Project Initiation Documentation - Meditime Inc - Case Study Example

Project Initiation Documentation Project Initiation Documentation Project Definition Meditime, Inc. is an equipment supplier company that intends to buy and sell medical equipments. The company will also design and patent a workshop for providing repair services for medical equipment. Meditime Inc. will stock a variety of basic types of medical equipment. The company will concentrate on diagnostic equipments, medical monitor equipment, and medical laboratory equipment. The initial diagnostic equipment will comprise of medical imaging machines that are used to aid in diagnosis; these equipments include ultrasound, Magnetic Reasoning Imaging machines, Positron Emission Tomography, and X-ray Computed Tomography. Meditime’s medical monitors will include equipment used to measure blood pressure and gases dissolved in blood such as Electrocardiography (ECC) and Electroencephalography (EEG). The company will hire five BMETs (biomedical equipment technicians), who will be responsible for providing repair services to the customers. The aim of the project will constitute filling the market gap of unsupplied medical equipment and repair services that local customers need. The significance of achieving this project aim is that the medical equipment will be made available to local customers, and the company will earn profit. Project Approach The approach of the project comprises of five stages: identification, formulation, implementation, evaluation and audit, and programming (Minati, Pessa & Abram, 2006). The stages aim at bringing about clearly the specified objectives within the required time and with a defined budget. Identification This involves recognizing the problem that the business wants to address (Chiarini, 2012). The problem the company has observed is that there is a market niche in the supply of medical equipment and inadequate repair services for medical equipment. Formulation The company intends to buy and sell diagnostic equipments, medical monitor equipment, and medical laboratory equipment. Diagnostic equipments will constitute 40 percent of the stock. Medical monitor equipment and medical laboratory equipment will each constitute 30 percent of the total stock. Implementation The selected medical equipments will be bought from wholesale suppliers and be housed in the company’s warehouse. The company will use point-of-sale purchase promotions to attract those customers who can access the shop. Sales agents will be deployed to different parts of the country to promote the business and sell directly to consumers the medical equipment they will carry from the main shop. The company will construct a workshop with an adequate space to provide an ample working environment for repair service providers. The initial location of the company will be at British Ridge, in Britain. Evaluation and audit The company will do project evaluation on a weekly basis. The variables that the company will take into consideration include the total number of units sold, periodical profitability, the number of customers visiting the shop, the number of customers seeking medical repair services and customer responses during surveys. The number of customers the company serves within a specified period will indicate the extent of prosperity. Periodical audits will also be performed to identify major areas of weaknesses and devise counteractive mechanisms to mitigate risks arising from such weaknesses. Programming The business will require interrelated policies, investments, projects, and strategies designed to achieve long-term profitability of the business. The company has time-bound growth objectives, which must be met within the specified time frame. The objectives, strategies, and policies have been programmed in a way such that the company can cater for all business requirements throughout its product life-cycle. The normal life-cycle of a business has five stages: the introductory stage, growth stage, maturity stage and decline stage (Hess & Liedtka, 2012) Business Case The earlier feasibility studies of the area provide evidence of a market whose needs for medical equipments and repair services have not been met. The company will require $750,000 in funding as the initial business capital for the three-year period. Meditime predicts total sales of equipment amounting to $17 million and provision of services of $6.5 million by the end of the third year. These projections are based on penetration of less than 3% in any market segment. Approximately $200,000 will be raised from the company’s promoters. The $200,000 will be treated as purely start-up expenses and initial working capital. The remaining amount of the start-up capital required and the finances necessary for continuation of operations will be provided by selling shares through private placement to key investors. Medical equipment business is beneficial as it offers investors excellent and long-term potential, especially if they can identify the best medical equipment to deal with. The main features that make medical business more attractive than any types of businesses include patents, large market shares, high premium prices and higher profit margins. Medical equipment businesses, like other types of ventures, are characterised by a variety of risks. The equipments are mostly too delicate, and can easily break if not handled carefully. Medical equipment ventures require huge amount of initial of capital; this is because the equipment are expensive and require specialised facilities to handle them. Another risk is that there are some equipment that cannot be sold by intermediaries (Pries & Quigley, 2012). The most sophisticated medical equipment require the manufacturer to educate users about their uses, thus companies like Meditime, Inc. cannot access the opportunities to deal with these equipments. Project Management Team, Structure and their Roles Role Descriptions The company will put it a mandatory that all members of the management team have some training in the medical field. This will enhance their skills in handling the medical equipment regardless of the title they will be assigned in the organisation. The management team will constitute the director, administrator, human resource manager, accounts clerk, purchasing manager, sales agents, and customer representative. The Director The primary role of the director will be policy formulation and strategic decision-making. The director will make critical decisions on matters affecting all departments and organisational personnel. The director will not be concerned with the daily running of the business; they will only intervene when there are issues that departmental heads cannot able to handle. Administrator The administrator will be responsible for the activities in the administration department. The activities in the administration that the administrator will monitor include planning, supervision and organisation of staff, coordination and acquisition of staff equipment and stationery. The administrator will also be responsible for all the functions of the general manager such as controlling and performance appraisals. Human Resource Manager The human resource manager will deal with activities related to employees, for example, selection, recruitment, employee development, discipline, promotion, welfare, remuneration, transfers and sacking. The human resource manager attends to all employees (Minati, Pessa & Abram, 2006); these will include those who will be working within the business premises in preparing and repairing medical equipment and the marketers. Accounts clerk The accounts clerk will concentrate on activities related to receipts and payments of money. Receipts will include money received from repairs and sale of medical equipment, and payments will include money paid to suppliers of medical equipment, labour and purchase of inputs. The accounts clerk will also balance and safeguard the books of accounts for future reference. Purchasing Manager The purchasing manager will oversee all purchases activities in the organisation. Examples of purchasing activities will include buying of raw materials and office equipment. The purchasing manager will be the head of purchasing department. Marketing Manager The marketing manager will plan and regulate all activities related to creating awareness concerning the existence of medical equipment and repair services at Meditime Company. The manager will ensure that the company’s products are effectively promoted to the target market to increase sales. As the head of the marketing department, the marketing manager will look for the market where the company will sell its products. Sales agents The sales agents will deal with all the activities related to marketing of medical equipment and services provided by the organisation. The marketing manager will head the sales department, and the sales agents will work under the marketing manager. Customer Care Representative Customer care representatives will be responsible for attending to inquiries and complains of the customers. The representatives will forward these grievances to the concerned authorities. This implies that customer care representatives will work under all departments since they will listen to, record and forward customer concerns to the relevant departments. Organisational Structure Quality Management Strategy The business will adopt Six Sigma as quality management strategy. Six Sigma will involve improving, designing, and monitoring processes for minimizing or eliminating waste while maximizing customer satisfaction and enhancing financial stability (Chiarini, 2012). Six Sigma will primarily be applied to prevent all forms of defects and variations from standards. The manufacturers that supply medical equipment for the company will be assessed in terms of product quality. The company will also apply the concept of total quality management. Total quality management (TQM) will seek to integrate all organisational functions such as administration, accounting, marketing, production and customer service to focus on satisfying customer needs. The company’s management team will focus on planning strategically to maintain the market share and attract prospective customers into the company. The principles and techniques of TQM will mainly focus on repair service providers; the services will be tailored to meet all the dimensions of service quality, including reliability, conformance, timely, accessibility, and accuracy (Chiarini, 2012). The management will encourage quality teams and quality circles to develop further innovations and methods of dealing with customers. Configuration Management Strategy Configuration management strategy will be essential for the project to maintain control over its management and specialist products. The company will generate information through manuals and extensive training to gain maximum level of control required within the organisation. Protection and control of the medical equipment and repair services will be the sole responsibility of the administrator. However, all organisational publics will be encouraged to ensure safety of the company’s products. Meditime will construct strong buildings fixed with strong doors that are difficult to break in case malicious people intend to cause destruction of stock or theft. The director will be responsible for directing the strategy, while other members of the management team will execute the business plan. The objective of the strategy will revolve around becoming the largest supplier of medical equipment and the most efficient provider of repair services for medical equipment. The director will be responsible for identification, planning, control, security, verification, and handover procedures in the company (Dravis, 2010). The management team will always be given opportunities to capture, examine, and propose the strategies that they feel are desirable for company operations. Periodical audits will be carried out after every financial year; internal audit will always come before external audit. Risk Management Strategy Risk management will be one of the key responsibilities of the director in Meditime, Inc. The company will provide periodic training for each member of the management team to equip them with proper skills of risk assessment. This will enable them to perform periodical risk assessments of each of the company’s acquire desirable working practices and enable them to use the templates of the company to analyse risks. The director will enable senior managers to discuss and assess the overall risks to the organisation will collate risk management activities. After assessment and discussion, a prioritised profile of up to ten risks will be presented to management committee. The committee will accept the existence of the risks and to the company and approve the actions that should be taken to mitigate them. This process will always take two months. Progress will be reviewed semi-annually and the reports sent to the management committee. Risks will be reassessed once every year. The methods of conducting risk assessment in Meditime, Inc. will be characterised by systematic, recorded and regularly reviews. Communication Management Strategy The company stakeholders will include shareholders, employees, the public, suppliers, creditors, government and the community. Shareholders These parties have provided capital to the company through buying of shares. Communication to the shareholders will be through the posted letters and emails. Shareholders will be communicated twice every year, particularly when interim and final dividends have been declared. Employees They are responsible for performing day-to-day operations in the organisation. Communication to them is through formal communication, specifically downward vertical communication. Employees will need to receive information through internal memos, emails and text messages on a daily or hourly basis as long as they are performing operations within the company. The Public The public provides the environment within which the business operates. The company will need to ensure constant communication to the general public through the media such as television and newspapers advertisements. Additionally, communication to public will occur during corporate social responsibility activities. Suppliers Suppliers constitute the macro environment of a business. Suppliers will provide the medical equipment that Meditime, Inc. will sell. The company will communicate to suppliers through telephone calls, emails and fax. The frequency of communication will depend on how fast the stocks last. Creditors Creditors are stakeholders, who advance goods for sale for payments in future date (Dravis, 2010). The company will communicate to them through request for credit letters, payment receipts, telephone calls and fax. The frequency of communication will also be determined by the rate of stock turnover. Government The government provides rules and regulations for running the business within a country. The company will communicate with the government through filling in tax returns and payment of government services. The company will also communicate to the government through official agents who offer advisory services to the business. Project Plan Time (in months) Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Construction of premises Negotiating with manufacturers Selecting the sale equipments Recruiting the management team Designing the company website Stocking and starting the business Project Controls The successful performance of Meditime, Inc. will depend on appropriate planning. The execution of the projetc will be based on a robust project plan, which will be achieved through an effective schedule control methodology. Each member of the management team will concentrate on activities that fall within their purview unless superior officers delegate their duties. The corrective actions that are decided to counteract non-performance should be put into practice within seven days. The break-even period is expected to be achieved within the first three months of operation. The profit margin should be maintained at 30% of the revenues. The company expects to maintain the rate stock turnover at two months. Tailoring of Project Management Processes The business will require training of the staff and employees before they assume their respective responsibilities. This will enable them to acquire critical skills and experience required for working in an environment dealing with medical equipment. The management will develop software for monitoring purchases and sales. The system will be designed in such a way that it places automatic orders when the stock falls below the minimum stock level. The company will engage in extensive Research & Development throughout the product life-cycle; Research & Development will be carried out in individual level to guarantee participation of all members. The staff that will deal with repair services will be selected based on their experience in similar positions; the repair service providers will be required to have five years experience as biomedical equipment technicians. The business will concentrate on achieving customer satisfaction through putting into practice the principles of total quality management. Reference Chiarini, A. 2012. From Total Quality Control to lean Six Sigma: Evolution of the most important management systems for the excellence. Milan: Springer. Dravis, B. F.2010. The role of independent directors in corporate governance: An update of the Role of independent directors after Sarbanes-Oxley. Chicago: American Bar Association. Hess, E., & Liedtka, J. 2012. The physics of business growth: Mindsets, system, and processes. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Briefs, an imprint of Stanford University Press. Minati, G., Pessa, E., & Abram, M. 2006. Systemics of Emergence: Research and Development. Boston, MA: Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. Pries, K. H., & Quigley, J. M. 2012. Total quality management for project management. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis. Read More