Key Aspects of Project Management for EBTH Global Expansion

This research report discusses key aspects of project management principles including communication, stakeholder engagement, risk management and resourcing options for EBTH's global expansion.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
1. Producing a detailed Gantt chart........................................................................................1
2. Resourcing options and impact of it on the role of project management (750 words)......4
3. Developing a risk register with mitigation.........................................................................6
4. Process to communicate issues to the board and users.....................................................10
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Cincinnati-based EBTH (Everything but the House) is an online auction estate sales
that is growing rapidly. Digital transformation enabled business to maximize its sales from $8
million to $70 million in 2016. Currently, it operates at a national platform and keen to invest
in an international online platform to boost its sales to $120 million through a global e-
commerce platform. Thus, the current research report aims at discussing key aspects of
project management principles including communication, stakeholder engagement, risk
management and resourcing options for key personnel.
1. Producing a detailed Gantt chart
Project Assumptions
The Project of EBTH Global expansion is expected to take the time duration of 8
months and expected to maximize sales value from $70 million to $120 million by
developing online e-commerce platform.
Key deliverables
 Sales growth
 Aware patrons through advertisement
 Global expansion
 Strong competitive position
 Higher profitability
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors Total Slack
EBTH Global Expansion
project 226 days 12/11/2017 10/22/2018 0 days
Web service provisional
contract 11 days 12/11/2017 12/25/2017 0 days
Request quotations 4 days 12/11/2017 12/14/2017 0 days
Supplier evaluation matrix 3 days 12/15/2017 12/19/2017 3 0 days
Contract statement of work 2 days 12/20/2017 12/21/2017 4 0 days
Negotiation 5 days 12/15/2017 12/21/2017 3 217 days
Finalizing contracts 2 days 12/22/2017 12/25/2017 4,5 0 days
International website 79 days 12/26/2017 4/13/2018 0 days
Technical specification 8 days 12/26/2017 1/4/2018 7 0 days
Hardware purchase 10 days 1/5/2018 1/18/2018 9 5 days
Software purchase 15 days 1/5/2018 1/25/2018 9 0 days
Software design 22 days 1/26/2018 2/26/2018 10,11 0 days
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Implementation 12 days 1/19/2018 2/5/2018 10 15 days
user-testing 8 days 2/27/2018 3/8/2018 12,13 0 days
Performance-testing 10 days 3/9/2018 3/22/2018 14 0 days
Reporting/documentation 6 days 3/23/2018 3/30/2018 14,15,13 146 days
Modification 5 days 3/23/2018 3/29/2018 14,15 0 days
Localization 6 days 3/30/2018 4/6/2018 17 0 days
Quality sign off 5 days 4/9/2018 4/13/2018 18 0 days
Staffing 17 days 4/16/2018 5/8/2018 0 days
Training and development
plan 17 days 4/16/2018 5/8/2018 0 days
Cross cultural training 7 days 4/16/2018 4/24/2018 19 0 days
International law training 10 days 4/25/2018 5/8/2018 22 0 days
Hiring 20 days 4/25/2018 5/22/2018 0 days
Designing person
specification 4 days 5/9/2018 5/14/2018 22,23 0 days
Regional managers 6 days 5/15/2018 5/22/2018 25 0 days
Translators 2 days 4/25/2018 4/26/2018 22 18 days
Multilingual service agents 4 days 5/15/2018 5/18/2018 25 2 days
Logistic operations 50 days 5/23/2018 7/31/2018 0 days
Shipping contracts 27 days 5/23/2018 6/28/2018 0 days
Request for proposals 7 days 5/23/2018 5/31/2018 25,26,27,28 0 days
Design supplier
evaluation matrix 6 days 6/1/2018 6/8/2018 31 0 days
Analysis of suppliers
submitted prices 5 days 6/11/2018 6/15/2018 32,31 0 days
Selection 4 days 6/18/2018 6/21/2018 33 0 days
Design contract statement
of work 5 days 6/22/2018 6/28/2018 33,34 0 days
Distribution centres 23 days 6/29/2018 7/31/2018 0 days
search locations 15 days 6/29/2018 7/19/2018 35 0 days
Building requirements 8 days 7/20/2018 7/31/2018 37,35 0 days
purchase equipments 8 days 7/20/2018 7/31/2018 37 0 days
Marketing campaign 46 days 8/1/2018 10/3/2018 0 days
Advertisement 46 days 8/1/2018 10/3/2018 0 days
TV ads 10 days 8/1/2018 8/14/2018 37,38,39 0 days
Internet ads 8 days 8/15/2018 8/24/2018 42 0 days
Print ads 12 days 8/27/2018 9/11/2018 42,43 0 days
Incentive program 16 days 9/12/2018 10/3/2018 0 days
Vouchers 4 days 9/12/2018 9/17/2018 44 0 days
Rebates 3 days 9/12/2018 9/14/2018 44 1 day
Reward mechanism 12 days 9/18/2018 10/3/2018 46,47 0 days
Closure 13 days 10/4/2018 10/22/2018 0 days
Go-live 4 days 10/4/2018 10/9/2018 48 0 days
Finalizing payments 6 days 10/10/2018 10/17/2018 50 0 days
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Lesson learned 3 days 10/18/2018 10/22/2018 50,51 0 days
Gantt chart
Network diagram:
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According to the results, the project will take 226 days in developing an international
auction website of EBTH.
2. Resourcing options and impact of it on the role of project management (750 words)
Staffing is the key requirement for EBTH to globally expand their business and
guaranteed high-quality project deliverables. Currently existing workforce is not sufficient
and arise need for the entity to hire more qualified and competent people including regional
managers, translators, multilingual service agents and others. It is necessary for the project
manager to satisfy its staffing requirements without compromising quality. There are multiple
of resourcing alternatives available to EBTH to recruit required members at the workplace
classified into two, internal and external. According to Carroll and Buchholtz (2014), internal
source includes hiring people from the organization itself such as shifting or transfer of
existing workers, employee referral and previously worked members. It is the best method
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which helps project manager to reduce staffing costs because workers are available inside the
firm. Besides this, current available workforce can be trained to develop multiple skills
among them in order to satisfy staffing requirements. As per the views of Turner (2016, .in
order to hire internal personnel, PM needs to work with the other functional managers in
assigning existing personnel to the projects according to their knowledge and interest
targeting work specification.
Conversely, Grunig (2013), criticized internal hiring by arguing that it is not a good
way to hire talented and fresh graduates who have great knowledge of new and advanced
technologies. Referring from the given case study, EBTH intended to build automate
technology and automated shipping system that helps business with explosive sales growth.
Therefore, it is essential for the entity to attract fresh graduates who have idea of new
technologies, its usage and features. Thus, it encourages companies to hire people from the
outside sources. External sources of hiring comprise all the tools and methods, in which,
required personnel are selected from the outside organization such as job advertisement,
recruitment agencies, campus placement and others. As per the views Walsham (2017), now-
a-days, technically complex projects prefer hiring staff members from the outside sources,
more importantly, advertisement. EBTH can place job advertisement in newspaper or website
and call interested applicants for the interview. In this, participants knowledge level and skills
can be judged strongly and helps to hire the most suitable candidates for the vacant post.
However, on the critical note, Brown and Hyer (2010), argued that project manager needs to
invest a lot of time to hire a perfect candidate through advertisement, because it involves
placing advertisement, initial screening, online interview and final face to face interview.
However, in the competitive period, managers do not have enough time available because it
may delay the project and market opportunity can be missed. Thus, it is not a suitable way to
hire people. Marle and Vidal (2016), said that finding competent and qualified member is a
daunting and time-consuming method, the study suggests that recruitment agencies are now-
a-days, greatly used, in which, agencies are contacted to hire the best member as per the
requirement with specialized skills. It is the best way to hire software engineers, hardware
engineers, technical staff and others with profound knowledge. Cusworth and Franks (2013)
present that outsourcing saves PMO’s time and also assure higher productivity.
In addition to this, Mok, Shen and Yang (2015), campus recruitment or placement is a
good way of outsourcing which provide opportunity to the PM to hire well-educated
professionals recently passed out from the best universities. At an entry level, it is a suitable
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way that hires highly knowledgeable candidates. Referring the chosen expansion project of
EBTH, outsourcing is a good option because it will enable PM to meet out their technical
staff, regional managers and other workers. Heagney (2016), said that many-times, temporary
workers are required which can be hire relying on outsourcing as it is a cost-effective
solution. During heavy workload or high workforce turnover, work can be managed through
hiring temporary or part-time workers. It will assist PMO to apply their expertise with
professional’s skills to get outstanding deliverables.
Referring the current case scenario, PMO will need to select a combination of both
internal and external resourcing options to meet out its different requirement to hire the best
candidate at right place. All the technical experts must be interviewed to judge their level of
excellence and capabilities before selection, thus, outsourcing should be used for building e-
commerce platform. However, other staffing requirements can be filled out through internal
sources after proper training initiatives such as for logistic operations. Steyn and et.al.,
(2016), said that after hiring people, they PMO is liable to motivate team through various
means like team-based rewards and recognizing their achievements that helps promoting
team-working. In order to guide every member, mentor needs to be assigning who will
facilitate team members resolving their issues. In order to accomplish the milestone, team
performance must be recognized regularly through original observation, quality of
deliverables, periodical self-assessment, performance appraisal system and others.
3. Developing a risk register with mitigation
In complex environment, none of the project is free from risk and every project
involves various risky functions and elements, some may be under the control of the entity
while other may be subject to external market factors that are outside business control.
During execution, it is important for the Project Manager to actively engage and stay in touch
with all the stakeholders. Effective stakeholder engagement helps in knowing disputes, issues
and requirements of change, so that decisions can be made accordingly. Issue log, risk
register, updates, request for change (RFC) are several tools used for stakeholder
engagement. Managing risks is really tough, but a key of high project success rate.
Risk register
For the current project of EBTH’s expansion, the project involves number of risks like
financial risk, lack of IT staff, resource allocation, poor performance and other risks. All the
risks are required to be managed in a proper way to maximize project success rate.
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Risks Description
Catego
ry Root cause
Trigger /
mitigatio
n
Risk
owner
Proba
bility Impact
Stat
us
Technical
errors
Software bug
noticed by
EBTH’s
project
manager,
networking
errors, poor
system
performance
of EBTH’s
global e-
comerce
platform may
be the
technical
issues that
limits the
technical
functionality
of the online
auction site
Techni
cal
Poor
testing by
the EBTH
team,
improper
technical
specificatio
n, poor
configurati
on, poor
database,
connection
disability
and system
failure
Clearly
defined
technical
specificati
on for
EBTH’s
global e-
commerce
platform,
testing
guidance
and
configurat
ion plan
IT
expert
Almos
t
certain
Catastr
ophic
Una
ccep
tabl
e
Infrastruct
ural
damage
Expansion
through the
development
of global
digitalized e-
commerce
platform plan
require
EBTH to
introduce
changes in
infrastructura
l settings
Operati
onal
Ineffective
design of
technical
infrastructu
re by the
technical
experts , no
standardiza
tion, under-
investment,
like wrong
wireless
solution,
poor
warehouse
imanageme
nt
Supply
contractor
with the
technical
plans
made for
the global
digital
platform
of EBTH
for
expansion
IT
expert
Moder
ate
Very
high
Ver
y
high
Lack of
competent
IT staff
Developing
international
website for
EBTH
requires
competent
and technical
Operati
onal
Shortage of
competent
workforce
in the
market and
ineffective
training
Specialize
d trainings
must be
organized
by the
EBTH by
hiring
IT
expert
Moder
ate
Very
high
Ver
y
high
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experts, thus,
lack of such
people may
threaten the
project
survival schedule
industry
experts
Shortage
of funds
Expansion
plan requires
huge
quantum of
funds by
EBTH for
software and
hardware
purchase,
payment to
staff and
others , thus,
inappropriate
availability
may be a
difficulty
Financi
al
Poor cash
manageme
nt, liquidity
crunch,
overrun
cost, rising
cost of loan
and others
An
appropriat
e financial
plan will
be made
by the
EBTH’s
finance
expert
with
continuou
s
monitorin
g
Certifie
d
Financi
al
Officer High
Catastr
ophic
Una
ccep
tabl
e
Resource
over-
allocation
If resources
like funds
and staff are
over-
allocated to a
specific
tasks, then it
may
adversely
affects
project
success rate
Operati
onal
Unproducti
ve use of
resources
by
allocating
some
resources
excessively
to one tasks
Allocating
staff
members
to closely
monitor
the
allocation
and its
usage
Functio
nal
Manag
er
Less
likely High
Mod
erat
e
High cost
of
material
For logsitic
operations, it
may be
possible that
resources
costs may
exceed the
set cost
targets
Financi
al
High
supplier
charges for
hardware,
software
and others
Fixed
contracts
with
suppliers
Functio
nal
Manag
er
Moder
ate High
Mod
erat
e
Communi
cation
barrier
Poor
communicati
on
Operati
onal
Non-
compliance
with the
communica
Communi
cation
manageme
nt plan
Operati
onal
Manag
er
Less
likely
Modera
te Low
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tion plan,
unstructure
d
documentat
ion, poor
reporting
system
and timely
meetings
Difficultie
s in
finding
suitable
location
If suitable
location for
expansion
and
distribution
centre is not
found on
time
Operati
onal
Ineffective
market
survey and
lack of
information
available
An expert
will be
hire to
survey
suitable
location
Survey
expert
Less
likely
Modera
te Low
Regulator
y risks
Non-
compliance
with the
rules,
regulations
and laws
Regulat
ory
Non-
compliance
with the
laws like
data
breach,
debt
covenants
and poor
risk
manageme
nt system
Regulator
y
complianc
e
committee
will be
formulate
d to keep
track over
such kind
of risks
Risk
manage
r
Moder
ate
Catastr
ophic
Una
ccep
tabl
e
Poor
monitorin
g
If managers
do not
monitor and
administrator
s workers
practices
than it may
resultant
monitoring
issues
Operati
onal
Ineffective
monitoring
system
Regular
meetings
and timely
project
reports
Functio
nal
Manag
er
Less
likely
Modera
te Low
According to the views of Kerzner (2004), risk register is also called risk log that is a
document comprises different kind of risks, impact, consequences and its mitigating strategy
as well. It gains critical importance during project execution phase, at where, all the planned
activities and events are actually undertaken. It is the third longest phase of the lifecycle of a
project that consumes a lot of time, resources and energy. In order to keep strict monitoring
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and control various phases, PMO needs to create a perfect risk management plan including
tools like risk register and risk form.
Above diagram presents that risk management procedure involves risk identification,
prioritizing, analyzing, risk response, monitoring and minimize it by mitigating measures.
Thus, successful risk management process is a continuous and on-going function throughout
the life. Teller, Kock and Gemünden (2014), defined risk register as an important tool which
give detail about major risk category, its description, causes and impact, likelihood of
occurrence, risk score and mitigating steps. EBTH’s PMO can use it to document all the risk
events, root causes and its trigger measures. It aware and alert manager about materialistic
risks and serve them as a monitoring framework to supervise, manage and control risk at its
acceptable level. Likewise, stated that during execution phase, it assist team in performing
qualitative and quantitative risk analysis. First helps in prioritizing risks considering their
category, urgency and trends, whereas later enable PMO to find out probability of meeting set
cost and schedule targets. Enyinda (2017), said that with the use of it, PMO can re-examine
and re-assess their performance whether various risks like financial, regulatory, operational
and others were monitored and controlled effectively or not. Such analysis helps in keeping
updated information about new risks and removes fully mitigated risks that is no longer exists
in the function.
4. Process to communicate issues to the board and users
Communication is the way to convey important messages, information and details to
others. Good communication management is the most crucial factor for project execution. As
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per the views of Cusworth and Franks (2013), communication management is a process to
create, distribute, store, retrieve & dispose information as per the designed project
management plan. The current global expansion plan of EBTH require creating various
documents and report it timely to the board members such as project progress reports, plans,
organizing meeting, workers conflicts and other issues.
Mok, Shen and Yang (2015), presented that key material issues and risks involved in
the project can be communicated to the board following formal communication method that
follows organizational structure and designed communication management plan. In the
context of EBTH’s project, it is necessary to organize scheduled meetings, team discussion,
report project progress reports and status reports with cost and schedule variances to the
PMO. Thus, by following formal communication, key issues like cost overrun, managerial
issues, conflicts, technical errors and othrs can be reported to the manager via letter, e-mails
and in meetings. Referring the case study, despite the superb testing, the technical issues of
slow system performance, networking issues, software bug and under-sized project tasks will
be reported to the board formally through written reports.
Krishna, Sahay and Walsham (2004) commented that in corporate world, although
formal communication gains crucial importance, but it cannot be considered enough as it has
a limitation of one-side conversation. In fact, many-times, informal discussions are
undertaken that is a two-way conversation between sender and receiver. In case when, team
recognized any issues during execution such as lack of trained workforce, overrunning cost,
motivational issues, training difficulties, communication barrier and conflicts can be verbally
or informally conveyed to the PMO. For instance, in a team, colleagues discuss projects with
their respective mentors and superiors to complete it by the time approaching informal
communication. Thus, in the case, mentor hold responsibility to educate and guide their
subordinates about technical errors i.e. networking error, server problem, software bug and
others and resolve it.
However, Brown and Hyer (2010), argued that it is not always possible, especially
when autocratic leadership is followed by PMO who wish to keep strong control over the
employees. It is because; such leaders do not like to obtain team members ideas and thoughts,
believes in their own decisions, and implement it. Thus, it can be said that issues can be
conveyed informally only when PM has nurturing and sound relationship with the entire
team. For instance, in case of any technical error in online auction website, EBTH’s team
leaders can convey it to their team members informally just by speaking. Heagney (2016),
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said that non-verbal communication is also a strong way and research shows that 58% of
communication is undertaken through body language includes voice tons, body posture,
movements and others.
Turner (2016), said that selecting a appropriate communicational medium is important
otherwise, project success rate can be influenced negatively. Like important issues that has
catastrophic impact on the expansion project success need urgent attention and needs to be
respond timely. Therefore, confidential board meetings and reports should be prepared and
submitted to the board to draw their attention on such key matter. For instance, if actual
project progress is too slow than scheduled targets while money spent till the percentage
completion exceeds the set cost targets then it should be reported immediately through the
project status reports to the board using formal communication, so that, it can be immediately
responded taking right mitigating measure. In contrast to this, when team members struggle
with any sort of working difficulties i.e. motivational issues, then team members may use
different ways like praising team member’s achievements to encourage all & boost their
productivity. Besides this, if any member is found in undisciplined action or manipulating
practice, then, all the colleagues must be communicated with the policies through internal
team-meetings.
As per the opinion of Enyinda (2017), team size has an important influence over the
method of communication. For instance, if there is large number of people, then, it will not be
easy to convey them all through face to face interaction; therefore, message or information
needs to share via e-mail, letters, phone and other mode. Similarly, in order to promote team-
members, team leaders can organize periodical meeting sessions to know all the members
thoughts, feeling and share experiences which helps in staff motivation and take new
decisions to improve team-working and team performance. Despite this, Mok, Shen and
Yang (2015), conflicts between two members needs to be resolved by leaders through one-to-
one session to know their difficulties and the reasons why conflicts occur. However, common
issues faced by entire team should be resolved through group discussions.
CONCLUSION
The above research report found that the expansion project of EBTH will take 226
days in completion. The study also found that effective communication, sound stakeholder
engagement and risk management are the key of project success.
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REFERENCES
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Teller, J., Kock, A. and Gemünden, H.G., 2014. Risk management in project portfolios is
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