project is to arrange for the retreat for the project employees within a budget of SGD 80,000. The entire project is required to be completed in the period of three weeks.

• Booking of the flight tickets to Thailand for the project team members interested for the trip.
• Booking of the hotels for all the travelers travelling to Thailand.
• Development and circulation of the itinerary for the trip including the cities and places to visit along with the dates.

Project Deliverables

• Project plan covering the details of project scope, project budget, project schedule and project team members (Henderson, 2004)
• List of the travelers
• Flight tickets
• Approved Visa applications for all the travelers
• Hotel bookings
• Closure Report

List of Project Milestones

• Listing, selection and finalization of the venue for the trip – 11^th September 2017
• List of the team members traveling to Thailand – 13^th September 2017
• Flight tickets – 14^th September 2017
• Approved Visa – 18^th September 2017
• Itinerary for the trip to Thailand – 20^th September 2017
• Confirmation receipts from the hotels – 25^th September 2017

Technical Requirements of the Project

• A valid passport will be necessary for the team members willing to accept the offer of project retreat from the client
• Eligibility on the basis of medical and professional requirements will be necessary

Project Limits and Exclusions

• The client will not cover the expenses made by the travelers on their personal shopping and food expenses.
• The tickets booked for the flights will be done in the economy class and the upgrades will not be handled by the client of the project (Seethamraju, 2012).
• The resources will be stopped from accepting the offer in case of their professional commitments pending to be completed.
• The duration of the trip shall be strictly seven days (Gullege, 2002)

Project Customer Review

Task/Activity in the Project	Project Manager	Project Leader	Technical Writer	Travel Expert	Finance Officer	HR Associate
Project Planning	R	S
Designing of Project Budget	S	S			R
Designing of the Project Schedule	R	R				S
Finalization of the trip venue	R	R				S
Approval on the travel of the employees	S	S				R
Booking of the flight tickets	S	S		R
Hotel bookings	S	S		R
Visa Arrangements and development of the itinerary	S	S		R
Preparation of project documents and closure report	S	S	R

Priority Matrix of the Project

	Factor 1 = Time	Factor 2 = Scope/Performance	Factor 3 = Cost
Constraint	X
Enhancement		X
Accept			X

Time, cost and scope are the three factors that have significance in the project and the project progress. These factors along with their priority and significance in the project have been described below.

Constraint

Time is the project factor that is a constraint in the project of a company retreat to the other company. The employees that will be traveling will have responsibilities in terms of the other projects as well. Any delays in the project or in the trip that has been decided will result in a lot many losses in terms of cancellation of the bookings along with non-fulfillment of the duties towards the organization. Therefore, the project time will be a primary constraint in the project (Yang & Tamir, 2015).

Enhancement

The scope of the project includes the planning, analysis and closure activities along with the booking activities. There can be enhancements done from the side of the client in terms of the hotel category that is selected or in the flight category that is selected. The enhancements will lead to the improvement of the employee satisfaction.

Accepts

There is a budget of SGD 80,000 estimated for the project. However, there can be acceptance in terms of the project costs such as a little variation in the costs (Sunde, 2011). The variations may result from the changes in the price of the flight tickets or the hotel charges.

Factors affecting the Project Progress

The priorities in the project can, therefore, be determined from the factors that are constraint, enhancement and acceptance. Time shall be kept as the top priority followed by the cost and the scope (Mohapatra & Patnaik, 2011).

Project – Company retreat by another company

1.1. Analysis of the project requirements

Analysis of the specifications in terms of the offer made by the client

1.2. Determination of project scope, cost and schedule

Planning of the project in terms of the creation of the project scope, budget and schedule

1.3. Selection of the travelers willing to travel

Confirmation from the project employees willing to travel

1.4. Selection of the travel dates

Decision on the travel dates

2.1. Selection of destination as Thailand

Selection of the travel destination that the travelers will be visiting as the retreat

2.2. Data gathering

Collection of the data such as traveler demographics and medical reports

2.3. Booking of the flights

Booking of the flight as per the data that is collected

3.1. Gathering of passports

Gathering of the passport from all the travelers

3.2. Gathering of documents and information

Gathering of documents such as identity proofs and other necessary documents

3.3. Submission of the visa application

Submission of the application in the visa office

3.4. Collection of the approved visa

Collection of the visa from the visa office

3.5. Distribution of the visas to the travelers

Providing the visa to the travelers

4.1. Listing of the places to visit

Inclusion of the places that the employees will visit in the itinerary

4.2. Discussion with the managers and leaders

Discussion of the itinerary with the senior management

4.3. Imparting itinerary details to the travelers

Discussion of the itinerary with the travelers

4.4. Feedback from the resources

Collection of the comments on the itinerary from all the travelers

4.5. Revision of the itinerary

Re-designing of the itinerary4.6. Development of the itinerary

Submission of the itinerary to as the final plan to follow during the trip

5.1. Hotel listing

Listing of the hotels that the travelers will stay in

5.2. Hotel Analysis

Analyzing of the hotels in terms of the quality and category of the hotel

5.3. Availability Enquiry

Enquiry on the availability in terms of the dates

5.4. Final Booking

Confirmation and collection of the receipts

6.1. Project Documentation

Preparation of the final project documents

6.2. Closure report preparation and submission

Development and submission of the closure report to the client (Marle, 2014)

Time-phased Budget of the Project

Project – Company retreat by another company	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
1.1. Project Planning
1.1.1. Analysis of the project requirements	300
1.1.2. Determination of project scope, cost and schedule	500
1.1.3. Selection of the travelers willing to travel	200
1.1.4. Selection of the travel dates	150
1.2. Bookings – Flights
1.2.1. Selection of destination as Thailand	400
1.2.2. Data gathering	4500
1.2.3. Booking of the flights	25000
1.3. Visa Arrangements
1.3.1. Gathering of passports	300
1.3.2. Gathering of documents and information	800
1.3.3. Submission of the visa application	7000
1.3.4. Collection of the approved visa	2200
1.3.5. Distribution of the visas to the travelers	600
1.4. Itinerary Preparation
1.4.1. Listing of the places to visit		200
1.4.2. Discussion with the managers and leaders		200
1.4.3. Imparting itinerary details to the travelers		140
1.4.4. Feedback from the resources		300
1.4.5. Revision of the itinerary		300
1.4.6. Development of the itinerary		120
1.5. Hotel Bookings
1.5.1. Hotel listing		300
1.5.2. Hotel Analysis		250
1.5.3. Availability Enquiry		250
1.5.4. Final Booking		32000
1.6. Project Closure
1.6.1. System Documentation			2500
1.6.2. Closure report preparation and submission			1200
Project Cost per Week	41950	34060	3700
Cumulative Cost	41950	76010	79710

Conclusion

Project of company retreat to the other company is required to be finished in three weeks and in the budget of SGD 80,000. Project planning is one of the most significant steps in the project that shall be carried out with utmost attention and perfection. These project details that are identified in the project planning phase aid in the overall execution of the project

References

Gulledge, T. (2002). Business process management: public sector implications. Business Process Management Journal, 8(4), 364-376. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14637150210435017

Henderson, L. (2004). Encoding and decoding communication competencies in project management ? an exploratory study. International Journal Of Project Management, 22(6), 469-476. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0263-7863(04)00014-6

Mallery, M. (2011). Project Management Portal (PMP) from the University of Washington Information Technology Wiki – https://wiki.cac.washington.edu/display/pmportal/Project+Management+Portal. Technical Services Quarterly, 28(3), 365-367. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07317131.2011.574546

Marle, F. (2014). Assisting project risk management method selection. International Journal Of Project Organisation And Management, 6(3), 254. https://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijpom.2014.065255

Mohapatra, S., & Patnaik, A. (2011). Sustainability in HRIS implementation through effective project management. International Journal Of Project Organisation And Management, 3(1), 78. https://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijpom.2011.038865

Seethamraju, R. (2012). Business process management: a missing link in business education. Business Process Management Journal, 18(3), 532-547. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14637151211232696

Sunde, L. (2011). Net-present-value cost/time tradeoff. International Journal Of Project Management, 13(1), 45-49. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0263-7863(95)95703-g

Yang, Y., & Tamir, G. (2015). Offshore software project management: mapping project success factors. International Journal Of Project Organisation And Management, 7(2), 111. https://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijpom.2015.06961