happy equation

Project Management MSIN 3001 Team Mouse Assignment 3: Project Plan

Page 1 of 28

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................................... 2

2 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3

3 Success Criteria ............................................................................................................................................................. 4

4 Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) of Deliverables .................................................................................................... 5

5 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) ............................................................................................................................... 6

5.1 Work Breakdown Structure for Spring Meadow Launch .................................................................................... 6

5.2 Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) ............................................................................................................ 7

6 Schedule........................................................................................................................................................................ 9

6.1 Overview/Milestone Schedule ............................................................................................................................ 9

6.2 Complete Schedule Plan .................................................................................................................................... 10

6.3 Scheduling Assumptions.................................................................................................................................... 12

6.4 Schedule Risks ................................................................................................................................................... 12

7 Resource Plan ............................................................................................................................................................. 14

8 Stakeholder Management Plan .................................................................................................................................. 15

8.1 Key Stakeholders ............................................................................................................................................... 15

8.2 Power/Index Matrix .......................................................................................................................................... 16

8.2.1 Management strategies utilised ................................................................................................................... 16

9 Costing ........................................................................................................................................................................ 18

9.1 Costing Assumptions ......................................................................................................................................... 18

10 Risk Management .................................................................................................................................................. 21

10.1 Risk Register Table ............................................................................................................................................ 23

11 Project Monitoring Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 24

12 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................................... 26

13 Appendix ................................................................................................................................................................ 27


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1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This document demonstrates the objective, success criteria, the breakdown of deliverables and tasks,

project schedule, resource plan, stakeholder management plan, costing information, risk management and

project monitoring strategies for the Spring Meadow Launch, set to commence in June 2011.

According to the PBS and WBS drawn, the deliverables and project tasks are divided into two main criteria;

advertising campaign and training program where the responsibility matrix aims to connect all the tasks to

the corresponding personnel or team involved. The detailed schedule illustrates that both the campaign and

training program will run in parallel with the net preparation for the launch is subject to complete by 28th

May 2011. The total project cost is estimated at 918,403 including contractors fee, staff overheads and

consumables, where approximately 79% is to be spent on marketing campaign.

The manpower planning is done to allow for strategies in matching the sizes and skills of the personnel

specifically to the companys requirements to be developed, to avoid unnecessary use of resources. The key

stakeholders such as Spring Meadow, the companys shareholders and management are also recognized,

with their objectives and interests identified in order to aid the fluidity in companys communication

throughout the project.

The main risk recognized in the project is the failure of subcontractors to meet the contract commitments

which will cause the project to be severely delayed and extra expenditure incurred to rectify it with

contingency plans. Finally, to ensure the quality of the deliverables, techniques such as Gantt chart tracking,

control charts, and scatter diagrams will be utilized throughout the project.


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2 OBJECTIVES

Athina recognised a market opportunity to sell its broadband services on a wholesale basis. The first selected

customer is the supermarket chain Spring Meadow. The two areas of the project, training and advertisement

campaign, have specific objectives and targets.

Training sessions are meant to provide store managers and customer service personnel with the

right expertise to respectively promote the product in-store and take orders while offering pre/after-

sales advice to buyers and potential buyers.

The advertising campaign is estimated to achieve the following:

- An average of 1,000 leads per store per month from in-store contacts

- 30,000 leads in the first two months

- 15 % of all leads to be converted into sales by trained staff.

Ultimately the main Board aims to:

Operate the new business by end of June 2011

Increase turnover by 20% after year one of operation.

Recover development and launch costs, break even and eventually make a profit after year 1.


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3 SUCCESS CRITERIA

By definition success is measured on the basis of cost, time and quality.

In the case of Athinas project:

The major costs are those related to the training (material, hotels) advertisement campaign (Red

balloon services, press advertising), resources (key personnel involved). Success is achieved if cost-

efficiency is maximised and over- run costs are avoided. The latter depends on the extent to which

Athina will be able to negotiate with external stakeholders, namely the hotels and the advertisement

agency, for the sake of mutual gain. The ratio between planned and actual costs will have an impact

on the estimated sales and profit.

Time relates to the when the product will be launched, that is end of June 2011 the latest, although

the Board would rather anticipate the deadline to an earlier date. The ability to draw an optimised

schedule and adhere to it will dictate the extent to which the project will be a success in terms of

time. Moreover, on a longer term, success for time will be compared against Athinas forecast to

recover development and launch costs after two years of operation.

Quality relates to the effectiveness of the training and advertisement campaign. With Customers

level of satisfaction and positive feedback in addition to the number of orders for the product are

factors against which quality will be assessed. For the latter Athina has set sales targets in term of

leads and effective sales that should materialise following the campaign. They are the terms of

comparison to establish whether the project succeeds in quality.


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4 PRODUCT BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (PBS) OF DELIVERABLES

The product breakdown structure (figure 5-1) shows a breakdown of the individual items needed to be

delivered for the successful launch of the product (1). The product launch is separated into two phases, one

which focuses on the training Spring Meadows staff and one which focuses on the product launch.

In terms of the training aspect, Spring Meadows 300 customer services staff shall be trained on how to take

orders and deal with customer problems. Spring Meadows 50 store managers shall be trained at 2 hotels,

one in Warrington and the other in Cardiff. They will be supplied with informative material and trained to

sell the product and spread the word about the new broadband product in-store.

With regards to the product launch, there will be a huge advertising campaign which shall focus on

advertising through both leaflets and press. It is planned that 5,000 leaflets shall be placed in each of the 50

Spring Meadow stores for the first three months following the launch. A major advertising campaign shall be

made through the press using both broadsheet and red top newspapers, these will include details of the

numbers to call to get more information on the product and to sign up for the services.

Figure 4-1: PBS of deliverables

Spring Meadow Product Launch

0.

June 2011

Training

1.

Customer Services

1.1.

Store Managers

1.2.

Advertising Campaign

2.

Press

2.1

Broadsheet

2.1.1

Red Top

2.1.2

Leaflets

2.2


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5 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS)

A generic work breakdown structure (WBS) for the Spring Meadow launch has been produced (2). The work

breakdown structure will provide the necessary structure to ensure that all areas and aspects of the tasks

are included and will act as the basis of the project schedule. It encompasses the entire projects scope of

work and provides the basis for the risk identification process and the responsibility assignment matrix

(RAM).

5.1 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE FOR SPRING MEADOW LAUNCH

The work breakdown structure for the Spring Meadow launch is presented below (figure 5-1):

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the Spring Meadow Launch

0. Spring Meadow Launch

1. Training

1.1. Set up training session

1.1.1. Organise delegates

1.2. Arrange accommodation

1.2.1. Cost budgeting (55 per person per session)

1.2.2. Book the rooms

1.3. Prepare two sets of training material

1.3.1. Find out services and prices

1.3.2. Write the materials

1.3.2.1. Sign-off by Subin and Marketing Department

1.4. Run training sessions

1.4.1. First round

1.4.2. Rest of the training

2. Advertisement campaign

2.1. First concept

2.1.1. Development of first creative ideas

2.1.2. Choice of preferred options by Spring Meadow

2.2. Rough concepts

2.2.1. Production of print-based advertising

2.2.2. Pre-testing with the target audience

2.2.3. Selection of final concept

2.3. Approval of final concept

2.4. Production

2.4.1. Press

2.4.1.1. Press copy

2.4.1.2. Press visuals

2.4.1.3. Press artwork

2.4.1.4. Proof

2.4.1.5. Distribution

2.4.2. Leaflet

2.4.2.1. Leaflet copy

2.4.2.2. Leaflet visual

2.4.2.3. Production and print

2.4.2.4. Leaflet distribution


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5.2 RESPONSIBILITY ASSIGNMENT MATRIX (RAM)

The responsibility assignment matrix (2) presented below (table 6-1). It is based directly off the WBS and

identifies the major members of the staff that hold the responsibilities of each task at hand. The

responsibilities are split into different categories which highlight the level of responsibility for each member.

The different symbols used to represent the different types of responsibility:

Responsible R

Support S

Notification N

Approval A

Consultation C

2.5. Media planning and scheduling

2.5.1. Determine media (Tabloid- Broadsheet)

2.5.2. Develop schedule of proposed media with timing and costing

(Tabloid 35,000- broadsheet 20,000 for first 2months)

2.6. Media buying

2.6.1. Negotiation of slots and pricing

2.7. Implementation

2.7.1. Confirm with Subin; go/no go

2.7.2. Campaign run with 5,000 leaflets in 50 stores and press advertisements

2.8. Monitoring and control

2.8.1. Collection of feedback during campaign

2.9. Evaluation for comparison with set targets of leads and sale

2.9.1. Post-campaign research

2.9.2. Post-campaign report

Figure 5-1: WBS for the Spring Meadow launch


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Athina Spring Meadow Contractors

Sub

in M

eh

ta

(Pro

gram

me

Man

ager

)

Susi

e P

alm

er

(Co

ntr

act

PM

- L

aun

ch)

Ste

lla B

rew

er

(Mar

keti

ng

Dir

ecto

r)

Ric

ard

o S

on

tas

(Tra

inin

g)

Luke

Pe

arl

(Mar

keti

ng

Man

age

r)

Just

in S

pri

ng

(Dir

ecto

r o

f M

arke

tin

g)

Ala

n F

on

tain

e

(Tra

inin

g M

anag

er)

Sub

-Co

ntr

acto

r 1

(Red

Bal

loo

n a

gen

cy)

Sub

Co

ntr

acto

r 2

(Pre

ss)

Sub

-Co

ntr

acto

r 3

(Lea

flet

)

WBS/OBS

1. Training

1.1. Set up Training Session R

1.1.1. Organising delegates R

1.2. Arrange accommodation R

1.2.1. Cost budgeting (55 per person per session)

1.2.2. Book the rooms

1.3 Prepare two sets of training material R S

1.3.1. Find out services and prices R S S

1.3.2 Write the materials A R A

1.3.3. Sign-off by Subin and Marketing Department

1.4. Run training sessions R S

1.4.1. First round R

1.4.2. Rest of the training

2. Advertisement campaign N R

2.1. First concept R C

2.1.1. Development of first creative ideas R C

2.1.2. Choice of preferred options by Spring Meadow A

2.2. Rough concepts A R A

2.2.1. Production of print-based advertising R S R R

2.2.2. Pre-testing with the target audience N A R A R

2.2.3. Selection of final concept N A R A A

2.3. Approval of final concept N A R A

2.4. Production

2.4.1. Press C R

2.4.1.1. Press copy N A R A C R

2.4.1.2. Press visuals N A R A C R

2.4.1.3. Press artwork N A R A C R

2.4.1.4. Proof N A R A R

2.4.1.5. Distribution N A R A R

2.4.2. Leaflet N A R A C R

2.4.2.1. Leaflet copy N A R A C R

2.4.2.2. Leaflet visual N A R A R C

2.4.2.3. Production and print N A R A A R

2.4.2.4. Leaflet distribution N A R A R

2.5. Media planning and scheduling

2.5.1. Determine media (Tabloid- Broadsheet) C A R A C

2.5.2. Develop schedule of proposed media with timing and costing

C R C

2.6. Media buying

2.6.1. Negotiation of slots and pricing N A R A C

2.7. Implementation

2.7.1. Confirm with Subin; go/no go A R A

2.7.2. Campaign run with 5,000 leaflets in 50 stores and press advertisements

N R C

2.8. Monitoring and control

2.8.1. Collection of feedback during campaign S N R N N

2.9. Evaluation for comparison with set targets of leads and sale

2.9.1. Post-campaign research R

2.9.2. Post-campaign report R

Table 5-1: Responsibility Matrix


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6 SCHEDULE

A schedule plan denoting the breakdown of the tasks, their estimated completion date, and any key

milestones has been produced. An overview schedule plan has been presented (figure 7-1) which shows the

key tasks, estimated completion dates, milestones and persons involved in the project.

A full schedule plan is presented (figures 7-2 to 7-7) which includes a Gantt chart and shows the key tasks

and sub tasks, milestones and estimated completion dates together with the persons involved.

6.1 OVERVIEW/MILESTONE SCHEDULE

Figure 6-1: Overview/Milestone Schedule

ID Task Name Duration Start Finish PredecessorsResource Names

1 Press and Leaflet campaign 120 days Tue 01/03/11 Mon 15/08/11

2 First Concepts 8 days Tue 01/03/11 Thu 10/03/11

3 Development of creative ideas 7 days Tue 01/03/11 Wed 09/03/11 Creative Director[50%],Creative Executive[50%]

4 Evaluation 1 day Thu 10/03/11 Thu 10/03/11 3 Creative Director[50%],Creative Executive[50%]

5 Concept roughs 4 days Fri 11/03/11 Wed 16/03/11 4 Creative Director[50%],Creative Executive[50%]

6 Pre-Testing 15 days Thu 17/03/11 Wed 06/04/11 5 Creative Researcher[50%]

7 Final Concepts 5 days Thu 07/04/11 Wed 13/04/11 6 Creative Director[50%],Creative Executive[50%]

8 Compilation and review of designed concepts 4 days Thu 07/04/11 Tue 12/04/11 Creative Director[50%],Creative Executive[50%]

9 Selection of best concept for approval 1 day Wed 13/04/11 Wed 13/04/11 8 Creative Director[50%],Creative Executive[50%]

10 Review meeting for final concepts 2 days Thu 14/04/11 Fri 15/04/11 9 Stella Brewer,Justin Spring

11 Approval for concepts 0 days Fri 15/04/11 Fri 15/04/11 10

12 Press copy 5 days Mon 18/04/11 Fri 22/04/11 11 Copywriter

13 Press visuals 4 days Mon 18/04/11 Thu 21/04/11 10 Visualizer

14 Press artwork, proof & distribution 15 days Fri 22/04/11 Fri 13/05/11 13,12 Sub-contractor[0%],Visualizer[25%]

15 Media planning & scheduling 5 days Mon 25/04/11 Fri 29/04/11 12,13 Media Planner

16 Media buying 20 days Mon 02/05/11 Fri 27/05/11 15 Media Buyer

17 Negotiation of prices with Broadsheets and Tabloid 10 days Mon 02/05/11 Fri 13/05/11 Media Buyer

18 Final approval* 1 day Mon 16/05/11 Mon 16/05/11 17 Susie Palmer,Subin Mehta,Stella Brewer

19 Purchasing of media slots 9 days Tue 17/05/11 Fri 27/05/11 18 Media Buyer

20 Leaflet copy and visuals 2 days Mon 16/05/11 Tue 17/05/11 14 Copywriter,Visualizer

21 Leaflet production & print 10 days Mon 16/05/11 Fri 27/05/11 14 Sub-contractor 2[0%]

22 Preproduction preparation 5 days Mon 16/05/11 Fri 20/05/11

23 Production and Printing 3 days Mon 23/05/11 Wed 25/05/11 22

24 Leaflet Distribution 2 days Thu 26/05/11 Fri 27/05/11 20,23 Sub-contractor 3

25 Product launch 54 days Wed 01/06/11 Mon 15/08/11 16,21,19,24

26 Advertisement runtime 44 days Wed 01/06/11 Mon 01/08/11

27 Post-evaluation research & report 10 days Tue 02/08/11 Mon 15/08/11 26 Market Research Group

28 Training 63 days Tue 01/03/11 Thu 26/05/11

29 Prepare material 9 days Tue 01/03/11 Fri 11/03/11

30 Evaluate alternatives and prices 1 day Tue 01/03/11 Tue 01/03/11 Luke Pearl,Ricardo Santos

31 Write material 8 days Wed 02/03/11 Fri 11/03/11 30 Ricardo Santos,Alain Fontaine

32 Marketing sign off 5 days Mon 14/03/11 Fri 18/03/11 31 Susie Palmer,Alain Fontaine,Ricardo Santos,StellaBrewer,Justin Spring

33 Book hotel sessions* 1 day Mon 21/03/11 Mon 21/03/11 32 Susie Palmer

34 Training sessions 24 days Mon 25/04/11 Thu 26/05/11 33

35 First training session 5 days Mon 25/04/11 Fri 29/04/11 Alain Fontaine,Ricardo Santos

36 Second training session 19 days Mon 02/05/11 Thu 26/05/11 35 Alain Fontaine

Creative Director[50%],Creative Executive[50%]



Creative Researcher[50%]

Creative Direct

Creative Dir

Stella B

15/04

Luke Pearl,Ricardo Santos

Ricardo Santos,Alain Fontaine

Susie Palmer,Alain Fontaine,Ricardo Santos,Stella Brewer,Justin Spr

Susie Palmer

S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T28 Feb '11 07 Mar '11 14 Mar '11 21 Mar '11 28 Mar '11 04 Apr '11 11 Apr '11 18 A

Task

Split

Progress

Milestone

Summary

Project Summary

External Tasks

External MileTask

Split

Page 1

Project: Schedule mouseDate: Tue 15/12/09

ctor[50%],Creative Executive[50%]

rector[50%],Creative Executive[50%]

rewer,Justin Spring

Copywriter

Visualizer

Sub-contractor[0%],Visualizer[25%]

Media Planner

Media Buyer

Susie Palmer,Subin Mehta,Stella Brewer

Media Buyer

Copywriter,Visualizer

Sub-contractor 3

Market Research Group

ring

Alain Fontaine,Ricardo Santos

Alain Fontaine

W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F Spr '11 25 Apr '11 02 May '11 09 May '11 16 May '11 23 May '11 30 May '11 06 Jun '11 13 Jun '11 20 Jun '11 27 Jun '11 04 Jul '11 11 Jul '11 18 Jul '11 25 Jul '11 01 Aug '11 08 Aug '11 15 Aug '11 22 Aug '11

Task

Split

Progress

Milestone

Summary

Project Summary

External Tasks

External MileTask

Split

Page 2

Project: Schedule mouseDate: Tue 15/12/09


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6.3 SCHEDULING ASSUMPTIONS

The following main assumptions were used to develop the project plan:

1) It assumed that the training and marketing campaign are independent of each other (no shared

dependencies), although some coordination is used for logical purposes

2) It is assumed that press artwork, proof and distribution is dependent on press copy and press

visuals, as both of the tasks are required before a final proof can be made.

3) Approval process was assumed to be in the most critical phases of the schedule, the media buying

and after final concepts.

The schedule was designed to maximise available float without incurring unnecessary costs, subject to the

dependency conditions presented in the plan.

Training sessions, although independent, have been chosen to have a lag in order to closer coincide with

leaflet production and distribution. This has logistical advantages as the staff from Spring Meadow will be

able to see the final design of the material they will be using to sell the broadband product. The lag between

the booking of training sessions and the actual start also gives a possibility to acquire more beneficial rates

from the hotels, while also providing flexibility to change the booking and group sizes.

Post evaluation is scheduled to begin after the marketing campaign finishes, however data is assumed to be

gathered continuously throughout the campaign and the post evaluation will serve mainly to provide

recommendations for the long term marketing strategy.

6.4 SCHEDULE RISKS

Gantt Charting is a very well known technique for networking scheduling, it focuses on the path of critical

activities that control the projects duration and can be considered under the general title Critical Path

Scheduling (CPS). CPS is a management control tool for defining, integrating and analysing what must be

done to complete a project on a set budget and on time. Not only that but also this technique can be used to

identify risks that might affect the project be it financial, time, quality or cost wise(3).

Marketing campaign

First Concepts has a duration of 8 days, if delays happen at this stage this will give rise to a domino

effect on the rest of the activities trickling down to the Approval stage, because all the tasks that

follow First Concepts are dependent on the task before. Of course delays will translate in over

running the project in terms of time and cost and possibly compromising quality of the deliverables.

The duration of the Pre-Testing phase is quite substantial and lies on the critical path. The activity

lasts for 15 days, again any delays at this stage will have a knock on effect on the proceeding

activities posing a delay on when the Approval can be achieved.

The Approval activity should take one day to complete resulting in an outcome whether to proceed

with the campaign or not. If the latter is the outcome of this particular activity, then the entire

project will be terminated.

Activities primarily associated with external parties such as advertising agencies and graphics

designers may have different ideas than those of the client (Athina/ Spring Meadow) on how to

project the marketing campaign to the masses, possibly giving rise to conflicts of interests and

subsequent delays and/or overspending. Sometimes this is the case because the marketing

companies are more aware of what works and what doesnt work on the target audience without


Page 13 of 28

violating rules and regulations imposed by the law of the land and industry watchdogs. If delays

occur at this stage the marketing campaign launch will be delayed with possible implications on sales

figures of the service (i.e. if the campaign is delayed the market will be unaware of the service hence

sales might flat-line initially.)

Training

Since training is expected to last twenty-four days and it also runs independently of the marketing campaign,

there are no real threats or schedule risks per se, because training can be carried anytime during the

marketing campaign.


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7 RESOURCE PLAN

Resource planning in general is a process where entities such as personnel, material and facilities are

allocated to organizational needs, with costs incurred in most cases. Manpower planning is the development

of strategies for matching the sizes and skills of the personnel specifically to the companys requirements (1).

The planning serves the purpose to aid the organization (Athina) in employing, retaining and optimizing the

deployment of the personnel needed to meet the business objectives, which in this case is the Spring

Meadow Launch and to respond to changes in the external environment.

The manpower involved in the Spring Meadow Launch consists of (4):

Athinas internal staff, ranging from director to store managers and customer service

Susie Palmer, the contract project manager

Red Balloon Agencys staff

and two other subcontractors

The allocation of workforce for the launch begins by specifying the work segment, tasks or activities to be

accomplished in order to complete the project. This can be seen from the WBS and Responsibility Matrix

established. From then on, the bar (Gantt) chart is drawn where milestones are identified, the duration of

each work segment and total working days are quantified.

From this chart, the Internal Resource Allocation list and Red Balloon Agency/Subcontractors manpower

and cost list are cross-referenced to achieve the objectives and milestones, while accounting for the

resource loading and costing simultaneously. From the Gantt chart it can be easily seen that the

advertisement campaign has the most resource loading and needs the most time to complete. The loading

and costing for each personnel are also different, where the skill level is one of the factors, and quantifying

these will help to reduce unnecessary cost to the project. The loading may also be reduced or increased

when needed depending on how the actual work is performed.

This allows for(5):

Identification of shortages or surpluses in workforce and rapid action to be taken to rectify this

(hiring contract project manager)

Identification of skill shortage (the training program for store managers and customer service)

Avoidance of extra costs incurred due to overstaffing or understaffing. Overstaffing could also lead

to troughs and inefficiency in resource usage.

Since it is crucial for the project to finish on time and with the bar chart indicating a float of 3 day only,

rescheduling needs to be done to provide an option for a different resource planning to be constructed. This

may include working during weekends, which is a factor for extra cost to be incurred, so attention will have

to be paid in making sure the availability of resources during weekends is considered or unnecessary

personnel is not involved during weekends.

Through this process, the project is set to effectively utilize the right personnel with the right skills, doing the

right tasks at the right time.


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8 STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT PLAN

8.1 KEY STAKEHOLDERS

The key stakeholders have been evaluated (6):

Internal Objectives and interests

Senior management, Project

sponsor (Maggie Diamond)

Return on investment;

Profit maximisation;

Expansion of business;

Increase on dividends.

Marketing dept

& Training dept (Ricardo

Santos, Alain Fontaine, Justin

Spring)

Good performance in training and advertisement campaign to gain

recognition from employers hence their satisfaction;

promotions or bonuses;

Customers satisfaction;

Good working conditions.

Contract PM (Susie Palmer) Performance;

Recognition;

Employers satisfaction;

Good Short-term contract conditions

Project teams Recognition; Increase of salary; Promotion;

Good working conditions;

Job security.

Peers who have their own

project going

Not directly involved but affected by temporary loss of co- workers

taking part in the project.

External Objectives and interests

Retailer/customer

(Spring Meadow)-

Exploit business opportunity;

Increase of profits, sales, market share; gain of competitive

advantage; positive feedback from customers.

Supplier (Red Balloon) Increased revenue; business opportunity;

profit maximisation;

establishment of existing and new business relationships,

customer satisfaction;

End buyers Satisfaction with product; value for money; satisfying pre-after

sales service.

Hotels for training purposes Increase of revenue;

Establishment of business relationship.

Shareholders Maximising shareholder value.

Prospective customers Motivation for future lucrative projects

Community Service benefits to and social and environmental impact on local

communities.

Government Employment for local community; tax collection.

Trade unions Serving employees interests

Table 8-1: Kay stakeholders


Page 16 of 28

Keep satisfied

Government

Regulatory bodies

Trade unions

Media

Community

Key players

Senior management-

Project sponsor-

Marketing dept-

Training dept-

Contract PM- Project team-

Spring Meadow-

Red Balloon- End buyers

Minimal effort

Hotel staff

Keep informed

Shareholders

Peers and co-workers

Media

Hotels senior managements

LEVEL OF INTEREST

PO

WE

R

HIGH

HIGH

LOW

LOW

8.2 POWER/INDEX MATRIX

The following grid exposes the position of each of the stakeholders described above in relation to their power and

influence in the project (7)

:

8.2.1 MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES UTILISED

Communication

Communication is crucial and should be maintained among project members via emails, formal and informal channels, presentations, briefings and addendums, when necessary, and status reports to evaluate the progress of the project at a moment in time.

To ensure the support of the stakeholders, it is necessary for them to be well informed, actively involved and

their opinions respected.

The detailed schedule incorporates several stages where management takes on an active role in the

development of the project, however the involvement of the other stakeholders is not formalised to the

same extent.

Securing Support

Securing Support is required to ensure the long term success of the project. Market acceptance will be

evaluated after two months of running the campaign, to ensure that the marketing strategy is adapted to

achieve the desired goals. Data will be gathered continuously after the product launch to gauge the

performance level and the marketing campaign has sufficient flexibility for changes, in order to deliver on

the commitment to Spring Meadow. Management holds an active role throughout the entire project;

however, there is a risk of other peers with other projects competing for the internal resources available.

This aspect cannot be eliminated, but by delivering on the promises to management, the project should

enjoy the support and resources of management.

Figure 8-2: Power/index matrix


Page 17 of 28

Opposition Opposition may be reduced with different methods depending on the stakeholder. For example in the case of project members the PM is ought to anticipate conflicts via open discussions on key issues, act upon changing priorities and mistakes as they arise. At the same time PM should avoid under or over communication aiming at efficiency and effectiveness. In the case of suppliers prompt payments contributes to scale down any controversy assessing the financial stability of the company.

Stakeholders to be kept satisfied should be updated on achievements and positive results/ feedbacks as they

may exercise great power although they are not directly involved on the project, hence the reputation of the

company may be affected. For example in the case of trade unions in order to reduce any opposition the

company ensures a culturally diverse workforce fully integrated in the working environment and publishes

good practice procedures.

The group to be kept informed clusters stakeholders who, while having a high interest, they do not possess

power to affect the project in terms of time, cost and quality. Peers and co-workers have an interest in the

project to finish within the estimated timescale as they may seek support from members temporarily

committed to the project. The latter will have to ensure disruption is not caused, or kept at minimum, to

their ordinary activities. Moreover, staff that have been seconded to the project may need to be ensured job

security or they could represent a source for opposition and resistance.


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9 COSTING

A costing evaluation has been produced to include all items in the project plan. A detailed breakdown of the

costs can be found below (tables 9-1, 9-2) and calculation procedure in the appendix. A costing evaluation

was produced for the Athina/Spring Meadow press and leaflet campaign, Athinas internal staff cost and any

overheads that would be incurred during the project such as consumables, hotel costs and training costs.

The following costs were found:

1. Athina/Spring Meadow Press & Leaflet Campaign: 720,106

2. Internal Resource and Overheads: 198,297

The largest cost can be attributed to advertising, notably to national press advertising. The national press

campaign is to be operated for 3 days per week, 1 day for Broadsheet newspapers and 2 days for Tabloid

newspapers. This offers the a very good time, cost, quality balance as it is provides good advertising without

the expense of spiralling costs. Also as there will be a significant promotion in all Spring Meadow stores it is

reasonable to assume that good coverage shall be achieved through both advertising venues.

With regards to the press advertising, it is suggested that the advertisements on broadsheets be produced

on Sundays as high volumes of broadsheets are sold on this day and advertisements on tabloid newspapers

be on Sunday also and mid-week on Wednesday. This in turn would result in a large audience to be targeted;

however, ultimately it is up to the marketing department to decide on the most suitable days.

The overheads, in particular that of the cost per person attributes to a significant sum (20,300), it is

possible to reduce this cost by selecting a cheaper hotel for the training to be carried out in (lower than a

cost of 55 per person per session).

The internal resource staff represents the second highest cost of 198,297. Susie Palmer represents the

highest internal cost of 114,000 but this is reasonable considering that she is the project manager. Although

the internal staff costs are high, they are vital to the project and as they know the Athinas core business and

plan and will have had a proven track record in the firm, it is good to have them on board to ensure that the

project is executed successfully and to the highest standards.

9.1 COSTING ASSUMPTIONS

The following main assumptions were used in the costing calculation:

Loading on project the total percentage of time spent on the project

Corporate overhead transfer charge applied for Ricardo whilst he was training Alain Fontaine


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The following table shows a breakdown of the costs for the execution of the project for the advertisement (press and leaflet) campaign only.

Table 9-1: Press Advertisment Cost Breakdown


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The following table shows a breakdown of the overhead and internal costs for the staff:

Overheads 1

Training Number of staff Number of days

required:

Cost of session (55/person,

session)

Consumables (10/day)

Training manual (3/delegate)

Total cost:

Store Managers 50 4 2,750.00 40 150.00 20,300.00

Customer service 300 20 16,500.00 200 900.00

Position Name: Cost Loading on

Project Days spent on project*

Days needed for

Product Launch Task

Days needed for organising Training Task

Marketing Communications

project Cost

Including Staff costs (50% overheads)

Total Cost:

Project Sponsor Maggie

Diamond 800.00 10% 7.6 6,080.00 9,120.00 15,200.00

Project Manager

Subin Mehta 700.00 40% 30.4 1 21,280.00 31,920.00 53,200.00

PM Joanne Huntley (watching brief)

500.00 1% 0.76 380.00 570.00 950.00

PM Susie Palmer 600.00 100% 76 1 6 45,600.00 68,400.00 114,000.00

Head of Billing Ops.

Andy Roslin (watching brief)

600.00 2% 1.52 912.00 1,368.00 2,280.00

Director of Marketing

Stella Brewer 650.00 20% 15.2 3 5 9,880.00 14,820.00 24,700.00

Marketing Manager

Luke Pearl 400.00 100% 76 1 30,400.00 45,600.00 76,000.00

Director of Finance

Ben Taylor (watching brief)

800.00 2% 1.52 1,216.00 1,824.00 3,040.00

Athina Training Ricardo Santos 350.00 100% 19 19 6,650.00 9,975.00 16,825.00

SpringMeadow Training

Alain Fontaine 350.00 100% 28 37 9,800.00 14,700.00 24,500.00

*The total days for the press and leaflet campaign were 76 days

Total Cost: 198,297.00

Position Name: Corporate (40/day) Days Total:

Athina Training Ricardo Sontas 40 5 200.00

Table 9-2: Overheads and internal resource costs


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10 RISK MANAGEMENT

The associated risks inherent to the project need to be addressed properly to ensure that the project

achieves its success criteria. The main focus is to eliminate, prevent or mitigate the effects of the high

priority risks to the lowest possible reasonable level without incurring substantial additional cost.

The main associated risks and their control strategy are the following:

Human factor Authority/Management procedure

Rejection of the final concept by the management will cause the project to be severely delayed, with extra manpower costs incurred to redo the production.

Control strategy

Reduce probability by getting the rough concept approved before proceeding to pre-testing

and selection of final concept.

Recovery by increasing float in the schedule by using weekends for this part of the project.

Rejection of the training material by the management may cause a delay,

Control strategy

Accepted as it is a very low impact risk due to available training float

Human factor Corporate policies/Leadership/Management competence

Failure of Susie Palmer to integrate into Athina corporate culture resulting in personnel discontentment

Control strategy

Brief Susie Palmer on corporate policies and ensure that she gets the corporate training

necessary for her to fulfil her duties

Commercial

Failure of subcontractors to meet contract, quality, quantity and time commitments

Control strategy

Reduce impact by having alternative suppliers available to us in case the contract fails

Reduce probability by reviewing their performance continuously throughout the project, to

ensure problems are spotted and mitigated early.

Failure of management to provide sufficient monetary funds, resulting in disruption of marketing

Control strategy

Reduce probability by supplying well-estimated budget with contingency funds to achieve

minimum market exposure

Reduce impact by establishing a strong contractual agreement with Spring-Meadow to

cover the costs within a reasonable time


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Commercial Underperformance to specifications

Failure of Athina to supply sufficient capacity to meet product demand resulting in failure to meet contractual obligations

Control strategy

Reduce probability by retaining good communication with the

technical/billing/management.

Commercial Collapse of contractors

Collapse of subcontractors resulting in schedule disruption and loss of provider

Control strategy

Reduce probability by ensuring a fair (win/win) contract is established

Reduce impact /Recovery by having alternative suppliers available to us

Eliminate risk by choosing providers with excellent performance history


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10.1 RISK REGISTER TABLE

Below are the identified risks of the project, each placed according to the ranking:

Type of Risk Project Phase of Impact

Description of Risk Probability H/M/L

Impacts Risk Treatment Strategy Risk Owner

Quality Cost Time

Commercial Any phase that deals with subcontractors

Failure of subcontractors to meet contract commitments

L - Increased Delayed Reduce impact by having alternative suppliers available to us in case the contract fails

Susie Palmer

Human Factor

Approval of the final concept

Rejection of the final concept by the management

M - Extra manpower cost (5550)

Severe delay (about 20 days)

Reduce probability by getting the rough concept approved before pre-testing and selection of final concept. Recovery by increasing float

Susie Palmer Luke Pearl

Human Factor

Approval of training material

Rejection of the training material by management

L - Increased May cause delay

Accepted as it is a very low impact risk due to available training float

Ricardo & Alain Fontaine

Commercial Any phase that deals with subcontractors

Collapse of subcontractors

L Reduced Increased Schedule disruption & loss of provider

Reduce probability by ensuring a fair (win/win) contract is established Reduce impact by having alternative suppliers available to us

Susie Palmer

Commercial Any phase in the project

Failure of management to provide sufficient monetary funds

L Reduced Increased Disruption of marketing

Reduce probability by supplying well-estimated budget with contingency funds to achieve minimum market exposure Reduce impact by establishing a strong contractual agreement with Spring-Meadow to cover the costs

Maggie Diamond

Commercial Before launch Failure of Athina to supply sufficient capacity to meet product demand

L - - Delayed Reduce probability by retaining good communication with the technical/billing/management

Susie/Subin

Human Factor

Beginning of the project

Failure of Susie to integrate into Athina corporate culture

L Reduced - Delayed Brief Susie Palmer on corporate policies and ensure that she gets well acquainted with her co/workers

Subin Mehta

Table 10-1: Risk register table


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11 PROJECT MONITORING STRATEGY

Monitoring is the process in which the manager obtains information about conditions in the project. They

must then decide if the project is running according to plan. If it is not, taking corrective action is part of the

controlling process early before problems become rooted in the schedule and derail efforts away from the

objective. Monitoring strategies will be used mainly for Athinas ad campaign because it is tight on timing,

budget, and due to its complexity. As the training project is less complex, has a minor budget, and has an

extended period of time in which it can be achieved.

For a project to be considered successful, it must meet time quality, and cost constraints imposed by the

client. In the case of Athina and Spring Meadows, there are two explicit deliverables, the advertisement

campaign and the training of Spring Meadows staff. In order to achieve those objectives, the project process

and teams involved need to be controlled and monitored.

Quality of product

By definition the quality of the deliverables must be fit for purpose i.e. meeting the requirements of the

customer. It is a determinant factor that, if accomplished, may benefit all the parts involved in the project. If

the new product is launched triumphantly and profitably Spring Meadow will gain a competitive advantage

and a leading position against its competitors and Athina will be on the right path to establish itself on a new

market and undertake further investments with other re-sellers.

Project Management Process

This undertaking is completely new for both companies, so to insure the quality of the management process

and thus the quality of the objectives, teams from both companies must collaborate together in an unselfish

manner in order to maximize efficiency of the process, hence co-operation must be kept at a significant level.

Techniques

To insure the quality of the deliverables, techniques such as Gantt charts tracking, control charts, and scatter

diagrams can be used. These are explained below:

Gantt chart Tracking

It is adopted by the project manager to keep track of the progress of each activity using percentage

completion so to identify delays or disruptions and act upon them. However this technique may cause the

perpetual 90% done effect (8) failing to provide an accurate estimate on how much has actually been

accomplished. In other words, initially people tend to be optimistic about the rate of progress thereby

predicating a high percentage of completion deemed to slow down afterwards.

Earned Value Analysis

This technique provides a measure of the project progress that combines both cost and time objectives (8)

by comparing the planned costs to the actual costs. However, it is important that we consider all aspects of

this technique, because at face value the project may not reflect the planned budget, so we need to consider

the amount of work actually done.

Milestone Slip Charts

Athinas advertisement campaign will be monitored by using a milestone slip chart showing the monitoring

period at the start of each task and the duration of each of the tasks, which is taken from the table showing

the costs for the press and leaflet campaign. In this case, the project is planned to run smoothly, and the

lines should move accordingly as the advertisement campaign begins to take shape. Monitoring activities


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should focus on certain areas. These include the major risks (as identified in the risk register), activities on

the critical path, cost drivers (activities which represent the largest items in the budget or budget category)

and activities prone to complexity (e.g. interfaces).

Regarding the training, the budget cost for each session could be higher, which will increase our total cost.

The actual material is written by Ricardo and Alain, but it needs to be checked once more time by Susie in

order to make sure the material is suitable for managers and staff. The time period between Ricardo and

Alain which have to be ensured that they have communicated and known the schedule already.

Focus on activities of advertising campaign on the critical path, the first concept takes eight working days, if

it delays, it will affect all the rest activities in terms of time, cost and quality. It is necessary to make sure the

first activity (Milestone 1 in the chart above) is finished in our assumed time in order to control our cost to

the minimum. The same as Milestone 4, or the pre-testing period, which takes 15 days to finish. The time

period is quite long, if it delays, we could use free float to reduce our extra to the minimum and time to the

shortest. However in terms of cost, the milestones to consider are milestones 7 (Press art work, Proof &

distribution) and 12 (Post-evaluation research & report), which are the most expensive. Should any of the

tasks prior to them be delayed, the cost of the delays will be significant. The largest cost is task 7 which

needs 10,000 to sub-contract this, if the price cannot control in the budget, it will suddenly increase the

total cost as the main cost driver (Use Fixed Price Contract), also the second largest one is post-evaluation

research and report which lasts 10 working days to do, where each day costs 800. Thus leaving free float

throughout the advertisement campaign project is something to consider seriously.

Other parts of the project should be subject to a continual survey at a lower level of intensity. This may be

achieved through regular written reporting from team leaders. Equally, attention should also be focused on

those activities that directly affect the customer requirements. If there are other important constraints,

particularly those established by executive management, then activities that impact these should also be

given priority.

Figure 11-1: Gantt Slip Chart for Monitoring ad campaign

days no

Mo

nitorin

g p

eriod

0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 78 84 90 96 102 108 114 119

40

3

8

36

34

32

3

0

2

8

2

6

2

4

2

2

2

0

18

1

6

14

12

1

0

8

6

4

2

0


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12 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Whyndham, M. Lecture notes 'Resource Planning'. s.l. : University College London, 2004.

2. Whyndham, M . Lecture notes 'Defining the Work and Configuration Management'. s.l. : University College

London, 2009.

3. Lester, A. Project Management: Planning and Control. 5th. s.l. : Butterworth Heinemann, 2007.

4. Walker, Jane. Project Management MSIN3001: Group A - Coursework Pack - Assignment 3: Project Plan. s.l. :

University College London, 2009.

5. MGS. Manpower Planning. Management Study Guide (MGS). [Online] 2009. [Cited: 10 December 2009.]

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/manpower-planning.htm.

6. Johnson, G & K. Scholes. Exploring Corporate Strategy. 5th. s.l. : Prentice Hall, 1999.

7. Walker, Jane. Lecture notes, Managing Stakeholders. s.l. : UCL, 2009.

8. M. Whyndham, Walker J. Controlling the Project. s.l. : UCL, 2008.


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13 APPENDIX


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Documents

happy equation