Kudler Foods Project Plan Updates

Kudler Foods Project Plan Updates

Kudler Foods has embarked on a project to increase promotional sales for the company. In order to better meet the needs of the customer, Kudler Foods initiated a project to provide a monthly newsletter with information about new products and current promotions along with redeemable coupons for certain chosen products. When Team B was first contacted by the project sponsor, the project had fallen behind schedule and was in jeopardy of failing. Management had serious concerns and wanted help to bring the project back on-track.

The initial scope of the project was to use existing demographic information to create these monthly newsletters along with coupons for identified promotional products. These coupons are to include details such as quantity, cost and expiration date and will provide information for the statistical analysis of coupon usage and related product sales for customers. As the coupons are redeemed by the customer, the system will be able to produce reports for management to track buying trends and provide the sales department with enough statistical information to help forecast inventory needs and determine if new products are being received well. If the products are not moving as expected, then the products can be removed from stock to prevent significant revenue losses.

Discussions with Ms. Kudler revealed she would like to "gain improved activity on promotional products and determine the effectiveness of private label coupons" (Service Request SR-kf-001, 2006). Customers have been exposed to coupons for national products for years; however, private label coupons are not so widely distributed because these products are highly specialized and require a unique clientele. As these types of products are the mainstay of Kudler Foods' inventory, these coupons would be highly sought by the customers. The expected results of this project will help develop more effective promotional programs that will increase product demand and sales revenues for the company.

According to a memo from Yvonne Reynolds, Director of Store Operations, problems have occurred causing concern from management that the project was not properly developed and tasks were not adequately detailed. The status of the project to date is completion through step 8. The assumption is that a more detailed project plan should be developed to ensure project completion; however, allocating adequate resources will also be needed to ensure a successful outcome.

Project Concerns

The impact of poor scheduling, late implementation and lack of details is of major concern to senior management and will need to be addressed to bring this project back on-line and completed with some success. The impact possibilities are discussed below to identify some possible reasons for these concerns.

1. The possible impact of the project being behind schedule:

* Decreased sales revenue due to promotions not being instituted in a timely manner.

* Loss of resources to complete the project.

* Certain requirements may need to be abandoned in order to implement the project on time.

* Developer reputation will be negatively impacted.

* Loss of future business.

* Stress of being behind schedule could make the development team rush, resulting in less than acceptable standards.

* Sub-par marketing materials could lessen customers' opinion of the quality and integrity of Kudler Fine Foods.

* May not be able to be aware of and/or keep up with the current market trends of particular products.

* The development team may have not spent enough time on the planning portion of the project and jumped right in to the implementation which resulted in falling behind because of unforeseen circumstances and no plan on how to deal with them.

* One project falling behind can start a snowball effect all other projects.

2. The possible impact of the project being implemented late:

* Mailing and distribution times would be delayed and the company runs the risk of coupons not being delivered in time to take advantage of the promotion.

* Causes business / end-user dissatisfaction as it impacts their schedules.

* Monthly newsletter will not be released which will have a direct affect on Kudler's sales and marketing plan.

* Targeted audience is not adequately informed of promotions.

* Customer base will not be properly developed.

* Kudler Fine Foods may also miss out on large revenue possibilities from holiday sales or other promotions.

* Project is rushed and less well planned with the result that it takes longer to complete and may not achieve all its goals.

* Mistakes are made.

3. The possible causes for the project being behind as described in the memo from the project sponsor:

* Requirements definition was not clear.

* Major tasks were not identified properly.

* Tasks were too broadly defined. During the analysis phase of the project the requirements were not created with enough detail to complete the project.

* Task duration times were not adequate to complete the tasks.

* Analyst did not ask adequate questions to develop the project plan properly.

* More information will need to be gathered before the project can be completed.

* The planning process was too short.

* Resources were not assigned to tasks.

* Other departments were not involved in the planning process.

Update Approach Plan

As of August 24th, the project was a full week behind schedule. After some investigative work, the reasons for this delay are determined to be insufficient detailed planning and scheduling and poor allocation of resources. Team B's approach would be to modify the original project plan to overcome these shortcomings and bring the project back