QUESTION

1.    PROJECT SUMMARY

Since the advent of specialised fruit drinks in the market the market share of cola as a drink has been eroded. This is the reason by the Big Kola Company is worried about but the CEO instructs and consents that” if you can’t beat them, join them”. Earlier Grape Juice Market was quite flourishing because of the advertising bombardment of grape juice as a major anti-toxin drink and many benefits attached to it. But seeing the increasing competition in the grape juice market also has lead to decreased market share and the profits as well.

That is why the result of various surveys and market researchers have shown that there are three other potential drinks which can provide high-margins to the Big Kola Company and they a5re cranberry, pomegranate and blueberry. All the three choices which have been selected after through market research show that they have high levels of anti-toxins too.

• Pomegranate- 71% harmful free radical eliminating property
• Blueberry – 33% Anti-toxin property
• Cranberry – 20% anti-toxin property.

Thus after research Pomegranate is the obvious choice because of high level anti-toxin eliminating property and market potential is much higher than other potential juice products with higher profit margins too. Moreover if the company wants to plan global expansion then Asian and Middle East market is quite potential as it is already familiar with the taste of pomegranate (Gray, Larson and Pinyarat, n.d.).

The commencement of this project takes place from 1^st July 2012 and at the end of the project a new product line will be developed that would be Pomegranate Juice drinks.

2.    PROJECT GOALS AND SCOPE

2.1 Project Goals

There are various kinds of gaols which need to be achieved from this project which include:

• Functional Goals
• Strategic Goals
• Technological Goals
• Business Goals
• Organisational Goals
• Quality Goals
• Other goals like [portability and usability etc.
• Constraints

Prioritising the goals is also necessary:

2.2 Project Scope

The scope of the project means what is expected from the project after successful completion and here we need to show the project Plan to the project sponsor who is budget constrained, , time constrained and  relies only on good project communication (Ghosh, 2007).

Included

All the project deliverables are included in the project scope. Here the deliverables which are expected from this product launch are:

• Enhance the sales
• Improve the profit margins of Big Kola Company
• Tab the Middle east and Asian Markets
• Develop a fruit drink which has health benefits
•  Antitoxin content should be maximum and should be tasty too
• Based on Market research develop Pomegranate based fruit drink to capture the potential juice products market.

Excluded

The exclusions from the project are that the new product will not have any advertising budget.

ORGANISATION

The internal project Organisation is depicted below:

3.1 Project Organisation

The Project Manager works under the CEO of the company and has the overall responsibility of the project. He will need the support of Marketing Manager, Technical Project Manager and Quality Manager for successful launch of the product.

4. SCHEDULE & BUDGET

4.1 Work Breakdown Structure

The work Breakdown Structure which is shown below depicts all the project activities:

Figure 1: WBS Structure for Project

4.2 Schedule and Milestones

In order to estimate the efforts for the project and to plan the activity sequencing we make a schedule which supports all the tasks we have decided in the WBS and along with that complies with the resource plan also. Then we need to define the project milestones based on the chosen development strategy and all the critical events on the project schedule which can be seen from the milestones table shown below:

This project schedule should be regularly updated by the project manager every month.

4.3 Budget

We need to calculate the budget based on the cost estimates for various project activities

Thus the total cost for the project which has been estimated is $ 6,72,000 from milestone M0 to the M6 the final stage of project completion

4.4 Resource Plan

The resource allocation clearly indicates that the marketing Staff, R&D and the legal staff is being over used during the whole project and that is why it is showing up in red.

4.5 Development Progress

After Three months that is on 1^st September 2012 a Progress Report will be generated to track the development of the project just to check whether the project is moving according to the project scope and objectives or not.

Key Accomplishments in the last Quarter

• Surveys have been completed for the Fruit drink
• The Product Specifications have been set
• The Shelf Life Report has been generated
• The Nutrition Report is also complete

Upcoming Tasks for this Period:

• The important scheduled milestones will be coming in the next quarter like quality testing
• Distribution channels will start in the upcoming phase of the project
• The legal formalities will reduce any kind of legal risks which might arise while product launch and the quality standards will be properly checked and tested.

Major Issues

• One of the major issues which would be rehabilitation of the equipments right on time because any delay in it will delay the production.
• Another issue is striking the deal with the fruit suppliers is also very critical because it has to be struck by this time and that too at the right cost.

3.    Risk management

In this case we need to assess the risks which might arise in future in the project and how will we manage the risks. All the risks which will be identified will be documented and assessed and prioritized with the help of Risk Management plan by the Project Manager itself. It will also be helpful in defining the mitigation and contingency measures and the persons responsible for handling the risk. The Risk management plan is updated every month and needs to be communicated to all the stakeholders by the project manager. With the help of Monthly project report the risk status is being reported to the line management too on a regular basis (Meyer and Kolb, n.d.) . A brief overview of the equipments, technology, budget, scope, people and product is necessary (Symonds, n.d.)

5.1 Risk Identification

• The growing rate of inflation might result in suppliers raising the cost of fruits while the project is ongoing.
• The growing amount of inflation might increase the cost of the project this will have adverse effect on the budget.
• There might be some workers who might suffer from any disease while the project is progressing and can cause delay in the project.
• The lack of communication between the team members or between the staff and manger might lead to hampered quality of the project.
• The legal staff which will be hired might delay the appointment or postpone the meeting which might cause delay in the task.
• Attrition might happen in between the project when a group member might leave the company and join competitor.
•  Security concerns might arise in such case so all the data should be properly secured before the new product is launched.
• The stakeholders might show some resistance about the new fruit drink and not satisfied with the market or the packaging of the Pomegranate Fruit Drink.
• The consumer is not found to be happy with the packaging or shape of the bottle when product is test marketed, this will cause delay in the product launch.

5.2 Risk Assessment

1=Low, 10=High

5.3 Risk Response

6. Quality Assurance

Assuring that the project quality is maintained is the prime motive of every quality project developed In the Big Kola Company’s Project. A quality project should surpass the needs and the requirements of the customer and that is why a quality project should always cross the expectations of the customers along with their need all through the product lifecycle. Few Points which should be kept in mind for a quality project are (Billows, 2011):

• Usage of latest technology to attract consumers
• Fast updating like tetra packs for fruit drinks should be used
• Quality tests should be of latest standards
•  The employees and customer records should be compiled and secured in perfect manner.
• Report generation should be facilitated by the project.
•  Products records or customer records entry should be easy and fast.
• The packaging of the fruit drinks along with flavour should be as per customer needs
• It should have low calorific value keeping in mind the health conscious generation today.
•  Nutritional facts should be mentioned on the packaging

7. Conclusion

Thus in this whole project the quality standards are being maintained. The WBS, Gantt chart, network, diagrams is generated based upon the project scope and goals and objectives. The risk has been assessed and solution to handle them is also given.

SOLUTION

PROJECT PLAN FOR BIG KOLA COMPANY

Table of Contents
1.    PROJECT SUMMARY    3
2.    PROJECT GOALS AND SCOPE    3
2.1 Project Goals    3
2.2 Project Scope    4
Included    4
Excluded    5
ORGANISATION    5
4. SCHEDULE & BUDGET    6
4.1 Work Breakdown Structure    6
4.2 Schedule and Milestones    6
4.3 Budget    7
4.4 Resource Plan    8
4.5 Development Progress    9
3.    Risk management    10
5.1 Risk Identification    11
5.2 Risk Assessment    11
5.3 Risk Response    12
6. Quality Assurance    12
7. Conclusion    13
Bibliography    14

1.    PROJECT SUMMARY

Since the advent of specialised fruit drinks in the market the market share of cola as a drink has been eroded. This is the reason by the Big Kola Company is worried about but the CEO instructs and consents that” if you can’t beat them, join them”. Earlier Grape Juice Market was quite flourishing because of the advertising bombardment of grape juice as a major anti-toxin drink and many benefits attached to it. But seeing the increasing competition in the grape juice market also has lead to decreased market share and the profits as well.
That is why the result of various surveys and market researchers have shown that there are three other potential drinks which can provide high-margins to the Big Kola Company and they a5re cranberry, pomegranate and blueberry. All the three choices which have been selected after through market research show that they have high levels of anti-toxins too.
•    Pomegranate- 71% harmful free radical eliminating property
•    Blueberry – 33% Anti-toxin property
•    Cranberry – 20% anti-toxin property.

Thus after research Pomegranate is the obvious choice because of high level anti-toxin eliminating property and market potential is much higher than other potential juice products with higher profit margins too. Moreover if the company wants to plan global expansion then Asian and Middle East market is quite potential as it is already familiar with the taste of pomegranate (Gray, Larson and Pinyarat, n.d.).
The commencement of this project takes place from 1st July 2012 and at the end of the project a new product line will be developed that would be Pomegranate Juice drinks.

2.    PROJECT GOALS AND SCOPE

2.1 Project Goals
There are various kinds of gaols which need to be achieved from this project which include:
•    Functional Goals
•    Strategic Goals
•    Technological Goals
•    Business Goals
•    Organisational Goals
•    Quality Goals
•    Other goals like [portability and usability etc.
•    Constraints

Prioritising the goals is also necessary:

Project Goal    Priority    Description/ Comment/ Reference
Functional Goals    2
Functional Goal #1
Functional Goal #2

Business Goals
Time-to-market
Cost, efficiency , quality

Technological goals
Technical Goals

Quality Goals    2
Quality Goal#1

Constraints
Environmental
National Standards
Application Specific Standards

2.2 Project Scope

The scope of the project means what is expected from the project after successful completion and here we need to show the project Plan to the project sponsor who is budget constrained, , time constrained and  relies only on good project communication (Ghosh, 2007).

Included
All the project deliverables are included in the project scope. Here the deliverables which are expected from this product launch are:
•    Enhance the sales
•    Improve the profit margins of Big Kola Company
•    Tab the Middle east and Asian Markets
•    Develop a fruit drink which has health benefits
•     Antitoxin content should be maximum and should be tasty too
•    Based on Market research develop Pomegranate based fruit drink to capture the potential juice products market.

Excluded

The exclusions from the project are that the new product will not have any advertising budget.

ORGANISATION
The internal project Organisation is depicted below:
Position    Name    Phone     Email ID
CEO    Hans Davis    916-527-415    hands@bigkola.com

Project Manager    Smith Jones    916-458-586    smithj@bigkola.com

Senior Management Sponsor    Terry Nick    916-358-458    terryn@abn.com

Senior technical expert    Joe Black    916-458-963    joeb@bigkola.com

Procurement contacts    Tina Turner    916-435-965    tinat@bigkola.com

Other stakeholders:
Same as above
Customers:
Unemployment
Compliance
Audit
Anne Jack
Bill Clarke
Lance Smith
916-859-756
916-451-854
916-859-965
annej@bigkola.com
billc@abn.com
lances@bigkola.com

3.1 Project Organisation
The Project Manager works under the CEO of the company and has the overall responsibility of the project. He will need the support of Marketing Manager, Technical Project Manager and Quality Manager for successful launch of the product.

4. SCHEDULE & BUDGET
4.1 Work Breakdown Structure
The work Breakdown Structure which is shown below depicts all the project activities:

Figure 1: WBS Structure for Project

4.2 Schedule and Milestones
In order to estimate the efforts for the project and to plan the activity sequencing we make a schedule which supports all the tasks we have decided in the WBS and along with that complies with the resource plan also. Then we need to define the project milestones based on the chosen development strategy and all the critical events on the project schedule which can be seen from the milestones table shown below:

Milestones    Description    Milestones Criteria    Planned date
M0    Start Project    Budget Release
For example the project goals and project scope is defined    PRS or SRS is reviewed Stakeholders are identified
M1    Start Planning
For example the Product Lifecycle Objectives    Scope and the concept is defined
M2    Start Execution
For example Lifecycle Architecture for Product is defined    Resources are committed, Requirements are agreed upon, and  Project plan is reviewed
M3    Confirm execution
Alpha version    Architecture for project is reviewed and Stability of project architecture is checked.
M4    Start introduction
System test Passed    Draft Documentation and coding of the new functionality is  finished
M5     Release product
Planning product launch    Product system tested, review the documentation
M6     Close Project

This project schedule should be regularly updated by the project manager every month.

4.3 Budget
We need to calculate the budget based on the cost estimates for various project activities
Category    Budget for period of 1-July-12 to Project Completion( in US$)
M0-M1    M1-M2    M2-M3    M3-M4    M4-M5    M5-M6
Human Resources ( Internal)    $25,000    $25,000    $25,000    $25,000    $25,000    $25,000
Human Resources (external)        $5,000    $7,000        $10,000    $5,000
Purchases    $50,000    $60,000    $20,000    $25,000    $10,000    $12,000
Equipment    $45,000    $30,000    $20,000
Premises    $1,00,000
Tools    $25,000    $30,000    $10,000
Travel Costs    $5,000    $7,000    $5,000    $2,000    $2,000    $2,000
Training     $2,000    $5,000    $5,000    $2,000
Review Activities            $7,000    $5,000    $2,000    $1,000
Other    $1,000    $1,000    $1,000    $1,000    $1,000    $1,000
Total    253000    163000    100000    60000    50000    46000
Total Cumulated    $6,72000
Thus the total cost for the project which has been estimated is $ 6,72,000 from milestone M0 to the M6 the final stage of project completion
4.4 Resource Plan
ACTIVITY    RESOURCES
Need Survey
MRKT (500%)
Set Product Specs
R&D (400%), MRKT (200%)
Shelf Life Report
R&D (300%)
Nutrition Report
R&D (300%)
Select Fruit Suppliers
PURCH (100%)
Equipment Rehab
ENG (1000%), PROD (2000%)
Production Trials
PROD (1500%), PURCH (100%), ENG (1000%)
Quality Trails
QUAL (300%), PROD (500%)
Quality Metrics
QUAL (300%), PROD (100%)
Quality Training
QUAL (300%), PROD (1500%)
Market Testing
MRKT (500%)
Package Design
DESIGN (300%), MRKT (100%)
Select Distributors
MRKT (500%)
Complete FDA Certification
LEGAL (300%)
Register Trademark    LEGAL (300%)
Prepare Product launch
QUAL (300%), PURCH (200%), PROD (1500%), MRKT (500%), #ENG (500%), R&D (100%)
The resource allocation clearly indicates that the marketing Staff, R&D and the legal staff is being over used during the whole project and that is why it is showing up in red.

4.5 Development Progress

After Three months that is on 1st September 2012 a Progress Report will be generated to track the development of the project just to check whether the project is moving according to the project scope and objectives or not.
We will develop a Project Status Report as on 30 September 2012 which will provide clear and true status of the project to the whole team and at the same time keeps the management informed about the difficulties, progress of the project and issues. If we make the project Status Report on regular basis, which is the task of the manager we can easily cover the issues or time lags or resource allocations in the project to lead it to timely and successful completion. The Report is listed below (Project Connections.com Template, 2006):

Key Accomplishments in the last Quarter
•    Surveys have been completed for the Fruit drink
•    The Product Specifications have been set
•    The Shelf Life Report has been generated
•    The Nutrition Report is also complete
Upcoming Tasks for this Period:
•    The important scheduled milestones will be coming in the next quarter like quality testing
•    Distribution channels will start in the upcoming phase of the project
•    The legal formalities will reduce any kind of legal risks which might arise while product launch and the quality standards will be properly checked and tested.
Major Issues
•    One of the major issues which would be rehabilitation of the equipments right on time because any delay in it will delay the production.
•    Another issue is striking the deal with the fruit suppliers is also very critical because it has to be struck by this time and that too at the right cost.

Project priority    Project Task name    Category    Current Phase    Project Completion Date
1    Need Survey    Marketing Staff    Complete    30/7/12
2    Set products Specifications    R&D , Marketing Staff    Complete    20/8/12
3    Shelf Life Report    R&D    Complete    4/9/12
4    Nutrition Report    R&D    Complete    27/8/12
5    Select Fruit Suppliers    Purchasing    Incomplete    2/10/12
6    Equipment Rehab    Engineering, Production    Incomplete    2/10/12
7    Production Trials    Production, Purchasing, engineering    About to Start
8    Quality Trails    Quality Engineers , Production    About to Start
9
10

3.    Risk management

In this case we need to assess the risks which might arise in future in the project and how will we manage the risks. All the risks which will be identified will be documented and assessed and prioritized with the help of Risk Management plan by the Project Manager itself. It will also be helpful in defining the mitigation and contingency measures and the persons responsible for handling the risk. The Risk management plan is updated every month and needs to be communicated to all the stakeholders by the project manager. With the help of Monthly project report the risk status is being reported to the line management too on a regular basis (Meyer and Kolb, n.d.) . A brief overview of the equipments, technology, budget, scope, people and product is necessary (Symonds, n.d.)

5.1 Risk Identification

•    The growing rate of inflation might result in suppliers raising the cost of fruits while the project is ongoing.
•    The growing amount of inflation might increase the cost of the project this will have adverse effect on the budget.
•    There might be some workers who might suffer from any disease while the project is progressing and can cause delay in the project.
•    The lack of communication between the team members or between the staff and manger might lead to hampered quality of the project.
•    The legal staff which will be hired might delay the appointment or postpone the meeting which might cause delay in the task.
•    Attrition might happen in between the project when a group member might leave the company and join competitor.
•     Security concerns might arise in such case so all the data should be properly secured before the new product is launched.
•    The stakeholders might show some resistance about the new fruit drink and not satisfied with the market or the packaging of the Pomegranate Fruit Drink.
•    The consumer is not found to be happy with the packaging or shape of the bottle when product is test marketed, this will cause delay in the product launch.

5.2 Risk Assessment

1=Low, 10=High
Risk Event    Likelihood
(1-10)    Impact
(1-10)    Detection Difficulty
(1-10)    When can Occur    Risk Value= likelihood *impact *detection difficulty
1    7    8    4    In Start    224
2    4    6    3    Any Time    72
3    6    4    5    Any Time    120
4    5    3    6    Throughout the Project    90
5    4    5    2    any Time    40
6    5    5    3    Any Time    75
7    2    10    4    Any Time    80
8    4    6    3    Any Time    72
9    5    7    2    Any Time    70

5.3 Risk Response

Risk Event    Response    Contingency plan    Responsible Person
1    Reduce    Signing contract or agreement with the supplier in advance    Project Manager
2    Reduce    Proper panning and resource allocation in proper manner    Project Manager, Client
3    Share, Reduce    Informing the Project manager at right time, try to get help from outside    Project manager
4    Reduce ,Share    Friendly environment and team spirit    Project Manager , Staff
5    Reduce     Should have contact details of other legal advisors too    Project Manager  ,Client
6    Reduce    Contract with staff  members    Project Manager, Client
7    Reduce    Strict security software’s in company    Project manager, Technical Staff
8    Reduce    Agreement where the sponsor should pay for changes    Project Manager , Client
9    Reduce    Satisfaction for everyone should be guaranteed    Project Manager

6. Quality Assurance

Assuring that the project quality is maintained is the prime motive of every quality project developed In the Big Kola Company’s Project. A quality project should surpass the needs and the requirements of the customer and that is why a quality project should always cross the expectations of the customers along with their need all through the product lifecycle. Few Points which should be kept in mind for a quality project are (Billows, 2011):
•    Usage of latest technology to attract consumers
•    Fast updating like tetra packs for fruit drinks should be used
•    Quality tests should be of latest standards
•     The employees and customer records should be compiled and secured in perfect manner.
•    Report generation should be facilitated by the project.
•     Products records or customer records entry should be easy and fast.
•    The packaging of the fruit drinks along with flavour should be as per customer needs
•    It should have low calorific value keeping in mind the health conscious generation today.
•     Nutritional facts should be mentioned on the packaging

7. Conclusion
Thus in this whole project the quality standards are being maintained. The WBS, Gantt chart, network, diagrams is generated based upon the project scope and goals and objectives. The risk has been assessed and solution to handle them is also given.

Bibliography
Billows, D. (2011) Essential of Porject Managemnt, 11th edition, U.S.A: The Hampton Group Inc.
Ghosh, A. (2007) Scope of The Project, 19 February, [Online], Available: http://aspalliance.com/1152 [10 April 2012].
Gray, C., Larson, E. and Pinyarat, S. (n.d) Computer Project exercises, Texas: Texas tech University.
Meyer, B. and Kolb, P. (n.d) Successful Software ourtsourcing and Offshoring, Zurich: Swiss Federal instoitute of technology (ETH).
Project Connections.com Template (2006), [Online], Available: www.projectconnections.com [10 April 2012].
Symonds, M. Project risks and How to identify them, [Online], Available: Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. [10 April 2012].

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