Project Management for Expansion of the Joshua Limited - Coursework Example

PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR EXPANSION OF THE JOSHUA LIMITED INTRODUCTION The underlying project is the plan for the expansion of the current business capacity of Joshua Limited from 24,000 sq. meters to 40, 000 sq. meters. This report outlines the project plan for the achievement of the expansion plan. Project is an activity that is aimed at accomplishing a unique activity with a temporary job, according to the definition provided by project management Institute PMI. As the activity is to be wind up upon the completion of the project, it is therefore, termed as the temporary in nature. Also, the uniqueness of the project lies in the completion of the project within limited and defined time, cost and scope (Atkinson, 1999). This reports presents the arrangement for the achieving the expansion plan Joshua Limited in a systematic way using procedures and guidelines defined in the project management discipline of the management. PROJECT CHARTER The project charter is a document that has legal binding for both parties involved in the project. This document carries the details of the project with respect to all the relevant information. All such information is elaborated in this section (Cleland, and Gareis, 2006). The project charter after defining and accepting upon all details is signed by the parties. The management of the Joshua Limited and the project consultant Mr. John has come up with the given below final agreed plan. OVERVIEW OF PROJECT Joshua Limited started operation in 2008 with the capacity of 24,000 sq. meters providing the retailers with the outfit for the children of 0-6 ages. The business received an overwhelming response from the market and now plans to expand the capacity to 40,000 sq. meters building. The business has recently acquired to the building for the purpose and will enable the Joshua Limited to cater the greater market demand. The outcome of the project is to ensure the acquired building to be ready for production. SCOPE OF PROJECT The scope of the project is the demarcation of the boundaries of the project. It is crucial to determine the boundaries of the project so that it manages to be complete within defined cost, time and other resources (Hamilton, 2004). The scope of this project is to implement expansion strategy for which the building has been acquired is ready to facilitate the design and supply of the baby and children clothing to the market. For the purpose the human resources are to be hired, building is to be furnished, and all other pre-requisites for starting the trade are to be met. DELIVERABLES The deliverable refers to the stated objective to be achieved on the project completion. The main deliverable of the project is to ready the building with set-up for designing and preparation the clothing to be delivered to the market. In addition to this, project will add additional working capacity of 16,000 sq feet to the Joshua Limited. In addition, the project will play a pivotal role in the adding the customer and the resources base to the Joshua Limited. Furthermore, the project will also add the credits to the portfolio of Ms. Maria of developing a project for the brand that has considerable taken over the market. WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE Project is an activity that is based on the set of other small activities making unified results. For the purpose, it is crucial to determine each activity separately so that none of the aspects is overlooked (Lewis, 2006). Work-Break Down structure, commonly known as WBS, is a systematic plan where entire project is subdivided into main deliverables or milestone while each milestone is the set of small activities (Harrison, and Lock, 2004). This enables the easy track of not only the activities but also the track of those responsible for conducting those activities (Phillips, 2003). For the given project, the WBS is constructed as follows: 1.0 PREPARATION OF PROJECT PLAN 1.1 Customers requirement draft after negotiation and final signing 1.2 Approval from the relative authorities for the planning. 1.3 Designer selection and getting the blue print prepared. This stage will determine the department allocations for each activity in a manner that minimize the time required for making the final product. 1.4 Contract allocation for the refurbishment of building with all necessary electric and other fitting required. 2.0 RESOURCE COLLECTION 2.1 Human Resource Hiring 2.1.1 Recruiting human resource personnel for general manager, assistant manager, administration staff, sales staff and warehouse staff. 2.1.2 Selection after interviews and training at existing warehouse after final hiring. 2.2 Machinery and other related resources Buying 2.2.1 Contracting for resources such as furniture for each department. 2.2.2 Contracting for the technical resources such tools required for each activity in designing to manufacturing and ready to be delivered process. 3.0 DEVELOPING BUSINESS CONTRACTS FOR ADDITION DISTRIBUTION FACILITATORS AND CUSTOMERS 3.1 Contracting with market clients for preparing demand schedule 3.2 Contracting distribution suppliers for quotes. 4.0 PRODUCT DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING 4.1 Rehearsal for the planned system for designing and manufacturing. 4.2 Identification and removal of the efficiency loop-holes. 4.3 Initiation of the clothes designing and production for final supply All the key milestones are determined, and each milestone has the sub-activities defined. It is essential to notice that some of the activities will be conducted in a sequential manner while some of them are to be taken in parallel. For example, one the refurbishment plans have been finalized, the project manager would communicate with building refurbishment contractor at regular interval. Alongside, the building will be ready for the usage and the project manager will take-up the contracting process of the other resources such as furniture, technical equipment, distribution facilitator, human resources hiring and other activities required in accomplishing the project. Hence, parallel these activities will be conducted so as to save time and cost that is incurred due to the extended time required. The time allocated for the project is three months and the parallel and sequential conduct of the activities will ensure the completion of the project within defined time frame. PEOPLE’S RESOURCE PLANS Human resource is the capital asset of any organization. This realization has increased the level of efforts by an organization in order to acquire the skill set that effectively contributes to the organization. Also, organizations are required to make a critical decision about the human resource in order to acquire the resource that best suits the organization. When hiring human resource, the management needs to make sure that the employees have the required skills. With these factors at work, Joshua Limited has planned to hire the resource that mirrors the current human resource structure of the warehouse. The human resource required for the extended capacity includes one general manager, two assistant manager, eight administration staff, six sales staff and four employees to work at the warehouse. Project manager will acquire the job description of these people from the human resource department of the Joshua Limited. Also in coordination with the human resource manager, the selected candidates will be hired. In this activity, the human resource department’s role is increasingly emphasized as they are more aware of the company specific skill set required within the given cost. BUDGETS ALLOCATION Success of the project is mainly gauged from three aspects, and one of these aspects is the cost. The cost allocated for the plans is UK Pound 235, 000. This budget is defined by the financial department of the Joshua Limited after preparing the feasibility of the project. For each section of the activity, a specific percentage of the budget is allocated. According to the feasibility, the following sections are given to each component of the activity: The above allocation has been developed in consideration with the valuations defined by the finance department. Adjustments have been made in close coordination with the finance and other departments of the business. Importantly, the allocations have taken into account the potential cost increases and grace delays that increase due to the routine operational cost increases. However, the above given cost estimations will not account any uncertain issues. DETERMINATION OF ROLE, COMPETENCIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF PROJECT MANAGER The project manager plays the role of the pilot of a ship, and so the success of the project to achieve its set goals is totally dependent on the abilities of the project managers (Munns, & Bjeirmi, 1996). It is vital to understand that the project manager is also required to exhibit the technical expertise for meeting the goals (Jeston, and Nelis, 2000). The achievement of the project goal is considerably dependent on the other competencies of the project manager as well. The project manager is also required to exhibit the well-blended mix of leadership, communication, teamwork, decision making and analytical skills. As the project manager is required to deal with the people of all functions within and outside the business; therefore, all these are to play the critical role. The project manager with these competencies has to meet the following responsibilities: The constant coordination with the respective department of Joshua Limited such as HR department for finalizing the hiring activity and for other activities. Making deals with parties such as relevant authorities’ permission refurbishment, contractors, equipment buying and other important contracts. As the cost allocation has been done in coordination with project manager; therefore, project manager is required to achieve the set goals within defined cost and time. The consistent feedback about the progress to be taken from the contractors and communication the progress report on regular intervals to the management of Joshua Limited. RISKS ACROSS MANAGEMENT OF PROJECT LIFECYCLE Among different ways of defining the project completion process, project life-cycle is one of them. The project life cycle defines the complete project as a series of activities of four phases as depicted in the image below: (Westland, 2006) As the outer circle determines the project stages, the inner circle defines the critical activities that are faced with certain risks. Hence, way of risk management is to ensure that these activities are effectively planned after considering the potentials risk factors. Given below discussion defines the planning to overcome risks across each phase of the project life-cycle: The initiation of the project or the project need and scope is defined by the management of the Joshua Limited. This was to overcome the risk of derailing from scope, cost and time defined for the project. Also, the project manager is hired after considering the experience, qualification and other supporting yet necessary competencies. The planning process is the critical stage as effective planning is required to take into account various factors. The project manager has planned the project in close coordination with the respective departments to overcome the risk of deviated planning. For example, the HR function was taken on broad for making the hiring decision of the resources required. Furthermore, the stakeholders are also taken on board such as legal advisor of Joshua Limited for the legal requirement to conduct business on new location. Hence, stakeholders on board provide more detailed of the potential issues and benefits from the project. Additionally, WBS has been defined in order to ensure that none of the activities are overlooked in planning. All the stakeholders need to be coordinated about the cost allocation and other important aspects of the project (Varvasovszky, & Brugha, 2000). WBS would provide the opportunity to ensure the effective implementation of the plan. The cost allocation has already accounted some grace time to meet the requirements. The WBS has also defined the system in a way that most of the activities are conducted in a parallel way. This would enable the business to focus efforts on timely completion of activities on which the other critical activities are dependent. For example, refurbishment can only start once the designer has defined the plan. Also, constant communication throughout the process will be held in order to remain intact with the entire process while also having the management of the organization in the final reporting loop. For the post implementation plan, the project manager has also defined time and cost for the rehearsal. This will help in identification of potential issues in the final system to integrate further efficiencies before finally taking the process on board. Hence, the above risk management plan has clearly outlined the aspect taken into consideration for the risk management plan across the project. However, these efforts will take care of the predictable issues only. CONCLUSION The project management discipline of the management sciences provide the business with the capability to conduct a venture that is unique in nature and to be accomplished with defined scope, cost and time. The above report provides complete charter of the project for the extension of the manufacturing capacity of the Joshua Limited. The report in addition to outlining the project specific requirements has also given considerable attention to the risk factors that play an important role in moving the project away from success. Also, the report has outlined the skill set required for the project manager that is necessary for the success of the project. Hence, concretely following plan ensure the completion of the project successfully. References Atkinson, R. (1999). Project management: cost, time and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, it is time to accept other success criteria. International Journal of Project Management, vol.17, no. 6, pp. 337–42. Cleland, D., and Gareis, R. (2006). Global Project Management Handbook. McGraw-Hill: London. Del Cano, A. (1992). Continuous project feasibility study and continuous project risk assessment. International Journal of Project Management, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 165-170. Hamilton, A. (2004). Handbook of Project Management Procedures. TTL Publishing, Ltd: London. Harrison, F., and Lock, D. (2004). Advanced project management: a structured approach. Gower Publishing, Ltd: Surrey. Jeston, J. and Nelis, J. (2008). Management by process: A practical road-map to sustainable business process management. Butterworth-Heinemann: London. Lewis, R. (2006). Project Management. McGraw-Hill Professional: London. Munns, A. K., & Bjeirmi, B. F. (1996). The role of project management in achieving project success. International Journal of Project Management, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 81-87. Phillips, J. (2003). PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide. McGraw-Hill Professional: London. Varvasovszky, Z., & Brugha, R. (2000). A stakeholder analysis. Health policy and planning, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 338-345. Westland, J. (2006). The project management life cycle: a complete step-by-step methodology for initiating, planning, executing and closing a project successfully. Kogan Page. Read More