Project Management Concepts and Practices

This assignment delves into the core principles of project management. It examines various methodologies, tools, and techniques used throughout the project lifecycle. The focus is on understanding key concepts like planning, scheduling, risk management, communication, and stakeholder engagement. The text provides insights into different approaches to project management, including traditional, agile, and hybrid methods.

Running head: DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
Development of Information System for Managing Large Set of Data in Woolworths Limited
Name of the student:
Name of the university:

1DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Brief description of the organization.....................................................................................2
1.2 Outline of the project objective.............................................................................................3
1.3 Importance of the project in the organization........................................................................3
1.4 Detail overview and analysis of the use of relevant project management concept, tools and
techniques for demonstrating knowledge....................................................................................5
1.4.1 Project management Tools.............................................................................................6
1.4.2 Project management Technologies.................................................................................7
2. Project planning schedule............................................................................................................8
2.1 Project resources..................................................................................................................13
2.2 Project cost management details..........................................................................................14
2.3 Detail of the project proposal..............................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................18

2DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
1. Introduction
This report depicts the importance of developing Information System for a business
organization called Woolworths Limited. Information systems will help the company to gain
competitive advantages and measurable structural revenue. With the incrimination of
technologies, the chances of error occurrence are also increasing. These errors are strictly needed
to be mitigated. To resolve these issues, it has become necessary for the business organization to
implement an Information System for large a set of data management.
Woolworths Limited is serving different operational excellence to their consumers.
Operational excellence has been able to enhance the number of consumers. With the increase of
employee information and consumer details, the process of information management is
becoming complex. To access the consumer details, data authentication is important. Due to
inadequate management approaches, the company was facing many issues. Based on the
requirement of the project, proper time and project schedule is developed in this report. The tools
and techniques that are needed for demonstrating the project details are also elaborated in this
report.
1.1 Brief description of the organization
Woolworths Limited is one of the major Australian retail companies which serve their
business operation throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is a public type company that was
founded in the year of 1924, headquartered in Belle Vista, New South Wales, Australia. The
business is willing to build an integrated service experience for their consumers. Woolworths
Group has more than 3,000 stores which hire more than 205,000 employees for serving more
than 29 Million of consumers. The main aim of Woolworths Limited is to serve the best quality,

3DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
high level user-friendly service to the consumers with proper customer values. Woolworths is a
trusted brand which is partnered with thousands of manufacturers and farmers. The goal of the
company is to give the consumers highest level priority. It helps to build good relation with the
customers and maintain the cultural norms of the company. In addition to this, it helps to
generate sustainable sales momentum in their food delivery service. With their end processes and
system excellence, it has become one of the lean retailers of Australia. For providing the most
measurable values to the stakeholders, the company is willing to empower their business
regarding pursuing different high level strategies. The company resolves to deliver hard work
and integrity. The business outline of the company is completely focused towards their
consumers and their requirements. Three leading ideas of the company are illustrated below:
 The freedom to share the point of view of all the project team members and the project
manager
 To develop project brand values
 To deliver sustainable business frame and project outlines to the consumers
1.2 Outline of the project objective
The objectives set for this particular project are as follows:
 To develop a team with low cost and improve the processes
 To develop cohesive brand by updated and advanced product offerings
 To implement an Information system for enhancing the supermarket loyalty
program

4DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
1.3 Importance of the project in the organization
Operational excellence: To gain higher level business profitability the company should
improve their operational efficiency. For satisfying the consumers, the company should store
available stock of products so that they could get the desired products on expected time
regardless of their location.
Improved product service and business models: To develop new products and
services, Information System needs to be adopted by the company. New business models will
enhance the features of the products and help the customers to get useful information about the
products and items.
Customer relationship management: The Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
system is a type of information system that helps in increasing the revenue of the business
organization. Organizations will be able to enhance its operational efficiency by adopting and
implementing CRM.
Improvement in decision making: While making a proper decision for any business
organization it is necessary to use real time data. It would consume less time. To gain a
competitive advantage in the marketplace, proper business models and a strategic outline is
needed to be developed by the company.
Security: Security is an important aspect that is needed to be developed by any business
organization. If cloud based ERP system is implemented by the company, then the IS would be
able to provide three different components such as disaster recovery, application resilience and
information backup. In case of data management, if any information is lost from the server then

5DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
with the help of proper security policy, unauthorized users would not be able to access the
information without permission.
Sustainable survival: To deliver sustainable business outcome to the consumers, it is
important to store up-to-date business survival plan. It would help the project team members to
make the job responsibilities easier.
1.4 Detail overview and analysis of the use of relevant project management concept,
tools and techniques for demonstrating knowledge
The traditional information management system lacks many features that might affect the
organisational revenue model and organizational structure. In case of manual information
management, the employees have to access information manually. This is not a feasible process.
Therefore, it is beneficial for Woolworths Limited to develop an automated system which would
reduce the rate of human error and will also improve the business processes. Different project
management tools and technologies are used by the companies to deliver service and products as
per the requirement of the consumers. To meet the requirements of the consumers, proper tools
and project management technologies are needed to be adopted by the management authority.
It would help the project manager to gain effective project revenues and competitive
advantages. From the analytical diagnosis of Information System (IS) which is going to be
developed for Woolworths Limited, it is necessary for the company to adopt proper tools and
technologies. For the adoption of cloud based Information System (IS), it is necessary for the
company to divide the workload among the project team members. It would help the project
associates to earn competitive advantages and measurable revenue value from the market. The
tools associated with this project are discussed below.

6DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
1.4.1 Project management Tools
Project management is referred to as one of the most complex and challenging tasks that
assist the project manager to accomplish the task within estimated time and budget. Based on
the project style, the project manager should select the most suitable project management tool for
their business organization. Some of the companies need supporting software whereas some
other companies require manual software.
For this particular project, the two most suitable tools that are used are the Program
Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) chart and Gantt chart. For the available project
management software, these project management tools could be produced either annually or
commercially. PERT chart can be defined as a control and planning tool. Again interchangeably
both of these tools could be used by the project managers.
PERT chart: Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) helps to improve and
revise the project planning and activity scheduling approach. The required resources for the
evaluation of the project are also forecasted with the help of PERT chart. To simplify the project
processes, repetitive planning pattern must be used accordingly. For reflecting the dependencies
of the inter-projects and the limitation with project resources, the project activities could be
rescheduled with the help of the PERT chart application. Profitability could be gained after the
completion of the project; project completion time and specified date also become available with
the usage of PERT chart as a tool.
Gantt chart: Gantt chart is a tool that can be used to display the calendar time task
assignment in days, weeks or months. To show the project commencement and completion
details, a graphical representation can be shown with the help of the Gantt chart. Schedule time

7DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
and activity tasks can be visually and graphically represented with the help of Gantt chart. The
“what if” scenario is also developed easily with this tool and it promotes a clean and clear
communication approach to the project managers and project team members. An accurate
comparison between the planned schedule and project progress can be done. In addition to this,
for determining the risks associated with the project and resource allocation, a comparison
between multiple projects can be done with the project management approach. Gantt chart can be
considered to be a negotiation tool.
1.4.2 Project management Technologies
Project management technologies help the project manager to improve the performance
of the existing stakeholder and each project team members. After analysing the needs of
Woolworths Limited, the technologies, processes and skills that are selected are as follows:
Data backup and information redundancy: The most important software that is needed
by the project managers is the backup software. Regular backup of data will help the managers to
retrieve sensitive information in case of an emergency situation like a technical failure. For this
particular project, the backup storage is cloud storage and not any local server.
Communication: Communication skill is the most important skill that helps the project
manager and the project team members to share their perspectives with the other project team
members like the operation manager, application programming manager and the financial
manager. For this particular company, the chosen communication channels are emails and web
conferencing. Project team members face difficulty in sharing their thoughts and ideas with one
another. Regular meetings and group discussions will help to overcome the communication gap
that is prevailing in this company.

8DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
Diagramming: Flowcharts are used for presenting a diagrammatic representation of the
IS implementation. Woolworths Limited should use proper diagramming software to improve the
existing workflow and timing of the project. Microsoft Visio and OmniGraffle software are used
by most of the companies for flowchart representation.
PM platform: To design the project management task specifically, certain project
management platform is needed. This is a collection of different tools that help to manage the
project timing as well as scheduling.
2. Project planning schedule
WBS Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
0 Schedule development 269 days Tue 11/14/17 Fri 11/23/18
1 Project initiation 27 days Tue 11/14/17 Wed 12/20/17
1.1
Understanding
operational details of
Woolworths Limited
3 days Tue 11/14/17 Thu 11/16/17
1.2
Adoption of
Information System
4 days Fri 11/17/17 Wed 11/22/17 2
1.3 Feasibility study 5 days Thu 11/23/17 Wed 11/29/17 3
1.4 Understanding
details of project
12 days Thu 11/30/17 Fri 12/15/17 4

9DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
management tools and
technologies
1.5 Risk management 3 days Mon 12/18/17 Wed 12/20/17 5
2 Project planning 62 days Thu 12/21/17 Fri 3/16/18
2.1
Project risk
management plan
development
10 days Thu 12/21/17 Wed 1/3/18 6
2.2
Analysing new
products and service
details
14 days Thu 1/4/18 Tue 1/23/18 8
2.3
Implementation of
PERT chart
16 days Wed 1/24/18 Wed 2/14/18 9
2.4
Implementation of
Gantt chart
12 days Thu 2/15/18 Fri 3/2/18 10
2.5
Contract with the
cloud server
10 days Mon 3/5/18 Fri 3/16/18 11
3 Project execution 168 days Mon 3/19/18 Wed 11/7/18
3.1
Quality management
plan development
48 days Mon 3/19/18 Wed 5/23/18

10DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
3.1.3
Change
management policy
consideration
14 days Mon 4/23/18 Thu 5/10/18 5,9,16
3.1.1
Time management
implementation
15 days Mon 3/19/18 Fri 4/6/18 12
3.1.2
Cost management
planning
10 days Mon 4/9/18 Fri 4/20/18 15,4,12
3.1.4
Procurement
planning
9 days Fri 5/11/18 Wed 5/23/18 17
3.2
Field execution of
ERP based Information
System
69 days Thu 5/24/18 Tue 8/28/18
3.2.1
Development of
project maintenance plan
10 days Thu 5/24/18 Wed 6/6/18 18
3.2.2
Project
development
8 days Thu 6/7/18 Mon 6/18/18 20,17
3.2.3 Concept designing 6 days Tue 6/19/18 Tue 6/26/18 21
3.2.4
Hiring design
engineer
9 days Wed 6/27/18 Mon 7/9/18 22

11DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
3.2.5
Approaches
adoption for
10 days Tue 7/10/18 Mon 7/23/18 23,18
3.2.6
Protection or
privacy process adoption
12 days Tue 7/24/18 Wed 8/8/18 24
3.2.7 Project leverage 14 days Thu 8/9/18 Tue 8/28/18 25
3.3 Final evaluation 51 days Wed 8/29/18 Wed 11/7/18
3.3.1 IS testing 10 days Wed 8/29/18 Tue 9/11/18 22,26
3.3.2 Unit testing 15 days Wed 9/12/18 Tue 10/2/18 28
3.3.3 Integrated testing 12 days Wed 10/3/18 Thu 10/18/18 29
3.3.4
Competency
testing
14 days Fri 10/19/18 Wed 11/7/18 30
4 Project closure 12 days Thu 11/8/18 Fri 11/23/18
4.1 Stakeholders signoff 3 days Thu 11/8/18 Mon 11/12/18 31
4.2 Final documentation 4 days Tue 11/13/18 Fri 11/16/18 33
4.3
Post project
evaluation
5 days Mon 11/19/18 Fri 11/23/18 34

12DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
Figure 1: Gantt chart for the IS development project in Woolworths Limited
(Source: Created by author)

13DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
Figure 2: WBS for the IS development project in Woolworths Limited
(Source: Created by author)
2.1 Project resources
Resource
Name
Type Initials
Max.
Units
Std. Rate Ovt. Rate Cost/Use
Accrue
At
Base
Calendar

14DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
Project
manager
Work P 100% $20.00/hr $15.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard
Finance
manager
Work F 100% $18.00/hr $15.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard
Application
programming
manager
Work A 100% $18.00/hr $16.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard
Information
system
manager
Work I 100% $18.00/hr $15.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard
HR manager Work H 100% $20.00/hr $12.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard
operational
manager
Work O 100% $20.00/hr $16.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard
Members of IS
project team
Work M 100% $10.00/hr $5.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard
IS tester Work I 100% $15.00/hr $12.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard
IS developer Work I 100% $15.00/hr $12.00/hr $0.00 Prorated Standard

15DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
2.2 Project cost management details
To implement Information System (IS) in Woolworths Limited, Australia, proper cost
management approaches are needed to be made by the project manager and IT manager.

16DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
Figure 3: Cost details for the IS development project in Woolworths Limited
(Source: Created by author)

17DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
Cost management plan is referred to as a budget control approach that helps the project
head to predict impending expenditure for reducing the chances of over growing budget. Cost
management plan helps the manager to identify the cost allotted for each of the resources to
ensure that the expense to get approval before purchasing.
It is necessary for the project manager to ensure that, the rate of project investment lower
than the project outcome. On the other hand, if the project output is higher than the investment
then it would lead the project towards failure o loss. After the implementation of accurate cost
management plan, it would allow determining that the expense is adequate for the project and the
rate of extra expense is reduced.
2.3 Detail of the project proposal
The proposal for this particular project is completely dependent on the operational and
functional features of the Information System. Organizations are adopting information systems
for increasing their operational efficiency. Manual data management approaches are not feasible
in case of large sets of data. To manage large sets of data, the company needs to adopt an
automated system with online support and E-commerce business model. After analyzing the
operational details of this organization, it can be said that the implementation of IS regarding
ERP software is important. The reasons for which the ERP system has been proposed are as
follows:
 ERP system will be able to streamline the processes and integrate information
from various functional departments
 It will help to increase the competitive advantage
 It will increase the operational efficiency of the business

18DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
 It will help to enhance the collaborative power
 The cost required for implementing an ERP system will be less
 The scalability, mobility, flexibility and productivity will also be increased
Conclusion
From the overall discussion, it can be concluded that for managing a large set of data
implementation of Information System is highly required. Information systems will be able to
inter relate the sequential activities in an effective and proper manner. Based on the background
of the project, it can be said that different tools and technologies play a significant role in
enhancing the productivity of the company. For this particular project, the PERT chart and Gantt
chart tools are used. The technologies that are used for this project include data backup,
communication, and diagramming and PM platform. On the other hand, for reducing the project
workload from the project team members, a project schedule, resource list and cost management
details are also elaborated in this report. Woolworths Limited will be able to manage its costs
and resources by adopting Information System.

19DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
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