31272 - Project Consultants Pty Ltd - Pacific Resorts Group Case Study Project Management and the Professional - Management Assignment Help

31272: Project Consultants Pty Ltd Pacific Resorts Group Case Study Management Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

Background
The CEO of Project Consultants Pty Ltd (PMP) has been in dialogue with members of the newly formed Pacific Resorts Group (PRG) regarding their intent to modernize information systems facilities across their Barrier Reef resorts. Consequently, PMP Consultants (with their solid reputation for project competence) has been invited to prepare a project briefing paper for the PRG Board covering initial planning for their new Guest Management System (GMS). If the anticipated report is clear, detailed and complete PRG have suggested that this could not only form the basis for a first engagement but potentially lead to an ongoing and much longer-term business
arrangement:

1. A proposal for the two companies to jointly develop the GMS and associated software. A success with this initial venture could prompt a long-term partnership offer for PMP to help PRG fulfill a range of other (still confidential) projects. These significant joint activities would become a lucrative (and high profile) income stream for PMP over the next 5 years, plus give a competitive advantage over rival consultancies still unaware of the aggressive scale of PRG’s intended expansion... or richness of their client list.

2. It could allow PMP to expand its enterprise into the state of Queensland – something the PMP CEO has been considering for the last two years ever since the Queensland government announced new tax incentives towards high-tech businesses operating within their geography.

3. An exceptional submission has the potential to see the PMP CEO offered a non-executive Directorship on Pacific Resorts Group Board of Directors. With a similar existing position on the Board of a well-known sports club, he regards this potential new appointment as an excellent opportunity for further personal networking within elite sectors of the high-class resort, hotel and casino industries.

4. PRG’s parent company, Recreation Amalgamated Holdings (RAH), is considering a ‘preferred supplier’ arrangement with a proven information technology consultancy. The chosen firm would not just provide expertise and service to one subsidiary (such as PRG) but act as primary technology consultant/advisor to the entire conglomerate. This opportunity is potentially worth tens of millions of dollars for the enterprise selected. Exhibiting superior proficiency in working with PRG could make PMP eligible for the appointment. Needless to say, professionalism and thoroughness of the project briefing report is an important issue not only for the future of PMP Consultants but for the CEO personally.

Tasks

The project briefing paper must be provided to the PMP CEO by the time/date nominated. Failure to meet deadline means your CEO will not be able to deliver it at PRG’s October Board meeting where he has been invited to present PMP’s superior planning capability. This would be highly embarrassing for him – and have likely have ‘career-limiting’ repercussions for PMP team members involved!

The project planning document must contain the following sections (although others can be added):

Section 1 – Business Overview
 Document introduction, purpose and background;
 Objectives of the Guest Management System (GMS) and key success criteria;
 Short discussion of the project’s Measurable Organisational Value (MOV) and potential benefits;

 Outline of project scope (including specific requirements traceability, identification of out-of-scope items and noting of project assumptions and constraints).

Section 2 – Key Project Management Planning and Control Strategies to Adopt (Hint: refer to lecture notes and tutorial workshop activities for guidance)
 Stakeholder management and communication plan (including stakeholder registers);
 Discussion of system development approaches for creating the GMS (i.e. Waterfall vs Agile) and respective advantages/disadvantages for this project. A well-reasoned recommendation is made;
 Risk management strategy and initial planning (including a preliminary project risk register);
 Project progress monitoring, scope management and change control strategy;
 Quality management strategy and initial planning for same.

Section 3 – Preliminary Project Management Activities and Estimates
 High-level work breakdown structure of key tasks in GMS project (approximately 100-140 tasks);
 Task sequencing using activity-on-node (AON) network dependency diagram. Place a high-level summary NDD in the report body with more detailed AON PERT in an appendix;
 Task scheduling on a Gantt chart (must reflect both the WBS and the detailed PERT). Place a high-level summary Gantt in the report body with more detailed Gantt in an appendix;
 Identification and discussion of key project milestones (should be at least 8 but more are OK);
 Discussion of identified critical path dependencies;
 Best estimate of time (with reasoning) needed to complete the project from start to final handover.
 Validation of the $1,800,000 proposed budget: (a) an initial ‘top-down’ budget must be realistically allocated to key project phases/activities/deliverables; (b) a ‘bottom-up’ estimate must be undertaken for the same tasks; (c) outcomes of the cross-validation are to be discussed and recommendations made (e.g. are there differences? Is the initial budget too high/low? Should a formal request for budget increase/decrease be made? Should a contingency fund be established and if so how much? Etc.);
 Human resourcing estimate (i.e. Key roles needed? How many people? For how long?).

Section 4 – Conclusion
 Summary of major points and relevant approvals required for key project areas;
 Recommendations, suggested next steps to get the project underway plus concluding remarks.

Section 5 – Overall Professionalism and Presentation
 Report is well-presented and looks professional. This document is suitable for submission to senior executives with appropriate title page (with student names/numbers, tutorial number, tutor name, lodgement date), executive summary, table of contents, list of figures, heading/page numbers, etc.;

 Communicates well. Has an easy-to-read report structure, good language flow with appropriate punctuation and grammar. It is clear, concise and well-edited with minimal repetition or verbosity. Treatment and use of factual data is internally consistent throughout the document; Note that the product for this engagement is a professional-level Project Briefing Report for Board level consumption. PMP is, as yet, only contracted to provide this one deliverable. Arrangements for more in-depth planning and development of the actual GMS are still pending (although PMP hopes to be involved and a good impression with this initial planning report will be central to that happening)

Expected Standard of the Work
You are expected to conceptualize the problem or issue, find relevant references for context, facts, theory and examples, come up with a point of view and support that point of view with discussion and citation where appropriate. Documents generated within tutorial workshops can be used to assist in creating the report but should also be further tailored to provide a more insightful final work.
Your submitted report should be written as a business document submitted to a business audience (and not simply attempting to satisfy an academic course requirement)

CASE STUDY: Pacific Resorts Group (PRG)
Background
In early 2017 a collection of venture capital investors and small-to-medium-sized recreation firms examined the possibility of amalgamating to provide an umbrella company for the easy management of large-scale health and holiday resorts around Australia. They decided to form Recreation Amalgamated Holdings (RAH) - a major publicly listed corporation dedicated to the provision, rollout, and management of recreation services around the country. From this formation, and numerous subsequent acquisitions of other high-value firms in its target markets, the parent corporation now has five autonomous and substantially-funded divisions: Pacific Resorts Group;
Snowy Mountains Resorts Group; Everyday Fitness Group; Southern Golf Group; and Vista Events Group. Although strategic directives and annual profit targets are issued by RAH, each division has its own Board of Directors, internal operations structure, independent decision making and profit/loss accountability – thus, operating as wholly-owned commercial subsidiaries within their individual industry segments.

Recently, due to the wide-ranging disparity of systems and capability inherited from its mergers and acquisitions, RAH has prioritized the development of a suitable integrated infrastructure to administer the day-to-day needs of patrons and staff and to better monitor and provide services to its chain of resorts, golf courses and health centers. The subsidiary covering tropical getaways, Pacific Resorts Group (PRG), has been given the go-ahead as the first of the five divisions to be modernized. To meet the timeline issued by their parent company, PRG feel that design of the appropriate information systems architecture (and development of associated tools) should be
outsourced to an experienced consulting group with a record of successfully integrating diverse information needs with the latest technological advances. The selected consulting firm would lead the upgrade program under PRG oversight – and potentially access other RAH divisions once the initial program with PRG has been deemed successful. Currently, Pacific Resorts has leaseholds on four islands located within Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. These include Brampton and Daydream Islands for those seeking luxury, Heron Island as an eco holiday for nature lovers and Orpheus Island which specializes as a sanctuary for honeymooners, executive retreats and those wishing more privacy and exclusivity. Pacific Resorts prides itself on providing vacationers a relaxing and friendly holiday with very high quality facilities, a range of
available leisure activities and knowledgeable and responsive staff. Most resorts operate 11 months of the year excepting Brampton which, as the most southerly and largest resort in the group, operates all year round. March to early April can be the height of cyclone season when heavy rainfall can sometimes occur over its more northern locations, so Pacific Resorts likes to use this cyclic ‘downtime’ to train staff, upgrade infrastructure, introduce new facilities and conduct needed maintenance with minimal intrusion or inconvenience to patrons. The resorts themselves offer a range of holiday activities including reef/island day-cruises, scuba diving and snorkeling, feeding of wild dolphins, sailing, horseriding, rainforest bushwalking and so on. Such activities can be either regularly scheduled group events or private-bookings with personal guide/instructors. Childminding is available across all resorts except Orpheus which generally excludes children under 16 except in very special circumstances.
PRG sees its biggest advantage over competitors as its reputation for exclusivity, security and providing of a positive and very indulgent atmosphere for patrons to just relax and de-stress. Orpheus, in particular, has something of a name as a nice escape for those owning a public profile but wishing to step out of the spotlight for a time. PRG works hard to maintain brand-recognition for high-quality leisure so customer safety, security, enjoyment, and service are paramount. So, viewing itself as unique, PRG has decided that a bespoke information development project (as opposed to purchasing a package) is its best option towards improving service. However, they
openly state that they are not information systems project experts. Thus, as a starting point, they have engaged PMP Consultants to prepare a Briefing Paper outlining work estimates, resourcing and preliminary planning for building a robust Guest Management System (GMS) using typical project management disciplines. While it is understood that the firm contracted for actual development may have their own methodology for ensuring successful delivery, PRG hope that this initial Project
Briefing Paper will allow their oversight of that process to be an informed one. A preliminary budget of $1,800,000 has been allocated to the GMS project, however the PRG Managing Director has emphasized that money is less important than time and quality - the system must be easy to use, fully developed/tested and in use across all four resorts by April 2021, prior to peak season.

Objectives for the Proposal
To improve the leisure experience by automating, integrating and simplifying a number of manual processes currently requiring human intervention and/or where the existing service is inconsistent across the different island resorts. At a minimum this should encompass:
1. Simplified holiday booking;
2. Simplified management of Guest information, membership details and tailored itineraries;
3. Guest registration for a variety of day cruises, tours, scheduled leisure events, etc.
4. Management of childcare and supervised activities for the young;
5. Member interaction with specialist staff (e.g. instructors/guides for private lessons and tours);
6. Online purchases of goods from a resort catalog;
7. PRG management of competitions and demonstration events;
8. Sponsorship details for a variety of PRG run events and competitions (e.g. sailing, water skiing, etc.). Although initially targeted at island resorts under PRG management, an ideal solution would also be adaptable (with some customization) to operations within other venues such as recreation parks and holiday resorts both local and international.

Initial Scope
PRG has resolved to issue a development contract for a new state-of-the-art, automated and integrated Guest Management System (GMS) to largely replace disparate individual methods currently in use. They envisage the new system will allow for:

? An integrated online Guest reservation and payment system. This will allow vacationers to directly check availability and reserve holiday accommodation at any of the four PRG-owned resorts, make required payments and to schedule transport from the nearest domestic airport to the island of their choice using local ferry and/or seaplane commuter services. There is also a specialized valet helicopter/seaplane service available for carriage of elite guests, VIPs - and those
willing to pay for a more exclusive amenity - to their resort destination. A number of different payment options should be provided including credit card (VISA/Mastercard/American Express), established line-of-credit (for regular guests) or direct debit from a nominated bank account;

? Integrated account management. Operating as simple customer relationship management (CRM) system this would allow Guests to check account balances, update personal details, review itineraries and activity bookings, be notified of special events/offers plus other items of special interest. It would also allow PRG to monitor Guest usage trends which could then be used for marketing, mailing lists, and events planning. Access to information by patrons should be by secure link to the Pacific Resorts website and by mobile app;

? Guest activity and equipment hire. An online portal through which guests can self- register for day cruises, tours, regularly-scheduled leisure events as well as relaxation therapies (e.g. personal massage, meditation/yoga, spa treatment, beauty therapy). Guests can also reserve, at no charge, resort equipment such as diving gear, windsurfers, sailboats, kayaks, bicycles or electric buggies, etc. (booking length varies by equipment type and can go from hourly in the case of a
sailboat up to the entire duration of the holiday for bicycles).

? Child care. Where applicable, children can be booked into resort day-care facilities or, for a fee, personal valet child-supervision service by accredited child-care professionals can be arranged (N.B. childcare not available on Orpheus Island);

? Exclusive lessons. Using either mobile app or kiosk terminals situated in reception areas, Guests can self-book private lessons, personal tuition and guide services with a professional instructor for different leisure or sports pastimes (e.g. scuba, horse-riding, sailing, surfing). Fees vary by
activity and consultant availability within the different resorts;
? Purchase of merchandise. An online store where people can purchase clothing, souvenirs, and other items from a standard PRG catalog. Payment is made at order time with goods either directly delivered to an in-resort location or shipped to a nominated address via standard mail, express mail or courier (for heavier items). This module should accept VISA, Mastercard and American Express and use stored account details where appropriate to maximize purchaser
convenience;
? Competition management. Permits PRG to set up competitions and events (e.g. surfing, sailing, water-skiing, treasure hunts, etc.) simply and effectively within any of their resorts. This should include event details, prizes, participant registration and results, ranking in order of merit for team and individual participants plus placement against past standings. Likely applications would be for corporate recognition events as well as local professional competitions;

? Sponsorship management. Sponsorship details for competitions, demonstrations, and events should be captured, maintained and managed for the different resorts. This will permit appropriate sponsorship tracking as well as local advertising associated with special events;

? Maintenance. The whole Guest Management System must be easily upgradeable, robust and scalable. It should be easily extendable to other locations that may be placed under PRG at a future date. If the GMS is successful within PRG, then variants may be approved for use by other recreation divisions within the RAH corporate family. This is by no means an exhaustive list. PMP Consultants should include any supplementary scope items in their report if such are judged essential to the Guest Management System final product. Currently, preparation of the Pacific Resorts Request-for-Tender is not complete. PRG anticipate the Request-For-Tender document will be released to a list of information/consulting firms by the end of November 2019 with the selection of a winning bid by mid-February 2020. The appointed provider should have the project underway no later than March 2020 and with a preliminary ‘go live’ targeted for early April 2021 – the end of the rainy season when most patrons are not present and while the majority of permanent hospitality, administration and support staff are available for training. Full operation across all four resorts should be in place no later than 1 May 2021 to prepare for the June peak.

Out of Scope Components (not to be addressed in your Project Briefing Document) While some project items might deserve later consideration they are not of immediate interest to the PRG Board. Therefore, for the Briefing Paper, the following items are regarded as out of scope:
? Buildings, space and general office fit-out for the project and its staff;
? Administration staffing and support personnel not directly engaged in project development;
? Back office, financial and other systems not directly related to GMS project development;
? Sourcing of ‘non-IS’ equipment such as kiosk units (this will be done by separate PRG negotiation direct with preferred hardware and equipment vendors);
? On-site determination of each island’s current systems and facilities (already documented as part of a recent internal systems audit requested by the RAH of all subsidiary companies);
? Provisions for issues and risk related to legislation, environment, land, governing bodies and special permissions (e.g. Tax Laws, Immigration Laws, compliance with Barrier Reef Marine Park regulations, Property Development applications, etc.) as well as insurance. Additional Notes (some possible supplementary considerations)
At the last monthly meeting of the PRG Board certain items relating to the proposed Briefing Paper were discussed. After the meeting, the CEO of PMP had an informal discussion with the Board Secretary and wrote down some bullet points over coffee regarding areas regarding areas of importance to the Board. These notes are made available below although the PMP CEO has not assessed their relevance to preparation of the Project Briefing Paper – they are almost certainly incomplete, may not be relevant to immediate project decisions and are not in any set order. However, the PMP CEO has provided them to help provoke thought about items that might
influence project decisions or be included in the plan as added-value elements:

1. Sourcing, modifying and installing kiosk hardware;
2. Preparation of a list of fees for all resort-coordinated activities, hires and equipment purchases;

3. Finding and fit-out of a GMS project location;
4. Maintenance of PRG staff records including instructor/guide shifts and schedules;
5. Negotiations with owners of resort locations on Hayman and Lady Elliot Islands are progressing and an agreement-in-principle for acquisition of these enterprises by PRG is expected by the end of 2019. In addition, the management company for Green Island has let Pacific Resorts know that it is considering divesting itself of its Green Island investments and has given PRG first option to purchase these assets. If all negotiations are successful then it could potentially put three additional island resorts and their infrastructure under PRG management by mid-2020.

6. Planning, development and integration of:
? Smart swipe cards to store Guest information;
? Appropriate fall back procedures to replace or bypass faulty kiosk terminals;
? Business continuity and disaster recovery planning for any potentially catastrophic event;
? A mobile phone application (mobile app) to easily check reservations, activity bookings and
equipment hires (and possibly other selected details);
? Co-existence with, or replacement of, all existing PRG island resort websites;
? Integration with Queensland State Government systems to confirm liaison, audit and status of
PRG compliance with wilderness and environmental statutes pertaining to the Great Barrier Reef
and island locations under PRG care;
? Back-office accounting systems, including HR and payroll, for project staff;
? Backup processes for all data captured in relation to the Guest Management;
? Data mining and modeling software for ongoing system analysis and improvement;
? Robust security and system software to protect the entire PRG operation.
7. Set up contracts for ongoing maintenance of hardware and software once the project is
complete;
8. Complete testing of all components to analyze reliability, ease of use, repair and replacement;
9. Alternate data processing sites (i.e. a fall-back in case the main processing site fails);
10. Some allowance can be made for selected travel of business analysts on fact-finding tours of the different resorts. These on-site visits are not to be considered ‘holidays’. While the majority of project work is still to be negotiated the main team will be likely be based in either Brisbane (where PRG is headquartered) or Sydney (where PMP is located) - a recommendation would be valued. All project accommodation/travel is to be paid out of the approved GMS project budget;

11. A separate ‘non-project’ travel/accommodation budget could be made available by PRG for all key project members to travel to, and personally inspect/review, post-implementation operations of the completed and working GMS at one of the island resorts for one full week. This week would be concluded by a formal project closure and recognition event at the island location. However, such activity will only be scheduled after the final GMS project deliverable has been approved and accepted by the PRG Board and validated as being of a high quality;

12. Satisfactory testing of the disaster recovery plan;
13. A charge/id card RFID system is being considered to allow guests linked to a larger group to identify the general placement of other members of their party. Via a network of polling sensors near frequented locations (e.g. beaches, restaurants, scenic trails, buildings, resort pathways, etc.) patrons using strategically situated kiosk terminals can check the last-known location of another guest’s id card as it passes within range of a scanner. Steps can then be taken to reunite with specific individuals (particularly useful for parents tracking down wandering children). This could be offered as an additional resort service with activation available on request;

14. A system warranty period of 120 days after successful completion and GMS go-live would be looked upon favorably by PRG;

15. The PRG Board is considering applying for a gambling license to establish a small casino as part of their Brampton Island resort. The viability of this expansion is currently going through due diligence and business case preparation. A decision on whether to proceed will likely be made by the Board at this year’s final meeting in December.

16. PRG, as part of a global tourism campaign, is about to reach an agreement with Queensland Australia and rideshare giant Uber to equip Heron Island with a small commercial submarine that will allow travelers to go beyond the limits of conventional diving. The scUber service will allow exploration of the Great Barrier Reef at depths of up to 30 meters, with 180-degree views and all without getting wet. scUber can be booked, subject to availability, via both Uber app and Pacific Resorts website. Booking arrangements for this service may also be required in later updates to the GMS.

This 31272: Management Assignment has been solved by our Management experts at My Uni Paper. Our Assignment Writing Experts are efficient to provide a fresh solution to this question. We are serving more than 10000+ Students in Australia, UK & US by helping them to score HD in their academics. Our experts are well trained to follow all marking rubrics & referencing style.

Be it a used or new solution, the quality of the work submitted by our assignment experts remains unhampered. You may continue to expect the same or even better quality with the used and new assignment solution files respectively. There’s one thing to be noticed that you could choose one between the two and acquire an HD either way. You could choose a new assignment solution file to get yourself an exclusive, plagiarism (with free Turnitin file), expert quality assignment or order an old solution file that was considered worthy of the highest distinction.