Managerial Decision Making Project Business

Question: Discuss about the Managerial Decision Making for Project Business. Answer: Project Management When an organisation decides to start a new project, there are several areas of planning like all the activities related to the project should be enlisted in a detailed manner, an estimate is made regarding the manpower and their responsibilities, budget is prepared and all the information required for the product is sorted (Artto Wikstrm, 2005). Following are the best practices in project management: There has to the proper integration of all the processes like planning, execution, monitoring and controlling. All the tasks involved in the project should be properly defined and sequenced. There should be proper planning of resources, budget estimation, cash flow etc. Proper steps should be taken to ensure quality. There should be a proper development of teams and tasks should be delegated to them. There should be a proper mechanism for information flow and reporting. Proper measures should be taken for risk identification and control. Project Description The company Gen-Com Pvt. Ltd, a telecom company plans to introduce a new product in the market. The company has a large base of post-paid and prepaid customers in the world. It will be a money transfer service which the customers will be able to access through their mobile phones. So the company wants to build a mobile application through which the customers will be able to pay bills for any post-paid number, recharge any prepaid number and pay their electricity/ water bill from any part of the world (Blichfeldt Eskerod, 2008). The activation fee for this service will be 2 dollars. Once the customer gets registered, he needs to install the application. After this, he can make transactions. He can load money through the retail outlets of the company or use net banking. For minimum transactions of 70 dollars, he will get cash back of 5 dollars every month and will get customised offers. Project Charter The project charter provides a framework for the execution of the project. It includes the following elements: Project stakeholders- The project is sponsored by Gen-Com Pvt. Ltd. in collaboration with Alpha Bank. Robert Brown is the project manager. A team of 50 people will work on this project. Project schedule- The project will start on 1st Aug 2016 and is scheduled to finish by 1st Nov The project will be reviewed after every 1 month. Project budget- The estimated budget for the entire project is 25,000 dollars. Project administration- There need to be a proper communication plan that defines how information will be shared and how reporting will be done. There needs to be a quality management plan that defines how quality planning, monitoring, and control will be done throughout the project (Weinkauf Hoegl, 2002). There needs to be a human resource plan that defines the team members and their roles. Significance From various surveys, the company came to know that it is not convenient for people to visit outlets and pay bills. Thus, many people use online websites to pay their bills. The company decided to launch this product in order to increase its revenue and gain an edge over its competitors (Stoy Kalusche, 2006). This would enhance the customer experience and would result in brand loyalty. This project will initially be launched in the USA, and then it will be functional in different parts of the world. Research Questions To understand the characteristics of the market, a market survey was conducted. A questionnaire was formed that consisted of the following questions: Which telecom operator are you currently using? How many members in your family are using Gen-Com Ltd.? How much do you spend on post-paid bill/ prepaid recharge in 1 month? Which mode of payment do you prefer for making post-paid bills or pre-paid recharge? Are you satisfied with your current mode of payment do you prefer for making post-paid bills or pre-paid recharge? Work Breakdown Structure Work breakdown structure decomposes the entire project into small, manageable chunks of work. It is easier to make development plans, create work schedules and allocate financial resources for each chunk of work rather than for the entire project (Fulford, 2013). The entire project is split into the following tasks: Task 1- Market analysis using primary data Task 2- Developing a mobile application for the product (ETRANS) Task 3- Test marketing of the product Task 4- Developing a report on the basis of test marketing and reviewing the product Task 5- Developing a promotional strategy for the product (G) Project Schedule and Budget TASK NAME DURATION START DATE FINISH DATE BUDGET DESCRIPTION MARKET ANALYSIS 31 DAYS 1/8/2016 31/08/2016 4000 TASK 1 APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT 20 DAYS 1/9/2016 20/09/2016 10000 TASK 2 TEST MARKETING 10 DAYS 21/09/2016 30/09/2016 5000 TASK 3 REPORT GENERATION 10 DAYS 1/10/2016 10/10/2016 1000 TASK 4 PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY 22 DAYS 11/10/2016 1/11/2016 5000 TASK 5 Figure 1: Gantt chart showing flow of project Performance Analysis And Risk Analysis It is very important to measure the performance of the project like- are all the activities/ tasks being executed as per schedule, is the project being executed within the budget estimated, what will be the total cost and duration for the completion of the project (Jowah, 2015). If there is a variance in the actual value of a parameter and estimated value of the parameter, the project manager should take corrective actions. Following are the techniques to measure performance: Cost variance= Budgeted Cost for Work Performed (BCWP) - Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP) Schedule variance in cost terms= Budgeted Cost for Work Performed (BCWP) - Budgeted Cost for Work Scheduled (BCWS) Risk analysis aims at identifying the probability of each risk and its consequent impact on the project. Various tools can be used for risk monitoring (Nobelius Trygg, 2002). Audits can be conducted by people who are not a part of the project team. The project manager should review the tasks from time to time and reports should be prepared on the basis of reviews. In case the risks are identified, the reserved manpower/ finances should be used or an alternate plan should be used. References Artto, K. Wikstrm, K. (2005). 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