IT Project and Quality Management Coursework 2 by May Hnit Oo Khin

1. 1

2. Executive Summary
We carried out this netbook selection project in order to purchase the best suitable netbook for
managers and sales executives of an international company. When we compare the netbooks, we
considered some facts such as usability, functionality of netbooks, for now and for the future, and TCO.
To accomplish our project within a month, we considered to manage our project with a standard
methodology. We used a tailor-made methodology by combining PRINCE 2 and PMBOK standard to
systematically manage our netbook procurement project. In addition, we used a good quality management
approach which includes three main processes: planning, assurance and control for quality.
Then, we created work break down structure and defined resources. Next, schedule management
tools such as Gantt chart and Activity Network Diagram were utilized to identify our project's milestones,
costs, responsibility of each team member, dependency between activities and duration of each activity.
We also decided to use Spread Sheet Model which is the easiest and most efficient technique to
compare the products. So, we could define the important factors and criteria which will best suit with our
business requirements. After comparing the scores got by each netbook model for all factors, we
recommended Toshiba because it can provide abundant storage capacity, excellent customer services,
efficient performance and usability. Moreover, it has high durability and its price is also reasonable.
Consequently, we do believe that our managers and sales executives will surely be happy with our
recommended Toshiba netbook.
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3. 3

4. Report for Netbook Procurement Project (Word Count - 999)
We could successfully accomplish our Netbook Procurement Project by managing with many
systematic ways. So, we want to present to the Project Steering Committee about how we made sure the
successful rollout of our project. In this report, we will describe about our selected project management
methodology together with the reasons of choosing it, our approach of managing project quality and our
recommended netbook model.
Every project needs a project management methodology to achieve the goals for which the
project is being carried out. Therefore, we analyzed which methodology is best to manage our project and
found that "Projects In Controlled Environments (PRINCE 2)" can assist our project in many ways.
By applying PRINCE 2, we can easily set up our project team and define their accountability
precisely because standard role descriptions suitable for all sorts of projects are described in it. Another
important fact of choosing it is most people across our organization are familiar with PRINCE 2. As our
company is an international company, standardization is essential in managing our projects. Since
PRINCE 2 can provide a standard approach and it is easy to use and learn even for the project team
members with limited experiences, we have been using it to manage all types of our projects. So, we
planned to use it for this netbook procurement project too. Another reason also created the potential to
choose this methodology. This is PRINCE 2 can reduce risks by providing many excellent quality control
techniques. Since our project must be completed within one month, we needed to consider these aspects
to make sure of delivering our project with low risks and good quality.
Although we decided to use PRINCE 2 for above reasons, procurement management is not
covered in PRINCE 2. As our project is netbook procurement project, we realized to use another
framework in conjunction with PRINCE 2. Then, we observed that there is a best standard which can give
guidelines to manage procurement processes and contract administration. This is "Project Management
Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)" which can more fully describe the ways to handle the procurement flow
rather than other methodologies. By these ways, we could manage our project successfully by using a
tailor-made methodology formed by combining PRINCE 2 and PBMOK.
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5. As we have presented above, we must accomplish our project with good quality so that we can
assure the successful roll-out of our project and use of our selected netbooks. So, we want to clarify the
quality management approach that we had utilized for our project to satisfy the implied or stated needs
of our company and staff. We used the approach of integrating quality management throughout our
project life cycle. Our project quality management contains three key processes: (1) quality planning, (2)
quality assurance and (3) quality control. (Schwalbe, 2007)
At the start of the project, we performed the quality planning process. Firstly, we defined the
quality standard or metrics (functionalities, usability, reliability, etc.) our desired netbook should have.
So, we made market research on the netbook models and listed evaluation factors and criteria to compare
the quality of each model. Project quality management plan was also created based on vendor
management plan and budget because project cannot finish on time if vendor does not perform in
accordance with contract. Likewise, if project costs exceed the available budget, we cannot say that our
project is good in quality. So, selected vendor's actions and budget must be monitored so that we can
produce a good quality project.
Next, we made assure our project quality by testing selected netbook models and using product
selection method such as WSM. At the end of project execution stage, we applied a quality assurance tool
such as a quality audit to review the particular quality management activities. Finally, we controlled the
quality with post implementation evaluations. We made survey on user's satisfactory level about selected
netbook model and our procurement management. Apart from this, since we reselected the one among
four netbook models which are the most suitable with our business requirements, we also believed that
quality has already been controlled.
After justifying our selected methodology and quality management approach, we want to
recommend a netbook model to meet the needs of our company and staff. We defined 31 criteria under
six factors to compare four netbook models: Samsung, HP, Sony and Toshiba. These main factors are
technical considerations, netbook ergonomic features, business considerations, long-term prospects, TCO
and build quality. We gave the weighted scores to each netbook model for all criteria and then, calculated
the average weighted scores got by each netbook. Finally, we have seen that Toshiba got the first place
with 63.59% followed by HP with 55.975, Samsung with 54.49% and Sony with 53.19%.
Consequently, we want to recommend Toshiba for our netbook procurement project after
calculating and comparing the percentage of scores got by each netbook model. The most prominent
reasons why we chose Toshiba are because of its specialized security features, abundant storage capacity,
efficient performance and usability such as large keyboard layout, smart design. Moreover, as it is a
second most reliable netbook brand in the netbook market, it is high durable, has good brand reputation
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6. and achieved 4 stars consumer ratings. Apart from this, Toshiba provides excellent customer services and
international warranty. So, we can get long-term prospects. In terms of costs, we noticed that Toshiba
netbook price is reasonable and its warranty extension charges are inexpensive. The last thing what made
us recommend Toshiba is that it is best suitable with business travellers like our sales executives because
of its good battery life, performance and extra light weight.
To conclude, more value could be added to our project because of our tailor-made methodology.
Moreover, we could perform quality management processes by dedicating two aspects: conformance to
requirements and fitness for use with the help of our quality management approach. So, we do hope that
the investment for our recommended Toshiba netbooks costing about $314,544 can satisfy the needs of
our staff.
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7. References
Web References
Report for Netbook Procurement Project
URL :
http://www.aipm.com.au/resource/A%20comparison%20of%20Prince%202%20vs%20PM
BOK.pdf
http://www.goalgroup.com.au/SiteFiles/goalgroupcomau/C007_ComparingPMBoKAndPRI
NCE2In2009.pdf
http://www.logro.sk/na_stiahnutie/project_management_-
_comparing_prince2_with_pmbok.pdf
Access Date : 14th October, 2012
Information of Netbooks
URL : http://www.gogodigital.co.uk/toshiba-nb500-12x-black-10-1-atom-n455-netbook-
1gb-320gb-windows-7.html
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/08/28/product_round_up_ten_netbooks/page3.html
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/netbooks/samsung-nc110-review-50004178/
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/277054/sony-vaio-m-series-m11m1e
Access Date : 14th October, 2012
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8. Bibliography
Schwalbe, K. (2007). Information Technology Project Management (5th ed.). (M. P.Martin, Ed.) Boston:
GEX Publishing Services.
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9. Appendices
Appendix A (The Spread Sheet Model)
1. Selected Factors and Criteria for Spread Sheet Model
Firstly, we will have to define some business related factors and criteria to create a spreadsheet-
based 2-level WSM. So, we analyzed the needs of our staff and found that functionality and usability are
highly requested by them. Apart from this, the company also wanted us to consider for business prospects
for future. Moreover, we usually notice about the tangible costs such as netbook purchasing costs and
project development costs and we do not aware the hidden costs. So, if we do not carefully plan for TCO,
costs can be too high. As company also wanted us to evaluate TCO, we took it into consideration as a
factor. Consequently, we picked up the following factors and criteria for our netbook procurement
project.
Figure – 1.1
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10. Figure – 1.2
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11. 2. Descriptions of Weighted Score Range
We gave the weighted scores to all these factors and criteria according to our predefined weighted
score standard. We defined the range of scores between 0 and 10 and the following table is the
descriptions of the range of scores.
Figure – 1.3
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12. 3. Calculation Methods of WSM and TCO
(i) Calculation Methods of WSM
We will demonstrate how we calculated weighted scores for comparing netbook models by
giving HP netbook model as an example.
Figure - 3.1
1. For Factors and Criteria, we assigned their weight and calculate their maximum score.
E.g. Netbook Ergonomic Features Factor (8 out of 10)
 Usability and Design (8 out of 10) Max Score 8 * 10 = 80
 Portability or Mobility (7 out of 10) Max Score 7 * 10 = 70
 Screen Size (5 out of 10) Max Score 5 * 10 = 50
2. For each netbook model, we gave score for each criterion to show how much a netbook can
satisfy each criterion and calculate total score of each criterion.
E.g. For HP 210-4125sa
 Usability and Design (5 out of 10) Total Score 5 * 8 = 40
 Portability or Mobility (5 out of 10) Total Score 5 * 7 = 35
 Screen Size (6 out of 10) Total Score 6 * 5 = 30
3. To calculate the percentage got by each netbook for each factor, total scores must be divided
by maximum scores and then multiply with 100.
E.g. For HP 210-4125sa
Percentage got by HP for Netbook Ergonomic Features Factor = (105/200) * 100
= 52.50%
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13. Figure - 3.2
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14. (ii) Calculation Methods of TCO
TCO is also an important factor to consider while planning a spread sheet model because it is
more vital than netbook purchase price according to head office. So, we calculated TCO in a separate
excel sheet.
Firstly, we will calculate TCO for each netbook. We divided two categories of costs in
calculating TCO. First category is one-off costs and second one is recurring costs. One-off costs are the
costs that we have to pay only once for the procurement of netbooks and they include netbook purchasing
costs, project development costs, licensing costs, consultant fees and training fees. Recurring costs are the
costs that we will have to pay throughout the product life cycle and warranty extension charges, monthly
operational and overhead costs and service fees for 2 years are included under this category. But, we can
get 35% return if we sell an old netbook after two years. So, we will firstly add one-off costs and
recurring costs and then subtract the money got from selling an old netbook to calculate TCO for each
netbook. The formula is as follows:
Figure – 3.3
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15. How Spread Sheet Model can assist us for our netbook procurement project?
To summarize, Spread Sheet Model is the easiest and most efficient technique to compare the
products. We could define the important factors and criteria which will best suit with our business
requirements with the help of spread sheet model. Based on our defined factors and criteria, we could
compare the four netbook models by assigning scores to them for each criterion. As we can see clearly the
percentage of scores got by each netbook model, it is very convenient for us to choose the most suitable
one for our staff. Moreover, we could evaluate each netbook model's TCO which can have a great impact
on business benefits. As a result, we could reduce the business risks because hidden costs of each netbook
model could be considered. By analyzing all these facts, what we can conclude is that implementing
spread sheet model can give us many advantages by creating more possibilities to meet the requirements
of our sales executives.
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16. 4. Test Plan
After implementing the spread sheet model, it will be necessary to test that our spread sheet
system to ensure that it is robust and flexible. Therefore, we arranged a test plan to carry out testing of
some functions used in our spread sheet model. When we drew a project plan for our netbook selection
project, we put a task in our project to select suppliers for our netbooks. The name of this task is "Source
Selection by Using WSM and TCO" which will be carried out on 16th October to 19th October. So, we
will perform our testing during these days after creating spread sheet model to select the potential netbook
model.
Date Tasks
17th October Cell Validation
17th October Cell Formatting
17th October Cell Calculation
18th October Automatic Graphs
18th October Cell Protection with Sheet Password
18th October Comments
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17. 5. Test Log
5.1 Cell Validation
Test Log ID Tested Cell No Test Data Expected Result Outcome (see figure)
5.1.1 F14 -1 Error Message Figure – 5.1.1a
Figure – 5.1.1b
5.1.2 F14 11 Error Message Figure – 5.1.2a
Figure – 5.1.2b
5.1.3 F14 abcde Error Message Figure – 5.1.3a
Figure – 5.1.3b
5.1.4 F14 8 Input Acceptance Figure – 5.1.4a
Figure – 5.1.4b
Test Log 5.1.1
Before
Figure – 5.1.1a
After
Figure – 5.1.1b
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18. Test Log 5.1.2
Before
Figure – 5.1.2a
After
Figure – 5.1.2b
Test Log 5.1.3
Before
Figure – 5.1.3a
After
Figure – 5.1.3b
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19. Test Log 5.1.4
Before
Figure – 5.1.4a
After
Figure – 5.1.4b
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20. 5.2 Cell Formatting
Test Log ID Tested Cell No Test Data Excepted Result Outcome (see figure)
5.2.1 O11 Decimal value and Decimal value must be Figure – 5.2.1a
percentage is not in the percentage Figure – 5.2.1b
calculated. format and it must have
two decimal place.
Test Log 5.2.1
Before After
Figure – 5.2.1a Figure – 5.2.1b
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21. 5.3 Cell Calculation
Test Log Tested Cell Applied Formula Test Data Excepted Outcome
ID No Result (see figure)
5.3.1 N4 Multiplication * =F4*M4 48 Figure - 5.3.1a
Figure - 5.3.1b
5.3.2 N5, N6, N7, Copying Formula Plus sign will N5 = 64 Figure - 5.3.2a
N8, N9, of N4 appear while N6 = 56 Figure - 5.3.2b
N10 putting mouse N7 = 7
pointer bottom N8 = 36
right corner of cell N9 = 30
N4. Drag it N10 = 28
downward until it
reaches cell N10
and releases it.
5.3.3 N11 Addition =SUM(N4:N10) 269 Figure - 5.3.3a
SUM (Number1, Figure - 5.3.3b
Number2,…)
5.3.4 O11 Division =N11/G11 59.78% in Figure - 5.3.4a
Number1/Number2 percentage Figure - 5.3.4b
format or
0.59777778
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22. Test Log 5.3.1
Before
Figure - 5.3.1a
After
Figure - 5.3.1b
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23. Test Log 5.3.2
Before
Figure - 5.3.2a
After
Figure - 5.3.2b
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24. Test Log 5.3.3
Before
Figure - 5.3.3a
After
Figure - 5.3.3b
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25. Test Log 5.3.4
Before
Figure - 5.3.4a
After
Figure - 5.3.4b
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26. 5.4 Automatic Graphs
Test Log ID Tested Cell No Test Procedure Expected Result Outcome (see figure)
5.4.1 A2, A3, B2, Select all tested cell no and Automatic Graph Figure - 5.4.1a
B3, C2, C3, choose Column Chart from Insert Figure - 5.4.1b
D2, D3 Menu. Figure - 5.4.1c
Test Log 5.4.1
Before
Figure - 5.4.1a
After
Original Graph After Modifying the Design
Figure - 5.4.1b Figure - 5.4.1c
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27. Test Log ID Tested Password Test Data Expected Result Outcome
Cell No (See Figure)
5.5.1 M20 - Click on the cell Message box describing Figure – 5.5.1a
M20 the sheet is protected Figure – 5.5.1b
will be displayed.
5.5.2 M20 Q Click on the cell Modification will be Figure – 5.5.2a
M20 allowed. Figure – 5.5.2b
Test Log 5.5.1
Before
Figure – 5.5.1a
After
Figure – 5.5.1b
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28. Test Log 5.5.2
Before
Figure – 5.5.2a
Choosing unprotect sheet from Review Menu Entering Password Q
Figure – 5.5.2c
Figure – 5.5.2b
After
Figure – 5.5.2d
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29. 5.6 Comments
Test Log ID Tested Cell No Test Data Expected Result Outcome (See figure)
5.6.1 D15 Adding new comment Display comment when Figure - 5.6.1a
mouse pointer hovers Figure - 5.6.1b
cell no D15.
Test Log 5.6.1
Before
Figure - 5.6.1a
After
Figure - 5.6.1b
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30. Appendix B (Explanations of Presentation)
In this section, we will demonstrate our presentation slides together with some notes we used to
make our presentation more effective. In this presentation, we will justify our chosen business related
factors and criteria by explaining why they are important for business purposes, the reasons of giving the
scores to each netbook and our final recommended netbook to satisfy our business needs.
Slide 1 1. This is the introduction slide
which shows what we are going to
present to the audience. In this
slide, we will start our presentation
by describing the contents of our
presentation.
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31. Slide 2 2. This slide will describe our chosen
business related factors and criteria
and the reasons of why they are
important in buying the netbooks for
our staff. Factors and criteria will be
arranged from the highest scores to the
lowest scores. Details of three factors
such as Technical Considerations,
Netbook Ergonomic Features and
Business Considerations will be
explained.
Netbook Ergonomic Features – this
can add value to the netbooks by
letting users feel comfortable while
using a netbook.
Slide 3 3. This slide is also the same as above
slide. In this slide, details of three
factors: Long-term Prospects, TCO
and Build Quality will be presented.
Licensing Costs – Operating System
License costs and other software
license costs.
TCO – Total Cost of Ownership
Build Quality – The most prominent
benefits that a netbook can bring or a
netbook comes together with.
Best Value – Best Price
Best for Business Travelers – This
will be decided based on functionality,
performance, portability and battery
life.
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32. Slide 4 4. In this slide, our defined weighted
score standard will be explained. Then,
our weighted score model which
compared four netbook models will be
clarified. There will also be a link to our
excel spread sheet. If we click on
"Descriptions of Weighted Score Range,
WSM and TCO", our excel spread sheet
will be opened.
Slide 5 5. We will continue presenting our
weighted score model in this slide. If we
click on "Descriptions of Weighted
Score Range, WSM and TCO", our excel
spread sheet will be opened.
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33. Slide 6 6. For all four netbook models, we
will describe how we calculate their
total weighted scores, maximum
scores and average scores to evaluate
which netbook got the highest scores.
Slide 7 7. This will show how we calculated
Total Cost of Ownership.
One-off Costs – costs that we must
pay only once for the procurement of
netbooks and they include netbook
purchasing costs, project development
costs, licensing costs, consultant fees
and training fees
Recurring Costs - costs that we will
have to pay throughout the product
life cycle and warranty extension
charges, monthly operational and
overhead costs and service fees for 2
years are included under this category
Return Costs – money that we can
get by selling the old netbooks after
two years period
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34. Slide 8 8. Finally, we will compare
overall scores got by each
netbook model. To see clearly, we
will demonstrate with graph.
Slide 9 9. This slide will show the reasons
of why each netbook got the
scores described in above slide.
We will justify with strengths and
weaknesses of each netbook.
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35. Slide 10 10. This slide will also describe
the strengths and weaknesses of
Sony and Toshiba.
Slide 11 11. This is final recommendation
and thank you slide. We will end
our presentation by
recommending Toshiba netbook.
We will also explain the reasons
of choosing it.
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36. Appendix C (Project Plan)
In this section, we will explain about our implemented project plan for our netbook selection
project. We will use Microsoft Project Plan 2007 which is project management software to create a work
breakdown schedule, a network diagram and a Gantt chart together with the critical path. Moreover, we
will assign the resources and responsibilities to carry out our project from start to end. Finally, we will
calculate the total project development costs which will be included in Total Cost of Ownership. This cost
will be considered in our Weighted Score Model.
To develop the work breakdown schedule, we will apply two approaches stated in (Schwalbe,
2007). They are –
(i) the analogy approach – we will analyze WBS of similar projects and then create our tailor-made
WBS based on them.
(ii) the Top-down approach – we will firstly think about high level tasks and then placed the sub tasks
under these main tasks.
(1) Work Breakdown Schedule
We created work breakdown structure to define the overall scope of our netbook selection project
as it can act as a foundation for planning and managing our project schedules, resources and costs. There
are five main stages in our project plan and we will also describe the sub-tasks and milestones under each
main task. As monitoring processes will be integrated throughout the project life cycle, we will not show
it as a separate task.
(i) Initiation
 Preparing charter and preliminary project scope statement
 Project Charter and Preliminary project scope statement (milestone)
(ii) Planning
 Carrying out Make-Or-Buy Analysis and Market Research
 Define evaluation factors and criteria for WSM and list qualified sellers
 Assign Resources and sign team contract
 Planning project's quality with vendor management plan and budget
 Procurement Planning
 Procurement Management Plan (milestone)
 Prepare procurement document such as RFP
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37. (iii) Execution
 Requesting Seller Responses
 Testing selected netbooks models
 Source Selection by using WSM and TCO
 Procurement Contract (milestone)
 Make payment for purchased netbooks
 Progressing delivery and inspecting delivered netbooks
 Training
 Delivered netbooks to 400 staff and Finish Training (milestone)
 Performing procurement audits for performance and quality
(iv) Closing
 Prepare and present lessons learnt report
 Project Roll Out
 Closed Contract (milestone)
(v) Post Implementation Evaluations
 Making survey on user's satisfactory level about netbooks and procurement management
 Produce Finalized Project Report (milestone)
Justifications of Sub-tasks
Preparing charter and preliminary project scope statement
Firstly, a project charter will be defined to let the key stakeholders know their general roles and
responsibilities, project title, project start and finish date, project manager's name, project objectives,
budget information and the approaches to use for developing the project. Then, key stakeholders will have
to comment, agree and sign the project charter.
An outside consultant will be hired because we need person with specialized skills to accomplish
the netbook procurement project within a month.
Secondly, preliminary project scope statement will be developed based on project charter. In
preliminary project scope statement, required characteristics and features of netbook will be described. At
this stage, WBS will also be developed because it can demonstrate a complete picture of our project's
scope.
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38. Project Charter and Preliminary project scope statement (milestone)
This is a milestone and project charter and preliminary project scope statement will be produced
as outputs.
Carrying out Make-Or-Buy Analysis and Market Research
For planning purchases and acquisitions process, we need to make market research on the
strengths and weaknesses of netbook models in the market. Only if, we will know which netbook models
can meet our business requirements. After that, we need to carry out make-or-buy analysis to evaluate
whether company can gain more benefits from purchasing the netbooks or hiring the netbooks from an
outside organization.
Define evaluation factors and criteria for WSM and list qualified sellers
Consultant will need to define evaluation criteria to select the best netbook which can meet the
requirements of company. Examples of these factors will include technical considerations such as
functionality, performance, reliability, connectivity, netbook ergonomic features such as usability, design,
portability, screen size, business considerations such as brand reputation, discounts, long-term prospects
such as availability in the local market, customer services, extensibility, and other criteria such as TCO
and build quality of netbooks.
Consultant will need to analyze the result of market research to list the qualified sellers in the
market from which we can purchase the netbooks.
Assign Resources and sign team contract
Inputs to this task are the project charter and preliminary project scope statement. Project
manager will break down the tasks, assign the responsibilities to the respective project team members and
show the project communication chart. Then, project team members will need to sign the team contract.
Planning project's quality with vendor management plan and budget
We will plan project's quality based on vendor management plan and budget. When we applied a
quality planning technique such as design of experiments, we realize that vendor management plan and
budget have the most influence on the overall outcome for the project. This is because project will not
finish at the predefined time if vendor does not perform according to the contract. So, we will need to
monitor the actions of selected vendor and think what to do if they do not perform according to their
promises so that we can produce a good quality project. Likewise, if project costs exceed the available
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39. budget, we cannot say that our project is good in quality. So, we must arrange project quality management
plan based on vendor management plan and budget.
Procurement Planning
Every project consists of some planning. We will arrange a plan to manage our netbook
procurement project. In this plan, we will document how our netbook procurement processes will be
controlled and managed, from planning purchases and acquisitions to closing the contract.
Procurement Management Plan (milestone)
Procurement Management Plan will be produced as a milestone. It will include such things as
types of contracts to be used, standard procurement documents, make-or-buy decisions, roles and
responsibilities of members of project team, guidelines for selecting prequalified sellers and for
evaluating sellers and procurement metrics for managing contracts and seller's performance and actions.
Prepare procurement document such as RFP
We will need to prepare a procurement document such as RFP. We will need contract type,
procurement management plan, make-or-buy decisions to produce a good RFP. RFP is required for
prospective sellers to prepare the proposals which must be presented to project team.
Requesting Seller Responses
We will have to send our prepared RFP to potential sellers on 10 October and we will give them 2
days to prepare their proposals. On 11 October, we will collect their proposals.
Testing selected netbooks models
We will ask potential sellers for delivering a technical presentation of their netbook models as
part of their proposals. Project team will also test all netbook models to evaluate whether they can meet
user requirements.
Source Selection by using WSM and TCO
When we receive proposals from potential sellers, we will need to carry out source selection
which is the process of selecting the best seller for our netbook procurement project. We will plan two
level weighted score model to compare and contrast the sellers. While comparing the sellers, we will
consider functionality, usability and TCO of each netbook model. We will choose the proposal with
highest weighted scores. After that, we will make agreement with the selected seller and sign contract
with them.
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40. Procurement Contract (milestone)
Procurement Contract is a mile stone that occurred on 10 October after signing the contract with
outside seller.
Make payment for purchased netbooks
We will have to issue the invoices and transfer money from our bank account to theirs within two
days.
Progressing delivery and inspecting delivered netbooks
Delivery process will be carried out by them and we will need to make inspections on the
delivered netbooks to check whether they have been damaged or not. If the netbooks have been damaged,
project procurement contract administrator will be responsible to contact with seller and replace the
damaged netbooks.
Training
We will need to deliver training on how to use the selected netbook to the staff.
Delivered netbooks to 400 staff and Finish Training (milestone)
This is a milestone and delivering netbooks and training to 400 staff must be completed at this
point.
Performing procurement audits for performance and quality
A procurement auditor we have assigned will audit the performance and quality of our project
and he will have to produce an audit report. Then, he will have to present his findings to our project
steering committee.
Prepare and present lessons learnt report
Project manager will need to review the audit report and other things that he have experienced
during carrying out the netbook selection project. Then, he will have to prepare lessons learnt report and
present it to project steering committee. In lessons learnt report, he will describe whether our project meet
time, quality, the main lessons he learned.
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41. Project Roll Out
At this stage, project manager will confirm that netbook selection project has successfully
accomplished and then will sign off the project. Project manager and the seller will also have to close the
procurement contract.
Closed Contract (milestone)
Closed Contract is a milestone resulted from project roll out task.
Making survey on user's satisfactory level about netbooks and procurement management
Procurement officer will perform post implementation evaluations to make sure that our selected
netbook model meets the requirements of staff. So, procurement officer will make survey on user's
satisfactory level about netbooks and procurement management. Then, project manager will prepare to
create finalized project report based on the facts collected by procurement officer.
Produce Finalized Project Report (milestone)
Finalized project report is a milestone which is produced after making survey on the feedback of
staff about selected netbooks.
Figure – AppC1.1 (WBS)
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42. Figure – AppC1.2 (Important Milestones of WBS)
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43. (2) Define Resource Names by Using Resource Sheet
We will define the resource names which are the persons included in developing our netbook
selection project and assign their standard rate and overtime rate per hour by using the resource sheet of
Microsoft Project Plan. People who will involve in developing our netbook selection project are:
 Project Manager (Project Manager is the leader of our netbook selection project. He has the
main responsibility from project initiation to roll-out.)
 Consultant (As our netbook selection project must finish within a month, we will have to hire
outside consultant who understands about the netbooks and procurement project and processes.
Only if, we can successfully accomplish our project within a short period of time.)
 Project Procurement Contract Administrator (The most important thing about procurement
project is to monitor the seller's actions and performance. If seller do not do as they promised in
the contract, project procurement contract administrator will have to contact and negotiate with
seller.)
 Procurement Officer (Procurement Officer will be responsible for minor administration
processes like requesting sellers' responses, training and making survey on users' feedback about
selected netbooks.)
 Procurement Auditor (There are internal auditors employed at our company to monitor the
quality and performance of projects and processes carried out by company. We will assign an
auditor to measure our netbook selection project's quality and performance. As procurement
auditor is not needed in developing the project from start to end and he/she is only needed for
audit, we assigned his/her Max. Units 20%)
 Project Team (Project Manager, Consultant, Project Procurement Contract Administrator and
Procurement Officer will be included in project team. Standard Rate will be calculated by adding
standard rate of above resources. Likewise, Overtime Rate will be calculated by adding overtime
rate of above resources.)
Figure – AppC2.1 (Resources)
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44. (3) Schedule for Netbook Selection Project and Dependencies between Activities
In this section, we want to justify how we arranged the project schedule for our project. Firstly,
we defined the activities for our project based on the WBS we have described above. Then, we carried out
activity sequencing which is determining the dependencies or relationships between activities. We also
planned to run some activities in parallel if these tasks are performed by different persons so that we can
complete within a month. After that, we assigned the resources to take the responsibilities of each
activity. Finally, we estimated the duration for each activity including its start date and finish date.
Our netbook procurement project will last about 24days. Out of all tasks, we gave most of time
for planning stage and execution stage. The reason of why we assigned 6 days to planning stage is that
we have found that most projects of nowadays fail because of not having the systematic plans to manage
their projects. So, we gave enough time and efforts for planning stage. Execution stage has the longest
duration among all activities because many important milestones such as procurement contract and
delivered netbooks to 400 staff and finish training and critical tasks which can drive to the successful
roll-out of the project are included in this stage. Overall project duration and schedule can be seen in
below diagram.
Figure – AppC3.1 (Overall project duration and schedule)
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45. Figure – AppC3.2 (Detail project duration and schedule)
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46. (4) Gantt Chart
To complete our netbook selection project within a month, we will need to apply a schedule
development tool such as Gantt chart. Since Gantt chart can show project schedule information in a
calendar format, start and finish dates of activities can be easily seen (Schwalbe, 2007). Therefore, we
can manage time efficiently. With the help of Gantt chart, we can identify the critical path which includes
critical tasks and which can show the completion date of our project. Critical path can be seen in red
coloured bars in our Gantt chart. Apart from this, we also added the black diamond symbols which are
called milestones into our Gantt chart. By adding milestones, we can highlight crucial tasks and
accomplishments on projects.
Figure – AppC4.1 Gantt Chart for Our Netbook Selection Project (showing each activity with its
respective resource)
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47. (5) Activity Network Diagram
We will describe our activity network diagram segment by segment. All the activities shown at
the network diagram come from the tasks of WBS. In network diagram, activities shown in red rectangle
are on the critical path and tasks described in hexagon are milestones. Following diagrams are activity
network diagram for our netbook selection project.
Figure – AppC5.1
Figure – AppC5.2
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48. Figure – AppC5.3
Figure – AppC5.4
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49. Figure – AppC5.5
Figure – AppC5.6
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50. (6) Calculating Costs for Netbook Selection Project
We can calculate our netbook selection project development costs by using Microsoft Project
Plan. We can see clearly the costs of each task. After adding the costs of each task, we will cost about
$5,824 for developing our netbook procurement project.
Figure – AppC6.1 (Netbook Selection Project Development Costs)
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