What is Needed: A physical budget plan,A physical cost estimateA physical schedule forecast.We just need to create those and I can add them to the original document. the paper itself was perfect- att

Running head: MILESTONE 0

Portfolio Milestone: Courier Service Proposal

Fallon Urquhart

Course Number (PJM580) – Capstone- Project Management

Colorado State University – Global Campus

Dr. Douglass Smith

October 11, 2020

Courier Service Proposal

Creating a project plan and ensuring its implementation is a challenging task. Efficient management and implementation play an important role, without, the project might fail and end up creating losses for the project. Liberty Travel’s project of creating a courier service division has to pass through different stages to ensure its success. The service will help the company in increasing the company’s profitability and market share. All the sections of project management are crucial in the success of this project. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the rules for cost and performance management, earned value management, schedule forecast, cost estimates, budget, and procurement.

Cost and Performance Management

It is important for Liberty Travel to ensure that it promotes cost-effectiveness and effectiveness and effective performance management. The first section in cost planning is identifying and setting the units of measurement that will form a standard part of measuring different financial aspects of the project. The unites of measurement will apply to the budgeting process since the budget will rely on the units of measurement of materials (Hartley, 2020). However, the units of measurements will differ from region to region and Liberty Travel will have to ascertain that the units of measurements reflect the true values of the materials.

The second section of cost management is the rules for measuring performance. This part is an integral part of other sections of the project. One crucial thing in this section is the Earned Value Management (EVM). This technique is used to take account of the performance of the cost of any project. It is crucial to assess the cost structure and performance of the courier service cost to ensure that it remains within the budget of the company. Another part of cost management is the percent completion. In this project, the company will analyze the cost of competing in various stages of the project (Hartley, 2020). For example, it will analyze the cost when the project is yet to start, when it is half-way complete, and when it is 100% complete.

Earned Value Management

The earned value management systems will enable the project manager to answer different questions that relate to the project. The questions include where the team has been, where they lie currently, and where they are heading. EVM has three data sources namely the budget value of work, the real value of tasks completed, and the earned value of the physical tasks that have been accomplished (De Marco, 2013). The earned value of the project measures the worthiness of the tasks that have been accomplished. It will measure the value of work that would have been accomplished when the project is half-way complete and wen it is fully accomplished (De Marco, 2013). The team will always have to find the totals of the budget for the tasks that would have been accomplished at every stage. The team will also take into account the actual costs (AC) which Liberty Travel will incur at every stage of the project. The actual cost will always be compared with the planned value (PV) to identify the variations in the cost estimates and make necessary adjustments.

Schedule Forecasts

The schedule forecast for this project depends on the predicted events and conditions based on the data knowledge available when the project is scheduled. From previous milestones of the project, the critical path of the project was evaluated to be 89 days. However, it can be given an allowance of 31 days so it can be completed after 4 months. Each of the activities will have to take place as earlier scheduled. It will be crucial for the project’s team to measure the progress of the project to identify different lags or issues that might affect the forecast schedule. Monitoring and controlling activities will ensure that various corrections are made to the areas that will not take place as planned (Hartley, 2020).

Cost Estimates of a Project

The total approximated for the project to accomplish all its deliverables is $30 million. The team undertaking the project will ensure that they estimate the costs for every activity appropriately. The project consists of seven activities that will carry different costs. The team will ensure all the materials required by every activity are within the limits of their estimated cost (Hartley, 2020). The company will always purchase products for various activities after undertaking thorough procurement activities. Liberty Travel will always give tenders to vendors with the most convenient bid and who can supply the materials promptly without derailing the project. However, the team will only ensure that the costs stay within the limits of Liberty Travel and does not interfere with the profits of the company. Since the company approximates that the cost will be roughly $30 million, the actual cost should be level or below this mark to ensure that the company is not constrained. The team will have to eliminate different defects before it starts the project. It will assist in minimizing the cost of quality which will translate to cost reduction and potentially raise the profit levels (Hartley, 2020). In this case, the team will carry out effective planning, train all the staff and outside teams that will take part in this project, and review to promote quality.

Budget

The proposed budget for the project is $30 million. Therefore, all the activities that will take place must be within this limit. The management reserve for this project is 10%. The management reserve that will take account of any unknowns is $3 million. At this point, the total cost will be $33 million. The company will set up a purchase ledger (payables) control account to summarize all the entries and balances of all the suppliers’ accounts in the purchase ledger. The totals in this control account will show the value of money that the company will owe to the suppliers at any given time (Hermarij, 2017). The team approximates the contingency reserve to be 3% of the total cost of the budget of the project. In this case, it will be $900,000. This reserve will be used to manage the identified uncertainties in the project. The total funding requirement of the project will take into account all the activities and their sub-activities (Hermarij, 2017). In the case of this project, the funding requirement will be primarily the expenditures on capital and other things.

Procurement

As earlier identified, the company will deal with suppliers who have passed through the procurement process. The company will invite all the shortlisted bidders to its conference to discuss their bidding activities and learn the requirements of the process (Fleming, 2019). After presenting their bids, the company will set up a temporary team that will evaluate the proposals of all the bidders to identify the ones that will be capable of helping Liberty Travel to move through this process. The company will select the most appropriate channels to ensure that people learn about its courier services and convince them to use the service over the other competitors. The company will use billboards, television channels, radio channels, and social media to create awareness of this product. Since the services will be offered in the new stores of the company, it will only have to partner with capable transporters to help in transporting parcels from one region to another. The agreements will be based on the performance of the firms and the company will reserve the right to cancel a contract at any time if the transporters break the legal terms of the agreements.

Conclusion

This section of the project forms a crucial part of the entire portfolio project milestone. Liberty Travel has to ensure that all its activities take place appropriately to enable it to accomplish the project of opening a courier service division. This section provided crucial information concerning cost analysis, schedule forecasts, budgeting, and procurement activities. Each of these aspects play an important role in the success of the courier service division project.

References

De Marco, A., & Narbaev, T. (2013). Earned value‐based performance monitoring of facility

construction projects. Journal of Facilities Management.

Fleming, Q. W. (2019, January). Project procurement management: contracting, subcontracting,

teaming. Project Management Institute.

Hartley, S. (2020). Project Management: A practical guide to planning and managing projects.

Routledge.

Hermarij, J. (2013). Better Practices of Project Management based on IPMA competences. Van

Haren.