Project Management Assessment: Quantitative Analysis, Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Instructions:

Assessment: Quantitative Analysis
Value: 30%
Due date: 04-May-2017
This assignment consists of 3 (three) exercises and you are requested to attempt all of them. The maximum marks for each question vary and these are provided at the end of each section.
The assignment is to be uploaded to Turnitin as a single Word or PDF file. Assignments submitted in non-printable formats such as a ZIP file or as a collection of images will not be marked. If your scanner produces separate graphics files please paste them into a Word document before submitting to Turnitin.
Please note before submitting your assignment through Turnitin, you need to scan or “copy and paste” the POM for Windows or excel reports into your MS Word document. Printouts provided with the prose solutions and explanation of the POM solutions must be originals. A maximum of 4 printout pages may be included in the form of POM reports. Students should note that the material explaining them is more important than the printouts themselves.
In any question where you are requested to establish an answer using a specific technique, all calculations must be shown. Where authors are quoted, this should be referenced. You are expected to read any additional academic material which can complement the text and reference material included in this subject.
This assignment will be marked out of 50 marks but will constitute 30% of the overall marks for the subject.

Question 1 - Project Management
Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) is planning to network all its departments and plants within the region that it operates. As a senior manager in the organisation, you have been appointed the Project Manager for this Wide Area Network project. After completing the major planning processes, you and your project team members have drawn up the various activities involved in the project including, their duration's and preceding activities as shown below:

1. You are requested to write a short report to senior management highlighting important planning information. Include data on project and activity times, and any other information that would be essential for planning purposes. Your report should also be accompanied with a network diagram – this should be drawn using the Precedence Diagram methodology that is offered in the Subject Outline website.
(20 marks)
2. It is estimated that for every week that the project is delayed, the company will incur a cost of $30,000 (because of disrupted operations). The Systems Manager finds out that activity H (Site Installation) can be offered to a different company for an additional cost of $80,000 but the duration of the activity can be reduced to 3 weeks (instead of 7). What action would you recommend?
(10 marks)
3. A number of analytical techniques are used in the overall project planning methodology. While the Critical Path Method is a popular technique, it is only part of an integrated approach. Prepare a report for senior management of WIG offering them advice on these techniques and how they can be implemented.
(10 marks)
Notes :
• For Part 1 of this question, the Precedence Diagram should be drawn using the methodology illustrated in the Interact site for this subject. Use the POM for Windows software only to confirm your calculations (i.e. to check your answers after you have drawn the network and calculated the activity times, project duration, etc). The diagram can be drawn manually, or by using some software such as MS PowerPoint. See the Interact resources for more information on how to draw a project network diagram in the form of a Precedence Diagram.
• For Part 2 of the question, you do not need to re-draw the network, and can use POM for Windows.
• Limit your answer to 800 words for Part 3.

Question 2 – Plant Location
Wagga Class Furniture is involved in manufacturing both home and office furniture. They have a limited range of products and one of these accounts for more than half their sales (in terms of revenue). The company has hired you to help them determine the best location for their plant. It believes that in order to facilitate its strategy of responsiveness to customer need and unsurpassed quality, it is essential that the new manufacturing plant be located as near to their suppliers as possible. Suppliers for the company are mainly located within the state although some material is sourced elsewhere.

As the first step to the exercise, the company has provided you the following data that offers the location of the suppliers and the number of units ordered from each of them. The 2nd and 3rd columns represent X and Y coordinates (in km) from its existing main office.

1. You are requested to write a short consultants report to the senior management of Wagga Class Furniture highlighting important plant location information relative to the suppliers. Include data on location study, and any other information that would be essential for determinning the best location of the plant. Your report should also be accompanied with a plot of the coordinates of the suppliers location and the required analysis to determine the best location for the plant.
(10 marks)

2. Also, in your report explain the limitations of the above approach, what other factors you would consider and what technique or techniques you would use, and provide your recommendations to senior management of Wagga Class Furniture so that they can achieve their strategy of responsiveness to customer need and unsurpassed quality .

(10 marks)
Notes:
• Limit your answer to 1000 words for the report, calculations and diagrams are not included in the word count.

Question 3 - Transportation problem
Enviro Cars is a multi-site car rental company in the city offering a standard compact vehicle that is powered by electricity. These cars are charged at the depots before customers rent them. They are only used within the city perimeter. The company is trying out a new ‘return the car to the location most convenient for you' policy to improve customer service. But this means that the company has to constantly move cars around the city to maintain required levels of vehicle availability. The supply and demand for these, and the total cost of moving these vehicles between sites, are shown below.

1. Find the solution that minimizes moving costs, use the Transportation module in POM for Windows.
( 10 marks)

2. You have now been asked to act as a consultant to the company. You realise that the transportation methodology is directed only at costs, and in this case, the cost of moving cars from one depot to another. Explain what other factors you would consider to create a more realistic mathematical model. Discuss also what technique (or techniques) you would use to draw up your recommendations to senior management of the company
( 10 marks)
Notes :
• It is recommended that you use POM for Windows (or any other software) for the calculations in Part 1. Limit your discussion on the analysed data and implications to 350 words.
• Limit your answer to 500 words for Part 2.

*Students must use the CSU American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style.
Penalties may be applied for: 10% over word limit/failure to cite sources/referencing errors/omissions/ plagiarism (see Handbook – this carries a large penalty and is to be reported if Plagiarism)
Presentation
The following points are a general guide for presenting assessment items:
Assessment items should be typed
• Use 1.5 spacing
• Use a standard 12 point font such as Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial
• Left-justify body text
• A 4cm margin should be left on the left-hand side of each page for and each page should be numbered.
• Most importantly, always use your spelling and grammar checker. Remember this does not pick up all errors, so you must also manually and carefully edit your work.
• Always cite and reference all sources of information used in assessments.
• Provide a single reference list that always starts on a new page.
• Indicate the number of words (do not include what is inside citation brackets or in reference list)
• Assignment should be written in a report style making use of headings and sub-headings as well as short concise paragraphs. A systematic approach should be taken in the use of headings e.g. lower case bold for section headings, lower case italics bold for sub-headings, lower case italics for further sub-divisions etc.
• The style of writing should be clear and concise, paying attention to sentence structure to ensure clarity of meaning. Attention should also be paid to punctuation, including the correct use of commas and the apostrophe.

source..

Content:

QUALITATITIVE ANALYSIS
NAME
INSTITUTION
DATE
QUESTION ONE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary
Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) is a business enterprise that deals in grocery products. WIG has formulated a strategic plan of improving network system. Wagga Independent Groceries employed the critical path analysis method to develop and evaluate the project activities at every project phase.
INTRODUCTION
Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) is a business unit that carries its business activities within the region. The WIG business management and its administration have decided to establish and formulate various strategies that should be implemented in order to improve and enhance efficiency in the production of goods and services through establishment of appropriate and advanced network system. Project management team has suggested the various activities that should be taken into consideration when evaluating the project. The Project is established through five phases comprising eleven crucial activities (Karta and Bois, 2004).
The project body
Project is tailored to enhance efficiency of the organization’s production, distribution and marketing activities in order to have a competitive edge in the market. The project management team is determined to carry all the required activities in all the project phases in order to finish the project in the required time frame. When carrying out the project management the project management team need the various core factor in order the project to be effective and achieve the predetermined the organization’s goals and objectives.
According to (Karta and Bois, 2014) Core project factors may comprise of appropriate scope management, project time frame, required quality and project cost. Project management team must ensure that this crucial function is considered in order to facilitate the smooth running and organization of the project. The main objective of this project is to add more value to the WIG organization.
Facilitation functions that is, cost, time frame, required quality and management scope to support the project operations. Such as, Human resource, hedge management, procurement and appropriate communication network. According to research done by the project manager and project team, Project required $40,000cost per week because of new project activities emerging.
Project Lifecycle: The project lifecycle comprises of four important stages that is, project conceptual, planning, execution, and termination. The Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) planning and organizational document clearly outlines four project phases and required project activities to be carried out by the project management team. The Project plan may shows and highlights stipulate time for each activity carried out in every project phases and the activities should follow each other in an organized manner. WIG organization project is carried up to the planning stage whereby decision are made and the required physical, financial and human resources are assembled in appropriate proportions to ensure that the project proceed smoothly and the internal and external hedge are well mitigated by the project team. If the project risk persists the project management team needs to analyze and assess the situation of the project in order adjust the operation or change project path in future (Newton, 2013).
The core project activity: - Each project core activity must be carried out in an orderly manner in order to be completed at the set time frame but if there challenges the project management team should adjust the estimated period of at each phase. The project management team should recognize unexpected hedge and formulate proper mitigation strategies. Project manager and project management team should have secondary project plan for each activity in every project phase.
Wagga Independent Groceries as a business entity has a well established communication network for internal and external dissemination of information by the users. Appropriate communication network is a key requirement for the success of the project. It is important to have efficient management and execution of the project in order to accomplish the intended objective of the organization. The success of the project solely depends on the way the project is formulated Success rate of the project may be depend on the how well project was established and planned during project time period. Poor communication may lead to inappropriate us of time and financial and human resources. For instance, misunderstanding among the project manager and the project team might end up poor and wrong decision making and implementation in carrying out project operations. Furthermore, proper decision facilitates smooth flow of project activities from the first stage to the last stage. Therefore the Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) network development project should be implemented basing on understanding and agreement among the project manager and project management team. Since every project stage solely depends on the activities carried out in other stages the actions should implemented efficiently. Therefore each stage should appropriately interconnect and linked to one another. The project manager and his or her project team are responsible for project planning, formulation, controlling, organization and implementation.
Project managers and project management Team
Project manager will not be able to carry out all the tasks inside and outside the project. Therefore, project needs to select the project management team to enhance division of labor and specialization. The subdivision of the project tasks into stages and then assigning each stage to an individual where he or she is best suited or talent will promote efficiency in the operations of the project and be to develop an formulate an alternative backup to mitigate hedge that may arise in the process.
THE PROJECT PHASE AND ACTIVITIES
Gantt chart
The Gantt chart indicates that there is slack in few project phases whereby the project activities may reduce time required to carry out project task. For example functions C and Hilitate site installation.
Red line shows Critical Path of the Wagga Independent Groceries project.
A > C > D > G > H > J > K > L
WAGGA INDEPENDENT GROCERCIES PLANS
Wagga Independent Groceries experienced some disruption when carrying out the project activities which made the company to incur $ 50,000 per week. The project manager and the project management team have formulated the strategies the follow in order to complete the project on the planned time to avoid additional costs. Some the strategies include the following:
* Site manager founded out that the Activity H can be completed if only if external parties are involved for $ 90000
Outsourcing of both human and physical resources may reduce to reduce the planned time by 5 weeks.
In-terms of cost outsourcing might be best option. However, Project management may include cost, scope, time and quality. As a project manager that need to consider all aspects and need to follow standard according to the organization expectation.
Factors Which Needs to be considered by the WIG organization
Firstly, external business environment of the Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) need to be recognized. The company incurred $ 90,000 for outsourcing and the project management should ensure smooth running as planned. Project manager and other stakeholders should keep the scope of the project safe.
Secondly, quality maintenance of the project: since it is the network project site installation. The first site installation steps depended on other stages. The operation and performance of the network project solely depends on the quality of the project layout and the quality of the equipment and machines.
Outsourcing of the project may cause loss of control of the various project activities. Therefore, the project manager, project management team and other stakeholders should discuss and make decisions which will create more pros than cons. Therefore, outsourcing of the project will be more appropriate if both internal and external factors are considered.
WORK BREAK DOWN STRUCTURE (WBS)
WBS is the method that enhances easy management of complex projects. WBS outlines the responsibility of each project managing team member and department. Therefore, Work Break down Structure facilitates management of mammoth projects efficiently.
The main pros of the Work Break down Structure (WBS).Facilitates easy management of complex projects at a very minimal cost, define of each responsibility stakeholder, show control over cost of the project and outline the milestone of the project.
EXAMPLE OF WORK BREAK DOWN STRUCRURE (WBS)
The wok break down structure outlines the various stages of the project. The project manager and the project team should ensure that the WBS is flexible for easy adjustment to accommodate the future changes and expansion of the organization.
CONCLUSION
According to research the project manager and his team, Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) should promote production efficiency by stabling appropriate network development project. The project team is required consider various core activities and functions which can influence the operations and success of the project. The WIG organization is supposed to carry out feasibility study both in the internal and external business environment before installing the network project in order to understand its impact to the surrounding community.
QUESTION 2
CONSULTANT REPORT OF WAGGA CLASS FURNITURE BY INDICATING THE BEST LOCATION FOR SETTING A PLAN
Executive Summary,
Wagga class furniture is a business enterprise dealing in furniture products for house building and office use. The organization produces the advanced furniture models in order to ha...

Get the Whole Paper!

Not exactly what you need?

Do you need a custom essay? Order right now:

Order

Project Management Assessment: Quantitative Analysis, Wagga Independent Groceries (WIG) (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Other Topics: