A Project Scope Management

A Project Scope Management Scope is the description of the boundaries of the project. It defines what the project will deliver and what it will not deliver. Scope is the view all stakeholders have from the project; it is a definition of the limits of the project. Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required to complete the project successfully. Project scope management’s primary concern is with defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project. One of the leading causes for project failures is poor management of the project scope, either because the project manager did not spend enough time defining the work, there was not an agreement on the scope by stakeholders, or there was a lack of scope management which leads to adding work not authorized or budgeted to the project, this is known as scope creep. Scope creep, or the uncontrolled changes in a project’s scope, is the tendency o f a project to include more tasks than originally specified, which often leads to higher than planned project costs and an extension of the project end date (Cook-Davies, T. 2002) The purpose of scope change management is to protect the viability of the approved Project Contract (or agreement) and the approved Project Logical Framework (Logframe). In other words, the Project Contract defines the overall scope of the project, and the Logframe which establish a causal link between inputs, processes, outputs, outcomes and objectives of the project. It is not possible to assume there will be no changes during the life of the project. For example, changes may come from the beneficiaries who want additional deliverables, then the initial estimates for budget, and schedule may no longer be valid. If the donor agrees to include the new work into the project scope, the project manager has the right to expect that the current budget and deadline will be modified (usually increased) to reflect this additional work. This new estimated cost, effort and duration now become the approved target (Cook-Davies, T. 2002) All changes to the project scope must be approved by management and the donor; this is one of the principal requirements for scope management. This is not to say the objective of scope management is to avoid any changes to the initial agreement; development projects, due to their nature are initiated mostly on general assumptions. It is expected that as the project makes progress, additional information will lead to new insights that require the project to change its approach and its plans. The purpose of scope management is to establish a process that will allow the incorporation of changes by ensuring the changes contribute to the ultimate goal of the project, changes are agreed by stakeholders and approved by management and the donor. Scope management consists of a series of tasks and steps designed to help the project manager manage the project deliverables, the steps are: (Cook-Davies, T. 2002) Defining the Scope Assigning Scope Work Verifying the Scope Adapting the Scope DEFINING PROJECT SCOPE

Service value evaluation on the restaurant in London Dissertation

Service value evaluation on the restaurant in London - Dissertation Example Additionally, the researcher will also present a glimpse of the survey questionnaire which will be used to gather primary data. Lastly, limitations to the adopted methodology will also be presented for readers’ understanding. 2. AdoptedMethodology In order to plan and align activities with the research schedule, research methodology plays a vital role in outlining a roadmap. On the other hand, adopted research methodology clarifies the guidelines and principles that should be strictly followed by the researcher to successfully complete the study. Reliability of the primary data is also relied on the selection of appropriate research methodology in order to develop a valid conclusion and set of recommendations by the end of the research work (Kothari, 2004). Keeping this in view, two types of research methodologies are available to researchers. One is qualitative, and the other one is quantitative research methodology. Qualitative researchers are those, which tends on to explai n natural phenomenon pertaining to the area under study. In qualitative researches, researcher observes a natural phenomenon and interprets it according to his personal approach towards the area of study. Qualitative researchers are widely known as multi-method approach which includes interpretive and naturalistic view on the area which is being examined by the researchers (Gillham, 2000). It is important for the researchers that they conduct qualitative researches in natural settings and build logic with the help of theories around the answers presented against the research questions. The data retrieved for completing a qualitative research study is retrieved from sources that provide detailed answers to the research questions. These sources of information can be interviews, focus group discussion, personal observation and etc. Another important aspect that needs to be noticed here is that, qualitative researches are based on inductive approach usually as it requires researchers to explore phenomenon and implicate the findings to the general environment (Crowther & Lancaster, 2012; Gordon & Marian, 2006). Then there is quantitative approach to research work which requires researchers to support the findings of the study with the help of statistical data. Research works based on quantitative approach are considered as more authentic than qualitative approach as it supports the findings of the study scientifically. On the other hand, quantitative research works are based on deductive approach as they rule out the findings which are not reliable and focus only on those findings, which are scientifically proven by statistical figures and justified by the previous work conducted on the same subject. Researches that are based on quantitative approach are generally more reliable as they look for cause and effect to build up a suitable conclusion and recommendation part. Keeping the discussion pertaining to quantitative researches, it can be asserted that quantitativ e researchers are more reliable and authentic as compared to qualitative research methods (Jackson, 2010). Keeping in view the context and aim of the present study, the researcher has adopted quantitative approach to research work, i.e. the researcher will use both quantitative research methodology to ensure the authenticity of the primary research with the help of statistical testing. By doing this, the researcher wi

Marketing Plan McDonald's North America Research Paper

Marketing Plan McDonald's North America - Research Paper Example The mascot of the store Ronald McDonalds is a global icon. He has been instrumental in the firm’s ability to achieve the highest market share among kids in the industry. The organization has a huge customer base that allowed the store to serve 64 million customers on a daily basis (Aboutmcdonalds, 2011). The financial performance of the company in 2010 was outstanding. The net income and net margin of the firm in 2010 were $4,946 million and 20.54% respectively. The product variety of the company is excellent. This provides the customers with many eating alternatives to choose from. The company just like any other business has weaknesses. One of the weaknesses of McDonalds is that it competes in an extremely saturated industry. There are approximately 160,000 fast food restaurants in the United States. A second weakness of the firm is that a lot of its food products are not nutritional since they have high contents of fat. As the industry leader the company is a target of its followers who often include anti-McDonald’s campaigns in their advertisements. The high cost of acquiring a McDonald’s franchise has become a weakness that will make it harder for the company in the future to find a large pool of franchisee applicants. The organization also charges extremely high royalties. Franchisees have to pay a 12% royalty on sales and a 4% advertising fee. This means that the franchisee gets to keep only 84% of the revenues generated by the store. There are opportunities that McDonald’s can capitalize on to continue to achieve growth and prosperity and to improve the brand value of the company. The firm can increase its product offering to include more products that have lower fat content. The use of wheat flatbread and tortillas can be used to add several healthy products that can attract dieters, diabetics, and healthy eaters. Another opportunity for McDonalds is to create a new customer reward program. The new customer reward program wo uld give its customers a 6% food credit for future purchases. The creation of this program would beat the best program in the industry which is the Burger King’s BK reward which gives customers in certain states and US territories a 5% credit towards future purchases (Mybkrewardscard, 2011). A growth opportunity for the company is mobile food trucks. McDonalds should design and aggressively market mobile McDonald’s food vending trucks. These food trucks would offer a limited McDonalds menu. Two advantages of offering these trucks are lower franchisee entry cost and lower operating costs. Distress in the US and global economy is a threat to McDonalds. The rising unemployment in the United States is decreasing the disposable income of its citizens. The unemployment rate in the United States in August of 2011 was 9.1% (Tradingeconomics, 2011). When the population has lower income people spend less money eating outside of home. The trend towards healthier eating is another threat to McDonalds. Fast foods are by nature an unhealthy meal. Another threat to McDonalds is increased education among the population about the health dangers of high consumption of red meats. High consumption of red meat increases risk of cancer, heart disease and it lower life expectancy (Brody, 2009). Competition McDonalds faces direct and indirect competition from many sectors. There are thousands of fast food restaurant competing in the fast food industry. Many cafes, bakeries, mobile food