PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN
Version 1.0
VERSION HISTORY
The development and distribution of this project management plan will be controlled and tracked using the table below. The table below will provide information regarding any revisions made on the original project plan. Information such as name of the person that authorized the revision, date of revision, the person authorizing the revision, reason for changes and date the revision was approved. The importance of tracking the revisions on this project management plan is to ensure that all the personnel involved in the process of the project development are aware of the changes made during the course of the project and that the their copy of the plan is up-to-date.
Version #
The main objective of this project is to establish a convenience store to be commercially known as “St. Peter’s Convenience Store”. This paper will cover the essential part of the process including scope, time management, cost management, quality management, human resources management, and procurement and integration management plan. The entire project will focus on the efforts of opening up the store based on seven important value propositions. First, is that we understand the needs of the consumers within the community. People reach to a point where they need an immediate purchase ranging from food items to toiletries or just simply grab a quick snack at the most inconvenient part of the day. This is when the concept of convenience store comes to leverage on the consumer’s need for a store where they can conveniently come over at any time of the day. The concept is to serve the costumer’s needs whenever most convenient for them.
The second value proposition that the project would like to accentuate is value and unique service strategy. Most of the Australian consumers spend time at least once a week to take a trip to the grocery store to purchase an entire week’s household supply. However, there are at least one or two items from the list that were eventually missed. The convenience store will serve customers from small purchases or items that were missed during the grocery store visit. This is the advantage that convenience stores would like to put emphasis on. Grocery stores have limited business operating time; they mostly open at 07:00 in the morning and closes at 23:00 in the evening. However, there are instances that customers just need to drop by to pick-up a few items that they needed immediately. It is the sense of urgency that convenience stores are made to serve. Customers do not have to wait for grocery stores to open in the morning or beat all odds to make it to the store on time before it closes because they can rely on convenience stores to serve their product needs any time they want.
Accessibility is another important value proposition that convenience store industry is taking advantage to build its market. This proposition concept was made out of the idea of making the business available to anyone whenever they need it. It is intertwined with the concept of convenience as the name of the industry suggests. The other propositions attributed to the convenience store business are sub-characteristics of the propositions discussed earlier. In general, convenience stores are made to serve the consumers with everyday products while putting emphasis on customer convenience and accessibility. The success of the industry relies on the described value propositions, which the St. Peter’s Convenience store is aiming to achieve. In order to attain such promising future for the business, the first step is to ensure the success of the project by following the directions set forth by this project management plan.
The project will specifically focus on the important areas of the project, its main product and deliverables such as store products, stocks and inventories, counter, shelves, equipments, and exterior and interior design. The interior design specification includes tiling, painting, lighting, shelving, product arrangement, cameras and alarm system. Exterior design on the other hand would include window, signage, paint, window stickers and parking lot provisions. In a nutshell, the main deliverable is to effectively manage the opening up of a convenience store. This project involves key individuals that were tasked to perform functions appropriate for their expertise and will be given responsibilities within the project in an organized manner. Any projects have time line assumptions. It is important for any project to follow specific milestones aligned within the scope of schedule.
Other aspect of the project that needs to be considered is the budget. It is synonymous to following the schedule because project budget has to go along with the milestones of the project. Any delays will cause the project to go over the intended budget and resources. For this project, the funds will come from the stakeholders, in terms of equipments the labor force will be the one provide their own in performing the work. The importance of determining the source of the funds and equipments are to ensure the timeliness of the project delivery. This includes assessing the risks and obstacles that would cause significant delay to the delivery of the project. Assumptions of delay in labor work, funds external and internal factors would affect the overall outcome of the project. Delays would entail complaints from the stakeholders because they also have to follow the expected return of investment as indicated by their financial projections. Occurrences of delay in the project proceedings encompass more expenses and change of financial projection for the stakeholders. This is the reason that the project needs to strictly adhere to schedule and ensure that all its aspects were delivered in a timely manner.
The main situation that brought this plan to existence is the fact that the project will have to adhere to the specific needs of the business. The reason that the project needed a cohesive and well constructed plan is to ensure that everyone involve including the stakeholders are aware of the process that the project will undergo. Presenting a plan before executing a project sets the expectations of the people that will work on this project. The stakeholders in particular would be able to do prior review and approval of the items in the plan before the actual work begins. This plan defines the mission of the project stating the specific guidelines in evaluating its completion and quality of the accomplished work. Setting forth specific guidelines will define the tasks that the people working in the project would have to focus their efforts on. This project management plan’s mission is to eliminate failures that may occur somewhere in the execution process.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Business Overview
The St. Peter would be the definition of a 21st century convenience store, fulfilling customer needs that will continue to exist in the years to come and that is to be a one–stop store that defines convenience on all level. St. Peter would be a unique convenience store that will operate 24 hours a day seven days a week. The company is expecting to take significant market share and build a brand that will become one of the most cost effective convenience store in the industry today. The complete store set-up, shelving, interiors, exteriors and product diversity will divert customers to the store not only within the neighborhood, but also from the neighboring communities.
Products and Services
The St. Peter’s Convenience Store will offer similar products as the other convenience stores in the same variety, quantity, packaging and quality. Basically all the everyday items can be found in the store as it is anywhere else. The thing that sets it apart from the other convenience store is the quality of service our staff offers, price and the convenient atmosphere inside and out of the establishment. Local and imported products ranging from, toiletries, snacks, alcohol, tobacco, grocery items, microwavable meals, frozen dinners, canned goods and even lottery tickets can be purchased from the store. St. Peter’s will also ensure the security of the shoppers and its staff by installing security features into the store such as surveillance cameras, automatic door lock system and silent alarm system. The staff will also take track of the regular customers along with their usual shopping list, which will provide significant information to the store management about the fast moving items that needs constant monitoring.
The Market
Convenience store market is booming, considering the increase in industry sales by 8% annually together with the overall annual retail industry sales increase of the 6% is a proof that the retail industry is heading towards a positive and profitable future. The business serves its consumers within the geographical area the need to purchase everyday items outside of the normal store hours. Late shoppers and swing shift employees looking for a quick snack and other related items have nowhere else to go, but to St. Peter convenience store. The industry is currently dominated by popular names such as 7-11, which holds the majority of the market by 30% followed hundreds of other convenience store brands in the industry.
Financial Consideration
Starting up the convenience store project requires not less than AUD$100,000 of total funding to be initiated successfully. The cost will cover remodeling cost of the store, stock supplies, security fittings, labor cost, utilities, construction site clean-up and rubbish removal. The costs will be financed by private investors and expecting the business to operate within the next 30 days. The financial costs will be discussed in details in the project cost management section while the work progress will be tackled in the time management section of this paper. The stakeholders were already prepped about the financial outcomes of the project considering few or breakeven revenues for the next six months of operation. This is because the investors would have to understand the fact that the return of investment will not be realized, unless the advertising campaigns within the trading area have drawn enough customers to the store to generate enough revenue. St. Peter should also expect to receive influxes of cash to be able to cover the operating expenses within the next two years of the business until it is mature enough to establish sustainable profitability.
SCOPE MANAGEMENT
The scope of the project is generally to put up a convenience store to be collectively known as St. Peter Convenience Store bearing project number CCS. It is being sponsored by Mr. Firas Alwahwah and he is also acting in the capacity of the project director. This project will be headed by the project manager Amer Alwahwah. Firas and Amer will be working together with the stakeholder and other business partners to put up a new business opportunity venture. The project is aiming to accomplish the deliverables such as preparing the interior and design, products, shelving, counter and other fittings needed for the store. Having the objective of preparing the business to operate within one month would be a daunting task for the project team. Therefore, the efforts of the people involved in process should be geared towards meeting the specifications of the project
Specification includes completing the interior and exterior designs of the stores such as painting, tiling, shelving, installations of security systems and cameras, signage and window stickers. The entire project must maintain its expenses within the funding derived from the stakeholders. All construction labourers would have to bring their own equipments in performing their work because the project team did not include the cost of construction equipments in the budget allocation. Time is an important element of this project and everyone are encouraged to perform their tasks and produce the deliverables in a timely manner to avoid delays and going over the budget. Having to mention about delays, the only time that the project would experience such is because of the risks, obstacles and assumptions that may arise in the process. There are obstacles that the entire project team has to expect during the course of the project such as short of funding, delayed labour work, delayed product delivery and complaints from the council. These hindrances need to be alleviated in order to achieve the desired date of completion.
Work Breakdown Structure
Phase one
The project will begin after obtaining the approval from the council, for the St. Peter Convenience Store; the approval was obtained by project manager Amer Alwahwah on the 20th of September 2012. The commencement date of the project will also start on the same day the approval was obtained from the council. After the approval, the project manager will provide the work breakdown to the team designating the tasks that needs to be accomplished specified in the time management section. The project is divided into three phases namely the preparation phase, the construction phase and the completion phase. The first phase of the project focuses on designing shop lay-out to be followed by its presentation to the council. The council will then evaluate the design and make decisions whether to approve of request for revision. Once the design was approved by the council that is the only time the project contract will be signed will proceed to the second phase.
Phase two
Phase two of the project will focus mainly on constructing the store. The first step in the process is to paint the walls and laying out the floor tiles. After the tiles have settled and the paint has dried, the next step is to install additional electrical source provisions in the shop including additional lighting. This step will be followed by the installation of the CCTV cameras and other security systems. Once all the electrical provisions were installed, the next step is to put up the shelves, arrange the display racks and install cooling units, provided that they were delivered as scheduled. Now that the shelves and the counter is set, the next task is to wait for the delivery of the products to the store, once they are received it will undergo a preliminary inventory to ensure that the delivered goods met the expected quantity as stated in the purchase order. Price tagging will follow after everything has been checked of their quality and quantity. Tobacco will be the last item to be delivered as stipulated in the time management section. After which, all the goods including the tobacco will be placed on shelves and display counters.
Phase three
The third phase will consist of tasks such as preparation of the store room, cleaning up the site, removing the rubbish and the handing over of the store key to the owners.
Deployment
This project involves deploying individuals according to their designated tasks. Therefore, it is important to have a plan in rolling out the responsibilities of each team member to allow a smoother work transition from one process to another. All applications pertaining to the use of the cash register will be discussed with the staff prior to the opening of the store to eliminate confusions on how to operate the cash register. Assessments and the development of memorandums of understanding will take place during the staff meeting a day before the targeted date of store opening. Information such as, service protocols, security measures, store operations, situational troubleshooting and company rules and regulations will be discussed in with the staff to ensure that everyone is fully prepped before the store officially opens.
Managing Change and Control
Adherence to this project plan is crucial in keeping everything right on schedule. Therefore, it is important that any unforeseen circumstances that may arise while the project is in progress, they has to be consulted with the council for approval and recommendations. For example, if the alarm system was proven to be faulty after series of tests and the CCTV cameras were installed in the wrong spots; then it would call for a minor change in the schedule. This is because the faulty alarm system would not be able to effectively provide enough security for the store. Such situation will impact the project schedule since the faulty alarm will be sent back to the supplier for replacement. The CCTV cameras on the other hand would need to be removed off the wall and the wiring needs to be re-worked. These changes entail additional time and cost, which calls for the revision of this project plan and another approval from the council comes in. Minor changes such as re-arrangement of the products in the shelves according to category last minute paint jobs would be discounted as grounds for revising this project plan.
SCHEDULE / TIME MANAGEMENT
In order to effectively initiate the project, a baseline within the first two weeks has to be established to monitor the progress and the quality of the output based on the guidelines set by the project plan. Weekly assessment of the project efforts will be conducted to evaluate the time that each phase took to finish and against the output quality. The project manager will take the responsibility of monitoring the progress of the project and ensure that everything goes as scheduled. All the information will be updated every three days or as needed particularly on any event that there would be major changes that would take place during the course of the project. The project manager will also make sure that all the changes are documented and communicated to the rest of the team members. If for instance there would be variances in the executive milestone greater than 10%, the project manager may choose to revise the entire project plan and resubmit to the council for approval.
Milestones
Ensuring that the project is adhering to the schedule set by this project plan, each milestone will be tracked using a table (provided below) to provide an estimated time frame of the project completion. This section of the project plan provides a concise picture of the project as it progress. It also indicates the length of time that each section of the project takes to complete. A milestone table will be constructed to map all the details of the project including the predecessor relationship of each task, cost and the resources needed to accomplish the task.
Predecessor Relationship
Time in Days
Resources (Materials and people required to complete task)
Cost in AUD$
1.Preparation phase
Design shop plan
1 day
Architect.
Obtain council approval
20 days
Project manager to submit shop layout plan, and engineering.
Sign contract
1 day
Project manager
2. Construction phase
Paint walls
1.1, 1.2
3 days
Painters (2)
Tile floor
1.1, 1.2
2 days
Tilers (2)
Install extra lights, power points
1.1, 1.2
2 days
Electricians (2)
Install CCTV and alarm
1.1, 1.2
1 day
Security electrician (1)
Install signs
1.1, 1.2
1 day
Signs Installer (1)
Install shelves and counter
1.1, 1.2
3 days
Shelves suppliers (2)
Fridges delivery
1.1, 1.2
1 day
Supplier
Products delivery
2 days
Tobacco Delivery
1 day
Place all products and tobacco on shelves.
2.6, 2.8, 2.9
3 days
Workers (4)
$1800
3.0 Completion phase
Prepare store room
1 day
Workers (2)
Clean-up site
1 day
Cleaners (2)
Remove rubbish
1 day
Rubbish removalists
Hand over keys
3.2, 3.3
1 day
Project manager
Project Schedule
Task Number/ID
Task Description
Start Date
Time in Days
End Date
1.Preparation phase
Design shop plan
August 30
1 day
August 30
Obtain council approval
Sept 1
20 days
Sept 20
Sign contract
Sept 21
1 day
Sept 21
2. Construction phase
Paint walls
Sept 22
3 days
Sept 24
Tile floor
Sept 25
2 days
Sept 26
Install extra lights, power points
Sept 27
2 days
Sept 28
Install CCTV and alarm
Sept 29
1 day
Sept 29
Install signs
Sept 30
1 day
Sept 30
Install shelves and counter
October 1
3 days
October 1
Fridges delivery
October 2
1 day
October 1
Products delivery
October 3
2 days
October 4
Tobacco Delivery
October 5
1 day
October 5
Place all products and tobacco on shelves.
October 6
3 days
October 8
3.0 Completion phase
Prepare store room
October 9
1 day
October 9
Clean-up site
October 10
1 day
October 10
Remove rubbish
October 11
1 day
October 11
Hand over keys
October 12
1 day
October 12
Dependencies
Task Number/ID
Task Description
Predecessor Relationship
People needed to complete the task
1.Preparation phase
Design shop plan
Architect.
Obtain council approval
Project manager
Sign contract
Project manager, stakeholders
2. Construction phase
Paint walls
1.1, 1.2
Painters (2)
Tile floor
1.1, 1.2
Tilers (2)
Install extra lights, power points
1.1, 1.2
Electricians (2)
Install CCTV and alarm
1.1, 1.2
Security electrician (1)
Install signs
1.1, 1.2
Signs Installer (1)
Install shelves and counter
1.1, 1.2
Shelves suppliers (2)
Fridges delivery
1.1, 1.2
Supplier
Products delivery
Tobacco Delivery
Place all products and tobacco on shelves.
2.6, 2.8, 2.9
Workers (4)
3.0 Completion phase
Prepare store room
Workers (2)
Clean-up site
Cleaners (2)
Remove rubbish
Rubbish removalists
Hand over keys
3.2, 3.3
Project manager
