Project Management – Store Remodelling

I want to create a project on Store remodeling. 

The descriptions are attached. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

P

roject Management Description of Project Deliverables and Outline

Developed by Dr. Margaret F.

S

hipley, 326 N. Main Street,

C

ollege of Business, UHD

Course Project

Part

1

– Building Your Project Plan

You and your project team must develop a new project (product or service oriented) for your organization.

E

xamples of past projects include:

· building a new house;

· wiring all the equipment in the College of Business;

· demolishing existing space and then building the 40,000 windows café in the UHD library;

· building a platform in the Gulf;

· customizing an existing space for a) clothing store, b) restaurant, c) bar, d) neighborhood recreational facility, e) pet boarding facility, etc;

· organizing and putting on a) sports tournament, b) live concert, c)wedding, d) company gala, etc.;

· building a backyard patio, pool, kitchen, etc.

· designing & producing garments and conducting a fashion show

· tearing out and rebuilding of patient areas and lab space in a local hospital

The above represents only a partial list. The best topic for your team is one for which you have contacts! The keys are that it interests you and you have some confidence in your team’s ability to find information on the project requirements and costs, specifically direct labor costs by which your budget will be generated. You will need the types of resources (people) required for each task as well as task durations. Overall, the project should have 150+ tasks and have an anticipated duration of three months. Choose carefully, because although your professor will guide you in the initial brainstorming sessions, the decision is up to the team.

You and your team will complete the following items regarding your project, including a background analysis and project narrative, a project overview, a discussion of project objectives, and description of your general approach, and a discussion of project constraints. For now, use these elements to focus on a big-picture analysis of your intended project. Details can wait until later.

Company Background

Tell the story (who, what, when, where, how) of the company or organization for which this project is being done.

· Who founded this company? Who are its leaders?

· What does this company make or do? What is its target market? What is its financial performance?

· When was the company founded? Where was/is it located?

· How does the company operate? How effective is the company in its industry? How are its competitors placed in the market?

If using a company website, be sure to cite the source!

Current Process

What is the current process or existing scenario for accomplishing the company’s goals? In other words, how does the company conduct business? If, for example, it is a construction business building new homes, what would be the process that encompasses the company’s procedure from advertising through getting customers, doing the project and closing out the project deliverable. This current process might be something like:

1) Receive customer specifications

2) Design preliminary floor plan and elevation

3) Send preliminary documents to customer

4) Receive and execute customer changes

5) Create bid for customer contract

6) Run bid through technical and legal departments

7) Ship bid to customer

8) Follow up with customer

9) Negotiate details of bid acceptance

10) Build the negotiated architectural design

11) Oversee construction budget

12) Deliver agreed upon product to customer

13) Receive payment

14) Close out project using lessons learned approach

Your project must fit within the framework of the company’s business. In other words, if the company builds single family residences, your project would not be for an office building. It must be related to a specific type of single family home/townhouse.

Project Overview

The project overview is a report on the project undertaking and a discussion of the general situation management finds itself in. This provides important context for the project management team to use in determining methods, approaches, and timeframes, as well as a scope.

For example, if building a new home, you should state whether it will have one or two stories, three or four bedrooms, and any other rooms that are to be included. There may be important details regarding the lot, area of town, and other issues such as landscaping. Be as detailed as possible, since this will assist the instructor in understanding and ultimately approving your project based on his/her belief that you have a viable project topic for a team of 3-4 persons.

Objectives

Objectives describe concrete outcomes that a project will meet so as to be deemed a success.

Goals

need to be described as specifically as necessary-but no more specifically than that. The purpose is not to artificially constrain the project but to limit the project to as wide a range of acceptable outcomes as possible.

Targets

are measurements of how well the goals were met. For example:

Excellent = -40%
Good = -30%
Acceptable = -15%

Goals	Targets
1) Provide construction blueprints to customer	Excellent = < 4 days Good = < 1 week Acceptable = < 2 weeks
2) Decrease delivery time on all raw materials from 10 days		Excellent = -40% Good = -30% Acceptable = -15%
3) Reduce amount of rework from inspections	Excellent = -80% Good = -65% Acceptable = -50%
5) Decrease cost overruns

General Approach

What will be the general project approach taken, in terms of managerial and technical changes, to create these changes through the project? For example:

Managerial approach – These items relate to how the managers will plan, organize, direct and control the project resources toward the targeted outcome.

Technical approach – These items relate to the procedural aspects needed, including logistics of moving equipment to and from the site, designing the blueprints to meet customer expectations, utilizing computers, etc.

Constraints

Describe the things that will limit the project. For example:

1) Budget constraints—This project will increase profitability by perhaps 30%, but therefore should not cost in excess of three times this savings to ensure that its payback period is relatively short.

2) Time—This project must be completed in the time agreed upon by builder and customer in the contract terms (proposed to be 90 days’ time).

3) Customer contracts—The project must not impact operations for current customers nor fail to meet the customer demands for this project.

4) Regulatory standards—Rework and shutdowns caused by inspections that are not up to code will delay and potentially kill the project.

Part 2 – Developing the

Work

Breakdown Structure

Develop a work breakdown structure (

WBS

) for your project based on the first project assignment. The process is as follows:

1) Create a detailed list of the components of the project, through work packages, tasks, and subtasks. Use the intended scope of the project to help you determine all the project components.

2) Determine the resource needs for the project (i.e., personnel, facilities, and equipment).

3) Determine the relationships between the project components and the people. For example, for each component, at least one person will be responsible for its completion, while others may be involved as consultants or decision approvers.

Example Work Breakdown Structure

Abbreviated Personnel Table

Operations

Name	Department	Title
Joe Evans	Accounting	Bid Manager
Sim Elezar	Projects	Project Manager
Kim Astair	Engineering	Systems Architect
Leo Biel		Operations	Operations Manager
Tara Simmons	Logistics Manager

NOTE: If you do not have names, you can identify the personnel by job such as Master Plumber, Journeyman Electrician #3, etc.

Abbreviated Sample Work Breakdown Structure

Task

Work Package

Task

Task

Work Package

Task

Task

Task

Work Package

Task

Task

Task

Work Package

Task

Task

Work Package

Interview customers

Work Package

Create survey

Task

Task

Deliver survey

Task

Work Package

Task

Order reasons for priority/feasibility

Task

Implement new measures

Work Package

Interview customers

Work Package

Create survey

Task

Task

Deliver survey

Task

Work Package

Work Package

Work Package

Task

Task

Task

Work Package

Task

Task

WBS
1	Improvement Project	Main Project
1.1	Deliverable 1: Bid response time	Deliverable 1
1.1.1	Map current bid process														Work Package
1.1.1.1	Interview bid team																									Task
1.1.1.2	List bid steps and process relationships
1.1.2	Conduct value-added process study
1.1.2.1	Determine value added by each process step
1.1.2.2	Separate process steps into necessary vs. unnecessary
1.1.3	Reform process to eliminate unnecessary and non-value-added steps
1.1.3.1	Pare down to only necessary and value-added steps
1.1.3.2	Identify ways to improve and shorten remaining steps
1. 1.3.3	Create new process map
1.2	Deliverable 2: Increase customer response rate	Deliverable 2
1.2.1			Interview customers
1.2.1.1			Create survey
1.2.1.2	Find non-responsive and responsive customers
1.2.1.3			Deliver survey
1.2.2	Analyze removing response rate barriers
1.2.2.1	List primary reasons for low response
1.2.2.2		Order reasons for priority/feasibility
1.2.3		Implement new measures
1.3	Deliverable 3: Reduce bid complaints and calls	Deliverable 3
1.3.1
1.3.1.1
1.3.1.2	Find unhappy customers
1.3.1.3
1.3.2	Analyze resolving complaint root causes
1.3.2.1	List primary reasons for bid complaints
1.3.2.2
1.3.3
1.4	Deliverable 4: Decrease bid package size and complexity	Deliverable 4
1.4.1
1.4.1.1
1.4.1.2	Identify customers with bid size complaints
1.4.1.3
1.4.2	Determine appropriate bid content
1.4.3	Implement new bid construction process
1.5	Deliverable 5: Increase customer contract sign rate	Deliverable 5
1.5.1	Identify existing market bids
1.5.1.1	Benchmark market leaders
1.5.1.2	Analyze price ranges
1.5.1.3	Analyze bid features
1.5.2	Normalize bid features and ranges to market expectations
1.5.2.1	Identify target market
1.5.2.2	Match bid creation process to intended market

NOTE: Instead of the diagram above, you can simply copy and paste your Microsoft project view obtained by inputting all tasks, indenting as necessary, and inserting the column WBS for the coding/numbering. The WBS does NOT include any dates, predecessors or durations. These are aspects of scheduling while the WBS is simply a breakdown of all aspects of the project deliverables.

Example Responsibility Matrix

The example above can be modified using letters and/or numbers instead of the symbols give. You must, however, explain what it means to be responsible, to support, etc. Also, given the extensive nature of your real-world project, your list of work packages (WP) and the personnel involved will be much more detailed. Instead of the names of people, you may use your resource job description, such as master plumber, journeyman electrician, etc. Again, you can copy from your Microsoft Project’s Gantt chart/input view at the work package/tasks level. Do not assign resources to the sub-deliverables (those in bold lettering).

Part 3 – Project Risk Assessment

You must analyze all risks that could prevent completion of your project. To do this:

1) Generate a list of likely risk factors. Use sources to support that these could be possible risks. Do not simply make up things you believe to be risks without investigating reliable sources. Internet websites are fine for your research. Be sure to copy these and cite them in your analysis.

2) Discuss the risks in terms of likelihood and impact. Again, to do this find sources for support. In other words, if doing a construction project in Houston in August, and you indicate the risk of a hurricane then what is the likelihood of a hurricane hitting the Houston area in that month?

3) Develop strategies for handling (or accepting) these risks.

The above risk analyses will require the following two matrices with explanations..

First: Risk Assessment matrix requires the research identified in item 1) above. When you determine a number on the scale of 1 to 5 for likelihood, impact and detection difficulty, you should refer to a designated scale that you determined. For example, 1 might mean

20%

or less, 2 might be 21-40%; 3 might be 41-60%, etc. or 1 might be defined qualitatively as Very Unlikely; 2 as Unlikely; 3 as Somewhat likely, etc. Whatever scale you use should reflect the research that you conducted. You may not be able to find as much on Impact and Detection Difficulty in the literature but, again, define your scale to define your terms and number scores.

	Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Detection Difficulty	When
	Major injury requiring immediate medical attention	3 (state here the % of major injuries in construction)	3 (may indicate a short work crew for duration)	1 (easily observed that worker is severely bleeding or in shock)	During the project
	Hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast	1 (this will depend upon your project’s start and end dates, I’ve assumed we are working in November)	5 (must shut down and evacuate the site including all equipment and loose objects)	3 (weather reports can be followed but often off as to exact location hit)	During the exterior deliverable

Second: Contingency Matrix clearly indicating the risk and action taken. Be very clear in identifying your Trigger. The trigger is that which causes you to put an action into place. The trigger for a hurricane would be different depending upon the close proximity of the storm. If the hurricane is 2 days out, you could mitigate damage by actions to secure the site. If the hurricane suddenly changed course and you are now in danger of a direct hit, you may have to accept the risk and get people off site quickly. If it is possible, you could avoid the hurricane damage by not building in the Gulf Coast area in August. So, the trigger involves when you see this risk happening.

Risk

Major injury requiring immediate medical attention

Hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast

Response	Trigger (what is observed)	Contingency Plan	Who responsible
Transfer	Worker has cut hand badly and is bleeding profusely from wrist	Contact ambulance service to take him to hospital	Site supervisor
Mitigate	Weather report indicates your site is in direct path of storm due in 48 hours	Batten down the site; move equipment and personnel to safe location	Project manager

Overall, be very clear in your analysis throughout these two matrices and graph. Be sure you research and explain with Works Cited evident!

Part 4 – Developing the Project Schedule

Before you start your input, you need to specify the holidays/non-working days in your project. You must also specify the working times for the project. Default is Monday-Friday from 8-12 and 1-5. In construction, for example, this may not make sense. You can set different working days for a specific resource once that resource is entered in Part 5. You can also, set different working times for any resource or group of resources once they are entered. For this section, state your working times and add predecessors and durations for each activity (not sub-deliverables!) in your WBS from Part 2. Everything is not “1 day”! And if something is one day, be sure to remove the default “?” from that duration entry. You can change your project start date using Project tab and you can change the default from days. If something takes only a couple of hours, then type in “2 hrs” and MS Project will convert this into fractions of a day (if that “days” is your project default).

The scheduling output includes the Gantt Chart view clearly showing durations, times and beginning/ending dates with the Gantt chart, the network diagram (or Tracking Gantt), and a statement of the critical path. Remember that if you group by critical, you get a list of the critical activities but these may be on multiple paths. You MUST check your network and/or tracking Gantt to identify the critical path(s)! Also, a critical path is a statement of the activities, not the line numbers or an alphabetic identifier.

Part 5 – Managing Your Project’s Resources

Now, that you have a schedule and ideal project duration, you must add your resources to each activity. (See Part 6 below for Resource Sheet view). Overallocated resources will be identified in the Gantt chart view as well as in other views; again see Part 6 below. You must resolve any overallocations. Your resource-leveling procedure should be consistent to utilizing your resources identified. The key to this is maximizing the use of project resources while minimally disrupting your project schedule from Part 4. It may be necessary to use several iterations. Thus, you must consider first that the project is time constrained and level within slack. Identify any resources now no longer overallocated.

If you cannot resolve all overallocations, then level outside of slack, assuming that your project is resource constrained. Identify changes made.

Lastly, if neither approach works, rethink your resource usage by Maximum Units and/or allocations to activities.

Your project section should identify what you did and why. It must show your revised schedule including your new Gantt chart view, etc. In particular, there is a Report of Who Does What When that will show your resources as not being overallocated (Task and Resource Views do this as well).

Part 6 – Developing the Cost Estimates and Budget

For your project we are concerned only with labor costs in support of your project narrative and scope statement. Your budget will roll up from the labor costs entered into the Resource Sheet. If a person is salaried, you need to compute the hourly cost for this resource. If you have a flat bid rate, you can enter this as

Cost/Use

but it will be easier to level this resource if again, you calculate the cost per worker.

A crew can be entered in more than one way. You can list as your resource Architectural Designers (for example) and if there are 2, your Maximum Units will be 200% (2 people working 40 hours per week). If they are paid at different rates, you can refer to each as Designer 1 with his/her rate and Designer 2 with his/her rate.

Work

100%

$0.00

Prorated

Standard

Work

$0.00/hr

$0.00

Prorated

Standard

Work

S

100%

$0.00

Prorated

Standard

Work

P

100%

$25.00/hr

$45.00/hr

$0.00

Prorated

Standard

Work

100%

$20.00/hr

$0.00

Prorated

Standard

Work

E

100%

$20.00/hr

$35.00/hr

$0.00

Prorated

Standard

E

$0.00

Resource Name

Type

Material Label

Initials

Group

Max. Units

Std. Rate

Ovt. Rate

Cost/Use

Accrue At

Base Calendar

Joe

Work

S

100%

$25.00/hr

$40.00/hr

$0.00

Prorated

Standard

Sim

P

$45.00/hr

$60.00/hr

Client

C

20%

$0.00/hr

Lim

$10.00/hr

$20.00/hr

Leo

Tara

E

$35.00/hr

Kim

Conference Room

Material

$250.00

Start

You should Set Your Baseline (budgeted) cost, Save, and Insert a Baseline column. Then conduct an earned value analysis using a status date approximately one month from the schedule you determined after leveling resources. You can insert Earned Value columns into your Gantt View and/or use the Earned Value Report for your analysis.

Actual costs can be entered if you turn off the Option (default) for Microsoft to automatically calculate costs. Then you can enter the Actual Costs. If you do not have actual costs, you can use the % Completed assuming that at the status date, you are on time. This needs to be explained in your report.

Part 7 – Conclusions

You need to relate your project results to your scope statement, risk assessment, goals, objectives, etc. This is not a section for what you learned doing the project in this class. It wraps up your project by stating clearly what you observed. What changed from the beginning schedule? If you believe that the duration is now too long, what changes would you consider? Overall, what statements regarding this project would you give to management?

Project Deliverable:

Cover/Title Page

Table of Contents

I. Developing Your Project Plan

a. Background – Who? What? When? And How? of your Company

b. Current Process – What do they do overall and how? Large picture from start to end.

c. Overview of the Project – This should fit within the company’s current process. IFor example, if they build houses then your project is unique one. Start with what you need to deliver the building, assuming contract signed.

i. Objectives – measurable

ii. General Approach- Technical and managerial

iii. Constraints – what could prevent the project from being completed; time, money, gov’t regs, etc.

II. Developing the Work Breakdown Structure

a. Work Breakdown Outline (do not include the scheduling views)

b. Responsibility Matrix (explanation necessary for what it means to be notified, approve, etc.!)

III. Project Risk Assessment

a. Risk Analysis*

b. Risk Matrices (available @ www.mhhe.com/graylarson4e)

*: All values selected must be explained; risks should be cited to sources if possible—Internet sites acceptable for this research)

IV. Developing the Project Schedule

a. Project Schedule – shows beginning and end dates for each activity

b. Activity Precedence Diagram (Gantt)

c. Activity Duration Table

d. Milestones (you determine w/explanation)

e. Discussion of Critical Path w/ Visual Supporting Documentation (Network and/or tracking Gantt)

V. Managing your Project’s Resources

a. Resource Allocation – end result is who does what when

b. Resolved Resource Conflicts*

*: explanation required

VI. Developing the Cost Estimates & Budget

a. Budget Analysis

b. Time-Phased Budget – cash flow

c. Earned Value Analysis*

*: explanations required—basically this section seems out of place because sections V and VI must be done before this but do the latter then keep this as section IV)

VII. Conclusions – state what you have learned for this project; time, budget and quality aspects

Use Reports as necessary. EXPLAIN what you did and why! Don’t just provide camera shots w/o explanations!!!!

1