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Statement Of The Project Objectives Essay The present project endeavors to create, edit, and distribute software in the educational and training field. Specifically, the current project aims to (1) create a separate company, ACM Software Inc., in order to complement the current mission and vision of the parent company ACM Consulting, and (2) to explore opportunities to expand the present business to include the international market. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The present project entails the involvement of the following departments: Project Management, Small Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE), Operations, Sales and Marketing, Accounting, IPO, Human Resources and Business Information Systems (BIS). The Project Management is mainly responsible for effective and efficient management, including formulation of the Communication Plan, Project Schedule, and Weekly Analysis of Project Schedule. BIS is tasked with the creation of the ACM Software website, website hosting, marketing design, product description, and product pricing; SBE with delivering a complete document presentation of the new business proposal to the client ACM Consulting, in accordance with their mission of training and education. This will be accomplished through various media such as video, audio and CBTs with distribution via the internet as a web service, audio CD, DVD, published books and pod casting for both video and audio and streaming video media. The BIS-created website providing detailed information on the product(s) being offered and the means to purchase these shall be based on the ACM Consulting-proposed educational software. This would serve to market the product as well. Operations will be responsible for establishing a manufacturing plant for the software production and packaging, as well as developing a time-and cost-efficient distribution and transportation strategy. Initial plans include distributing and storing the product in various warehouses all over the United States. The IPO team shall make all necessary arrangements pertaining to the incorporation of the new company ACM Software, Inc. including the necessary legal and administrative paper work, documentation and drawing up of company reports such as scope statements, status reports, and project schedules, and company presentations (via PowerPoint). In addition, IPO is tasked with analysis of business formats and selection of states in which to incorporate ACM Software Inc. Sales and Marketing working at 100 percent efficiency, aims to create the subsidiary company ACM Software, Inc. under the ACM name, within a year. The Accounting department shall prepare the financial statements for ACM Software, Inc. The financial statements shall incorporate income statements, balance sheet, and statements of cash flows to provide a detailed report of the company’s assets, liabilities, stockholder’s equity, income and expenses. In addition, they too shall prepare annual company budgets for ACM within the next five years. All the above-mentioned departments within the organization of ACM Software, Inc. shall communicate in the most effective and efficient manner, within and among themselves. REQUIREMENTS OF THE PRESENT PROJECT The present project requires several outputs from the different departments. Project managers must strictly enforce all deadlines to actualize the final project in its entirety. To do this, proper coordination and communication between management and all the departments, including performance monitoring, evaluation and feedback, shall be encouraged and pursued. SBE shall conduct a research on ACM’s current product line and target market in order to determine existing and future needs and concerns of customers; undertake a research on the software market to effectively outline ACM’s competition and better comprehend consumer needs in the software tools industry worldwide, for possible future product and market expansion; and brief ACM Consulting representatives on existing product lines being offered by the company. The information collected shall facilitate the creation of a full product line that will be of benefit to the nation, and possibly even markets abroad. HR shall recruit and train future employees; formulate the Technical Skills and Education requirements for employees, based on recommendations from all hiring managers; and devise and process the Benefits and Compensation packages for employees.   The Sales and Marketing department requires coordination with other departments to properly and accurately define and design successful marketing campaigns for the 360 Sports training suite. The Marketing team requires product specifications and data from the SBE, to create and implement proper branding; as well as specifications from the BIS on desired graphics and other materials necessary to build an appropriate web presence in order to market the product suite online. Sales and Marketing require access to the Accounting team, to ensure that all needed financials are exact and available; Furthermore, Marketing shall work with the Accounting department to ensure that the Sales Forecasting is on target with those of the other teams, as w ell as in line with company expectations, projections and goals. Operations will be required to assist Sales and Marketing to order and set up the computer hardware and software applications needed for the successful transportation and delivery of the product suite to dealers and distributors. The Operations department is primarily responsible for overseeing the construction and subsequently the operations of the company plant facility for the manufacture and packaging of the software product. The Plant facility specifics must meet the following requirements: 1. The manufacturing plant is to occupy a minimum of 4,000 square feet in land area. 2. The erection of a 33,000 sq ft. building, which will serve as the main distribution centers. 3. The plant is to be equipped with the following: a.) 10 CD/DVD duplicators, which can copy 20 CD/DVD’s at a time b.) 10 high capacity label makers c.) 5 industrial CD packing machines d.) 4 trucks Business Information Systems (BIS) is in-charge of (1) website hosting; (2) marketing design; (3) product description and (4) product pricing. Technical Requirements of the ACM Software, Inc. website are as follows: a. Website will support 150,000 visits per month / 5000 user visits per day b. Bandwidth transfer up to 15000 Mega Bytes per month / 500 Mega Bytes per day c. Website compatible with web browser versions Internet Explorer 5.0 and Mozilla Firefox d. Available 24 Hours per day / 365 Days per year e. Web host must provide Internet service redundancy For the Accounting Department, it shall require (a) computations for Start-up cost; (b) Sales figures; (c) List of Expenses from all departments of the company ACM Software, Inc.; (d) Figures on the number of employees needed to work for accounting department, to be forwarded to HR; and (e) Estimated future sales and expenses, within the next five years of company operations. Meanwhile, the creation of the IPO team shall be based on the decision of senior level management whether the company, ACM Software, Inc. shall be privately or publicly-held. The IPO team shall conduct research on existing law firms and draw up recommendations on the choice of law firm which could best address the specific needs of the company, as overall project plans of the company need to conform to existing rules and regulations as specified by law. One or two underwriters from a carefully chosen field of investment banks shall be selected, to present the company with all existing regulations and restrictions which may affect company operations. Specifically, the IPO department is required to accomplish the registration of the company, ACM Software, Inc.; selection of the state wherein to incorporate ACM Software, Inc.; election of directors for the corporation, ACM Software, Inc.; preparation of the articles of incorporation; formulation of the corporation’s by-laws; drawing up of the shareholder agreement; regular meetings with the new directors of ACM Software, Inc. after their election to the board; issuance of certificates to the corporation’s initial stockholders; and obtaining all necessary business licenses and permits from the: a.) Federal Government b.) State Government c.) Local Government PROJECT BOUNDARIES Each department and aspect of operation of the company ACM Software, Inc. has to operate within a given set of boundaries, to ensure efficiency, attainment of set goals and quality performance. The project managers are in no position to carry out the work specific to a particular department due to lack of technical know-how and intimate knowledge of detailed day-to-day internal operations of each and every department. SBE is severely limited by lack of expertise on software programming, and thus will no longer be responsible for the programming of the software produced by the company. SBE would instead focus on overseeing the creation of working prototypes of the product and present a detailed presentation of possible packaging for the product. The project boundaries for HR include but are not limited to: final decisions for all compensation and benefits conclusions (to be approved by senior management, i.e. the Board of Directors); the full implementation of all training systems; and screening of hires through an appropriate staffing process. The Sales and Marketing department is largely dependent on the decisions of the SBE. The company product offerings as selected by SBE will define the potential for sales, revenue and growth of the company ACM Software, Inc. It is also important to note the highly competitive and well-established nature of the software industry, with many companies, including recognized industry giants, competing for shares in the software market. As a relatively new market player, ACM Software, Inc. is engaging in an industry that may or may not see the need for additional products and service offerings. The Operations department will essentially collaborate with the Accounting, Human Resource (HR), and Project Management teams to select facility location best suitable for the production and distribution of the ACM-manufactured software. It shall conduct research from which to base their recommendations on the best possible location, wherein labor costs are minimal; resources are abundant and readily available. Furthermore, it shall assemble the facility layout best suitable for the training of staff and the manufacture and production of the software. The Operations team shall also collaborate with the Accounting department to draw up an equipment list needed for the production of the software, and forward all the necessary data reports to the Human Resources department and the Project Management team. As in-charge of operations, the same department will orient and facilitate the roles and conduct of other teams in the areas of production and product distribution. BIS shall function within the following set of boundaries: 1. Shipping rates will be fixed per total dollar amount of items ordered. 2. Non-existence of â€Å"Search† functionality within the ACM Software, Inc. website. 3. Saving and/or e-mailing of the shopping cart in the ACM Software, Inc. website to another recipient shall be barred. 4. An end-user 800 x 600 pixel resolution is to be maintained for the ACM Software, Inc. website. 5. The same ACM Software, Inc. website shall not employ a Shockwave Flash or an ActiveX Plug-in. 6. Visa and MasterCard are the only honored means of on-line payment for purchase of ACM Software products. 7. The ACM Software, Inc. website shall be in the English language. As for the Accounting department, its boundaries are set to payroll, sales figures, financial statements and the company’s tax return. IPO is primarily bounded by the price of the company name, as determined by the legal underwriters. The corporation’s name, ACM Software, Inc. has already been agreed-upon by all major parties involved. PROJECT DELIVERABLES As overseer of the overall performance of the entire company, Project Management has to ensure that all departments are delivering expected outputs at the highest level of efficiency and productivity possible, in line with the set corporate goals. Specifically, project deliverables for the successful creation of ACM Software, Inc. are as follows: †¢ A Sports Education Simulation Software Packet †¢ A â€Å"How To† Financial Education Simulation Software Packet †¢ A Business Process Simulation Packet for Human Resources. †¢ A listing of the items that will be included in the software package †¢ A detailed description of what each product will offer †¢ A sample of the designs for each product label. †¢ Draft working plans of Training Systems for all departments †¢ Complete job descriptions for all employees †¢ Benefits and Compensation packages †¢ New employee orientation package †¢ Organizational Chart for ACM Software, Inc. †¢ Weekly status reports †¢ Domestic Marketing Plan †¢ Weekly Status Reporting †¢ Project Schedule †¢ State-of-the art and fully operational software manufacturing plant facility, with appropriate office space (for management, programming, production, testing, packaging, and shipping). †¢ Purchasing of office furniture †¢ Purchasing of packaging equipment and materials †¢ Purchasing of manufacturing equipment for production †¢ Security equipment †¢ Blue print of building †¢ Logistics for distribution and transportation of ACM Software products, inclusive of but not limited to the following: a.) Warehouses 33,000 square feet in area b.) Four (4) units fully functional delivery trucks c.) Security equipment †¢ Fully functional and user-friendly ACM Software, Inc. corporate website, with the following features: a.) Shopping cart feature, which allows for â€Å"Quantity Change,† â€Å"Delete item,† and â€Å"Update† b.) Customer log-in c.) Dynamic product page with an â€Å"Add to cart† button †¢ The above-mentioned website will contain the following pages: a.) Home b.) About Us c.) Products d.) Downloads e.) Customer Login f.) Customer Support g.) Contact Us h.) View Cart i.) Technical Support j.) Terms and Conditions k.) Privacy Policy †¢ Domain name purchase and reservation †¢ Website and e-mail hosting for domain name †¢ 150 e-mail accounts to include individual accounts for each employee, sales, technical support, customer service, and webmaster. †¢ Income statements †¢ Balance sheets †¢ Statements of cash flows †¢ Budget †¢ Start- up cost †¢ Analysis of business formats and states to incorporate in. †¢ Registration statement †¢ Legal paperwork and proper documentation to set up the corporation, ACM Software †¢ Legal and administrative paperwork for IPO creation †¢ Company reports as to obtaining IPO status and official IPO and legal recognition †¢ Status Reports †¢ Scope Statements †¢ Project Schedules †¢ Presentation Slides PROJECT CONSTRAINTS Several factors need to be taken into consideration, as these limit what can be done in a humanly possible manner towards the successful implementation of the project. Project management is constrained by the individual performance of the different departments within the company ACM Software, Inc., as well as its given mandate and resources at its disposal for the project actualization and attainment of company goals and targets, as set upon by the company board of directors and the senior management of the parent firm ACM Consulting. SBE has to contend with several different variables limiting what the team can accomplish. Foremost of these constraints is time. It is important to note that software programming is a time-consuming process. Thus, deadlines on product development and manufacture need to take this nature of the software programming process into consideration. Another would be finances, which limit the number of programmers to be employed in product development and manufacture, as well as in the other aspects of company operations, i.e. sales and marketing teams, website development, technical support, etc. Product development and manufacture would also be primarily based on the needs of clients and the target market. Proper coordination and cooperation from the other departments are also imperative, as the other teams’ performance may affect the overall company output. Staffing for the different departments involved in the project cannot be initiated until all hiring managers have successfully submitted the appropriate job details, educational and skills requirements of their necessary staff personnel to the HR department. In addition, the HR Department must abide by all government guidelines and policies in hiring employees. Employment of all hires as screened by the HR is subject to senior management approval. For Sales and Marketing, time is also a major limitation. The current project aims to create a subsidiary company under the ACM name within a year (roughly 365 days), requiring the Sales and Marketing Department to perform at one hundred percent efficiency in order to accomplish this undertaking. To do so, it needs the cooperation of several teams, as well as the full support of Project Management. The HR department plays an important role in assisting the Sales and Marketing team through efficient staffing of all open business development positions with capable and dedicated personnel, as well as approves and acts on new requisition requests. Of course there is always the possibility of open positions being filled at a later date than initially expected, and/or new requests for additional personnel being denied. Budget constraints also prove to be a vital limiting factor. In order to effectively market and sell ACM Software products, adequate investment must be made in product marketing. Sales training, marketing research, staffing and product advertising may prove too costly for the company. A minimal budget for product marketing may reflect on overall sales figures. Due to various factors and other externalities, many aspects of this project are still subject to change. It is important to note that there are occurrences, i.e. force majeure, acts of nature, etc. beyond the control of the personnel in-charge. Such constraints include, but are not limited to: †¢ Changes brought about by the seasons. Cold weather can cause severe constraints on human, as well as mechanical productivity, logistics concerning delivery and transport of materials, which may be delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions. †¢ Delays in the construction of the plant facility, its operation, production and delivery of products caused by unattained, expired, or incomplete permits and other legal documents, of which the overall responsibility is with the senior management of the parent company, ACM Consulting. †¢ The cost of labor and materials may vary due to economic factors, among others – i.e. domestic inflation, labor unrest, legally mandated wage hikes, etc. Therefore, any indirect and unforeseen market constraints may also impact the execution of the project. †¢ Union mass action and possible conflicts with management would inadvertently affect plant production and possibly cause delays, among other problems, in operations. †¢ Faulty construction and other infrastructural defects, as well as technical failures in acquired machinery may prove costly to the company. In some instances, stop-gap measures, structural repairs, refitting and refurbishing may cause operational delays and other problems such as loss of productivity. For the BIS, it is primarily limited by time constraints, including the finalization of all necessary reports and recommendations based on data gathered in cooperation with other departments (e.g. project scope) due on the 31st of August, 2007, prior to the official company project presentation. This report would be comprehensive, and includes accurate information and specific plans for the design of the company website, the projected budget for the BIS individual group operation, as well as integrated key figures and projections from the Sales and Marketing, Operations, Accounting, and Project Management teams. Other constraints are: †¢ Availability of appropriate software and limited computer availability for key accounts personnel. †¢ Limited user access power and system restrictions. †¢ Availability of information and necessary coordination with different departments. †¢ Time frame for project completion. †¢ Adequate staffing and employee availability. For the IPO, areas of concern include efficient staffing, employee availability and time constraints in the formulation of the company resolution. Other constraints may consist of financial and legal issues, inadequate time for the processing and submission of paperwork and other necessary requirements, very strict and restrictive deadlines, and unforeseen political restrictions which may arise depending on developments in the socio-political scene. PROJECT PARTNERSHIPS Project Management as overall project overseer is to work closely with all the other departments, as well as report directly to senior management of the parent company ACM Consulting, and the elected Board of Directors of newly-created firm ACM Software, Inc., for company reports and project updates.   SBE is to work closely with clients for product feedback and to evaluate other possible market opportunities. Together with the Sales and Marketing Team, SBE is to develop strategic goals for business development and product line expansion. Meetings and updates with the Project Management team on a regular basis as to department operations and attainment of stated goals are also necessary. Then of course close coordination with the Accounting department in order to work out department budgets and financial constraints hindering the SBE team’s performance and effectiveness. The Human Resources Department will basically work with all other departments for their staffing needs an d employment compensation packages. The Sales and Marketing Department is to work closely in tandem with the SBE, BIS and Accounting Departments. Operations will be working with the HR Department to establish specific staffing requirements for the plant facility, acquire budget specifics from the Accounting department for strategic planning and purchasing of appropriate facility sites, obtain time tables, working schedules and Operation goals as evaluated and approved by the Project Management team. The BIS web development team is to be in direct collaboration with the Project Management, Operations, Accounting, and Sales and Marketing forces. As for the Accounting Department, it is to work closely with all departments, as each and every aspect of operations requires adequate funding. Specifically, its inter-department partnership would focus on the following aspects: †¢ Project Management to evaluate and approve the calculated start up cost, and to draw up managerial expenses and management costs of the company ACM Software, Inc. †¢ Sales and marketing for drawing up accurate sales figures, revenue projections and calculated marketing expenses †¢ HR Department for hiring and employee expenses, particularly employee wages and payroll expenses. †¢ Operations Department for the bulk of incurred company expenses, as channeled through financing the acquisition of the plant facility, plant operations, production and distribution of products, and systems implementation costs. †¢ BIS for drawing up expenses related to Website development, website hosting, and domain registration. †¢ SBE in calculating the projected and actual overall expenses related to its department operations, as well as opportunities for product line and market expansion. IPO would work hand-in-hand with the Project Management for regular updates on the company IPO status, communication and coordination with senior management for the resolution of possible legal problems which may arise, and with the Accounting Department for financial concerns. PROJECT ORGANIZATIONS †¢ Anna Popek—ESFJ: Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging – HR †¢ Towana Elmore—INFJ: Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging – HR †¢ David Pariso ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬â€ESTJ: Extraverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging – HR †¢ Diana Ramos – First Vice President of Operations (Myers Briggs type ISTJ) †¢ Anand Soni – Director of Operations (Myers Briggs type INTJ) †¢ Brijesh Patel – Second Vice President of Operations (Myers Briggs type ENTJ) †¢ Cindy Paredes – Operations Manager (Myers Briggs type INFJ) †¢ Allen Peterson (ESTJ) BIS †¢ Luke Dyson (INTJ) – BIS †¢ Michael Hoegerl (INTJ) – BIS †¢ Isha Khatri (ENFJ) – Accounting †¢ Purnima Patel (ENFJ) – Accounting †¢ Nirali Shah (INFJ) – Accounting †¢ Sevil Mursalova, Financial Analyst (ENFJ) – IPO †¢ Julia Ortega (ESFJ) – IPO †¢ Miriam Juarez (ENFJ) – IPO