essay

Work breakdown structure

The purpose of using work breakdown structure is to analyze the 6 different stages when progressing the development of the Sports Maps app. It starts from the beginning, through the development cycle until its launch, and moves on to the maintenance stage of the Sports Maps app. According to Robinson, B et al. (2018), the work breakdown structure is used to efficiently create and manage time, resources, estimate and manage costs.

According to Laslo, Z. and Goldberg, A.I. (2008), the project matrix is a systematic method for organizing assets. The project Matrix indicates the specific action taken during a time period, indicates the costs and explains which team member will be able to achieve a specific action.

According to Rolfsen, C.N. and Merschbrock, C., (2016), Gantt charts provide an easy way to communicate Daly needs when planning a project. It is for this reason that Sports Maps are using the Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is used to explain all of the phases required when creating the Sports Maps app. It includes specific time periods throughout the Sports Maps app development cycle.

Managing And Growing The Team

Sports Maps have elected to use a flat organisational structure. According to Buchanan & Huczynski (2010) pg 459, there are less opportunities for staff promotion in this type of structure, and strong communication between all team members is crucial. Research by Theobald and Nicholson-Crotty (2005) suggests that a moderate span of control in an organisation results in maximized productivity. It is likely long term that the flat structure within Sports Maps would migrate to a moderate span of control as the business expands as this could be a more appropriate management structure.

Organisational Structure

According to Maduenyi et al. (2015), an organisation can’t exist without a defined form. Organisational structure is used to divide and coordinate tasks between team members.

Virtual Teamwork

According to Felstead, A. and Henseke, G (2017)., there are benefits to working remotely such as high employee engagement, job satisfaction and well being. The Sports Maps team use Microsoft Teams to work virtually and communicate ideas in the project to team members. Files are shared through teams, added to and updated and meetings are held where members are free to update participants with ideas and suggestions. A Gantt chart is used in order to keep track of individual team members progress on the project.

Sports Maps Mobile App Developer

Sports maps is a start-up business based in the UK that needs the ideal candidate to create an app that integrates with the Google Maps API. The app will launch in September 2020.

Responsibilities:

· You will need to be able to code the app to work in Android and IOS.

· The app will need to follow all accessibility guidelines.

· You will be required to maintain the app on an on going basis E.G. supply bug fixes and updates for operating systems (maintenance agreement to be negotiated.

Ideal Candidate:

· At least 1 year’s experience in cross platform mobile app development,

· You will need to have excellent problem solving skills,

· An excellent team player and communicator.

Benefits:

· A generous salary of £10000for developing the app over a 6 month period.

· The ability to work remotely,

· To be part of a team an a exciting new start-up firm.

If you would like more information or you wish to apply for this position please send an E-mail to:

[email protected]

Approach To Recruitment And Selection:

Creating a job advertisement allows Sports Mapp’s to attract various candidates to the position in question. It is not easy to recruit a suitable candidate in a crowded market full of developers when looking for a software engineer to work in the developer position within Sports Maps. For instance, it is possible that an individual may be excellent at app development however, they may not have the appropriate interpersonal skill set that is required to work within the Sports Maps organisation. Or they may lack the necessary communication skills or not be a team player. Clearly this will not work in a small start-up business where all individuals will need to respond quickly and be adaptable. Care will need to be taken when interviewing candidates in order to ascertain whether the individual in question is likely to fit into the business culture of the organisation.

Sports Maps will use a job advert on LinkedIn to attract an appropriate candidate for the developer position. Sports Maps have chosen LinkedIn because it is used as a business portal and it is likely that developers who wish to work in business, will be on Linked In. Before conducting interviews, the team at Sports Maps shall look through candidates job applications. These are used to draw up a short list for interviews. Interviews will be conducted and an appropriate person shall be selected. Sports Maps is an equal opportunities employer and all laws with regard to selecting the appropriate individual for the developer position will be strictly adhered to.

Selling price, cost per unit and gross profit margins

· The app will be free to download for users in all platforms with a monthly charge of £5, generating £60 per year.

· The development cost of the app is £10000.00

· We shall need to sell 178 yearly subscriptions in order to break even.

· Cost per unit:

Total fixed costs+ Total variable costs/Total units produced=1.18

· Gross margin:

(Total revenue- costs of goods)/ Total revenue X 100=40.4%

Population :

· The main focus will be students aged 18-25

· Currently 4.180.000 people in the UK aged 20-24

· There are 2.383.970 students in the UK

People who are likely to download the app:

· According to kantar, the percentage of people not exercising in the UK is 37%.

· According to gadget-cover, 5% of young adults do not own a smart phone

· According to TechCrunch, 25% of users abandon mobile apps after using an app once. All of the above-mentioned statistics suggest that there is potential to grow Sports maps in this area. This could be achieved by targeting young individuals through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

after careful consideration we have calculated that out of 2.383.970 students, about 11.025 are likely to download and use the app. Therefore, the potential Total revenue is 11.025x5=55.129 for the first month.

Fixed overheads:

· Rent

· Development Costs

· Utilities

· Legal fees

· Marketing

· Business Insurance

· Apple commission

· Play Store commission

· Bank Charges

· Capital/lones

· Lone payments

Variable overheads:

· Utilities

· Credit card fees (assuming fees are a percentage of the sales)

Bank loan:

· High risk, depending on the success of the business, plus paying the current interest rate witch can go up substantially.

· Quick access to a large amount of capital

Investors:

· Provide capital and knowledge for the business, possibly for exchange in company shares.

· Not easy to find and it may be hard to convince them to invest

In app advertising:

· There could be benefits for both parties, since the sponsor has the opportunity to advertise and gain some publicity.

Development: The amount of £10000.00 will be paid over a 6 month period.

Marketing: Marketing costs may decrease, as the business may require less advertisement due to business growth.

Legal fees: The amount of £1000.00 will be paid within 2 months.

Conclusion

It is hoped from reading the above report and attached spreadsheets that the timeline for the project and all of the various projected costings required to get the Sports Maps application up and running have been adequately explained.  Market conditions are still challenging for a new start-up such as Sports Maps because of a slow down in the economy and a lack of investment due to uncertainty around BREXIT. For the above-mentioned reasons, obtaining finance in order to cover development costs of £10000.00 plus legal costs for patent protection for the Sports Maps app, and other costings such as overheads etc may not be easy  . Further more, due to the large number of applications on Apple’s app store and Google Play. and new business such as Sports Maps may struggle to be heard through the noise. However, in spite of this, the organisation believes that the opportunities for a new business venture like this are plentiful and could be somewhat financially rewarding if perhaps somewhat demanding due to the challenges with launching a new cross platform application such as Sports Maps in the UK. By targeting other lucrative market segments such as older individuals and potentially growing the business outside the UK in other international markets, Sports Maps has the potential to become a truly global business.

Appendix

Some financial costing was included in assignment 2. However, it was felt by the Sports Maps team that the development costs for app development were not realistic. That’s why the projected development costs were doubled to £10000.00 as this is likely to be more realistic when developing a cross platform application such as Sports Maps.

After carefully considering the data gathered from the Qualtrics survey in assignment 2, it was felt that the appropriate market segment to target at this time are students. Sports Maps would still like to target other market segments such as older individuals but this will need to be pursued once the app is up and running.

Buchanan & Huczynski(2017) pg 459, Organizational Behaviour: Ninth edition, (Pearson)

Felstead, A. and Henseke, G., 2017. Assessing the growth of remote working and its consequences for effort, well‐being and work‐life balance. New Technology, Work and Employment, 32(3), pp.195-212.

Laslo, Z. and Goldberg, A.I., 2008. Resource allocation under uncertainty in a multi-project matrix environment: Is organizational conflict inevitable?. International Journal of Project Management, 26(8), pp.773-788.

Maduenyi, S., Oke, A.O., Fadeyi, O. and Ajagbe, A.M., 2015. Impact of organisational structure on organisational performance.

Robinson, B., Ryan, M. and Abbasi, A., 2018. Analytical observations of work breakdown structure parameters. In Systems Engineering Test and Evaluation Conference 2018: Unlocking the Future Through Systems Engineering: SETE 2018 (p. 427). Engineers Australia.

Rolfsen, C.N. and Merschbrock, C., 2016. Acceptance of construction scheduling visualizations: bar-charts, flowline-charts, or perhaps BIM?. Procedia engineering, 164, pp.558-566.

Apple Developer (2019) Introduction – Accessibility – Human Interface Guidelines [available online] https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/accessibility/overview/introduction/ [accessed 27 February 2020].

Google Accessibility (2019). Resources for Developers and Publishers [online] https://www.google.co.uk/accessibility/for-developers/

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How many people own a phone in the UK? (2018) [online]