It Project Management the Business

It Project Management

The Business Case

The Company Overview

Dubai Houses Ltd. is a rapidly growing property selling and rental business in the United Arab Emirates. It was established in 1993 and currently operates with three fully functional branches in the country: Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. The company has invested in around 200 apartments, villas, and studios around the UAE. Its major earnings come from property rental line. Other than the Top Management personnel, Dubai Houses Ltd. has a workforce of 20 employees in different departments in each of its three branches. The target market for the company consists of individuals, business entities, and governmental organizations that can be offered commercial and housing properties for sale or on rental basis. The three major cities of the country, i.e. Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi are the most potential locations for the company's business due to their advanced development infrastructure and large size population.

: The Problems and Opportunities:

Dubai Houses Ltd. has been showing tremendous growth in its rental and selling business lines. Therefore, it needs more efficient employees and enterprise resource planning and management systems in order to manage the increasing business network and meet the environmental challenges in an effective way. The customers directly call the company's offices and book their appointment for making property deals. Due to the increasing scale of operations, the employees at Dubai Houses Limited have to bear greater workload in customer services, marketing, and finance sections. The high volume of paperwork, customers' calls and inquiries, appointment scheduling, receiving and depositing cheque, etc. -- each and every function which these employees perform needs more concentration and efficiency.

1.3: A Brief Description of the Project:

Keeping in view these problems, the Management of Dubai Houses Limited has decided to implemented a computerized system that can help its employees in managing their day-to-day operations in a more efficient and effective way. By making the manual operations computerized, the employees will be able to resolve all those problems which have arisen due to the increased workload in their departments. Thus, the new project is being proposed as an innovation to the company's existing processes and a step towards greater competitiveness and sustainability in the industry (Swink & Nair, 2007). The automated system will be implemented with a lot of interactive features which will make the operations of the company more efficient (Oz, 2009).

1.4: The Project Charter:

The project charter consists of the scope, objectives, and major internal stakeholders for this particular project. The project is related to the implementation of a new computerized system that will completely replace the manual working of employees in all the three office of the company. This new system can be called as an Enterprise resource planning and management system as it will be implemented at the corporate level and will be accessible for use by all the organizational members and customers at the same time (Information Resources Management Association, 2011).

1.4.1: Goals and Objectives of the Project:

a. To automate all the working patterns and procedures of the employees in customer services, sales, marketing, and finance sections.

b. To eliminate the need for manual working, printing, and heavy documentation.

c. To increase the customers' satisfaction by providing efficient services and reliable information.

d. To provide better risk management, analytical, and technical features to the Management and employees.

e. To boost up sales and financial performance by controlling administrative and operational costs.

1.4.2: The Role of Different Participants:

The project charter also defines the key roles of different participants which will carry out the project. The major role will be played by the project manager who will supervise each and every activity of his team members. The project management team will consist of engineers, technicians, and business professionals to perform their respective roles throughout the system implementation process. These team members will directly report to the project manager who will be responsible to complete the project within the allocated time and financial resources.

2. The Project Plan -- Scope

2.1: The Project Scope Statement:

The automated system is being implemented to overcome the problems which the employees are facing due to the increased workload. Therefore, Dubai Houses Limited will have to implement it in all the three offices in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. The project will replace all the manual working patterns of the employees by fully computerizing the whole system. In the initial phase, the automated system will be implemented in the sales, marketing, customer relations, and finance section of the company. After some period, the management will decide to implement it in the remaining functional areas so as to fully computerize the entire organizational procedures.

2.2: The Project Constraints:

Sr. No.

Constraints Description

Internal / External

Mandatory / Optional

Present / Future

1

Time Constraints: The project must be completed within the specified time.

Internal

Mandatory

Present

2

Cost Constraints: The project must be completed within the allocated budget

Internal

Mandatory

Present

3

Quality Constraints: The project must meet the quality standards which the company has set

Internal

Mandatory

Future

4

Scope Constraints: The project must be able to perform all the functions for which it has been implemented.

Internal

Mandatory

Future

5

Employee Training: All the employees will need extensive training before starting to use the new system

Internal

Mandatory

Future

6

Environmental Constraints: The new project must satisfy the external stakeholders of the company (e.g. efficiency in customer services, attractive returns for the investors, compliance with governmental regulations, safety standards, etc.)

External

Mandatory

Future

Part 2:

3. The Project Plan -- Time

Note: Please refer to the attached MS Project File "Dubai Houses Ltd." For Gantt chart, WBS, Network diagram, etc.

4. The Project Plan -- Cost

4.1: Resource Planning for the Project:

i. Human Resources:

The project management team will consist of at least 12 members; including project manager (1), assistants to project manager (2), it analysts and technical experts (3), and program assistants and lab attendants (6). All these team members will work on the project for a period of 12 months which is the estimated time to complete all the activities the project.

Sr. No.

Project Team Members

Hours per Week

Time Period

1

Project Manager x 1

36

1-year

2

Assistants to Project Manager x 2

48

1-year

3

IT Analysts and Technical Experts x 3

60

1-year

4

Program Assistants and Lab Attendants x 6

60

1-year

ii. Financial Resources:

The second major resource needed for the project is financial capital. The company will have to expend a huge amount for this corporate level software. The estimated cost (initial capital outlay) of the whole project is estimated to be $46,200.

iii. Informational Resources:

Informational resources include company's previous analysis reports, market surveys, customer feedbacks, etc. All this information will be useful for the company in analyzing the consumer demands, competitive patterns, and industry trends in the short and long run.

4.2: Overall Costs of the Project:

Sr. No.

Particulars

Estimated Cost

1

Initial Market Research for Vendor Selection

$200

2

Hardware (Purchase and Installation)

$5,000

3

System Licensing

$3,000

4

System Designing

$7,000

5

System Development and Implementation

$20,000

6

Remote Access and Connectivity

$1,000

7

Technical Support and Maintenance

$2,000

8

Employee Training and Development

$6,000

9

Reserve for Contingencies

$2,000

Total Estimated Cost

$46,200

Activity Schedule:

Activity

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Initial Market Research for vendor Selection

Hardware Purchase and Installation

System Licensing

System Designing

System Development and Implementation (Phase-1 of Pilot Implementation)

Remote Access and Satellite Installation

Technical Support and Maintenance

System Implementation (Phase-2 of Pilot Implementation)

Employee Training and Development

System Implementation (Phase-3 of Pilot Implementation)

Completion of Software Implementation

Evaluation and Control

5. The Project Benefits & Risk

5.1: Tangible and Intangible Benefits to the Business

5.1.1: Tangible Benefits of the System:

Tangible benefits include all those positive impacts on the business which can be easily quantified. The three major tangible benefits which Dubai Houses Ltd. will reap from the new system are:

i. More Efficient Operations:

By implementing the new system, the employees will be able to perform their day-to-day operations in a more efficient and effective way. Due to the computerized work procedures, the operations will become error-free (Meredith & Mantel, 2012). In this way, the employees will be able to generate more reliable results.

ii. Increase in Sales Performance:

The new system will boost up the performance of Dubai Houses Ltd. By enhancing the employees' productivity and efficiency. They will be able to deal with a larger number of customers, handle bundles of information, and make quick reporting by using advanced features of the system. All these improvements will eventually help the company in boosting its sales performance.

iii. Reduction in Costs of Operations:

The new system will save the company's costs in a number of ways. First of all, it will eliminate the manual work from its offices by making all the documentation, information handling, and reports generation fully computerized (Xue, Liang, Boulton, & Snyderc, 2005). It will save the stationary, printing, and other operational costs of the company. Secondly, the company will not have to hire new staff in order to meet the increasing needs of its business.

5.1.2: Intangible Benefits of the System:

i. Customer Satisfaction:

The new system will make the customer services of the company more efficient. The customers will be able to access their account, company's information, meeting schedules, and other information by using this automated system. They will feel more satisfied with the company which is vital for building long-term relationship.

ii. Strategic Planning:

Using this system, the Top Management personnel will be able to analyze the company's progress and current financial position in a more effective way. The system is capable of generating quick reports, analyzing and comparing different types of information, and proving real-time access to customer data in an error-free and reliable way.

iii. Efficient Utilization of Resources:

The company's top management can also keep a more effective check and balance on the performance of its employees through this automated system. In this way, it will be able to control the risk of mismanagement and inefficient utilization of organizational resources (Velcu, 2010).