Project Selection Methods and Initial Documents for Uber Driver App

This report provides a detailed analysis of project selection methods and initial documents for the Uber Driver App project. It begins by evaluating the project selection methods, including the weighted scoring model, payback period, and net present value, comparing the Uber Driver App with Uber Eats and Uber Helicopter projects. The report then delves into the initial documents crucial for project initiation, such as the business case, project charter, and statement of work, outlining their purpose, key components, and relevance. The business case for the Uber Driver App is presented, summarizing the project, its financial aspects, scope, and potential benefits and risks. A project management methodology using PMBoK is described. The document includes a comprehensive list of references.

Project Management
Uber Driver App
Project Selection Methods & Initial Documents
2019
4/3/2019

Project Management
Table of Contents
Project Selection Methods.....................................................................................................................2
Weighted Scoring Model...................................................................................................................2
Payback Period..................................................................................................................................3
Net Present Value..............................................................................................................................3
Initial Documents..................................................................................................................................3
Business Case....................................................................................................................................3
Project Charter...................................................................................................................................4
Statement of Work.............................................................................................................................4
Business Case for Uber Driver App...................................................................................................5
High-Level Project Summary........................................................................................................5
Financial Statement.......................................................................................................................5
Project Scope.................................................................................................................................5
Benefits & Risks............................................................................................................................6
Project Management Methodology & Details................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................7

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Project Selection Methods
Weighted Scoring Model
The model is based on a set of criteria that will be defined for Uber Driver App and other
initiatives being currently carried out by Uber to select the best option out of all. The other
initiatives associated with Uber include Uber Eats and Uber Helicopter. The set of criteria
comprise of a mix of financial and non-financial criteria. Revenues are the financial criteria
that are involved. The non-financial criteria include customer satisfaction, competitive edge
in the market, ease of usage, integration and implementation, urgency, and risks (Chen,
2014).
There is a weight assigned to each of these parameters and the score on a scale of 1 to 10 is
provided to each of the three projects as depicted in the table below.
Criteria Weight Uber Driver App Uber Eats Uber Helicopter
Revenues 22% 8 7 6
Customer
Satisfaction
25% 9 8 8
Competitive
Edge in the
Market
15% 8 8 6
Ease of Usage 13% 9 6 7
Integration &
Implementation
7% 8 6 8
Urgency 10% 9 7 6
Risks 8% 6 6 6
Total 100% 57 48 47
The weights are assigned to each of the criteria specified and customer satisfaction is
assigned with the highest weight. This is because the primary goal of the organization is to
make sure that the customers are provided with the expected set of services. The revenues are
placed with the second highest weight as the success of the organization can be measured
financially on the basis of the revenues earned by the company. Competitive edge in the
market is another criterion that is significant as there is a lot of competition in the industry.
The other parameters and the corresponding weights are illustrated in the table.

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Uber Driver App is the project that has achieved the maximum score out of all the three
options followed by Uber Eats and Uber Helicopter. Therefore, Uber Driver App shall be
selected over the other two (Madrigal, 2018).
Payback Period
It is also one of the measures that can be used for project selection. The payback period is the
time that will be involved before the projects start giving returns. It is desired by the business
firms that they receive returns and benefits as soon as they implement a project. Therefore,
the payback period as desired by the organization is lower (Donovan & Hanney, 2011).
The payback period with the Uber Driver App will be lesser than Uber Eats and Uber
Helicopter as it will show immediate response and effect.
Net Present Value
It is the difference between the cash inflows and cash outflows of the project over a specified
period of time. It depends upon these values and on the discount rate as well (Scott, 2011).
The NPV for Uber Driver App along with the score obtained by the project is higher as
compared with the other options. Therefore, the application shall be preferred over Uber Eats
and Uber Helicopter by the organization.
Initial Documents
Business Case
A business case is an initial project document that is in the form of value proposition to allow
the management and leadership to take viable actions for the project. The business case
comprises of the justification and rationale to undertake the project and described the short-
term and long-term benefits that an organization may gain by taking up the project. There are
several projects that come up for the organizations. It is not possible for the organization to
accept and work on all of these projects. Therefore, the decision is to be made on the
selection and acceptance of the projects that are feasible and can provide the organization
with enhanced benefits.
The business case is an initial document that allows the management to understand the
project details and the benefits that it may gain with the execution of the project. There are
certain mandatory and non-mandatory sections that are included in a business case. The brief

Project Management
summary of the project, project objectives, problem statement, justification, and benefits are
some of the necessary sections that must be included and described in the business case. The
cost-benefit analysis may also be included to describe the financial benefits that the project
can provide (Nielsen & Persson, 2017).
The business case may also include some of the recommendations that may be considered
while undertaking and executing the project. There may also be a project proposal attached
with the business case along with the details of the challenges that may be associated with the
entire project timeline.
Project Charter
A project is carried out in a series of phases and the Project Charter is one of the initial
documents that are delivered in the initiation phase.
Project charter includes the high-level details of the project and is submitted to the Project
Sponsor and the other stakeholders for approval. The Project Charter is usually prepared by
the Project Manager. It includes the background of the project along with the project aims
and objectives. The project scope statement is included in the project charter along with the
details of the project deliverables and milestone schedule (Mark & Lurie, 2018). High-level
project requirements along with the summary of the project budget and project schedule are
also included in this document. The detailed account of the budget and the schedule is not
included; however, the information must communicate the brief of the estimates.
The charter also includes the names of the project resources and the stakeholders along with a
brief on the role of each of these entities. There may be certain risks that may come up in the
project during the project timeline. The details of these risks along with the plan to handle the
risks are also included in the project charter.
There is a sign-off section included at the end of the document in which the project sponsor
and other stakeholders provide their signatures and the comments on the approval or rejection
of the document. The rest of the project activities are accordingly carried out.
Statement of Work
The Statement of Work is an initial document that is a form of agreement between the project
management and the associated clients. These clients may be one of the vendors associated
with the project, or the project sponsor, or any other project stakeholder.

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There are various sections included in this document beginning with the services. The section
basically includes the scope of the project and the set of the activities that will be conducted
by the members of the project team during the project timeline. The next is the deliverables
section in which the description of the deliverables is included. The schedule and period of
performance is also included in this section of the project. The payment schedule along with
the details of the sub-contractors and representatives is also included in this document. These
are the mandatory sections that must be present in the charter (Frame, 2014).
There are also certain additional sections that may or may not be included in the statement of
work. The details of the project risks and assumptions may be included in the statement of
work. The stakeholders and the applicable standards may also be included in the document so
that the project entities get to know about the project information. The acceptance criteria for
the project along with the items that will not be included in the project scope may also be
covered in the document. The out of the scope items will provide clarity on the activities to
be conducted and the ones to be eliminated from the project timeline.
Business Case for Uber Driver App
High-Level Project Summary
The project will include re-building the Uber Driver App so that the enhanced functionalities
and user interface is incorporated for better services and outcomes. The design, development,
and deployment tools will be necessary to conduct the project planning, application design,
source code development, application testing, and deployment activities (Mirza,
Pourzolfaghar & Shahnazari, 2013).
Financial Statement
There is a fixed cost of $250,000 allotted to the project that shall include all of the project
expenses from the initiation till the project closure.
Project Scope
The project scope will include the application designing, developing, and deployment along
with the planning, testing, and implementation activities.
The total timeframe that will be needed to execute the project activities will be 180 days. The
resources will work for 40 hours in a week for five working days per week. The project will
start on April 3, 2019 and it will end on October 3, 2019 (Indelicato, 2009).

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Benefits & Risks
The project will provide benefits as enhanced revenues, profits, and customer engagement
levels for the organization.
There may also be certain risks that may emerge, such as technical errors, cost/schedule
overrun, operational errors, information security risks and attacks, and resource issues. There
are communication gaps that may also emerge.
Project Management Methodology & Details
The project will be managed using PMBoK methodology. The Project Manager will be the
client representative as all the requirements from the client will be shared with the members
of the by the PM.
The Program Director will be the management representative for the project.

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References
Chen, J. (2014). Self-Adjusting Weighted Averages in Standard Scoring. SSRN Electronic
Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2397637
Donovan, C., & Hanney, S. (2011). The 'Payback Framework' explained. Research
Evaluation, 20(3), 181-183. doi: 10.3152/095820211x13118583635756
Frame, J. (2014). Reconstructing Project Management. Project Management Journal, 45(1),
e2-e2. doi: 10.1002/pmj.21387
Indelicato, G. (2009). Book Review: Building a Project Work Breakdown Structure:
Visualizing Objectives, Deliverables, Activities, and Schedules. Project Management
Journal, 40(3), 85-85. doi: 10.1002/pmj.20133
Madrigal, A. (2018). 3 Million Uber Drivers Are About to Get a New Boss. Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/uber-driver-app-revamp/
557117/
Mark, S., & Lurie, Y. (2018). Customized project charter for computational scientific
software products. Journal Of Computational Methods In Sciences And Engineering,
18(1), 165-176. doi: 10.3233/jcm-180778
Mirza, M., Pourzolfaghar, Z., & Shahnazari, M. (2013). Significance of Scope in Project
Success. Procedia Technology, 9, 722-729. doi: 10.1016/j.protcy.2013.12.080
Nielsen, P., & Persson, J. (2017). Useful business cases: value creation in IS projects.
European Journal Of Information Systems, 26(1), 66-83. doi: 10.1057/s41303-016-
0026-x
Scott, M. (2011). Small company economics–net present value versus net cash flow. The
APPEA Journal, 51(1), 369. doi: 10.1071/aj10023