Project Selection Methods And Initial Documents Essay.

A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to provide an expected and beneficial outcome. A project life cycle is the series of phases that a project passes through from its initiation to its closure. Project goals should align with organisational goals such as improved operations or increased revenues, reducing costs or improving efficiencies.

Before resources can be committed to a project, the reason for its proposal and the benefits it is expected to deliver need to be understood by people in positions empowered to make decisions about the expenditure of an organisation's resources. The selection of organisational projects is typically performed through a method of classification and review of the project’s business case. That method of course should be applied consistently to all project proposals.

For this assessment, you research different methods of selecting projects and examine the initiation process. You also consider the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide and, more specifically, explore the initiation documents.

In essay writing, use the given/approved project throughout this assessment.

As you have discovered in your learning resources, examine project selection methods that can be applied appropriately to the given project and processes to conduct these methods. Consider the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) and describe the initial process group and project documents that are created or used as inputs for a new project.

Maxima LT's Concerns

The company considered in this report is Maxima LT, which is a largest retail trade operator in the Baltic States. The concern of Maxima LT is the decreasing growth in turnover when compared to the year 2005. In 2006, it achieved a turnover of EUR 1.85 billion but the forecast of the company has predicted only 20 percent growth in turnover in the year 2007. It intends to apply automated processes for shopping centers to increase the output. As it handles various strategic projects, so responsible managers are assigned for implementing the projects and their budgets. For instance, the construction project, where new shops are being constructed. This has helped to develop a high level of competency, and hence it shows that it has continuously worked to improve the competencies for managing the strategic projects. In this huge organization, at present, the main challenges faced by the company includes ensuring a critical mass of project-minded people and managing on-time involvement and communication with respect to the project’s activities. It lacks a dedicated R&D (Research and Development) unit, for surveying the trends in specific areas to make effective proposals for improvement. It intends to increase the customer's convenience to do shopping. Maxima has started air ticket vouchers service with air partners. It is working to see the new service where the customers can pay the bills of the communication service at the retail outlet's checkout counters. It operates on the customer loyalty card program which facilitates it members to access the privileged terms for the services like petrol, pharmacy etc.

This section presents three new projects that the organization could take up: For any organization, business cases development is the initial step to ensure efficiency and effective resource utilization.

1. Service Efficiency: 

Reasons

What it is?	At present, Maxima LT is concerned about its growth turnover which is decreasing in contrast to the previous year.
Why its required?	Thus, efficiency of a service can be considered as (Return On Investment) ROI’s variant, which can be used by a project for improving its operational processes.
Resource	Project manager
Why it could change?	The current situation can impact the processes in the company which can in turn impact the revenue of the company.

Options

What it is?	The resource utilization and management is a problem statement and so the resource and process efficiency improvement is the suggested option.
Why its required?	To understand the options that were considered, and why this project option was chosen over the alternatives.
Resource	Project manager
Why it could change?	It can change the productivity, costs, and business process.

Benefits and Dis-Benefits

What it is?	The expected benefits are: 1. The benefits can be measured. 2. The service can be improved.
Why its required?	The organization insists on investing this improvement to get benefits.
Resource	Business process management
Why it could change?	The competitors can come up with an improved strategy.

 

Timescale and Costs

What it is?	The time and cost cannot be predicted as it will depend on the process development.
Why its required?	It is necessary to balance the risks and related factors for balancing the required benefits.
Resource	Project schedule, development and maintenance.
Why it could change?	The cost and time can change constantly during the project. In case of revision of the process the figures might not be viable at all.

Major Risks and Opportunities

What it is?	The ineffective process can be a major threat.
Why its required?	It can increase the risk and make the process inviable.
Resource	Project manager
Why it could change?	Risks can impact the project’s viability.

 

Reasons

What it is?	R&D is very important for the companies like Maxima LT.
Why its required?	It helps to constantly analyze various surveys, for instance, the survey of customer self-service options, analyzing the area of the shop, trends and so on. Research is lacking in this company, and only research can help to come up with a new improvement proposal. Thus, it is the best option to have this project as it can have positive impact on the revenue of the company.
Resource	Project manager and research team
Why it could change?	The present situation can impact the sales of the company.

Options

What it is?	The research team is not present in this company is a problem statement.
Why its required?	To understand the trends, customer needs, demography to helps the sales.
Resource	Project manager and development team
Why it could change?	It might change the sales growth and revenue.

Benefits and Dis-Benefits

What it is?	The expected benefits are: 1. Increased sales. 2. Increased revenue.
Why its required?	Maxima LT is highly concerned about its revenue turnover to increase.
Resource	Business process management
Why it could change?	The competitors might think of a new and advanced strategy.

Timescale and Costs

What it is?	The time and cost depend on the conducted research topic.
Why its required?	It is necessary to balance the risks and related factors to get accurate results from the research.
Resource	Project research and development team
Why it could change?	The cost and time can change constantly, because of the circumstances involved in the research.

Major Risks and Opportunities

What it is?	The inaccurate results of the research can be a major threat.
Why its required?	It can increase the risk and decrease the sales.
Resource	Project manager and R&D team
Why it could change?	Risks can impact the company’s profit.

Reasons

What it is?	The management of stock or the product sold by Maxima LT.
Why its required?	Maxima LT’s stores are widespread. It has a large chain of outlets, which are present in various shopping centers in large cities and districts. Hence, the supply chain management is essential for this company to manage its stock and make it available to all the outlets.
Resource	Project manager, key stakeholders and sponsors
Why it could change?	If this is not managed well, it can result in a chaos and have a negative impact on the company’s revenue.

Options

What it is?	The management of supply chain is a problem statement; thus, resource and process efficiency improvement are a required option.
Why its required?	To have enough material to supply to the suppliers of the shops.
Resource	Project manager
Why it could change?	It can change the resource management and supply chain processes.

Benefits and Dis-Benefits

What it is?	The expected benefits are: 1. Enough materials/stock. 2. On-time delivery to the suppliers. 3. Improves business operation.
Why its required?	Maxima LT wants to improve its supply chain management to stay competitive in the market.
Resource	Business process management, sales department, project manager
Why it could change?	The competitors can come up with an improved strategy.

Timescale and Costs

What it is?	The time and cost are unpredictable.
Why its required?	It is necessary to stop delays and related risks.
Resource	Project schedule and project manager
Why it could change?	The cost and time can change constantly during the project. While updating the process, the cost and might not be viable at all.

Major Risks and Opportunities

What it is?	Unpredictable cost and time can be a major threat.
Why its required?	It can increase the risk and make the process inviable. The new investments might have unique processes, which might contain degree of uncertainty. It is recommended that the new project must be divided into various stages for improving the control and performance of project management (A guide to the project management body of knowledge, 2017).
Resource	Project manager
Why it could change?	Risks can impact the project’s viability and revenue.

The following methods can be used by Maxima LT for selecting the three projects suggested in the above section:

• Agile Methodology:This method can be applied as it is popularly known to increase the flexibility, despite the changes taking place in a business process. It ensures effective communication and helps to stay connected. Its main aim is to provide visibility and helps to meet the requirements. The process’s progress can be tracked. It helps to gain transparency, sustainability, predictability, reliability, and provides accurate result estimation (McIntyre, 2019).

• PRINCE2 Methodology: This methodology is mainly used for the project management, as it helps to identify the project's main elements which supports to deliver the benefits. It is a standard approach that supports to take decisions flexibly. It can easily detect the future problems. It offers effective communication, improves customer satisfaction and to tackle any kind of deviations in the project plan.

• Integrated Project Management (IPM): It helps in establishing and managing the project and the stakeholder's involvement based on the defined and integrated processes that are customized to fit to the needs of the organization's standards It involves both the internal and external stakeholders ("Integrated Project Management (IPM) (CMMI-DEV)", 2015).

This section sheds light on one of the best business cases to be initiated as a project and describes the initial process group according to the PMBOK.

It is suggested that Maxima LT must go with PRINCE2 methodology. PRINCE2 Methodology offers continuous business justifications, it allows to learn from the previous experiences, it manages stage wise and based on the expectations, it concentrates on the quality and delivery of the product, and it can be customized base on the project environment. It allows the stakeholders to involve while decision making. PRINCE2 methodology contains both the benefits of the other two suggested methodologies.

Moreover, PRINCE2 methodology can help in delivering increased products to its customers, which supports in increasing the sales and thus the revenue of the company can be increased. The main aim of Maxima LT is to increase the sales and it is possible achieve this with this methodology. However, the role of a project manager not just stops with development, it continues till the successful delivery of the expected results.

 Based on PMBOK the initial processes include Project integration, scope management, schedule management, cost management, quality management, resource management, communication management, and risk management. The project life cycle of a new process can be managed with the following stages:

• Project Initiation

1. Improving efficiency of the service
2. Research and Development
3. Improving investment for Supply chain management

• Project Planning

1. Budget planning
2. Resource planning

• Project Execution

1. Implementation of Plan

• Project Monitoring and Control

1. Monitoring the Plan’s progress

• Project Closure

References

Integrated Project Management (IPM) (CMMI-DEV). (2015). Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://www.wibas.com/cmmi/integrated-project-management-ipm-cmmi-dev

Kukhnavets, P. (2019). All Benefits of Choosing PRINCE2 Methodology for Development. Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://hygger.io/blog/benefits-choosing-prince2-methodology-development/

McIntyre, J. (2019). Agile Implementation: Methodology & Strategy. Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://study.com/academy/lesson/agile-implementation-methodology-strategy.html

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge. Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA.