Project Management Analysis: The Little Chatroom's Expansion Project

This project management assignment analyzes The Little Chatroom, a small Edinburgh restaurant, and its project to open a new branch. The report begins with an introduction to project management, its role in business change, and the context of the project within The Little Chatroom's operations. Task 1 describes the project background, its potential to drive business change, its relationship with other projects and business operations, enterprise environmental factors, and the effectiveness of project management. Task 2 presents an email to the project sponsor, detailing the project's phases, timeline, indicative budget, and deliverables. Task 3 outlines the methods for gathering requirements, strategies to manage scope creep, a work breakdown structure, stakeholder analysis, and communication mechanisms. Task 4 covers risk identification techniques, an initial risk register, the application of the Delphi Technique, common root causes of project failure, and how project management processes can mitigate risks. The report concludes with a summary of findings and references.

Project Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Description of back ground of project, the way in which it can drive business change, relation
of project with other projects and business operations, enterprise environmental factors and
effectiveness of project management...........................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
Email to Project sponsor..............................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
List of methods that are going to be used to gather requirements and reason behind their use. .8
Strategies which will be employs to ensure scope creep is managed..........................................8
Work breakdown structure to depict high level summary of project..........................................9
......................................................................................................................................................9
Stakeholders and their influence on project.................................................................................9
Explanation of communication mechanisms that are employed to manage and engage
stakeholders................................................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
Techniques that are used to identify the risks............................................................................10
Initial risk register for the project..............................................................................................11
Application of Delphi Technique to analyse identified risks.....................................................12
Two main root causes of project failure typical to similar project............................................12
Way in which project management processes, tools and techniques discussed during the unit
can reduce the risk of failure......................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Project management is a technique which is used by business entities for the purpose of
monitoring, controlling, measuring and controlling a project which is taken by the company. It
helps to make sure that all the business goals are going to be achieved or not in predetermined
constraints. For this purpose the managers try to make sure that the plans which are formulated
by them are executed properly or not. While working on a project the major things which are
required to be analysed are basic requirements of it because without them it is not possible to
accomplish the goals successfully. Organisation which is selected for this report is The Little
Chatroom which is a small restaurant established in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Now it is
planning to open a new branch of it in the city. This assignment is based upon this project and
covers various topics such as background of project and its effectiveness for small business,
summary of different documents i.e. project phases, timeline, indicative budget and deliverables.
Along with this, different elements that are featured in project management plan and assessment
of risk are also covered under this report.
TASK 1
Description of back ground of project, the way in which it can drive business change, relation of
project with other projects and business operations, enterprise environmental factors and
effectiveness of project management
The Little Chatroom is a small restaurant which is executing its operations in Edinburgh,
United Kingdom. It offers different types of meals to the customers such as brunch, lunch, dinner
etc. Now it has planned to work on a project of establishing one more branch of it in the same
city as it has acquired success in establishing good brand image in the market. Main aim of this
project is to be easily accessible for the clients and attract prospects. It will be the change driving
factor for the business because with the help of it higher revenues could be generated and market
share could be enhanced. There are various other projects have been undertaken by The Little
Chatroom. One of them is renovation which was undertaken by restaurant to attract more and
more clients. It is related to the current project of the enterprise because because both of them are
focused with attracting large number of customers so that profits could be maximised.
The new project which is going to be undertaken by The Little Chatroom is also related
to business operations because successful completion of it will results in increased operations
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due to enhancement in number of customers. For manager of the enterprise it is very important to
execute all the operational activities appropriately so that the employees that are working on the
project can perform all the tasks in proper manner.
There are various environmental factors that are required to be focused by project
manager of The Little Chatroom. All of them with brief description are as follows:
 Cultural and social: For all the business entities it is very important to meet expectations
and requirements of clients by complying with cultural and social factors. As The Little
Chatroom is planning to open a new outlet in Edinburgh so it is very important for the
managers to identify such elements and try to comply with them. For this purpose,
enterprise is required to analyse education level, income, status, buying behaviour, belief
etc. of targeted customers so that they could be attracted towards restaurant.
 Physical environment: It Includes noise, lighting, indoor air quality etc. While finding a
new location for the new branch of The Little Chatroom it is very important for project
manager to take all these factors in to consideration as it can help to attain the objectives
such as attracting large number of customers. It is vital to select a location where there is
no noise because people want to spend their time at such place where they can get peace.
Managers also have to pay attention at lightning and air quality of restaurant so that
customers can be satisfied with the services.
 International and political: While opening a new branch in the city project managers
also have to focus on political forces as The Little Chatroom is required to take
permission from government to open a new outlet in Edinburgh. If they are not able to do
the same then it can leave negative impact upon the project and operations by resulting in
governmental interference in business.
 Climate: One of the main factor is climate which should be focused by the manager
because it can leave negative impact upon the new project. When a new building is
manufactured and the climate is not good then it can create difficulties for the
organisation to accomplish the goals successfully. Managers in The Little Chatroom are
required to focus on climate so that such food items could be prepared that fits to the
seasonal requirements of customers.
Project management is an effective tool for small businesses because it guides managers
to formulate appropriate strategies for successful completion of project. With the help of it all the
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plans could be monitored, analysed, assessed and controlled so that the goals that are established
could be achieved successfully. Small businesses such as The Little Chatroom implements the
technique of project management as it is very beneficial for them. It helps to estimate cost of the
whole task, schedule processes, evaluate success of plan and guides to take appropriate steps for
the purpose of controlling unfavourable events which may take place in future.
TASK 2
Email to Project sponsor
To,
Mr. XYZ (Sponsor)
Subject: Details regarding project
Respected sir,
Greetings for the day,
The Little Chatroom is going to open a new outlet of itself in Edinburgh for the purpose of
enhancing profits and increasing market share. For this purpose different documents are going
to be formulated. All of them are as follows with detailed description:
Project phases: There are various phases of projects which could be segregated in four
different elements. These are initiation, planning, execution and closure (Phases of project
management, 2019). All of them are going to be implemented by project management of The
Little Chatroom for the purpose of successful completion of the project of establishing new
outlet in Edinburgh. Description of all its stages is as follows:
 Initiation: At this stage, different needs of the new project are identified. The managers
of The Little Chatroom are going to analyse various aspects such as new location,
required modifications in menu, new restaurant concept, need of new staff members etc.
It is vital for them to focus on all these elements so that effective strategies could be
formulated. In order to identify all the factors they conduct business analysis and try to
observe all the essential requirements of new project.
 Planning: When all the required resources are identified then different plans are
formulated in order to acquire all the elements for business. The project managers of
The Little Chatroom is going to plan for the accomplishment of all the essential
requirements of different factors such as place, modifications, employees and concept.
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While formulating strategies they have to take all of them in to consideration so that it
can be assured that project will be completed successfully.
 Execution: The plans which are formulated in previous step will be executed by project
managers of The Little Chatroom in order to open new outlet of restaurant in Edinburgh
successfully. They will formulate different teams who will be assigned tasks and work
for the attainment of common goals. At this stage all the plan will be turned in to action
and main responsibility of the manager in this step is to keep the work on track so that
all the employees could be organised in appropriate manner. They are also responsible
to make sure that they will be able to meet the timelines that are set by them previously
or not.
 Closure: When all the work is completed by team members then this phase take place.
Project managers in The Little Chatroom will release all the resources, provide
deliverables and determine success of project. They are also required to evaluate the
factors which has worked effectively and identify such elements which have resulted
unfavourably for the business.
All the above described phases are going to be followed by project manager of The
Little Chatroom in order to open a new outlet of it in Edinburgh for the purpose of enhancing
profits and attracting large number of customers.
Project timeline
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Indicative budget: While working on a project it is very important for a manager to decide a
proper budget for it so that all the tasks could be accomplished successfully. Project manager of
The Little Chatroom have reserved funds for different activities which are as follows:
Particulars Amount
Market research 15000
Recruitment cost of new staff 3000
Salaries 60000
Rent 12000
Advertising 16000
Cost of new concept of
restaurant
14000
Total cost 120000
In order to work of the new project the organisation is required to arrange funds of
120000. With the help of it objectives could be achieved successfully.
Project deliverables: All the documents that are required for the analysis of whole project are
considered as the part of project deliverables. Some of them which are formulated by the
manager of The Little Chatroom are as follows:
Feedback report Document:
Objective:
To ascertain whether the prototype is easily accessible and gives a high customer experience to
the sample size of 50 individuals.
Feedback Questions Yes No
Does the images projected have a high quality with smooth ✓
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audio-visual experience?
Is the price of the model relevant to the quality of the product? ✓
Were there any issues faced while operating the model? ✓
Document of project review:
Project Review of Prototype
Risk Management ✓ (Excellent)
Quality of the product ✓ (Good)
Customer Appreciation ✓ (Satisfactory)
Cost Overrun ✓ (Nil)
Scheduling ✓ (Controlled)
Error-free ✓ (Very Good)
Project plan: It can be defined as the document which is required to monitor and control
various elements of a project. These are cost, time, quality and scope. As managers of The
Little Chatroom are working on a project of opening a new out of restaurant in Edinburgh so, it
is vital for them to make sure that they are monitoring and controlling all of them. Description
of them is as follows:
Elements Details
Scope In order to achieve the objective of increasing profits and attracting large
number of customers project manager of The Little Chatroom have
decided to hire skilled managers. They have decided to provide them
proper training so that success could be acquired by the organisation.
Cost Project manager have estimated that total cost of establishing the new
outlet of The Little Chatroom in the same city will be around 120000.
Time Managers of The Little Chatroom have estimated that the successful
establishment of a new outlet of the restaurant requires at least 7 months
to be established successfully.
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Quality To maintain the quality of all the food items that are going to be offered
to clients managers have decided to analyse all the processes that will be
followed by staff members to prepare food. They have set standards for
each item so that it can fulfil requirements of customers.
Project governance: It can be defined as the combination of some of the specific regulations,
policies, functions, processes, responsibilities and procedures. While working on a project it is
very important for an organisation to analyse all of them. In The Little Chatroom it will be used
by project manager to form effective decisions because it can help to form all the required
documents. All of them are very important for a business because with the help of them
sponsors can analyse the elements which should be focused by them while measuring success of
a project.
Yours Faithfully
Mr. ABC
(Project Manager)
The Little Chatroom
TASK 3
List of methods that are going to be used to gather requirements and reason behind their use
While working on a project different methods are used by managers to gather
requirements. As The Little Chatroom is going to open a new outlet in Edinburgh so it is also
vital for its managers to use methods to analyse needs of this project. All of them which will be
used by them are discussed below:
Waterfall: It is a combination of five different elements which are requirements, design,
implementation, verification and maintenance. It will be used by project manager of The Little
Chatroom while working of the project because it is an easy to understand method which
reduced rigidity in the tasks. Main reason behind its use is that it helps to process and complete
phases one at a time so that possibility of errors could be reduced.
Prince2: This method is used for effective project management method which helps to
accomplish all the goals successfully. Manager of The Little Chatroom will use it for the purpose
of delivering the project on time under the predetermined budget. Another reason for using it is
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that it helps to enhance communication which clarifies roles and responsibilities of each
employee.
Strategies which will be employs to ensure scope creep is managed
In order to make sure that a project will meet the scope creep will be managed or not then
it is vital for the manager to use different strategies. Two plan of actions that are going to be used
by The Little Chatroom are as follows:
Finalising project details: This strategy is used by project manager of The Little
Chatroom in order to make sure that all the details that are used by them to complete the project
are appropriate or not. With the help of it they can analyse that scope creep is managed or not
because it helps them to double check all the information.
Setting clear expectations: It is the second strategy which is used by project manager of
The Little Chatroom for the purpose of setting clear goals so that employees can work for the
attainment of it. With the help of it scope creep can be managed because staff members can work
productively to reach the goal with the help of it.
Work breakdown structure to depict high level summary of project
Work breakdown structure: It is a structure which is used by business entities to
segregate all the tasks in a structured format. The WBS which is generated by project manager of
The Little Chatroom is as follows:
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Stakeholders and their influence on project
In order to analyse influence of stakeholders of the organisation it is vital for managers to
use project management tool. From the above work break down structure it has been assessed
that stakeholders of The Little Chatroom will be customers, employees etc.
Customer will influence the project by buying the food items that are sold to them. If
restaurant is not able to offer them such items that they are willing to have then it can result
negatively and affect success of project. Employees can influence the project because they are
responsible for execution of all the operations. If they are not able to perform productively then it
will affect project adversely.
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