Executive Summary
This project seeks to launch a new product for Gold Source International Ltd Company in Dubai, (U.A.E.). The company will incorporate the use of IT in the development of the designing software and will use an internally developed website for creating awareness of the product.
The company will provide websiteâs links to social media for further awareness. The whole project will last for about 120 days. It will have various stages including planning, marketing, and the eventual launch. The project manager estimates that the project will cost about $175000.
The product will increase the product portfolio of the company and trail-blaze other competitors in the field of medicine. Hence, it will increase the companyâs competitive advantage.
Project Objectives
This project was commissioned to develop and launch a new product (Silicone Sealant product).
The product, meant to give customers options and to expand the product portfolio of Golden Source International Ltd Company was to roll out in cities in United Arab Emirates before spreading in other countries.
Other objectives were to expand the companyâs bottom line by at least 50% and improve the customersâ satisfaction by an acceptable level of at least 50%. The following is a critical look at the project and its objectives with regard to various stakeholders (Reiss, 2007).
Project Stakeholders
The stakeholders in this project were happy with the outcome. Customers appreciated the introduction of a new product that would increase their options in the market place.
The management of Golden Source International Ltd Company was elated by the design, efficiency, aesthetics, and performance of the product in the first three months.
The company staffs involved in the process of the making, advertising, launching, and promoting the product, prior and after the launch, were happy with the experience.
They were also happy with the performance of the product. Indications were that customers will shift massively towards this product and plans were already underway to see that the product is launched in other cities in Middle East and then Asia.
The product did not violate any environmental laws and in fact was been touted as âgreenâ product with a vision for solving 21st century problems. Every procedure laid out by the government was followed to ensure that there were no disappointments (Reiss, 2007).
Goals and Objectives
The goals and objectives of this project as outlined before were clearly on course. The customers had already demonstrated happiness. This shows that they would rate the product positively.
The performance of the product in the few months after launch indicated that the company was on course towards achieving profit objectives set out (Reiss, 2007).
Project Constraints
All the project constraints were adequately satisfied. The project was completed in 110 days against a target of 121 days. Additionally, a budget of $175000 had been set aside and the project exceeded this figure by only $1500. This was adequately within the margin of error.
Many pundits were happy with the product and the whole launch and performance of the product indicated positive results.
Project Scope
In Scope
Golden Source International Ltd Company in UAE plans to launch a new product using its IT platform. This includes internally developed websites for marketing and software for designing.
It also incorporates IT usage in coordination of the various departments involved. Project deliverables include:
- Designing of product prototype and final product using internal software
- Developing a new website to market the product
- Using IT platform to communicate within and between different departments
- Using the available budget of $175000
- Meeting a deadline of 120 days
Out of Scope
The project however is limited to the launch of the product in the market successfully. The project will not monitor the performance of this product in the market. Additionally, this project does not include the appraisal of the product to determine its profitability.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Work Breakdown Structure
The project manager will subdivide the project scope into manageable segments, assign them to the respective individuals, and document that information. The following will be the work breakdown structure for this project.
Figure 1 WBS for Silicone Sealant Project
The above structure represents all the stages that the product will go through before the final launch.
This will be instrumental for the project manager, as he will know the sequence activities will take. Hence, it will be easy to assign tasks and to determine weak areas. This project does not have small work packages, as most work will be departmental (Reiss, 2007).
Sub Units
The project manager shall specify the specific requirements of each sub unit. This includes approximate budgetary allocation, performance standards, and durations. The project manager will aggregate this information into a clear format for ease of reference (Castells, 2011).
Budget
Project and Budget Control Charts
Project and budget control charts records cost, schedule performances to ascertain actual and planned performances of the project. Normally these are based on the nature of the work breakdown structure (Chase & Aquilano, 2006).
It makes use of the work packages. In this project, this may not be as applicable, but may be useful. The project manager may use the Project and Budget Control Chart below.
Table 3 Project and Budget Control Chart
The project manager will obtain cumulative amounts for the actual and scheduled performances and draw bar graphs for comparison. The above analysis may act as an early indicator as to whether the project manager will meet the parameters of the project (Reiss, 2007).
Hence, it may be used as an effective tool to source for additional time or resources from management.
If it is a strict-schedule project, this parameter may offer a way for the manager to organize for overtime and to crash the network diagram for a scheduled finish (Chase & Aquilano, 2006).
Project Schedule
Use of a Gantt chart
This projectâs project manager may find it quite useful to engage the use of a Gantt chart in managing complexity in cost and time (Schwalbe, 2013). A Gantt chart is an intricate tool used for the management of interrelated tasks with different durations.
When using a Gantt chart, the project manager assumes that the tasks are linear and their durations can be determined beforehand with a high degree of precision (Reiss, 2007). However, it is advisable for management to have duration estimates with the relevant possible contingencies.
This project has eight major events. They include planning, product design, packaging, online marketing, TV marketing, road shows, product launch/selling, and promotions.
They start at different stages in the project and have varying durations as shown below in the Gantt chart (Chase & Aquilano, 2006).
Table 4 Activity Durations and Start Times
Figure 2 Gantt chart for this Project
As the above figure indicates, a Gantt chart has a number of benefits to the project manager. First, it diagrammatically represents the whole project. This makes it easy for the project manager to indentify the activities to complete first and clearly shows the relationships between tasks.
Second, it shows the duration of a project. This project is likely to take 121 days as shown in the Gantt chart.
However, in as much as it may show the tasks clearly, it does not indicate dependencies among tasks and the project manager may not know from the Gantt chart how the delay of one task may affect another.
For this purpose, the project manager will have to use the network diagrams (Chase & Aquilano, 2006).
Since this project started, planning has been completed. Both online and TV marketing are already been carried out announcing the upcoming product.
The product is in its formative stages in the laboratories and it is anticipated that the packaging design is the activity likely to take most of the work. This is because the company already had a similar product from which to improve and come up with the current one.
Activities such as road shows, product launch, and promotions are yet to commence. It is also crucial to note that only 12 days have elapsed since the commencement of this project (Reiss, 2007).
Network Diagrams
There are two types of network diagrams. These are very useful tools in project control. There are two types of network diagrams: Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Analysis (CPM).
They are complex decision-making tools that enable project managers to organize work and plan work flows. They provide necessary information that is vital in scheduling and budgeting (Reiss, 2007).
This information includes the earliest start times of a project, latest completion times, time floats, and the critical path. The critical path is the longest route in a network diagram that indicates the time the project will take.
It is hard to construct a network diagram for a project with complex times and huge budgets but the availability of software for that purpose makes it easy. In this project, the techniques may be useful to the project manager in evaluating the progress of the project (UWSA 2005).
Conclusion
The project did not experience notable setbacks. However, areas of weaknesses were indentified in the departmental contacts. For example, the project manager and sales manager differed about the time when the promotional campaign should start.
The project manager felt the timing of the campaign was poor because the product was a long way from been launched and customers were likely to forget about it. This would lead to wastage of resources.
However, the sales manager was of the opinion that it was meant to prepare the customers fully (Reiss, 2007).
Additionally, after the budget exceeded by $1500, the project manager wrote an explanatory proposal to management and some managers felt he should have anticipated this instead of bringing it up after it had happened.
However, the project manager explained it was because of the early campaign by the sales manager. Hence, he was feeling under pressure to launch the product fast. Lastly, sometimes the road shows would report poor reception and hence it came out as a poor method of advertising.
In future, it would be imperative to iron out those little setbacks but they had no major effect on the launch (Chase & Aquilano, 2006).
References
Castells, M. (2011). The Rise of the Network Society: The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Chase, B.R. & Aquilano, N.J. (2006). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. New York: McGraw Irwin.
Reiss, G. (2007). Project Management Demystified. New York, NY: Routledge.
Schwalbe, K. (2013). Information Technology Project Management. Cambridge, MA: Course Technology.
UWSA (2005). Project Implementation Process & Tools. Web.