final project assignment report
TRANSCRIPT
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Project Report: Importing Vehicle from Japan 2010
Project Report: ImportingVehicle from Japan
Box Hill Institute Diploma of International Business
2010
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Executive Summary
As part of this project we looked at the work breakdown structure and operational project design
and analysis, which include, budget, quality, human resources, communication, risk, procurement,
systems and processes. However, due to the limited nature of this project, we would only be
discussing the relevant theories and approaches used by the current business as part of their project
and operational plan.
After completing the project report, we have found that project planning is a complex
process, involving various sub elements such as budgeting, quality analysis/control, human resource
planning, communication planning, and risk analysis/mitigation and procurement strategy.
All in all, this project report has taught us a great deal about project planning procedures
and processes, which we could carry forward into our future assignments and jobs. Through thisproject report write-up process, we have learnt about the finer points involved in human resource
and communication planning, where non-performing member of the group should be made to
contribute.
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1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1. Project Objective ..................................................................................................................... 31.2. Authorisation .......................................................................................................................... 3
1.3. Project Scope/Limitations ....................................................................................................... 3
1.4. Sources of Information ........................................................................................................... 3
1.5. Project Background ................................................................................................................. 3
2. Work Breakdown Schedule ............................................................................................................. 4
3. Operational Project Design and Analysis ........................................................................................ 5
3.1. Budget ..................................................................................................................................... 5
3.2. Quality ..................................................................................................................................... 7
3.3. Human Resources ................................................................................................................. 10
3.4. Communication ..................................................................................................................... 12
3.5. Risk Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 14
3.6. Procurement ......................................................................................................................... 17
4. Conclusion and Recommendations............................................................................................... 21
References ............................................................................................................................................ 22
Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 23
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b. Resell value for most second hand cars in Japan are actually quite low, as car
purchase price only contributes to a small portion of the life-time ownership of cars
in the city, are dominated by parking and on-road costs.
c. Japanese car owners in the cities, usually purchase car for conspicuous consumption
rather than for personal transport purpose. Therefore, they are more inclined to
purchase brand new cars than second hand cars, even if they were cheaper, which
means second hand cars supply is greater than the local demand.
2. High demand for Japanese grey import cars
a. Many sports/performance cars released in Japan are not available in any other
countries, and these cars are highly sort after in many parts of the world, especially
in Australia.
b. Another reason why they are highly sort after, are due to the low purchase price and
upgradability of various car parts, i.e. engine upgrade.
c. Japanese grey import uses the same right hand drive system, which means these
second hand cars can be registered for road use, with little costly modification, as
compared to European or American second hand cars.
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involved in which part of the project, and the timeframe given for each discrete step within the
project milestones.
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project report, we would only look at the direct and indirect costs elements involved in the project
plan. For most large projects, a WBS should be prepared prior to any project budgeting process, as
this would minimise the guesswork involved, in estimating the cost associated with the resources (i.e.
HR and IT resources), equipments and time schedules involved in the project.
Direct Costs involved in a project similar to the one we are undertaking, would usually
involve the following elements:
1. Human Resources Cost - i.e. Wages, salaries, benefits and taxes, etc.
2. Suppliers/Permits/Insurances consumable items/supplies involved in the project, such as
special business/import permits, insurance coverage (i.e. marine insurance, cargo
insurances), computers, mobile phones, papers, etc.
3. Travel All travel related costs (i.e. hire car, plane tickets, accommodation costs, etc.).
4. Communication Cost All the phone (mobile, fixed) and internet (fixed and wireless internet)
costs used as part of the project.
5. Publications Printing and binding costs involved for publications, brochures, reports, etc
6. Consultant Fees Sometimes there are elements within projects where outside expert
advices are needed, which must be accounted for in the consultant fees.
7 C f Q li i h f j ill d li d
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3. The availability of supply contract prior to use of the material, resource or equipment
can also affect the contingency rate. As certainty of events decreases the risk
associated with the supply of goods and services, which decreases the contingency
factor percentage.
3.2. Quality
Quality management is an important part of the overall project management process, as it ensures
that all project activities are effective and efficient, with respect to the project objective and scope.
Project Quality Management (QM) forms a continuous process that starts and ends with the project,
with regular QM activity during each stage of the project. The purpose of the QM is to prevent and
avoid poor quality outputs at the completion of the project, through continuous monitoring and
application of the quality processes in all parts of the project. QM would also detect any duplicationand inefficiency (i.e. people not putting in their share of workload, etc), and remove these
bottlenecks as soon as they are found through various options. Therefore, the QM would maximise
the values for the beneficiary and produce project outputs and deliverables that would meet or
exceed their requirements and expectations.
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Suitability defines the fitness of a product or service for its use.
Completeness
is whether the service or product is complete and covers the entire
scope of services.
Consistency is whether services or products deliver the same output quality each time
and every time during its lifecycle.
In order to meet the quality characteristics, a quality plan or quality material must be used
during the project implementation phase. The quality material s ensure the project team are
delivering the project outputs, according to the quality requirements in an efficient and effective
manner (refer to table 2).
Quality Materials Description
Standards
Standards are instruction documents that detail how a par ticular aspect of the
project must be undertaken. There can be no deviation from Standards unlessa formal variation process is undertaken, and approval granted.
GuidelinesGuidelines are not compulsory. They are intended to guide a project ratherthan dictate how it must be undertaken. Variations do not require formalapproval.
Checklists Checklists are lists that can be used as a prompt when undertaking a particularactivity. They tend to be accumulated wisdom from many projects.
T lTemplates are blank documents to be used in particular stages of a project.
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Quality Events DescriptionExpert Review Review of project deliverable by a person whom is considered an expert
in a field. i.e. consultants or business people involved in this field.Peer Review Review of deliverables by work colleagues. This is usually better suited
for reviewing structure than content.Multi person Review Review carried out by independent group of people. But this is best
used when trying to gain agreement by different stakeholders, as itusually generates a lot of different viewpoints and opinions.
Walk-through Walk through is a useful technique to validate both the content and
structure of a deliverable.Formal Inspection Formal inspection is a review of a deliverable by an inspector whom isexternal to the project team. This is useful in detecting defects within aproduct or documentation
Standard Audit This type of audit is only carried out to ensure that the deliverablemeets a particular standard.
Process Review In this case a defined Business Process is reviewed to ensure allnecessary actions are being undertaken, information recorded, and
procedures followed. A "Process Review" is useful to validate theexisting processes in an organization.
Table 3. Quality Events example and description.
As part of the overall quality control, once a part of the project deliverables are rejected or
deemed unsatisfactory, then the appropriate actions must be undertaken to bring the rejected
d i i li H h ki ll k b i l f
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3.3. Human Resources
People or human resource (HR) is the core determinant of a projects success, and most projects are
HR resource strained. Therefore, the management of HR within a project lifecycle has a major
impact on the projects success or failure. Human resource management involves leading,
communicating, delegating, motivating, team building, recruiting and appraising, etc. The HR plan
usually contains information for each human resource category, such as:
The number of staff required.
Costing information and assumptions.
How long are they required.
Any special skills required over and above those that people in the category would normally
expected to have, as well as the required level of proficiency and the relative importance of
these skills.
Training requirements needed specifically for the project.
Office space and material requirements.
Plans for team-building activities.
dd ll h l l d f h d f
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Skills and skill level
Previous work experience
Personal interests
Personal characteristics i.e. will this person get along with the rest of the project team.
Availability i.e. is this person available at the required time and location for a particular role.
Cost of hiring this person
Once the person is assigned to a particular job role, the performance of this person on their
job, is constantly evaluated, according to:
Client satisfaction
Quality of work output
Achievement of milestones
Productivity and efficiency
Teamwork
If the team member does not meet the requirement or target, then they will either be
reassigned or dropped from the team, in order to minimise cost/time wastage and disruption to the
f h
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3.4. Communication
Effective project communications is needed to ensure that we get the right information to the right
person at the right time and in a cost-effective manner. Communications is basically the process by
which information is exchanged. Communications can be:
Written formal
Written informal
Oral formal
Oral informal
Oral communications come with a high degree of flexibility. Oral communications includes
the medium of personal contact, group meetings, or the telephone. Written communications are
precise. They are transmitted through the medium of correspondence (minutes, letters, memos, andreports), e-mail, and the project management information system. Some people consider
nonverbal/visual communications, such as gestures and body language, as an acceptable process.
Majority of communication involved in the project, will be internal communication within
the project teams, which is expected to meet the following needs:
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10. Reading skills
In consideration of these factors, it is therefore imperative that a proper and clear message
must be conveyed to the recipients, which may be achieved using these following techniques:
Obtaining feedback, possibly in more than one form.
Establish multiple communication channels, i.e. video conferencing.
Using face to face communication if possible.
Determining how sensitive the recipient is to the communication method.
Being aware of the expression on the recipients face during face to face meeting.
Communicating at proper time, i.e. during work hours.
Reinforcing words with actions.
Using simple to understand language.
Using redundancy, say things in two different ways.
Meeting will form a crucial part of the project communication, where crucial information
giving, receiving and listening takes place. However, if the meeting is improperly carried out, it could
be a waste of time and monetary resources. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that every meeting
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Project risks of cost over-runs, schedule over-runs, or insufficient product or service
quality delivered.
Financial from business failure, interest rate fluctuations, unemployment, etc
Technical from advances in local technology
Political changes in tax regimes, public opinion, government policy, foreign influence,
trade barriers, etc.
Project risks could also be identified using the following methods:
Comparisons with similar systems or project
Relevant lessons-learned studies
Experience
Data from research studies
Specialist and expert judgements
Analysis of plans and related documents
Modelling and simulations
Sensitivity analysis of alternative
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Technical Evaluation
Provides technical foundation Identifies and describes the program risks (i.e. technology)
Analyses risks and relates them to other internal and external risks
Prioritizes risks for program impact
Quantifies associated program activities with both time duration and resources
Quantifies inputs for cost evaluation and schedule evaluation Documents technical basis and risk issues for the risk evaluation
Describing and quantifying a specific risk and the magnitude of that risk usually requires
some analysis and modelling, which can be done using the following tools/methods:
Life-cycle cost analysis Network analysis
Mote Carlo simulation
Estimating relationships
Risk scales
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3.6. Procurement
Procurement is an important administrative and financial function/process that allows a project to
obtain the best value for their limited financial resources for goods and services. A sound
standardised procurement process would allow us to achieve the operational strategic goals of a
project, by ensuring the effective and efficient use of financial resources in a competitive and
transparent manner through. Significant cost savings on resources and materials would usually be
generated, if the right procurement strategy is properly implemented, which may otherwise be lostif no standardised procurement strategy was present.
Usually, most procurement process involves a certain degree of interaction with the external
business environment, which may act as the supplier of goods and services. This outside interaction
may often be abused, if it is not carefully managed and followed through with official procedures.
Like most other project management systems (i.e. Human Resources, etc), the procurement strategy
should be assessed according professionalism, fairness, reliability, transparency and competitiveness.
The procurement strategy for goods and services is usually guided by four set core principles,
which are:
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roles, where their power could be abused in a way to benefit him or the other parties involved. It is
also essential, frequent independent reviews are carried out by team members not involved in the
project or people with higher authority.
Transparency and Openness - Transparency and openness are key principles that should govern any
procurement action. One way to ensure transparency in the procurement process is to establish a
Procurement Committee that will evaluate tenders/proposals/bids and award contract to the most
responsive bidder. A Procurement Committee can be ad-hoc or permanent, depending on the
nature of the goods or services to be procured, frequency of the procurement and the technical
competence of the staff involved. The principle of separation of duties also reinforces transparency
of the procurement process. Openness is effective when all suppliers are treated equally and receive
the same amount of information. The information related to any procurement should be readily
available for consultation and the procurement authority should be ready to provide any additionalinformation as required.
There are usually three modes of solicitation used in competitive procurement process;
Request for Quotations (RFQ) - This mode of solicitation is used for the procurement of low value
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Request for Proposals (RFP) - A request for proposals (RFP) is ideally used in a competitive or direct
procurement of non-standard goods and services independent of the amount involved. The RFP
allows the project to enter into negotiations with the suppliers.
RFPs are always used in cases of direct procurement (waiver of competition). They can also
be used in competitive procurement when only a short list of suppliers is invited to submit
proposals. In such cases the Procurement Committee must approve the short list of suppliers before
the solicitation takes place. The Procurement Committee assesses the financial and technical
proposals on the basis of value for money and awards the contrac t to the supplier whose proposal
gives the project the most value. Further discussions may be held with the selected supplier for a
refinement of the final offer.
The criteria for evaluation of the proposals, including weights for each criterion, must be
determined in writing by the Procurement Committee before the solicitation takes place. The RFP is
commonly used for the procurement of non-standard goods and services such as network
installations, renovations, PBX systems, consultant services, audit services, goods that require after
sales services not covered by a warranty, among others.
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Invitation to Bid (ITB) - As a mode of solicitation, the Invitation to Bid is used in formal competitive
procurement of goods and services whose value exceeds a defined limit in the Projects Grant
Agreement. This mode of solicitation is used when the specifications of the goods and services are
very clear and precise. Publication of the ITB is made in major newspapers.
An ITB is used for the purchase of standard goods or services such as computer equipment,
radio equipment, office equipment, etc. The ITB must go through the Procurement Committee,
which will approve the form of bid, the mode of publication, the criteria for the evaluation of the
bids, open the bids once received, and announce the winning bid on the basis of the lowest price
and most technically acceptable offer. No negotiations with suppliers are undertaken.
An ITB should contain the following information, among others:
Name and contact address of the Project procuring the good or service.
Bid invitation reference number.
List of the items required (specification and quantity).
Name of the contact person.
The delivery terms
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Procurement Documentation This lists the minimum documentation to be maintained for every
item that is procured:
Purchase Requisition Request.
Justification for waiver of competition and approval, if applicable.
List of sources solicited, if applicable.
A copy of each quote, bid or proposal.
Specified conditions for acceptance or rejection of late quotes, bids or proposals. Evaluation criteria.
Report of the Procurement Committee on the procurement process, where applicable.
Authorized/signed purchase orders or contracts.
Amendments and supporting documentation, if applicable.
Any other pertinent purchase information.
4. Conclusion and Recommendations
In this report we discussed how to ensure that a project should be properly managed through the
implementation of a project plan, which included policies and processes associated with project
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References
1. Kerzner, H, (2001). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and
Controlling, 7 th Ed, New York: John Wiley & Sons.
2. Lock, D, (1996). Project Management , 6 th Ed, New York: Wiley.
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4. http://www.projectinsight.net/ProductInformation/Features/BudgetAndCosting.aspx
5. http://management.about.com/cs/projectmanagement/a/PM101d.htm 6. http://www.research.psu.edu/osp/PSU/Proposal/indirect.htm
7. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_07.htm
8. http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/financial/financial_article.jsp?articleId=2204
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procurement-procedures-guidelines.pdf
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Project Report: Importing Vehicle from Japan 2010
Box Hill Institute | /Appendices 23
Appendices