INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

Alliance Group Grocery (AG Grocery)

Alliance Group Grocery Inc. (AG Grocery) is a grocery store chain of 25 stores in the DC, Maryland and Virginia (DMV) region of the United States that is attempting to mitigate some of these COVID-19 difficulties by creating a virtual shopping assistant service. AG Grocery is focused on adapting to the changing nature of the purchasing process used by customers. The Modern in-store technology that exists in AG Group Grocery consists of state-of-the-art cash register scanners, desktops, laptops, and new/updated security infrastructure. These modern in-store technology makes AG Grocery highly innovative in establishing different ways, which customers can use to make their purchases. Adoption of virtual shopping assistants’ eases customers buying process, helps in decision making, creating interpersonal relationships, and building customer loyalty.

The project is focused on transforming its overall business operations. Today’s clients are more focused on an improved online shopping experience with real time user interaction with AG Grocery technology. Specifically, the management of AG Grocery is focused on adapting virtual shopping assistant technology which will give customers an improved online and in-store shopping experience. AG Grocery management seeks to achieve a high level of Customer retention, customer trust, customer market domination and increased revenue.

Project Scope Statement

Virtual shopping assistants will create a new relationship between customers and the business by establishing a reliable platform for ordering, reviewing, and paying for ordered goods. This will allow the firm to deliver a customer-centric experience, promoting grocery market domination and increased revenue within the grocery store. They will be able to see for themselves in real-time what is in stock in the store, what the quality of produce looks like, and choose alternate brands and products when something is unavailable.

Project objectives and success criteria

The objectives of the Virtual Shopping Assistant Service at AG Grocery comprise of the following:

· Accommodate COVID-19 restrictions by following the CDC guidelines for PPE and marking distanced spaces around the grocery store

· Create a website to schedule virtual shopping appointments so that customers can book a specific time slot for their virtual shopping experience

· Improved overall customer-buying experience by gauging customer satisfaction through customer satisfaction surveys, comments from customers in the store’s information/suggestion box as well as the feedback from customers virtual shopping experience.

· Effective retention of customer confidence. Ensure customers trust and ease of purchasing at Virtual Shopping grocery stores by training all grocery staff with solid customer service skills so that customers have a positive and enjoyable experience

· Customers satisfaction shall be gauged using the rate of rebooking for service, telephone satisfaction questionnaires, and/or Poll at the end of the zoom meeting

The following are the project requirements for AG Grocery store:

· One of the project requirements is the various financials that make it a practical proposition. characteristics.

· The second project requirement is customer information, which helps dispense services to grocery customers with the advent of a virtual shopping assistant.

· The third requirement is the technological infrastructure. These include established websites, on-line payment methods, and technologies allowing for the dispensation of supplemental nutrition assistance to the customers.

· Finally, the project will also require planning. When customers of the grocery staff are working on order delivery to the customers, it will be imperative that they observe social distancing, which is one aspect of the need for planning.

Overall project risks

The following are the risks associated with the project risks:

· Firstly, communication risks simply due to the service being heavily reliant on video. Customers bereft of video services will be unable to look at product characteristics, making them inconclusive about buying a specific product. The installation of Wi-Fi boosters throughout the store has been established to mitigate this risk.

· The second risk is the possibility that a customer will terminate a video call when they see the grocery store items and go for the items themselves instead of continuing with the use of the virtual assistant. During booking, their card number will be required information so that even if they end the call mid-shopping session, the customer will still be charged the booking fee. While interacting with a customer, if there is a disconnection due to technological issues, AG Grocery store associates shall try to reconnect with the customer up to 5x, if not possible, then fee is not charged

· The third risk is that the project is bereft of foundational elements that other businesses have an establishment, thus yielding a development risk factor. These three risks could derail the project's advancement through interruption of communication and from conventional shopping methods, which are not in tandem with the developed virtual assistant.

· If updates are needed for software improvements to enhance the experience for the customer and the virtual assistant. AG Grocery shall have contingency plans such as periodic data backups, and software development.

· At AG Grocery, security measures are being put in place to protect the customer's information such as credit card information, banking information (debit card), and their profile. One good example is same standard security practices that shall be used for online shopping

· Not everyone has credit cards, some people may be using government assistance to purchase their items, and some customers may choose to use cash; AG Grocery shall use/need debit/credit card to do appointment, pay in store at pick up as an option. Scheduling pick up time for groceries, AG Grocery stores shall have the Ability to block certain users if they abandon carts too often

Expenses:

Income

Criteria for approval for this project is that it will have a positive / growing net income within 2 months of project initiation. The first 2 weeks shall focus on finances and purchasing the equipment along with updating our web design company, WebCo, with the changes we would like to have made. Online schedulers are readily available as applications that they can purchase and rebrand to match the overall look and feel of our current site. Once equipment begins arriving, we will install the equipment in stores. During the installation phase we can proceed with testing the software and training our managers. Once we have incorporated feedback from the managers about the software and capability, we can train customer-facing employees and will be ready to launch the VSA service to customers. Time is of the essence with this project and keeping on top of the timelines to deliver the VSA service as quickly as possible is paramount.

Project Authority

Project Authority is set up so that the project has a line of people making decisions on the project. This is an important step for a smooth and successful project. Many projects fail because the project leader lacks sufficient control to keep things moving toward a successful conclusion (Tom Kendrick, 2012). While there will be many people looking at how the project ends up on completion, the head or lead of the project is the Project Manager.

The Project Manager shall have a broader scope and have a more important/high stake in AG Grocery store. AG Grocery Project Manager shall be more engrossed on policy and high-level product decisions, while an Assistant Project Manager shall be slightly more focused on the small details of the features they work on. In this project, the AG Grocery store Project Manager is to oversee the project and the Project Sponsor/internal stakeholder oversees the Project Manager and eventually will report the project to the executive management. The Project manager monitors and handles its execution and closing out of this project.

For the Virtual Shopping Assistant (VSA) project, our project manager will be Jess George and Holly Wellington will be our Assistant Project Manager. Since this will be across the DMV area (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) it is wise to have a PM and APM on the project. Both people will be responsible for making sure that the project remains on track and to facilitate the roles of some planning, all execution and closing out the projects. Successfully managing a project involves at least three separate activities: achieving project objectives, managing the project processes, and leading the team (Tom Kendrick. (2012). The Project Manager will work with the architect/engineer and come up with existing and proposed test fit drawings for the changes needed at each of the grocery stores that will be converting to Virtual Shopping Assistance (VSA). This will be shared with the project sponsor/customer for approval. Once it is approved; and the scope of the work is outlined, the project manager will then be responsible for getting together with vendors and start working on proposed pricing and schedules. These vendors will be managed by the project manager throughout the project once selected. It is the responsibility of the PM to then put all of the information, project schedule, budget, lease information and rendering into a package and present to the project sponsor for review and approval by way of a charter tollgate meeting. The sponsor decides on project size and budget use before the project is started. Each store will be its own project therefore tollgate review will need to be presented per store.

Once a project is approved via tollgate, it is the Project Manager's responsibility to work with the architect on 100% drawings and get them out to vendors for final price or bid the project. This will depend on the store size. While the process may take a few weeks on the design, our project manager will start working on long lead items so that we have those materials at the beginning of the projects.

The project manager will facilitate getting a final price based on the 100% drawings and present this along with scheduling at a Pre-Construction tollgate to the project sponsor. If approved, both pricing and schedule will be locked in and it is the PM to manage the project base on schedule and budget. The PM will have authority over communication, risk management and milestones on our project. As a requirement, the PM is to prepare the vendor's contract and route them to the sponsor for signature. The PM also is responsible for setting up a meeting with each grocery store manager to go over the project schedule. At project kickoff/start of the execution, the PM will manage the project per schedule and have weekly meetings with the grocery store manager, all vendors, including the sponsor and facilities. The Assistant Project Manager is to delegate tasks amongst the 25 stores each as contact person, or 1 personal handles material aspect and the other does IT

The project sponsor will be responsible for setting project guardrail for each project. The sponsor will decide if it is a small, medium, or larger project and have a guardrail budget in place for each size.

Only the project sponsor can decide if it is ok to go over these set guardrails during the charter tollgate meeting as the project sponsor has authority over the budget. Once the final budget and schedule is approved at the Pre-Construction tollgate, those items are considered locked and will need the sponsor approval to change the completion date or if the project required additional funds.

Any change in scope or budget will have to be presented to the sponsor bimonthly change control meeting. The Project Manager is responsible for making this presentation with a valid reason for the change. The project sponsor will check if the change is a controllable or uncontrollable change when decided to approve or disapprove the change.

Any issues that cannot be resolved by the project manager, the project sponsor will step in and make the final decision. The project sponsor will make sure that any obstacles are removed to make the project run smoothly. Finally, the project sponsor will provide updates to the executives’ management on all ongoing project status.

References

Akhter, S., Rahman, N., & Ullah, M. (2019). Development of a customer information database system. In handbook of research on technology integration in the global world (pp. 166-188). IGI Global.

Kendrick, T. (2012). Results without authority: Controlling a project when the team does not report to you: Vol. 2nd ed. AMACOM. APA (American Psychological Assoc.)