COIT12208 Mo Mo Factory Plan To Set Up Retail Outlets Assessment 2 Answer

COIT12208 Assessment item 2 — Individual case studyIntroduction and Student Guide

This assessment item is to be completed individually.

The case study simulates a project management scenario where the student takes on the role of project manager.  The case information is not complete so where necessary students will have to argue the pros and cons of any assumptions they make. If necessary, students are expected to find relevant information in the academic literature to justify their answers and provide appropriate references.

The following information is provided to assist students to develop their assessment solution:

• Product development case description
• Specific assessment questions that must be answered
• Information regarding the submission of the assessment 
• Marking guide 

Important notes regarding assignment submission

1. You must aim to submit your assignment at least 1 hour before the due date. This will avoid unnecessary late penalties if you have any technical issues while submitting your assignment.
2. If you do have a problem uploading your assignment online and cannot get help from TASAC, make sure that you email your assignment files to your tutor before the due date. This will allow your tutor to view the work that was completed before the deadline. Note that you will also be required to submit the assignment online through Moodle.
3. Any drafts in Moodle may be automatically submitted by Moodle at the due date. However, you must not rely on this for your submission. Note that this does mean that you should not leave something uploaded as a draft if you do not want it to be submitted automatically. If you upload after the due date (this includes students with extensions) you must ensure that you press ‘submit for marking’ or you may incur a further late penalty.

Preparation for the assignment

1. You must complete the MP practicals 1 and 2 before you start this assignment.
2. You must also complete practical 3 before you attempt to add resources to your assignment.

You are required to take your Microsoft Project practical’s and this assignment to your tutorial/practical classes from week 3 onwards. The course is scheduled to commence the practical’s in week 3 and you are expected to start work on this assignment in week 6 (or earlier).

The Mo Mo Factory Outlet Case Description 

The last four years had been a roller coaster ride for the companies three founders Raju, Vaneet and Dipesh. The readymade Nepalese’s dumpling (Mo Mo) business had exploded before their eyes.  Their choice of street front premises had proved very successful. As the business expanded they were able to grow with the acquisition of a warehouse at the rear of the property from which they were able to manufacture and dispatch there product to restaurants and supermarkets across Sydney and with the capacity to produce product for the whole of Australia and beyond.    

The next stage of growth comes with some substantial constraints which will direct the nature of future projects.  The easiest thing to do, is more of the same but that requires extending the geographic reach of its distribution which in turn, pushes up costs. The last few months have shown that the wholesales customer base would not tolerate the required price increase. Forays into the Brisbane and Melbourne markets have cost the company dearly and left the company strapped for cash. The only positive outcome from these trials, was the knowledge gained to structure air flight delivery to those capitals.

To revitalise the company’s fortunes and to pay for the up keep of the company yacht,  Rakshya, Aashish and Dipesh have put together a plan to grow the business and change the business model and revenue stream of the company.   

The Mo Mo Factory are to risk cannibalising there exiting business and to start selling directly to the general public. The project will involve setting up retail outlets in 10 shopping centre food court in each of the three eastern seaboard capitals. 30 shops in all. 

As old Alumni’s of CQU Rakshya, Aashish and Dipesh had come to the college and requested your help to turn their plan into a set of MS project worksheets. You will carry out this work individually with the assistance of your tutor.

You have responsibility for scheduling the work of a team of 16 professionals and will need to manage their labour, accommodation and air travel costs. Other transport and material costs will be incorporated into the Mo Mo Factory’s operational cost centre and will not be included in your MS Project plan. You also do not need to include your our own labour cost/resources and that of Rakshya, Aashish and Dipesh in the MS project files.

Rakshya, Aashish and Dipesh have left some notes that formed the basis of the plan and your structure for your WBS in your Ms Project in this table below. 

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MMFO_PartAQ2.mpp: This file presents the levelling of resources as done from previous file. As per requirement, the levelling options used are:

The change in project can be shown as follows:

The increased duration indicates the impact of levelling whereby the time taken has increased. 

The increase is very high as levelling was done with the requirement that no additional resources will be hired and they cannot be split. This is the reason that project cost remains same and only time increased.

Further, there is no change in ordering or sequence of tasks as the predecessor task as set in initial file have been kept same for this file also.

MEMO

To: The Founding Members, The MoMo Factory

From: Project Manager, XXX

Subject: Plan for Setting up Retail Outlets

Date: 24^th May, 2019

The memo provides estimated plan for setting up of The MoMo Factory retail outlets in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Assuming that the project start date is 10^th June, 2019, the estimated duration of the project is 277 days with the completion date being 22^nd July, 2020. The total project cost is estimated at $828,675.60.

The initial project duration was estimated at 129 days but due to constraint of resource availability, the resources were levelled which increased the duration to 277 days. Most of the tasks are sequential in nature such that a task cannot begin simultaneously with previous tasks. However, the duration can be reduced by allocating more resources to tackle over-allocation aspect.

The direct cost has been estimated as:

Thank You,

XXX

Attachments: MMFO_PartAQ2

MMFO_PartAQ3.mpp: A copy of MMFO_PartAQ1 was created to see the over allocation of resources:

It can be seen that all the resources are over allocated but we have an option of increasing one resource only. Hence, the next step is to identify critical path through network diagram and see resource allocation for those resources. The identified resources on critical path are Regional Manager (RM) and Marketing Analyst (MA) but we have a constraint of increasing one resource from 100% to 200%. Hence, in this section, resource allocation has been increased for Marketing Analyst from 100% to 200%. This has been done by adding a resource called Additional Marketing Analyst at the same rate as MA and this has been allocated to WBS 7.1 to 7.4. The change is as follows:

It can be seen that duration has reduced by around 4 days at an additional cost of around $3,300 which is the cost of additional MA.

MMFO_PartAQ4.mpp: A copy of MMFO_PartAQ3 was created to see the over allocation of resources and level resources to tackle the issue:

 The change is as follows:

It can be seen that after levelling, cost has remained same but impact is fully taken on duration as no additional resources have been hired. The total duration is now 253.17 days with a total cost of $831,985.60. The estimated project end date is 19^th June, 2020.

All the resources were over allocated in initial file as seen above. Hence, it may be possible to reduce the duration by adding more resources as done for Marketing Analyst in initial stage.

Part A Q5: The quality issues that can hamper the project include:

1. Quality Monitoring: Such a big project needs continuous quality monitoring at various points. For example, when carpentry or electrics or plumbing work is being done, a quality check is required before the task is signed off as complete.
2. Project Monitoring: Again, a monitoring of the project and review at multiple levels is necessary to ensure that project is completed. With this kind of project, delays are natural and if not tracked and rectified as possible, it may increase project cost as well as duration.

The tasks that can be added are related to checking quality in first outlet before launching more outlets and another can be documenting the found results for perusal in further opening of new outlets:

Part A Q6: As discussed above, project monitoring is a critical aspect for success of any project. Hence, this must be included at various steps so as to ensure that project remains on track in terms of cost as well as duration. This also helps to rectify deviations in a timely manner. For example, if a resource is in shortage, a call can be taken whether to hire additional resource or analyse effectiveness of current resource. 

Additionally, risk management should also be an integral part of any project so as to handle any risk arising in an effective manner.

Part B Q1: The Sprint has replaced the traditional module method under Point of Sales, leading to an increased overall duration of project from 277 days to 293 days and project ends on 13^th August, 2020. This is due to predecessors for various tasks being changed to later tasks. 

For example, earlier, none of the Point of Sales tasks were critical to completion due to presence of slack period. Now, after Sprint method, Sprint 1 and Sprint 2 have become critical tasks as all slack has been utilized due to change of predecessor activity constraints.

Part B Q2: Earlier, none of the Point of Sales tasks were critical to completion due to presence of slack period. Now, after Sprint method, Sprint 1 and Sprint 2 have become critical tasks as all slack has been utilized due to change of predecessor activity constraints.

Part B Q3: 

Part B Q4: 

A sprint methodology involves frequent meetings where a ScrumMaster or leader takes status update from team members and works towards removing obstacles in achieving goals so that the project stays on time. The methodology is collaborative in nature and hence, lines of communication need to be kept open. Further, it is necessary to hold frequent meetings so as to stay on set targets in the timeframe decided.

Hence, project manager needs to ensure clear communication about the timeframe and deadlines for smaller tasks involved in a stage so that team members use all their efforts to complete the task. Further, regular monitoring and meetings are necessary to identify roadblocks so that the project manager can clear the same and target can be met.