BUS 517 Assignment 2

Assignment 2: Project Proposal – WBS & Project Schedule

In Assignment 1, you have defined key portions of your project. Now, it is time to develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and project schedule for your project. 

Note: Please use the project from Assignment 1 to complete this assignment, which requires that you develop a WBS & Project Schedule for your project.

This assignment requires you to:

1. Create a WBS for your project using the proper format (MS Word, MS Excel, Visio, or any other applicable format) to depict WBS graphically (see Figure 4.4 from Chapter 4 see attached). Alternatively, you may use a coded format using MS Word (See Exhibit 4.1 from Chapter 4 see attached). The example is in MS Project format but the same could be done in MS Excel).

2. Create a project schedule that lists all of the core activities, dates (start & finish), and resources to complete your project. While it is recommended that you use MS Project, you can use MS Excel to create your schedule. Your project schedule must contain at least 30 separate activities/tasks.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are: 

Develop a project plan including the critical elements of project scope, priorities, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and communication plan.

Develop a project network to implement the project plan, manage projects effectively, and complete required resource reallocation.

Running Head:

PROJECT PROPOSAL

PROJECT PROPOSAL 6

PROJECT PROPOSAL

Name

Institution

Summary of the chosen project

Building bear workshop has recently been having problems running its business due to the numerous changes that have been implemented by the new chief executive officer. In pursuit of restoring the company’s mission of allowing their consumers to take part in building their desired bears, the company wishes to expand to expand its business to online stores and ensure that the online clients still have to take part in the fun activities that are carried out n the stores. As the project manager of this particular project, it is my joy to participate in assisting a company that helped me enjoy my childhood through allowing me to take part in the making process. It is an opportunity that will allow me learn so much about the company’s goals and values and be able to ensure that the firm reaches the large population of consumers online (Spiegel & Assad, 2017).

Project goals and objectives

The company wishes to review most of its recently implemented changes in its stores to ensure that they are in line with its values and mission as well as ensure that there is uniformity in all its established stores. Moreover, Building Bear workshop has an aim of establishing a customer relationship management system that will make it easier for the firm to understand its customers better even as it transitions to expand its business to online stores. The company also wants to ensure that its online consumers will be able to take part in the process of building their desired bears in its online stores (Pevzner.et.al, 2017).

The main goals of the organization is to ensure that it meets the budget requirements while at the same time it ensures that all the desired areas of changes are implemented. The company expects that by the end of the project it will have an efficient customer relationship management system that will make it easier to monitor and satisfy the needs of the online consumers. Building bear workshop wants to ensure that all company stores adjust to the implemented changes and that they function uniformly so as to realize all the expectations of the company while bringing joy and excitement to its consumers (Zaremba.et.al, 2017)

Key customers and stakeholders

Building bear workshop wants to ensure that it is able to serve its online customers as well as ensure that the consumers who visit its stores receive the same experience across all stores. The target is to ensure that the company’s values and principles are applied in the online stores so that the consumers can be in a position to enjoy the whole experience of building their own bears. The company has to develop a major IT department that will be able to monitor and ensure that the online customers are attended to as well as be able to collect helpful customer data to the company which will be used in making decisions regarding the changes in the firm. Moreover, the marketing officers of the company should be included in this project as they will be able to determine the new marketing strategies they will employ so as to promote sales of the products of the company in the online stores as well as the other stores (Meredith.et.al, 2017).

Milestones and deliverables of the project

This project will help the organization venture into this new business area where there is a lot of potential clients as people explore the new technologies. The company will be in a position to migrate to digital trading through this project and will increase its future chances of fully utilizing the online marketing strategies that have proven to be beneficial to many large organizations. Building bear workshop will be stepping into an international marketplace through the online stores as consumers from numerous parts in the world will have access to their services. The project will ensure that the company enters this new business area with the required tools o reviewing what their clients have to say about their business as well as being able to interact with clients directly through the new customer relationship management system (Swink.et.al, 2017). It is an opportunity for the organization to ensure that all its stores are run as per its expectations so that as they migrate to online stores there will be no drawbacks from the other stores.

Project timeline

The project is expected to take fifteen months for it to be completed and ready to be implemented by the company. The first two months, the team members for this project will assess the functionality of the stores of the firm and determine if they are uniform in their operations. The following one month will involve collection of data and researching on how the online stores operate and the best software that the company can use to develop the online stores. In addition, there will be assessments of the cost of using cloud computing technologies and the company’s own online store so as to determine the best innovative technologies to apply. The team members will take two months to determine the most suitable customer relationship management system and how it will be implemented in the company to serve the online stores better. The other ten months will involve making decisions regarding the marketing strategies the company will use, the services the clients will get in the online stores, the prices of the goods online as well as the prices for delivery of the products, the location of the warehouses for the online goods as well as the countries that the company will begin to operate in (Loch.et.al, 2018).

Overall cost of the project

The project is expected to take up almost half of the company’s income since it is focusing on helping the organization expand its business. The direct costs will be incurred in the collection of data regarding the new business area, hiring consultants to assist with determining the best software the company should use, travelling fees to all the stores of the firm as well as expenses of consulting the effectiveness of cloud computing technologies over a company’s infrastructure. The company is expected to hire a chief technology officer who will coordinate operations in the online stores and report directly to the CEO for further discussions regarding this business area.

References

Loch, C. H., Solt, M. E., & Bailey, E. M. (2018). Diagnosing unforeseeable uncertainty in a new venture. Journal of product innovation management, 25(1), 28-46. Retrieved from

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2007.00281.x

Meredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J., & Shafer, S. M. (2017). Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from

https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ipZXDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=project+online+operations+2017&ots=Qwr-yLGHqY&sig=Djx7R6uHKJut2GhC5jEy6xPyeAk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=project%20online%20operations%202017&f=false

Pevzner, R., Urosevic, M., Tertyshnikov, K., Gurevich, B., Shulakova, V., Glubokovskikh, S., … & Robertson, M. (2017). Stage 2C of the CO2CRC Otway Project: Seismic monitoring operations and preliminary results. Energy Procedia, 114, 3997-4007.retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610217317344

Spiegel, T., & Assad, D. B. N. (2017). Operations project and management in trauma centers: the case of brazilian units. In Handbook of Research on Healthcare Administration and Management (pp. 104-119). IGI Global. Retrieved from https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/operations-project-and-management-in-trauma-centers/163824

Swink, M., Melnyk, S. A., Hartley, J. L., & Cooper, M. B. (2017). Managing operations across the supply chain. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. Retrieve from

https://www.smartsheet.com/ultimate-guide-project-cost-estimating

Zaremba, B. W., Bode, C., & Wagner, S. M. (2017). New venture partnering capability: An empirical investigation into how buying firms effectively leverage the potential of innovative new ventures. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 53(1), 41-64. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jscm.12116