The document outlines a 5-phase project schedule to develop and launch a new product. Phase 1 involves market research including surveys, analysis, and determining competitors. Phase 2 is product design with researching design options, evaluation, and selection. Phase 3 is product development including costing and prototype testing. Phase 4 is marketing with production, testing, and choosing a production plan. Phase 5 is project management including choosing a marketing strategy, creating a marketing plan, data collection, choosing a target market, and advertising. Each phase has defined activities and deliverables.
1. Project Schedule
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Set-up of Microsoft Project
The project that will be set up by the entire team will be the
creation of the entire project schedule that will play a pivotal
role in the sake of a new product in the market. The project
schedule will focus on the CRM implementation, marketing
program and training. The name of the project would be the
SPM Project Schedule and will be handled by two departments
namely the Marketing and the Information Technology
departments.
The SPM Project Schedule will be in two parts. One is the
sales and training program in which the objectives of the sales
training will be determined. In addition, there would be the
determination of then various activities that the sales training
program will entails including Identifying focus group targets,
Preparing focus group objectives, Performing focus group,
Performing survey, Performance analysis, Creating market
research findings and Review market research findings among
other tasks (Norman, Brotherton & Fried, 2008). .
2. The second part would involve the creation or the preparation
of the work breakdown structure given the fact that it is the
epitome of the entire project schedule and as such, it musts be
prepared to offer direction on how the various tasks and
activities in the schedule will be conducted on the time frame
that the same will be completed and by who. The work
breakdown structure will be the representation of the
hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the
two project teams. It should be noted that it is a work
breakdown structure that will determine the phases of the
project schedule (Haugan, 2002). The development of the sales
and training program will be by an individual while the work
breakdown structure will be developed by the entire project
team.
Phases
There will be five crucial phases of the entire project
Schedule to address the marketability and salability of the new
product which forms the reason for the project scheduling
(Dyché, 2001).
new product
market research
product design
product development
marketing
3. project management
design
bill of
production design
marketing strategy
focus group
research
materials
production testing
marketing plan
surveys
evaluation
initial prototype
production QA
marketing collateral
research analysis
design
prototype testing
design
brochures
5. selection
Phase 1: Market research
Under phase one of the project schedules, focus will be on
finding out what the customers want and how their needs can
be satisfied (Robinson, 1959). The market Research phase of the
project schedule will have different variables namely survey
conduction, research analysis, and market research analysis.
The first variable which is conduction of the survey will aim at
highlighting the focus group surveys to ascertain what the
project team members deliberated on and what they agreed to do
tackle in order of hierarchy. In a addition, the section will cover
the various meeting and forums by the project team meant to
address the various project activities such the deliberation on
which member will handle the different tasks that a will be
necessary to the implementation of the project.
The second variable, Research analysis will cover the
various researches conducted by the project team in efforts to
having an understating of the goals and missions of the project
schedule and the technicalities that need to be addressed before
the rolling out of the project activities of the product at hand
(Robinson, 1959). The research analysis would include
6. archiving of information from the database as well as reviewing
literature sources about the product and how to better
introduced into the market.
The last deliverable under Phase one is the Market research
analysis. Here, the three will be an analysis of the market in
terms of the scalability of the new product. The focus will be on
determine the level of competition and how best to wade the
competition. Issue such as pricing strategies will be addressed
(Robinson, 1959).
Phase 2: Product design
The second phase of the project schedule will entails the
designing of the product having known the needs of the
customer are known to the marketer then they start working on
the commodity the market wants. Under product design, the
following activities or deliverables will be carried out
Firstly is Researching on the design product. The project team
will have to do a thorough research on the design of the
product, and this will include the shape, the fill of the texture,
the color, size. These will ensure that the product that goes into
the market is the one the target consumers are in need of and
willing to buy.
The second deliverable is Design evaluation. It will look at the
various designs of the product thereafter relate it to the market
gap in terms of product design? The result of the step will be a
culmination into a single design the suits the target market.
Finally, under the second phase of the project schedule, we will
have the Design selection section where the team will have to
select from the available designs the best one to be worked on
so that it can be fine-tuned into a unique product before going
into the market
Phase 3: Product development
Given the fact that under the third phase of the project schedule
the research is already done and the marketer has made a
7. decision on which design of the product they will match, there
will be various activities the following activities will be carried
out including product costing, creating of a prototype and
Prototype testing
Phase 4: Marketing
Having now designed the product after a tedious production
state or design state, the designer or marketer of the product has
the huge task of introducing this product into market through
the following activities will be carried out to complete the
phase; a) Design production, b) Production testing and c)
Choosing a production plan.
Phase 5: Project management-
It is the last phase of whole project scheduling process. The
commodity is ready to be sold. At this last step, the following
activities will have to be completed
a) Choosing a marketing strategy- the entire project team must
identify the type of strategy the will be used in marketing the
product.
b) Creating a marketing plan
The project team will have to identify the target market, a
unique selling proposition, pricing and positioning strategy,
distribution plan, and the marketing offers for the new product.
In addition, there will be the situational analysis of the marketer
(producer of the product) to identify the weaknesses, strengths,
threats and opportunities, organizational competitive analysis
and the financial projections of the company.
c) Data collection - The methods that will be used in collecting
data about the market include the surveys and archives and
interviews among different stakeholders.
d) Choosing a target market- The team will have to ensure that
the target market for a new product is diverse including
adolescents and adults so that the size of the market is huge.
Another aspect if then target market is that the product should
be affordable to the target consumers meaning that there must
8. be pricing strategies that are well within the consenter’s reach.
Additionally, the product design must a true reflection of the
marketers’ or company’s image so that the consumers can keep,
loyalty to other products by the same marketer.
e) Advertising of the product
The marketer will have to place advertisements on social media
platforms such as Facebook pages, developing a brochure to be
distributed to leading institutions and clients, becoming an
active member of a number of business associations, networking
with the local business community, and developing small
business workshops and seminars (Kourdi, 2009).
f) Making commercial about the product
There will be short documentary of the product featuring the
features, usage, durability and the functioning of the new
product both in audio and video formats so that it reaches a
wider market audience and consumer (Kourdi, 2009).
Milestones
The project will face challenges in its implementation just like
any other project would do (Grünewälder, 2008). The following
are the overall milestones in the face of the project scheduling;
1. Competition from similar providers who have been long in
existence
1. Other companies or developers may seek patents or have
already received pending patents on similar technology
(Reuters, 2014)
1. Legality of operations by regulating and governing bodies
1. A demonstration of the limitation in the area of product
innovation
1. Inadequate manufacturing and testing capabilities
Group Project
Project Resource
Computers were all in place for the IT
Printed Questionnaires for the survey
Installed writing Boards in the classroom
Screens installed in various palaces
9. A generator as an alternative source of energy
Designers (3)
Electrical Engineer (1)
Sales Specialists (4)
IT Guru (3)
Trainees (10)
Human Resource and Skills
Human Resource
Skills
Sales Person
avid goal setters
Persistence
Ability to listen, take notes and summarizes client needs
Formulation of quality questions
Passionate about tasks
Enthusiastic even in difficult times
Take responsibility of their actions
Time conscious
Prioritize customer satisfaction
Ability to travel to various locations
IT Specialist
Project monitoring experience.
Business case procedure knowledge, an IT related qualification
Extensive experience of building confidence, engaging and
negotiating with stakeholders of all levels
Demonstrative innovative and strategic thinking
Considerable and recent experience of corporate and business
planning
Experience of successful project management and of leading,
introducing and managing major change programs
Ability to make informed analysis, interpretation, comparisons
and judgments upon a range of strategic and complex issues
when leading and taking forward the business plan
Standard keyboard use and able to use MS computer packages,
skills obtained through practice and necessary to carry out the
post effectively
10. Experience related to knowledge management, Advocacy work,
e-learning tools and/or online network management
Creative response to opportunities in projects with integrated
media and advocacy plans and actions
Good understanding of messaging and public positioning
General knowledge of communication and development issues
Activity guide
Day
Activity
1
classes will officially start with the introduction of the topic
sales 2) the two teams will be put into one group and randomly
divided into small groups and each given a responsibility
2
going to the market 2) filling of questionnaires as a survey will
be taken
3
data collection on the needs of the customer and presentation of
the collected data
4
choosing the product to deal in and product design
5
evaluation of the product design
6
documentation of the collected information
7
design selection
11. 8
product development
9
product testing
10
creating a marketing strategy
11
coming up with a marketing plan
12
market research on product promotion
13
sales promotion of the product
14
advertising of the product to introduce it into the market and
notify customers of its availability
15
review of the product and the marketing plans and choosing the
target market for the product
Combined Project Plan
TASK TARGET
COMPLETION DATE
Phase I
1. Schedule Submission
1day
2. Schedule Approval
12. 10 days
3. Pilot Testing of Time 1 Field Survey Completed
20 days
4. Pilot Testing of Market Survey Completed
2days
Informational meetings with Out-of-State HR Directors
Completed; 3dyas
Sample contact information obtained
4days
Phase II
6. Mail administration of Time 1 Field Survey
3days
7. Mail administration of Market Field Survey
2days
8. Participant reminders sent
1day
Phase III
9. Data coding and cleaning - Time 1 Field Survey
2days
10. Data coding and cleaning – Market Field Survey
2days
11. Data Analysis of Time 1 Field Survey and Market Research
Survey 2days
Phase IV
12. Pilot testing of Time 2 Field Survey completed
5days
13. Write up and submit Retiree Survey findings to Project
Manager and Human Resource
1day
14. Mail administration of Time 2 Field Survey
5days
15. Archival data on employee status obtained from
organizational records 5days
16. Data coding and cleaning – Time 2 Field Survey and
archival data 7days
17. Data analysis of combined wave Field Surveys
13. 2days
Phase V
18. Write up Field Survey findings and submit to Conference
5days
19. Write up executive summary; present results to
organization; submit 5days
20. Summary to Project Manager
5days
Reference
Dyché, J. (2001). The CRM handbook. Harlow: Addison-
Wesley.
Grünewälder, A. (2008). Implementing CRM systems:
Approaches and potential problems. München: GRIN Verlag
GmbH.
Haugan, G. T. (2002). Effective work breakdown structures.
Vienna, Va: Management Concepts.
Kourdi, J. (2009). Business strategy: A guide to taking your
business forward. London, Eng: Economist in association with
Profile Books.
Norman, E. S., Brotherton, S. A., & Fried, R. T. (2008). Work
breakdown structures: The foundation for project management
excellence. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Robinson, E A. G. (1959) The Structure of Competitive
Industry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
