International Short-Term Project

This document is about an international short-term project that focuses on upgrading the ERP package of Carnival Corporation & PLC. It includes the project rationale, objectives, key deliverables, stakeholders, budget estimate, project timeline, and risk assessment.

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International Short-Term Project
Project Report
4/22/2019

International Short-Term Project
Table of Contents
Introduction & Project Charter..............................................................................................................2
Organization Background & Key Markets........................................................................................2
Project Rationale & Purpose..............................................................................................................2
SMART Objectives...........................................................................................................................2
Key Deliverables...............................................................................................................................3
Key Stakeholders...............................................................................................................................3
Budget Estimate................................................................................................................................3
Project Timeline................................................................................................................................3
Assumptions and Constraints.............................................................................................................4
Project Scope Baseline and Schedule....................................................................................................4
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)...................................................................................................4
Project Schedule................................................................................................................................4
Gantt chart.........................................................................................................................................6
Project Risk Assessment and Management............................................................................................7
Project Risks and Risk Register.........................................................................................................7
Risk Management Strategy................................................................................................................8
Project Costs - Budgeting and Financial Appraisal...............................................................................9
Project Stakeholder Management and Communications Plan..............................................................12
Stakeholder Register........................................................................................................................12
Power Interest Grid..........................................................................................................................14
Closing the Project and Post Implementation Review.........................................................................15
References...........................................................................................................................................17
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International Short-Term Project
Introduction & Project Charter
Organization Background & Key Markets
The organization selected is Carnival Corporation & PLC and it is the world’s largest travel
leisure company. The company has its headquarters in Miami, Florida and was founded by
Ted Arison in the year 1972. It was founded as Carnival Cruise Line and has been growing
since its inception. The company is now British-American Cruise Operator and is the best in
the business (Carnivalcorp, 2019).
The company is a dual listed company and is composed of two organizations as Carnival
Corporation and Carnival PLC. It is the only company in the world to be listed on S&P 500
and FTSE 100 indices. The current market captured by the company includes America,
United Kingdom, America Group, Australia, China, and Costa Group.
Project Rationale & Purpose
The project that is selected for the organization is the ERP upgrade for the organization. The
project has been selected as the current ERP package installed in the organization was done
several years ago. The current package is not in accordance with the latest technologies. The
upgrade will include enhanced technological features and will also be in accordance with the
information security and privacy requirements (Ganesh and Mehta, 2016).
The purpose of the project is to upgrade the ERP package installed in the organization to
streamline the services at the back-end and enhance the information security and privacy for
the organization.
SMART Objectives
The following objectives will be fulfilled by the project:
 To enhance the operational speed and accuracy of the operations at the back-end by at
least 30%.
 To improve the information security and privacy of the data and information sets with
78% improvement than the current status (Boltena and Gomez, 2012).
 To offer better and integrated services to the customers and attain the customer
satisfaction score of 9 or above on a scale of 10.
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International Short-Term Project
Key Deliverables
The following deliverables will be provided by the members of the project team during the
project timeline.
 Project Charter: It will be a brief document the will include the information on the
project rationale, deliverables, stakeholders, budget, and schedule.
 Project Management Plan: This will be a detailed document that will include the
project planning and management concepts (Candra, 2011).
 Implementation Plan: The ERP upgrade and associated steps along with the change
management methods will be included in the deliverable.
 System Upgrade: The ERP upgrade will be carried out across all the units.
 Closure Report: This will be the final deliverable that will be submitted at the end of
the project.
Key Stakeholders
The Carnival Corporation & PLC will be the prime stakeholder and will sponsor the project.
The business partners of the organization will also be important stakeholders as the business
activities will be conducted as per their requirements. The vendor groups will be relevant
stakeholders as they will provide the tools and equipment for the project. The regulatory
bodies, technical experts, and legal advisors will also be the significant stakeholders. The
employees of the organization will use the system and will be directly affected by the
outcomes. These will be significant stakeholders involved in the project.
An internal Project Control Board will monitor the project activities and project management
resources will carry out the management processes. These will be the internal stakeholders
along with the project team members.
Budget Estimate
The total budget estimated for the project is $2,45,000.
Project Timeline
The project management plan will be submitted at the end of three months. The overall
project schedule will be three years.
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International Short-Term Project
Assumptions and Constraints
It is assumed that the resources selected for the project will remain available during the entire
project lifecycle. It is also assumed that the resources will contribute as per the estimated
effort (Amini and Safavi, 2013).
The scope, time, and costs will be constraints applicable on the project.
Project Scope Baseline and Schedule
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Project Schedule
Task Name Duration Start Finish
ERP Upgrade 1095 days Mon 22-04-19 Fri 30-06-23
Initial Phase 40 days Mon 22-04-19 Fri 14-06-19
Assessment of the current system and
determination of the need to upgrade 12 days Mon 22-04-19 Tue 07-05-19
Stakeholder identification and mapping 6 days Wed 08-05-19 Wed 15-05-19
Kick-off meeting 1 day Thu 16-05-19 Thu 16-05-19
Milestone 1: Project start-up 0 days Thu 16-05-19 Thu 16-05-19
Selection of the project team 5 days Thu 16-05-19 Wed 22-05-19
Finalization on the funds to be allocated 5 days Thu 23-05-19 Wed 29-05-19
4
ERP Upgrade
Initial Phase
Assessment of
the current
system and
determination
of the need to
upgrade
Stakeholder
identification
and mapping
Kick-off
meeting
Milestone 1:
Project start-up
Selection of the
project team
Finalization on
the funds to be
allocated to the
project
Feasibility
Determination
and
compilation of
results
Milestone 2:
Project Charter
Planning Phase
Determination
of the approach
to be used for
the upgrade
Development
of PMP
Scope
definition and
finalization
Estimation of
project
schedule
Estimation of
project costs
Allocation of
tasks to the
resources
Communication
and
stakeholder
management
plan
Risk and change
management
plan
Procurement
and quality
planning
Milestone 3:
PMP
Prerequisites
and set-up
Procurement of
tools
Installation of
the procured
tools
Milestone 4:
Workstations
for Resources
System
Upgrade
Upgrade of the
ERP system
across all the
functional units
and divisions
Upgrade of the
system at the
headquarters
Migration of
the data sets
Migration of
the services
Milestone 5:
System
Upgrade
Testing Phase
Integration
testing and
technical
integration
checks
Performance
and security
testing
Logging of
defects
Resolution of
defects
Milestone 6:
Test Reports
Closure Phase
Final
verifications
and validations
Implementatio
n of the
changes
Completion of
the upgrade
Reflection and
lessons learned
Performance
assessment
Documentation
- final
Milestone 7:
Closure Report

International Short-Term Project
to the project
Feasibility Determination and
compilation of results 12 days Thu 30-05-19 Fri 14-06-19
Milestone 2: Project Charter 0 days Fri 14-06-19 Fri 14-06-19
Planning Phase 53 days Mon 17-06-19 Wed 28-08-19
Determination of the approach to be
used for the upgrade 3 days Mon 17-06-19 Wed 19-06-19
Development of PMP 50 days Thu 20-06-19 Wed 28-08-19
Scope definition and finalization 10 days Thu 20-06-19 Wed 03-07-19
Estimation of project schedule 8 days Thu 04-07-19 Mon 15-07-19
Estimation of project costs 8 days Thu 04-07-19 Mon 15-07-19
Allocation of tasks to the resources 8 days Tue 16-07-19 Thu 25-07-19
Communication and stakeholder
management plan 8 days Fri 26-07-19 Tue 06-08-19
Risk and change management plan 8 days Wed 07-08-19 Fri 16-08-19
Procurement and quality planning 8 days Mon 19-08-19 Wed 28-08-19
Milestone 3: PMP 0 days Wed 28-08-19 Wed 28-08-19
Prerequisites and set-up 60 days Thu 29-08-19 Wed 20-11-19
Procurement of tools 30 days Thu 29-08-19 Wed 09-10-19
Installation of the procured tools 30 days Thu 10-10-19 Wed 20-11-19
Milestone 4: Workstations for
Resources 0 days Wed 20-11-19 Wed 20-11-19
System Upgrade 600 days Thu 21-11-19 Wed 09-03-22
Upgrade of the ERP system across all
the functional units and divisions 275 days Thu 21-11-19 Wed 09-12-20
Upgrade of the system at the
headquarters 180 days Thu 10-12-20 Wed 18-08-21
Migration of the data sets 75 days Thu 19-08-21 Wed 01-12-21
Migration of the services 70 days Thu 02-12-21 Wed 09-03-22
Milestone 5: System Upgrade 0 days Wed 09-03-22 Wed 09-03-22
Testing Phase 168 days Thu 10-03-22 Mon 31-10-22
Integration testing and technical 55 days Thu 10-03-22 Wed 25-05-22
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International Short-Term Project
integration checks
Performance and security testing 53 days Thu 26-05-22 Mon 08-08-22
Logging of defects 25 days Tue 09-08-22 Mon 12-09-22
Resolution of defects 35 days Tue 13-09-22 Mon 31-10-22
Milestone 6: Test Reports 0 days Mon 31-10-22 Mon 31-10-22
Closure Phase 174 days Tue 01-11-22 Fri 30-06-23
Final verifications and validations 32 days Tue 01-11-22 Wed 14-12-22
Implementation of the changes 42 days Thu 15-12-22 Fri 10-02-23
Completion of the upgrade 15 days Mon 13-02-23 Fri 03-03-23
Reflection and lessons learned 20 days Mon 06-03-23 Fri 31-03-23
Performance assessment 20 days Mon 03-04-23 Fri 28-04-23
Documentation - final 45 days Mon 01-05-23 Fri 30-06-23
Milestone 7: Closure Report 0 days Fri 30-06-23 Fri 30-06-23
Gantt chart
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International Short-Term Project
Project Risk Assessment and Management
Project Risks and Risk Register
There may be numerous risks associated with the project. The risks have been included in the
risk register and the probability/impact levels are assigned to each risk to determine the risk
score. The probability and impact scores are assigned on a scale of 1 t0 10 with 10 being the
highest (Hakim, 2010).
ID Name Description Probability Impact Score
1 Technical Errors The ERP upgrade process may
witness technical errors and gaps in
terms of compatibility issues or
technical failures.
7 9 63
2 Operational
Issues
There are operational errors that
may be performed by the
implementation team.
7 7 49
3 Information
Security and
Privacy Issues
During the migration of the data
sets from the existing to the
upgraded system, there may be
information security and privacy
attacks that may be given shape.
8 9 72
4 Quality Issues The organization is a multi-national
firm and there may be drops in the
quality levels as per the standards
followed in the organization.
6 9 54
5 Resource Issues The project is a long-term project
and the resources may face issues as
reduced productivity and
motivation. There may be conflicts
among the resources.
7 8 56
6 Schedule/Budget
overrun
The estimated values may not be
adhered to.
5 8 40
7 Ethical Issues &
Gaps
The organization is a multi-national
firm and there may be drops in the
ethical levels as per the standards
6 8 48
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followed in the organization.
8 Communication
Gaps
There are varied resources and
stakeholders involved in the project
which may give rise to the
communication gaps and errors.
8 8 64
Risk Management Strategy
ID Name Description Risk Management
Approach
Owner
1 Technical Errors The ERP upgrade process may
witness technical errors and gaps in
terms of compatibility issues or
technical failures.
Risk transfer – to
the vendor groups
The owner of
the risk will be
Technical
Expert and
Technical Head
2 Operational
Issues
There are operational errors that
may be performed by the
implementation team.
Risk avoidance –
employee trainings
and professional
development
sessions
The owner of
the risk will be
Project
Manager
3 Information
Security and
Privacy Issues
During the migration of the data
sets from the existing to the
upgraded system, there may be
information security and privacy
attacks that may be given shape.
Risk avoidance and
mitigation –
Integration of
security controls,
encryption and
backing up of the
data sets
The owner of
the risk will be
Chief
Information
Security
Officer
4 Quality Issues The organization is a multi-national
firm and there may be drops in the
quality levels as per the standards
followed in the organization.
Risk avoidance –
Reviews and audits
on the quality
norms and
parameters
The owner of
the risk will be
Quality
Manager
5 Resource Issues The project is a long-term project
and the resources may face issues
Risk avoidance –
Discussions with
The owner of
the risk will be
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International Short-Term Project
as reduced productivity and
motivation. There may be conflicts
among the resources.
the resources, team
meetings, one-on-
one sessions
Project
Manager
6 Schedule/
Budget overrun
The estimated values may not be
adhered to.
Risk avoidance –
Reviews and
audits, use of
earned value
analysis technique
The owner of
the risk will be
Project
Manager
7 Ethical Issues &
Gaps
The organization is a multi-national
firm and there may be drops in the
ethical levels as per the standards
followed in the organization.
Risk avoidance –
Reviews and audits
on the ethical
norms and
parameters
The owner of
the risk will be
Project
Manager
8 Communication
Gaps
There are varied resources and
stakeholders involved in the project
which may give rise to the
communication gaps and errors.
Risk avoidance –
Development of
communication
management plan
The owner of
the risk will be
Project
Manager
Project Costs - Budgeting and Financial Appraisal
The project is a large-scale project and there will be various costs associated with the upgrade
of the ERP system. There will be ERP add-on features/package procured from the vendor
along with the other tools and materials (Supramaniam, Abdullah and Ponnan, 2014). These
will make up for the one-time investment. There will also be costs of resources, planning &
analysis costs, testing costs, upgrade costs, and maintenance costs associated with the project.
Fiscal
Year
Program Element 0 1 2 3
Cost of tools - One-
time investment $78,000
Cost of upgrade and
migration $14,300 $14,300 $14,300
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International Short-Term Project
Cost of resources $25,400 $25,400 $25,400
Planning and analysis
costs $6,780 $6,780 $6,780
Testing costs $5,430 $5,430 $5,430
Maintenance Costs $3,490 $3,490 $3,490
Program Total Costs
By Year $78,000 $55,400 $55,400 $55,400
Program Grand Total
Cost $2,44,200
The implementation of the project in the form of ERP upgrade will provide several benefits
to the organization. The operational speed and accuracy will improve which will result in the
execution of more number of operations. There will also be improvement in integration and
security that will be observed. Tangible and intangible benefits will be observed as shown in
the table below.
Fiscal
Year
Benefit Sources 0 1 2 3
Improvement in
operational speed and
accuracy - More number
of operations $34,020 $34,020 $34,020 $34,020
Improved integration and
security $36,540 $36,540 $36,540 $36,540
Tangible Benefits $55,439 $55,439 $55,439 $55,439
Intangible Benefits $58,900 $58,900 $58,900 $58,900
Total Benefits Per Year $1,84,899
$1,84,89
9
$1,84,89
9
$1,84,89
9
Confidence Factor 45% 50% 60%
Benefits Claimed for
Analysis $0 $83,205 $92,450
$1,10,93
9
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International Short-Term Project
Program Grand Total
Benefit $2,86,593
A discount factor of 8% is applied to calculate the NPV and internal rate of return for the
project.
Fiscal
Year
0 1 2 3
Undiscounted
Flows
Costs -$78,000 -$55,400 -$55,400 -$55,400
Benefits $0 $83,205 $92,450
$1,10,93
9
Net Cash Flow -$78,000 $27,805 $37,050 $55,539
Discount Factors
Discount Rate 8.0%
Base Year 0
Year Index 0 1 2 3
Discount Factor 1.0000 0.9259 0.8573 0.7938
Discounted Flows
Costs -$78,000 -$51,296 -$47,497 -$43,978
Benefits $0 $77,041 $79,261 $88,067
Net -$78,000 $25,745 $31,764 $44,089
Cumulative -$78,000 -$52,255 -$20,491 $23,598
Net Present Value $23,598
Internal Rate of
Return 22%
The payback schedule is shown in the graph below.
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International Short-Term Project
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
-$100,000
-$80,000
-$60,000
-$40,000
-$20,000
$0
$20,000
$40,000
Discounted Payback
Fiscal Year
Base Year Dollars
Project Stakeholder Management and Communications Plan
Stakeholder Register
Stakeholder
Name
Roles & Responsibilities Influence
Level (Low,
Medium,
High)
Contributi
on Level
(Low,
Medium,
High)
Interest
Level (Low,
Medium,
High)
Stakeholder
Type
(Internal/Ext
ernal)
Carnival
Corporation &
PLC
The stakeholder will be
responsible for funding the
project and providing the
project approvals.
High High High External
Business Partners The stakeholder group will
provide assistance in terms of
the information for
requirements gathering along
with the technical & quality
High Medium High External
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International Short-Term Project
guidelines.
Employees of the
organization
(End-users)
The ERP system upgrade will
be utilized by the stakeholder
group and the feedback
provided will be valuable
(Aakhus and Bzdak, 2015).
Medium Medium Medium External
Vendor Groups The stakeholder group will
provide the ERP add-on
features/package along with
the tools and equipment
needed.
Low High Medium External
Technical/Legal
Expert/Advisor
The stakeholder group will
provide the expert advice and
recommendations.
High Medium Medium External
Project Control
Board
The stakeholder group will
carry out control and
monitoring activities to make
sure that the project is on
track.
High High High Internal
Project Manager
and Leadership
The management and project
handling activities will be
carried out by the stakeholder
group.
High High High Internal
Project Team The execution of the project
activities will be done by the
stakeholder group.
Medium High Medium Internal
Power Interest Grid
High
Power
Low
Technical/Legal
Expert/Advisor
Project Team
Carnival Corporation & PLC
Business Partners
Project Control Board
Project Manager and
Leadership
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International Short-Term Project
Employees of the
organization (End-users)
Vendor Groups
Low Interest High
There will be communication mechanisms and guidelines that will be used in the project.
These communication mechanisms will depend upon the stakeholder type.
For the external stakeholders, there will be a weekly team meeting conducted. The external
and internal stakeholders will participate in the weekly team meeting and the project updates
will be shared in the discussion. For the internal stakeholders, there will be a daily team
discussion carried out. The daily meeting will focus on the project issues and the activities
planned for the upcoming days. There may be certain conflicts among the project
stakeholders and the resources in the project team. The resolution of these conflicts will be
done in the daily meetings (Koschmann, 2016).
There will be reporting structure that will be followed for the stakeholders.
Stakeholder Name Stakeholder Type
(Internal/External
)
Reports to be
shared
Frequency of the
Reports
Carnival Corporation & PLC External Progress Reports,
Closure Report,
Risk Report,
Defect Report
Progress report risk
report, and defect
report will be shared
weekly. Closure
report will be shared
at the end of the
project (El-Sawalhi
and Hammad, 2015).
Business Partners External Progress Reports,
Closure Report,
Risk Report,
Defect Report
Progress report risk
report, and defect
report will be shared
weekly. Closure
report will be shared
at the end of the
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International Short-Term Project
project.
Employees of the organization (End-
users)
External Progress Report Weekly
Vendor Groups External Procurement/
Contractual
Report
After the planning
phase
Technical/Legal Expert/Advisor External Progress Report Weekly
Project Control Board Internal Progress Reports,
Closure Report,
Risk Report,
Defect Report
Progress report risk
report, and defect
report will be shared
weekly. Closure
report will be shared
at the end of the
project.
Project Manager and Leadership Internal Progress Report Daily
Project Team Internal Progress Report Daily
Closing the Project and Post Implementation Review
Closure activities in the project will include the project performance assessment. The
assessment will be done for each individual in the project team. Also, the assessment will
include the performance of the team as a whole and the project. The reflection and lessons
learned exercise will be carried out by all the resources present in the project team. There will
be documentation activities executed at the end of the project and the closure report will be
prepared as the final project deliverable (Bengtson, Havila, and Aberg, 2018). The report will
include the details of the project activities carried out and the performance details.
The post-implementation review will be done with the employees of the Carnival Corporation
& PLC. The feedback of the users will be collected and analysed to identify the areas of
improvement. There will also be improvement exercises and change implementation
processes conducted to determine the performance of the upgrade carried out. The quality
assurance and control activities will also be performed to determine the project performance.
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International Short-Term Project
References
Aakhus, M. and Bzdak, M. (2015). Stakeholder engagement as communication design
practice. Journal of Public Affairs, 15(2), pp.188-200.
Amini, M. and Safavi, N. (2013). Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation. SSRN
Electronic Journal, pp. 285-300.
Bengtson, A., Havila, V. and Aberg, S. (2018). Beyond Project Closure: Why Some Business
Relationships Recur in Subsequent Projects. Project Management Journal, 49(2), pp.89-104.
Boltena, A. and Gomez, J. (2012). A Successful ERP Implementation in an Ethiopian
Company: A case Study of ERP Implementation in Mesfine Industrial Engineering Pvt. Ltd.
Procedia Technology, 5, pp.40-49.
Candra, S. (2011). The Road of ERP Success: A Framework Model for Successful ERP
Implementation. Binus Business Review, 2(2), p.1118.
Carnivalcorp (2019). Home - Carnival Corporation. [online] Carnivalcorp.com. Available at:
http://www.carnivalcorp.com/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2019].
El-Sawalhi, N. and Hammad, S. (2015). Factors affecting stakeholder management in
construction projects in the Gaza Strip. International Journal of Construction Management,
15(2), pp.157-169.
Ganesh, L. and Mehta, A. (2016). Understanding Cloud Based ERP Implementation in Light
of Conventional ERP Implementation at Indian SMEs: A Case Study. SSRN Electronic
Journal, pp. 175-210.
Hakim, A. (2010). A practical model on controlling the ERP implementation risks.
Information Systems, 35(2), pp.204-214.
Koschmann, M. (2016). A communication perspective on organisational stakeholder
relationships: discursivity, relationality, and materiality. Communication Research and
Practice, 2(3), pp.407-431.
Supramaniam, M., Abdullah, A. and Ponnan, R. (2014). Cost Analysis on ERP System
Implementation amongst Malaysian SMEs. International Journal of Trade, Economics and
Finance, pp.72-76.
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