Question: Case Study: Silver Wattle Solutions (SWS) Pty Ltd Silver Wattle Solutions (SWS) is an Australian company that makes a range of ingredients harvested from Australian

 Case Study: Silver Wattle Solutions (SWS) Pty Ltd Silver Wattle Solutions(SWS) is an Australian company that makes a range of ingredients harvested

Case Study: Silver Wattle Solutions (SWS) Pty Ltd Silver Wattle Solutions (SWS) is an Australian company that makes a range of ingredients harvested from Australian wattle trees. Operations include the management of dedicated wattle tree farms, a manufacturing plant, and sales and distribution. In recent years the company has grown by purchasing small native tree farms in locations across Australia. These farms are usually run by small operators, with limited staff. Buying smaller farms is a successful growth strategy which has enabled the company to ramp up production and export of their extracted minerals, oils, wattle seeds and other ingredients. One of the challenges with this expansion strategy is the need to bring these small farms into a standard business operating system, or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. This includes elements such as HR (recruiting, payroll, performance management), tracking and management of expenses and sales, and asset management (status of trees and their readiness for harvesting). The small tree farms, prior to being purchased by SWS, have historically used vastly different systems for managing their business needs. These range from individual excel files to paper-based systems. Many of these systems contain years of data that is considered essential to the performance of healthy tree growth, and which help ensure the trees are harvested at the right time. SWS is keen to ensure this information is transitioned to the cloud-based replacement system in a careful and accurate way. SWS has been through an investigation of potential Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms has decided to utilise Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This platform does not specialise in tree production and management. A plug-in will need to be developed to ensure farm-specific data can be recorded and drawn from in order to meet the specific needs of each farm and their harvesting schedule. Moving from individual systems to a cloud-based platform is not expected to be easy. SWS Head Office has identified the need for a dedicated project manager to oversee the project, identify and manage key project risks, and to design a project plan that will work with and meet the needs of each of the smaller tree producing companies. The project is considered a high priority for SWS however it must not interfere with peak harvesting season, which is July-October.3. It is difficult to find people with the right expertise to develop a tree-management system plug-in. You consider approaching SWS management to discuss separating this from the main project components. Outline benefits and risks from doing this and make a recommendation on the best way forward. 4. Develop an outline (major headings and subheadings only) project management plan specific to the project . 5. Provide an outline of the critical skills and project managing style you think would be essential in a Project Manager for this project. Ensure your answer relates to the specifics of this case study

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