Project Scheduling and Budgeting: Tool Belt Store - Example

Project Scheduling and Budgeting: Tool Belt Store (TBS) Project Scheduling and Budgeting: Tool Belt Store (TBS) Assessment 1 Author Author Affiliation Date Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Corporate Overview 3 Project Overview 4 Project Objectives 4 Project Timeline 5 Project Total Cost 5 Resources 5 2- SCOPE STATEMENT 5 Project Deliverables 7 System Deliverables 7 Training Deliverables 7 Project Management Deliverables 7 Project Requirements 8 Hardware Requirements 8 Software Requirements 8 3- CRITICAL MILESTONES 9 4- WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS)  10 6- GANTT CHART 12 7- CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS 13 Possible Critical Paths 14 Network Diagram 15 15 8- EXPEDITING PROJECT PLAN 15 9- FINANCE PLAN 15 Hardware Resource Cost 16 Total Cost of Project 16 10- COMMUNICATION PLAN 17 11- RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN 17 12- TRAINING PLAN 18 13- Conclusion 19 14- References 19 Executive Summary The new technology based systems and artifacts are seen everywhere in the world. We are more and more dependent on technology based systems. This application of new technology is now ensuring the success of projects and businesses. Thus, by seeing the vast and huge developments in technology based systems, the management of Tool Belt Store (TBS) business has decided to implement a new web based and corporate intranet technology. The basic purpose of this report is to assess and analyze this new technology based systems application project through the project management, planning and business management point of views. Corporate Overview Tool Belt Store (TBS) is a growing business dealing in its chain of hardware stores across the country. Tool Belt Store has more than 5,000 full-time employees and more than 20,000 part-time employees. Tool Belt Store recently launched a new business strategic plan that is aimed at improving business functionality by reducing internal costs, increasing cross-selling of products and exploiting new web-based technologies to help employees, customers, and suppliers work together to improve the procurement, delivery and sale of its wide ranges of products. The business is planning to implement a new corporate intranet for the overall management of the business operations and business handling. 1- PROJECT CHARTER This part of project is aimed at presenting the project charter and analysis of initial project startup. Project Overview Tool Belt Store (TBS) is hardware selling corporate having number of business chains spread all through the nation. This business has decided to implement the new technology based systems for the potential improvement of business and corporate performance. This new business technology is aimed at improving overall corporate performance. Project Objectives The new technology of web and intranet at the Tool Belt Store (TBS) business stores chain is aimed at improving the overall business performance. There are following main objectives of the Tool Belt Store (TBS) new business technology: Improved business communication Improved corporate performance Better customer interaction Effective business services delivery Enhanced handling of business transaction Project Timeline This project of Tool Belt Store (TBS) should be completed in time line of 6 months. Project Total Cost The estimated cost of the project is $20000. Resources A resource is anything that helps in completing a project. There are many kinds of resources such as humans and material (Hughes & Cotterell, 2005; Maylor, 2003). In case of Tool Belt Store (TBS) business project of technology we are having human as a most important resource for development of new technology based system. This new system will require a complete team of software development with excellent skill of system design and development. 2- SCOPE STATEMENT Tool Belt Store (TBS) new business technology of web and intranet is basically the initial step to digitize the business network. Here the new technology will create a cloud of technology for the business services and products delivery. The new technology will offer a great deal of automating services for the business handling. This will establish a new web based sharing platform for business information and data. This new technology will offer a higher and improved data and information sharing. This will present a rapid response system for customer queries through rapid delivery of the messages. Here are the main scope areas of the project: Digitizing all business transactions Offering corporate wide business communication Presenting new and improved business functionalities Corporate issues management Online capability for the business staff communication Allow employees to register for company sponsored sales initiatives with resulting benefits, e.g. rewards; Digital data communication Allow employees to register for company sponsored classes and programs Business reliability of data communication Improved security through virtual private network (VPN) Help staff to manage a wide range of issues from product knowledge, sales & service skills Fast tracking of business orders Track data on employee involvement in these programs Offer incentives for people to join the programs Effective delivery of services to customers Analyze the data to correlate involvement with these programs and improvements in workplace involvement, process improvement, cost reduction and sales growth and other potentially identified benefits. Enhanced delivery of products information and details Offering online access to employee benefits including salary/expense claims, leave entitlements, etc Stock tracking and suitable handling. Project Deliverables Here are the following main deliverables of the Tool Belt Store (TBS) project: System Deliverables New web based system for communication New system training platform document Training Deliverables Training Manual document Help Document Installation Manual Project Management Deliverables Cost plan document Time plan document Risk plan document Quality assurance plan document Project Management plan document Project Requirements In this section I will present the basic project requirements: Hardware Requirements Network Router Database Server Network Servers Connecting Cables Staff workstations General Servers Internet Connection Software Requirements Case Tools for System Design ASP .Net for system development Documentation Software System Software for security 3- CRITICAL MILESTONES This section is about the presenting the Tool Belt Store (TBS) project critical milestones: No. Project Activity Duration Start Date 1 Requirement and Present system analyses 25 days 1-Feb-12 2 Requirements conformation and approval 7 days 7-Mar-12 3 New system Designing 20 days 16-Mar-12 4 Development of System 40 days 13-Apr-12 5 Testing and quality assurance of system 15 days 8-Jun-12 6 Implementation at corporate intranet 5 days 29-Jun-12 7 Post-Implementation Verifying System implementation 5 day 6-Jul-12 8 Assuring project quality and performance assessment 10 day 13-Jul-12 9 Results Analysis 3 day 27-Jul-12 10 Management Approval 1 day 1-Aug-12 11 Project Closure 1 day 2-Aug-12 4- WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS)  A work breakdown structure is a graphical or tabular form of project activities. A project is divided into different activities so that scheduling could be made simpler (Hughes & Cotterell, 2005; Kerzner, 2003). I have presented below the work breakdown structure of Tool Belt Store (TBS) project: Activity Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 1. Task 1- Assembling Project Team 1 Week   2.  3 Days Subtask 1.1 Requirements analysis 3.  1 Day  Subtask 1.2 Conducting interviews with team members of project 4.  3 Days  Subtask 1.3 Finalizing the selection of staff for development 5. Task 2- Corporate Working and functional analysis 2 Weeks   6.  1 Week Subtask 2.1 Discussion with business staff 7.  1 Week  Subtask 2.2 System needs analysis and business personal interviews 8. Task 3 Requirements Analysis and finalize the requirement of new system 2 Weeks 9.  3 Days  Subtask 3.1 Assessing technology specification 10.  4 Days   Subtask 3.2 System analysis 11.  5 Days   Subtask 3.3 Extraction of main requirements 12.  2 Days  Subtask 3.4 Finalizing requirements and taking approval 13.  Task 4 New technology based system procurement 1 weeks 14. 2  Days  Subtask 4.1 New technology systems needs analysis 15. 2 Days  Subtask 4.2 Finalizing main system working requirements and developing list of main system to be purchased 16. 3  Days  Subtask 4.3 Purchasing new systems for corporate 17.  Task 5- New Intranet Compatibility Management 3 weeks 18.  1 Week  Subtask 5.1 Existing systems analysis 19.  2 Weeks  Subtask 5.2 Developing and establishing new intranet systems for corporate 20. 1 Week  Subtask 5.3 Upgrading of existing systems and mounting systems compatibility 21.  Task 6- System Development (Coding) 12 weeks 22. 6 Week  Subtask 6.1 System Coding 23. 4 Week  Subtask 6.2 System Modules Development 24. 2 Week  Subtask 6.3 Integrating all newly developed modules 25.  Task 7- Testing and Quality Assurance and Project Courser 4 weeks 26.  1 Week Subtask 7.1 Finalizing all installation 27.   1 Week Subtask 7.2 Testing for working performance 28.   1 Week Subtask 7.3 Quality assurance of system functions 29.  1 Week Subtask 7.4 Taking Management Approval for project completion Project Complete 6- GANTT CHART MS Project File also attached. No. Project Activity Duration Start Date End Date Precedence 1 Requirement and Present system analyses 25 days 1-Feb-12 6-Mar-12 2 Requirements conformation and approval 7 days 7-Mar-12 15-Mar-12 1 3 New system Designing 20 days 16-Mar-12 12-Apr-12 1, 2 4 Development of System 40 days 13-Apr-12 7-Jun-12 2, 3 5 Testing and quality assurance of system 15 days 8-Jun-12 28-Jun-12 4 6 Implementation at corporate intranet 5 days 29-Jun-12 5-Jul-12 5 7 Post-Implementation Verify System 5 day 6-Jul-12 12-Jul-12 5, 6 8 Quality conformation and Performance assessment 10 day 13-Jul-12 26-Jul-12 7 9 Results Analysis 3 day 27-Jul-12 31-Jul-12 8 10 Management Approval 1 day 1-Aug-12 1-Aug-12 8, 9 11 Project Closure 1 day 2-Aug-12 2-Aug-12 10 7- CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS Project Activity Project Activity Identifier Requirements and Present system analyses A Requirements conformation and approval B New system Designing C Development of System D Testing and quality assurance of system E Implementation at corporate intranet F Post-Implementation Verify System G Quality conformation and Performance assessment H Results Analysis I Management Approval J Project Closure K No. Activity Name On Critical Path Activity Time Earliest Start Earliest Finish Latest Start Latest Finish Slack (LS-ES) 1 A Yes 25 0 25 0 25 0 2 B Yes 7 25 32 25 32 0 3 C Yes 20 32 52 32 52 0 4 D Yes 40 52 92 52 92 0 5 E Yes 15 92 107 92 107 0 6 F Yes 5 107 112 107 112 0 7 G Yes 5 112 117 112 117 0 8 H Yes 10 117 127 117 127 0 9 I Yes 3 127 130 127 130 0 10 J Yes 1 130 131 130 131 0 11 K Yes 1 131 132 131 132 0 Project Completion Time = 132 Days Number of Critical Path(s) = 12 Possible Critical Paths No. CA 1 CA 2 CA 3 CA 4 CA 5 CA 6 CA 7 CA 8 CA 9 CA 10 CA 11 CA 12 1 A A A A A A A A A A A A 2 B B B B B B B B C C C C 3 C C C C D D D D D D D D 4 D D D D E E E E E E E E 5 E E E E F F G G F F G G 6 F F G G G G H H G G H H 7 G G H H H H I J H H I J 8 H H I J I J J K I J J K 9 I J J K J K K J K K 10 J K K K K 11 K Completion Time 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 Network Diagram 8- EXPEDITING PROJECT PLAN “Development of system” is one of the most important activities of project that will require 40 days of working. If we speed up this activity we will need to add more human resource to this project. In this scenario this activity is a critical project activity that will be directly influenced if any possible change is made in the project working time. Here we will reduce the project working time of “development of system” project activity by 10 days. This will cut the project time by 10 days and project new completion time will be 122 days. However for this task we will need to spend the 150% human resource on this project activity. 9- FINANCE PLAN Hardware Resource Cost No. Project Resources Cost 1 Network Router $600.00 2 Database Server $1,000.00 3 Network Servers $1,000.00 4 Connecting Cables $300.00 5 Staff workstations $4,000.00 6 General Servers $1,000.00 7 Internet Connection $100.00 8 Others $2,000.00 Total Cost $10,000.00 Total Cost of Project We are having total cost of project approximately $20,000. 10- COMMUNICATION PLAN This section outlines the communication plan for the implementation of new technology based intranet and web based business management capability. Communication plan for the development of project and establishment of interaction among software development and system implementation team we will implement a number of interaction and communication mediums. In this scenario, the fundamental medium we will be using is project meetings those will be conducted in periodic way in an attempt to determine the overall project working and performance. For this project we will make use of the telephone based communication medium for connecting project teams. This project will also make use of the bulletin boards and notification boards for the project. This project will also make use of the progress charts for the overall project performance assessment. 11- RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN A risk is anything with negative impact which can occur at stage during project development (Lewis, 2006). In project of Tool Belt Store (TBS) which is regarding implementation of new technology based intranet and web based business management; we can have a variety of risks and issues regarding effective project management. One of main risks in Tool Belt Store (TBS) project is cost based issue. In case of such risk the overall project cost overrun and can cause huge problem for the business. Then we are also having a number of issues regarding project time line. In case of such problem overall project time can be increase that can lead to project failure and wasting of resources. Another important risk in case of TBS project is the technology issue. In case of such issues overall project can suffer from huge problem for the development team. In this scenario, new technology based system development project can suffer from huge issues and problems. This can be due to lack of technology skill and expertise. 12- TRAINING PLAN This section is about training of new Tool Belt Store (TBS) system working and operations. In this scenario we would need to make use of project training manual for the training the system users. Here we will conduct a session of ten days training for the overall project knowledge delivery. This training will offer a great deal of knowledge and expertise to project staff for using new system and understanding working and operations. Here we will involve project designer, analyzer and developers as trainers of the systems. It would offer an excellent support for the management of project and its operations. 13- Conclusion At the present, almost all the small and large size firms are making use of information technology to survive in this ever-increasing competitive world. They implement latest technologies such as web sites and decision support systems. These technologies help them complete and run their daily business tasks effectively. Seeing the increasing usage and importance of information technology in today’s business, Tool Belt Store (TBS) also decided to implement an intranet and a web based business portal. This report has presented a complete project plan for the new technology implementation at Tool Belt Store (TBS) business. This project is about the application of the new technology based system of intranet for the business network. The successful completion of this project will offer improve the performance of business in future. 14- References Hughes, B., & Cotterell, M. (2005). Software Project Management . New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kerzner, H. (2003). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling (8th ed.). New York: Wiley. Lewis, J. P. (2006). Fundamentals of Project Management. New York: AMACOM. Maylor, H. (2003). Project Management, 3rd edition. Harlow: Pearson Education. Read More