PM paper

2

Project Introduction……………………………………………………………………..……… 3

Project Charter………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

Project Scope…………………………..……………………………………………………….. 5

Work Breakdown Structure……………………………………………………………………... 6

Network Diagram and Critical Path……………………………………………….……………. 7

Estimate Cost…………………………………………………………………………….……... 9

Communication Plan Management……………………………………………………………. 10

Risk Management…………………………………………………………………………….... 11

Logistics……………………………………………….………………………………………. 12

Lessons Learned……………………………………………………………………………….. 13

References……………………………………………..………………………………………. 14

Appendix A - Project Charter…………………………………..…………………………..…. 15

Appendix B - Scope statement……………………………………………………………….... 17

Appendix C - Milestones……………………………………..……………………………..… 18

Appendix D - Priority matrix………………………..……………………………………....… 19

Appendix E - WBS/Network Diagram/Sample Activity List & Attributes…...…..…..…….… 20

Appendix F - Estimate Cost…………………………………………………………………… 27

Appendix G - Communication Matrix……………………………………………………....… 29

Appendix H - Risk Register……………………………………………..…………………….. 30

Appendix I - Probability/Impact Matrix..……………………………………………………… 31

Project Introduction

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As we step into the current ecological crisis where plastic pollution has affected the

Earth’s oceans to a critical level, Pop City Soda (PCS) has become a sponsor to a green recycling

initiative in the neighborhood of Buckhead in Atlanta. The company has realized that the amount

of plastic bottles they produce and sell in a grand majority of the plastic materials that could be

recycled and therefore, reducing the plastic pollution in rivers, oceans and the environment as a

whole.

Project Charter

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The inception and reasoning of this project is at the level of environmental responsibility

and to change behavioral patterns in a community where there is a lack of recycling processes.

PCS as the corporate and financial sponsor, is backing the project POP CITY RECYCLES,

aiming to bring awareness and excitement for recycling in the Buckhead neighborhood. As the

project charter (Appendix A) serves as a source of authority to the Project Manager (PM)

(Maltzman, 2019) and is created by the PM themselves, it determines and acknowledges the PM

as the head of the project and decision maker. It authorizes the PM to use organizational

resources to complete the project (Schwalbe, 2016). The PM of this initiative will oversee and

delegate all aspects of the campaign including Financial Planning, Human Resources, Marketing,

and Logistics of the program.

POP CITY RECYCLES aims to initiate a recycling program in Buckhead with the

financial and logistic sponsorship of PCS. As PCS is one of the major plastic producers in the

Buckhead area, the company agrees to become a key stakeholder in the initiative and support the

PM throughout the entire length of the project.

PCS will utilize their strengths as a global company to finance the initiative and provide

support across all levels of the project. PCS, along with its employees, its customers, the

residents of Buckhead, and the project team members are all stakeholders in the project. As

sponsor of an environmental initiative, PCS brand reputation will likely change to a more green-

friendly and socially responsible light in its consumers’ eyes. PCS employees involved in the

project will increase their daily workload to include the management of their responsibilities and

its customers will be recipients of new marketing campaign materials and advertisements, brand

change and possible price fluctuation to accommodate the funding of the project. Some of its

customers will include Buckhead residents, where the initiative is taking place. Their role is an

obvious one, being the key audience for the initiative.

Project Scope

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Detailed in project scope includes all activities in the project that need to be carried out

in order to complete it (Maltzman, 2019). The project scope helps the PM to recognize priorities

in the project and to help improve the accuracy of time, cost, and resource estimates; defines a

baseline for performance measurement and project control; and aids in communicating clear

work responsibilities (Schwalbe, 2016). The scope statement can be viewed in Appendix B.

“Prioritization matrices are part of the project management and control tools that are

used to determine the key issues and evaluate appropriate alternatives to define a set of priorities

for implementation.” (“Prioritization Matrices”, 2017.) Since this campaign is the first of its

kind for Pop City Soda Co., a priority matrix was used in order to determine which of the triple

constraints was most important to the project (Appendix D). The sponsor provided a limited

budget for this project that could not be exceeded. Therefore, the “cost” priority was considered

most important to constrain throughout the duration of the project to ensure the budget would not

be exceeded. The scope of the project was considered somewhat flexible as the deliverables

defined in the initial scope were determined conservatively, but with room to expand should the

budget allow once the project was underway. The “enhance” priority relates to the scope.

Changes in the schedule would be accepted since the intent of the campaign is to be ongoing in

the community. Though there is a critical path to be considered in the implementation of this

project, and certain milestones that must be met in order to begin the campaign, the execution of

the project is more forgiving to the schedule.

Work Breakdown Structure

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After determining the scope, the next step was to define the deliverables and work scope in order

to achieve it. The PMBOK® Guide Glossary defines the Work Breakdown Structure as “a

deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements that organizes and defines the total work scope

of the project.” The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is one of the most important project

planning deliverables, as it is invaluable throughout the project lifecycle. Implementation of a

WBS to define scope has been shown to ensure delivery of a project’s objectives and outcomes.

(Norman, 2008.) The WBS helps to plan and implement a project, as well as assists in

maintaining the budget and schedule. Though there are many ways to structure a WBS, the

project management team determined the WBS would be best structured based on project

orientation, rather than chronological, in a top-down approach. This approach is the most

conventional and requires the largest deliverables of a project to be identified first and then

broken down, or decomposed, into lower level items. (Schwalbe, 2017). This was decided due to

the fact there are many overlapping items within each level that will be occurring simultaneously

and identifying these items in chronological decomposition would not benefit the sponsor.

A graphical view of the WBS is included as Appendix E and can be used to visualize the project

as a whole, including the decomposed work packages. (Schwalbe, 2017). A WBS tabular outline

is also included in the appendix. The creation of the WBS challenges one to really consider every

detail required within each deliverable. This can be especially difficult when prior experience

creating a WBS is limited, but utilizing the members of the team to identify different deliverables

and requirements helps confirm all things are considered and implemented as needed. The WBS

for this project was reviewed and approved by the project management team and we are

confident this item will help to ensure successful management of this project.

Network Diagram and Critical Path

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Once the WBS has been established, we must consider which tasks depend on one another for

completion. This is identified in the Network Diagram and “the goal of the network diagram is to

produce the schedule for the entire project.” (Warburton, 2014.) The Network Diagram for this

project was created via MS Project and can be viewed in the MS Project attachment. The

duration of each item was determined using the discrete, most likely estimate; since the schedule

was identified as the “accept” priority in the Priority Matrix, any fluctuations in the duration

estimates would be acceptable and managed appropriately.

The Network Diagram is used to identify the critical path, which has been identified as the most

important concept in project management. (Warburton, 2014.) The critical path is the longest

path through the network but is also the shortest amount of time in which the project can be

completed. (Schwalbe, 2017.) Based on the completed WBS (including durations and

predecessors), the project is expected to finish on December 10, 2019, at the earliest. However,

since this project is intended to be implemented as a continual campaign, the end date is subject

to change.

There are some constraints within the project that must be met, and these are deemed “critical.”

For example, the campaign cannot begin without securing proper licensing, permits and

insurance. Therefore, the start date could be affected if the project management team is unable to

obtain these items as scheduled at the beginning of the project. Another example would be the

collection of recyclables; the entire purpose of this project is to promote the benefit of recycling

and collect recyclables from the Buckhead community. If recyclables are not collected (as tasked

in the Logistics work summary), the project scope would not be achieved, and could further

delay the project end date, or be the cause of a complete project failure. These items are deemed

“critical” because they have the most impact on the schedule as a whole, since their delay would

postpone the completion of the project. Milestones were identified throughout the project to

ensure all major activities are accomplished and accounted for (Schwalbe, 2017) and can be

viewed in Appendix C. This should help keep the project on track while also influencing the

critical path. Though the critical path is currently identified, it could change through the course

of the project based on accomplishment of tasks as scheduled and resource availability.

Resources have been assigned to each work package as required, and has taken into account the

availability of each personnel resource and their effect on the critical path. Since some of the

tasks occur simultaneously, and utilize the same resources, over-allocation of resources were

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identified by MS Project originally. Proper corrective action was taken to address these over-

allocations by changing the percentage of each resource allocated to the completion of those

tasks.

Estimate Costs and Cost Budget/Project Cost Management

For our project to be successful, it is essential to produce accurate estimates from both a cost and

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schedule standpoint in order to ensure the project delivers the promised values. In coming up

with our cost estimate (Appendix F), we utilized bottom-up estimating, based off of our WBS

and the four work streams. For each component of each work package in our WBS, we estimate

the cost to complete the activity, from an internal labor, external labor, and non-labor cost, and

rolled those estimated together to determine an aggregate cost estimate.

The bottoms-up estimating technique is a more time-consuming, yet more detailed and accurate

method as opposed to other methods, such as analogous, parametric, or three-point testing

(Schwalbe). Because we are such a volunteer-heavy and “green” campaign and sponsored by

Pop City, the bottoms up cost estimate can easily be explained to our sponsors to justify the

money we are asking for Pop City and also allows for relatively easy adjustment. Additionally,

we have held back a contingency reserve of $10,000 in the case of unforeseen events or threats

coming to fruition, such as needing more resources, repairing a recycling facility, running into

legal or insurance issues, etc. It is important to note that as the campaign is underway, it will be

important to monitor and controls costs so that our project does not exceed the budget (PMBOK

Guide).

Communication Plan Management

An essential part of the project is the communication plan management, which includes the

10

planning, management, and monitoring of the various communication tools we are utilizing

throughout our campaign. Our communication plan will provide relevant communications to our

stakeholders in a timely manner, which mandates that we understand the diverse needs of each of

our many stakeholders (Schwalbe). Furthermore, given the volunteering and eco-friendly nature

of our campaign, effective communication will keeps our stakeholders engaged, so be even more

so imperative to the success of our campaign.

At a high level, our communications will revolve around a multi-faceted marketing approach to

the community utilizing a marketing consultant. Additionally, we will utilize several interactive

communications with our employees and volunteers as well as with our sponsor, Pop City,

throughout the campaign. Our communications matrix (Appendix G) documents in detail the

various communications we will manage and monitor throughout the campaign, including when,

what information, communication vehicle and type, sender, and receiver.

Risk Management

As part of the recycling campaign, risks were identified as part of project scope and

11

identification and put into a risk register (Appendix H). We identified key risks and

vulnerabilities that could potentially affect the project outcome. As part of the identified risks,

identification of mitigating controls and risk response strategies to assist with risk mitigation. As

part of our analysis (see appendix), we identified the top risks to the campaign are legal and

regulatory driven and reputational. The top risks identified were accompanies with appropriate

mitigation and response plane.

Further, the response plans include accountability of senior management and project

managers, where appropriate. Probability and impact were assessed to ensure the responses were

ordered in terms of criticality. Critical risks require a strict and robust response, while some risks

are accepted and taken at face value since the response would be to cumbersome or costly to

effectively combat the risk if it were to materialize.

Logistics

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As one of the key requirements, logistics, was a key component in planning our recycling

campaign. We had to account for products, services, location, environmental hazards and

appropriate procurements of materials. As part of our initial analysis, we noted that the following

items were required to ensure that the project was successful and logistically sound:

· Materials and Real Estate;

· Recyclable collections;

· Staff and volunteering;

· Financial incentives; and,

· Laws and regulations.

Throughout the project, we realized that the above logistical items remained the same. However,

the complexities of such items evolved as we realized the scope of the project and the aspects

that were required to ensure the success of the camping. Particularly, the collection and the laws

and regulation logistics had to be revamped throughout the project with more robust research to

ensure that the camping complied with local recycling practices across Atlanta.

Lessons Learned

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When developing the campaign, we originally came up with the idea of a compost and

recycling idea. We were passionate about the subject and were considering a campaign where we

can make a change on a global scale. Throughout the course, we learned the following items

when considering the logistical aspects of a successful recycling campaign:

· The project needed to be scaled down and rolled out on a smaller scale to ensure success

before investing funds on global scale;

· Investing and promoting aware across one (1) items at a time; tabling composting and

first focusing on recyclable recycling; and,

· Performing research on the incentives on our target market. For example, the Buckhead

Atlanta area is composed of many young professionals and millennials. As such, a good

incentive would have been to offer bitcoin for those who plan to participate.

Resources

14

A guide to the project management body of knowledge: (PMBOK® guide 6th Edition). (2017).

Newton Square, PA. Project Management Institute, Inc.

Norman, E., Brotherton, Shelly A, & Fried, Robert T. (2008). Work breakdown structures the

foundation for project management excellence. Hoboken, N.J. : [Newtown Square, Pa.]: John

Wiley & Sons ; Project Management Institute.

“Prioritization Matrices”. (2017, December 19). Retrieved March 3, 2019, from https://project-

management-knowledge.com/definitions/p/prioritization-matrices/

Schwalbe, K. (2017). “An Introduction to Project Management”. 6th Edition. Minneapolis, MN:

Schwalbe Publishing.

Staff, R. (2008, July 07). ISO Introduces Standards for Plastics Recycling. Retrieved from

https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/iso-introduces-standards-for-plastics-recycling/

Warburton, R., & Kanabar, Vijay. (2014). THE ART AND SCIENCE OF PROJECT

MANAGEMENT (3RD ed.).

Maltzman, R. (2019) AD642 OL 2019 – Spring [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes

Online Website:

https://onlinecampus.bu.edu/webapps/discussionboard/do/forum?action=list_threads&course_id

=_52876_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_175911_1&forum_id=_447830_1

APPENDIX A - Project Charter

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Project Charter Pop City Recycles

Start Date: April 1, 2019

End Date: December 10, 2019

Objective (purpose):

POP CITY RECYCLES has initiated a recycling program for the community of Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia. It will bring a greater awareness and excitement for recycling by establishing multiple recycle drop-off throughout the Buckhead neighborhood where participants can bring in their recyclables. POP CITY SODA as the corporate sponsor for this project, we will be an integral part of their corporate social responsibility campaign and we will be able to utilize their warehouses, benefit from their marketing and advertising strength, and secure some finances for the campaign. The Project Manager of this initiative will oversee and delegate all aspects of the campaign including Financial Planning, Human Resources, Marketing, and Logistics of the program.

Requirements: Pop City Soda must be sole sponsor of project and will provide financial support, as well as marketing and advertising materials. Project Manager must hire recycling expert in order to train staff and volunteers.

Risks: 1. Buckhead resident may not be engaged or aware in the recycling efforts

a. Offer incentives for collection of recyclables

2. There may be other overlapping efforts within the city to recycle

a. preliminary research into the project and see what other efforts may be out there. If so, engage the other group(s) to discuss best practices and potentially create a competition or partnership

3. There may be confusion or difficulty around how to measure the recycling someone is doing

a. Establish standardized process and metrics that will be utilized to measure how much an individual is recycling. Make both readily available to all stakeholders.

b. Have a few centrally-located check-in locations with designated, trained representative, or coordinate a pickup service.

4. Low on funding

a. Establish POP CITY SODA funding prior to kicking of the campaign

Success Criteria: 40% of plastic bottles in the Buckhead neighborhood recycled Change of behavioral patterns and overall outlook on recycling from Buckhead residents

Stakeholder ID: 1. Project Manager – responsible of overseeing project for its entirety

2. POP CITY SODA (sponsor) – responsible for funding the project financially for its entirety

a. Brand reputation will change

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b. Funding for project might take away from other expenditures

3. POP CITY SODA employees

a. Responsibilities shifts

4. Buckhead residents – stakeholders in location where project is being initiated

5. POP CITY SODA customers – due to company funding project, brand recognition might change, prices may increase etc.

6. Project Team Members – delegated to managing sectors of project by PM

Budget: $100,000

Sponsor: Pop City Soda Co.

Summary Milestones

Project Start - April 1, 2019 All license, insurance, permits obtained - April 29, 2019 Main Drop-off site established - June 11, 2019 Sub-Drop-off site established - June 17, 2019 Staffing complete - September 20, 2019 Media Advertising complete - October 8, 2019 Community Outreach complete - November 18, 2019 Project End - December 10, 2019

Project Managers Madeline Queen, Nathalia Melo, Joseph Chai, Jonathan Gutierrez

Responsibility Project managers have responsibility for budget, marketing, logistics and staffing. PM will provide project status updates to sponsor.

Project Managers PM has the authority to select project team members and to allocate funds for identified resources needed for project completion.

Signatures PM:

Date: March 4, 2019

Sponsor: Pop City Soda

Date: March 4, 2019

APPENDIX B - Scope Statement

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Scope Description

Pop City Recycles will be a recycling initiative sponsored by Pop City Soda in the neighborhood of Buckhead in Atlanta, GA. Residents will be provided with approachable process where they will be able to drop off recyclable materials and PCR staff and volunteers will deliver the materials to main site to be recycled. Pop City Soda will provide warehouse space and funds for recycling process. They will also fund the leasing of drop off sites and all expenditures that come with. PM, with the funding of Pop City Soda, will arrange the staff and volunteer training by hiring an expert on recycling matters.

Project Deliverables

Approachable recycling process for Buckhead residents to understand and follow

Acceptance Criteria

The recycling process is up to ISO standards All permits and licenses are approved Pop City Soda Employee standards met

Exclusions

Project will not increase the amount

Constraints

Budget constraints Time constraints Geographical constraints

Assumptions

Permits and licenses completed within schedule Buckhead residents are consumers of plastic containers that are not properly disposed of There is no current recycling program in the community

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APPENDIX C - Milestones

Milestone List

April 1, 2019

Project Name: Pop City Recycles

Milestone Initial Estimated Completion

Date

Project Start April 1, 2019

All license, insurance, permits obtained April 29, 2019

Main Drop-off site established June 11, 2019

Sub-Drop-off site established June 17, 2019

Staffing complete September 20, 2019

Media Advertising complete October 8, 2019

Community Outreach complete November 18, 2019

Project End December 10, 2019

APPENDIX D - Priority Matrix

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APPENDIX E - WBS/Network Diagram w/ Sample Activity List & Attributes

Work Breakdown Structure Diagram (WBS)

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Work Breakdown Structure (list) 1. Finance Planning:

o 1.1 Project Start o 1.2 – Administrative

❖ 1.2.1 - Legal (licenses, taxes) ❖ 1.2.2 - Insurance (Physical and Liability) ❖ 1.2.3 - obtain all necessary approvals and permits for recycling campaign ❖ 1.2.4 – Personnel ❖ 1.2.5 - pay staff ❖ 1.2.6 - pay recycling expert ❖ 1.2.7 - Marketing budget (in alignment with marketing approach)

o 1.3 - Main drop off site ❖ 1.3.1 - lease main drop off site ❖ 1.3.2 - set up utilities (internet, water, heat, cooling, etc.) ❖ 1.3.3 - purchase furniture (desks, computers, printers, office supplies, etc.) ❖ 1.3.4 - purchase recycling equipment (weigh scales, recycle containers, etc)

o 1.4 – Sub-drop-off sites ❖ 1.4.1 - lease space for sub-drop-off site ❖ 1.4.2 - build sorted drop-off containers

2. Human Resources

o 2.1 - staff ❖ 2.1.1 - source for candidates ❖ 2.1.2 - interview candidates ❖ 2.1.3 - hire staff ❖ 2.1.4 - train staff ❖ 2.1.5 - assign staff to specific duties ❖ 2.1.6 - periodic refresher training

o 2.2 – volunteers ❖ 2.2.1 - source for candidates

▪ 2.2.1.1 - contact high school/college for participation - offering of credit hours at high school and colleges for volunteer hours

▪ 2.2.1.2 - contact senior citizens ▪ 2.2.1.3 - contact Pop City staff volunteers ▪ 2.2.1.4 - contact community services offerings providers

❖ 2.2.2 - hire volunteers ❖ 2.2.3 - train volunteers ❖ 2.2.4 - assign volunteers to specific duties ❖ 2.2.5 - periodic refresher training

o 2.3 - expert assistance ❖ 2.3.1 - hire recycling expert to provide training and educational materials ❖ 2.3.2 - create educational materials for volunteers ❖ 2.3.3 - schedule periodic refresher trainings

o 2.4 – Staffing Complete 3. Marketing

o 3.1 - assemble marketing department o 3.2 - create comprehensive advertising strategy raising awareness on campaign mission

and values ❖ 3.2.1 - social media and media advertisement

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▪ 3.2.1.1 - create social media accounts (FaceBook, twitter, Instagram, MeetUp, etc.)

▪ 3.2.1.2 - record TV advertisement ▪ 3.2.1.3 - record radio advertisement ▪ 3.2.1.4 - write newspaper article ▪ 3.2.1.5 - create website advertising

❖ 3.2.2 - partnership advertisement ▪ 3.2.2.1- gain partnerships with local and national recycling campaigns ▪ 3.2.2.2 - advertisement from sponsor, Pop City (label recycled bottles

from Pop City with information on campaign, call to action on Pop City TV and radio advertisements, etc.)

❖ 3.2.3 - community advertisement ▪ 3.2.3.1 - clip-boarding/door to door initiative campaign in community

areas and neighborhoods to sign up participants ▪ 3.2.3.2 - create/distribute education materials for community ▪ 3.2.3.3 - schedule weekly educational meetings in community ▪ 3.2.3.4 - Create registry of participants and send periodic communications

o 3.3 - monitor marketing campaign metrics (outreach success, cost, etc.) 4. Logistics

o 4.1 - perform benchmarking for recommendations on best recycling collection processes and metrics

o 4.2 - establish quantitative measuring for success o 4.3 - Main drop off (Pop City to furnish warehouse space)

❖ 4.3.1 - determine location for main drop-off facility (where all other sub-sites will deliver recycled material)

❖ 4.3.2 - make arrangements as building for recycling drop off site ❖ 4.3.3 - furnish building (desks, office supplies, internet, scales, recycling bins,

area for storing and weighing recycle, etc.) ❖ 4.3.4 – Main Drop off site Established

o 4.4 – Sub Drop-off facilities ❖ 4.4.1 - determine locations for sub-sites based on geographical need ❖ 4.4.2 - make arrangements as building for recycling drop off site ❖ 4.4.3 - furnish building (desks, office supplies, internet, scales, recycling bins,

area for storing and weighing recycle, etc.) ❖ 4.4.4 – Sub-drop-off sites Established

o 4.5 – Transport: from sub-drop off sites back to main site ❖ 4.5.1 - identify most efficient routes ❖ 4.5.2 - identify best times of day/week for pick up ❖ 4.5.3 - assign volunteers/staff to task ❖ 4.5.4 - collect recycling from sub drop off ❖ 4.5.5 - deliver collected recycling to main site

o 4.6 - Transport: Delivery of recycled/separated bottles/cans back to Pop City ❖ 4.6.1 - identify most efficient routes ❖ 4.6.2 - identify best times of day/week for delivery ❖ 4.6.3 - assign volunteers/staff to task ❖ 4.6.4 - verify recycled goods are in compliance with all applicable regulations ❖ 4.6.5 - separate bottles from cans ❖ 4.6.6 - weigh # of lbs recycled ❖ 4.6.7 - deliver separated/weighed recycling back to Pop City to be

reused/recycled

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o 4.7 – Monitor results ❖ 4.7.1 - compare # of lbs recycled vs. # of lbs produced

Network Diagram

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Sample Activity List & Attributes

Sample Work Package Estimate

WBS Work Package Name: Deliver collected recycling to main site

WBS Item Number: 4.5.5

Deliverable: Recycling transportation

Predecessors: 4.3.4 Main drop-off site established, 4.5.4 Collect recycling from sub-drop-off

Successors: 4.6.4 Verify recycled goods are in compliance

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Duration: 2 days

Resource requirements: Staff, Volunteers

Constraints: Staff availability 80%, Volunteer availability 80%, as this will be done continuously

throughout the project after establishment of the campaign and the staff/volunteers assigned to

transportation may also have to complete refresher training during this time.

Description of work: Once recycling has been collected from the sub-sites, it must be transported and

delivered to the main recycling site in order to be reviewed, sorted, weighed, and ultimately

recycled/reused.

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APPENDIX F - Cost Estimate

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29

APPENDIX G - Communications Matrix

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APPENDIX H - Risk Register

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APPENDIX I - Probability/Impact Matrix