Assignment Details

This assignment has 2 parts.

1. 1 Post an executive summary of your Comprehensive Project in the body of a post in this Discussion Board (do not use attachments). An executive summary is a 10% synopsis of a larger document that outlines the purpose, planned processes, actual processes, findings, and recommendations for the project. Chief executive officers (CEOs) often read and assess executive summaries before deciding to read entire reports. Consequently, the summary must be a high-quality narrative that demonstrates the significance of the work, addresses all the important issues being undertaken – the seven GP questions are important issues – shows, the objectivity of research and analysis underpinning the report, and establishes the credibility of the resulting conclusions.
2. 2 Please review the executive summaries of other students, and provide an objective assessment and constructive feedback that will help strengthen the effectiveness of their efforts and the quality of their finished reports.

  

Khamera 

ToolsCorp Corporation is a manufacturing company based in Tennessee that supplies power tools, microwaves, ranges and lawn furniture and mowers. ToolsCorp has been doing a phenomenal job within the United States and Canada and has decided to branch out, globally. This summary is to give the Strategic Officers Steering Committee (SOS-C) an overview from management to obtain the permission to begin global expansion.

In this summary you will be given a full SWOT analysis of all the internal strengths and weaknesses that ToolsCorp possess. You will always be provided with how to turn our current weaknesses into strengths within a certain frame. Since these are internal, we want to be able to control the outcome as much as possible. Also included, will be the external factors. Any opportunities that may arise and any threats that we find. Even though they are external and we don’t have control over them, we will try to gain the best competitive advantage against our competitors. We will analysis the strengths we have here in the United States and analyze what will work globally.

There is a review of the three different time frames for the strategic objectives that have new implementation plans, new strategies to have a stronger SWOT analysis and new operating principles that the company can work towards. Having 3 different time frames allows for ToolsCorp to start off slow with the expansion and then gain the biggest and best competitive advantage meeting year 10. It will also help us realize wont didn’t work previously and allow us to make modifications to new goals.

  

Removal of cash payments at LOCLBus Ltd.

Overview

LOCLBus Ltd are a bus operator in the East of England, in the UK. With a fleet size of 60 vehicles, ranging from large minibuses to 60 seater vehicles, they are a well known independent operator in the region, second only to the main contractor, First Group who operate the main local authority contracts in the region.

In response to demand from customers and the local authorities who contract LOCLBus to operate key services on their behalf, the management team have decided at a recent board meeting to stop accepting cash payments on all services where customers pay the driver (so not, for instance on school services) and replace cash with card payments and, they hope an App for mobile devices. The board realise this is a huge change for them, as since their inauguration in 1972, the only way they have accepted payment is via cash and it totals £2.7m per year, around 40% of their revenue (the rest being from local authority payments and other commercial contracts).

You have been recruited, due to your experience in commercial vehicles, to project manage this process, from fact finding to roll out of the first phase (card payments on vehicles) to the full roll out which will cover Contactless card, Apple Pay and Android payments and their App which will allow customers to buy virtual tickets in advance. The current status is that the project has been discussed, and you have some guidance documents from the board, but nothing has been started yet. You are expected to plan the complete process, and write a discussion report which will go to the board in the form of a 2500 written report and supporting documents outlining the key steps in the project. 

On your first day in the office, you bring your trusted guide books; Project Management by Harvey Maylor and the PMBOK Guide from the Project Management Institute. You will be referencing these as best practice and anything else you think is suitable in terms of sources.

You admit to feeling a little overwhelmed by the new job, but with the tools and techniques you have learnt and guidance from best practice, you think ‘if they sent man to the moon’ you can do anything…

Further information and tips to help you complete and create your project plan:

1. LOCLBus plan      to buy the equipment, that includes card reader, control system and web      based storage and part of the project which will be to source a suitable      supplier who will partly define the roll out based on their timelines and      experience. A supplier who is of interest to LOCLBus is detailed in Appendix 1
2. LOCLBus      require their own custom mobile app to be developed, this will be branded      with the company image and provide fee-free transfer (to the customer) via      the different payment methods. They require a plan to be defined, to      understand timings and cost for the mobile app development. A quote has been included in Appendix 2      to help you.
3. A Risk      register will need to be produced to understand the risks to LOCLBus of      the project’s delivery phase and the use of the new system in the initial      roll-out. (A template is available in the course textbook and in lecture      notes).

Key delivery phases

The CEO of LOCLBus has given you the following document which will outline the key phases they believe must be completed, but of course, you are expected to add to these and elaborate in line with best practice as you think is suitable. It will give you a briefing of how the company feel they need to progress and the resources you may need.

LOCLBus removal of cash payments strategy planning document – INTERNAL, CONFIDENTIAL 

  

Project Phase

Key People/Person

Details

 

Start up and recruitment

Mike Jones (CEO)

Recruit Project Manager, Build Admin support   team

 

Tender Suppliers

Jenny Gooding (CFO)

Working with PM to outline suppliers for   equipment, back end services and IT partner

 

Agree Project Plan (Ph. 1)

Board

Sign off for your plan

 

Supply prototype new transaction terminal   for vehicles to fleet workshop

PM (You)

Fleet workshop will need access to the   hardware

 

Work with fleet workshop to understand   requirements for implementation of terminal in vehicles

Hassan Khan (Fleet Manager)

How does this work with various vehicle   configs?

 

Test the system in conjunction with cash   payments on one bus

You, Bernard Jenkins (Operations Manager)

Test the system out on a typical route for 1   week(?) to ensure robustness, adequate LTE signal for payment system,   accessibility to riders etc.

 

Agree system to be used in vehicles

S.King, You, Board

Based on testing, appoint supplier

 

Start App development

N.King (IT Manager)

Software development of the mobile app   including the style, design, layout and release to the iOS and Playstore   platforms.

 

Agree Project Plan for Ph.2

Board

 

Tender and approve payments provider

J. Gooding

Manage the quotation and suppler selection   process, with suitable tender documentation inline with the company standards   this will include regular reviews with the management board

 

Start marketing campaign

G.Ward (Marketing Exec)

Signage on buses, in local press and website   to talk about the new change, also inform existing customers of upcoming   cessation of cash payments

 

Roll out Phase 1

Operations dept, Fleet Workshop, Finance

Team will be responsible for the complete   installation of system into the vehicle fleet and any server related   equipment at the workshop, storage and holding locations.

 

Review of Phase 1

M. Jones

The project office team will lead regular   project reviews with each stakeholder (internal and external). There is a   project tracker and dashboard that will help to ensure the project remains on   the track and forecast

 

Implement Phase 1 changes

P. Anderson

Lead the roll out of the phase introduction   of the project, the team will work with the selected supplier and maintenance   team for successful delivery. This will include daliy meetings, tracking   problems/issues, changes etc

 

Full roll-out

All involved parties

 

Assignment Deliverables

You are required to deliver a 2500 word report on “Best practices in Project Delivery for a regional transport provider” This report should detail the approach you will take to deliver the project at LOCLBus and will detail best practice in Project Management, including, but not limited to:

● Balancing cost, time and quality

● Stakeholder involvement

● Risk Management

● Team structure between the three companies

● Plan for strong communications with the selected suppliers and internal team

● Supplier choice and management

● Project management processes and methods to be used (methodology)

You will also additionally need to include, the following (As Appendix A, B, C and D of the report)

1. A Risk Register
2. A Project Plan using the tasks      that have been outlined in the internal document included in the case      study (and any extra steps you think are needed) – this can be in any software you want, but will need to show tasks,      task order and dates along with a total project length. You can assume the project starts on 1st      May 2020
3. A Stakeholder Matrix
4. Project charter – one page      maximum

This document will need to include references to academic works where appropriate, and any industry bodies (Axelos, PMI etc).

Appendix 1 – Pole Star systems supplier

A supplier “Pole Star” has provided a response to the request from LOCLBus for the cashless payment system which outlines implementation timings and phases. Pole Star are market leaders in cashless solutions and provide global customers a complete package including software development, control units and integration with the end customers requirements. Pole Star have recently completed fitting and operating a cashless solution across all buses in Sydney, Australia.

Pole Star have an “off the shelf” solution, but would need a level of customization to meet LOCLBus’ project requirements and have provided the costs as stated below. There is a plan to deliver the project based on their existing technology platforms that includes a mobile app, prepaid cards, contactless and QR scanner for people with travel vouchers.

LOCLBus has asked for a solution to provide customers reduced cost or free trips depending on time of day, events, loyalty scheme and special offers. This type of technology is new to Pole Star and currently there is no capability to integrate this into their existing solution, which will cause additional costs and timing. Pole Star are extremely busy with other customer projects and there is limited engineering resource to implement this functionality and features. Timing for implementation is under negotiation, but LOCLBus management are demanding this functionality is implemented on launch.

The plan is to install the equipment using the in-house maintenance team, who will be split across different sites due to the physical location of LOCLBus and eliminate any effects on the scheduling of the vehicles. Due to the complex system, the IT server will be set up 3 months before the vehicle integration is planned and initial testing to be completed, to resolve any problems before the equipment is fitted to the vehicles. There will be training provided to all the staff of LOCLBus that includes accounts team, bus drivers, maintenance staff and management.

The mobile app will be custom developed with LOCLBus branding and imaging, but Pole Star are concerned on project timing and different management direction on the look and feel of how the mobile app should work. This issue has been raised by Pole Star and logged as a potential project risk and requirements need to be defined, agreed and accepted within three months of the project starting. The aim is to define all the graphical content, layout, styling, design, functionality and operational as a separate project and will run in parallel with the main project. LOCLBus have provided a dedicated project lead to manage the mobile app development.

LOCLBus will communicate to their customer base the move to a cashless payment system and have concerns that some customers will change to other competitors due to the difficulty with payments. Pole Star and LOCLBus will enter into a partnership with an advertisement company to roll out an advert campaign on TV, radio, Internet and social media to inform the customer base on timing and how to pre-paid for the services. 

LOCLBus company will start a mini trial with a selection customer base on a single vehicle to gain knowledge and experience, they will use this to ensure a smooth roll out across their complete fleet of vehicles.

Pole Star’s engineering facility is based in California, US with a sales team based in Cologne, Germany. Both companies will establish a project team structure, which will include lead project managers, applications, integration and testing/validation leads. Due to the split global team, formal roles and responsibilities have been defined as Mr S.Wolfgang from Pole Star managing the project and acting as single point of contact to LOCLBus company. The team structure within LOCLBus has yet to be defined, as this is the first time they have worked with a technology company there are some questions about who should lead the team. In the short term LOCLBus the maintenance and service manager Mr L.Smith will lead the project and construct a suitable project team once the project has started.

The aim to provide a phased roll out of the system in different locations and vehicles, there is risk to the system not working and customer problems. Risks include poor quality installation, lack of suitable training to the staff, customers not understanding how to pre-paid for travel credit and payment processing. A risk mitigation plan will be established by the project office team and will be updated within the supplier review meetings.

The following suppliers have provided costs for the system

  

Server

Control unit

Wiring

Software

Integration testing

Total

 

Pole Star

£803

£292

£62

£8032

£2922

£12,111

 

Dia System

£922

£123

£53

£6404

£2322

£9,824

 

Tri Technology

£1032

£245

£66

£7202

£3022

£11,567

 

AM Solutions

£783

£353

£74

£8076

£5022

£14,308

Appendix 2

The supplier “Ape Software” have supplied the following quote for a mobile app for bus riders:

Dear Mike,

Please find attached our quote for a mobile App for your users to be able to add money to a digital wallet (We support major credit cards and PayPal) and then generate e-tickets that can be read by a QR code reader on the bus to verify they have paid for that journey. If the QR code cannot be read for any reason, users will be able to generate an unique token that can be shown to the driver and noted down for future verification. Our Ape Software “Monkey Rider” App is being used by 7 transport providers in the UK currently and handles £78m of transactions a year. We can of course brand and name the App to fit with LOCLBus if you wish. Please note, you can support users with the system themselves, or we can do this for you and provide 24/7/365 digital support and phone line.

We hope you find the following quote acceptable, and please do not hesitate to reach out to me or my colleague Tony Lewis should you wish to start the ball rolling.

With very best wishes,

Ms. Stephanie Dylan

EMEA Sales

Ape Software UK Ltd

Licence for Monkey Rider for up to 100 vehicles – £27,000

Branding to LOCLBus Brand (Optional) – £5000

Maintenance – £595 per 12 months

User support (Optional) £2000 per 12 months

Note:

Charge to add funds to wallet in the app- 2% of Net Money transfer per transaction (i.e. your user loads £100, we transfer you £98)

  The attachment that says week 4 is the journal 

• CCSS (2.5 points): Revised Week One Assignment Lesson Plan which included accommodations and/or modifications that align with two or more Common Core State Standards. Be sure to highlight and apply any feedback from Week Four Discussion One.
• Bianca’s IEP (2.5 points): Revised Week Two Assignment Lesson Plan which were to include specific accommodations and/or modifications in accordance with Bianca’s IEP. Be sure to highlight and apply any feedback from Week Five Discussion One.
• Bianca’s Self-determination Skills (2.5 points): Revised Week Three Assignment Lesson Plan which incorporated evidence-based strategies for teaching Bianca self-determination skills with goals aligned to her current performance level and identified areas of need. Be sure to highlight and apply any feedback from Week Five Discussion One.
• Journal (2.5 points): Revised Week Four Journal. Provide any reflections you may have in these final weeks of the course in regards to the incorporation of self-determination skills in one page. Think about how self-determination skills could be used in the regular classroom to support all students’ learning in addition to those with disabilities. Be sure to highlight and apply any feedback provided by your instructor.
• Classroom Choice (3 points): Revised Week Five Assignment Lesson Plans which incorporated differentiated instructional strategies, CCSS, IEP goals, effective assessment practices, and evidence-based strategies for promoting self-determination skills for Bianca in your choice of either Mr. Franklin or Mrs. Mills’ classroom.
  • Be sure to highlight and apply feedback from your instructor.
• Inspiration (2.5 points): For each revised lesson plan, write a one-page justification for revisions that includes specific information about what inspired you to make the revisions (e.g., specific feedback received).
• Reflection (2.5 points): Reflecting on your revised lesson plans, include a one page written summary explaining which learning theories from Chapter 7 in the course textbook you think are shaping your lesson plans most and how you can more purposefully use the learning theories to inform future lesson plan designs.

Written Expectations:

• Syntax and Mechanics (1 point): Exhibit meticulous use of grammar, spelling, and organization throughout your submission.
• Organization (.5 points): Use the lesson plan template provided.
• Source Requirement (.5 points): Reference at least five scholarly sources, which may include your course textbook, in order to provide credible evidence to support your ideas.
  • The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources downloadtable offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
• Additional Page Requirement (.5 points): Your submission must include a separate title and reference page.
• APA format (.5 points): All in-text citations, page format and references must be written in APA 6th edition format.

 

Cookie Business Final Project

Now that your cookie business is well underway, you are going to use the knowledge that you have gained in this course to evaluate the financial information for the company. You will be creating a series of reports and analyzing the results using the templates provided to guide you through the project. The learning objectives of this project are as follows:

1. Apply accounting concepts and standards to the creation of accounting information and reports.
2. Analyze accounting information used to make strategic business decisions.
3. Apply ethical behavior to accounting-related situations.
4. Make business decisions based on analyzing accounting data.

Using the  Unit VII Final Project Template , prepare a four- to five-page written report (including spreadsheets) with at least three scholarly sources. Your report will provide the following information:

Introduction

Part 1: Based on the data presented in the  Unit VII Spreadsheet Template in Excel (CM Breakeven tab):

• Calculate the contribution margin (CM) for each of the three products sold at the cookie business.
• Calculate the weighted average CM.
• Calculate the breakeven point.

Complete your calculations by filling in the highlighted cells, and embed a copy of the completed spreadsheet into this report. Discuss the results based on your calculations as far as which type of cookie you think is the most profitable, which has the highest CM, etc.

Part 2: Based on the data presented in the Unit VII Spreadsheet Template in Excel (Full Variable tab), complete the calculations listed below.

• Calculate the value of ending inventory under full or absorption costing.
• Calculate the value of ending inventory under variable costing.

Complete your calculations by filling in the highlighted cells, and embed a copy of the completed spreadsheet into this report. Discuss the results, and comment on which method you think is more helpful to managers and why.

Part 3: Based on the data presented in the Unit VII Spreadsheet Template in Excel (Special Order tab), calculate the net increase or decrease in profit if they take the special order. Complete your calculations by filling in the highlighted cells, and embed a copy of the completed spreadsheet into this report. Discuss the results and comment on if you think the cookie business should take on this special order of cookies for a wedding. Business has been slow the last few months, and the offer is less than the usual selling price for the cookies. As part of your discussion, include both quantitative (based on the numbers) and qualitative (not based on numbers) factors that would go into the decision to take on the special order.

Part 4: Based on the data presented in the Unit VII Spreadsheet Template in Excel (IRR tab), calculate the internal rate of return (IRR) for the new equipment purchase. Complete your calculations by filling in the highlighted cells, and embed a copy of the completed spreadsheet into this report. Note: the PV Annuity table is provided for you. Discuss if you think the cookie business should accept or reject the purchase of the new equipment and why. Additional information has come to your attention regarding the equipment purchase. One of the partner’s brother owns the company that sells the equipment and insists the equipment is needed. Discuss any ethical concerns you see with this type of transaction.

Part 5: Based on the data presented in the Unit VII Spreadsheet Template in Excel (Cash Budget tab), calculate the cash receipts for the first quarter of this year. Complete your calculations by filling in the highlighted cells, and embed a copy of the completed spreadsheet into this report. Discuss your observations about the way cash is collected if the company needs $150,000 per month for expenses.

Part 6: Based on the data presented in the Unit VII Spreadsheet Template in Excel (Variances tab), complete the following calculations.

• Calculate the material variances.
• Calculate the labor variances.

Complete your calculations by filling in the highlighted cells, and embed a copy of the completed spreadsheet into this report. Discuss your observations about the variances and ways to plan to improve any of the variances.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Summarize the key observations that you have made about the cookie business based on the calculations you have performed, and present any future recommendations. Be sure to use APA formatting throughout, and reach out to the Writing Center or the Library for assistance with research, writing, and formatting. Include at least two resources from the CSU Online Library in your report.