Project Plan
Project Plan
Deliverable 7 – JBH Project Plan
Competencies
Identify the role projects play in meeting the goals of an organization.
Explain the activities that occur when initiating a project.
Classify the components of project planning.
Evaluate project implementation techniques.
Evaluate project performance.
Distinguish project management methodologies and tools.
Scenario
You are a Senior Project Manager for JBH Software Solutions and are about begin on a new project and training a new associate at the same time. The scope of the project is a total system upgrade for the customer service area. The project has a budget of $15 Million and has a duration of 24 months for completion. Since you are the Senior Project Manager, upper management is looking to you for guidance and best practices for the project management lifecycle at JBH.
Instructions
Create a project plan for JBH Software Solutions that includes required documentation such as business case, risk mitigation plan, communication plan, scope statement, scorecard, and project timelines. Include details about methodologies and tools used to manage the project. Review the deliverables from prior modules as a guide to complete this assignment. Kingston-Bryce Business Case 8
Kingston Bryce Business Case
Rawda Ismail
Rasmussen College
Authors Note
This paper is being submitted on July 10, 2020, for Ashley Cobb Section GEB3422CBE Business Project Management.
Introduction
A business case is created to justify the need for carrying out a project. In this case, the business case will outline the timeline, funding schedule, and the project scope for Kingston-Bryce Limited to acquire one of its competitors (Robinson & Dechant, 2017). The projected should be carried out in 18 months, and it should cost $5 million.
Project Scope
The project scope will be used to show the deliverables that the project should attain. The project scope will be supported by the work break-down schedule, which will indicate all the deliverables that should be achieved and the duration it should take them to be achieved (Khan, 2016). Therefore, all the deliverables in the work break-down schedule should be included in the project scope. The steps that need to be taken during the acquisition will be explained in the project scope. Thus, it will ensure that all the requirements that are needed during the acquisition are carried out.
First, before the competitor’s acquisition, research needs to be done to find out why the business is being sold. That will help identify the motives for selling the business and whether they are honest and genuine. When the company acquires the business without conducting research, it may end up suffering losses. For instance, if the business is being sold for lack of profitability and productivity, it may be a bad idea to buy it. After ensuring that the motives for selling the business are pure and genuine, the sales blueprint needs to be evaluated. It will help understand the company and its operations better.
Afterwards, the business should request for an audit of the company. An audit will ensure that the company follows all the financial regulations. It also helps to develop an analysis that will help to understand the company’s financials better and with ease. When conducting the audit, the liabilities that the company has should be identified together with their terms. The tax implications of the company should also be identified with all the tax obligations that have not been met yet. That will ensure that the company meets all the necessary tax obligations after acquiring or coming up with an agreement on the best actions to be carried out.
After conducting the audit, the valuation of the business should be carried out. The valuation of the business will help estimate the current value of the whole business. That will influence the cost of acquiring the business. When conducting valuation, the company’s assets should be evaluated first. The inventory should also be evaluated. The brand of the company should also be evaluated. After auditing and evaluation, the company should develop a budget on the competitor’s acquisition. From the valuation, the company should come up with a favorable budget. The cost-benefit analysis should also be used to identify the value that KBL will reap from buying their competitors.
After formulating the budget, KBL should initiate the legal procedures with the competitors so that they may initiate the acquisition process. All the legal requirements that need to be carried out during the acquisition should be carried out at this stage. After making the legal agreement, KBL may continue with any modifications to improve the business’s performance.
After the legal agreement, KBL can evaluate the location of the business and customer demographics. That will give the necessary information to make the business more productive. By understanding the location of the business and the customer demographics, the company can develop effective strategies that will foster the business’s productivity and profitability. The Business framework should also be evaluated and analyzed to give insight into the management framework and the organizational structure of the acquired business.
KBL should also take the initiative to learn about supply chain management. That will help them decide whether to change the supply chain. It will also make KBL come up with strategies to optimize supply chain management. At that point, the company should renovate all the systems and assets that need renovation. They should also integrate the modifications in the systems that should be carried out.
The company should then assess the employees. That will determine the employees that should be maintained and those that should be laid off. Additionally, the company should also decide the additional employees that should be employed. The recruitment process should commence immediately. All employees should be trained to increase their skills and knowledge. That will help increase the productivity of the employees. Finally, customer feedback should be collected to identify the areas that need to be corrected.
Funding Schedule
The funding schedule of the project will act as the budget for the project. It will indicate all the costs that will be incurred when acquiring KBL’s competitor. The estimated amount that will be used and approved by the board of directors is $5 million. Thus, it needs to be allocated effectively to ensure that there is no extra more money that will be needed.
Funding Activity
Amount to be incurred
Acquisition of the companys assets
$1.3 million
Acquisition of intellectual property rights
$0.7 million
Brand acquisition
$0.5 million
Acquisition of inventory
$0.5 million
Total Acquisition Costs
$3 million
IT integration
$300,000
Renovation costs
$150,000
Marketing costs
$100,000
Human resource costs
$25,000
Legal costs
$25,000
Employment of new employees and training of employees
$200,000
Total Project Management
$775,000
Property taxes
$200,000
Sales
$175,000
Payroll taxes
$125,000
Total taxes
$500,000
Accounts payable
$150,000
Short term debt
$350,000
Total Liabilities
$500,000
Contingency
$225,000
TOTAL COSTS TO BE INCURRED
$5 million
Timeline for Acquisition
The timeline for acquisition will be used to show the amount of time that will be used for each activity. That will ensure that the project is completed in a timely manner. It will also be used as an evaluation tool during the projects lifecycle. That is because it will show the management of KBL whether the projects are being carried out as it has been anticipated. The time used to complete each deliverable will be determined by its complexity.
Numbers
Task Name
Start Date
End Date
Duration in days
1
Project conception and initiation
01/04
30/04
30
1.1
Research the sellers motive to sell the business
01/04
10/04
10
1.2
Evaluate the sales blueprint
10/04
30/04
20
2
Audit
1/05
30/06
61
2.1
Analyze the financial position of the company
1/05
30/06
61
2.2
Understand all the liabilities of the company
15/06
30/06
15
2.3
Understand all the tax implications of the company
15/06
30/06
15
3.0
Evaluation
1/07
31/07
31
3.1
Evaluation of assets
01/07
31/07
31
3.2
Evaluation of inventory level
1/07
31/07
31
3.3
Brand evaluation
1/07
31/07
31
4
Budget formulation
01/08
31/08
31
5
Legal agreement
01/09
30/09
30
6
Business analysis and Evaluation
01/10
31/12
82
6.1
Business framework
01/10
31/11
61
6.2
Evaluation of location and customer demographics
01/11
31/12
61
7
Supply chain optimization
01/01
31/01
31
8
Renovations
01/02
31/04
79
8.1
Structural renovations
01/02
31/04
79
8.2
Modification of systems
01/03
31/04
61
9
Human resource optimization
01/05
31/07
82
9.1
Employees assessment
01/05
31/05
31
9.2
Recruitment of employees
01/06
30/06
30
9.3
Training of employees
01/07
31/07
31
10
Customer feedback
01/08
31/09
61
References
Khan, A. (2016). Project scope management.Cost engineering,48(6), 12-16.
Robinson, G., & Dechant, K. (2017). Building a business case for diversity.Academy of Management Perspectives,11(3), 21-31. Kingston-Bryce Communication Plan 1
Kingston-Bryce Communication Plan
Rawda Ismail
Rasmussen College
Authors Note
This paper is being submitted on July 16, 2020, for Ashley Cobb Section GEB3422CBE Business Project Management.
Introduction
A communication plan is an approach, which is policy-driven and is meant to issue guidance to stakeholders as well as company employees within an organization. This plan is essential. It classifies the employees who are assigned to specific information; the communication channels are to be included so that the information is delivered and that all information that is needed is being sent to all parties. In this plan, the identification of employees that communicate and provide passive details of high value or sensitive depends on important social methods used, for example, such as Emails, face-to-face interviews, or video conferencing are essential tools to disperse information. A KBL communication plan developed with strategies that will be utilized by the Board of Directors to motivate and encourage the KBL team to perform Microsoft Word projects.
Project Kickoff Welcome Email
Hello everyone, we are glad to kick off this project of performing Microsoft Word work with our very own Kingstone-Bryce Limited team employees. The company hopes that all employees can work together; cooperation is a vital key in this project. Dedicated employees and with their hard work, we can achieve our goals and objectives of the project at hand. Our vast and primary goal is to use Microsoft Word to perform our project. Microsoft Word is an ideal that can be adopted in this project and delivers better outcomes towards our goals, so it’s essential to install Microsoft Word and have it up and running as soon as possible.
Each employee within this team will have a defined role which he or she will conduct throughout the project (Heldman, 2018). Mike will take the lead as the project manager, Kimberly will lead the copywriter team, Mary who is the art director will have Kathy and Matt on her team, and Steven will work alongside Sam and Paul on the tech side. Since there are two teams in this project, the KLB employees and our competitors employees, during this project, everyone will be able to get acquainted with each other as time goes on. We have discussed this project for days, and I think the right time is in front of us delivering. Let us all make KLB proud, and not to forget our consumers. Let us make it a reality because we know what to go about doing it. We have attached the specifics of the project so that everyone has a clear idea of what is expected of them. Please ensure that everyone shares all related files about the project on the KLB website link to document and archive all information about the project. This meeting was an email sent, and then the same email was copied to involve all participants.
Project Summary Updates
I think as per now, all of you understand our project. We have given our project a name called Microsoft Word Launch (MWL), and the project is already on track. The (PM) Project Manager and the team are in the concept phase, and that tells us that a topic for this week has not yet been chosen, but the tech and design teams are ready and waiting once the green light is given. Since the overall topic is not provided, the planning team has had several meetings to bring it to the table. So far, the presented ideas are four, but the final session will be held on Monday to come up with the best out of the four. A brief will be carried on before the weekends because of the content team.
The content team is ready to write a contented copy as soon as we finalize our idea. The content team is also gathering some information about KBL before presenting it to the tech team. By the end of next week, the design team will have come up with the style of MS Word, and a template will be chosen. To touch on the highlights, Steven will be away on the tech team, so any questions should be directed to Sam and Paul. Some of the challenges we have include the tight deadline to complete the project shape (MacAulay, Spilker, Berg, & Merrill, 2017). Everyone should understand that we are working hard to keep all members organized and understanding their roles. This meeting was presented to stakeholders via email.
Project Closing Executive Summary
The team did a presentable job, and I would like to congratulate all who participated. Everyone can meet all our objectives, including the set goals. The project-stakeholders were sending out copies of the deliverables on where we can meet. I want to congratulate everyone who participated in making KBL Company proud by presenting positive deliverables. We need to take the same follow-ups for our future projects. Its always suitable when managing a project to keep in mind that teamwork is an appropriate aspect for sufficient deliveries (Svendsen, Hansen, & Dorte, 2018). This meeting was a face-to-face meeting that included the project manager, the sponsor of the project, the entire project team and the Board of directors for Kingston-Bryce Limited.
References
Foster, A. (2018). A Communication Plan for Organizational Effectiveness in a Youth Development Organization. Retrieved fromhttps://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3116/
Heldman, K. (2018).PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley & Sons.
MacAulay, K., Spilker, E., Berg, J., & Merrill, E. (2017). Ya Ha Tinda Carnivore Diet Analysis: Project Update. Retrieved fromhttp://www.wsfab.org/sites/default/files/projects/Ya%20Ha%20Tinda%20Carnivore%20Diet%20Analysis%20Study_Update%20May%202017.pdf
Svendsen, M., Hansen, C. R., & Dorte, A. (2018). Open Access Monitor-DK: Concluding Conference and Executive Summary. Retrieved fromhttps://www.forskningsdatabasen.dk/en/catalog/2441935402 Kingston-Bryce Scorecard 2
Kingston-Bryce Scorecard
Rawda Ismail
Rasmussen College
Authors Note
This paper is being submitted on July 30, 2020, for Ashley Cobb Section GEB3422CBE Business Project Management.
The Bryce Company just received a new client who wanted to have their office made over. The underlying issue was that a lot of space was being wasted and a lot of expenses too were being spent on paying rent for some space that is not being utilized. The work of our company was to make sure that the space in the building optimized and that every single space on that building is being utilized. However, as much as we are looking at making the space optimal the comfort of the employees is key. The space provided should not be too small in such a way that the employee will not be comfortable and their productivity will not be reduced in any way. Employees being comfortable will increase their productivity and reduce stress at their place of work.
The project was to take an estimated period of 7 months it was being conducted with several phases with the first phase being site seeing, the second one being the undertaking of diligence, and the final one before starting the project was the acquisition of all the legal and necessary documents. The budget was estimated depending on all the materials and labor that would be spent on sight. The budget was estimated at 400,000 in dollars. In the project communication between employees is key. The head of the project ensured that severally the shareholders of the project were updated on the progress of the meeting. Kingston-Bryce Project Plan 1
8
PROJECT PLAN
Kingston-Bryce Project Plan
Rawda Ismail
Rasmussen College
Authors Note
This paper is being submitted on July 8, 2020, for Ashley Cobb Section GEB3422CBE Business Project Management.
Table of Contents
Purpose of the plan3
Project Timeline 4
Project description..6
Task milestones…6
Stakeholders7
References8
Purpose of the Plan
Kingston Bryce Limited is a renowned business of customized furniture. The business is doing great job and is thinking to acquire new business. This new business is of its competitor. The addition of this business to the main stream line will Increase the responsibility of the business. It will further enhance the capability of the business by having more workforce, technology and capital (Sligo, 2017)
The main purpose of this project is to ensure the feasibility of the acquisition. Meanwhile as a project manager, my major concern will be to keep all the stakeholders connected with the whole process, so that they can understand the reason, importance and scope of expansion along with having knowledge of their profit. Here the main stakeholders will be as given:
Management
Staff
Employees
Suppliers
Distributors
This project will ensure their inclusion throughout the project’s life.
At the same time it is also very much important to notify all the milestones of the project so that its feasibility can be made sure. The main purpose of this project is to develop a timeline. The timeline will include the whole procedure of the acquisition along with basic terms and conditions that will support its feasibility.
This timeline will capture every single factor regarding getting raw material, producing required products, maintaining quality, arranging for plant, machinery and adequate capital and at the end having an emergency plan of action. It must be kept in mind that the company which is ready to be involved in KBL is surely facing issues in meeting its projects. That is the main reason that the owners are willing to sell the specific organization (Thomos, 2018).
Project Timeline
Time
Task
From January 20- April 23, 2020
Being a project manager I will consider the workforce first of all. The new company will surely have its own staff, suppliers and vendors. My main concern will be to identify all of them and to relocate them according to their skills and experiences. Furthermore i will.have to.consider the workforce limit of KBL. It may happen that I will have to undergo the procedure of downsizing. But this will be the last option because KBL will have to hire more employees to complete the requirements of the customers and this will be a prolonged process. KBL wants to minimize the recruiting and staffing process.
From April 2020 September 2020
Financial projections matter a lot in this acquisition and I will have to work on this factor on the next quarter. The company will surely experience additions in costs and here my major concern will be to estimate the costs with each addition in the costs because of inclusion of more employees. According to the projections the company will have to recruit staff three times more than it possesses now. It means that the costs will also increase in terms of making salaries and wages for them.
Second important task for this quarter will be in the form of marketing and promotional activities. These promotional activities should be managed in a way that these should be enhanced the credibility of this acquisition along with delivering and optimistic message to general public.
Completion September 2020- January 2021
At least the acquisition will take that much time to be completed as a whole and this time is as according to the specified timeline.
Review From January 2021-April 2021
The corrective measures will be taken in this time period. At that time the process of acquisition will be completed. All the costs and projections will be done by that time. Now the whole procedure will be revised to.find out any issue within the project. In case of any issue or fault the necessary corrective measures will be taken by keeping in mind all the relevant possibilities so that it may not become a financial burden for the organization.
Project Description
The project is describing the decision of board of directors of the company and the company is Kingston Bryce Limited. The board of directors is making plans to acquire a new company for the purpose of expanding the business. And this project is all about the details of that specific acquisition (Sligo, 2017).
Task Milestones
The company has made tremendous achievements in identifying a company that deals with the furniture as the company does. The rival company is willing to be absorbed by Kingston-Bryce Limited, and this is a recommendable job that the company has done. The next action is planning to acquire a rival company, and planning is underway. The company has made tremendous progress as far as the merger is concerned.
Stakeholders
The possible stakeholders will be as given:
Management
Workforce
Staff
Vendors
Suppliers
Distributors
References
Harris, J. L., Roussel, L. A., Dearman, C., & Thomas, T. (2018).Project planning and management. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Sligo, J., Gauld, R., Roberts, V., & Villa, L. (2017). A literature review for large-scale health information system project planning, implementation and evaluation.International journal of medical informatics,97, 86-97. KBL RISK MITIGATION PLAN 1
KBL RISK MITIGATION PLAN 2
KBL Risk Mitigation Plan
Rawda Ismail
Rasmussen College
Authors Note
This paper is being submitted on August 13, 2020, for Ashley Cobb Section GEB3422CBE Business Project Management.
KBL Risk Mitigation Plan
Project planning is a subset of project management that involves procedural and systematic scheduling of tasks to ensure the successful completion of tasks. Project planning involves clearly defining the project goals and deliverables and creating complementary project schedules to monitor, control, and execute the project. An effective project plan should include a risk mitigation plan since projects are bound to face risks before completion. Risks are uncertain events or occurrences that have the potential to negatively affect a project (Powell & Huang, 2016). A risk mitigation plan is a risk management plan that is designed to minimize or eliminate the negative effects of risks. These plans involve the identification, evaluation, and mitigation of risks.
While acquiring a competing company has the potential to increase growth for Kingston-Bryce Limited (KBL), it is important to consider the risks accompanying such an acquisition. Having a risk mitigation plan will be important in ensuring the acquisition does not have adverse effects on KBL. The potential risks that KBL faces in this acquisition can be classified into; cost and financial risks, technical risks, and contractual risks. Insufficient due diligence resulting in overpayment is a potential cost and financial risk that KBL can face in this acquisition (Powell & Huang, 2016). The selling company is responsible for providing financial statements that show the companys performance and potential valuation. Misrepresentation of these documents can result in overvaluation and consequently an overpayment that will lead to loss of money for the company. KBL also faces a cost and financial risk if the company has an extensive loss history, has low margins, or is in debt.
Potential technical risks that KBL faces in acquiring a competing business can be divided into technological and intellectual property (IP) risks. KBL faces the technological risks of acquiring the company while it uses open-source software that ends up compromising the companys operations and profits. Although the company being acquired could have exclusive technology, it could also have escrow arrangements with a third party on the use of this technology which could render KBL powerless on the use of said technology (Powell & Huang, 2016). The IP risks that KBL faces is acquiring the company while it has infringed on the IP rights of a third party. This IP risk can lead to potential lawsuits and defamation for KBL. Trade secrets that determine the success of the selling company can also pose a risk for KBL once the company is acquired. The contractual risk that KBL faces is acquiring the company while it has ongoing contracts with other third parties. Contractual obligations such as Union contracts can be costly for KBL.
After the identification and evaluation of the potential risks that KBL faces in the acquisition, the next important step is developing mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of these risks. Risk mitigation strategies that KBL can implement include; risk avoidance, risk sharing, risk reduction, and risk transfer. Risk avoidance is a mitigation strategy that involves the implementation of techniques to avoid risk. Risk-sharing involves the formation of partnerships and other relationships to share the impact of risky occurrences (Sardana & Zhu, 2020). Risk reduction involves the investment of funds and resources to help in the mitigation of risks. Risk transfer is a risk mitigation strategy that reduces that shifts the impact of risky events and occurrences from one party to another. KBL will implement these risk mitigation strategies to reduce or eliminate the potential negative effects of the risks accompanying the acquisition.
To mitigate the cost and financial risks, KBL can implement risk reduction and risk avoidance strategies. A risk reduction strategy will allow KBL to invest adequate funds to conduct exhaustive due diligence to avoid making overpayments. Exhaustive due diligence will allow KBL to understand the financial position of the selling company. From the information collected from exhaustive due diligence conducted, KBL can choose to implement the risk avoidance strategy if the companys financial position and value are negative. Risk-sharing strategies like insuring the technology and patenting innovations can be implemented by KBL to mitigate technical risks (Sardana & Zhu, 2020). To mitigate contractual risks accompanying the acquisition, KBL can implement risk transfer strategies. Risk transfer strategies will allow the KBL to transfer the effects of pending contractual obligations to the selling company. These strategies will be vital in the elimination of the impact of risks that KBL will be exposed to in the acquisition.
References
Powell, R., & Huang, P. (2016). Method of payment and risk mitigation in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Journal of Corporate Finance, 40, 216-234.
Sardana, D., & Zhu, Y. (2020). Multinational enterprises risk mitigation strategies in emerging markets: A political coalition perspective. Journal of World Business, 55(2), 101044.
Sadgrove, K. (2016).The complete guide to business risk management. Routledge.
Garca-Snchez, I. M., & Noguera-Gmez, L. (2017). Integrated reporting and stakeholder engagement: The effect on information asymmetry.Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,24(5), 395-413.
Yuanyuan, S. U. I., & DUMITRESCUPECULEA, A. (2016). Financial risk identification and control of cross border merger and acquisition enterprises.The Audit Financiar journal,14(144), 1368-1368. Sheet1
objective project lead TARGET ACTUAL Trend on target notes
Timelines
phase A feasibility study seth M 3 Months 50 days The main challenge met when trying to ensure that the timelines are met was the acquisition of legal processes which took longer than expected. The customer satisfaction at this stage was only fair and not satisfactory.
Phase B undertaking due diligence 2 months 2 months
phase C conducting vauation and legal advice 1 month 45 days
project duration
The objective of the project was to make over the entire building seth M 7 months 7 months The main secret to maintaining the time set to complete the project was to give provisions for any delays that may take place. For example, all the materials needed for the project were ordered before they were depleted which ensured that at all times the project was running.
budget
The budget given had incorporated emergency funds that would help eliminate any financial abstraction during the project kelvin C 400000 380000 The project maintained and remained within the budget provided. This was done by ensuring that the suppliers chosen were the cheapest available but still provide quality products. According to Fortune, (2006). The generation of a reliable early-stage building project price forecast for its capital cost is
an important aspect of any project. The second thing was only having the necessary employees on site. This means that if some of the engineers were not working on a certain phase they would not report to
meeting freaquency
To keep link the shareholders of the project and keep them updated on the progress being made daily
Seth M Meeting were scheduled daily Each day a briefing meeting was conducted. In the project, it is very important to keep the shareholders on board and let them know what is going on in the various stages of the project. For this reason, it was good to update the shareholders on a daily basis with the most frequent update being done through web conferencing and the rest is done through face to face meetings with the stakeholders. According to Anderson, J. D. (2015). Project communication is overwhelmingly viewed as the proper and timely delivery
of pertinent project information Kingston Bryce Limited
PROJECT TITLE START DATE
Kingston Bryce Limited- Acquiring Competitor 05/01 PROJECT DURATION
PROJECT MANAGER END DATE in days
Mr. Robert Meijer 10/31 549
WBS NO. TASK NAME STATUS ASSIGNED TO START DATE END DATE DURATION in days COMMENTS STATUS
1 PROJECT CONCEPTION AND INITIATION Complete 05/01 06/09 40 Not Started
1.1 Project Charter Complete 05/01 05/15 15 In Progress
1.1.1 Project Charter Revisions Complete 05/16 05/20 5 Complete
1.2 Research Complete 05/01 06/30 61 On Hold
1.3 Projections Complete 06/15 07/05 21
1.4 Stakeholders Complete 06/01 08/05 66
1.5 Guidelines In Progress 05/15 09/30 139
1.6 Project Initiation In Progress 10/01 10/05 5
2 PROJECT DEFINITION AND PLANNING In Progress 10/05 11/03 30
2.1 Scope & Goal Setting In Progress 11/01 11/10 10
2.2 Budget In Progress 11/01 11/15 15
2.3 Communication Plan In Progress 11/15 11/22 8
2.4 Risk Management Complete 11/20 12/05 16
3 P
