MBA642 Project Initiation, Planning and Execution Report Sample

MBA642 Project Initiation, Planning and Execution

Your task

Individually, you are required to prepare an eight-page project management plan for a company based on the assessment instructions below.

Assessment Description

The purpose of this individual assessment is to give students an opportunity to create an integrated project management plan that meets industry standards and objectives. In analysing the organizational factors that promote effective project management, students will also consider factors that may give rise to ethical compromises.

Assessment Instructions

Presume that you have just been employed by one of the companies listed below to manage an opening of a new setup in Perth.

Cibo Espresso

Aquabliss

Maggie’s Farm Shop

For the purposes of this assessment, you are to assume the setup in Perth will be an identical model and operations, with the location being entirely sustainable (without goods/services being shared between the two locations).

Within your research consider the size, location, and requirements of the new setup in Perth and make sure you identify the unique operational, management and procurement needs of the company you select. When considering your plan, think about the various operational and logistical needs of your chosen company to begin operations in Perth.

Your final proposal must include the following:

• A one-page executive summary that covers all of the significant proposal items (not included in the page limit)
• A one-page overview of the company, its operations and identification of the essential requirements for the move formats):

Work Breakdown Structure, highlighting the main tasks and elements of your project.

A Gantt chart, showing the main tasks and overall schedule of your project.

A scheduling flowchart, showing the links and connections between your various tasks.

Risk assessment matrix, highlighting the risks and their potential impact (likelihood and severity) on your project.

Solution

Overview of the company:

The company that has been chosen for the task is Cibo Espresso. It offers an Italian cafe ambiance to the customers within Australia and this business claims that their unique style bled is crafted 100 percent from the “Arabica beans” that are grown within the sustainable rainforest alliance farms. According to the MBA Assignment Expert The project plan is all about setting up a Cibo Espresso in Perth. They offer perfectly extracted coffee and offer a soothing Italian ambiance where people sit back, relax and have a cup of coffee (Ciboespresso 2022).Since, small businesses tend to account for more than 70 percent of the food and accommodation sector in Western Australia and thus setting Cibo Espresso in Perth can be lucrative as well as competitive (Müller et al 2019). However, it is important to remember that there are numerous industry requirements that need to be addressed and fulfilled in order to operate the cafe within Perth.

Project plan and management theory:

The project is about setting up a Cibo Espresso Store in Perth, Australia with business design. Project management can take place using the Waterfall model of project management (Svejvig 2021). The key project deliverables are a fully running and operating Cibo Espresso store in Perth with the same experience and ambiance as other chains of the business. The scope of the project is to expand the Cibo espresso business to gain more profit, recognition, and awareness and to let the people of Perth have an Italian coffee experience in Australia (San Cristóbal et al. 2018).

Waterfall management Model:

Figure: Waterfall Project management theory
Source: (Lucidchart 2022)

Requirement: In this stage, the requirements are outlines. The main activities are budgeting, site selection, staffing, procurement, and logistic requirements are determined(Armenia et al. 2019).

Design: Here, the main goals would be set and in the management stage, the specific strategies for achieving the goals would be established and the way, stages and scheduling of the project plan implementation are determined (Thesing et al. 2019)

Implementation: It is the stage when the project plans are gradually put into place and the strategies are implemented. Here, the fully prepared plan would be in hands, ready for execution. A newly set up Cibo espresso brick and mortar store would be set up in the desired location with all necessary staff and infrastructure(Thesing et al. 2019). Also, the way the service would be delivered is curated and the logistic plans are executed.

Verification: The way, stages and scheduling of the project plan implementation are verified using a risk assessment matrixand the activities take place under the supervision of a project manager (Thesing et al. 2019). Additionally, risk assessment and necessary mitigation plans are made and in the delivering stage, the operations and activities are put in place.

Maintenance: Risk mitigation plans, modification of the business strategies and necessary changes and upgradations are done for a smooth running of the project.
 

Work Break Down Structure

Figure: WBS for the project Plan

Source: (Self-created)

Size, location, and other requirements of the project:

Size: The average size of the Cafe would be preferably between 1000 to 1750 sq. feet. With this size, it can offer comfortable seating for more than 60 to 75 visitors on average. Therefore, Cibo Espresso can establish its set in Perth with an area of 1500 sq. ft. With this size, the customers can experience a cozy environment while having coffee and also there would be no congestion while performing organizational activities.

Location: The most suitable location for the set-up of Cibo Espresso would be in the “Roe Highway Logistics Park” which is a newly formed industrial estate. This area is situated near the corner of the “Roe Highway and Welshpool Road East (ROE)”. This area is 5 km from Perth Airport and around 13 km from Perth CBD. In this location, Cibo espresso can operate in a lucrative manner as this is an industrial location, and in this location, they will be able to attract many working folks who would like to have a cup of coffee after a tiring day.

Logistics Requirements: In Cibo Espresso, the unique “Italian style blends” are perfectly crafted from cent percent premium quality Arabica beans that are grown in the “sustainable rainforest alliance farms”(Tereso et al. 2019). However, these coffee beans would be transported from the origin of growth to the cafe by means of airways and roadways. The products are distributed by roasters and the main process takes place through “wholesale channels”. The whole grain coffee beans are used by Cibo Espresso. It is to be noted that the inventory stocks of the Coffee Arabica from the roasting centers are passed to retailers and from there the coffee beans are imported by trucks and vans to the cafe driven by outsourced drivers and delivery partners. This is one of the most time-consuming aspects of the business.

Staffing and team-building: In the new set up of Cibo Espresso in Perth, the number of workers would depend on various factors such as opening hours or operation times, the number of shifts, service types, and so on (Tereso et al. 2019). The main staff that Cibo Espresso would need to hire are “ 1 head Italian chefs and 3 assistant Italian chefs”, “4 Baristas”, “2 managers”, “1 accountant/cashier”, “3 servers” and “2 cleaners”. For building effective team, the model of punctuated equilibrium can be used and the managers can assume team tends to move forwards during a “change burses” after a long period with no change. Thus, people can be hired from different locations to the new location to experience the change and to make them stable, supportive and satisfied.

Procurement needs: For the set-up of the new Cibo Espresso business in Perth, the main procurement needs would include cafe machinery such as industrial fridges, espresso grinders, and machines, electronic blenders for smoothies, shelving units, pre-roasted coffee, ice machines, and ice-tea dispenser, disposable cups, measuring units, POS systems, utensils and so on (Armenia et al. 2019). Apart from that, other important procurement needs for the company would be the furniture such as front desks, managerial and accountant desks, comfortable tables and chairs, utilities such as electrical appliances and water taps, and other technological items such as computers, CCTVs, POS systems and so on.

Operational and management needs: The main operational needs for the newly set up Cibo Espresso in Perth are staffing and recruitment in the initial few days, and then setting up the whole cafe. Once done, the main operational activities would tend to begin, that is, marketing, managing supply chains, and inventories serving, preparing coffee drinks, cleaning, accounting, and reviewing the business (Armenia et al. 2019). Customer management, fund management, supply chain management, and other maintenance works are the most important accounting activities entailed in the project. For managing the staff and the dual concern model of conflict management would be used.  Here, the comprising strategy is considered and the conflict would be managed on two themes, namely, assertiveness and empathy.
 
Flowchart:

Cost-projection for the project:

Risk matrix:

Risk Register

Time frame:

The whole project for setting the store in Perth would be accomplished in 28 weeks as shown in the chart below:

                                                                               Table: Gantt chart
                                                                               Source: (Self-created)

Conclusion:

The project of setting up a new Cibo espresso store in Perth would be carried out in 28 weeks. The Waterfall management framework can be used for the project as this method provides benefits to the directors and managers of a project and an organization. The detailed activities and scheduling of the project are discussed in brief along with a cost estimation table. 

Reference list

Armenia, S, Dangelico, RM, Nonino, F & Pompei, A 2019, Sustainable project management: A conceptualization-oriented review and a framework proposal for future studies. 

Sustainability, 11(9), p.2664. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2664/pdf
Cibo Espresso 2022, CIBO Espresso. [online] Available at: [Accessed 3 February 2022].

Lucidchart.com 2022, What the Waterfall Project Management Methodology Can (and Can’t) Do for You. [online] Available at: [Accessed 3 February 2022].

Mannapova, NR 2020, Organization And Basic Requirements For Restaurant Design Interior. ORGANIZATION, 7(5).

Müller, R, Drouin, N & Sankaran, S 2019, Modeling organizational project management. Project Management Journal, 50(4), pp.499-513. https://biopen.bi.no/bi-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2633658/Muller_Modelling_AM.pdf?sequence=1

San Cristóbal, JR, Carral, L, Diaz, E, Fraguela, JA & Iglesias, G 2018, Complexity and project management: A general overview. Complexity, 2018. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/complexity/2018/4891286/

Svejvig, P 2021, A Meta-theoretical framework for theory building in project management. International Journal of Project Management, 39(8), pp.849-872. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786321001095

Tereso, A, Ribeiro, P, Fernandes, G, Loureiro, I & Ferreira, M 2019, Project management practices in private organizations. Project Management Journal, 50(1), pp.6-22.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/8756972818810966

Thesing, T, Feldmann, C & Burchardt, M 2021, Agile versus waterfall project management: decision model for selecting the appropriate approach to a project. Procedia Computer Science, 181, pp.746-756.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921002702/pdf?md5=dc8af90274c3cd59f94f4055c64519bd&pid=1-s2.0-S1877050921002702-main.pdf

van Keulen, M, &Kirchherr, J 2021, The implementation of the Circular Economy: Barriers and enablers in the coffee value chain. Journal of cleaner production, 281, p.125033. https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/413501/1_s2.0_S0959652620350770_main.pdf?sequence=