Project Delivery Approaches for a Remote Community in Northern Territory
Verified
Added on 2023/06/13
|16
|5577
|468
AI Summary
This project aims to provide nutritious food to the community people at affordable prices in a remote community in Northern Territory. The article discusses the strategic alignment, benefits, scope, delivery approach, stakeholders, and change management.
Contribute Materials
Your contribution can guide someone’s learning journey. Share your
documents today.
ASSESSMENT COVERSHEET ENGG5812: Project Delivery Approaches Your assignments must be submitted as eitherWord documents, text documents with .rtf extension or as .pdf documents. Assignment Number: Assignment Title: Student Name: Student ID No: Due date: Date submitted: NOTE: All students must have completed the Academic Honesty Survey.
Secure Best Marks with AI Grader
Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
ENGG5812 Assignment 3 Part 1: Agile Questions 1.What is servant leadership and what does it have to do with agile? Servant leadership refers to the servant like approach of a leader, rather the latter tries to generate trust among employees. They hold themselves accountable to the team members. Power is distributed and shared with the team. They do initiate actions but methodically. Such a leader will understand the importance of making others participate in the activities of the organization and treat them equal or at par with his position. In such cases leaders become quite popular in the team as they want to ensure the team members’ needs are in top priority. They emphasize mainly on the well being and development of team members and their community. Such leaders do not depend on any single leadership style or approach, rather the latter will vary according to situations and the environment. Such a role of a servant leader is quite relevant in case of an Agile environment. Here the objective is to optimize utilities of the team, but it will not signify that such a leader avoids his role of a leader or gives away all his responsibilities to the team. If the team members are quite efficient then the servant leader can move to the role of a facilitator (Moreira, 2017). In such case, leader needs to just fill up the gaps. Otherwise the leader needs to play an active role of leadership. Since an Agile organization is not essentially plan driven, therefore such a leader is quite suited for the same. Servant leader will also mould his strategies as per needs and situations. This is of prime importance to Agile set up. 2.Explain what cadence means in an agile project. Cadence refers to music and rhythm. So cadence in a business will signify the regularity of something that happens on schedule. Agile organizations has everything for a fixed duration. The waterfall model is a sequential design process where the process will flow steadily across different phases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, production/implementation and maintenance. So it has a directional approach. Cadence is more is more in line with waterfall approach. In a project management plan, cadence ensures planning and meeting milestones. In case of an agile framework, cadence refers to the development cycle of the team (Leffingwell, 2010). Factors like criticality, risk and type of projects determine the cadence selected by a business. When the cycle of planning, progressing and retrospecting is customized for feedback, shorter cycle leads to faster cadence and feedback. Feedback is an important component of any project because it leads to lowering of risks. Therefore a faster cadence can help reducing risk since it brings down the time taken to gather feedback. Projects involving heavy engineering works usually have slower cadences. In an agile project which can determine project failure much earlier than the deadline, a shorter cadence is more applicable. The cadence might not have fixed intervals but need to be altered as per the needs of a particular project and situation.
3.What is the relationship between Lean & Kanban Methods? Lean methods of production originated in Japan when a renowned Japanese motor corporation Toyota had to improve its system of product delivery. Lean system refers to an agile methodology. The idea is to avoid waste and defects and trying to detect any problem in the initial stages of a business project. Any process or change which cannot have positive impact on the functioning of the final software in positive direction may be called a waste in case of Lean method. Kanban method of production was also an invention of Toyota Corporation and came up around 40s. Kanban does not attempt to eliminate wastes, rather it helps in optimizing the process of a business project by adjusting supply of raw materials. Earlier it was used in software development just like Lean methods, while both the methods are now used in Agile environment. Kanban teams try to visualize workflow. This is important for increasing the speed of their work. The Kanban cycle has only one cycle. It does not have any separate plan. The Kanban tool helps improve lead time and cycle time. This method helps in achieving adequate access to workflow with the help of Kanban Tool online service. Team communication may be improved with Kanban card comments, checklists, etc. Kanban tool ensures that the process remains flexible and can be changed and improved with ease. When the team is more focussed with application of Work in Progress limits, there is little or no slip-ups and time spent on communication is saved (Stellman and Greene, 2014). Hence productivity improves. So both will apply to agile setting. Kanban is a method which takes precautions even before receiving feedbacks. 4.What are at least 5 factors to consider when deciding if an agile approach is going to suit a project? Suitability is a scale which signify an ideal condition. The key factors affecting suitability of a project are related to contingency issues. They include limitations of agile methods and ability of an organization to deal with agility or adapt to changes. Cultural values and individual abilities determine the second key factor. Motivation and adequate training of workforce is the other factor determining suitability of an agile approach. An agile method is better when the organization needs the same. It might not always be better for all firms. The five themes governing contingency factors are uncertainty, complexity, team empowerment, criticality and urgency. When all these factors are present, one may say that agility is suitable for a project or business. If there is a project which needs to be completed without much waste and defects, involving high costs, there agile is essential. Suitability will be determined by readiness of the workforce to get fitted in such an environment. Organizational cultures are determined by effective leadership (Dijk, 2010). So if there is a servant leadership style in the organization agile is more likely to be suited. The team needs to be adequately trained for being flexible in their approach and be focussed absolutely. It is essential to determine whether certain waste minimizing tools are being used there. References Dijk, R.W. (2011). Determining the Suitability of Agile Methods for a Software Project, Retrieved from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1b1e/0dc84cfb8e1e4e67a208403d75f941541851.pdf Leffingwell, D. (2010).Agile Software Requirements, Addison-Wesley Professional Moreira, M.M. (2017).The Agile Enterprise, Apress Stellman,A. and J. Greene (2014).Learning Agile, O’Reilly Media Inc.
Part 2: Project Delivery Plan Project Title: SCENARIO: Provide the scenario you are using for this for this options paper. This may come from the assignment guide or may be one you have proposed. This section is not assessed and is not part of your word count. A remote community in the Northern Territory becomes isolated for at least a week after only moderate rain fall. They lose communication, no access to food or medical supplies and are not able to move cattle stock to fresh feeding grounds. Deliver a project that addresses both the immediate issues and greatly reduces the likelihood of it occurring so frequently in the future.
Paraphrase This Document
Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
TABLEOFCONTENTS ASSESSMENT COVERSHEET.......................................................................................................1 1Introduction...............................................................................................................................5 1.1Background........................................................................................................................5 1.2Purpose or Problem...........................................................................................................5 2Project Overview.......................................................................................................................5 2.1Strategic Alignment............................................................................................................5 2.2Benefits..............................................................................................................................6 2.2.1Intended Benefits........................................................................................................6 2.2.2Disbenefits or Negative Outcomes..............................................................................7 2.3Scope.................................................................................................................................7 2.3.1In Scope......................................................................................................................7 2.3.2Out of Scope...............................................................................................................7 2.4Deliverables.......................................................................................................................8 3Delivery Approach.....................................................................................................................8 3.1Overview of Delivery Approach..........................................................................................8 3.1.1Rationale for this approach.........................................................................................8 3.1.2Key challenges (risks) for this approach.....................................................................8 3.1.3Brief discussion of excluded approaches....................................................................9 3.2Governance Approach.......................................................................................................9 3.3Procurement Approach......................................................................................................9 3.4Development Approach......................................................................................................9 3.5Deployment Approach......................................................................................................11 3.6Human Resource Management.......................................................................................11 3.7Milestones........................................................................................................................11 4Stakeholders and Change.......................................................................................................12 4.1Key Stakeholders.............................................................................................................12 4.2Organisational Change Management...............................................................................12 4.2.1Areas of Impact.........................................................................................................12 4.2.2Change Management Approach...............................................................................12 5Conclusion..............................................................................................................................13 5.1Summary.........................................................................................................................13 5.2Recommendations for the Steering Committee / Sponsor................................................13
1INTRODUCTION In remote areas, food security becomes a common phenomenon especially after climatic disasters. Food security is hampered when food access becomes hindered or uncertain. In these areas major factors that determine food insecurity are lack of hygienic food, and high cost of available food due to increased freight charges arising from difficulty to dispatch food and medicines to remote areas where there may be infrastructural and transportation problems. Moreover, lack of nutrition awareness and skills enhance such crisis (Godrich et al., 2017). Keeping all these in view, this project will focus on opening a food outlet on temporary basis (six months for instance) as a trial project to attempt to eradicate the current crisis. 1.1BACKGROUND The current project concerns a food and medicine delivery outlet that will be temporarily installed for a remote community in the Northern Territory. The purpose is to help this small but needy population to get the basic amenities from which they are cut off after moderate rainfall. Further, we will be providing them with low cost fruits, vegetables, soft drinks and water to ensure that the residents of the remote Northern Territory get their basic needs fulfilled. 1.2PURPOSEORPROBLEM The purpose of the project is to provide nutritious food to the community people at affordable price. 2PROJECTOVERVIEW 2.1STRATEGICALIGNMENT Although this will be a temporary or more precisely a six month project, it is necessary that there is alignment of all the activities, processes and people involved. A strategic alignment is necessary to ensure that the set goals and objectives are duly conquered. Some simple yet elaborate steps need to be taken like not faltering from the mission and vision of this project, and to maintain a regular monitoring and assessment of performance level. The mission of this project is to provide adequate food, water and medicines to the people in the remote area of Northern Territory so that they do not remain deprived of these basic necessities due to adverse climatic conditions. As per our mission, our customers are members of a specific community and hence a set group of population. We have our principles to provide food and medicines at low cost and for this we have to tie up with certain NGOs or charitable institutions that have common goal and purpose like our venture. Our task is to make strategies that will align with our mission, i.e. since we will be setting
up our stalls in a remote area and to a specific community, therefore our sales will be over the counter in the stalls rather than over the internet. 2.2BENEFITS 2.2.1Intended Benefits The primary benefits of this project are summarized in the following table: Benefit DescriptionFinancial $/ Non-FinancialBaseline for Assessment TimelineAnticipated Benefit Owner Rent of space In remote areas cost of land can be cheaper compared to that in larger cites. Moreover, since food outlets will be opened for a temporary period, the issue is to rent a space and rent will be low and this can help to keep the price of food and medicines low. Food that is already available in this area is not sufficient to feed the entire residential community. Moreover, there is lack of hygienic measures added by lack of knowledge among the people. The current project is planned so that the food outlets will remain open for six months. The goal is to provide nutritious food and medicines and at the same time establish business ground for food chain owners to establish their own restaurants, The benefit owners will be the members of the community that live in this remote area. Since they are deprived of their basic amenities, the purpose of this project will be to serve this population and eradicate current crisis that they are facing. Lack of competition This will be a major contributing factor for keeping the price of food and medicines low. Since, our project is focusing on this area we are planning to open multiple outlets to cater the population residing in this area. So far, there has been no consistent delivery system of food and medicine supply in this area. Our goal is to provide uninterrupted supply of basic amenities with help from NGOs and other food chains that can make it part of their CSR program. Six months, as of the current project plan. Here, the benefit owner will be the individuals who will be taking franchisee from food chains to open food and medicine stalls in the remote area Food deserts People living in this area will prefer to buy their necessities from our outlets since these will be in their vicinity. In remote areas, grocery stores are mostly not available in the immediate vicinity. Mostly the people have to depend on small convenience stores for groceries Six months The benefit owners will be both community members and the owner of the outlets. The people in this area will get affordable food and medicines in their vicinity and thus will boost sales which will be benefit for the owners. Advertising costsSince there will be very low advertising costs it will be possible to earn more net income from operations at the end of the six months. There will be very little advertising costs since the target customers consist of a specific community of people Six monthsThe benefit owner will be the owner of the outlets since low advertisement costs means increased
Secure Best Marks with AI Grader
Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
living in a specific area. Pamphlets will be distributed among the people living here with details about the outlets so that they will get to know about the stores that will be opened in their area. revenue 2.2.2Disbenefits or Negative Outcomes Food costs – in remote areas transportation costs can be high. This can result in the cost of food rise as high as 200 percent compared to that in metropolitian cities. Environmental issues – adverse climatic conditions can cause disruption in freight service, and this may reduce availability in the outlets. Motivation and retention – employee motivation and retention can be a challenge since living in a remote area has various shortcomings of a normal life. Lack of city facilities in remote areas and even sometimes network problems can cause employees difficulties in maintaining contact with families and friends living in cities. All these can lead to poor performance and later losing them can make the project suffer. 2.3SCOPE 2.3.1In Scope In Scope Research – an important part of the project is research. It is important to study the lifestyle, culture, economy, and social status of the community residing in the remote area. Moreover, research needs to be done on the hygiene awareness of the population so as to provide them with organic food at reasonable price. Deciding on cuisine – Since people here are suffering from lack of healthy food so emphasis should be on food nutritious value. Raw fish can be fried and served. This will need less resources and will have high nutrition value. Children and women – children and adolescents need food with protein, calcium for their proper physical development. Therefore, menu should contain preparations having fish, meat, eggs and milk. Ordering food – since the owners already have a chain of restaurants in the city therefore food can come from the in-house. This ensures fresh and hygienic food. Setting table – tables can be set in the way so that a substantial number of people can book seats at the same time. 2.3.2Out of Scope Out of Scope Drinks – while soft drinks can be entertained in our outlets in this remote area as this will satisfy the thirst of people, alcohols will not be of much use here. People here will want to buy only what will satisfy their basic hunger.
Dessert – dessert is considered as luxury food as that is not included in the main meal. Dessert like sweets or ice-cream can be maintained only if associated cost is low. People in this remote area will be interested in dessert only if price is low. Prohibited items – not any kind of food will be viable for this project. The people in this area are having lack of food and medicines and other basic amenities. Therefore, fast food like burgers, pizzas and other high cost foods will hardly have any demand as the need will be basic food items. Plan for leftovers – there needs to be proper strategy with regard to leftovers. Like in any regular restaurants, it is possible that we will be having plenty of food uneaten everyday. Food wastage is a big problem in any country. According to a 2012 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Americans throw away nearly half their food, amounting to $165 billion wasted annually (Myers, 2014). 2.4DELIVERABLES Customers –tasks include tasting of foodMeals –tasks include studying local tastes, planning menus, and creating recipies 3DELIVERYAPPROACH 3.1OVERVIEWOFDELIVERYAPPROACH Since we already have grocery shops and restaurants in the city, we emphasize on selling organic food. Today, demand for organic food is increasing worldwide because of growing awareness among consumers regarding environment, food quality and safety benefits (Cooper et al., 2007, p.1). We buy fruits and vegetable directly from farmers whose farming process we regularly monitor. For this project, we can offer fruits and vegetables that are free from chemicals. This can prove to be lucrative and also in the process we can educate the people in the areas about the importance of organic food and health hazards of not having proper food and medicines. Moreover, we can create awareness among these people about the health risks of taking food that are not free from pesticides and chemical fertilizers. As part of our project we can also distribute booklets that will contain information about nutrition and significance of organic food. 3.1.1Rationale for this approach According to the World Food Summit of 1996, food security is “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life” (WHO, 2013). In other words, the policy of food security is that every person in this world can avail of nutritious food that will be easily accessible. The food should meet the dietary requirements and food preferences of people across the globe. Today, food insecurity is a common problem in every country and health problems like malnutrition and diarrhea have become matters of concern in most countries. There are three elements that support the mechanism of food security and they are availability, accessibility and nutrition. This means food should be available in every convenient place and at low cost, people should have sufficient resources to buy their preferred food items, and people should be properly educated about nutrition and health problems that can arise from intake of improper food
(World Bank, 2009, p.14). All the three elements of food security that are mentioned here are lacking in this remote area. There is scarce availability of nutritious food. Therefore, we will be providing the residents of this area fresh food and vegetables as well as other organic food keeping in view their limited resources to buy food and also their limited knowledge about nutrition. Since we will be opening food and medicine outlets in a remote area, here facilities will not be of same level as in the cities. Therefore, our focus will be to provide them fresh and organic food at low cost. 3.1.2Key challenges (risks) for this approach The main challenge of this project can be delivery process. Since it is a remote region therefore it is expected that infrastructure and transport system will not be well developed. Hence, suppliers of food items will find it difficult to dispatch their goods. This will create further challenge of keeping the transportation cost low which means operational costs will be high. Since the goal of this project is to serve the local people and profit is not the major objective therefore high costs can limit the tenure of this project. 3.1.3Brief discussion of excluded approaches Fast food like burgers and pizzas will not be available in these outlets as they will not serve the purpose of this project. Media advertising is not needed since the need is to embrace local community. Distributing pamphlets will do while inviting everyone to grand opening of the outlets. Customer segmentation not needed as there can be a common approach to cater the local community. 3.2GOVERNANCEAPPROACH This will be a single project and it will be a franchisee of a running restaurant in a big city. Since several outlets will be opened by a single franchisee, they will carry a single name “Cafe Base”. All major decisions will be taken by the franchisee owner although daily operations will be supervised by managers. For each outlet, there will be manager whose responsibility will be to ensure smooth running of this project keeping in consideration utmost convenience of the local people in this remote area. 3.3PROCUREMENTAPPROACH “Cafe Base” will depend on mainly organic food suppliers who also supply food for the parent restaurant in the city. Since farmers producing organic food will be the suppliers there will be on large food distributors. Moreover, these outlets will use a contact that will serve as a low-tie vendor. This vendor will works directly with the farmers in order to elongate food supply chain viability while still achieving a local purchasing objective. Since everything will be organic therefore there will be minimum health risk hazards. However, supply chain can be vulnerable to many risks since transporting food items to remote area where infrastructure is not strong can be a difficult process. Since food costs also fluctuate, therefore there is also the challenge of
Paraphrase This Document
Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
maintaining a consistent food price for the community people during the entire tenure of the project. 3.4DEVELOPMENTAPPROACH Development approach Know your customer –the most important step is to know the customers that we are going to serve. Here the people living in this remote area will probably have similar choices as far as food is concerned. For this project, the main goal will be to provide maximum satisfaction to customers. Build delivery channels –investments for this project can come from restaurant owners as part of their CSR program. Other organizations that emphasize on serving people in remote areas or in rural areas where basic amenities are sufficiently available can also help with financial aspect of the project. Understand your technological opportunities –online food service will not be viable for this project since there will be limited number of customers in a specific region. More convenient way will be people booking tables over the phone, and since we are opening a number of outlets therefore seats availability will probably not be a problem. Invest in people –it is necessary to choose the right kind of people as employees in the outlets. They need to be adequately trained so that they can work in remote areas in adverse conditions. Their salary will also be lower compared to the salaries in the restaurants situated in cities. Commit to service innovation –a service innovation program needs to be in place that will continuously review and update service
techniques. Since employees will have to deal with customers who may have physical problems due to long alienation from proper food service, they need to be treated with empathy. Keep this project open to a broader set of partners, stakeholders and networks –we can ask for financial assistance as well as consultation from not only citizens but also non-profit organizations and also private sector organizations who can bring fresh perspectives to service delivery solutions. Suppliers of food will be motivated to ensure supply of fresh ingredients in timely manner. We have set our goals as follows: To provide food and medicines to every person in this remote region at affordable cost The food will be have nutritious value considering this can be achieved as every food will be organic We plan to ensure customer satisfaction through a mechanism. This is necessary to understand the perspective of local communities in remote areas. Such information can be handy for any future projects that will be development for meeting all needs of these people. To sell food and drinks which are delicious, fresh and have nutritious value. The focus is on good quality and health factor. To ensure a good and healthy environment for our customers such that they will encourage them to trust any future projects that can be developed here. In near future, if permanent chain of restaurants can be opened then this project’s success can play a big role in convincing the local people of the need of having only organic food.
To appoint knowledgeable and well knownchef The ones who own the franchisee have to look at the betterment of the business. The prime consideration will be the quality of food and service. The staff needs to give useful advice to the customers and help them make the right choice. The staffs need to be properly trained and have good knowledge about the nutritious value of the food items available. The food items will be provided at affordable cost and the idea is to provide exceptional experience with food to the customers. Deployment Approach The benefits of planning ahead for a project are indisputable. When implemented correctly, seamless operations can be ensured which can bring better results and fulfilment of the project’s objectives. This will be a big bang strategy for implementing planning. Big bang strategy is “implementing the release all at one time for all locations and users” (Howard, 2016, p.16). The project will initiate, i.e. a number of outlets will be opened in this remote area within one week. The entire planning process will be completed by then and our technical experts will ensure that implantation of all plans can be effectively implemented for smooth running of daily operations. 3.5HUMANRESOURCEMANAGEMENT Each outlet will have a manager who will supervise daily operations. Our HR team’s major responsibility will be to recruit the right people for working in the outlets. Since customers will visit the outlets for a pleasant and healthy experience, personnel should be able to provide them a comfortable environment. Since each customer will need attention so every employee should be able to present them positive emotions. 3.6MILESTONES Gnatt chart Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5 Planning Survey the region Define the full scope of the project Study the current community
Secure Best Marks with AI Grader
Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
people Create proposal for manageme nt 4STAKEHOLDERSANDCHANGE 4.1KEYSTAKEHOLDERS Franchisee owner will earn all the profits of this project. Although the main objective is service to people rather than making profit, nevertheless with efficient management and cost effective measures there is possible of earning significant profit. Other stakeholders will be customers who will be benefitted by this project as food scarcity will be solved, and the employees who will be recruited for the entire tenure of this project. The success of the project is necessary for them since if the project fails before six months then they will lose their jobs sooner than their expectations. 4.2ORGANISATIONALCHANGEMANAGEMENT 4.2.1Areas of Impact In order to set up food outlets in a remote region, agile principle can be applied to organizational management. Agile principle allows a company to thrive in challenging environment since it can fast identify threats and opportunities that helps in implementation of plans (Holbeche, 2015, p.10). Several changes can be made like training current employees or recruiting new employees so that they can adopt in the new environment. Training should focus on making the employees learn about the brand image of our company and the key objectives of the current project, so that they can be brand advocates with the customers. Considering the size of the community, we have to make space planning after deciding the number of people that will be seated in one batch, and also the size of tables and chairs that will accommodate the guests. 4.2.2Change Management Approach “Cafe Base” outlets will have its own management system.
5CONCLUSION 5.1SUMMARY The project is about opening food outlets in a remote area in Northern Territory where people are suffering from shortage of food and medicine supplies. The idea is to provide them with these basic amenities at low cost. Through this project we will also create awareness among the people of the community about the importance of having fresh and nutritious food. 5.2RECOMMENDATIONSFORTHESTEERINGCOMMITTEE/ SPONSOR Sponsors can be a significant source of finance and so they should study the project and make investments keeping in mind the altruistic aspect of this project. Investing in this project will enhance the image of the sponsorship company. Moreover, if this project becomes successful then it can open avenues for other business opportunities for small entrepreneurs like setting up health and nutrition center since one of the objectives of this project is to educate the community about health and nutrition. References Cooper, J., Leifert, C. & Niggli, U. (2007).Handbook of organic food safety and quality, Elsevier Godrich,S.L.,Davies,C.R.,Darby,J.&Devine,A.(2017).Whatarethe determinantsoffoodsecurityamongregionalandremoteWestern Australian children?Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 41(2), 172-177
Holbeche,L.(2015).TheAgileOrganization:Howtobuildaninnovative, sustainable and resilient business, Kogan Page Publishers Howard, D. (2016).IT Release Management: A Hands-on Guide, CRC Press Myers, D. (2014). What do restaurants do with leftover food?The Daily Meal, Availableat:https://www.thedailymeal.com/what-do-restaurants-do- leftover-food/52914 World Bank (2009).Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook, World Bank Publications