Executive summary
Safe drinking water is an upcoming market in India. 80% of the population is depended on the bottled water for their regular consumption. Universal Aqua Industries is going to engage in the production and distribution of bottled water. They are planning to cater the needs of households and other people in Kanyakumari and its suburbs. This report is critically analyses the project scope and management of the project. UAI has selected Kanyakumari as their supply area where there is no such manufacturing unit in that area and close vicinity. Relevant theories and approaches are used to analyse the project and arrive at a conclusion. The recommendations given in the report are based on theories but the practical possibility to apply them depends on the situation.
1. Introduction
Water is a compound of Hydrogen and Oxygen. Water is an essential part of human beings and animals. The water available in bore wells and other water resources is not hygienic and purified. Especially in India the water supply is not highly purified which is not in a condition drink immediately without further purification such as boiling. In some area the spring water is highly concentrated with more salt and calcium which is also not suitable for drinking. This has given a room to start up a bottled water company in Kanyakumari South India to cater the need of people. Universal Aqua Industries (UAI) is going to furnish the water need of Kanyakumari and its suburbs. Kanyakumari is a tourist attraction in South India and there are many industries where foreign nationals are working who all prefer to have the bottled water instead of the supply supplied in the national water lines.
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Water is an essential resource to sustain life. From 50 – 90 percent of the weight of living organisms is water. Water is the major constituent of living matter. Water, essential for growth of all crops, is the natural resource in shortest supply. More than 20 countries lack sufficient water to grow enough food for their people. The situation is getting worse as needs for water rise along ...
This signals the opportunity to stat up a business of bottling water project in that area where there are no such a manufacturing company in close vicinity. A project is a unique endeavor which produces set of deliverables within the specified time, cost and quality constraints (Jason W 2003).
In this context setting up the plant for the production of bottled water is the project. The timeframe of the setting up the plant is decided by the engineers together with the proprietor is 18 months. Since it is a consumer product, UAI needs to obtain several approvals from different government bodies. The cost of the project is INR 5 Million and additionally 10% of the cost is budgeted for uncertainties. A project has several characteristics. According to Nagarajan (2004) the following characteristics are identified Table 1. Characteristics
Applicable at UAI
Objectives
Project has set of objectives. Once the objectives are achived the project will consider as completed. According to UAI, obtaining the approval for starting the production of bottling water, building the factory premises and installation of purifiers are the main objectives. Life cycle
Project has a life cyle. The main stages are conception stage, design stage, implementation stage and commission stage. UAI proprietor is basically an engineer specialized in Electronics and Instrumentation and was working for a bottled water company for 4 years. He came with an idea of starting a business b his own to cater the needs of his area residents. At the implementation stage the project implemented as per the design. At the designing stage the detailed procedure of project is developed with contribution of all professionals. UAI has implemented the design and reached the phase of completion. Project commissioning is assuring the implemented design is in order to start the operation. UAI is at commissioning stage, since the proprietor himself involved in the project process the commissioning has not taken much time. Definite time limit
The Term Paper on Conductivity Of Water Time That The Soil
Abstract This experiment was designed to explore nature of water as it pertains to conductivity. It can be shown that the conductivity of a substance is directly related to the amount of dissolved salts in the substance, as salts are ions. One contributor to water conductivity, therefore, is soil, as it contains many minerals and other substances which, when dissolved in water, form ions. The ...
Project has definite time limit and cannot continue for long time. As per UAI the expected timeframe is 18 months. The project has started in early
January 2012 and planned to complete in early July 2013. Uniqueness
Each project is unique even though it has some similarities. Bottling water project is similar to other bottled water projects but the organization, infrastructure, technical specifications and the people behind the projects are different. Teamwork
Projects include various areas operations. Coordination between the operations is important to complete the projects. A team is formed which include civil engineer, micro biologist and an accountant. Complexity
Project is a complex set of activities in different areas. UAI has identified the supplier to supply the machineries with latest technology since the proprietor has experience in the same industries. the other professionals are well experienced in their work area. Subcontracting
Subcontracting reduces the complextity of the project. Since it’s a simple project, the subcontracting is not necessary in the context of UAI. Risk and uncertainty
Risk and uncertainty are major threat to the project. There is no project which is free from this. In the context of UAI, they have analysed environment thoroughly before doing the design. Customer specific nature
Project is customer specified nature because the product and servise produeced is customer oriented. UAI is also specified the wants of its customer and planned the project accordingly. Change
Change could be minor or major. Minor changes will affect little but the major changes will also collapse the project. UAI is exposed to the changes and altered the project accordingly to avoid the major impact in the future. Table
According to Wideman et al 2001 the project technology characteristics are Type A – low tech, Type B – medium tech, Type C – High tech and Type D – super high tech. UAI is a medium technology used concern where he technology used in the operation is already designed with slight new modification.
2. Scope definition and management
According to Thimothy K 2009 scope is detailed description of the project and product. It comprises the combination of end products of the project and the work required to produce them (AIPM 1996).
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What is involved in project scope management, and why is good project scope management so important on information technology projects? Scope refers to all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processed used to create them. Project scope management includes scope planning, scope definition, WBS creation, scope verification, and scope control. ...
The scope of the project is final outcome, temporary work necessary to achieve the final output and process. UAI final outcome is set up the plant, the temporary work is constructing the building and installation of plant and processes are shown in figure 1. As per UAI project is setting up the bottling water planter and the end product is manufacturing of bottled water. The work flow of the setting up bottled water plant is shown in figure 1.
Figure
Scope management is defining and determining what work to be done (Saladis et al 2011).
According PMI 2004 the management of project scope has following processes. Scope planning
The output of this is scope management plan. It includes the process, rules and regulations to be followed, team structure, long term objective at implementation stage (Paul et al 2006).
According to UAI, the plan of the process is decided by the proprietor, civil engineer together with the plant suppliers. Since initial paperwork has to be completed by the owner, it was discussed and decided with an accountant and business consultant.
Scope definition
This is very important to the success of the project. It improves the accuracy of the time cost and resources. It gives basis for performance measurement and project control. It includes the analysing the products, finding alternatives to get the work done, analyzing and understanding the stakeholders’ needs and use experts’ judgments . The output of this is the scope statement (Katy S 2006).
UAI consulted and business consultant and obtained advice for starting the plant with the use of minimum resources. Product in this context is bottled water. It was decided to supply 20 ltr cans 2 ltr, 1 ltr and 1/2ltr pet bottles.
Create WBS
The most helpful tool for complete all of project tasks is Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) (Lewis et al 2006).
The project can subdivided into achievable small tasks which cannot be dividing further. It will further help to estimate the cost of the task and time will take complete. Since installing a plant sounds huge but it is a simple production process. Also the professionals who are involved In that projects have long standing relationship with proprietor, the work breakdown structure is not clearly created.
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The project scope for the Gauchito rocket will be defined by the project charter and preliminary scope statement as well as the scope management plan and all approved change requests. The work breakdown structure presents the project deliverables in a hierarchical manner and the definition will include the completed work breakdown structure down to the work package level. The work breakdown ...
Scope verification
Scope verification is the acceptance by customer that works results agreed in scope statement, WBS and project plan (Robert K 2004).
It signals the closure of the project. As per UAI the proprietor is personally involved in set up the plant, the work done by the other professional are checked by him immediately and verified. And any discrepancies arose from the project plan, they were rectified immediately.
Scope control
This is to ensure the work identified in the scope is delivered and the scope creep is avoided. To achieve this results are compared against the scope baseline. This prevents scope change request and ensure that all changes are handled effectively.
3. Issues analysis of the project
Issues exist at the initiation stage of UAI will provide basis for any environmental assessment. In the life cycle of a project almost always unexpected problems and questions crop up. According to Tuner 1988 issue is a developing trend in the firm’s environment and which has potential in the foreseeable future to impact on a substantial, part of business and affect the achievement of its long term goals. Tuner further proposes that each issue has a life cycle which is give table 2. Pre Problem: Not recognised by public at large;
Alarmed Discovery: Euphoric enthusiasm for discovery of a solution;
Realisation: The cost of significant progress is high;
Decline: Possible displacement by another issue;
Post Problem: Issue fading but revival still possible.
The following issues are identified suitable assumptions are made. Issues identified
Assumptions made
Many players are in the market.
Since most of the households depend on bottle water the demand for the product is high. Therefore can cater the market Local person can start the business.
UAI has an advantage that the land is owned by the proprietor where the spring suitable for bottling water. Therefore the cost on purchase of land is avoided. Not all residents are using bottled water
Since the land cost is not involved the cost of a bottle is much cheaper than the other products and also the manufacturing unit is in the heart of city which also reduces the transportation cost. These will lead to reduction in the price of a bottle. Delay in getting approvals
The Essay on Project Management 23
Project management has evolved from the ‘accidental profession’ of years ago – when no one actually planned to become a project manager, but just happened into the position – to a profession based on formalized bodies of knowledge, i. e. it has now become a discipline. As a profession, it has changed through the years and has produced many good project managers who have risen to higher levels, ...
Obtaining approvals are going hand in hand. Since proprietor has contacts with the local officers will help to speed up the government approvals. Protest by the farmers for dig bore well and use the ground water. Environmental clearances obtained from the relevant bodies to carry out the project without harming the water resource. Many substitutes available
People are becoming health conscious. They prefer to have water than aerated water. Table 3
Environment impact assessment is necessary for projects like bottling water to satisfy the local authorities. A comprehensive study of environmental factors which would be affected by the proposed project is needed to analysed and such factors are financial, social, political, legal issues. According ANZECC 1991, environment impact assessment is a process of orderly and systematic evaluation of a proposal including its alternatives and objectives and its effect on the environment. Since UAI is going to enter into a project where to use the ground water as raw material, the impact on environment is high. Therefore an assessment is essential to carried out by the owner.
4. Financial analysis of UAI
Cost benefit analysis is compares the project costs with benefits. According to UAI, the cost is project cost involved in setting up the plant, where the benefit is the profit. The production detail are given in the below table 4 Table 4
The table 4 explains if the plant operates in full capacity, it will produce 7.4 million liters of water. The annual expected sale is INR 26 Million.
Table 5
Table 5 shows the cost of the cans, bottles, bottle caps, carton boxes, box wrappers and the labels. The cost of those will cost INR 18 Million per annum. The table 6 given below shows the monthly expenditure of the production.
5. Conclusion
UAI is involved in setting up a plant to produce bottled water and supply to Kanyakumari and its suburbs. They have defined the scope of the project clearly but the planning is not properly done. This business involves high level environment impact and need to obtain several approvals from the government authorities. Obtaining approvals required more time and not an over the counter job. The requirements stated by the government bodies need to be fulfilled before submitting the applications. Some government bodies are very much corrupted by bribes, UAI may need to spend lot of money on that too. The miscellaneous expenses are not provided sufficiently in their cash flow. They have to concentrate more in the environmental assessment and the changes which may arise in political and social environment. 6. Recommendation
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In any project, there should be proper management of the project to be successful. Different projects have different fulfillment conditions, and in our case, it is not spared. Construction of the road requires a great deal of designing and application of various guidelines to make it fulfill the requirements and suite future generations, and their relevant application plus its effects to the ...
It is advisable for them to develop a detailed scope plan with the impact of social and political environment. They must consider the environmental changes which will take place once the production is started and account for the unexpected expenses related to them in their cash flow. If they do not consider, which will lead to cost overrun and sometimes stop the operations. They need to create WBS in the project which can help the to identify the maximum possible cost and the time required. The proprietor is trusted his knowledge and experience but better he must get advice from an entrepreneur to run a business successfully. Also it is recommended to obtain the relevant approvals from the government before the construction and installation of the plant. If they fail to obtain the approvals, then the project will come to a hault.
7. List of references
Jason W (2003).
Project Management Guide book. USA: Method123 Ltd. Nagarajan K (2004).
Project Management . 2nd ed. New Delhi: New Age International Pvt Ltd. Timothy K (2009).
Contemporary Project Management. 2nd ed. USA: South Western. Wideman, RM & Shenhar, AJ 2001, ‘Professional and personal development management: a practical approach to education and training’, in J Knutson (ed.), Project management for business professionals: a comprehensive guide, John Wiley & Sons, NY. AIPM 1996, Australian national competency standards, Australian Institute of Project Management, Yeronga, Australia. PMI. (2004).
A guide to the project management body of knowledge. PA, US: Project Management Institute. Saladis, Frank P.Kerzner, Harold; Saladis. Bringing the PMBOK Guide to Life : A Companion for the Practicing Project Manager. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley, 2011 Paul C. Dinsmore, Jeanette C. B (2006).
The AMA handbook of project management. 2nd ed. USA: Library of Congress Catologing – in Publication Data. Kathy S (2006).
Introduction to Project Management. USA: Course Technology. Robert K. W (2004).
Project management process improvement. USA: Artech House Inc. Heagney J (2011).
Fundamentals of Project Management. 4th ed. USA: AMACOM Books. University of Southern Queensland. (2010).
MGT 8022 Project Management Framework. In Study Book. Queensland: University of Southern Queensland. Lewis, J P. Fundamentals of Project Management (3rd Edition) Saranac Lake, NY, USA: AMACOM Books, 2006.
