Introduction.3
Project Goals and Objectives..3
Transaction Processor.4
Price and Inventory File..5
Inventory Management5
Communications..6
Documentation.6
Alpha test.6
Beta test6
Start Rollout.7
Actual Project Costs and Cash Flow7
Timeframe and Timeline..8
Resourcing Allocation and Rationale..8
Perceived Benefits8
Assumptions9
Risk Assessment..9
References..10
1.0 Introduction.
Universal Retail Corporation (URC) is an active player in the growing electronic gadgets market, and it plans to open a chain of retail outlets to further its growth in the market and combat the growing competitive threat from online purchases (Colophon, 2014). URC is designed to have a sale and stock control system for its proposed chain of retail outlets across Australia. The organization provides services that include, pricing, and volume buying to gain discounts, merchandising strategies, and consolidation of performance reporting for the corporate management (Maylor, 2010).
1.2 Project Goals and Objectives
The implementation of the project will ensure The URC’s Information Systems Department at the corporate office develops a transaction processing system that will apply modern RFID (Radio frequency identification) code scanning, starting at the warehouse and linking to points of sale I order to provide automatic inventory control. The system will also relieve the store personnel of the tedious task of generating sales and performance reports as required by the head office. The proposed outlets located in the main cities and seven states within Australia will be linked by this system; hence, they will have close monitoring. The larger cities will have more than one store. According to Maylor (2010), the control of sales and stock will ensure adequate stock is available when demanded. Each store will be responsible for day-to-day operations (Kale, 2007). However, a strong central management structure shall be placed at the national level. Our earlier project has successfully defined the level store hardware that has used at the points of the transaction plus the cloud communications network that connect the stores with the state offices. This device consists of tablet-style computers plus the scanning equipment and any other specialized interface applications and hardware needed. The communications facility consists of a polled network and will be based on connections via the existing wireless network (Davies, 2005).
Through the following five activities, the project can perform all the tasks using the limited resources and human labor available. Some enormous tasks are to be assigned a single resource while several simple tasks are assigned a resource throughout the project. A task is to be completed before the next task is started by the similar resource to increase the efficiency (Vandeven, 2014). Our project has divided the work into sufficiently small increments that this strategy can be successfully applied. We will be able to access to several URC employees to execute tasks that we have put in our proposal. The project is developed in the Microsoft Outlook Office Project and its shows precisely the assignment of tasks, duration of each task and the people to accomplish. The task allocation reflects the relevant technical skills of the individuals and the tasks they have been assigned. The Microsoft Project clearly establishes a timeline for the project based on detailed planning and costs including our resource utilization in the project. Therefore, this shows that we are capable of delivering on the company's ambitions to expand and manages effectively its business using the modern technology (Colophon, 2014).
1.3 Transaction Processor
The project will have a user interface drive code for displaying individual transaction data, including item name and price to both the customer and the operator. It will also have a peripheral interface driver code which accepts input data from the UPC scanner, scale, and keyboard. Price Look-up - Inter-process communication is to send item identification to the database and retrieve price information while Order Control - Application code to accumulate item totals, accepting multiple quantities and calculating the total price. This module also assigns items by tax category and maintains a total for each tax rate. It has a Payment Resolution code to accept cash and debit transfers as payment for the order total. Moreover, it will have Receipt Printing application and driver code to print itemized receipt for cash sales and authorization form for debit transactions (Lohrey, 2014).
1.4 Price and Inventory File
We will have a database design scheme design to include a full description of each item and associated data to support price look-up and inventory management functions. It will have tax rate by category and application of specific state tax rules. Database access library applications that accept queries from the transaction processor and return data requested by the transaction will be put in place. It will be built on database maintenance library application that allows and apply price updates, add new items, change tax categories and update inventory status with new receipts. Database report generation is to be inserted into the application to support search for specific input criteria for product movement studies (Kale, 2007).
1.5 Inventory Management
We will put in place a daily status report application code that searches the database for all items that have been flagged as low stock status, sorted by the supplier and displayed on a PC in the store manager's office. Order generation application code that accepts as input a particular item and returns the lot commercial quantity and other pertinent vendor data will be added to the daily app. An application called order communication code that collects the decisions made in the Order Generation process and prepares an order for transmission to the head office will be made. Input from the receiving dock via either scanner or keyboard to signal the receipt of stock will be received by receipt processor (Keizer, 2006). We will also have a daily status report and daily progress report application.
1.6 Communications
Several applications will be developed to foster communications between various departments. Banking network interface code will initiate a connection to local transaction switch and submit account and charge amount. Includes confirmation transaction and error recovery. Another called the state network interface code to control incoming data from the head office on the network. It also handles the automatic answer, message transfer in block mode and error recovery (Ferris, 2012). Moreover, a report generator app will be developed to respond to a request from the communications interface to generate accurate reports and return data as a file for sending to the state office in block mode. Each report is also saved at the store.
1.7 Documentation
1.8 Alpha Test
It shall be conducted by a resource obtained from the head office. The objective is to verify that all of the functions are operational and that the results of each transaction are accurate and reliable. We will also have developer support from the workers.
1.9 Beta Test
This test is to be conducted by actual users in several of the retail outlets. It will require fewer resources. But will have a long duration.
2.0 Start Rollout
This milestone marks the completion of the project. The rate at which the product is installed and delivered to operating personnel depends on the availability of resources and plans from the individual stores.
2.1 Actual Project Costs and Cash Flow
This project gathers only and not the staff costs related to the project. The cost of the project per workers is shown in the attachment from the Microsoft Office Outlook Project. The following shows the cash flow that the project will have.
Cash Flow
2.2 Timeline
Here is the timeline of the project. It is simple, and it will take about a month and some few days. Workers will be working holidays.
2.3 Resourcing Allocation and Rationale
Allocation of resources, tasks, employees and some days is shown in the Microsoft Office Outlook Project document.
1.6 Perceived Benefits
The following are the advantages of the project.
1) Extremely Cost
2) Steady team
3) Well planned
4) Good change control
5) A clear vision
6) Risk control
1.7 Assumptions
How assumption of the project is that there will be no any public holiday in Australia.
1.8 Risk Assessment
Nevertheless, some risks may affect the success of the project. We would have the efficient management of these risks. Some of them include bad weather conditions, poor communication, and failure of the workers and members to comply on their assigned roles. To manage them, we will inform stakeholders to sign off the document containing them, and track and add them in any emerging ones or others which change status. The project will be implemented only after this risks are looked into.
References
Colophon. C (2014). “Phases of Project Management.” ME learning. Retrieved on May 9, 2016
Davies. A (2005). “Managing Innovations in Complex Projects. “The Business of Projects. Print
May 2005
Ferris. B (2012). “Important Characteristics of a Successful Project.” Project Management.
Cobalt. Print August 7th, 2012. Retrieved on May 9, 2016 from
http://cobaltm.com/important-characteristics-of-a-successful-project/
Kale. J (2007). “Policy & Operational, Assumptions Strategies.” Max Management. Print.
September 2007
Keizer. J &, Kempen. P (2006). “A solution Business Management Oriented Approach.” Business
research Project. Print 2006
Lohrey. J. (2014). “The Project Plan Solution. “The Business Planning & Strategy. Print 2014.
Retrieved on May 9, 2016 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/write-business-project- solution-plan-77682.html
Maylor, H. (2010). Project management. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Vandeven. S (2014). “A Project Management Approach to Writing a GIAC Gold Paper.” GIAC
Gold paper. Print September 1, 2014.
