Although the project is already late into the planning stage, an opportunity has come up for a change to the project scope
Rebecca Cline
Although the project is already late into the planning stage, an opportunity has come up for a change to the project scope. During the planning stage, there is a level of uncertainty due continuation of learning new information as well as changes that naturally happen (Kloppenborg et, al., 2019).
Due to the need for changes, there is a five-step change control process that needs to be followed in order to effectively manage the project. The first step is for the change to be proposed, then an impact summary needs to be created so a decision can be made. Once the decision is made, the change can be made and the change plan can be closed (Westland, 2020). This change control process is in place at ILS for situations such as the one that has arose.
There was a meeting today between ILS and Walmart, in the meeting vendor managed inventory (VMI) was brought up. Walmart and Proctor & Gamble have been successful in the pioneering of the VMI (UACG, 2021) and Walmart is looking to bring the technology with them when they expand to Peru. The VMI concept would allow ILS to manage (timing and quantity of restocking) inventory for our customers. This new development
As with any change to project scope, there are both opportunities as well as threats that will need to be considered. Some of the opportunities that are possible for the addition of the VMI concept is that there is potential for increased revenue for ILS, efficiency would also be improved not only in the warehouse, but also for the customers which would increase customer satisfaction. The implantation of VMI at ILS could also lead to stronger relationship with not only Walmart, but also Proctor & Gamble as well as other companies that begin using VMI.
With any concept addition, there are also risks associated. One of the largest risks is to the budget of the project. A rough estimate of the cost of the implementation of the VMI concept is $75,000. The initial budget of the project was $100,000. There would need to not only be reallocation of funds in the current plan, but also additional funds would be needed. The time line of the project would also need to be adjusted with additional training added. The implementation of the VMI would need to be added to the project time line, which is not an issue due to the excess time that I have in the time line, but the training schedule would need to be expanded as employees would need training on the new system. Due to the fact that all the companies that ILS serves are not using the VMI technology, ILS would need to be able to run and manage both systems (there current system as well as VMI) concurrently. One final risk associated with the project change is the potential for the additional expense to ILS and the cost to not lead to gaining the business of Walmart.
It is essential that ILS manage the change request in a manor that provides the least amount of risk to not only the entire project, but also the company as a whole. Although the implementation of the VMI concept will likely put the project over budget, the cost of losing Walmart’s business in Peru would be much greater.
Resources:
Kloppenborg, T. J., Anantatmula, V., & Wells, K. N. (2019). Contemporary project management (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.
UACG (2021). Week 3 – Discussion Forum 1. Proposal for New Project Requirements Role-Play
Westland, J. (2020, October 14). What is change control in project management? ProjectManager.com. https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/what-is-change-control-in-project-management.
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