Risk management - 500 words

Business Project Proposal

Light up the territory

Minxuan Lin | S311013| Group: Thursday

Contents Executive summary 2 Overview 2 Purpose & Objectives 2 Measuring success 3 Expected Benefits and Dis-benefits 4 Context and analysis 4 SWOT analysis 6 Weighted scoring model 7 Why the project? 8 Benefits and dis-benefits 9 Project requirements 10 Requirements 10 Costs 10 Major risks 12 Major risks 12 Risk management 13 Timescale 14 Time estimation 14 Major milestones 14 Conclusion 15 References 15

This proposal plans to light up dark areas in the Northern Territory, by introducing advanced road lamp technology to rural and poorly lit roads in the Territory. The main purpose of the project is to decrease number of road accidents in the Territory and avoid potential hazards caused by poorly lit roads. The new road lamp will be fitted with modern day technology which will allow it to use clean energy and save power. This implementation will benefit the lives of residents in the Territory and the environment in the long run.

As mentioned in the Executive Summary, the main purpose or objective of this project is to decrease the number of road accidents on Territory roads and avoid potential hazards caused by poorly lit roads. But before starting up the project, there is a problem that need to be resolved.

Problem – Approval from the Territory Government Department of Transport

To implement the project, approval or a Development Permit from the Department of Transport is required, as the project will conduct work on Territory roads. The Department assesses land development applications and is responsible for Road Agency Approvals for all developments impacting Territory road networks (Transport, 2019).

Scope

There are two main things to include in the scope, clean energy and power efficiency. As the product also aims to be environmentally friendly. In the Territory, all street lights are connected to power plants for their power and use light detectors for automatic activation. We plan on using individual street lights which use solar panels to provide and store electricity. Additionally, a motion detector will be added with the solar panels to ensure energy efficiency. Normal halogen lights will also be replaced by LED lights.

This would benefit in:

-Clean energy

-Energy efficiency

-Street light independency

-More visibility

What is expected of this project implementation?

The expected outcome would include:

-Less road accidents involving drivers and pedestrians in the Territory

-Less power consumption hence less pollution in the long run

-Higher level of security with better illumination

Further development:

-Gather information for other places the new road lamp can be implemented. Places such as small neighborhoods or other rural areas.

Observation timeframe:

-Observe number of road accidents as a decrease is expected

There are several ways to measure success if the project was accepted.

Road accidents: A decrease in numbers of road accidents occurring in the Territory is expected. To measure the success, data from the Territory Government Road Toll Statistics will be analyzed. Which is updated monthly.

Crime rates: A decrease in crime rates is also expected. Better lighting may increase number of people walking out at night and it increases people’s sense of security. Crime is also harder to take place in areas with good lighting.

What are the expected results?

Road accidents

-Number of road accidents to decrease by 75%

Crime rates

-Crime rates decrease by 25%

Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept where a company or industry can benefit society while boosting their own brand or image (Investopedia, 2019). The organization may want to raise its profile because it is planning on introducing new products or services to customer. As higher profile would translate to more customers and hence profit. Other reasons it may want to raise its profile include improve public image and gain social network status.

How would the project align?

Picture retrieved from (NT, 2019)

Road accident is still a high cause of death in the Territory. Averaging 43 deaths in the past 10 years and still counting as of until August 2019.

Picture retrieved from (NT, 2019)

Total fatalities: 426, total pedestrian fatalities: 86. (Time frame, 10 years)

Picture retrieved from (NT, 2019)

From statistics, pedestrians make up for 20.1 percent of road accident fatalities in the past 10 years. Similarly, it is the same as of August 2019, with 20 fatalities and 4 being pedestrians.

The new road lamp would increase safety for drivers, pedestrians and riders by providing drivers and riders with more visibility on the road, thus avoiding accidents with other drivers and pedestrians. Therefore, with the decrease in numbers of road accidents in the NT, the company’s profile would rise.

Analysis

The new road lamp has many strengths over traditional road lamps, such as environmental friendliness and energy efficiency. But it also has one weakness as opposed to traditional road lamps, and it is the weather. As the new road lamp is solar powered and stores energy from the sun, if the weather was not optimal, the road lamp would not be charged and functional. Whereas traditional road lamps draw power from power plants.

For opportunities, the road lamp would promote reusable clean energy in the Territory. Other components such as a surveillance system and charging ports can also be installed for security and public resource sharing purposes.

The only threats to the new road lamp are vandalism and animals. If vandalized, the aesthetics of the road lamp may be ruined and even malfunction. Animals such as birds may leave waste on the solar panel and light detector, making the two components inept.

Criteria

From using weighted scoring, it is observed that going ahead with the project has a higher weighted score than doing no project at all. Which suggests that the company should go ahead with the project as it is of higher priority.

The project idea was developed from road accidents. There are many road accidents involving deaths of pedestrians, mainly due to poor visibility on the roads. As pedestrians do not have reflective clothing or light indications where they are, it is very hard to spot them at night, until the driver is already too close.

Data from a road toll in 2018, shows that pedestrians are more likely to be killed in the NT compared to the rest of Australia.

Retrieved from (Smith, 2018)

When a road is poorly lit, it would also be hard for the driver to see things on the road, giving them less time to react to foreign objects on roads, causing accidents. The project was developed in mind of decreasing number of road accidents by providing drivers with more visibility on the road.

Benefits

As the project aims to give back to the community, there aren’t many direct benefits. But there would be several indirect benefits.

1. Raised profile

The company would gain better social net status and publicity through implementing the project.

2. Profit

With a raised profile and more publicity, the company could more effectively advertise their products and gain profit.

Dis-benefits

The dis-benefits would be that the road lamps have many smart and sensitive components, meaning that they will need periodic maintenance to keep the road lamps functional. The road lamps may also need repairs in case they break down, meaning the company may need to pay repair fees for the road lamps to be repaired.

Resources:

Cars: For Scouters to get around

Product materials: To build the road lamps

PCs: For researchers to conduct research

Human resources:

Workers: For construction

Scouters: For finding areas fit for implementation

Researchers: For finding areas fit for implementation based on past road accidents

Assumptions

-Scouter may use their own car, hence the company would only need to pay for their fuel expenses

-Product materials may use sturdy recycled materials

-Workers are paid, not volunteers

Constraints

Time – The area of implementation, in this case the Territory, is very large. Meaning scouting for areas fit for implementation and implementation itself may take a lot of time

Budget – Materials for road lamp and human resources may be expensive

Main costs

Road lamp materials:

Total costs for a single road lamp: $704.67

Human resources:

Miscellaneous:

Overall budget

Cost analysis

The human resource costs were calculated based on the assumption that the project would last 6 months, although the duration may last shorter.

The costs for the road lamp components were calculated using costs found on the internet, provided by credible suppliers. The reason the cost of the road lamp was calculated after the other subjects is that other costs are consistent whereas the road lamp cost is not. It was also done this way to find out the maximum number of road lamps the budget will allow.

1. Financial

As the project is quite large, the needs for road lamps may increase through time. Leading to over budget.

2. Supply

Some supplies may be supplied from overseas, meaning there may be extra fees for postage and currency exchange may be unstable.

3. Time

The expected duration for the project may be longer than expected as the project aims to cover the whole Territory

4. Quality

The quality of some materials may not be acceptable, as some materials are supplied from overseas so the quality of the material can only be determined once it has arrived

5. Repeatability

If a road lamp fails or is destroyed past the project duration, the company would have to choose to rebuild the road lamp for extra costs involving human resources and materials, or leave it as is.

1. Financial

To keep project from going over budget, we must pin point important places to implement the new road lamps

2. Supply

Best to use local suppliers, to cut down on postage fees and avoid unstable currency exchange

3. Time

To keep the project from going over expected duration, professionals are recommended for hiring, as they would complete the tasks faster

4. Quality

Local suppliers are recommended as quality of materials can be inspected

5. Repeatability

Perhaps hand over the maintenance and repairs for the Government to handle, or purchase insurance for the road lamps

The duration of the project is expected to be 3 – 6 months. To make sure it does not go over budget or the duration, careful planning is needed.

There are 4 milestones to this project. Project planning, prepare resources and hire human resources, find location for implementation and manufacture products and finally installation. As shown below, preparing resources and hiring human resources can only begin after the project planning. Finding location and manufacturing products cannot commence until resources and workers has arrived. Then finally installation which can only begin if some products has been produced, which a week time has been given.

In conclusion, the implementation of the new road lamps will greatly benefit the residents of the Territory by decreasing number of road accidents. The proposal covers all important elements for the project such as expected benefits, requirements and risks. The $50000 budget would be the maximum cost for the project with possibility of the costs decreasing. The road lamps can then be transferred to be managed by the Government, while the company benefits from increased profile and publicity. Through careful planning and risk management, the project should not encounter too many issues. Hence this project would be creating a brighter future for the roads of the Territory.

References Investopedia, 2019. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). [Online] [Accessed 16 August 2019]. NT, R. s., 2019. Lives lost on NT roads. [Online] Available at: https://roadsafety.nt.gov.au/research-and-statistics/lives-lost-nt-roads [Accessed 18 August 2019]. Smith, E., 2018. Pedestrians are seven times more likely to be killed in the NT — especially those who are Indigenous. [Online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-14/indigenous-pedestrians-hit-by-car-northern-territory-road-toll/9953652 [Accessed 19 August 2019]. Transport, N. D. O., 2019. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTDevelopment Guidelines for Northern Territory Government Controlled Roads. [Online] Available at: https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/165351/development-guidelines-for-ntg-controlled-roads.pdf [Accessed 14 August 2019].

Weighted Project Scores Going ahead with project Doing no project at all 0.93 0.3

Page | 2 Minxuan Lin S311013