MBA Global Business

(VALIDATED BY COVENTRY UNIVERSITY)

AEGEAN OMIROS COLLEGE (GREECE)

Project Management

Assignment 2

Group Project Report and Individual

Reflective Report

Student Number:

Tutor: Project Management

Date of Submission:

Word Count:

6

Module Title: Project Management

Assignment Type: Group Project Report and Individual Reflective Report

Student Number:

Plagiarism Statement

“I confirm that this assignment that I have submitted is my own work or of the group of

which I have been a part (list the names of all the students in your group) and the source of

any information that I have used (including the Internet) has been fully identified and

properly acknowledged as required in the guidelines I have received”.

Signature of Student:

6

Table of Contents

1. Abstract................................................................................................................................ 4

2. Introduction..........................................................................................................................5

2.1 Company Analysis............................................................................................................52.2 Current Situation & Problem/Opportunity Statement......................................................5

3. B2B E-Orders Website – Project Overview...........................................................................6

3.1 Purpose, Scope, Objectives..............................................................................................63.2 Project Charter..................................................................................................................63.3 Work Breakdown Structure – WBS.................................................................................63.4 Stakeholders Analysis......................................................................................................7

4. Project’s planning.................................................................................................................9

4.1 Budget...............................................................................................................................94.2 Time................................................................................................................................104.3 Human element...............................................................................................................11

5. Assessment of the project..................................................................................................13

5.1. Risk Management Strategy Recommendation..............................................................135.2. Financial Evaluation and Projections...........................................................................145.3. Discussion on Workgroup Dynamics...........................................................................15

References..............................................................................................................................18

Appendix................................................................................................................................ 19

6

1. Abstract

This report is all about to justify the project management process for a new website

development exclusively dedicated to wholesale clients of Green Cola Hellas company based

on project management applied methodology. Green Cola Hellas history and current status,

project overview, initiation, plan, execution, monitoring and closing stages of the project

shared are analyzed in this report. A Project charter and a Work Breakdown Structure are also

conducted in this report. Additionally, stakeholders are evaluated over a stakeholder’s

analysis. Also, an extend analysis of the project plan and resource allocation is implemented.

Furthermore, Network diagram and Gannt-Chart tools are utilized to visualize the company’s

project tasks and scheduling. As detailed in the project plan a financial forecast has been

occurred and a final evaluation is implemented at the monitoring stage of the project.

Accordingly, the recommendation part of this report provides several suggestions for the

improvement of risk management strategy and communication, leadership and project team

issues. Finally, the conclusion part of this report summarizes the results of this project, the

approached method and provides further recommendation strategy for the future projects of

the company.

6

2. Introduction

2.1 Company Analysis

Green Cola Hellas is a new Greek soft drinks company based in the border town of Orestiada,

Evros. Green Cola Hellas emerged from the restructure of EPAP, the Union of Carbonated

Drinks Manufacturers that was initially founded in 1959. EPAP was producing Coca-Cola

Hellas beverages for over 25 years and later on the company began producing its own

products as well as private-label products. In 2011, Pericles Venieris acquired EPAP and a

year later launched Green Cola, a Cola made without sugar, with the natural sweetener of

stevia. Since then the company has enriched the innovative portfolio of soft drinks with stevia

by adding new flavors such as lemonade, orangeade and sour cherry. Nowadays, Green Cola

Hellas is a one of the fastest growing consumer product companies of Greece with both local

and international presence. (Green Cola, 2020)

2.2 Current Situation & Problem/Opportunity Statement

Currently at Green Cola the company website is developed to inform the reader about the

history of the organization, the products and its innovation and ends up to basic contact

information. The existing website technology has limited flexibility for new, expanded and

integrated services to meet the requirements of a fast-growing company and the needs of its

wholesale clients. A new website construction is essential to support online order services,

personalized communication and product distribution data for Business to Business(B2B)

clients.

Through the resent Covid-19 lockdown a new need emerged. Government commands, on the

one hand limited field visits of company salesforce and on the other hand increased the

demand of beverages consumption. Consequently, the company has decided to invest in a

new innovative B2B e-orders website and capitalize the opportunity to better serve new and

existing clients remotely.

The new website will provide one system exclusively designed for wholesalers whilst the

existing one will continue to support with general company information end-consumers and

direct wholesalers to the designated new webpage.

6

3. B2B E-Orders Website – Project Overview

3.1 Purpose, Scope, Objectives

The Project purpose of launching a new B2B E-Orders website is the dire need of our

wholesale clients to provide them specialized content for their business, to place orders easily

and to simply track the delivery of the products despite the physical presence of our

salesforce.

The Project scope definition as described by the Project Management Institute is: “primarily

concerned with defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project” (PMBOK

Guide, 2004).

The scope of this project includes:

Website hosting and web domain name registering

Search engine submission for the new website

Web page design layout that matches with corporate webpage

Website content development, user account functions and interactive form

Direct link creation in corporate website for the new B2B website

The scope of this project does not include:

Extra languages apart from Greek and English

Changing or rewriting the existing corporate website

Creation of any digital assets for content of the website

Any elements apart from the ones mentioned in the scope above

The Project Objective of this project is a new Website exclusively dedicated to B2B clients

who wish to have further information for the cooperation with Green Cola, to place e-orders

and simply track them online.

3.2 Project Charter

The Project Charter outlines the scope, objectives and overall approach for the essential

actions for project completion. It is a very important component for initiating, planning,

executing and monitoring the project process. See Appendix

3.3 Work Breakdown Structure – WBS

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) of the project is based upon the abovementioned

6

scope definition and fundamentally it is a chart that contains the required activities for a

positive project outcome. WBS is a hierarchical list of essential actions that isn’t

chronologically ordered as it is in the Project Network Diagram. The WBS for B2B E-Orders

Website is shown in figure1.1

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE DIAGRAM

PROJECT TITLE B2B E-Orders Website COMPANY NAME Green Cola Hellas

PROJECT MANAGER IT Director DATE 1/6/2020

PROJECT B2B E-Orders Website

PHASE INITIATION PLANNING EXECUTING MONITORING & CONTROLLING RELEASE

Project Scope Cost Analysis Register domain name System Testing Launch website

Project Charter Allocate Resources Web server installation Release Demo Employees training

WBS Gantt Chart Database installation Demo testing for errors Close project

TASK

Stakeholders Analysis Network Diagram Create content Report requirments

Risk Assessment Create design, templates and graphics

Apply design, templates and graphics

Insert content

Figure 1

3.4 Stakeholders Analysis

A recognized definition for project stakeholders is the following: “Project stakeholders are

individuals, groups and organizations who are actively involved in the project, or whose

interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful

project completion.” (PMBOK Guide, 2004). Therefore, project stakeholders are a

compulsory prerequisite for the existence and the success of any kind of project. Deepening

further, project stakeholders within the performing organization are defined as Internal and

usually include the project manager, the project sponsor, the project team members and

employees. On the other hand, External stakeholders aren’t directly related with the

company, but they have the power to impact the result of the project. Significant

representatives are the clients, suppliers, competitors and contractors. (Maylor Harvey, 2010).

The project stakeholders in this case are the following:

Project Sponsor - General Manager

Project Manager - Information Technology Director

Project Team members

Outsourcing Web Developing company staff

Finance Department representative

Account Manager

6

Customer support representative

Legal Department

Company employees

Company Senior Management

Wholesale clients

Competitors

Since the identification has been made, stakeholders are grouped according the level of

interest and participation in a stakeholder’s analysis charter. The chart is shown in figure 2

Stakeholders AnalysisRole Title Stakeholder type Level of Interest Level of Influence

Project Sponsor General Manager Internal High HighProject Manager IT Director Internal High HighProject Team Outsourcing Web Developing Company Staff External High Medium

Finance Department Representative Internal Medium HighAccount Manager Internal Medium Medium

Customer Support Representative Internal Low LowLegal Department External Low High

Company Employees Internal High MediumSenior Management Internal High MediumWholesale Clients External High HighCompetitors External High Low

Figure 2

6

4. Project’s planningSubsequently, for a project of any kind, there must be a carefully planned budget and

allocation of the relevant resources in order to support financially the processes, within

specific time limits. At the beginning of structuring a new website for e-delivery services,

there are many different actions to be taken. In the business industry, there are some

fundamental constraints: scope, time and cost. Managers need to overcome these obstacles by

answering the following:

What is the project trying to accomplish? (scope goals)

How long should it take to complete? (time goals)

What should it cost? (cost goals)

4.1 Budget

In the process of determining the budget to be approved for a specific project, the

management should decide on what kind of approach will apply on the case. There are two

basic approaches to the preparation of costing information:

ground-up costing: the estimates of each level in the WBS are compiled and added

together by each level of supervision in the project hierarchy, as would be the case for

reimbursable contracts

top-down costing: a certain amount of money is allocated to complete the project

activities, and this must be split between the sub-projects. The allocation is based on

either senior management’s estimates or the use of target costing (Maylor, 2010).

In the Green Cola company, based on the fact that the management is trusting its employees

and gives them the chance of offering their knowledge and ideas, the most suitable approach

would be the ground-up costing. In this way, each departmental manager has the opportunity

of analyzing and determining the appropriate possible costs that need to be added to the

project’s budget. It is quite important to highlight the fact that a company cannot spend too

much on a specific project since the risk of failure is high. Therefore, the management should

decide on the following:

1. Cost of outsourcing to a web developing company. On the one hand, by

outsourcing the website developing, Green Cola, avoids putting its own employees

through the procedure of coding a whole new website, when, on the other hand the

company will have to pay the third-party company for this service. Prices vary from

one web-developing company to another – from 50€ to 300€ per year, depended on

the website’s variety of services (Zoannou, 2018).

6

2. Distribution network (warehousing and means of delivery to the customer).

Green Cola is able to avoid this extra cost of warehousing by using its owned

warehouses (PEBRO, 2020). IT department needs to build up an application related

to company’s warehouses for tracking down easily the amounts of products that are

requested for home delivery. Simultaneously, the company should come in

agreement with a trustworthy shipping company for its products to be transported.

Prices on this service also vary on the company and the volume of deliveries along

with the size of each delivery. An average cost of shipping cost is about 10€ per each

order (ELTA, 2020)

3. Advertising. For a new service/product to attract more customers, it is crucial that

the company advertises it, properly. Green Cola, already, advertises its products o TV

and owns pages on the social media. Its spots contain either actors or animation

videos. In both cases, the company can add the announcement of the website along

with the online delivery service. By using those ads, the company avoids spending

more money on advertising.

4. Customer service. As many companies, Green Cola needs to support its after sales

service by establishing an efficient department of customer service. Employees

should deal, daily, with any complaints or difficulties or, even, notes, on the process

of online orders, submitted by the customers.

4.2 Time

Based on the circumstances of these times, it is crucial for business to act carefully and fast in

order to attract more customers. As abovementioned, companies organize and structure their

strategies with limited resources (human element, costs, time).

In this section of the report, a Gantt Chart (fig. 3) will show the timeline on the various

procedures to be followed for the completion of this project. Each process is followed by

other actions than need to be taken in order for the project to be completed. Firstly, the

management should organize meetings with the possible web developing companies and

decide which one is the most suitable to cooperate with. Simultaneously, they have to meet

companies that will be responsible for the products’ distribution and determine with which

they will work. Additionally, HR department will have to conduct interviews for several

customer representatives, which need to be trained and examined on a daily basis, once the

project is completed. Last but not least, the warehouses need to be re-organized and

restructured in order for the IT department in cooperation with the warehouse manager, to

6

build the application which will assist on efficient warehousing.

Meetings with web developing companies

Decision on the web developing company

Desing the new website

Meetings with shipping companies

Decision on the shipping company for cooperation

Organise the distribution network

Warehouses' restructure

Warehouse application development

Advertising the new service

Customer service hirings

Customer service trainings

Customer service representatives' trials

9/9/2020 9/29/2020 10/19/2020 11/8/2020 11/28/2020

8

5

63

13

6

11

22

22

23

12

11

11

Gantt Chart

Figure 3

Additionally, another diagram assists on visualizing the various procedures in the project. In the figure 4 below, is the Network diagram that allows to identify easily the processes that are connected to each other. Processes that need to be completed in order for others to initialize and processes that can start without interfering with others.

Figure 4

4.3 Human element

Another constraint is the human element. Employees are those who will complete the project

and overcome all those obstacles that may arise. The management is responsible for fairly,

allocating the different jobs to those who can efficiently manage. In this project, those

resources needed are:

Managing Director

Finance

department

HR department Warehous Sales IT department Legal

6

e department department

Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager

Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees

Table 1

All these different positions have their own special cause in the project – others need to be

present in the important meetings (meetings with web developing/shipping company) and

others do the job they are assigned to (build the warehouse application). In the below chart, it

is easy to examine the allocation of the resources (each percentage show the usage of each

resource in each process) within Green Cola for this project.

Task Name Duration Resource Names

Meetings with web developing companies

8 days Shipping company [30%], Finance representative 1[30%], Managing Director [10%], Legal representative 1[30%]

Decision on the web developing company

5 days Managing Director [ 10%], Sales manager [10%], Finance representative 2[30%], Legal representative 2[30%]

Design the new website 63 days Outsourcing web development company [50%], Managing Director [10%], Sales manager [10%], IT representative 3[30%]

Meetings with shipping companies

13 days Sales representative [20%], Managing Director [10%], Finance representative 3[30%], Legal representative 2[30%]

Decision on the shipping company for cooperation

9 days Finance representative 1[30%], Legal representative 1[30%], Managing Director [10%], Sales representative [20%]

Organise the distribution network 11 days Shipping company, Sales manager [10%], Managing Director [10%], Finance representative 1[30%]

Warehouses' restructure 22 days Warehouse worker 1[40%], Warehouse manager [50%], HR representative 2[20%]

Warehouse application development

22 days IT representative 1[50%], Warehouse manager [40%]

6

Advertising the new service 23 days Sales manager [10%], Sales representative [30%], IT representative 3[30%]

Customer service hirings 12 days HR representative 2[10%], Managing Director [10%], Legal representative 1[10%]

Customer service trainings 11 days HR representative 2[40%]

Customer service representatives' trials

11 days HR representative 2[40%]

Table 2

5. Assessment of the project

Several parts of the project itself as well as functions of the company are interconnected and

have to be examined as a whole and simultaneously assessed individually. The risk of the

project it depends among other things on how efficient the project manager is going to build

his team and then communicate with its members. The level of success of that process, it is

depicted on the financial evaluation of the project. All these factors will be discussed in the

following sections.

5.1. Risk Management Strategy Recommendation

Risk management is one of the aspects of Project Management, that is very important as it

enhances the chances for the overall success of the project. Natural risks is one category of

risk that such a recommendation should take into consideration. The pandemic, was a natural

risk, that created the need for this project. However, these risks could create opportunities for

some type of businesses or the further development of specific functions that a company

already has implemented. In the Green Cola case, the use of warehouses, will not add further

costs as they are built already and their use can be slightly differentiate under the current

conditions.

A risk management plan for the project although, should be mapped out. This roadmap's

mission, will be to identify risks. This is a crucial aspect of the risk strategy for this project.

Most managers are consuming their time and energy, to address a risk when it has already

arise. They are not attempting proactively, to identify them. Although, this is a mistake, as

risk identification is the foundation of a solid risk management plan (Crispin, 2018). Also, a

risk management plan should perform a qualitative/quantitative risk analysis and

6

subsequently map out the responses to the risks that this analysis will identify. Additionally,

it should monitor and closely control these risks.

This approach of planning a proper risk strategy is matching with the view of the

International Business and Quality Management Institute on risk assessment. It suggests to

managers to be prepared with information regarding the project as well as difficulties the

latter one might face.

There are two major risks for this project. The first one is the timely completion. The second

one is the outsourcing of the project to a web developing company. The project should be

completed in time and the website operate smoothly. Otherwise the benefits of growth of

sales as well as the addition of new clients would not be achieved. The project manager needs

to cooperate closely with the outsourcing company and has the hard skills of software

knowledge, to be able to cope and understand the progress or the problems that may arise. He

has also to be able to maintain a functional relationship with several departments within the

company.

Simultaneously, a timeline and a dissemination of information, regarding the stages of the

project should be communicated almost constantly to stakeholders, especially the clients. In

that way the company will show a responsible attitude as possible delays and problems will

be public and dealt with. This will minimize the damage on the public image of the company.

Furthermore, the stakeholders can identify risks as well (Crispin, 2018).

Conclusively, there is value created by the project risk management. How the stakeholders

are perceiving this value, high or low, in essence influences the overall impact of the risk

management on the project (Willumsen, Ohmen, Stingl, Geraldi, 2019)

5.2. Financial Evaluation and Projections

This project can be categorized as a small project and certainly not a very complex one,

despite the involvement of many departments of the company. The financial cost of the

project, apart some partial projections, is yet to be determined, as it is depicted in the

appendix and the project charter information's table. That means that a strict financial

evaluation based on figures cannot carried out at this time. However, taken into consideration

the risks as described above, as well as the resources from several departments allocated in

the project, alongside its scope, an initial appraisal could take place.

6

Although not all cost figures are not determined yet, the category of the project (small and

not complex) means that its financial evaluation could be achieved through a variety of tools.

These tools are provided, on the context of the benefit measurement methods and include

economic value added, benefit/cost ratio, net present value, payback period, discounted cash

flow, internal rate of return etc. The cost of the initial investment for the website is

comparative low (50-300 Euros) with the potential benefits from an increased profitability for

the company. These new profits are projected to come from new clients as well as more

orders, from the already existing ones. Furthermore, the shipping costs either through ELTA

(10 Euros per shipping) or by company's means (tricks etc) is also. Finally, it should be

stressed out that this cost is not necessary included in the one of the initial investment. It is

more variable cost than a operational one

In the pandemic period costs should be kept under control using all the appropriate cost

management processes. Overall revenues of the company could be reduced significantly. On

the other hand this new era create opportunities if certain tools that are provided can be

exploited, such as the internet. Furthermore, the use of already existing infrastructure such as

the warehouses, could reduce further the cost (PEBRO, 2020).

The cost of outsourcing to the web developing company is not that high. The cost and time to

educate its own personnel and change the use of elements of the infrastructure, might has

greater value. That is the opportunity cost involved in the project. That means that in case of

failures, precious man hours will be lost.

5.3. Discussion on Workgroup Dynamics

This project has clear business objectives and it is of minimized scope. There are

characteristics that can drive the project to a path of success and a project manager should

have the proper skills to achieve that. These are mostly leadership skills, technological skills,

communication skills and finally teambuilding skills. All these are depicted in diagram 1

below.

Diagram 1 Project Manager Skills

6

Communication skills: Listening, persuading

PROJECT

MANAGER

Leadership skills: energy, delegate, vision, set example

Many departments are involved in this project. The HR, IT , Sales, Customer Support etc. All

these representatives from the various departments are the key to success because they are

individuals with different skill sets which are working as a team to complete a task (Tripathy,

2018). Of course team work does not mean avoiding conflicts that naturally arise, and in this

instance did. The project manager in this case discussed these problems to help the joint task

accomplished (Tjosvold, 2015). The improvement of communication between departments is

critical for the success of this project. The organizational chart for this project is depicted

below in diagram 2

Diagram 2 Project's Organizational Chart

Through the execution of the project the management skills have improved the whole project

management process as new tools and strategies are applied to achieve targets. The different

roles for the team members help towards that direction (Vishal Dineshkumar, 2020). The

differentiation in the roles sources back to the teambuilding process of the project manager

that combined individual form various departments.

6

Project Manager

Sales Department

Finance Department

Outsourcing Web developing company

IT Department

Warehouse Department

HR Department

Customer Support Department

1.

6

References

Crispin G. (2018) The essence of risk identification in Project Risk Management: An

overview, International Journal of Science and Research, Volume 9, Issue 2, pp. 973-978

ELTA, 2020. ELTA. [Online] Available at: http://www.elta.gr/Portals/0/Files/2020/PDFs/Demata_Esoterikou_Exoterikou.pdf

Green Cola, 2020. Our History. [Online] Available at: https://english-gr.greencola.com/about/history/[Accessed 05 09 2020].

Maylor, H., 2010. Project Management. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

PEBRO, 2020. PEBRO. [Online] Available at: http://www.pebro.gr/el/case_study/2104/

PMBOK Guide, 2004. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. 3d ed. s.l.:Project Management Institute.

Tjosvold D.(2015) Building the Team Organization - How To Open Minds, Resolve Conflict,

and Ensure Cooperation, Palgrave Macmillan

Tripathy M. (2018) Building Quality Teamwork to achieve excellence in Business

Organizations, International Research Journal of Management, Sloap organization, Volume

5, No. 3, pp. 1-7

Visal Dineshkumar S. (2020) Importance and Strategic Planning of Team Management,

International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology, Volume 7, Issue 2, pp. 47-50

Willumsen, P., Oehmen, J. Stingl, V., Geraldi, J.(2019).Value creation through project risk

management, International Journal of Project Management, Elsevier, article in press

Zoannou, M., 2018. CMD Digital Agency. [Online] Available at: https://cmd.gr/%CF%80%CF%8C%CF%83%CE%BF-%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AF%CE%B6%CE%B5%CE%B9-%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B1-eshop-%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%82-eshop/

6

Appendix

PROJECT CHARTER B2B E-Orders website

PROBLEM, ISSUE, PURPOSE, DELIVERABLES

Problem or Issue: Difficulty for wholesalers to place orders and track them during Covid-19 lockdown Purpose of Project: Address the needs of B2B clients to place orders simply & track them effortlessly online

Expected Deliverables: A new website that contains all essential information for wholesalers, is usable and enables them to order products and track them online

PROJECT SCOPE

Within Scope Website hosting & domain name registering Search engine submission Design layout compatible with corporate website Link creation in corporate website for the new one

Outside of Scope Additional languages apart from Greek & English Changing or rewriting the existing corporate webpage Any elements apart from those mentioned in the scope above

PROJECT TEAM

Project Team

Outsourcing Web Developing company staff Finance Department representative Account Manager Customer Support Representative Legal Department

PROJECT BENEFITS & CUSTOMERS

Process Owner Green Cola Hellas Key Stakeholders General Manager, IT Director Project team members, Senior management, Employees & C lients Final Customers B2B clients Expected Benefits Increase of sa les volume, growth and addition of new clients

PROJECT RISKS, CONSTRAINTS, ASSUMPTIONS

Risks – Constraints: Timeframe, Project Team teamwork Assumptions: Project team is committed to develop a user-centered website and not organization-centered

GENERAL PROJECT INFORMATION

Project Name: Green Cola B2B website Project Sponsor: General Manager Project Manager: Information Technology Director Email Address: IT@greencola.gr Phone Number: 00302109711053 Organizational Unit: Information Technology Department Expected Start Date: 05/06/2020 Expected Completion Date: 05/12/2020 Project Charter Status Pending Approval Estimated Costs: TBD

6