TECH2200 IT Project Management Case Study Sample
Your Task
Your first assessment in this subject requires you to study a case in the assessment instruction and create a project business case which includes key elements (such as problem statement, project benefits, and stakeholders) and SWOT Analysis for recommendations to support your project getting approved.
Assessment Description
A business case is a project management document that explains and justifies the reasoning for initiating a project. It is often presented in a well-structured written document to the key business stakeholders such as project sponsor(s) to get approval and funding. A thorough understanding of how to write a business case must be demonstrated in this assessment? A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your project. Developing a SWOT analysis can help you look at your project from different directions. It can also help you to come up with recommendations to support the project.
The learning outcomes you will demonstrate in performing this assessment includes:
LO1: Interpret the IT objectives and project expectations of a business stakeholder.
LO2: Predict risks and problems associated with the effectiveness and timeliness of IT projects.
LO3: Recommend pre-emptive solutions and mitigation strategies for the risks and problems that emerge in IT projects.
Assessment Instructions
The Case Go Native Pty. Ltd. is based in Melbourne, Victoria. The business was established in 2015 to cater for the demand for Australian native food products. The company manufactures and retails a range of certified, organic, Australian native foods.
Currently, the business is selling its products through several small supermarkets and health food stores throughout Australia. The company also has a basic website that includes only four pages: home, about us, products and contact details. The company launched this simple website just after opening, but there has been very little traffic to the site except during Christmas and Mother’s Day. This is because of poor design, a limited shopping cart and no call to action or active social media networks.
The company’s overall business objectives for the next three years are to increase sales, create brand awareness and develop a broader product range. The company’s target market are customers aged between 35 and 60 years old, who are looking for Australian organic gourmet foods.
As a contracted IT Project Manager (Subject Matter Expert in IT solutions for business problems), you have been asked by the Operations Manager to propose an IT solution, which will be a critical part of the company’s strategy. You will be managing the project and reporting to the project sponsors (CEO and Operations Manager) and informing project team members of the project’s progress after the business case is approved.
Based on the above case, you are required to create a business case to cover the following:
1. Problem Statement
a) Describe the problem that your project will overcome, and
b) The opportunity that your project will take advantage of
2. Project Summary
a) Discuss what this project hopes to achieve.
• Project benefits (at least 3)
• Proposed IT solution
• Brief cost, resources, and schedule
• A 2-levels WBS.
3. SWOT Analysis
a) Create a SWOT Analysis Matrix for your proposed project to cover:
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats
b) Provide at least 3 recommendations based on the SWOT Analysis
4. Stakeholders
a) Identify key at least 5 project stakeholders and their roles
Submission Instructions
• Name your document “Assessment 1_ [Student ID]”
• Save it as a Word or PDF document format
Solution
Introduction
The demand for gourmet organic Australian foods has dominated the global markets of late and IT mechanisms can upgrade the company infrastructure overcoming all the issues. The issue will be reported and the solutions will be given through the IT perspective. Uni Assignment Help, Microanalysis of the business will be done and the shareholder's contributions will be shared.
1. Problem Statement
Problem: GoNative Pty. Ltd.is a reputed name in the retail industry in Melbourne, Australia. This company focuses on selling organic products through stories of health and small supermarkets. Although the offline procedures are productive, the company needs a robust social media network. The power of social media networks catalyses business growth (Sathesh, 2019, p. 67). There is a website that needs to be more attractive to promote the products to international customers. The website needs professional touch and improving traffic is the preeminent need of the hour. Except on Mothers' Day and during the Christmas season, the little traffic threatens the sales of the products. The appeal of the design could be better and the inclusion of four pages is present in the websites.
Opportunities: The significant issues regarding website building are the problems in front of GoNativein expanding their business networks. The possibility that the project can seize is working on brand awareness. The brand's attention needs to be improved and the consumers should know the details of the products. The brand's image is the most critical factor for customer retention (Zia, Younus and Mirza, 2021, p.1091). There are decreased sales and the company's strategies could be more innovative to overcome the website issues. The project needs flexible and creative supervision of the IT managers. Team members must be more trained to comprehend the business dynamics and achieve the desired success. The target market of 35-60 years must be scrutinised to enhance the project's growth.
2. Project Summary
Project benefits
? The project will attract more consumers through both virtual and non-virtual channels. The attractiveness of the websites with improved traffic increases the IT reputation of the company (Jin, Muqaddam and Ryu, 2019, p.567).
? The project aims at the popularity of gourmet foods among consumers. New concepts of retail will be innovative to improve the products. Proposed solutions will add to the advantages of the products that will retain the consumers in the long term.
? The project will put forward the cost-effectiveness in the project that will bring in maximised profitability in the long run.
Recommended IT solution
? Web Pages must be designed by professionals that protect the brand visibility and safeguard the identity of the brand.
? GoNativemust have an active social media presence so that consumers worldwide can be contacted fast. Influencer marketing is the best alternative to effective IT solutions.
? The company must develop content marketing strategies to capture global opportunities and attain a competitive edge (Palmié et al., 2022, P.121).
Resources, brief cost and schedule
A 2-level WBS
Project goals: The project's goals must be set initially so that the managers can encourage the team to attain the targets. Brand awareness must accompany the deliverable-based attributes that can guide the project members such as IT expert. The shareholders consider the level as the valuable charter initiating the IT projects.
Project deliverables: This is where the project begins and the team members are aware of the scheduling and the project costs, website design and traffics (Vyshnova, 2020). The process is phase-oriented and the execution and control follow the initiation of the rejection.
Figure 1: A 2-level WBS diagram
Source: (Self-developed)
3. SWOT Analysis
Strength: The improved customer service procedure shall benefit GoNative Pty Ltd to deliver the products on time to the customer's doorsteps. It can help increase customer satisfaction in favour of the company. The improved communication channel between the suppliers and the company shall enhance the efficiency of the supply chain management in the business process.
Weakness: The gourmet products sold by the company are sourced from external suppliers, increasing the chances of disruption in the quality management for such products. There is a consistent increase in the preference for organic gourmet foods in the Australian market, leading to higher competition.
Opportunity: Adopting a product diversification strategy by the company is an advantage in the long run by including products that serve as healthy alternatives for existing gourmet items. Increase website design and shopping cart to attract more customers to their website and increase sales rate. GoNative can also benefit from meal customisation and a new market expansion strategy by introducing its products in overseas developing markets with less competition (GoNative Retail, 2022).
Threat: Threats regarding the changing trends and patterns of customer preference relating to the consumption of gourmet products can lead to slow business growth. Limited experts in IT field can create barriers for GoNative to maintain its website traffic. The high-cost level used for maintaining perishable gourmet items by the company shall necessitate more sales margin to sustain the business.
Recommendations
- GoNative can introduce doorstep delivery of morning cereals within a timeline which can vary from 15 minutes to 20 minutes to facilitate an increase in the dependency of customers on the company.
- It should have included a query inbox option for its customers to increase customer satisfaction (Vyshnova, 2020).
- GoNative can attract customers overseas by stating the organic nature of gourmet items through content advertising.
- GoNative shall introduce sharing health-related tips for its customers regularly in its online platform to retain more customers in the competitive market.
4. Stakeholders
Stakeholders of the project development of GoNative Pty Ltd shall include the board of directors, the management teams, suppliers, customers and the Australian government.
The board of directors: The board of directors, IT specialist and operations Manager of the company can identify the necessary business processes to be included or rectified so that the brand visibility, online presence and profitability can be increased for the company (Minning, 2023).
The management teams: The management teams shall devise effective procedures to manage the supply chain and digital media marketing platforms in favour of business growth for the company.
Figure2: Processes involved in supply chain management of perishable foods
Source: (Haji, 2020)
Suppliers: Suppliers should be chosen after a thorough analysis of individual suppliers' quality and cost of the supplied products. The suppliers' functioning can help retain customers who benefit from quality items the company offers.
The customer: The customer preference for organic gourmet foods in the Australian market has increased consistently. It has been found that the role of customers is crucial in the case of product diversification by a company (Haji, 2020).
The Australian government: The Australian government's laws and guidelines shall guide the company's formulation of new business strategies and processes.
Conclusion
This is inferred from the above discussion that the comprehensive success of a company relies on how strong the IT is. GO Native could follow the proposed recommendations to help it surpass the constraints. Identifying the shareholders will be the company's strength and discussion on their roles reinforce the competitive endeavour of the company to attain stable IT growth.
Reference List
GoNative Retail (2022), ‘Our story, Go Native Retail LLP’. <https://gonative.in/pages/about-us> (Accessed: 07 August 2023).
Haji, M. et al. (2020) ‘Roles of technology in improving perishable food supply chains’, MDPI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/logistics4040033. (Accessed: 07 August 2023).
Jin, S.V., Muqaddam, A. and Ryu, E., 2019, ‘Instafamous and social media influencer marketing’, Marketing Intelligence &Planning, Vol. 37, no. 5, pp.567-579. Available at: https://farapaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Fardapaper-Instafamous-and-social-media-influencer-marketing.pdf
Kirkwood, K., 2021, ‘Superfood me: Negotiating Australia's post-gourmet food culture’ Doctoral dissertation, Queensland University of Technology, vol 1, no. 2, pp. 22. Available at: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208209/1/Katherine_Kirkwood_Thesis.pdf
Minning, L. (2023), ‘The 10 types of stakeholders that you meet in business, ActiveCampaign’. <https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/types-of-stakeholders> (Accessed: 07 August 2023).
Sathesh, D.A., 2019, ‘Enhanced soft computing approaches for intrusion detection schemes in social media networks’, Journal of Soft Computing Paradigm, Vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 69-79. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sathesh-Ammayappan/publication/338820442_ENHANCED_SOFT_COMPUTING_APPROACHES_FOR_INTRUSION_DETECTION_SCHEMES_IN_SOCIAL_MEDIA_NETWORKS/links/5fd0b21e45851568d14da439/ENHANCED-SOFT-COMPUTING-APPROACHES-FOR-INTRUSION-DETECTION-SCHEMES-IN-SOCIAL-MEDIA-NETWORKS.pdf
Vyshnova, J. (2020), ‘How to build a successful retail website for your business, Dinarys’. <https://dinarys.com/blog/build-successful-retail-website-for-your-business> (Accessed: 07 August 2023).
Zia, A., Younus, S. and Mirza, F., 2021, ‘Investigating the impact of brand image and brand loyalty on brand equity: the mediating role of brand awarenes’, International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change’, Vol. 15, no. 2, pp.1091-1106. Available at: https://www.ijicc.net/images/Vol_15/Iss_2/15273_Zia_2021_E1_R.pdf