Retirement Banquet Party for Vince Lee - Case Study Example

PROJECT CHARTER, SCOPE MANAGEMENT AND PROJECT PLANNING Name Institution Lecturer Course Date Project charter PROJECT CHARTER Sponsor: Don Bosco (Company Director), and Vince Lee Project Title: Retirement Banquet Party For Vince Lee Prepared By: Project manager Date: 5th May, 2015 Project objective: The purpose of the party is to celebrate Vince’s contributions to the company and wish him well in his retirement. Problem/Opportunity Statement/ project background: Vince Lee has been working with the Simco Company for the last twenty five years as a salesperson. He has been a responsible man and has contributed a lot to the growth of our company. As he is retiring in the next two months, the company wants to share this moment with him as we celebrate his contributions with a banquet party. Project scope: In scope: Vince’s family, all employees of the company and Vince’s key customers. Out of scope: Employees’ family, all other customers. Key Deliverables: 1. Planning and supervision 2. Dinner 3. Menu 4. Venue and equipment 5. Guests 6. Service providers 7. Speakers 8. Entertainment /DJ 9. Project budget 10. Project schedule 11. Project risks 12. Project communication plan 13. Invitation cards Key Requirements Organize communications Organize the timing for the event Organize set-up of necessary activities Organize entertainment Organize for cleaning Planning for finances Indentify the venue and payment for utilities Coordinate menu and food preparation Conduct risk evaluation Facilitate the event Exclusions Paying for transportation of the attendees Arranging for transportation for attendees. Paying for strong drinks over the budgeted allocation per attendee. Key stakeholders: Vince Lee’s family, Lee’s peers, Company Management (Vince Lee’s Boss), Lee’s key customers BENEFIT KPIs Increase brand awareness Brand or display advertising in the party Creating a sense of togetherness in the team Employees engagement level The party will enhance the employees’ tenure in the company Average employee tenure. Strategic Alignment It has been noted that once a key salesperson retires or leaves the company, we lose some of our repeat customers. Thus we shall use this party to introduce our new salesperson to Lee’s close customers and by doing so we might be able to retain them. The project will bring together employees and customers, especially those who have a closer tie with Vince Lee so that they can be retained. The successful end of this project will also to enhance the team spirit among the employees. The successful completion of this project will improve the brand awareness to the invited guests Approximate Cost The budget for the event is approximated to be $ 3,500 broken down into four major parts: Food and drinks: $ 1,300 Venue and decorations: $500 Wages for service providers (florist, caterers, ad DJ): $ 700 Gifts, invitation cards and Miscellaneous: $ 1,000 Approximate Timeframe The first week of May 2015 will be used to conduct meetings with employees and form various steering committees/project teams to carry out various tasks. The second and third week will be used on collection contributions and preparing a budget for the event. The last week of May and first week of June will be used to source for service providers, printing of invitation cards, and preparing a program for the event. The cards will be sent to all employees, Lee’s key clients and other guests during this period. The second week of June will be used to look for, DJ, inspirational speakers and a venue. Teams will also give a report on progress. The third week will be used to confirm attendance and availability of service providers. The last week will be used to do final touches like purchase of food stuff and drinks, decoration of venue among others. All planning must be complete by 28th June 2015. Assumptions/ constraints Source for two inspirational speakers Ensure that team members contributions are focused on this project All planning activities ought to be completed by 28th June 2015 The party must be arranged with full knowledge of Vince lee and his family. Vince Lee goes on retirement Key Risks The team is not aware of food allergies. Considering that team members are employees, who have other duties, we may have time constraints. APPROVAL Yes / No Authority: ______________________________ Date:____________ Sponsor REQUIREMENTS TRACEABILITY MATRIX Product Requirement Deliverable component Organize communications, Organize the timing for the event, Organize set-up of necessary activities Guests, speakers, service providers, entertainment team Coordinate menu and food preparation Dinner, menu Organize entertainment, Organize for cleaning, Planning for finances Planning and supervision, entertainment team, service providers Indentify the venue and payment for utilities, Coordinate menu and food preparation, Conduct risk evaluation, Facilitate the event Planning and supervision, dinner, service providers, venue and equipment, guests and speakers. PROJECT WBS # WBS – ELEMENT 1. Planning and supervision 1.1 Planning, 1.2 budget, 1.3 disbursements/ reconciliations, 1.4 coordination 2. Steering committee 2.1 Formation and sharing of duties, 2.2 Meeting schedule 2.3 Reporting procedure. 3. Dinner 3.1 Shopping list, 3.2 Shopping, 3.3 Cooking 3.4 Serving. 4. Venue and equipment 4.1 Venue/ room, 4.2 Tables and chairs, 4.3 setting and utensils, 4.4 decorations, 4.5 equipments, 4.6 pots. 5. Guests 5.1 Guest list, 5.2 RSVPs, 5.3 Name tags, 5.4 Special needs. 6. Service providers 6.1 Shoppers, 6.2 cooks, 6.3 servers, 6.4 hosts, 6.5 Cleanup. 7. Speakers 7.1 Invitation, 7.2 Transportation, 7.3 Coordination of topics, 7.4 backup for no-shows, 7.5 Thank you comments. 8. Menu 8.1 Main dish, 8.2 drinks, 8.3 deserts, 8.4 refreshments 9. Project budget 9.1 Contributions, 9.2 budget plans, 10. Project schedule 10.1 Program showing the events of the day and time frame. 11. Project risks 11.1 How to manage time. 11.2 Risks contingency plan 12. Project communication plan 12.1 Communication with guests, 12.2 speakers and project team 13. Invitation cards 13.1 Printing of cards, 13.2 Payment, 13.3 Collection and sending of cards. 14. Entertainment 14.1 Sourcing for entertainer/DJ, 14.2 payment for the service, 15. Closure 15.1 Ensuring all hired and borrowed items are returned, 15.2 Collecting deposits. Revision history Date Version Revised by description 5/5/2015 1.0 Project manager and team Initial version of the project charter 10/5/2015 1.1 Project manager and team Revised scope, team members and WBS Change of scope After presenting the project charter to the sponsor, there were some changes that he recommended as described here. First, there was a suggestion of the number of guests to be invited. The sponsor was for the option that we invite some of the close business partners and other loyal customers. This was because the party would also offer a good platform for launching the new products that the company has just produced. The sponsor also requested for some key employees to be released of planning duties so that they can concentrate on the company routines as well as on the production of the new products. These changes of scope will affect the project in a number of ways. First, the people who were released of the planning duties are the key decision makers in the company and thus the project team will be affected negatively since it now has to plan to consult them at a different time other than when the team is meeting. This implies that the project may be delayed if these people will not be available when needed. Secondly the project budget will be affected by the change of scope. However, this will not be a problem to the team since the sponsor agreed to top up the extra finances. Lastly, the party was shifted to the month of July when the sales are at low peak so that most of workers can be released. PROJECT WBS # WBS – ELEMENT Planning and supervision Planning, budget, disbursements/ reconciliations, coordination Steering committee Reformation and sharing of duties, meeting schedule and reporting procedure. Dinner Re-editing the shopping list, shopping, cooking and serving. Venue and equipment Venue/ room, tables and chairs, setting ad utensils, decorations, equipments, pots. Guests Guest list, RSVPs, Name tags, special needs. Service providers Shoppers, cooks, servers, hosts, cleanup. Speakers Invitation, transportation, coordination of topics, backup for no-shows, Thank you comments. Menu Main dish, drinks, deserts, refreshments Project budget Contributions, budget plans, Project schedule Program showing the events of the day and time frame. Project risks How to manage time. Risks contingency plan Project communication plan Communication with guests, speakers and project team Invitation cards Printing of cards, payment, collection and sending of cards. Entertainment Sourcing for entertainer/DJ, payment for the service, Closure Ensuring all hired and borrowed items are returned, collecting deposits. 1. Definitions of: a. Deliverables: These are the final products either tangible or intangible that handed over to a third party outside the project, normally the project sponsor, the customer or the performing organization1. Nevertheless, project deliverables are not used as a measure of the benefits gained by undertaking the project; rather it is the impact of deploying or using the deliverables within the company that generates the benefits. Deliverables are the small tasks that represent the entire purpose of the project, and are among the most significant elements to be defined, planned and carried out in a project. Deliverables are also outcomes generated as a result of project tasks, activities as well as decisions and hence they ought to be identified, specified, planned, scheduled, tested, accepted and put into practice2. b. Benefits: These are the expected positive results of undertaking a project. It can also be defined as an outcome that a stakeholder perceives of value. According to Project Management Institute, the term benefit refers to “an outcome of actions, behaviours products, or services that provide utility to the sponsoring organization as well as to the program’s intended beneficiaries”3. They are the key drivers beyond projects, portfolios and programs. It is becoming increasingly important for the project managers to understand that it is their role to pay as much attention to the expected outcomes (benefits) as deliverables4. Benefits are mainly measured using key performance indicators (KPIs), which are quantifiable measurements or data point that can be used in gauging performance in relation to a goal or a number of goals5. Examples of benefits/goals and their relative key performance indicators are listed below: Benefit KPIs An online retail shop may wish to raise its site traffic by 40% by next year Number of unique visitors the site receives daily or which traffic sources sent visitors A company may be planning to boost sales by 20% in the next quarter of an year Daily sales, conversion rate A online company may target to raise the conversion rate of all traffic received by 30% by the following year Conversion rate, competitive price trends, linked shipping rate trends. A company may plan to reduce customer service calls by 50% in the next four months Service call classification, event that led to the call, identification of the website page visited just before the call. c. Strategic alignment: It is a method through which an organization can envisage the correlation between its business and strategies6. It helps organizational decision makers in collecting significant insights based on their current processes. The use of strategic alignment allows a business to consider its durability and to discover how attainable its visions for the future are7. Strategic alignment enhances higher performance by optimizing the efforts of people, processes as well as inputs to the achievement of measurable goals and hence reducing wastage and lack of direction of contributions and resources to unplanned or unstipulated functions. 2. Problem faced in planning the project The major problem that was encountered in planning this project was lack of communication. When some of the employees with decision-making power were released from the project team, there was communication breakdown. Once a decision was made and communicated to the executives of the company, they in turn were not informing the sponsor. This ineffective communication had a negative impact in this project. To overcome this problem, the team decided to create a comprehensive communications plan that was tailor-made to suit every stakeholder. It was agreed that the team would reschedule its meeting so that meetings would be held when the sponsor is available. Apart from that, we also agreed changing out tools of communication to a compatible software solution that stores all communications and assets in one central location. This helped us especially when major decisions concerning the project, such as finances, were being made; we would get feedback from the sponsor promptly. Consequently, delays were avoided. 3. Example of good project planning Project planning includes project goals, project tasks as well as the development of a project schedule. These factors have a great influence to the success of a project. A good project planning involves making decisions, starting with the general and strategic ones down to the most specific operational ones after gathering and analyzing the necessary information8. It involves coming up with a scope, goals and purposes of a project, the manner in which the project will be performed, the responsibilities and tasks of those involved as well as the timeframe and cost estimates9. A good project planning must answer these questions: What are the project objectives? What needs to be done to accomplish project objectives? How will it be done? Who will do what? When will it be done? A good project planning must also involve of all stakeholders, both internal and external, right from the beginning of the project so as to attain optimal outcomes. A well planned project shows all the three performance measures, namely the scope, schedule and budget. The three are used to determine whether or not the project is on track, during the execution of the project. The project is well defined. All the team members must also be provided with the project work plan that shows step-by-step instructions for developing project deliverables and attaining results10. A well planned project must also show project management procedures that will be used to manage the project, such as how team will manage issues, risk, communication, scope change and quality among others. Bibliography: Armstrong, Dan. “Six Degrees of Project Management.” Baseline (February,2004). Bent, James. Project Management for Engineering and Construction. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersy, Prentice Hall, 1989, p. 2. Gabriela Fernandes, Improving and embedding project management practices in organizations, in: PMI Global Congress Proceedings – Istanbul, Turkey, 2013, pp. 1–14. Harold Kerzner, PM 2.0: The Future of Project Management, Dubai International Project Management Forum, September 2014. Imad Alsadeq, From a Piece of Management Art to the Vision. PMI Global Congress Proceedings, Istanbul, Turkey, 2013, pp. 1–5. Lauren Carly. Project Management Primer. Bureau of Reclamation, 2004, p. 2. Marc Mancher. The Power of Benefits Realization. PMI’s Pulse of the Profession Benefits Realization in-Depth Report Project Management Institute Inc. (2012) PMI (Project Management Institute). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge “PMBOK” (fifth ed.)Project Management Institute Inc., Pennsylvania (2013)[3] PMI (Project Management Institute). The Standard for Program Management (third ed.)Project Management Institute Inc., Pennsylvania (2013) [2] Ramirez, Holley, and Michelle Meyer. “Project Management: Is It Right for You?” Certification (March 2004). Riordan, Jeb. “Scope Management.” Project (December, 2001). S. J. Bleistein, K. Cox, and J. Verner. Validating strategic alignment of organizational it requirements using goal modeling and problem diagrams, Journal of Systems and Software, 2006. vol. 79, no. 3,pp. 362 -378. Scott W. Ambler, Communication on Agile Software Projects, http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/communication.htm Steve Jenner. Managing benefits – the new guidance and certification scheme from APMG Int. APMG (2012), pp. 1–15 T. Cooke Davies The real success factors on projects Int. J. Project Manage., 20 (2002), pp. 185–190 Tesch, Debbie, Timothy Kloppenbourg, and John Stemmer. “Project Management Learning: What Literature Has to Say.” Project Management Journal (December 2003). Z.Antolic, “CPP KPI Measurements 2008”, Internal Ericsson Documentation, Zagreb, Croatia, 2004. Read More