Task 2

Assessment Instructions

This task has two parts. You must answer all of the questions below, and include examples where appropriate. If you need help understanding any questions, ask your assessor to explain.

To be deemed competent you will need to successfully demonstrate the following:

You must submit:

A project change report - each area addressed and reflect the case study provided

A project final report - each area addressed and reflect the case study provided

Previous scenario

You are one of the senior administrative staff who work in the marketing department of CoffeeVille Pty Ltd. The CoffeeVille events Steering Committee has ultimate authority in managing all events and projects. They have requested that you administrate a product launch for a new blend of coffee they are releasing to market in two months.

ChrisHi.Thanks for taking on this project.Julie and I are part of the Steering Committee here at CoffeeVille Brisbane, and we oversee any projects or events being run.We typically give you as much detail as we can, and ask you to come back to us with a concept plan for the project.

JulieYes, and as Chris has mentioned, the concept plan will help us check that you have the correct understanding of CoffeeVille's need for this project.When we're happy with your concept plan, we'll give you the go ahead to fully develop the project plan.

JulieThe objective of this project is to sign-up coffee retailers to a new blend that CoffeeVille is intending to release to market in two to three months time.We're aiming to compete against existing blends like Merlo, Vittoria, Lavazza, and we need to establish a presence in the market as soon as possible.Remember, the product launch will need to be at an interesting venue...

ChrisLike the city Mercedes showroom!

JulieThank you Chris.Yes, like the city Mercedes or BMW showrooms, or a similar upmarket venue not typically associated with the hospitality industry.The overall goal is to launch CoffeeVille's new coffee blend.

JulieWe've already teed up the winner of this year's barista competition, but you'll need to allocate a $1500 gratuity for them from your overall project budget of $12,500.You'll also need to fly them business class from Sydney, organise some accommodation - we normally put our guests up at the Marriot, which is about $250 for the night with breakfast.We'll also supply the benches, fridges, grinders and coffee machines.

ChrisFrom memory, I think business class tickets are about $600 each way, not that I've ever flown business...

JulieYes... thank you once again Chris. The key things you will need to consider for this project are organising the venue and hospitality, although obviously not coffee, and overseeing the development and printing of marketing materials and mail-outs, and see that as many coffee retailers as possible can be in attendance. Our quick research has estimated there are over 500 coffee shops in the greater Brisbane area that currently buy pre-roasted blends.

ChrisSome of the key points or phases we see for this project are that the venue is organised, the advertising materials are developed and the advertising materials are distributed and followed up.One of the things you should check with the venue you organise is that they are not under contract to another coffee supplier.

JulieAlso, we should point out that you will have:

full access to one of the marketing team's document designers

two administrative assistants assigned to the project who are both skilled in general office duties

one of the administrative assistants is particularly skilled in interacting with clients and has very high interpersonal skills.

ChrisCoffeeVille will provide you with a full product brief and description for the new coffee blend, but please note that much of it is confidential until the evening of the launch.You're marketing materials should only hype up the new brand 'Villiana' and must be signed off by the marketing department, who will ensure that the sensitive information is not released early.

JulieAs the Steering Committee, we will need to sign-off on major stages of the project, and the marketing department will also want both input and sign-off for any marketing materials to be used.We'll expect weekly progress reports, and a supplementary report that we can pass onto the CoffeeVille board when you achieved completion of each stage of the project.

JulieTo clarify the budget, you'll need to report on at least the following items, and any others that need to be included:

printing of marketing materials cost of mail-out

cost of administrative follow up (measured in work days)

cost of flights for barista

cost of accommodation for barista

cost of venue, broken into deposit, post-event cleaning costs and final payment

cost of catering for finger food supplied and dispersed (waiting staff)

cost of 500g bags of 'Villiana' to be given away as samples to attendees (this is an in-house cost, but must be planned for to ensure sufficient samples onsite for launch).

ChrisFinally, as you're developing the concept, take note of any barriers you think are going to arise in the course of this project.

JulieThanks for your time today, and get back to us within a week or so if you can with the project concept outline.

Part A

For this part, you are required to make a project change report.The template is designed to help a project administrator in managing and reporting significant changes occurring for the project they are required to administer. You will need to review the case study outline below, and make all aspects of the template.

Case study

You are one of the senior administrative staff who work in the marketing department of CoffeeVille Pty Ltd, and are currently administering the project (launch of 'Villiana'). You now have only three weeks until the launch date for the product, and need to urgently review the project plan to ensure you still have ample time to complete the project.

ChrisThanks for popping in to see us, we really appreciate your time.

JulieYes, the project seems to be progressing well, and the plan you presented for your management of the project was fantastic! Unfortunately, we're going to mess up your plans a little, as we've just heard the barista we had organised has a broken arm from a snow- skiing incident.We've contacted the winner of the Australian Barista Championship from last year, and they are available for us on the same date...

ChrisExcept they're in Italy.

JulieAs always Chris.Anyway, we need you to urgently review the project and the project plan, and let us know what problems this will cause

and how they may be overcome.There may be more budget available to help cover some of these contingencies, but we will need to know where the cost overruns will be as soon as possible.

ChrisAlso, you may want to check the marketing materials, to see if there is major impact on the printed materials. Let us know in your report if you think we should resend marketing materials, or whether we just announce at the launch the change in baristas, or whether you see an alternate approach.

JulieIn other matters, the business department has told us that you're currently running within budget plans! That's great, although the wages bill for hospitality staff for the launch is sure to go up, as the numbers of respondents is better than we'd expected.The administration section has reported that numbers are currently sitting at 412 attendees, and your plan had projected a best case scenario 375.

ChrisI've been to another event at the Mercedes showroom, and they had nearly 500 guests there at one point, so I think the venue will still be suitable.

JulieCould you get back to us as soon as possible with a Project Change

Report, letting us know the effect of these changes, so we can report

to the CoffeeVille board and let them know how the project is going to be affected.

ChrisThanks again for your time.

Questions

You are required to make the project change report which covers all questions below.

1.What change is required?- Describe the change requested or required, and why the change is needed to be made to the event plan.

2.What impact will the change have? - Discuss the overall impact of the required change/s and what the significant problems will be.

3.Timeline management - Describe the effect of the change on the timeline. In particular, discuss whether benchmarks/milestones have been achieved to date and what impact you see the change having on the continued achievement of milestones.

4.Resources management - Discuss the usage and management of resources to date, and what impact you see this change incurring on project resource management. Note whether you are having any issues with the human resource component of the project plan and whether this change will require a change to the personnel available to the project.

5.Budget management - Discuss the tracking of the budget expenditure to date and whether the project is on target financially.Describe in detail any deviations from the budget plan, particularly any projected deviations in light of this change.

6.Summary: Is the change manageable? -Discuss the feasibility of implementing the change at this stage in the event plan and overall how it can be managed successfully.