Project Information

Describe business analysis and process to support the operations and customer service policies of Tesco, a major retail business entity.

For the purpose of the study, the establishment of business analytics and processes to support the operational and customer service policies of Tesco, a major retail business entity.

Kerzner (2013) stated that the IT project management primarily focuses to work on applications and analytical projects to serve customers better. This includes implementing advanced technology mechanisms to collect customer data track consumer data accordingly. Burke (2013) mentioned that in addition, it would assist the management of the organization to record customer preferences and frame the marketing as well as the operational policies accordingly. It is expected that this would assist the daily business functionalities in a more effective manner. The operational process of the business entity would be more effective in offering superior customer services to the employees. These technologies are expected to assist any retail business entity to enhance their production rate with requiring minimum amount of time and resources (Walker 2015). 

Various internal and external factors can affect the development of such technologies. These include the market demand and general consumer choices and preferences.  The response of customer towards such changes in the operational processes of a business enterprise is one factor that should be considered here (Leach 2014).In addition, the intensity of market completion is another essential attribute affecting the implementation of IT projects in the organization.

The internal factors include the cost incurred in implementing such a project. The project should be commercially viable from the point of view of the investors in a business enterprise. In other words the IT project would be able to add to the profitability of the firm.  Besides this, the financial state of the business enterprise is other essential criteria that can have an impact towards adopting such technology relating to applications and analytics (Phillips 2013) The retail brand should have the necessary financial strength to incur considerable expenditure without affecting the revenue inflow of the firm. Another internal factor is the training and aptitude of the employees working in the firm. The employees should posses the necessary skills to make optimum utilization of such advanced technology mechanisms that shall reduce the operational expenses of a business enterprise. (Turner 2014).  However, the quality of such IT projects is an essential factor in determining the financial position of the organization. The risks associated with such a project relates to the financial expenditures and negative consumer perception. In addition, it can be said that there shall be some amount of resistance from within the organization (Marchewka 2014). The project management procedure would be able to overcome such constraints in helping the organization to achieve business sustainability.  

Assumptions

The following are the limitations and constraints of the project management process ‘

1. Budget – To implement an IT project shall require considerable expenditure. Therefore, such expenditures shall be considered when adopting such procedures. As per the budget decided by the management of the organization, the management must introduce such IT projects. However, this can lead to high expenses, which the business enterprise   should be able to bear. According to Heagney (2012), it should be critically analyzed to prevent such expenses form adversely influencing the financial stability of the business enterprise.  
2. Time – Limitation of time is one of the pertinent limitations that can affect the stability of a business organization .  As such , constraints of time is one of the essential attribute that the  business organization has to consider before introducing such IT project in the organization .Therefore, the procedure of implementing such processes in the organization should be done in minimum period to assist the organization in its growth. Mir and Pinnington (2014)   noted that a lengthy procedure would not be beneficial for the firm in the end. 
3.  Training – The staff has to be adequately trained to adapt to such changes. It can be stated that lack of training in technology requirements shall harm the growth of the business enterprise. Effective training has been a pertinent limitation towards imposing such changes in the operational processes of a retail business entity (Crawford 2014).  This would have a negative influence on the quality of customer services offered by the entity.

The business approach should be an in-depth covering a range of activities that has to be influenced when implementing the business applications and analytical procedures of a business enterprise.  Firstly, the necessary discrepancies and the weaknesses in the organization shall be implemented.  The business approach is mainly based on the following requirements – Effective operational as well as customer service policies to the management (Unab and Kundi 2014).   Therefore, these two processes shall be adequately considered when building analytics and business application to keep track of consumer demand and preferences as well as the effectiveness of the operational policies of the business enterprise.  

According to Teller et al. (2014), establishment of applications and business analytics should follow a systematic procedure. Therefore, it should involve minimum amount of time and resources.  In addition, it s shall be effective enough to serve the purpose of the business organization.

The following are the requirements of the project as per the MOSCOW analysis

Must have – The must have requirements are critical to the success of the project these include – essential details related to the development of the applications. The application is constituted of the variable and the fixed factors that are vital to the functionalities of these applications in the context of developing of smoother operational processes of the business enterprise.  According to Meng (2012), the variable factors like consumer demand, the economic conditions of a particular place and the market conditions are subjected to frequent changes.  Therefore, the business applications and analytics must consider all these elements when developing advanced technological processes to assist a business enterprise.

The Moscow analysis presents a vital emphasis on the constituents that can be labeled as essential items on the establishment of IT project management procedures. Young (2013) mentioned that these elements bring added benefits. In the context of the study, these elements relate to adoption of essential technological requirements that enables a entity to offer superior customer service.  

 The certain technological requirements that can be labeled as could have and therefore not necessary to the achievement of primary objectives to the business enterprise. These relate to implementing processes to achieve greater sales revenue in the market.

These relate to the establishment of procedure that are not necessary, in the context of the present business position of the retail entity.  In this regard, it can be said that these procedure shall have an adverse influence to the business sustainability of a retail business enterprise. These would also lead to unnecessary expenses, thereby, affecting the productivity of a firm. In these regard , it  can be said that items labeled as won’t have should be strictly  avoided to prevent any undue threat or obstacle that can affect the IT project management procedure

Constraints

The project deliverable consists of the following three stages

Conceptualization – In this stage, there shall be two constituents that are- business transformation, technical solutions as well architecture. The Conceptualization stage is the initial stage where the IT project   management is fully planned   and the necessary   steps are taken for its implementation. 

Development – The development process   relates to the process where customized Apps as well as analytics are established   to enhance the current business processes.  This relates to the improving the existing operational polices, and offering customer services to the buyers. 

Operations – This is the final stage of the project deliverable processes. The  operations stage  can be  classified  into  three stages which are –  Infra and Network , Operations as well as the  support  towards  the applications of a business enterprise. The Infra and Network relates to improving the existing   technicalities currently followed in the organization (Holzmann 2013). The Applications  support relate to  consolidating  the  newly  developed  applications  as well as the  business  analytics  procedures   that  are  being  followed in the business  enterprise.    The operational stage facilities   the support functions of   a retail entity.  The support functions can be subdivided into Finance, L&D, HR and operations (Caniëls and Bakens 2012).  The  Project  management office  as well as integrated  portfolio management   are   the  functions   that shall  be supported by  IT   project  management   procedure        

From the  above  diagram  it    can  be  said  that  the  development  of business apps and analytics  shall assist a retail entity  to provided  support to a  range  of   business functionalities .    

The governing structure shall determine the implementation of the IT project management in the business enterprise (Lock 2014).  Therefore, the   authority and the direction would come from the top management of the organization.  In this  regard , it can be said that the  nature of structural policies followed  in the organization shall determine the  success of  the  business to  large  extent . Therefore, it is upto the management of the organization to make necessary planning relating the implementation of the project management activities in an organization.  The engineers of the organization shall handle the technical issues.    Any  technical issues shall be  handled  by  people  having qualified expertise  in the  field  of IT project management (Tong  and Thomson 2015).  In regarding implementing the changes within every layer in the organization, the human resources department shall be responsible. The project team and the top management or the leadership group shall have a very important relationship. There should be a clear flow of communication between these two parties, to avoid any misrepresentation of data. It can be said that both parties are co-dependent on each other (Besner, and Hobbs 2013).  The project team is dependent on the governance entities for adequate resources as well as the direction that the implementation of business applications and other analytics that the business organization would be required to be followed. On the other hand, the management is dependent on the project team to determine consistent delivery of IT solutions to a business enterprise .This shall enable the business entity to authenticate the use of business applications and analytics for the betterment and growth of the organization.  

Project Approach

Work Schedule

The IT project shall have an important effect on the stakeholders of a business enterprise. The cost incurred in these projects would add to the production expenses of the firm.  In this regard,   it can be said that this would enable the stakeholders to judge the existing condition of the business enterprise. Also the  benefits  related to the   adoption  of   IT project management   would  be explained to  the shareholders of the  management  to assist them to make important financial decisions of the business enterprise (Kaiser et al. 2015). The stakeholder management is a pertinent issue that can have an important effect on the implementation of   IT project management. As such, these factors must be considered when building business applications and analytics in an organization.

The communications management have an essential influence on  the relationship between   the stakeholders of the  management and  the project  management team.  Regular reports are provided to the stakeholders regarding  the progress of  IT  project management procedure and its implications on the current business processes,  in the context  of  the  retail market  (Müller et al. 2013).

Gantt chart  

As per the goals and objectives of the organization, the following quality management standards have been established.

Functional measurer- As per the objectives of the organization, the functional measures have been decided.  The functional measures relate o the attributes that directly contribute to the goals and objectives of the organization (Bowers and Khorakian 2014).  These relate to pertinent operational policies of the management of the organization.

Non- functional measures – The non-functional measures relates  to the attributes that do not have a significant impact on the business success and failure of a business enterprise .These characteristics relate to the operational as well as financial strategies of a business enterprise

Performance — The performance of a business enterprise is dependent on a number of factors. These relate to favorable market conditions, the current market position of a business enterprise and other external factors that has been affecting the position of business enterprise.  Regular reporting should be done to the stakeholders of the business organization regarding the specific details about the IT project (Joslin. and Müller 2015). The business applications as well as the analytics of the business enterprise shall have a potent effect on the   

Accuracy – The authenticity of the financial statements is an essential factor in determining the financial stability of a business enterprise. Thus, it is an important attribute that the organization has to consider when implementing IT project management procedure in a business enterprise.

Project Requirements

Security- The quality management of an organization places special emphasis on the protecting the important documents of a business enterprise (Teller 2013). This relates to prevent disclosing of financial and operational data of a business enterprise that can have an adverse impact on the reputation and goodwill of a business enterprise.  

Compatibility – The organization has to make efforts to be compatible to the business organization. In this regard, it can be said that compatible policies shall enable an organization to develop the corporate strategies that shall improve the existing business policies of an organization.

Reliability – The organization policies has to be reliable in order to gain the trust of the shareholders as well as the employees of the organization. The reliable policies of an organization mostly refer to the traditional operational and manufacturing policies of an organization.

Flexibility – The most flexible financial policies of an organization refer to the human resource policies of an organization. It  is expected that the human resource policies of an organization shall be suitable towards the implementation of  IT project management procedures in the organization .This also relates to implementing newer business processes in the organization that shall require the assistance of the management of an organization .

The financial Management of an organization relates to the adopting costing techniques to reduce the business enterprise. This also relates to reducing the production expenses of a business enterprise by adopting efficient financial procedures. The projects finances shall be managed by the fair value method. The fair value method shall represent the authenticate performance of a business enterprise. In this regard, it can be said that it is the most preferred method of preparing the financial statement of a business enterprise as it states the most relevant financial figures of a business enterprise.

Risk Management – The method of risk management assesses the business processes that identify the requirements that pose a threat to the sustainability. The risk management process entails proper coordination of the economic as well as the financial resources of a business enterprise In addition; it evaluates the necessary attributes that are vital to the implementation of business applications and analytics in an organization. 

The project shall be managed through by giving regular reports to the management of a business organization. In addition, the operational department shall evaluate the performance of the newly established business applications and analytics against the standard yardstick set at the outset. In the case of any discrepancies, due measures shall be taken by the project management team to rectify the situation. Implement an in-depth project monitoring procedure would prevent unnecessary wastage of time and resources.

Proposed Deliverable

Lessons learnt 

In the implementation of the newer business applications and analytics, the brand would be able to facilitate its production and customer service policies. However, this shall incur considerable expenditures.  Therefore, the primary responsibility to establish a budget is to cover the requirements of the business organization. In addition , the total work  should be  allocated between  the  teams in the organization to  complete it successfully  requiring  minimum  time  and resources . As 1such, a predetermined plan should be framed to avoid any hassles in the implementation of business applications and analytics to provide support to Tesco.  

References  

Kerzner, H. 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.  

Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.

Walker, A., 2015. Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.

Leach, L.P., 2014. Critical chain project management. Artech House.  

Phillips, J., 2013. PMP, Project Management Professional (Certification Study Guides). McGraw-Hill Osborne Media. 

Turner, J.R. ed., 2014. Gower handbook of project management. Gower Publishing, Ltd..

Marchewka, J.T., 2014. Information technology project management. John Wiley & Sons.

Heagney, J., 2012. Fundamentals of project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success.International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), pp.202-217.

Crawford, J.K., 2014. Project management maturity model. CRC Press.  Unab, W. and Kundi, M.F.A., 2014. Review of Project Management (PM) Practices in Public Infrastructure Development Organizations of Pakistan.Journal of Strategy and Performance Management, 2(4), p.144. 

Teller, J., Kock, A. and Gemünden, H.G., 2014. Risk management in project portfolios is more than managing project risks: a contingency perspective on risk management. Project Management Journal, 45(4), pp.67-80.

Meng, X., 2012. The effect of relationship management on project performance in construction. International journal of project management,30(2), pp.188-198.

Young, T.L., 2013. Successful project management (Vol. 52). Kogan Page Publishers.

Holzmann, V., 2013. A meta-analysis of brokering knowledge in project management. International Journal of Project Management, 31(1), pp.2-13.

Caniëls, M.C. and Bakens, R.J., 2012. The effects of Project Management Information Systems on decision making in a multi project environment. International Journal of Project Management, 30(2), pp.162-175.

Lock, M.D., 2014. The essentials of project management. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..

Tong, M. and Thomson, C., 2015. Developing a Critical Literature Review for Project Management Research. Designs, Methods and Practices for Research of Project Management, p.153.

Besner, C. and Hobbs, B., 2013. Contextualized project management practice: A cluster analysis of practices and best practices. Project Management Journal, 44(1), pp.17-34.