Steers Restaurant - Essay Example

Project Management al Affiliation Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Project Charter 4 Reasons for undertaking the project 4 Objectives and constraints of the project 4 Directions concerning the solution 5 Identities of the main stakeholders 5 The budget level and spending details 5 Project Scope Management Plan 6 Project Scope 7 Scope of Activities 7 Product Scope 8 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) 8 Plan outcomes, not actions 9 Identifying the Level of detail 9 Technology Development 9 Communication Management Plan 10 Method of communication 10 Time frame and reporting schedule 11 Security and Tools for communication 11 Project Risk and Change Management 12 Quality Management Plan 13 The quality management plan ensures that software system product or service to be offered after the project terminates is consistent. The quality management plan entails quality planning, quality assurance, control and improvement (Project Management Institute, 2004). To ensure the quality of the product being developed is extraordinary and reliable, some of the following activities are implemented during the project. 13 2.Involvement of people - People at all levels of the business should be involved form managers to board of directors. 13 3.Customer focus – The customer is always right. Therefore depending on the customers insight and opinions helps the project team understand the current and future requirements of the end product. The quality of system should aim to exceed the expectations of clients 13 Project Closure Plan 14 Conclusion 15 References 16 Executive Summary The paper is aimed at describing the process of system development project management study for a proposed system design for the Steers Restaurant management staff to ease the operation of the business process within the company. The Steers Restaurant is also licensed to cook, serve and deliver food products. The Steers Restaurant and its chain of food stores have increased the choice of consumers to eat food at their favorite food take out joints, mostly the Steers Restaurants. Steers Restaurant is based on a quality management practice and years of experience in dealing with home cooked food products and beverages. Steers Restaurant is a limited liability company started in 2003 with the objective of dealing in foods and beverages and its delivery to consumers in a quality fashion. The company was started by its directors, using their own savings. The company wants to deliver high quality service to its clients via complete devotion to work by its business personnel and board of directors. The long-term goals set by the business are to outrival their competitors in the food provision and delivery industry via edging itself out using technological platforms. As a result it has led to a one stop purchase and delivery point that requires the use of an online based system to manage both the clients and management staff to promote better and fast service delivery for the company. This project document will explain the various modules entailed in the project management life cycle for developing the proposed system. The contents will highlight on the project charter, project, management plan cope statement, work breakdown structure, communication strategy and the risk management plan. Project Charter The project charter highlights on the key elements of the system that can be used to convince the stakeholders to accept the idea of the system. The components covered in the project charter describe the following areas: Reasons for undertaking the project The goal of this plan is to design a software system that would abolish the need of outdated pen/paper methodology for privately-owned restaurants. The project is focused on making the restaurant fully automated such that it is easier to co-ordinate various work activities that go on inside a typical restaurant. Previously, the manual system being used to perform restaurant operations, data control and food stock taking was prone to data loss, where records were either lost or misplaced. This led to poor business evaluations which led to poor or limited business growth. There was also untimely ordering of goods due to unavailable stock control procedures, while ordering of goods and services was unchecked and susceptible to stealing by pharmacy employees. Objectives and constraints of the project The main objective is to provide a professional computerized Point-Of-Sale system, customizable to a specific restaurant’s demands via the following features: i. Organizing a database for a medium sized restaurant ii. Coordinating work activities of the various actors or system end users, which includes the Host, Waiter, Cook, Busboy and Manager. iii. Increase productivity by decreasing time between an order is placed and the billing iv. Increase profits by reducing operating costs and increasing revenues by increasing efficiency v. Archiving information of the workers and hours worked Directions concerning the solution The system developed innovates towards better maintenance practices in the above mentioned areas to enable sound business practices that can be integrated to modern practices through technology. The ability of the system to produce formatted and timely documentation for example like ledgers and balance sheet receipts aids in determining actual tangible progress reports for positive business growth. This also provides information required for decision making in future investments for the business. The project will run across Identities of the main stakeholders A key aspect of this system is its ability to allow the customer to interact directly with the system. This will not only help increase efficiency, but also allow for a new method of interaction for the customer to give the business operation a completely new feel. Being updated in technology can also significantly increase business profit for the system stakeholders. This can be done by implementing this new technological system that allows the innovative types of direct interaction with the customer. The main stakeholders for the project include the board of directors who will need constant access to financial records, the clients who will interact who the catering system, the management board who will act as the system administrators responsible for managing the database of the restaurant staff (Project Management Institute, 2004). The budget level and spending details The budget level for the entire project and the expected spending details are also showcased in the section of the project charter. The budget level is vital for gaining stakeholder approval since they determine the acceptance on the tech system into the operations off the business. The budget allocation can be divided into section financing the top level tasks and the low level tasks. The top level task usually take up most of the high costs given that require complex tasks kike coding and system documentation. The cumulative costs should be represented on a table to give a snapshot of the overall cast of designing the system. The table below displays the expected budget for carrying out the entire project: ACTIVITY ESTIMATED COST Hardware and POS software system installation per each venue $ 36000 Server Space $ 1000 Travelling costs $ 3000 Research costs $ 4000 Internet $ 3000 Travelling costs $ 3500 Insurance/Miscellaneous $ 3000 Staff Training $ 3000 Project Team Group Management $ 5000 TOTAL $ 61,500 Project Scope Management Plan The management plan for implementing the project scope requires the dedication of the project manager to organize and administrate the project t team responsible for accomplishing this project. The project defines the workload that has to be completed to deliver a service, product, or an outcome that hold definite features and functions like the proposed system. Project Scope The project scope is described via determining the different teams and each assigned task expected for every team member to complete. The use of in-scope and out-of-scope item documentation is part of defining the project scope. The purpose for the identifying the in-scope and out-of-scope items is to state the purpose for carrying out the project, the process of carrying out the project and the determination of the end product. The procedure for managing the project scope using the group is explained below: i. Synthesize – Involves revising with the crowd and reviewing what the limitations of the project are. ii. Discuss/Negotiate – Entails carrying out project team debates and discuss which items are in or out of scope. Subsequently, this assists in simplifying the consensus amid the group. iii. Brainstorm – These sessions are aimed at asking questions to participants and the project team about what is in scope or out of scope. The project manager can encourage team members to think of employee groups, processes/systems and the locations involved in the project etc. The use of sticky notes to move items around makes it easy to communicate. iv. Finalize – The step for ensuring the group is in full agreement before moving on. Scope of Activities ACTIVITY WEEK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Project description Project proposal Literature review Project plan Functional specification Software design Coding Software testing Implementation Documentation Product Scope The product scope defines the functions and features that describe a product, service, or result. In this particular case, the project involves a product scope of a system that includes features which allow users to enter their order details via the user graphical interface and print their bill invoices. The system provides information of available food and beverages and their prices, and report details. The system also maintains details of stock of available food products. The system allows two levels of users, a supervisor (Restaurant manager) who has all access rights to all parts of the system which includes reports, new product entry (new food menu entries), registration of new system users (employees), and an operator who can only perform sales of food products and receipt offering to food consumers and recording of products purchased by consumers. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)   The Work Breakdown Structure is a deliverable-oriented division of a project plan into smaller modules of the overall system. The Work Breakdown Structure requires planning for each and every identified phase of the proposed project. The framework provides a necessary snapshot of how costs can be estimated and controlled through appropriate scheduling and implementation of components. Planning for a result driven outcome is essential to executing a successful project plan (Kerzner, 2001). The components below explain further the Work Breakdown Structure: Plan outcomes, not actions When a project delivers specialized services, a common management method entails capturing all the planned deliverables to create a deliverable-oriented WBS. Work breakdown structures that segment work by project stages. For example, preliminary design phase, critical design phase, must guarantee that each and every segment phases are unmistakably divided by a deliverable that is also utilized in describing the entry and exit criteria. Identifying the Level of detail This forms a vital section of the project since it presents the level tier for all the stages to be followed during the project management procedures. Outlining the level of detail ensures that the project scope is exhaustively classified backed up with comprehensive elements required to accomplish the project’s objectives. Identifying the level of detail enables the project manager account for time and scheduled activities on a realistic time estimate. The feature also allows the manager to easily assign duties to project team members it terms of their skill set. Technology Development This is an IT project which therefore requires the implementation of a coding scheme which suits the purpose or objective of the proposed system. A coding system is meant to provide a reliable method for classifying and running the WBS for the project (Miller, 2009). The figure below shows the WBS in diagram representing the framework for the project being carried out. Communication Management Plan The communication plan focuses on bridging the gap between all the project team members while ensuring that the stakeholders are informed accordingly. The plan expresses who is responsible for receiving and relaying certain messages to other individuals involved in the project (Project Management Institute, 2009). The following elements have to be considered in implanting the communication plan for this project: Method of communication This requires the definition of the audience involved in the project. The project manager should find a responsible team member who can take care of communication when you are either away or when assigning them task for a subsection of the project. The method of communication is affected by requirements of the stakeholders, the type of technology that will be used and the constraints or factors that might limit the communication within the management team. Time frame and reporting schedule Communication timing is appropriate on making sure that the entities and stakeholders involves in the project receive any communication or important notifications in a timely manner. The audience and requirement information can be used to plan reporting schedule for major team leaders in the project. The frequency of the meetings held also determines the amount of information communicated to the management team and stakeholders (Miller, 2009). Meetings can be held weekly to ensure that all the team members and stakeholders are kept up to date with the progress of the project. A flexible schedule should be set and corroborated by the project team members since the schedule would give response to the circumstances under which a convention or meeting was missed. The communication time schedule or plan ought to also be in harmonization with the project development schedule (Kerzner, 2001). Security and Tools for communication The tools available for communication depend on the type of information or data that the project manager and the stakeholders will need to pass across back and forth during the project execution process. Some of the tools that offer secure platforms for sharing project information passing information include the internet portals that provide e-mails servers, like outlook, which the project members can use to share and exchange files. Instant Messaging, fax and phone calls also act as additional tools that can be used to facilitate fast and convenient communication within the project management environment. Project Risk and Change Management Every project is exposed to a given degree of risks owing to the operational activities that are executed in the course of the project. This project is exposed to a number of potential risks that range from human to technical. Some of the potential risks that are most likely to cost this project are listed below: Missed milestones –this can happen in the case the project has been put on hold may be due to inadequate funding at the time. Project delays –this might happen due to active or passive resistance may be from the stakeholders or a few team members not at same level with the project manager. Rework required on design - Obstacles sometimes appear unexpectedly in the process of project management, therefore this risk has to be accounted for. Loss of work by project team – this is a very risky attribute that can happen to the project that can lead to the project being abandoned since it can no longer deliver results. Therefore, backing up information and saving it frequently is vital to ensuring there is no work loss. Budget overruns – this happens in the case the resources are not made available on team to the project team members Placing a change management board enacts a risk mitigation tactic that facilitates cost avoidance, which is an effective method for recognizing and appreciating the value of change management. Quality Management Plan The quality management plan ensures that software system product or service to be offered after the project terminates is consistent. The quality management plan entails quality planning, quality assurance, control and improvement (Project Management Institute, 2004). To ensure the quality of the product being developed is extraordinary and reliable, some of the following activities are implemented during the project. 1. Process approach - The anticipated outcome can be attained when actions and event-linked resources are managed within a group as a process. This method forms the foundation of ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System standard which abides by the principles of Quality management 2. Involvement of people - People at all levels of the business should be involved form managers to board of directors. 3. Customer focus – The customer is always right. Therefore depending on the customers insight and opinions helps the project team understand the current and future requirements of the end product. The quality of system should aim to exceed the expectations of clients 4. Factual approach to decision making - Operational results is usually established on the information and data analysis of available figures and facts. 5. Leadership – The managers and bosses of a business are responsible for creating a unified purpose and direction for the proposed project. Project Closure Plan The Project closure plan entails activities that cover a variety of tasks, both from a delivery and a management point of view. The main aim of this process is to deliver a fixed and controlled point where: The Project’s presentation and performance is evaluated and then the stakeholders can be requested by the project team for Project Closure. The end product is given to the suitable interested parties and customer acceptance of the end product system is confirmed. The acquired benefits and project objectives of the system that have been accomplished can also be confirmed at this stage. The project closing events should also guarantee that the sustainability goals previously set have been met and that the responsibilities for system administrators are in place. This ensures constant monitoring of project’s end product after its implementation into the working environment throughout its operational lifespan. Communicating the Project Closure process to all the involved Stakeholders appropriately informs them the project is coming to a close and compels them to seek the approval of the customers and Project Sponsor (or the Project Board). Any resourcing obligation for this final stage of the project should be pursued at the time of requesting approval for the closing stage. Conclusion Project management requires great dedication, knowledge and expert skills to enable the successful testing, implementation and execution of a project. Understanding the core components and proficiencies required for achieving the management processes discussed in this paper helps a project manager to identify challenges and risks that might arise during the project management stages. Additionally, following these processes ensures there are no loose ends left by the time the proposed project is completed. Project management skills enable a project manager measure, evaluate, determine and execute project deliverables while ensuring the quality of the end product is maintained to the level it benefits all the clients expected to utilize the system. References Kerzner, H. (2001). Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. New York: John Wiley. Miller, D. P. (2009). Building a project work breakdown structure: Visualizing objectives, deliverables, activities, and schedules. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Project Management Institute. (2009). Practice standard for project risk management. Newtown Square, Pa: Project Management Institute. Project Management Institute. (2004). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide). Newtown Square, Pa: Project Management Institute. Rose, K. (2005). Project quality management: Why, what and how. Boca Raton, Fla: J. Ross Pub. Read More