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Project
Method
SUBMITTED TO: SIR ANUP BISTA
STUDENT ID: C343


EXTENDED DIPLOMA IN STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP (QCF)





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Assignment: 2
1: Implementation of the project:
In project implementation or project execution, we put it all together. Project planning
is complete, as detailed as possible, yet providing enough flexibility for necessary
changes. Now its time to apply all the tools that are prepared in order to keep
ourselves in control of the project.
1.1: Scheduling the project:
a) Pert or critical path analysis:
Critical Path Analysis helps you to plan all tasks that must be completed as part of a
project. They act as the basis both for preparation of a schedule, and of resource
planning. During management of a project, they allow you to monitor achievement of
project goals. They help you to see where remedial action needs to be taken to get a
project back on course (Mantel et al, 2007).
There are a number of ways to carry out the project. In the diagram two ways are
shown to carry out the activities. The first way is normal and second way is crashing.


81 90
0

83 90









Sourcing
of funds
Renting
building
Staffs
recruit
Equip-
ment
Advertise
ment
Menu
Equipm
ent
Services
Policies
Advertis
ement
Menu
Staffs
recruit
Renting
building
Raw
material
Raw
material
Policie
s
Start
End
Equip
ment
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b) Gantt chart:
A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart, developed by Henry Gantt, illustrates projects
schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements
and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements
comprise the work breakdown structure of the project (Lewis, 2000).
In the implementation process Gantt chart can be used to measure the projects
schedule.
c) Fast tracking
According to Mantel et al. (2007) fast tracking means that you look at activities that
are normally done in sequence and assign them instead partially in parallel. For
instance, normally you would not start constructing a solution until the design was
completed. However, if you were fast-tracking, you would start constructing the
solution in areas where you felt the design was pretty solid without waiting for the
entire design to be completed (David et al, 2006).
In new groceries store opening project fast tracking can be used without waiting for
the whole design of the project. But fast-tracking always involves risk that could lead
to increased cost and some rework later.
1.2 Resource allocation:
Resource allocation is used to assign the available resources in an economic way. It
is part of resource management. In project management, resource allocation is the
scheduling of activities and the resources required by those activities while taking
into consideration both the resource availability and the project time (Harrison and
Dennis, 2004).
For the project crashing there will be need to speed up the work. This can be done
by having more resources. These can be human resource, financial resources or
physical resources etc. This is called fast tracking.




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1.3: Budgeting the project:
Take control of your project finances with powerful budgeting tools that allow you to
significantly increase your projects profitability. By tracking your budgeting process
throughout the life of your project, you can view the impact of budget changes on
profitability and manage the information you need to make your project successful
(Cleland and Gareis, 2006)

a) Common budget line items
In common budget line it is explained that how to budget for common budget line
items such as staff costs, procurement (equipment and supplies), project activities
and contractual costs. Make sure to prepare budgets in close coordination with
finance, human resource, procurement, and administration (Dennis, 2007).
In groceries store opening project, the staff costs include recruitment, training and
development costs. In procurement cost, cost of equipment that are purchased and
raw material will be included. Project activities will be financed and some contract
cost could be included like contract with some clients for whole sale.
b) Bottom-up budgeting process:
The bottom-up budgeting process begins with the basic components of an
organization, generally at lower-level individual projects, to create in the end a
collective budget for the organization. To start the bottom-up budgeting process, the
responsible for the project must to look at the main steps needed to carry out a
complete project and associate a cost or a calculation to each step. Finally, it will
need to sum the cost for each project in order to come up with the total budget
(Dennis, 2007).
Bottom up budgeting approach is used in the implementation of the new opening
groceries store. Every activity has been given the estimated cost. The sum of all the
estimated cost is equal to 40000 pounds.




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c) Estimated cost of activities:
Identification sourcing of funds-------------------1000
Taking a building on rent---------------2400
Purchasing equipment for groceries store----------8000
Recruiting and training staff----------------------------------5000
Making the list of groceries products in store---------------500
Identification of services that will be given by groceries store-------500
Advertisement and promotion of project-----------------10000
Purchasing products for the groceries store-------------5000
Make the policies-----------------------------2000
Miscellaneous--------------------------------5600
Total-----------------------------------------------400000

d) Actual cost of activities:
Identification sourcing of funds-------------------1000
Taking a building on rent---------------2400
Purchasing equipment for groceries store----------8500
Recruiting and training staff----------------------------------5500
Making the list of groceries products in store---------------500
Identification of services that will be given by groceries store-------500
Advertisement and promotion of project-----------------10000
Purchasing products for the groceries store-------------5000
Make the policies-----------------------------2000
Miscellaneous --------------------------------5600
Total-----------------------------------------------410000



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e) Earned value chart:
Earned value chart is a project management technique for measuring project
performance and progress in an objective manner. Because earned value chart has
the ability to combine measurements of scope, schedule and cost in a single
integrated system, Earned Value Management is able to provide accurate forecasts
of project performance problems, which is an important contribution for project
management (Dinsmore et al (2005).
Cost variance= Earned value Actual value
Cost variance= EV- AV
Cost variance= 40000- 41000= -1000
This shows that project is over budgeted by 1000 pounds.
1.4: Market or pilot testing:
A test market, in the field of business and marketing, is a geographic region or
demographic group used to measure the capability of a product or service in the
mass market prior to a wide scale roll-out (Dinsmore et al, 2005).
First of all the market of the newly opened groceries store will be tested. For this
following criteria will be used: A population that is demographically similar to the
proposed target market; Relative isolation from densely populated media markets so
that advertising to the test audience can be efficient and economical.






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1.5: Delegation and motivation:
Delegation is the assignment of authority and responsibility to another person
(normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. However
the person who delegated the work remains accountable for the outcome of the
delegated work. (Phillips, 2003).
After Recruiting and training staff, the action of delegation and motivation will be
taken. Delegation will empowers a subordinate to make decisions in the groceries
store business
1.6: Quality control analysis:
Quality control (QC) requires the project manager to monitor and measure project
results to determine that the results are up to the demands of the quality standards
(Mantel et al, 2007).
In the implementation of the project of opening a new groceries store, control
analysis will be taken. If the results are not satisfactory, root cause analysis follows
the quality control processes. Root cause analysis is needed so the project manager
can determine the cause and apply corrective actions (Dennis, 2007).
1.7: Milestones:
A milestone is a reference point that marks a major event in a project and is used to
monitor the project's progress. You can also mark any other task of any duration as a
milestone (Cleland and Gareis , 2006).
Reasonable deadlines, taking into account project team members productivity,
availability and efficiency can be milestones of the project.
2: Evaluation of the project:
During project planning, theres only one set of values to watch- the dates,
performance and cost that project calculates, which are known as scheduled or
planned values. Before diving into evaluating performance, its a good idea to
understand the difference between these values and how they contribute to
measuring performance.
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Variances are the differences between scheduled and baseline values. There is
slight variance. Scheduled cost of the project is greater than the baseline cost, so
project is over budgeted.
Critical path analysis is used in implement process to assess the performance of
project in terms of time. First way is gives the normal deadline but in the second way
there is need of fast tracking because it is delayed so could be not complete on time.
A project is accountable for achieving outcomes and contributing to development
impact. Since the achievement of broad, long-term development changes depends
on many factors, it is usually not possible to attribute impact to one project. All
outcomes of a project should contribute to the intended impact.
Interview the project manager to determine their "success criteria" for the project
audit, find out what they expect to gain from the audit. This ensures that their
individual and collective needs are met.
Develop a questionnaire to be sent to each member of the project team. Often,
individuals will complete the questionnaire in advance of an interview because it
helps them to gather and focus their thoughts. The actual interview will give the
facilitator the opportunity to gain deeper insights into the team member's comments.
There are many questions that can be asked in an audit interview. It is most
effective, however, to develop open-ended questions, i.e., questions that cannot be
answered with a simple "yes" or "no." Develop interview questions that will help
identify the major project successes; the major project issues, concerns and
challenges; how the team worked together; how staffs were managed; how reporting
and meetings were handled; how risk and change were managed, etc.
Different stages of data collection will provide inputs to the project. Baseline data
may be used to improve targeting efficiency. Early evaluation results can be used to
motivate a change in project design at the time of mid-term review.
Now the biggest challenge in front of us is how we are going to position our products
in front of our segments. To our elite segment we would like to position our products
as tasty, trendy, with more varieties.
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3: Project report:
3.1: Introduction:
This report provides information that is taken by the new open groceries stores
project. The title of the project is open a new groceries store. This includes the
background of the project selection. This also includes the rationale, findings,
analysis of the relevant factors of project selection, Scope of the project, objectives
and goals. Planning of the project includes work break down structure, activities, cost
and schedule, risk assessment and strategic summary. This report will explain how
the project is implemented by keeping in mind the cost, schedule and resources.
Different tools are used in the implementation process to measure, monitor and
controlling the project performance. Finally the evaluation of the project will be
discussed.
3.2: Previous document:
A significant work has been done in previous to carry out the project. In project
selection the following things have been done. Rational project help both project
managers and teams to create consistent project plans, allocate resources and
analyse workload, track work progress, estimate projects' costs and manage
budgets. The factors that contribute to project selection are realism, capability,
flexibility, ease of use, cost, time and easy computerization. A brief analysis of the
factors has been prepared. Scope of the project is discussed. The goal of the project
was to open the new groceries store to gain the profit. The project will target the local
resident, students will be targeted, and tourists will be attracted as well.
After the selection of the project the project has been planned. Project planning
involves a series of steps that determine how to achieve a particular community or
organizational goal or set of related goals. This goal can be identified in a community
plan or a strategic plan. Work break down structure approach was used to integrate
the activities of the project. Estimated cost and time was given to the activities to
plan the project. Risk assessment and strategic summary described in the planning
phase.
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3.3: Focus areas:
Now it was a time to apply all the tools that are prepared in order to keep ourselves
in control of the project. The main focus areas are:
a) Scheduling the project:
Critical path analysis is used in the scheduling the project. Gantt chart is also
discussed and fast tracking is used where it was needed.
b) Budgeting the project:
In budgeting the project, the common bottom line items, Bottom-up budgeting
process, estimated cost of activities and actual cost of activities are explained
briefly.
c) Performance of project:
To assess the performance of the project the earned value chart has been used.
Market and pilot testing techniques and quality control analysis have been used
to monitor the performance is used.
d) Resource allocation:
Resource allocation is used to assign the available resources in an economic
way.

3.4: Focus area recommendation:
In evaluation part of the project, the performance of the project is reviewed and some
recommendations have been given to improve the effectiveness of the project.
Baseline data may be used to improve targeting efficiency. Early evaluation results
can be used to motivate a change in project design at the time of mid-term review.
Interview the project manager to determine their "success criteria" for the project
audit, find out what they expect to gain from the audit. This ensures that their
individual and collective needs are met.



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3.5: Goal:
Adhering to a standard project management methodology enabled this groceries
store to implement a very high project efficiently, on budget and within reasonable
time to meet long term strategic goals.



















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Bibliography:
Samuel J. Mantel Jr., Jack R. Meredith, Scott M. Shafer and Margaret M. Sutton, (2007): Project
management in practice
Paul C. Dinsmore et al (2005) The right projects done right! John Wiley and Sons,
2005
Lewis R. Ireland (2006) Project Management. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006
Joseph Phillips (2003). PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide.
McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003
Dennis Lock (2007) Project Management (9th ed.) Gower Publishing, Ltd., 2007
David I. Cleland, Roland Gareis (2006). Global Project Management Handbook.
"Chapter 1: "The evolution of project management". McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006
F. L. Harrison, Dennis Lock (2004). Advanced project management: a structured
approach . Gower Publishing, Ltd., 2004
Harold Kerzner (2003). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning,
Scheduling, and Controlling (8th Ed. ed.). Wiley
James P. Lewis (2000). The project manager's desk reference: : a comprehensive
guide to project planning, scheduling, evaluation, and systems