Reflective Essay

Khalid Husain 07008066 David Moulton

Reflective Essay- Butty Mobile

In this essay I will be writing and reflecting on a project that was undertaken by me and one other. The project concept that we decided to undertake was the idea of a mobile sandwich van called the Butty Mobile. The Butty Mobile would be located at Wavertree Business Park and would provide fresh sandwiches to local businesses between office hours. It would also cater for other events such as birthdays, wedding, festivals etc. Before starting the complex tasks of planning and executing a project it is vital to know exactly what the definition of a project is and what is involves. A project is an interrelated set of activities that has a definite starting and ending point that results in a unique product or service. (Lee J. Krajewski and Larry P. Ritzman, 1999). Projects use resources such as, people, time and money that have been specifically allocated to the work of the particular project. Every project produces a unique outcome. These project outcomes or end results have specific goals of quality and performance. We also needed to be clear on what project management incorporated. incorpora ted. Project management is a discipline of combining systems, techniques and people to complete a project within established goals of time, budget and quality. (Sunny and Kim Baker, 2000). In order for the idea of the Butty Mobile or any other project to be a success there are five general processes that needed to be addressed. Below are details of the five processes that are vital and what we did as a team to attend to these processes.

Project Process Flow -(http://www.projectmanagementcertification.org) The Five Processes of Project Management are:-

Project Initiating Process- At the start of any project there will be a variety of ideas and opinions about the purpose and scope of the project, what the final product of the project will be, and how the project will be carried out. The Project Initiation Stage is concerned with taking these ideas and intentions and developing them into a formal, planned, resourced and funded project. During the

Khalid Husain 07008066 David Moulton project initiation stage we brainstormed a few ideas ranging from a car wash to a sandwich bar. This process stresses the selection of a project worth doing and then the development of a vision and the establishment of goals of the project. Once the Project was decided we had to determine what the project should accomplish and also define the overall project goals and objectives. Objectives help to provide a definition of the end point which can be used to monitor progress and identify when success has been achieved. (Slack.N Et al, 2010 ) Due to the fact that there were only two people in our group we decided to divide out

tasks equally and fairly. We decided to give ourselves equal levels of authority in deciding and planning the project. We were decisive in negotiating our channels of communications. These channels were through phone, text email and also face to face meetings. One particular aspect we could have looked into in more depth was the project scope. The scope of  the project identifies its work content and its products or outcomes. It is a boundary setting exercise which attempts to define the dividing line between what each part of the project will do and also what it wont do Having surfaced on a pa rticular idea and recognising when the project should be completed we moved onto the next part of the Management Process.

Project Planning Process  The planning process involves defining the work necessary for completion of the project, identifying resources that will be required to complete the project, devising a schedule and also developing a budget for the project. (Sunny and Kim Baker, 2000). The planning phase is considered the most important phase in project management. Time spent up front identifying the proper needs and structure for organising and managing a project saves countless hours of confusion and rework during the execution and control phases of the project. Planning is not a one off process. It may be repeated several times during the projects life as circumstances change, nor is re-planning a sign of project failure or mismanagement. (Slack.N Et al, 2010 ). This was the case with our particular project as we had to re-plan our opening times for the Butty mobile. We decide initially to set the opening times from 10am till 2pm, but after considering sum workers views and opinions at the business park we decided to change our opening time to 8am. This was due to workers/potential customers wanting hot drinks in the morning to start there day off. We established that this part of the management process was intensive as we had to develop a workable schedule and budget for assigning resources to the activities required to complete the project. The budget that we set for the overall project was at £10,000. The method that we have used to budget was the top-down budgeting method. This type of budget method estimates the cost of higher level tasks first and using these estimates to constrain the estimates for lower level tasks . (Mantel et al 2001). Below is a list of the resources that were required and how much it was going to cost.

Khalid Husain 07008066 David Moulton Second hand catering mobile van- £2750 which includes 12 Months MOT and 6 Months Road tax and has all equipment necessary to make and sell sandwiches and also to provide hot and call drinks. http://www.ncass.org.uk/ncass_catering_equipment_for_sale.aspx Liability

insurance- This type of insurance is very important in a business in this type sector.

This insurance will be purchased in order to cover the possibility of law suits due to food poisoning. This has been estimated at £1000. Van insurance- This is required by law for motor vehicles. The cost of this is £800 yearly.

www.confused.com

Initial stock- i.e. ingredients, drink, bread, packaging. All this will be bought in bulk from a cash and carry. E.G Costco. We have set a budget of £1000. Staff- We are going to employ three staff altogether. 2 full time staffs and 1 part-time. The

pay at which these employees is £5.93 meeting the national minimum wages. Wages for 3 staff totalled £ 2561.76 monthly Q ualifications- Our staff will be enrolled on a health and safety course which will give them

the required qualifications to maintain high health and hygiene standards. This will cost £100 per person.

One particular area that we could have researched into more was the initial stock budget. We set the budget at £1000 and decided that we were going to buy in bulk. One thing that we did not look into was the possibility of not being able to sell the stock before its due date. This is a major issue as there would have been many ingredients going to waste and also money that would be going to waste. The next stage in this particular process was to estimate times for completing tasks. Accurate, realistic and workable scheduling is what makes a project tick. Most projects are too complex to be planned and controlled effectively unless they are first broken down into manageable portions.This is achieved by conducting the project into a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS brings clarity and definition to the project planning process. It also provides a framework for building up information for reporting purposes. We created a WBS as shown in APPENDIX 1. One way in which we could have improved out scheduling would have been through a Gantt chart. Invented by Henry L Gantt, the Gantt chart shows the sequence of activities for easy reference to help manage the project. It can also be used to represent specific requirements, such as man power or resources. (Harrison. M, 1996).

Project Executing/Implementation Process- The Executing process involves coordinating and guiding project teams members to get the work done that is identified in the project plan. As mentioned earlier there were only two members of project so the work was divided up equally. Both of us felt equally regarding the skills we processed to completing dedicated tasks. If there was a

Khalid Husain 07008066 David Moulton situation where both of us were unsure on a certain task we would seek clarification through research. This could have been improved and avoided if we had some extra people working with us as it would allow the members of the project to concentrate more on particular tasks. We stayed in contact on a regular basis through email and text to advise each other of the progress we were making. One issue that could have potentially improved our project was meeting up face to face more often. By doing this it would have given each of us more freedom in expressing our ideas to ways in which we should implement the project.

Product Controlling Process- This process is about controlling and watching over the project. Controlling a project involves measuring progress toward the objectives and taking action to ensure that deviations from the plan do not adversely affect the end results of the project. (Sunny and Kim Baker, 2000). These methods are required in order to review any progress in the project and also to help identified and problems that need to be addressed. One way in which we decide we will be monitoring quality and customer satisfaction is through mystery shoppers. Mystery shoppers will attend each week to investigate cleanliness, quality and customer service and will be given a form to fill out to rate these aspects of the business. Data collected by the mystery shopper will be recorded and monitored on a monthly basis and recorded in charts and tables. If standards fall below a certain level then this will be investigated and rectified. Monthly progress forms would be given to staff and all relevant third parties to show exactly where the project stands at that point and also will show where we would like to be. This would also give the opportunity for these people to raise any issues or concerns they may have Reviewing our day to day processes on a monthly basis to find out ways in which we can improve and gain more custom is also going to be another monitoring method. If the project is obviously failing and is out of control in the sense that it costs, quality levels or times are significantly different from those planned, then some kind of intervention is almost certainly likely to be required. (Slack.N Et al, 2010 ). At the time of deciding a location for the Butty Mobile we identified that this aspect of the project may need changing depending on how the project was performing. The process of project control is can now be aided by the use of techniques which will help handle the complexity and time based nature of a project. These go under the collective name of network analysis. Examples of network analysis are critical path method (CPM) or analysis (CPA) and programme evaluation and review technique (PERT). These techniques can improve any project including the Butty Mobile.

Project Closing Process- The Closing Process is the final process in Project Management. This time can be used both for celebration and reflection. For small projects such as the Butty Mobile the closing process would be a simple matter of having a meeting with the team and any stakeholders to acknowledge the attainment of the project goals and writing brief report on the project. The closing meeting should focus only on the accomplishments of the completed project so that the people involved feel satisfied with the work performed. (Sunny and Kim Baker, 2000).

Khalid Husain 07008066 David Moulton Q uality Control Good project quality management techniques are important to ensure that a project deliverables and end results meet or exceed the customer's expectations. It is important to monitor the project continuously to prevent errors and misinterpretations. "Quality" refers to the ability of a process, or product to satisfy both stated and implied needs, with these needs being defined by the stakeholders (http://www.projecttemplates.co.uk). Consistent conformance to customers expectations. (Slack.N Et al, 2010 ). By having a project quality plan will help establish which quality standards are important to the project. Quality is an ongoing process and by refining and improving processes the end results is continually improved until the level of quality desired is reached. To my understanding the quality of the Butty Mobile project was to a satisfactory standard. The project did not exceed the budget and would have been completed at the planned time. The products themselves would have also been to a satisfactory quality as during our test phase of the project we decided to hand out free samples to potential customers and also encouraged any suggestions that they may want to put forward. The operations view of quality is concerned with trying to meet customer expectation. The view of  quality is what the customer perceives the product to be. The knowledge area of project quality management includes the organisational processes that determine quality policies, objectives and responsibilities. The Project Management Body of  Knowledge guide (PMBOK) is a processed based guide which describes work as being accomplished by processes. The approach it uses is consistent with other quality management standards such as the ISO 9000. It identifies three processes for quality management. (http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Basics-of-Project-Quality-Management&id=5625393) Quality planning- This is important as it encourages project managers to start with a clear definition of the goals of the project. This would also include assessing the risks to succeed and also define methods for testing which will consequently control, predict and very success Quality Assurance- By using quantitative and qualitative methods it is possible to effectively measure project quality with customer satisfaction. This test can be quality audits which could help predict and verify the objectives of and goals of a project. This was a method that we decided to use in the form of sample testings and also questionnaires. Quality Control- This involves techniques which are meant to ensure project standards. This includes the identification of any problems, analysing theses problems and then deciding on solutions to rectify these problems. Total Quality Management (TQM) is an effective system for integrating the quality development, quality maintenance and quality improvements in an organisation so as to enable production satisfaction and service at the most economical levels which allow the full customer satisfaction. (Slack.N Et al, 2010). This concept is thought of as a philosophy of how to approach quality

Khalid Husain 07008066 David Moulton management. It stresses the total of TQM which puts the quality at the heart of the every aspect of  the organisation.

Conclusion Based on all the concepts and theories of project management I can conclude that there were many aspects of the project which could have improve significantly through the use of these frameworks. One major aspect that I would be spending more time on is the project initiating stage and planning more vigorously and in more dept. I would create a Statement of Work (SOW) which will outline work activities, deliverables and a timeline. I would also create a Gantt chart to give a clearer picture of current and future progress of the project.

References Lee J. Krajewski and Larry P. Ritzman (1999) Operations Management - Seventh edition. Prentice Hall Sunny and Kim Baker (2000) - Project Management . Pearson: Macmillan USA, Inc Slack .N, Chambers. S and Johnston (2010) Operations Management, 6 th Edition. Harlow; Pearson Harrison, M (1996) Princi  ples of Operations Management, London: Pitman Samuel J. Mantel et al (2001) Project Management in Practice, Hoboken: Wiley http://www.projecttemplates.co.uk- [Online - Accessed on 15th January 2011] http://www.projectmanagementcertification.org/managernotes/project_management_processes.h ml- [Online - Accessed on 15th January 2011] http://www.ncass.org.uk/ncass_catering_equipment_for_sale.aspx- [Online - Accessed on 1st January 2011] www.confused.com  [Online - Accessed on 1st January 2011] http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Basics-of-Project-Quality-Management&id=5625393  [Onlineth

Accessed on 15 January 2011]

Khalid Husain 07008066 David Moulton