Improving Logistic Firm Operations With GPS And PDAs – XYZ Company
- December 21, 2023/ Uncategorized
Measurable Objectives
XYZ company is a 20 years old logistic firm dealing in providing delivery services of all size packets throughout Queensland. The head office of the firm is established in Sydney. XYZ aims at improving its operations and planning to scale it market reach in other cities like NSW. The key obstacle in this expansion is dealing with the scattered distribution system of the company. It aims at minimizing gap with the drivers via installation of GPS system and PDAs in every truck i.e. for every driver.
Measurable objectives
- To increase the company’s market share by 7.5% in Sydney
- To increase efficiency of company operations to reach the peak performance for the organization
- To develop a highly motivated and cohesive workforce
- To add 8 fleets to the line of trucks to be able to server more customers in the time
- To develop a new strategy for distribution which gives company more efficiency
Problem
The company does not have proper medium of communication with its drivers. Drivers get the delivery plan from their reporting managers. The delivery schedule and roadmap are prepared manually because of scattered distribution system and manual operations. Due to lack of communication medium with drivers, they usually take long distances and sometimes covered roads are wrong. Drivers have to manage their delivery schedule over calls with their respective managers at head office who keeps updating the status of deliveries as confirmed by the driver (Bruce & Langdon, 2009).
Opportunity statement
The company needs implementation of a technology which removes manual dependency on the reporting managers and facilitate real-time updating of delivery status. Along with this, if a real-time system can be installed which helps driver to find out shortest route possible then the efficiency of the operations can be highly improved. The proposed solution includes installation of GPS system in all trucks and installation of PDAs for all drivers. GPS system will help in tracking and monitoring of vehicles and automatically updating the delivery status of the parcel at the head office. Installation of PDA will allow drivers to collaborate GPS to get real-time data from head office and update vehicle’s location accordingly. The company will be able to update their clients about the current status of their parcel (Baguley, 2008).
Critical assumptions and constraints
The proposed change has following key assumptions and constraints:
- All hired laborer are on permanent pay scale and no contract labor shall be introduced in the project.
- All equipment i.e. PDA installer and GPS installer shall be supplied by ABC company only and no additional equipment will be required.
- All the personnel should be trained and have required competencies to conduct assigned tasks of the project.
- Project working hours are limited to Monday to Friday from 0900 Hours to 1800 hours.
- The proposed solution shall not cover the marketing of products of the company.
- After User Acceptance Testing, any kind of upgrade shall not be considered.
- Recommendations
The management of XYZ company has undertaken the analysis of integrating the current system of the company by removing manual operations and establishing real-time connectivity of the head office with the drivers (trucks). The total budget of the proposed solution is minimal when compared with the return on investment to the business in current situation. The company has partial computerized system and partial manual operation.
On the basis of objectives mentioned above and current losses, the company recommends the PDA and GPS installation along with integration of all manual and computerized operations as an alternative solution. This solution shall reduce the initial costs and provide early Return on Investments. The proposed solution can proceed under allocated budget rather than using a capital budget
Project requirements
The key project requirements of proposed solution are as follows:
- All the backup of current computerized systems should be done before the execution phase of the project.
- The backup data should be compatible with the new integrated system and should not take more than 2 hours.
- Data of current clients should not be affected because of on-going integration process in the company. Separate human resources should be allotted for managing client’s queries(EU, 2005).
- Fortnightly status reports should be prepared by the Project manager and submitted to higher management on bi-weekly basis. The report should contain minimum of these items – summary of work completed till date, actual cost and allocated cost for that particular period, issues or conflicts raised among the project team members and next milestone to be achieved(Heerkens, 2015).
- Budget estimate and financial analysis
The proposed solution would include following costs:
|
Resource |
Hours employed |
Hourly cost |
Total cost |
|
Project manager |
10 |
$120 per hour |
$1000 |
|
PDA/GPS trainer |
5 |
$100 per hour |
$500 |
|
PDA/ GPS installation |
5 |
200/truck |
$1000 |
|
Change strategy implementation |
$2,000 (SAEO, 2015) |
||
|
|
$4,500 |
The ROI from this proposed change for the company shall be $20,000 which shall be achieved in the form of profiles through increase in business operation efficiencies.
The cost of implanting this project would be $4,500 as calculated in the table above. Thus, it can be said that the project would be profitable for the company in the long run and thus, the company would be able to achieve its objectives of lowing costs and brining positive change in the organization.
Schedule estimate
|
Task Name |
Duration |
Start |
Finish |
|
PDA/GPS Installation |
29 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Tue 13/02/18 |
|
Project initiation |
5 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Identify gaps |
5 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Identify computerized and manual operations |
4 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Tue 09/01/18 |
|
Get approval from Management |
0 days |
Wed 10/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Project planning |
10 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Wed 24/01/18 |
|
Identify scope |
4 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Tue 16/01/18 |
|
Create project schedule |
3 days |
Fri 19/01/18 |
Tue 23/01/18 |
|
Create budget |
5 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Wed 17/01/18 |
|
Create Integration process |
3 days |
Mon 22/01/18 |
Wed 24/01/18 |
|
Get approval for plan |
0 days |
Wed 24/01/18 |
Wed 24/01/18 |
|
Requirement analysis |
21 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Thu 01/02/18 |
|
Study current system |
3 days |
Thu 25/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Interview current users |
3 days |
Thu 25/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Identify and finalize requirement |
3 days |
Thu 25/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Cost benefit analysis |
2 days |
Tue 30/01/18 |
Wed 31/01/18 |
|
Create proposal |
1 day |
Thu 01/02/18 |
Thu 01/02/18 |
|
Get approval for proposal |
0 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Thu 04/01/18 |
|
Training |
5 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Create training plan |
2 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Fri 05/01/18 |
|
Finalize schedule for all drivers |
3 days |
Mon 08/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Get approval |
0 days |
Wed 10/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Vendor selection for PDA |
11 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Thu 25/01/18 |
|
Open tender |
3 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Mon 15/01/18 |
|
Create selection criteria |
2 days |
Tue 16/01/18 |
Wed 17/01/18 |
|
Select vendor |
1 day |
Thu 18/01/18 |
Thu 18/01/18 |
|
PDA installation |
5 days |
Fri 19/01/18 |
Thu 25/01/18 |
|
System implementation at head office |
2 days |
Fri 26/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Install software |
2 days |
Fri 26/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Documentation |
1 day |
Fri 26/01/18 |
Fri 26/01/18 |
|
Get approval for documentation |
0 days |
Mon 29/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Testing |
10 days |
Tue 30/01/18 |
Mon 12/02/18 |
|
Head office system testing |
3 days |
Tue 30/01/18 |
Thu 01/02/18 |
|
PDA and GPS testing |
3 days |
Fri 02/02/18 |
Tue 06/02/18 |
|
Inform vendor about bugs |
1 day |
Wed 07/02/18 |
Wed 07/02/18 |
|
Resolve bugs |
3 days |
Thu 08/02/18 |
Mon 12/02/18 |
|
Get approval for tested system |
0 days |
Mon 12/02/18 |
Mon 12/02/18 |
|
Go-Live |
1 day |
Tue 13/02/18 |
Tue 13/02/18 |
|
(Dell’Isola, 2015) |
Potential risks
|
Risk |
Probability |
Impact |
Contingency plan |
|
Cost overruns |
High |
moderate |
If expenses increase beyond the allotted budget, contingency funds may be used and even if they are not sufficient, additional approval can be taken from the Sponsor to release more funds |
|
Delays in milestone achievements |
Medium |
High |
The project management would avoid such delays by using monitoring tools such as Gantt chart and Minutes of Meetings to keep progress on track and ensure completion of deliverables as per planned schedule (Ponnappa, 2014). |
|
Deliverables quality not as per expectations |
Low |
High |
All stakeholders must be involved in the requirement gathering to ensure what quality parameters are needed project manager must then ensure to keep meeting them |
|
Scope creep |
Medium |
High |
Scope changes can be made only if that would not affect the project any severely in terms of timeline and budget. Changes that are needed can be taken additional approval for and scope changes can be made. |
|
Stakeholder Conflicts |
Medium |
Moderate |
Stakeholder meeting must be called and a discussion should be done on how to resolve conflict and arrive at a solution that is acceptable to all conflicting parties (HEALEY, 2017). |
|
Bugs in application developed |
Medium |
Medium |
Once an application is developed, a thorough testing must be performed for identification of bugs and any bugs identified must be eliminated in the next iteration to ensure production of a bug free software (OECD, 2014) |
|
Lack of understanding of requirements |
Low |
High |
Involve stakeholders in the requirement gathering and ensure after making requirements document that they are verified by stakeholders before finalizing them (GALWAY, 2004) |
|
Scheduling risk |
Low |
Moderate |
Scheduled must be tracked and the project progress monitored to keep a control over schedule and in case of delays expected, immediate actions must be taken by the project manager to avoid delays (EC, 2005) |
|
Technical Risks |
Low |
High |
Compatibility of the software and hardware must be ensured so that technical errors do not occur and in the case of discrepancies found, action must be taken to upgrade the hardware if needed |
|
Lack of human resource |
Medium |
High |
Need for resources must be estimated accurately and all resources should be made available before start and an additional budget to be kept for immediately hiring in the case of emergencies so that resources can be easily replace in case of unavailability of one and the work is not affected (Deeprose, 2002) |
Conclusion
The aim of this document was to explore the case of ABC which is a logistics company planning to expand its business by adding new fleets and enhancing its customer service by building a stronger team. The company plans to use technology for this by installing an integrated system involving PDAs for employees and GPS systems for new fleets. The project is given a budget of $4,500 and the expected rate of returns would be $20,000. The project is also likely to face some major risks that can be mitigated with the given plan such as scope variation, scheduling risks, lack of resource availability, unexpected quality of deliverables.
10. References
Baguley, P. (2008). Project management. London: Hodder Education.
Bruce, A., & Langdon, K. (2009). Project management . London: Dorling Kindersley.
Deeprose, D. (2002). Project management . Oxford, U.K.: Capstone Pub.
Dell’Isola, M. D. (2015). Strategies For Budgeting, Estimating and Managing Projects. Faithful Gould.
- (2005). Understanding and Monitoring the Cost-Determining Factors of Infrastructure Projects. EC.
- (2005). Human Resources management strategies to support organizational changes. EU.
GALWAY, L. (2004). Quantitative Risk Analysis for Project Management. Rand Corporation.
HEALEY, P. (2017). PROJECT MANAGEMENT. USA: ROUTLEDGE.
Heerkens, G. (2015). Project management . USA: Mcgraw-Hill Education.
OECD. (2014). Risk Management and Corporate Governance. OECD Publishing.
Ponnappa, G. (2014). Project Stakeholder Management. Project Management Journal, 1-3.
SAEO. (2015). Cost Estimating Manual for Projects . SAEO.
Improving Logistic Firm Operations With GPS And PDAs – XYZ Company
- December 21, 2023/ Uncategorized
Measurable Objectives
XYZ company is a 20 years old logistic firm dealing in providing delivery services of all size packets throughout Queensland. The head office of the firm is established in Sydney. XYZ aims at improving its operations and planning to scale it market reach in other cities like NSW. The key obstacle in this expansion is dealing with the scattered distribution system of the company. It aims at minimizing gap with the drivers via installation of GPS system and PDAs in every truck i.e. for every driver.
Measurable objectives
- To increase the company’s market share by 7.5% in Sydney
- To increase efficiency of company operations to reach the peak performance for the organization
- To develop a highly motivated and cohesive workforce
- To add 8 fleets to the line of trucks to be able to server more customers in the time
- To develop a new strategy for distribution which gives company more efficiency
Problem
The company does not have proper medium of communication with its drivers. Drivers get the delivery plan from their reporting managers. The delivery schedule and roadmap are prepared manually because of scattered distribution system and manual operations. Due to lack of communication medium with drivers, they usually take long distances and sometimes covered roads are wrong. Drivers have to manage their delivery schedule over calls with their respective managers at head office who keeps updating the status of deliveries as confirmed by the driver (Bruce & Langdon, 2009).
Opportunity statement
The company needs implementation of a technology which removes manual dependency on the reporting managers and facilitate real-time updating of delivery status. Along with this, if a real-time system can be installed which helps driver to find out shortest route possible then the efficiency of the operations can be highly improved. The proposed solution includes installation of GPS system in all trucks and installation of PDAs for all drivers. GPS system will help in tracking and monitoring of vehicles and automatically updating the delivery status of the parcel at the head office. Installation of PDA will allow drivers to collaborate GPS to get real-time data from head office and update vehicle’s location accordingly. The company will be able to update their clients about the current status of their parcel (Baguley, 2008).
Critical assumptions and constraints
The proposed change has following key assumptions and constraints:
- All hired laborer are on permanent pay scale and no contract labor shall be introduced in the project.
- All equipment i.e. PDA installer and GPS installer shall be supplied by ABC company only and no additional equipment will be required.
- All the personnel should be trained and have required competencies to conduct assigned tasks of the project.
- Project working hours are limited to Monday to Friday from 0900 Hours to 1800 hours.
- The proposed solution shall not cover the marketing of products of the company.
- After User Acceptance Testing, any kind of upgrade shall not be considered.
- Recommendations
The management of XYZ company has undertaken the analysis of integrating the current system of the company by removing manual operations and establishing real-time connectivity of the head office with the drivers (trucks). The total budget of the proposed solution is minimal when compared with the return on investment to the business in current situation. The company has partial computerized system and partial manual operation.
On the basis of objectives mentioned above and current losses, the company recommends the PDA and GPS installation along with integration of all manual and computerized operations as an alternative solution. This solution shall reduce the initial costs and provide early Return on Investments. The proposed solution can proceed under allocated budget rather than using a capital budget
Project requirements
The key project requirements of proposed solution are as follows:
- All the backup of current computerized systems should be done before the execution phase of the project.
- The backup data should be compatible with the new integrated system and should not take more than 2 hours.
- Data of current clients should not be affected because of on-going integration process in the company. Separate human resources should be allotted for managing client’s queries(EU, 2005).
- Fortnightly status reports should be prepared by the Project manager and submitted to higher management on bi-weekly basis. The report should contain minimum of these items – summary of work completed till date, actual cost and allocated cost for that particular period, issues or conflicts raised among the project team members and next milestone to be achieved(Heerkens, 2015).
- Budget estimate and financial analysis
The proposed solution would include following costs:
|
Resource |
Hours employed |
Hourly cost |
Total cost |
|
Project manager |
10 |
$120 per hour |
$1000 |
|
PDA/GPS trainer |
5 |
$100 per hour |
$500 |
|
PDA/ GPS installation |
5 |
200/truck |
$1000 |
|
Change strategy implementation |
$2,000 (SAEO, 2015) |
||
|
|
$4,500 |
The ROI from this proposed change for the company shall be $20,000 which shall be achieved in the form of profiles through increase in business operation efficiencies.
The cost of implanting this project would be $4,500 as calculated in the table above. Thus, it can be said that the project would be profitable for the company in the long run and thus, the company would be able to achieve its objectives of lowing costs and brining positive change in the organization.
Schedule estimate
|
Task Name |
Duration |
Start |
Finish |
|
PDA/GPS Installation |
29 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Tue 13/02/18 |
|
Project initiation |
5 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Identify gaps |
5 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Identify computerized and manual operations |
4 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Tue 09/01/18 |
|
Get approval from Management |
0 days |
Wed 10/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Project planning |
10 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Wed 24/01/18 |
|
Identify scope |
4 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Tue 16/01/18 |
|
Create project schedule |
3 days |
Fri 19/01/18 |
Tue 23/01/18 |
|
Create budget |
5 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Wed 17/01/18 |
|
Create Integration process |
3 days |
Mon 22/01/18 |
Wed 24/01/18 |
|
Get approval for plan |
0 days |
Wed 24/01/18 |
Wed 24/01/18 |
|
Requirement analysis |
21 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Thu 01/02/18 |
|
Study current system |
3 days |
Thu 25/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Interview current users |
3 days |
Thu 25/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Identify and finalize requirement |
3 days |
Thu 25/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Cost benefit analysis |
2 days |
Tue 30/01/18 |
Wed 31/01/18 |
|
Create proposal |
1 day |
Thu 01/02/18 |
Thu 01/02/18 |
|
Get approval for proposal |
0 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Thu 04/01/18 |
|
Training |
5 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Create training plan |
2 days |
Thu 04/01/18 |
Fri 05/01/18 |
|
Finalize schedule for all drivers |
3 days |
Mon 08/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Get approval |
0 days |
Wed 10/01/18 |
Wed 10/01/18 |
|
Vendor selection for PDA |
11 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Thu 25/01/18 |
|
Open tender |
3 days |
Thu 11/01/18 |
Mon 15/01/18 |
|
Create selection criteria |
2 days |
Tue 16/01/18 |
Wed 17/01/18 |
|
Select vendor |
1 day |
Thu 18/01/18 |
Thu 18/01/18 |
|
PDA installation |
5 days |
Fri 19/01/18 |
Thu 25/01/18 |
|
System implementation at head office |
2 days |
Fri 26/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Install software |
2 days |
Fri 26/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Documentation |
1 day |
Fri 26/01/18 |
Fri 26/01/18 |
|
Get approval for documentation |
0 days |
Mon 29/01/18 |
Mon 29/01/18 |
|
Testing |
10 days |
Tue 30/01/18 |
Mon 12/02/18 |
|
Head office system testing |
3 days |
Tue 30/01/18 |
Thu 01/02/18 |
|
PDA and GPS testing |
3 days |
Fri 02/02/18 |
Tue 06/02/18 |
|
Inform vendor about bugs |
1 day |
Wed 07/02/18 |
Wed 07/02/18 |
|
Resolve bugs |
3 days |
Thu 08/02/18 |
Mon 12/02/18 |
|
Get approval for tested system |
0 days |
Mon 12/02/18 |
Mon 12/02/18 |
|
Go-Live |
1 day |
Tue 13/02/18 |
Tue 13/02/18 |
|
(Dell’Isola, 2015) |
Potential risks
|
Risk |
Probability |
Impact |
Contingency plan |
|
Cost overruns |
High |
moderate |
If expenses increase beyond the allotted budget, contingency funds may be used and even if they are not sufficient, additional approval can be taken from the Sponsor to release more funds |
|
Delays in milestone achievements |
Medium |
High |
The project management would avoid such delays by using monitoring tools such as Gantt chart and Minutes of Meetings to keep progress on track and ensure completion of deliverables as per planned schedule (Ponnappa, 2014). |
|
Deliverables quality not as per expectations |
Low |
High |
All stakeholders must be involved in the requirement gathering to ensure what quality parameters are needed project manager must then ensure to keep meeting them |
|
Scope creep |
Medium |
High |
Scope changes can be made only if that would not affect the project any severely in terms of timeline and budget. Changes that are needed can be taken additional approval for and scope changes can be made. |
|
Stakeholder Conflicts |
Medium |
Moderate |
Stakeholder meeting must be called and a discussion should be done on how to resolve conflict and arrive at a solution that is acceptable to all conflicting parties (HEALEY, 2017). |
|
Bugs in application developed |
Medium |
Medium |
Once an application is developed, a thorough testing must be performed for identification of bugs and any bugs identified must be eliminated in the next iteration to ensure production of a bug free software (OECD, 2014) |
|
Lack of understanding of requirements |
Low |
High |
Involve stakeholders in the requirement gathering and ensure after making requirements document that they are verified by stakeholders before finalizing them (GALWAY, 2004) |
|
Scheduling risk |
Low |
Moderate |
Scheduled must be tracked and the project progress monitored to keep a control over schedule and in case of delays expected, immediate actions must be taken by the project manager to avoid delays (EC, 2005) |
|
Technical Risks |
Low |
High |
Compatibility of the software and hardware must be ensured so that technical errors do not occur and in the case of discrepancies found, action must be taken to upgrade the hardware if needed |
|
Lack of human resource |
Medium |
High |
Need for resources must be estimated accurately and all resources should be made available before start and an additional budget to be kept for immediately hiring in the case of emergencies so that resources can be easily replace in case of unavailability of one and the work is not affected (Deeprose, 2002) |
Conclusion
The aim of this document was to explore the case of ABC which is a logistics company planning to expand its business by adding new fleets and enhancing its customer service by building a stronger team. The company plans to use technology for this by installing an integrated system involving PDAs for employees and GPS systems for new fleets. The project is given a budget of $4,500 and the expected rate of returns would be $20,000. The project is also likely to face some major risks that can be mitigated with the given plan such as scope variation, scheduling risks, lack of resource availability, unexpected quality of deliverables.
10. References
Baguley, P. (2008). Project management. London: Hodder Education.
Bruce, A., & Langdon, K. (2009). Project management . London: Dorling Kindersley.
Deeprose, D. (2002). Project management . Oxford, U.K.: Capstone Pub.
Dell’Isola, M. D. (2015). Strategies For Budgeting, Estimating and Managing Projects. Faithful Gould.
- (2005). Understanding and Monitoring the Cost-Determining Factors of Infrastructure Projects. EC.
- (2005). Human Resources management strategies to support organizational changes. EU.
GALWAY, L. (2004). Quantitative Risk Analysis for Project Management. Rand Corporation.
HEALEY, P. (2017). PROJECT MANAGEMENT. USA: ROUTLEDGE.
Heerkens, G. (2015). Project management . USA: Mcgraw-Hill Education.
OECD. (2014). Risk Management and Corporate Governance. OECD Publishing.
Ponnappa, G. (2014). Project Stakeholder Management. Project Management Journal, 1-3.
SAEO. (2015). Cost Estimating Manual for Projects . SAEO.
