Project Management Assignment: Planning For Remodelling Of An Appliance

Question

Task: Context:
The backbone of a project manager’s work is the Project Management Plan. This plan is the document which describes how the project will be executed, monitored and controlled. It integrates and consolidates all of the subsidiary plans and baselines from the planning processes. In this subject, you will be creating components of a Project Management Plan for your selected Case Study.

Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully. Managing the project scope is primarily concerned with defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project.
Project Time Management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project. Plan Time Management is the process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule.
Effective scope management is one of the key factors determining project success. Failure to accurately interpret a client's needs or problems will produce a misleading definition (scope of work). If this causes rework and additional effort, there may be project cost and time implications. Therefore, project success will be self-limiting if the scope of work is not adequately defined.

Scope and Time Management Plans
In this project management assignment, you will be creating subsidiary management plans of a Project Management Plan using the information found in the case study provided by your learning facilitator at the commencement of the subject. For Assessment 1 Part B, you are responsible for submitting the project scope and time management plans for the case study. The plans must contain, but not limited to, the following plan components:

• Project goals and objectives
• Project scope statement
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Project schedule
For the project scope statement and WBS, you can use the templates found in this module’s Learning Resources or a format of your own. For the project schedule, you are responsible for submitting a schedule and a network diagram using the critical path method (CPM). Your schedule can be created using scheduling software e.g. ProjectLibre or Microsoft Project. Your network diagram can be handdrawn and scanned or created using drawing tools e.g. in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.

Answer

1. Project Goals and Objectives
1.1 Project Goals
The primary goal of the project explored in the project management assignment is to remodel an appliance following specific protocols and requirements. Although the project name seems like a simple task, it is actually a very complex process once all the protocols and procedures are considered with respect to the organisation. Hence, based on the organisation’s requirements and procedures, the entire process of remodelling an appliance is considered as a project and several specific procedures must be followed to achieve the goal. The main reason is that the remodelling can be done in several ways but then, the remodelled appliance may not be successful commercially in the market. As a result, a detailed study is required to identify specific desired changes that will help the remodelled appliance become commercially successful.

1.2 Project Objectives
Based on the goals set for the project, the following objectives have been identified.
To analyse the commercial status of the particular appliance through market study
To conduct a detailed study on the similar appliances with different designs and features in the existing market
To gather data on the market from focus groups
To design a remodelled version of the appliance
To debug the appliance and analyse its usefulness according to market demands
To determine commercial performance of the remodelled appliance
To approve the new model for commercial scale production of the appliance

2. Project Scope Statement
2.1 Project Scope Description
The project scope is used to define a boundary within which, the project must remain in order to achieve the main goals within the constraints of other related parameters. The project scope also provides the project team with a clear idea of what needs to be done and what not during the entire project life cycle. At certain times, when the project scope is not well defined, the team might perform out of scope work that can only result in wastage of time and resources. Hence, it is advised to define the project scope as well as those activities that are out of scope for the project. In this case, the primary scope is to remodel a specific appliance for an organisation following specific procedures and protocols. The scope is further explained as follows.

In Scope
Conducting a market analysis is within the scope of the project.
Using focus groups to gather relevant data is within the scope of the project.
Designing and debugging a remodelled appliance is within the scope of the project.
Performing business analytics for prediction of the commercial performance of the remodelled appliance is within the scope of the project.

Out Scope
Developing an entirely new appliance is out of scope of this project.
Creating a new sales channel is out of scope of this project.
Marketing activities are out of scope of this project.
Investing in research and development for new appliances is out of scope of this project.
Hiring new employees for the company is out of scope of this project.

2.2 Project Deliverables
Project deliverables are defined as the final outputs that need to be delivered at the end of the project. If the deliverables are not fulfilled or one or more deliverables are missed, the project cannot be called as successful and might be restarted to complete all the requirements. It is the duty of the project team to carefully ensure all the deliverables have been met once the execution is complete and the project is ready to be handed over. If there are some missing deliverables, the steering committee will identify those during project review and will order restarting of the project along with possible financial penalties.

For this project, the main deliverables include the following.
A concise market report of the current commercial performance of the appliance
A detailed data sheet from the focus groups based on market study and performance of other organisations selling similar appliances
A new remodelled appliance for commercial sales
A detailed analytics report predicting the commercial performance of the remodelled appliance

2.3 Project Acceptance Criteria
Project acceptance criteria are generally set in order to construct certain standards that the project must fulfil to be accepted as successful. If the project does not fulfil the acceptance criteria, the steering committee may reject the project or restart the project also with imposing penalties on the project team. Hence, it is extremely necessary for the team to ensure the project acceptance criteria are met after the delivery of the project. Accordingly, this project also has specific acceptance criteria that need to be fulfilled by the working team. Some of the main acceptance criteria for the project are listed as follows.

The market data must be accurate and concise based on the requirements for the project.
The remodelled design must be innovative and aligned with the market trends of demands and sales.
The market analytics data should be as accurate as possible and must be favourable for the remodelled design created.
The analytics data must suggest viability of the remodelled product before it is considered for commercial level production and sales.

2.4 Project Exclusions
While the project scope has included all the required goals of the project, there are certain aspects that need to be excluded from the project in order to save time and resources as well as unnecessary extra work. The exclusions in project are specified in order to limit the scope even further and develop an even clearer roadmap with only specific goals and milestones in sight. Furthermore, the exclusions help to redefine the budget of the project as well as ensure the timeline is evenly divided for various important work packages that are included in the project.

Some of the major exclusions from this project are listed as follows.
Idea of new appliances with better or new features and applications has been excluded from this project and might be considered for a future endeavour.
Mass survey of the customers for understanding their demands has been excluded from the project to save time and unnecessary costs.
Significant investment in research and development of new product has been excluded from this project.

2.5 Project Constraints
All projects have certain constraints that limit the scope of work and create challenges during the project life cycle. While some constraints are imposed by the project owner, some appear naturally due to nature of complexity of the project. Hence, it is always advisable to identify the constraints and plan the project accordingly to avoid unnecessary issues in the future. For this project, some of the major constraints are listed as follows.

The budget for the project is a constraint as it is limited by the company with very little flexibility.
Time is a constraint as the deadline is fixed and any delays will result in penalties for the project team. The market analytics for predicting the possible commercial success of the new appliance model can be a constraint as it is not 100% in nature and the market also changes rapidly due to its highly dynamic nature.

2.6 Project Assumptions
Project assumptions are generally made while developing the scope in order to compensate for some unknown aspects that are predictable in nature. When some of these aspects start having certain degrees of uncertainty, the assumptions are made with the highest accuracy as possible in order to continue planning for the project.

In this project, the following assumptions have been made.
It has been assumed that the deadline provided by the company is realistic and the project can be completed and delivered in time.

It has been assumed that the market will remain more or less constraint with low degrees of variation over the next few months after project delivery.
It has been assumed that the analytics data is accurate and will provide true representation of the possible commercial success of the remodelled appliance.

3. Work Breakdown Structure
1. Remodelling an Appliance
1.1 Conduct competitive analysis
1.2 Review field sales report
1.2.1 Request sales report
1.2.2 Study sales report
1.2.3 Identify issues and shortcomings

1.3 Conduct tech capabilities assessment
1.4 Develop focus group data
1.4.1 Create focus group
1.4.2 Assign focus group
1.4.3 Collect data from focus group
1.5 Conduct telephone surveys
1.6 Identify relevant specification improvements
1.7 Interface with marketing staff
1.8 Develop engineering specifications
1.9 Check and debug designs
1.9.1 Create a design
1.9.2 Analyse and test the design
1.9.3 Debug the design
1.10 Develop testing protocol
1.11 Identify critical performance levels
1.12 Assess and modify product components
1.13 Conduct capabilities assessment
1.14 Identify selection criteria
1.15 Develop RFQ

1.15.1 Analyse requirements
1.15.2 Develop RFQ parameters
1.15.3 Create RFQ document
1.16 Develop production master schedule
1.17 Liaise with sales staff
1.18 Prepare product launch
4. Project Schedule
4.1 Project Gantt Chart
The project Gantt chart is shown in the following diagram along with the critical path marked in red.

Figure 1: Project Schedule (Gantt Chart) with Critical Path
(Source: Created by Author)

4.2 Network Diagram

Figure 2: Network Diagram of the Project
(Source: Created by Author)

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