Executive summary
The mall investment Limited is an investment company specializing in retailing and the establishment of shopping malls. The company has been in business for a long time and its mission is to lead in the provision of shopping facilities in the whole of United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Al Qir shopping center project is a project for the current year in the Mall investments and is aimed at diversifying their business in fulfillment of the company’s growth strategy enshrined in the company’s visions. This project will set up a modern medium-size shopping center at the Ras Al Khaimah emirate of UAE thereby increasing the portfolio of products for the Mall Investment limited.
Business Objectives
Al Qir’s shopping center project is not only in fulfillment of the growth strategy of the Mall Investment Limited but also responding to the business needs in Al Qir city. The following are the project objectives;
- To tap on the growing commercial opportunities in the city of Al Qir. This will increase Mall investment’s assets base and profitability.
- To increase the company’s profitability. The projected increase in profit is 20%; consequently, this will reduce the risk profile of the company.
- To stir commercial activity by bringing all business entities under one roof hence increasing money in circulation.
- To diversify the company’s risks to different emirates (areas) so that in case of any downtime in one emirate, the company’s profitability will not be compromised.
Project description
Scope of the project
Al Qir Shopping center project will include the establishment of a big shopping center that will host different business units. The project will therefore facilitate the development of independent business units under one roof. The project will take in establishments of a banking hall, supermarkets, restaurants, supply chain retail stores, boutique, movie theaters, and other service shops. The shopping center will have all the telecommunication facilities, money transfer services, computer technology vendors, and commercial insurance agencies. The availability of all these business entities and service providers in one shopping center will ease trading and hence making it a business hub of Al Qir. The project will end after the construction process has been completed and a new management team will take over (Lock, 455).
Justification of the project
Al Qir Shopping Centre project is a project not just satisfying the business needs of the Mall Investment limited but a whole range of stakeholders and the economy of Ras Al Khaimah. The end-users of different commodities will have an easy task of assessing all their needs in one location. This is because all the vendors are housed under one roof thus making them enjoy a great customer experience while purchasing all their products.
Profitability and the asset base for the Mall investment limited will be on the increase hence achieving their ultimate business motive of increasing stockholders’ wealth. Establishing business at the Al Qir will be made convenient since all service providers will be available under one roof. This will in turn result in the growth of business surrounding the Shopping center consequently improving the economy of the investment group. The shopping center will therefore stir up economic growth in nearly all sectors since businesses are always interdependent. The high circulation of cash will be high in the region (Heerkens, 61).
Regional diversification will ensure that Mall investments reduce their risks of doing business while expanding their profitability. In cases of low business activity, political instability, and increased business competition in one region, the Mall’s overall business performance will be maintained by other regions. This will ensure that the shareholders in mall investment will at least have a constant source of income.
The community of Al Qir will also be part of the beneficiaries of the project. The building and final set up of business units will be a great source of employment opportunities for the residents. The community will also have a ready market for their commodities. All these community benefits will always be on the increase leading to the sustainable economic growth of the region.
Roles and Project stakeholders
Project deliverables
This project spans for some time (about a year) and at different levels of establishment, several project outputs will be the needs either for forwards progression authorization or just for the effective management of the project. The Al Qir Shopping Centre project deliverables are as follows:
Needs assessment report
This report is an output after the various stakeholder’s needs have been collected and analyzed. This will form a basis for the design of the Shopping center hence a very critical deliverable.
Architectural plan
This is the blueprint of the building process. This shows the design specifications of the shopping mall, indicating all the business units to be established and other amenities included in the building.
Licenses and permits
Licensing agencies will be government, city council, and other state regulatory agencies. Licenses and permits are very critical deliverables consequently their requests should be made on a timely basis.
Bill of quantities report
This report will provide tentative engineers costing of the whole building project materials and labor. This will form the basis for budgeting and project implementation planning.
Project budget and implementation plan
This report is done by the building committee of the Board of directors of Mall investment limited who are responsible for the project implementation.
Various assessment reports
At every stage of construction and project progression, various monitoring and evaluation reports are done.
Project completion report
This report is a final report to be presented back to the board of directors of Mall investment limited.
Complete shopping center
This is the ultimate tangible deliverable that the project must produce. It must meet the specifications as presented in the architectural report and also the aspirations of the various stakeholders.
Risk assessment
The project can only be curtailed by risks, consequently, the project manager has to put in place various risk mitigation measures. The project risks have been analyzed in the table below;
Mitigation measures
Risks have been classified according to their chances of occurrence; high, average, and low. The project is vulnerable to risks with average and high chances of occurrence hence necessary control plans have to be put in place. The following mitigation strategies have been instituted by the building committee and the project manager;
- Regarding the risk of experiencing insufficiency of funds, the project management has a miscellaneous budget to cater for unplanned expenses. The management has also contracted with various suppliers of inputs and services hence reducing their susceptibility to price fluctuations.
- The project management team has been having frequent interaction with the stakeholders especially government and other state regulatory agencies hence reducing their chances of being denied licenses and permits
- The susceptibility to delivering poor quality construction has been mitigated by enhancing consistent monitoring of project progress mandated to construction experts.
- The project management is very keen on ensuring that the project is completed within the relevant period.
Project Estimates
Project Activity
The Al Qir shopping center project starts with the activities of assessing various stakeholders’ needs to the completion of the shopping center. The project management team has proposed the following activities as essential for the ultimate completion and achievement of the project goals;
Stakeholder needs assessment
The Al Qir shopping center building project is a business-oriented project hence the needs of various stakeholders have to be fulfilled. The project needs assessment involves researching various stakeholders’ interests regarding the project and finally compiling their analyzed report. The stakeholders to be interviewed for the research will include potential customers, clients, government representatives, the city council, and the neighboring community. This report will form the basis for the licensing and architectural design of the shopping center
Preliminary legal compliance
This will include requisition and payment for the license fees to be compliant with various state regulations. Before any construction is undertaken, relevant permits and licenses must be applied and paid for. Other licensing requirements will include; registration of the business licenses and city council building permits. The receipt of these permits and licenses will give value to the building of the shopping center.
Procurement of architectural and engineering services
With the needs assessment report at hand, the project architectural plan should be designed. The building committee and the project manager should advertise for the services of the architect and the civil engineers after they have designed for their terms of reference. From the received applications, candidates meeting the necessary qualifications will be contacted by the project management. The architect will come up with a design blueprint of the shopping center which will be vetted by the building committee. If satisfied, the building committee will forward the design specification to the civil engineer who will make the bill of quantities report. This activity will be very instrumental in the progression of the Al Qir project.
Project costing and planning
The bill of quantities report will form the basis for the Al Qir shopping center’s project budgeting as it provides the value of the materials and labor for the construction. The building committee will identify the source of funds for the project. For this project, the funding will be by done by Mall investment limited. The building committee in conjunction with the project manager will make a budget proposal to the Board of directors of the Mall investment for the executive authority. The authorization of the budget and fund allocation of the construction works will be one of the major milestones achieved.
Contracting of building engineers
The construction of the shopping center will begin with the preparation of the terms of reference for the building engineers. The building committee will then advertise for their services on the press and receive the applications for further vetting. The selection of the building engineers will be done by the building committee after which the nominated engineer will sign a contract stipulating the terms of engagement. The building committee will then submit to the engineer the architectural plans, bill of quantities, and the project implementation plan. These documents will facilitate a common understanding of the project by the engineer and the project team.
Purchase of materials
The building engineer will be responsible for the building of the shopping center and hence will be submitting requests of the required materials to the project manager. The project manager will facilitate the procurement process for the same after confirming that the requests tally with the costing in the bill of quantities. The materials will be delivered to the site with the supervision of the project manager and the building engineer. The payment process will be initiated by the project manager after the engineer has confirmed receipt of all necessary materials. The authorization for the same will be done by the building committee.
Hiring of machines
The building engineer will submit a request for the necessary machinery for the construction process and the project manager will facilitate their hiring from competitive vendors. The machines will be delivered to the project site and after the building engineer is satisfied with their working conditions, payment processing will be initiated by the project manager.
Groundbreaking
The groundbreaking ceremony is an advertisement and value addition of the Al Qir shopping center function designed to create awareness of the project to the community and other stakeholders. The function date will be planned jointly with the building engineer, project manager, building committee, and the Mall investment board members. The planning process will include invitations of stakeholders and other arrangement logistical issues. On the actual function date, groundbreaking on the building site will be done and the stakeholders will be enlightened on the opportunities available with the project for their taking.
Foundation excavation and construction
The construction process will begin with the digging and laying of the foundation of the shopping center. At the end of this sectional activity, the civil engineer’s assessment will be initiated by the project manager. The civil engineer’s report will be used to assess the quality of work done hence will be submitted to the building committee. If the construction is on the right track, then the report will be in the custody of the project manager.
Wall construction and roofing
Wall construction is a substantial part of the shopping center building project hence requiring many resources and close inspection. The second sub-activity will be the setup and installation of windows and doors. This activity will be concurrent with electrical and telephone network installations. Finally, roofing activity takes place. After all these activities, a civil engineers assessment will be done and the report submitted to the building committee for discussion and action.
Furnishing and partitioning
For effective furnishing to be done, a review of the business needs will be completed and potential client’s concepts used. The partitioning and furnishing process will be aimed at creating the necessary ambiance and installation of the indispensable equipment after the completion of the activity necessary assessment report will be done and submitted to the building committee for action.
Project assessment
The whole project assessment report will be done to inform owners of the project on the projects’ final product. The assessment will be done by a team of experts who have been involved in the construction process. The team will comprise of the architect, civil engineer, and the building expert. The report will indicate the success and challenges of the project. The project manager will also include the variance analysis report in this assessment report. This report will be handed over to the Mall investment board for their analysis and subsequent action.
Project winding up
The project wound up will include the handover of the completion certificates by the engineers to the project management team and the final discharge of the contract where all contractual obligations have been meeting. The project manager will return all the hired machinery and initiate final payments to all service providers.
Resource requirements
The table below indicates the resources that will be necessary for the implementation of the project.
Event analysis & diagram charts
(The full view of the work break down structure is in the MS projects attached)
Resource allocation & risk analysis
Project controls
There is always a tendency of diversion from plans and instructions. This brings in the concept of controls so that the project implementation is as planned. Unless there are deliberate controls put in place, the project implementation team can always detour resulting in the compromise on the project output. The Al Qir is a capital intensive project and the management has put in place the following controls to achieve the project goals;
Project manager
The project manager has been employed to be in charge of the project and constantly update the building committee on the project progress. The project manager is an employee of Mall investment and has a wide experience in the management of similar projects with an impeccable record.
Consistent assessment reporting
The project management has contracted a team of civil engineers for consistent and objective project progress assessment. They prepare their reports as professionals hence provide the project quality assessment rating necessary for quality management.
Quarterly project reporting
The project manager prepares a quarterly report on the general project progress and financials. This report will indicate the projected costs to completion of the project and the actual funds remaining hence proving early signs of insufficiency of funds where that is the case.
Risk management
The project manager in his quarterly report indicates the various risks that have been experienced and the potential risks the projects might face. This will give the building committee an assessment of the risk rating of the project.
Building committee meetings and expertise
The project is managed closely by the building committee constituting the board of directors of Mall investment. The committee members are three, two of them are professional engineers with a wide experience in the construction industry while the other one is a financial expert. The building committee team is very enlightened, with their monthly meetings; they can put the project in check.
Authorizations
These are levels of controls for the Al Qir shopping center project. Without proper authorization, project activities can be nonbinding and illegal consequently necessary confirmation of the legality of activity or report is compulsory. The following authorizations will be in place;
The statement will be approved by:
- The Project Manager
- Building committee
- The Project Sponsor/ owner
Project Changes will be approved by:
- The Building committee.
Project deliverables will be approved by:
- The Project Owner/sponsor.
- The Steering committee.
- The project manager.
Works Cited
Heerkens, Gary. Project Management: 24 Steps to Help You Master Any Project. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2007. PP. 56-94.
Lock, Dennis. Project management. Michigan: Gower Publishing, Ltd., 2007. PP. 453- 511.