Project management plan - Essay Example

?Project Management Plan Table of Contents Introduction 3 Importance and Significance of Project Planning 4 Key Stages and Milestones Necessary to Complete Ethnic Marketing Project Plan 5 Project Initiation Stage 5 Project Planning Stage 6 Execution & Controlling Stage 8 Project Closing Stage 8 Diagrammatic Representation of the Project Stages 10 Identification of Potential Problems Concerning Stages and Timing 11 Contingency Plan 11 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction A project planning engages a series of measures which determine an effective process to accomplish the goals and the objectives of an organisation or community. These goals can be recognised through a strategic or community plan which can be designed to address different problems in order to achieve those goals and objectives (Rotary International, 2012). The paper intends to briefly discuss the significance and the importance of the project management plan and its key stages which significantly possess a crucial role to attain project objectives. With this concern, the paper will be focused to highlight the significance of project planning for preparing ethnic marketing strategies and its effectiveness in the present business world. The study is conducted to make a project planning strategy with regard to the earlier study related to ethnic marketing. Moreover, the paper will also represent the major stages of project planning through a diagrammatic representation with anticipated timings of each stage in the project planning process. In addition, the discussion will further encompass the potential problems to attain the set goals of each stage within the estimated time frame and an effective and efficient contingency plan will also be developed in order to deal with the project problems. Importance and Significance of Project Planning The efficiency and sustainability of a project is directly related to its planning process. It can be observed that there are a number of project which fails due to an ineffective and poor planning process. In various cases, the reasons of failure of a project can also be identified to be inadequate identification of the project problems or incapability to consider major factors including the needs and the expected outcomes of each individual which can result in the failure of a project. An effective planning process offers details and facilitates in formation of the project work strategies along with ascertaining an approach to continue and achieve effective findings and objectives of the project (ANA Eastern Region, 2006). An effective project planning ensures to provide effective designs for future initiatives in order to clarify project goals and it also enables to develop the vision of the processes which facilitate to attain the ultimate project objectives. It also evidently enables to identify different issues and provides efficient alternative courses in order to address those issues. Moreover, an effective project planning process further enables to make best utilisation of the resources and it also plays a major role in motivating workforces to effectively utilise the resources and assign responsibilities to achieve the ultimate outcome of the project (ANA Eastern Region, 2006). In terms of preparing an effective plan for ethnic marketing activities, project planning stage can also identify certain impacts that can lead to provide substantial benefits towards the organisation’s strategies. With this concern, innovation can be considered as one of the major beneficial aspects for conducting the plan for ethnic marketing to achieve sustainable position as well as to attain competitive advantage in the global market. Moreover, the project plan related to ethnic marketing is further beneficial to achieve substantial growth in the global marketplace due to the reason that there has been a rapid expansion of multicultural consumer segments across different regions (American Hotel & Lodging Association, 2010). Key Stages and Milestones Necessary to Complete Ethnic Marketing Project Plan Identifying key stages and milestones is one of the major and fundamental steps in the planning process in order to clearly recognise the roles and the tasks to efficiently accomplish the project objectives (Pathan, 2005). The sequence of tasks and activities is needed to be well-organised and effectively comprehended by each member associated within the project. A successful and effective project planning considerably encompasses certain major stages which are discussed below: Project Initiation Stage Project initiation or introduction stage is one of the most important phases of the project plan related to ethnic marketing activities as it recognises the scope, objectives, purposes as well as deliverable products and/or service that are to be produced or managed. Moreover, the stage also involves building effective strategies concerning tasks that are to be executed in each level of the project. The initiation stage further allows and verifies scope of the project from its associated members and other stakeholders. From the perspective of conducting effective ethnic marketing activities, the initiation stage is one of the major phases where the project will be designed according to the needs and the desires of the multicultural populations (Byatt, 2011). Project Planning Stage The planning stage in the project management process encompasses a series of activities which involves different elements/parameters of the overall project in order to make the project ready for the execution process. Source: (Public Procurement Guide, 2008) Project Plan Project plan consists of three major activities such as: Scheduling Activities (Identifying and recognising tasks and scheduling time to complete each task) Resource Planning (Determining equipment, labourers and materials required in each activity) Cost Planning (Estimating internal and external cost required in the activities) Risk Management Plan The risk management plan emphasises on the potential risks in different activities and possible actions to mitigate them (Byatt, 2011). Quality Management Plan The quality management plan enables to assign the quality targets and define each process for effectively maintaining efficient quality and control of the activities. Issue Management Plan The step defines the technique of identifying, assessing and mitigating issues related to the project. Change Management Plan The change management plan ensures to manage changes which can have an impact on the different stages of the project including project scope, scheduling and cost or quality. Acceptance Plan It emphasises on the stipulated criteria regarding project deliverables and ensures to execute acceptance assessments of the processes. Communication Plan The communication plan refers to ensure effective communication process to the project stakeholders and defines methods which can be implemented in the communication process. Source: (Public procurement Guide, 2008) Execution & Controlling Stage Project execution and controlling stage can be identified as a major phase where the resources and all project activities are implemented. The stage involves producing and presenting deliverables to the contracting authority intended for acceptance. The project manager controls and monitors each activity including resources, materials and costs required in the execution process in order to meet the project’s goals and objectives. During this phase, all the processes, plans, activities and schedules are utilised to ensure that the project proceeds according to the plan (Public Procurement Guide, 2008). Project Closing Stage The closing stage of the project management related to the ethnic marketing project is the final step which significantly aims to evaluate the implementation and the results of the activities of the overall project. The closing phase of the project further involves three major steps such as project evaluation review, administrative closure and post-review of the project. The project evaluation review stage of the project management is conducted during the closing process in order to identify whether the project has achieved its objectives or not. The administrative closure process involves the activities of finalizing project records and releasing collected and achieved resource elements. Finally, the post review process of the project management involves assessing benefits acquired by the project’s products after being used for a certain period of time (Byatt, 2011). The key milestone of the ethnic marketing activities related project would be the initiation stage of the project where a company is required to extensively identify the key ethnically diverse consumer segments that possess distinct preferences of products. Diagrammatic Representation of the Project Stages Figure: Diagrammatic Representation of Project Stages with Timing The aforementioned diagram represents the activities in each stage of the project with their estimated time to accomplish each task of the activities. Identification of Potential Problems Concerning Stages and Timing From the perspective of identifying possible problems, recognizing and understanding the needs and the preferences of the multicultural groups of customers can be a major constraint for the project. The increasing number of multicultural buyers along with their cultural and religious differences can be a major challenging factor to effectively understand and recognize their interests towards any product or service. Therefore, the initiation phase of the project can be extended due to the requirement for exactly recognizing the needs and the desires along with the purchasing behaviours of the customers in relation to buying any product or service. As the multicultural consumers tend to involve different religious and cultural aspects, it significantly changes their buying patterns. Therefore, an in-depth analysis regarding cultural and religious aspects of the multicultural customers should be conducted before producing or presenting goods or services. Contingency Plan With the aim of mitigating such issues concerning religious and cultural differences of the ethnically diverse customers, it is important for an organization to understand various aspects such as racial differences and religious norms in terms of offering products/services. According to the modern day scenario, the ethically diverse group of customers highly desire to maintain their cultural or religious identities in terms of acquiring any product or service. Therefore, recognising cultural and religious norms plays a pivotal role for the organisations to target multicultural population as its target customers. It can be observed that various unsuccessful practices of the marketers in terms of targeting ethnically diverse group of customers due to inadequate understanding of the needs and the preferences of them have been witnessed to occur (Pires & et. al., 2005). Therefore, an effective practice of advanced marketing techniques could be beneficial for an organisation to efficiently recognise the needs, desires and preferences of the multicultural customers. With this concern, adequate use of media can be identified as a beneficial aspect for the organisation to attract multicultural customers towards their offerings by a considerable extent. Moreover, effective targeting different customer segments as well as considering community based approach can further be stated as beneficial strategies to adequately understand the needs and the preferences of the multicultural customers (Boy Scouts of America, 2011). Conclusion Project planning can be stated as a form of initiatives that entails a sequence of decisions including strategic and general decisions which are based on collecting and analysing the gathered information. The concept of planning encompasses a broad range of various approaches such as operational, strategic as well as programme planning approaches concerning any specific area. The project management plan considerably involves various key stages and milestones which are major contributors to accomplish the project objectives. Moreover, the stages also help to effectively maintain efficient control and quality of the overall project which further ensures to achieve satisfactory outcomes and substantial benefits. References American Hotel & Lodging Association, 2010. The Power and Opportunity of the Multicultural Markets. Programs and Initiatives. [Online] Available at: http://www.ahla.com/uploadedFiles/AHLA/Programs_and_Initiatives/Diversity/Know_the_Facts/Top%20Markets.pdf [Accessed December 11, 2012]. ANA Eastern Region, 2006. Introduction to Project Planning and Development. Why is Project Planning Important? [Online] Available at: http://www.anaeastern.org/Docs/Project_Development_Manual_Intro.pdf [Accessed December 11, 2012]. Boy Scouts of America, 2011. Best Methods for Multicultural Growth. [Online] Available at: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/membership/pdf/523-035_WB.pdf [Accessed December 11, 2012]. Byatt, G. & et. al., 2011. Nine Fundamental Steps to Project Success. Identify and Manage Risks and Issues. [Online] Available at: http://www.asapm.org/asapmag/articles/NineSteps.pdf [Accessed December 11, 2012]. Pathan, S. K., 2005. Managing Projects. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Pires, G. D. & et. al., 2005. Ethnic Marketing: Accepting the Challenge of Cultural Diversity. Cengage Learning EMEA. Public Procurement Guide, 2008. Public Procurement Best Practice Guide. Project Management. [Online] Available at: http://www.publicprocurementguides.treasury.gov.cy/OHS-EN/HTML/index.html?7_project_management.htm [Accessed December 11, 2012]. Rotary International, 2012. A Guide to Effective Projects. Making a Plan. [Online] Available at: http://www.rotary.org/ridocuments/en_pdf/605a_en.pdf [Accessed December 11, 2012]. Read More