The project is based on the development of an automated online booking that organizations and other users can use for booking or making reservations in the Riverina Agriculture and Lifestyle Show (RALS). For the implementation of this new system, a project has been set up in which, a systematic approach will be taken so that all risks can be addressed and the implementation is done successfully. In this project, a project team will be set up and various roles will be assigned to the team members as per their expertise as well as the requirements of the project. However, in order to do that, the project scope should be first defined and the objectives to be set. Further, it needs to be analyzed whether the project will be feasible for the organization and a suitable schedule for the project needs to be estimated.
In this report, a project plan has been developed based on the requirements and analysis of the situation forwarded by the case study.
Measurable Organizational Value (MOV) is defined as the measure of success in terms of overall organizational goal (Burke, 2013). The MOV is generally derived from the set of scopes defined for the project and is then to derive the success criteria for the project.
For the given case study, the main area of impact for the project is the customers but there are significant areas of impact on strategy, finance, and operations as well. The areas of impact are explained as follows.
Strategy – The MOV for the strategy of the organization is that it is adopting the strategy of automating the main operations that are error prone and slow when assigned for manual management. In the current booking system, the reservations are done manually and as a result, there have been many conflicts regarding assignment of places or even not handing a reservation to a specific client even though sufficient slots were available. The automated system will solve these issues and will establish a first come first served system for the clients who want to take part in the show.
Customer – The main objective of this project is to process customer requests at a shorter time and present a fair system allowing any customer to get a chance at reservation for a spot in the RALS show. The processing of the client reservations and online payments will be handled by the automated system and will produce lesser errors.
Finance – The project will be financially feasible for the organization as it is only a one time investment within which, the entire system can be developed and operations can be initiated. On the other hand, in the manually managed system, the organization needs to pay salaries to the related personnel every month even though the quality of work is not good compared to the automated systems.
Operations – The new system will also have significant impact on the operations of the organization. The automated process will reduce the service time to the clients and hence, the employees of the organization can concentrate on other operations that must be done manually. Faster operations also mean that the growth of the organization will be faster and it will be able to make further investments in other projects in the near future.
The several factors associated with the MOV of the project are shown in the following table.
|
Attribute |
Area of Impact |
Outcome Expectation |
Measurable Metric |
Timeframe |
|
Measurable Organizational Value (MOV) |
Customer (Main), Strategy, Finance, Operations (Secondary) |
Faster |
Savings of $10,000 from monthly expenses |
4 Months |
The scope of a project is defined by a specific list of deliverables that can be realistically achieved through the project (Phillips, 2013). The scope also includes the project deliverables, objectives and organizational goals that need to be achieved. A scope management plan for the selected project is shown in the following table.
|
Input |
Tools and Techniques |
Output |
|
Project Charter Document |
Meetings |
To-do Checklist |
|
Project Plan |
Project Management Software |
Scope Management Plan |
|
Funds and Resources |
Feasibility Analysis |
Requirements Plan |
|
Factors influencing Project |
The overall scope of the project includes the following deliverables.
However, in order to manage the scope and avoid scope creep, project monitoring is necessary. The project manager should monitor the progress of the project to ensure no scope creep is occurring. Furthermore, the project manager will be responsible for change management in which, he will need to make occasional changes in the project for avoiding scope creep.
The list of resources required for the project is shown in the following table.
|
Resource |
Resource Type |
Resource Use |
|
Hardware |
Technology |
For setting up the system on which the software will be run |
|
Software |
Technology |
For developing the online booking system |
|
Stakeholders |
People |
For management of the project |
|
Developer |
People |
For development of the online booking system |
|
Project Room |
Facilities |
For execution of the project (development of the system) |
|
Allowances |
Other |
For additional costs encountered by the developer and stakeholders for the project |
|
Training Room |
Other |
For training existing employees regarding use of the online booking system |
The project schedule is shown in the following Gantt chart.
Figure 1: Gantt Chart of the Project
(Source: Created by Author)
Accordingly, the work breakdown structure (WBS) is as follows.
Figure 2: WBS of the Project
(Source: Created by Author)
The budget of the project using bottom up estimate is shown in the following table.
|
Resource/Requirement |
Estimated Budget (in $) |
|
Hardware |
10,000 |
|
Software |
5,000 |
|
Additional Costs and Computer Peripherals |
5,000 |
|
Developer Wages |
20,000 |
|
Others |
10,000 |
|
TOTAL |
50,000 |
During the analysis of the schedule, it has been assumed that the assigned budget and time will be sufficient for the project execution and there will be no shortfalls or issues during this period. However, the main constraint is that due to some internet related problems, the development may get hampered and the progress of the project may be stopped.
As per the estimation, the total budget is $50,000 and there will be additional 20% i.e. $10,000 for fringe. The estimations are done considering market fluctuations for the resource prices and hence, with the assigned budget plus the fringe, the project can be easily completed.
A risk is defined as a condition or an event that hampers the progress of a project (Turner, 2016). Risks may occur due to several reasons and can cause serious damage on the project progress.
The possible risks in this project are identified by the risk analysis framework template as follows (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017).
|
Risk |
Chance of Occurrence |
Effect on Project |
Responsible Stakeholder |
Mitigation Strategy |
|
Scheduling Risk |
High |
High |
Supervisor |
Prepare accurate schedule using project management software, verify schedule with project scope |
|
Technology Risk |
High |
Very High/Extreme |
Developer |
Ensure access to the necessary technical setup and software platforms before proceeding with development |
|
Scope Creep |
Medium |
High |
Project Manager |
Monitor and change management |
|
Budget Risk |
Low |
High |
Financial Manager |
Allocate sufficient budget and keep buffer budget |
|
Security Risk |
Very High |
Extreme |
System Admin |
Use anti-virus and internet security softwares |
Assumptions – In order to develop the risk plan for the project, several assumptions have been made as follows.
Quality of a project is defined as a certain standard of the outcome that meets the necessary requirement of the users, especially the clients of the business organization (Kerzner, 2013).
For the purpose of this project, there is also a quality standard that should be followed and maintained throughout the course of the project. As per the project team’s philosophy, the project quality should involve completion of the development of the online booking system that should have all the necessary features along with an attractive graphical user interface and sufficient security for online transactions during reservation of a place in the show.
For ensuring project quality, the necessary actions that need to be taken are shown in the following table.
|
Verification Activities |
Validation Activities |
|
Test the online portal from a customer side |
Test the system from software level |
|
Test the features of the system by a mock reservation |
Test compatibility with various operating systems and devices |
|
Test the system security |
Test the stability of GUI |
|
Test the hardware required for the system |
Test system requirements for running the system |
Project closure is required to ensure all the project activities have been completed successfully and have been verified by all the stakeholders (Martinelli & Milosevic, 2016).
Project evaluation is needed in order to ensure the quality standards of the project have been met and the desired outcome has been achieved from the project.
Conclusion
In this project plan, a number of important project variables have been analyzed and discussed. The project is based on the development of a new online booking system for RALS. The scope of the project includes the online portal in which the users can enter and reserve a place in the RALS showground on first come first served basis. In addition, the risks associated with the project have been analyzed and suitable recommendations have been provided accordingly. The quality management plan for the project has also been explored and provided along with an estimated project schedule that should be followed for the execution of the project. Finally, a project evaluation plan has been developed along with the closure checklist that should be verified before the project is officially closed.
Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management. Project Management Institute.
Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. (2013). Project Management: The Managerial Process with MS Project. McGraw-Hill.
Leach, L. P. (2014). Critical chain project management. Artech House.
Martinelli, R.J. & Milosevic, D.Z. (2016). Project management toolbox: tools and techniques for the practicing project manager. John Wiley & Sons.
Mir, F.A. & Pinnington, A.H. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), pp.202-217.
Nicholas, J.M. & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Taylor & Francis.
Phillips, J. (2013). PMP, Project Management Professional (Certification Study Guides). McGraw-Hill Osborne Media.
Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Turner, R. (2016). Gower handbook of project management. Routledge.
Verzuh, E. (2015). The fast forward MBA in project management. John Wiley & Sons
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