Project Proposal for Woody 2000 Project An Overview of the company Woody 2000 was a project aimed at expanding

a custom woodworking company, a fami ly owned business, which started its business back in 1954 as a cabinet maker. I t quickly gained reputation for the designs and workmanship quality it provided. The business grew with time building a loyal staff and working environment as f ar as gaining reputation on supplying millwork for the construction industry. Later on with the boom in commercial construction the possible business opportun ity triggered VP Sales and Estimating of the company to convince the Woodys direc tors to expand their business to meet the future higher demands. Similarly VP of Production was on the other hand consistently insisting on expansion in order t o maximize production efficiency. Their son, a director, was also with a vision to incorporate computer controlled automation to expedite the companys growth. Th erefore a debate started on how and where to expand the company. After looking in to the options, to save time and money it was agreed to expand the company on the spare land on their property. A project on expansion equivalent to 25% of existing floor area was agreed. In a ddition to the expansion installation of air conditioning and dust-free paint, f inishing shop complete with additional compressor capacity were also proposed to be included in the project. Equipment that would be included is a semi-automati c wood working production train with the development and installation of its sof tware and hardware that would run it. Besides the President and Executive Vice P residents offices would also be renovated. At the meeting the owner agreed to proceed with the project at a total budget of $17 million for all proposed work. Project completion date was fixed to be 18mo nths from the day of meeting. Problems with the Woody 2000 Project were: The sound approach to the forecasting of business opportunity should first be su pported by proper feasibility study. No Project Manager with project management knowledge was assigned. Requirements were not properly defined. No formal documentation conducted. Poor planning which resulted to scope creep, delay and cost overrun. No process monitoring and controlling as a result nothing was done to save the p roject at the early stage before reaching its worst stage. No transparency between all project teams. No communication was conducted during project period. They did not follow competitive bidding process Above all divided feelings about the project, it lacked strong commitment from a ll team members. Approach to Project Plan Things the company owners or project sponsors must first consider: They must all have basic knowledge of the project management processes and Proje ct Management Life Cycles (PMLCs). It is good practice for them to first identify the leadership style they need fo r the project type they intend to have. The second step they need to adopt is to select by profiling an appropriate project manager who possess the required lea dership competency for the required project type. The procedures that the Project Manager (PM) will follow: The objective of the PM is to follow the project management processes and come u p with a solution to the said shortcomings of the Woody Project. Microsoft Proje ct will be used for planning the project. The first process that comes is the Scoping the Project. In this stage the PM wi ll identify what is needed, and the success criteria for the project. A structur e meeting with the client is done to define the requirements. Requirements decom position RBS is done following the COS session. In that meeting requirements and true needs of the client are clearly stated. The PM addresses the true needs ra ther than the wants of the client. Finally a one page Project Overview Statement (POS) is prepared and agreed up on, which works as a template about what is to be done. It has to be approved before going into the next stage, Planning Stage.

The second process that comes is Planning the Project. A JPPS is conducted in th is stage based on the POS. In that JPPS session the PM invites participants from the company, anyone who inputs into the process, those who receive the output o f the project and anyone who may have input into the project. The planning meeti ng creates a sense of ownership among all participants as a result they are comm itted to the final stage of the project. The WBS of all the work activities that must be done is prepared in this stage based on the RBS. Its completeness has t o be checked. Task duration is estimated in any of the six methods. Tasks must b e arranged in shorter but less risky dependency relationships. The overall proje ct completion has to be checked with the above stated completion date and hence negotiation has to be done with the client on the completion day. Resource must be properly estimated and allocated in an optimum way. Cost estimation has to go through the three stages and similarly has to be checked against the budget sec ured earlier. Therefore the manager will have to keep the balance between the el ements of the scope triangle. If it is the project completion day that prevails then he will request additional budget or resource or reduce the scope of the pr oject. But quality is not to be compromised. Risks associated with the implement ation of the project must be analyzed beforehand and a proper mitigation solutio n has to be planned. Finally a document containing all the JPPS planning activit ies, a project proposal is prepared and is submitted for senior management team or the client for an approval. Launching the Project is the next phase of the project that comes after the appr oval of the project plan. In this stage the Project Manager will recruit project team members. It is his/her duty to have a core team members in the project who are committed to the project, share responsibility, flexible, open minded and s o on. It is also an asset in the project success to balance the project team mem bers with those who possess the different learning styles. The other thing the P M must do is prepare Project Definition Statement (PDS). It provides clear under standing between all team members of what the project is all about. Team operati ng rules which defines on how to work, to decide, resolve conflicts, report prog ress and so on is also prepared in this stage of the project. Monitoring and controlling the Project: Monitoring is done in two phases, proces s monitoring and output monitoring. Here the PM monitors for project performance , project risks, project status and so on. If monitoring is conducted from early stage of the project: o It is less likely to waste resources, budget and time. o Wastages and defects are immediately tracked and rectified before their negative impact goes exponentially high. o It promotes good communication between all responsible personnel within the project. Closing of the Project: this is conducted after the completion of the project. H e/ she writes the final project report or project review document. The PM is eva luated at this stage if he came up with the client requirements. Finally post im plementation audit is conducted and with that the project closes down. Conclusion: Woody 2000 Project would have been successful with the following recommendations : Familiarize themselves with project management processes and tools. As mainly the project was a construction type it was better to recruit a manage r whose competency is high in conscientiousness, motivation, influence, developi ng and critical thinking. Proper project planning has to be done with a clear estimation of project budget , duration and resources. (with the help of Microsoft Project) Procurement for works must be done in a competitive manner against prior estimat ion. In this case, engineering estimation both in cost and time has to be done p rior to inviting contractors for bid. After proper evaluation of bids against th e engineering estimation, the lowest bidder who satisfied the criteria is awarde d and agreement is reached with the contractor to complete the project based on the design, specification of work, cost and time. Finally proper reporting, monitoring and controlling minimize failure. Communica

tion must be promoted between all project teams to facilitate job and to establi sh smooth conducive environment. References: 1. Muller, R. & Turner, J.R (2010) Leadership competency profiles of success ful project managers. International Journal of project Management, 28 (1), PP. 43 7-448. 2. Wideman, M. (n.d.) Project management case study: the custom woodworking company Woody 2000 project [Online]. Available from: http://www.maxwideman.com/ papers/woody2000/intro.htm (Accessed: 12 July 2012). 3. Wysocki, R.K. (2012) Effective Project Management: traditional, agile, e xtreme. 6th ed. Indianapolis: Willey Publishing.