Understanding Project Management Concepts

This assignment delves into the fundamental concepts of project management. It examines various aspects, including project planning, scheduling, risk management, and strategies for achieving project success. The assignment utilizes a range of sources, such as books and online articles, to provide a comprehensive understanding of key project management principles.

Project Management
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
FIRST DELIVERABLE: FEASIBILITY STUDY..............................................................................3
Project overview..............................................................................................................................3
Statement of the problem.................................................................................................................4
Defining project goals and objectives..............................................................................................4
Defining project deliverables...........................................................................................................5
Creating work breakdown structure.................................................................................................6
Key personnel and resources...........................................................................................................6
Budget..............................................................................................................................................7
Risks................................................................................................................................................7
FINAL DELIVERABLE: PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN..........................................................9
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................9
Company background, mission statement for the new business and key performance indictors....9
Establishing performance goals and evaluation points for the new business implementation......10
Outline the project process and project evaluation........................................................................10
Personnel who implement and run the new business....................................................................11
Planning of basic resource allocation............................................................................................12
Preparing and analysing project budget.........................................................................................12
Project purpose breakdown............................................................................................................13
Communication plan......................................................................................................................14
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)...............................................................................................15
Project schedule.............................................................................................................................15
Risk management plan...................................................................................................................18
Design and prepare closure evaluation and reports.......................................................................19
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Final deliverable outline................................................................................................................20
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................22
3

INTRODUCTION
Every business person or entrepreneur wants to enhance the sales of his services and wants
be successful. To attain the business objectives in more successful manner, an organization needs a
very careful planning and management of work within the limited available resources. Project
Management is one of the very effective tools that assist the companies to optimize existing
resources and meet the business objectives. It defines the careful effort of planning and organizing
the work that aids in achieving project deliverables (Patanakul and Shenhar, 2012). The present
report is based on project management and to understand its importance a new and unique business
in India is taking into the consideration. The chosen project for this is online rental services which
aim is to providing several rental services to the customers such as car, room, building, house etc.
Objectives that will cover under the current study are fundamental concepts of project management
and the tasks required in managing a project and project process and evaluate projects, preparing
and analysing project budgets. Along with this, the following study will put the sheds light on
application of project management tools in scheduling, understand and plan basic resource
allocation as wells as preparation of closure evaluation and reports.
FIRST DELIVERABLE: FEASIBILITY STUDY
Project overview
The project plan is relating to open an online rental services business in India.
Problem statement: In India, the income level of the people has highly unequal which has limited
them to buy all the time new and first hand things to meet the demand and requirements. Along
with this, there are many persons in nation who think that they using the things on rent is better
option as compare to purchase new objects to complete the needs all the time (Kerzner, 2013).
Goal: By seen this problem, it has planned to start online rental services for the people of India.
This project idea will help the people to use different kinds of things such as rooms, cars, printers,
physical exercise accessories, fashionable clothing, building etc on rent for some limited time
duration (Morris, 2010).
Criteria for success: The success criteria of the following project will attain project objectives and
meet deliverables. Along with this, the entire work will be completed within given constraints.
Assumptions: The assumption behind this project is establishment of online rental service business
is based on users requirement and their benefits not for the organization any kind of personal
advantages (Meredith and Mantel Jr, 2011).
Risks: Online rental service business will include several types of risks such as technology, leak of
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customer personal information, change in legislations, lack of skilled staff to develop application
etc.
Statement of the problem
In the present time, people are nowadays reducing the buying habit to purchase the goods
and services which has not used more than 1 or 2 time after purchasing. Further, there are many
persons in the community of India who are having less income level and unable buy all kind of
necessary products and services to meet their demands and requirements. Along with this, some of
the people are having plenty of various resources which are still not useful for them every time. Due
to this, to optimally utilize those sources for the other people who are looking towards the option of
taking commodities on rent, it has planned to come up with an idea of online rental services
business in India (Burke, 2013).
Scope of the project
The scope of the project is developing web based system for rental services only for those
people who are living or travelling to India. The function which cover in this project are focusing
on arranging rental commodities and services and make them online reserve. Services users and
services providers will able to use the following system effectively.
Brief introduction
Online rental service business is completely a customized service for its users. With the help
of this, the service users can easily give and take the commodities on rent to each other and meet
their requirements (Schwalbe, 2015). PHP and web based platform will used to develop this system
from which customers can easily online reserve the objects for rent at anywhere in India.
Stakeholders of this project will be renter i.e. customers, owner of rent products, employees of
online rental business, owner of the business, financial institution etc. The development of web
based online business will be completed within 6 months.
Defining project goals and objectives
Goals and objectives:
 To produce a web based system which allow customers to register and reserve goods and
service online.
 To create a system that will allow owners of rent products to register their goods and
services online for rent.
 To develop a system that can advertise products for rent online.
 To ease customers task whenever they needs the products on rent.
 To simplify the working of taking commodities on rent by reducing the paper work and
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response time of the system is very less.
Timeline and milestones
The timeline of online rental service business along with major milestones are as follows:
Task Name Duration Start Finish
Online rental service website 25 wks Thu 11/24/16 Wed 5/17/17
Initiation 3 wks Thu 11/24/16 Wed 12/14/16
Planning 6 wks Thu 12/8/16 Wed 1/18/17
Implementation 8 wks Thu 1/19/17 Wed 3/15/17
Monitoring 6 wks Thu 3/16/17 Wed 4/26/17
Project closure 3 wks Thu 4/27/17 Wed 5/17/17
Defining project deliverables
On the basis of the above stated project goals and objectives of establishing online rental
business in India, project deliverables can be defined as follows:
Objectives Deliverables
To produce a web based system which allow
customers to register and reserve goods and
service online.
Web based rental system helps in collecting and
storing register every details of the renters.
To create a system that will allow owners of rent
products to register their goods and services
online for rent (Wysocki, 2011).
Web based rental system helps in collecting and
storing register every details of owner of rend
products.
To develop a system that can advertise products
for rent online
Web based rental system display advertisement
on users screen on the basis of their priorities.
To ease customers task whenever they needs the
products on rent
Web based rental system assists customers to
reserve the rent goods at any time from any
place (Walker, 2015).
To simplify the working of taking commodities
on rent by reducing the paper work and response
time of the system is very less.
Web based rental system reduces complications
and paper work requirements and agreement
between renter and owner of rend product.
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Creating work breakdown structure
Key personnel and resources
Key personnel: Online rental system will include some key personnel who will be
responsible for various job roles and duties in this project that are as follows:
Key personnel Roles and responsibilities
Project manager Managing the project according to required deliverables, planning and
monitoring of work, managing project risks, preparing and maintaining project
at different stages etc (De Bakker, Boonstra and Wortmann, 2010).
Application
developer
Prepare detail program specification through discussion with client, breaking
down program specifications into simple terms, developing best possible
solutions for anticipated problems etc.
IT engineer Designing and programming system level software, database management
system, good understanding of hardware and software functions etc.
Quality analyst Implementing and providing suggestions for test plans, designing of test cases
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for application testing, performing functional testing, producing and evaluating
testing reports etc.
Project boards Appointing project manager, communicating information about project to
stakeholders, ensuring the availability of resources, solving conflicts of project
team, managing and control change in project plan etc (Jun, Qiuzhen and
Qingguo, 2011).
Resources: To develop web based retail service system, different types of resources will be required
such as processor, hard disk, operating systems, servers, databases, application developing software,
quality testing software etc.
Budget
To collect the funds for developing online rental service business, it will require a moderate
level of financial support. For this, owner can take funds from banks, friends’ etc resources. The
approximate budge for the following plan will be approximate 40,000 GBP.
Risks
There are several risks may be faced by online rental business in India that can affect the
growth of new business in negative manner. From the key issues, it becomes important for new
venture to aware from those. These main risks elements are as follows:
 Consumer market risks: Indian market and customer demands are different from other
developed nations. In every state of country, the needs and preferences of the people become
change with the time. So to meet all diverse demands, online rental business has to prepare
various strategies and this can be deviating the cited business from its main objectives
(Caniëls and Bakens, 2012).
 Employee risks: The workforce of India has a huge young population in which most of them
are self employed. Along with this, the literacy rates of people in rural areas are still high.
The numbers for working women are not increasing with exponential speed. To get and
retain employment, some of the employees adopt unethical practices. This thing may create
a risk in front of online rental business to operate a business in India (Cullen, 2014).
 Social environment risks: India has divided on the basis of cast and religion. Terrorist
activities are mostly occurring in the name of religion. In addition to this, politics also runs
on cast and religion basis. So, it may harm online rental business in India (Mar, 2013).
 Legal and regulatory risks: Indian law enforcement is too weak as compare to other
developed and developing countries. Level of corruption has increased in police and
judiciary department that affect the quality and bring delay in judgement. Hence, the
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following factor may create risk for new online rental business in India (Killen and Hunt,
2010).
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FINAL DELIVERABLE: PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN
Executive summary
The following report was commissioned on to investigate and relate various functional,
operational and technical requirements of dedicated web application for online different goods and
services rental system. This system has facilitated the functioning of web based rent store. Each
type of commodity has a different rental prices on hourly basis. Along with this, rental fee has
varied with number of days requested by renter, brand and functionality of the object. The following
online rental system has contained three major functionalities. One of them is rent in which a
service user feed its inquiries into web based system to determining the availability and rent fee of
various rental goods and services. When the customer chose rent service with specific date and
duration. It has delivered a confirmation number to rental regarding its booking of rent product or
service. The major facility of this application is location based search in which a user has able to
look the commodities in nearby area. Second functionality of online rental business has pick up
where renter has picked up either by going to owner of rent goods place or from home delivery.
This system has stored all information of customers and service providers on a central system that
has used in future for further use. On the other hand, last major functionality of current web based
system has return of rental goods to its owner by renter. Here, on the basis of different parameters,
online system has calculated the final rent amount that can be paid by customer either in cash form
or by online transaction.
Company background, mission statement for the new business and key performance indictors
By seen the various problem in India regarding buying different goods and services, it has
planned to introduce an online rental web application. Under this, the customers have taken
products on rent either on hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. This application has
provided a platform to both renters and owners of rental goods to exchange the services for
particular time frame (Artto, Kulvik, Poskela and Turkulainen, 2011). The new business has worked
as a mediator between services users and services providers. From online web based application, it
has become easy for renters to find the goods online in their nearby locations and after completing
the needs, they have returned to it’s his owner again with specific amount as rent fee in the against
the usage of products and services.
Mission statement: The mission of new online rental business is to change the perception of
customers towards rental goods and services and optimally utilize the existing resources to make
the like simpler in Indian market.
Key performance indictors:
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To measures the performance of new online rental service business, some key performance
indictor will be set which are as follows:
 Conversation rate: Number of conversations over number of website visits
 Top conversion page exit: The page where website visitors change their minds and exit
website
 Traffic source percentage: Website visits referred by
 Commission margin: A rate which earn by business after completing the deal between the
renter and owner of rent products (Wu and Low, 2010).
 Net profit: The profit level which gain by new business in Indian rental market after
completing numbers of rent services to different users at the end of the year.
 Complaints rate: Number of complaints rate that posted by customers after using the rent
services.
 New customer orders versus returning customer sales
 Pay-per-click traffic volume
 Number and quality of product reviews
 Daily average order size (Morris and Pinto, 2010)
Establishing performance goals and evaluation points for the new business implementation
During the first five year operations in Indian market, there have some performance goals
and evaluation points for new online rental business which are as follows:
 Increasing online rental website visitors to 15, 00 per year by end of December 2021.
 Increasing followers of company LinkedIn page to 250 every year by the end of the 4th
quarter in 2021.
 Hitting a lead conversion ratio of 3.5% every year by the end of the third quarter, 2021.
 Hitting a customer conversion ratio of 2% every year for email marketing at the end of the
2021.
 Improving new and unique web based rental website awareness by 10% each year in Indian
customers by the end of 2021.
 To increase annual revenue and profit level by 15% on every year till the completing of
2021.
Outline the project process and project evaluation
Project process of online rental service business in India
The project process of following business has as followed:
 Step 1: One time registration: Here, the renter and owner of rent goods are register itself
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only one time. There are two options available for both kinds of service users: pay per use
and pre pay membership.
 Step 2: Locate rent products nearby you: After the registration, the renter easily search the
commodities on webpage in its nearby location. This process carries out either by
Smartphone, internet or phone call. By this, customers can easily search the goods by
inserting requirements on search option (Bredillet, Yatim and Ruiz, 2010).
 Step 3: Rental product information and location send to users: At this stage, online rental
system delivers the rental object information along with its locations to its users. It enable
renter to take decision whether to buy or not buy goods on rent by adding into the cart.
 Step 4: Take the confirmation by selecting the duration and location to receive: Under the
following step, the renter gets the confirmation of booking of rental goods and services by
stating the time frame to use it (Mantel, 2011).
 Step 5: Return rental product or service after using: This is the last stage of project process
of online rental service where the users return the rental goods to its owner after completing
of time duration. Here, the payment options available for customers by which they can pay
fee of rent either online or offline. Along with this, there is also a unique option in which if a
person wants to use the product for more or less time than he can make adjustment in return
time (Patanakul, Iewwongcharoen and Milosevic, 2010).
Project evaluation of online rental business:
To evaluate online rental business, there are different techniques can be used which are as
follows:
 Scope of the project: With the help of defined scope of the project, it becomes easy to
evaluate the performance of plan in Indian market. If plan schedule is deviate from the
expected scope then it will assess the work plan in more effective manner.
 Measuring and comparing outcomes: Here, project manager can measure and compare the
expected outcomes with the actual results in order to determine or evaluate performance
level of online rental business in Indian market place (Bredillet, 2010).
Personnel who implement and run the new business
To implement the project plan and run the new business, there are different personnel have
required who have performed various job roles and duties. The key team members with roles and
responsibilities are as follows:
Key personnel Roles and responsibilities
Project manager Managing the project according to required deliverables, planning and
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monitoring of work, managing project risks, preparing and maintaining project
at different stages etc.
Application
developer
Prepare detail program specification through discussion with client, breaking
down program specifications into simple terms, developing best possible
solutions for anticipated problems etc (Lee and Yu, 2012).
IT engineer Designing and programming system level software, database management
system, good understanding of hardware and software functions etc.
Quality analyst Implementing and providing suggestions for test plans, designing of test cases
for application testing, performing functional testing, producing and evaluating
testing reports etc (Hwang and Tan, 2012).
Project boards Appointing project manager, communicating information about project to
stakeholders, ensuring the availability of resources, solving conflicts of project
team, managing and control change in project plan etc.
Planning of basic resource allocation
Resource allocation is used to assign the available resources in economic way so that major
deliverables of the plan can be achieved. In the context of online rental business, the major
resources are budget, people, technology, time, tools equipments etc (Portny, 2010).
Preparing and analysing project budget
Particulars
Jul-
17
Aug-
17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17
Cash inflow
Sales revenue 25200 28980 33327 38326.05
44074.957
5
50686.201
1
Other income 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Total cash inflow 27200 30980 35327 40326.05
46074.957
5
52686.201
1
Cash outflow
Purchase of raw material 10000 11000 12100 13310 14641 16105.1
Salaries of personnel 7000 7000 7000 7000 7000 7000
Selling and distribution
cost 2000 2160 2332.8 2519.424
2720.9779
2
2938.6561
5
other expenses 1500 1575 1653.75 1736.4375
1823.2593
8
1914.4223
4
Total cash outflow 20500 21735 23086.5 24565.861 26185.237 27958.178
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5 5 3 5
Cash deficit / surplus 6700 9245
12240.4
5
15760.188
5
19889.720
2
24728.022
6
opening cash balance 15000 21700 30945 43185.45
58945.638
5
78835.358
7
Closing cash balance 21700 30945
43185.4
5
58945.638
5
78835.358
7
103563.38
1
Project purpose breakdown
Project purpose breakdown is also called with the name of Statement of Work which defines
project specific activities, deliverables and time frame for a vendor providing services to the client.
SOW for online rental business is as follows:
 Introduction/Background: Online rental service project has approved in the support of
changing the perception of customers towards rental products and meet the needs of those
people who are really not afford the high prices goods due to several reasons. The following
web based system has delivered a platform to owner of rental products to share their
resources with the customers for particular time frame in against some kind of fee (Heising,
2012). Scope of Work: The scope of the project is developing web based system for rental services
only for those people who are living or travelling to India. The function which cover in this
project are focusing on arranging rental commodities and services and make them online
reserve. Services users and services providers will able to use the following system
effectively.
 Period of Performance: The period of performance for online rental service business is 5
months that is 24 November 2016 to 30th May 2017. Entire plan has completed within the
following timeframe.
 Place of Performance: The entire work of developing online rental has done on facility or a
building of an owner of that new business.
 Work Requirements: This section will responsible for performing tasks throughout various
stages of the following project which are as follows:
 Kickoff
 Design Phase
 Build Phase
 Implementation Phase
 Training Phase
 Project Handoff/Closure
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 Schedule/Milestones: The below list contains the milestones for online rental project plan.
Task Name Duration Start Finish
Online rental service website 25 wks Thu 11/24/16 Wed 5/17/17
Initiation 3 wks Thu 11/24/16 Wed 12/14/16
Planning 6 wks Thu 12/8/16 Wed 1/18/17
Implementation 8 wks Thu 1/19/17 Wed 3/15/17
Monitoring 6 wks Thu 3/16/17 Wed 4/26/17
Project closure 3 wks Thu 4/27/17 Wed 5/17/17
 Acceptance Criteria: The acceptance criteria of the following project will attain project
objectives and meet deliverables. Along with this, the entire work will be completed within
given constraints.
Communication plan
Stakeholders Communications Name Delivery Method/Format
Project Sponsor Weekly Status Report Hard copy and meeting
Project Manager Daily status report Meeting and emails
Marketing manager Monthly status report Emails
Financial manager Weekly Status report Emails
Risk assessment analyst Weekly Status report Email and Meetings
Application developer Monthly Status report Verbal Communication and emails
IT engineer Monthly Status report Email and Meetings
Quality analyst Daily status report Short Meeting and Reports
Project boards Monthly Status report Email and Meetings
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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Project schedule
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Online rental service website 25 wks Thu 11/24/16 Wed 5/17/17
Initiation 3 wks Thu 11/24/16 Wed 12/14/16
Determine issue 1 wk Thu 11/24/16 Wed 11/30/16
Find solutions to resolve the
problem 1 wk Thu 12/1/16 Wed 12/7/16 3
Select best possible option 1 wk Thu 12/8/16 Wed 12/14/16 4
Planning 6 wks Thu 12/8/16 Wed 1/18/17
Market analysis 2 wks Thu 12/8/16 Wed 12/21/16 4
Setting of aim and objectives 1 wk Thu 12/15/16 Wed 12/21/16 5
Setting of project deliverables 1 wk Thu 12/22/16 Wed 12/28/16 7
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Feasibility analysis 2 wks Thu 12/22/16 Wed 1/4/17 8
Arrangement of resources 1 wk Thu 12/29/16 Wed 1/4/17 9
Team development 2 wks Thu 1/5/17 Wed 1/18/17 10,11
Implementation 8 wks Thu 1/19/17 Wed 3/15/17
Resource allocation 2 wks Thu 1/19/17 Wed 2/1/17 12
Designing of different phase
website 3 wks Thu 2/2/17 Wed 2/22/17 14
Integration of website with systems 1 wk Thu 2/23/17 Wed 3/1/17 15
quality testing 1 wk Thu 3/2/17 Wed 3/8/17 16
Final implementation 1 wk Thu 3/9/17 Wed 3/15/17 17
Monitoring 6 wks Thu 3/16/17 Wed 4/26/17
Review working of website 2 wks Thu 3/16/17 Wed 3/29/17 18
determine issues during working 1 wk Thu 3/30/17 Wed 4/5/17 20
Solving issues 1 wk Thu 4/6/17 Wed 4/12/17 21
improve performance of website 2 wks Thu 4/13/17 Wed 4/26/17 22
Project closure 3 wks Thu 4/27/17 Wed 5/17/17
Releasing of resources 1 wk Thu 4/27/17 Wed 5/3/17 23
Documentation 1 wk Thu 5/4/17 Wed 5/10/17 25
Project hand over 1 wk Thu 5/11/17 Wed 5/17/17 26
Gantt chart:
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Network diagram:
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Risk management plan
The risk management plan for online rental business is as follows:
Risk Pre
mitigation
probabilit
y (a) (1 to
5)
Pre
mitigatio
n impact
(b) (1 to
5)
Pre
mitigatio
n rating
(a*b)
Mitigation strategy Post
mitigation
probabilit
y (c) (1 to
5)
Post
mitigation
impact (d)
(1 to 5)
Scope risk 2 4 8 Defining project aim in clear form, strong project scope,
managing changes in various phases
1 4
Scheduling risk 4 2 8 Break down entire plan in small sub sections to manage it in
effective manner
2 1
Resource risk 5 5 25 By adopting resources allocation plan to make effective use of
existing resources
3 4
Design risk 3 3 9 Adopt flexible design of web based plan so that require
changes can in design can be easily made at any phase of plan
2 3
Technical risk 2 1 2 Adapt new, advance and updated technology. 1 1
Communication
risk
3 2 6 Follow several methods for communication such as email,
phone calls, fax, documentation etc.
1 1
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Design and prepare closure evaluation and reports
Project closure form
Project Title: Online Rental Service Business of India
Project Manager: Department:
Date of project initiation: 24th November 2016 Date of project completion:
Project objectives:
 To produce a web based system which allow customers to register and reserve goods and
service online.
 To create a system that will allow owners of rent products to register their goods and
services online for rent.
 To develop a system that can advertise products for rent online.
 To ease customers task whenever they needs the products on rent.
 To simplify the working of taking commodities on rent by reducing the paper work and
response time of the system is very less.
Project scope statement:
The scope of the project is developing web based system for rental services only for those people
who are living or travelling to India. The function which cover in this project are focusing on
arranging rental commodities and services and make them online reserve. Services users and
services providers will able to use the following system effectively
Outcomes of project:
 Web based rental system helps in collecting and storing register every details of the renters.
 Web based rental system helps in collecting and storing register every details of owner of
rend products.
 Web based rental system display advertisement on users screen on the basis of their
priorities.
 Web based rental system assists customers to reserve the rent goods at any time from any
place.
 Web based rental system reduces complications and paper work requirements and agreement
between renter and owner of rend product.
Problems encountered during project:
Changes consumer preferences, employees risks, sudden changes in social environment, legal and
regulatory issues etc.
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Recommendation for future project:
 Carry out complete market research
 Effective risk assessment process
 Proper allocation and utilization of resources
 Effective allocation of roles and responsibilities
 Adopt unique and appropriate budget formation and expenses control methods
Project team members:
 Project Sponsor
 Project Manager
 Marketing manager
 Financial manager
 Risk assessment analyst
 Application developer
 IT engineer
 Quality analyst
 Project boards
Signature of approval:
Final deliverable outline
The final deliverable outline of online rental business is as follows:
 Web based rental system has helped in collecting and storing register every details of the
renters.
 Web based rental system has helped in collecting and storing register every details of owner
of rend products.
 Web based rental system has displayed advertisement on users screen on the basis of their
priorities.
 Web based rental system has assisted customers to reserve the rent goods at any time from
any place.
 Web based rental system has reduced complications and paper work requirements and
agreement between renter and owner of rend product
CONCLUSION
From the above research, it can be concluded that project management has essential for new
business. It has assisted in managing, controlling and implementing a project related to establishing
of new business plan. By seen many issues faced by Indian people during buying goods and
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services, it has planned to develop an online rental business in the nation. It has completed within
the 6 months under the 40,000 GBP. There have various methods have used to evaluate the
performance and effectiveness of project plan.
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