Project Planning and Control in the Context of Uncertainty is an essay.

The purpose of the project is to practice some of the aspects of project planning and control in the context of uncertainty. The project is to be done individually.

1)Based on the results of previous assignment on this module, your prior work experience or personal preferences pick a subject area for a project (see list of proposed subject areas below).

2)As a representative of an organisation commissioning the above project:

a)Define a reasonably achievable scope and deliverables – use your judgement to set the time constraints, assume money is “no object”.

b)Construct a Request For Proposal (RFP) that is to be sent out to potential contract bidders. Refer to the lecture slides for the standard/required components of the document.

3)As a contractor who has just won the tender for the above project create a Project Charter to be used by the project team. This should at least include the following elements:

a)Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

b)Estimate of time and resources needed (staff, materials, etc.)

c)Network / Critical Path analysis and Gantt Diagram

d)Budget

e)Quality Assurance plan

f)Risk Management plan

Objective of the Project

This project is based on the development and implementation of a new strategic path for Netflix. Netflix is an online video streaming company that provides services to over 150 countries around the world. Initially, the company started out with video rentals service where the customers were provided with online copies of DVDs on rental basis. However, the company slowly adopted movie streaming services that could be viewed if the users subscribed to the services by paying a certain amount of money. With further development in the customer base and significant increase in popularity, Netflix also started streaming TV series that they produced in their own production house.

In spite of the popularity of Netflix around the world, users are slowly becoming concerned about the extremely high subscription prices. Furthermore, availability of free download websites like torrents provide better alternative to the users rather than paying high amount of subscription money to Netflix every month. Hence, Netflix needs new business strategy to solve these problems and maintain the current hold in video streaming market. In this report, a project charter has provided that aims to address the project plan requirements for deployment of new business strategy of Netflix.

This project is based on the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for Netflix in order to address the issues currently arising in their existing business strategies and policies. It has been found that in spite of massive popularity of Netflix all over the world as well as increasing number of subscriptions every year, there is also growing concern due to the high subscription prices that the users have to pay. From an analysis, it has been found that the increase in the number of customers for 2017 has been much less than the previous year. This is mainly because there are other alternatives like pirated movie websites, torrents and other sites where the users can download the TV series or movies for free or at minimal costs whereas at Netflix website / app, they have to pay very high subscription fees each month. On the other hand, Netflix being only a video streaming business has to recover a huge amount of expenses encountered during the production of the originals (TV series and movies). Netflix has also developed its own production house where the Netflix Originals movies and series are filmed. These costs have to be recovered through streaming revenue and the subscription money paid by the customers.

Scope of the Project

The project scope includes the following.

Analysis of the current marketing and business strategy of Netflix is within the scope of the project.
Analysis of the current business issues faced by Netflix is within the scope of the project.
Identification of possible solutions for addressing the issues for Netflix is within the scope of the project.
Recommendation of the most feasible solution for Netflix is within the scope of the project.

Accordingly, the objectives of the project are as follows.

To deliver a detailed report on the current system, business strategies and issues faced by Netflix
To prepare a project plan on the implementation of the newly proposed business strategy
To deliver a project model that can be used for approach towards project execution
To use budget and resources for successfully executing the project

The list of stakeholders and their duties for this project is prepared in the following table.

Name	Designation	Role
Reed Hastings	CEO / Project Manager	To approve, manage, control and supervise the project
Jonathan Hendricks	Finance Manager	To manage and allocate project funds
David Thompson	Business Strategies Manager	To manage and control project as per company’s business strategies and alignment
James Hudson	Systems Manager	To manage hardware and software operations and implementations
Matias Hernandez	Procurement Manager	To procure necessary resources required for the purpose of the project
Eddie Charlton	Consultancy Manager	To consult with various agencies for implementation of new systems like ERP, SAP, etc.

The work breakdown structure for the project is shown in the following diagram.

Figure 1: Work Breakdown Structure of the Project

(Source: Created by Author)

The estimated project schedule and the duties of the stakeholders in the project are shown in the following table.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Resource Names
Development and Implementation of New Business System for Netflix	300 days	Mon 02-04-18	Fri 24-05-19
Survey, Discussion, Analysis	66 days	Mon 02-04-18	Mon 02-07-18
Initial Survey	15 days	Mon 02-04-18	Fri 20-04-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Collection of Survey Data	15 days	Mon 23-04-18	Fri 11-05-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Analysis of Survey Data	30 days	Mon 14-05-18	Fri 22-06-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Board Meeting	2 days	Mon 25-06-18	Tue 26-06-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager, Consultancy Manager, Finance Manager
Identification of Issues	2 days	Wed 27-06-18	Thu 28-06-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager, Consultancy Manager, Finance Manager
Identification of the Grievances of the Customers	1 day	Fri 29-06-18	Fri 29-06-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager, Consultancy Manager, Finance Manager
Identification of Possible Solutions	1 day	Fri 29-06-18	Fri 29-06-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager, Consultancy Manager, Finance Manager
Checking Business Feasibility of the Solutions	1 day	Fri 29-06-18	Fri 29-06-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager, Consultancy Manager, Finance Manager
Reaching a Final Conclusion	1 day	Fri 29-06-18	Fri 29-06-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager, Consultancy Manager, Finance Manager
Decide a Solution for Implementation	1 day	Mon 02-07-18	Mon 02-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager, Consultancy Manager, Finance Manager
End of First Meeting	0 days	Mon 02-07-18	Mon 02-07-18
Second Meeting and Approval	9 days	Tue 03-07-18	Fri 13-07-18
Second Board Meeting	1 day	Tue 03-07-18	Tue 03-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Discussion Regarding the Chosen Plan	1 day	Wed 04-07-18	Wed 04-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Estimation of Overall Budget for Project	1 day	Thu 05-07-18	Thu 05-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Estimation of Overall Timeline for Project	1 day	Fri 06-07-18	Fri 06-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Discussion Regarding Project Feasibility	1 day	Mon 09-07-18	Mon 09-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Preparation of Project Proposal	4 days	Tue 10-07-18	Fri 13-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Project Manager, Systems Manager
Project Approval	0 days	Fri 13-07-18	Fri 13-07-18
Planning for the Project	29 days	Mon 16-07-18	Thu 23-08-18
Development of Project Charter	4 days	Mon 16-07-18	Thu 19-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Preparation of Accurate Project Timeline	2 days	Fri 20-07-18	Mon 23-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Preparation of Accurate Project Budget	2 days	Tue 24-07-18	Wed 25-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Estimation of Resources Required for the Project	1 day	Thu 26-07-18	Thu 26-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Develop and Approve Project Scope	1 day	Fri 27-07-18	Fri 27-07-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Meet with Business Solutions Consultancy	5 days	Mon 30-07-18	Fri 03-08-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Prepare a Deployment Plan	3 days	Mon 06-08-18	Wed 08-08-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Analyze Risks Associated with Project	5 days	Thu 09-08-18	Wed 15-08-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Prepare Addressing Plan for the Risks	2 days	Thu 16-08-18	Fri 17-08-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Final Feasibility Tests	3 days	Mon 20-08-18	Wed 22-08-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Project Ready for Initiation	1 day	Thu 23-08-18	Thu 23-08-18	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Systems Manager
Go Ahead from CEO	0 days	Thu 23-08-18	Thu 23-08-18
Initiation of the Project	30 days	Fri 24-08-18	Thu 04-10-18
Appointment of Project Stakeholders	5 days	Fri 24-08-18	Thu 30-08-18	Project Manager
Deployment of Project Team	2 days	Fri 31-08-18	Mon 03-09-18	Project Team Leader
Allocate Duties to Each Team Member and Stakeholder	1 day	Tue 04-09-18	Tue 04-09-18	Project Team Leader
Hand Over Project Schedule to the Stakeholders	1 day	Wed 05-09-18	Wed 05-09-18	Project Manager
Procurement of Project Funds	5 days	Thu 06-09-18	Wed 12-09-18	Procurement Manager
Provide the Funds to the Finance Manager's Account	1 day	Thu 13-09-18	Thu 13-09-18	Procurement Manager
Recruit System Development Team	3 days	Fri 14-09-18	Tue 18-09-18	Systems Manager
Team Meeting	1 day	Wed 19-09-18	Wed 19-09-18	Project Manager, Project Team Leader, System Development Team, Systems Manager, Testing Team
Discuss Project Roadmap	1 day	Thu 20-09-18	Thu 20-09-18	Project Manager, Project Team Leader, System Development Team, Systems Manager, Testing Team
Selection of Personal Roles and Responsibilities in Project	1 day	Fri 21-09-18	Fri 21-09-18	Project Manager, Project Team Leader, System Development Team, Systems Manager, Testing Team
Allocation of Budget to the Teams	2 days	Mon 24-09-18	Tue 25-09-18	Project Manager, Project Team Leader, System Development Team, Systems Manager, Testing Team
Contact Vendor for Resources	1 day	Wed 26-09-18	Wed 26-09-18	Procurement Manager
Procurement of the Resources	5 days	Thu 27-09-18	Wed 03-10-18	Procurement Manager
Allocation of Resources	1 day	Thu 04-10-18	Thu 04-10-18	Project Team Leader
Teams Ready to Go Ahead	0 days	Thu 04-10-18	Thu 04-10-18
Project Execution	156 days	Fri 05-10-18	Fri 10-05-19
Analysis of Existing System by System Developer	5 days	Fri 05-10-18	Thu 11-10-18	System Development Team
Subscription to AWS	5 days	Fri 12-10-18	Thu 18-10-18	System Development Team
Connecting the Existing Business Server with AWS	4 days	Fri 19-10-18	Wed 24-10-18	System Development Team
Test the System with AWS	5 days	Thu 25-10-18	Wed 31-10-18	System Development Team, Testing Team
Upgrade Hardware	4 days	Thu 01-11-18	Tue 06-11-18	System Development Team, Updated Hardware[1]
Upgrade Software	5 days	Wed 07-11-18	Tue 13-11-18	System Development Team, Software[1]
Develop Business ERP Solution	30 days	Wed 14-11-18	Tue 25-12-18	System Development Team
Create UI for the ERP software	10 days	Wed 26-12-18	Tue 08-01-19	System Development Team
Add Features to the Software	15 days	Wed 09-01-19	Tue 29-01-19	System Development Team
Test the Software Demo Version	10 days	Wed 30-01-19	Tue 12-02-19	System Development Team, Testing Team
Make Internal Changes and Upgrades	15 days	Wed 13-02-19	Tue 05-03-19	System Development Team
Debugging	7 days	Wed 06-03-19	Thu 14-03-19	System Development Team
Deploy Strong System Firewall	6 days	Fri 15-03-19	Fri 22-03-19	System Development Team
Test the system	10 days	Mon 25-03-19	Fri 05-04-19	System Development Team, Testing Team
Create New Exclusive Netflix Business Portal	15 days	Mon 08-04-19	Fri 26-04-19	System Development Team
Final Testing and Changes	10 days	Mon 29-04-19	Fri 10-05-19	System Development Team, Testing Team
Handover to Project Authority	0 days	Fri 10-05-19	Fri 10-05-19
Closing and Sign Off	10 days	Mon 13-05-19	Fri 24-05-19
Post Project Appraisal and Review	4 days	Mon 13-05-19	Thu 16-05-19	Project Manager
Prepare Project Report	5 days	Fri 17-05-19	Thu 23-05-19	Project Team Leader
Signoff from Stakeholders and Project Manager	1 day	Fri 24-05-19	Fri 24-05-19	Business Strategies Manager, Consultancy Manager, Finance Manager, Procurement Manager, Project Manager, Project Team Leader, System Development Team, Systems Manager, Testing Team
Closing of the Project	0 days	Fri 24-05-19	Fri 24-05-19

The resources required for the project including their standard costs and charges are shown in the following table.

Resource Name	Type	Max. Units	Std. Rate	Ovt. Rate
Project Manager	Work	100%	$400.00/hr	$0.00/hr
Finance Manager	Work	100%	$250.00/hr	$0.00/hr
Business Strategies Manager	Work	100%	$325.00/hr	$0.00/hr
Systems Manager	Work	100%	$325.00/hr	$0.00/hr
Procurement Manager	Work	100%	$225.00/hr	$0.00/hr
Consultancy Manager	Work	100%	$250.00/hr	$0.00/hr
Project Team Leader	Work	100%	$175.00/hr	$0.00/hr
System Development Team	Work	100%	$350.00/hr	$0.00/hr
Testing Team	Work	100%	$275.00/hr	$0.00/hr
Updated Hardware	Material		$150,000.00
Software	Material		$125,000.00

The Gantt chart of the project is shown in the following diagram.

Figure 2: Gantt Chart of the Project

(Source: Created by Author)

The critical path analysis is shown in the following diagram.

Figure 3: Critical Path Analysis of the Project

(Source: Created by Author)

The overall estimated budget for the project is shown in the following table.

Resource	Estimated Budget
Human Resource (From Gantt Chart)	$ 1,587,400
Hardware Costs	$ 150,000
Software Costs	$ 125,000
Development Costs	$ 200,000
Testing Costs	$ 125,000
Business Implementation Costs	$ 165,000
TOTAL	$ 2,352,400

Quality assurance plan is required in every project in order to ensure the project meets the best quality standards. Furthermore, for this large scale and high budget project for Netflix, quality assurance plan must be prepared before the project is executed.

The list of policies and requirements to be following during quality assurance is as follows.

The procured hardware must be of the most updated versions so that they need not be changed for the next 5 years.
The software used for development of ERP must be up to date and of the original authentic version.
The business portal should have all the necessary functions as required within one easily understandable dashboard.
The AWS must be connected to the central database of the company so that all the necessary information and data can be migrated to the cloud.
The newly deployed system and business strategy must be able to reduce operational and other costs significantly.

The possible risks associated with the project as well as suitable management plans are shown in the following table.

Risk Details	Chance of Occurrence	Impact on Project	Management Plan
Budget Overshoot, caused due to scope creep or excessive overspend during the project	High	Very High	Prepare accurate budget plan during planning, try to remain within the limits of the allocated budget to complete the works in the project
Failed Implementation, due to lack of quality resources, fraud consultancy and others	Medium	Extreme	Check background details of the consultancy before hiring, conduct quality check on the resources before purchase
Cyber Attack, due to lack of system firewall, external attackers, malwares and others may enter into and harm the company database	Very High	Extreme	Use strong system firewalls, cyber security softwares, system cleaners and others to minimize chances of cyber attacks

Conclusion

In this report, a detailed project plan has been provided for the new strategic development of Netflix. As per the analysis of the existing issues and problems faced by Netflix, deployment of an ERP system as well as migration of the entire database into cloud have been suggested as part of the recommendation for the project. Following the scope and objectives of the project, an estimated budget has been developed along with a rough schedule. Furthermore, stakeholder analysis, quality assurance and risk management plans have also been provided. However, it should be noted that this is only a rough initial plan that needs to be further developed with more accurate estimations before it can be used as the plan of the actual project.

References

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Project Stakeholder Analysis

The resources required for the project including their standard costs and charges are shown in the following table.

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