Winsome Manufacturing Company is introducing a new large plastic storage unit for outdoor home use. The product will require participation from multiple departments including design, production, purchasing, shipping, sales and marketing. A preliminary project initiation meeting will identify key project roles and create a project charter. The manager asks for a report to help prepare, answering questions about stakeholders, sponsor, manager selection, communication plan, project charter elements, and risks.

1. APA style
4 pages
Description:
Winsome Manufacturing Company produces plastic storage
containers and sells them to the home consumer through home
sales events. At the company’s quarterly
meeting, the head of marketing described a new product to be
introduced in the first quarter of the next fiscal year,
approximately 9 months from now. The product will
be a roomsized
plastic storage unit suitable to the outside of the home; it is
similar to a competitor’s product but will have significantly
more features. This product will
open new markets for the sales channel, lay the foundation for
add-on products, and generate new revenues. Management has
only seen preliminary sketches of the
potential product but are very excited by the new product.
The project will require participation from the design,
production, purchasing, shipping, sales, and marketing
departments. Winsome Manufacturing owns a line of
suitable injection molds, so all manufacturing will be done in-
house. The project manager for this project has not yet been
selected, but that decision is expected to be
made in the next week.
A preliminary project initiation meeting will result in the
identification of the project sponsor, selection of a project
manager, and creation of the project charter. A
manager in the production department who knows you are
taking a college project management course asks you to prepare
a brief report to help him prepare for the
meeting by answering the following questions:
Who are the project stakeholders? How will they be involved in
the project?

2. Who should be the project sponsor? Why?
From which department should the project manager come?
Why?
What skills and experience are likely needed by the project
manager for each phase in the project life cycle, and how do
they differ between the various phases?
What type of communication plan will likely be needed during
the project?
What information should be shared with the project
stakeholders?
What is the mechanism that could be used for each type of
information?
What is the frequency with which information should be shared?
What should be done if project communications are not proving
to be effective?
What technology could be used for project communications?
At what point could communication about the project become an
ethical or legal issue?
What information should be included in the following elements
of the project charter:
What is the problem the project proposes to address?
What business opportunity might project completion create?
What information should be included in the following elements
of the project charter:
What is the problem the project proposes to address?
What business opportunity might project completion create?
What is the business case for undertaking the project?
What is the financial impact of the project?
What are the expected results of the project?
What value will the project add?
What are risks that might be involved with undertaking the
project?
What is the potential impact to the company if the project is not
undertaken?