Developing A New Smartphone For Apple Inc. â€“ Project Plan

Project Scope Statement

The purpose of the project is development of a new product for the company named Apple Inc. Apple Inc. will launch a new smart company in order to compete with the new products developed by the competitors in the market.

Apple Inc. is the one of global giants in the technological industry and is the market leader in terms of revenue generation and market share. Apple Inc. has developed their own market segment but the major global competitors have developed popular products that are grabbing the attention of the market competitors (Apple, 2018). Therefore, this is a counter strategy for Apple Inc. to develop a new smart phone that will belong to the same target segment as the other products so that they can generate the lost revenue and consumers due to the new products in the market.

According to Kerzner and Kerzner, (2017), the project scope statement is an instrument for describing the key milestones and the major deliverables of the project. It will also determine the different constraints, assumptions and requirements in a project. The project will develop a new Smartphone with advanced features for competing with the rival companies. This will consist of developing a project plan for developing and launching the product in the market.

Project Objectives

Developing a Smartphone with the latest features
Testing the product for reviews
Marketing the product effectively
Launching the product

Project Assumptions

The stakeholders and the sponsors have authorized this project
The purpose of the project has been communicated to all internal stakeholders including the different departments
Additional budget allocation will have to be initially consulted with the board and the CEO

Project constraint

The restrictions and limitations that the project stakeholders have to deal with are the project constraint. There are other products that will have to be developed simultaneously so budget and time is a constraint for the project.

Chow, Woodford and Lambe, (2014) states, the expected output in a project is known as the project deliverables. The specific outcomes in each of the stages of the project have to be defined to understand the project scope creep. The project deliverables in this project are described below:

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Smartphone Development for Apple Inc.	262 days	Fri 4/27/18	Mon 4/29/19
1.0 Product Requirement	23 days	Fri 4/27/18	Tue 5/29/18
2.0 Product Development phase	81 days	Wed 5/30/18	Wed 9/19/18
3.0 Final product Development Stage	46 days	Thu 9/20/18	Thu 11/22/18
4.0 Testing phase	42 days	Fri 11/23/18	Mon 1/21/19
5.0 Product launch	70 days	Tue 1/22/19	Mon 4/29/19

Table 1

According to Heumann et al., (2015), the events having a nil duration and marks the progress of the project across the timeline is known as project milestone. The management of the project deliverables can be executed n a better way by identifying the key milestone in each stage of the project. The milestones in this project are listed below:

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
1.6 Milestone 1: Product specification developed	0 days	Tue 5/29/18	Tue 5/29/18
2.8 Milestone 2: Initial product Developed	0 days	Wed 9/19/18	Wed 9/19/18
3.4 Milestone 3: Final product Developed	0 days	Thu 11/22/18	Thu 11/22/18
4.4 Milestone 4: Testing phase completed	0 days	Mon 1/21/19	Mon 1/21/19
5.3 Milestone 5: Product launched	0 days	Mon 4/29/19	Mon 4/29/19

Table 2

The project schedule describes in depth the different task that have to be performed and their scheduled baseline start and finish dates. This will enable to understand the allocated time for each task and phase along with the buffer time for each of the task (Wang et al., 2014). The project schedule for the current project is described below which shows that the overall time span is 262 days and the project timeline starts at 27^th April, 2018 and ends at 29^th April, 2019.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Smartphone Development for Apple Inc.	262 days	Fri 4/27/18	Mon 4/29/19
1.0 Product Requirement	23 days	Fri 4/27/18	Tue 5/29/18
1.1 identification of product requirement	15 days	Fri 4/27/18	Thu 5/17/18
1.2 Discuss product requirements with the stakeholders	2 days	Fri 5/18/18	Mon 5/21/18
1.3 Make necessary Changes	2 days	Tue 5/22/18	Wed 5/23/18
1.4 Develop the product specification document	3 days	Thu 5/24/18	Mon 5/28/18
1.5 Deploy the product Document	1 day	Tue 5/29/18	Tue 5/29/18
1.6 Milestone 1: Product specification developed	0 days	Tue 5/29/18	Tue 5/29/18
2.0 Product Development phase	81 days	Wed 5/30/18	Wed 9/19/18
2.1 Identify the product software requirements	10 days	Wed 5/30/18	Tue 6/12/18
2.2 Identify the product hardware development requirements	15 days	Wed 5/30/18	Tue 6/19/18
2.3 Integrating the product requirements	30 days	Wed 6/20/18	Tue 7/31/18
2.4 Developing the basic Model	30 days	Wed 8/1/18	Tue 9/11/18
2.5 Discuss with the stakeholders	3 days	Wed 9/12/18	Fri 9/14/18
2.6 Document the Modifications required	2 days	Mon 9/17/18	Tue 9/18/18
2.7 Sent for Approval	1 day	Wed 9/19/18	Wed 9/19/18
2.8 Milestone 2: Initial product Developed	0 days	Wed 9/19/18	Wed 9/19/18
3.0 Final product Development Stage	46 days	Thu 9/20/18	Thu 11/22/18
3.1 Make the necessary Changes	35 days	Thu 9/20/18	Wed 11/7/18
3.2 Develop the final product	45 days	Thu 9/20/18	Wed 11/21/18
3.3 Sent for testing	1 day	Thu 11/22/18	Thu 11/22/18
3.4 Milestone 3: Final product Developed	0 days	Thu 11/22/18	Thu 11/22/18
4.0 Testing phase	42 days	Fri 11/23/18	Mon 1/21/19
4.1 Product distributed among employees and selected premium consumers	30 days	Fri 11/23/18	Thu 1/3/19
4.2 Take Feedback	5 days	Fri 1/4/19	Thu 1/10/19
4.3 Make necessary changes	7 days	Fri 1/11/19	Mon 1/21/19
4.4 Milestone 4: Testing phase completed	0 days	Mon 1/21/19	Mon 1/21/19
5.0 Product launch	70 days	Tue 1/22/19	Mon 4/29/19
5.1 Develop the marketing campaign	20 days	Tue 1/22/19	Mon 2/18/19
5.2 Promote Product	50 days	Tue 2/19/19	Mon 4/29/19
5.3 Milestone 5: Product launched	0 days	Mon 4/29/19	Mon 4/29/19

Project Objectives

Table 3

The majority of the tasks in the project are critical tasks except two tasks that are non critical. They are identification of the software requirements and making the necessary changes in the final product stages. These tasks have slack time of 5 days and 10 days so that the resources allocation can be reduced as changing resources and time will not have any effect on the overall cost and time span of the project.

The project budget will consist of the overall budget of the project along the cost of completing each of the tasks and deliverables. The project budget for developing a new Smartphone for Apple is as follows:

Task Name	Resource Names	Cost
Smartphone Development for Apple Inc.		$266,480.00
1.0 Product Requirement		$31,080.00
1.1 Identification of product requirement	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Project Manager, Software developer	$19,800.00
1.2 Discuss product requirements with the stakeholders	CEO, Finance manager, Human resource Manager, Marketing manager, Project Manager	$8,480.00
1.3 Make necessary Changes	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Software developer	$1,040.00
1.4 Develop the product specification document	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Software developer	$1,560.00
1.5 Deploy the product Document	Instrumentation engineer	$200.00
1.6 Milestone 1: Product specification developed		$0.00
2.0 Product Development phase		$77,960.00
2.1 Identify the product software requirements	Software developer	$1,200.00
2.2 Identify the product hardware development requirements	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer	$6,000.00
2.3 Integrating the product requirements	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Software developer	$15,600.00
2.4 Developing the basic Model	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Project Manager, Software developer	$39,600.00
2.5 Discuss with the stakeholders	CEO, Finance manager, Human resource Manager, Marketing manager, Project Manager	$12,720.00
2.6 Document the Modifications required	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Project Manager, Software developer	$2,640.00
2.7 Sent for Approval	Electronics and Communication engineer	$200.00
2.8 Milestone 2: Initial product Developed		$0.00
3.0 Final product Development Stage		$42,400.00
3.1 Make the necessary Changes	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Software developer	$18,200.00
3.2 Develop the final product	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Software developer	$23,400.00
3.3 Sent for testing	Project Manager	$800.00
3.4 Milestone 3: Final product Developed		$0.00
4.0 Testing phase		$46,240.00
4.1 Product distributed among employees and selected premium consumers	Human resource Manager, Project Manager	$36,000.00
4.2 Take Feedback	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Project Manager, Software developer	$6,600.00
4.3 Make necessary changes	Electronics and Communication engineer, Instrumentation engineer, Software developer	$3,640.00
4.4 Milestone 4: Testing phase completed		$0.00
5.0 Product launch		$68,800.00
5.1 Develop the marketing campaign	Finance manager, Marketing manager	$28,800.00
5.2 Promote Product	Marketing manager	$40,000.00
5.3 Milestone 5: Product launched		$0.00

Table 4

The resource table describes the different internal stakeholders and team members executing the project. The resource table describes the overall working time period, working hours and the overall cost on these resources. The resource table for the current project are as follows:

Name	Cost	Start	Finish	Remaining Work
Project Manager	$70,400.00	Fri 4/27/18	Thu 1/10/19	704 hrs
Software developer	$22,080.00	Fri 4/27/18	Mon 1/21/19	1,472 hrs
Instrumentation engineer	$38,000.00	Fri 4/27/18	Mon 1/21/19	1,520 hrs
Electronics and Communication engineer	$38,000.00	Fri 4/27/18	Mon 1/21/19	1,520 hrs
Human resource Manager	$14,000.00	Fri 5/18/18	Thu 1/3/19	280 hrs
Finance manager	$16,000.00	Fri 5/18/18	Mon 2/18/19	200 hrs
CEO	$8,000.00	Fri 5/18/18	Fri 9/14/18	40 hrs
Marketing manager	$60,000.00	Fri 5/18/18	Mon 4/29/19	600 hrs

Table 5

Quality plan

Policy/Directive/Standard/etc	Reference	Comment
Benchmarking	Scope Creep	The project team will have to set their benchmarks regarding the project scope creep so that standard baselines can be set for all aspects. This will enable them to monitor and identify deviation easily and take necessary actions.
Cost benefit analysis	Project management plan	The cost benefits analysis of the benefits and cost of developing the product and the return on the investment. This will enable the organization to control the budget for gaining profit.
Cost of quality	Quality metrics	The project team will develop quality metrics for benchmarking.
Communication plan	Meetings	Communication plan will develop better team performance due to the increase in team bonding and awareness about each other’s role and project status.

Table 6

Risk register

Type of risk	Risk Description	Probability	Impact	Risk reduction Strategy	Contingency Plan
		High	Medium	Low	Performance	Cost	Time
External	Time delay in receiving the components		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	The project team will have to establish a better communication plan with the supplies and distributors.	The project team will have to set a buffer time to compensate the delay and should always manage inventory in a better way. This will consist of identifying the components that are used more frequently than the others to manage stocks.
External	Unexpected Issue		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	This is an unexpected issue which may occur at any phase and can affect any of the areas consisting of time, cost and performance	The project manager should develop an effective risk register for identifying the possible factors that may affect the project.
Internal	Change in product specifications	Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes	The project team should look for changes at the initial phases of the project and the product specifications will have to be confirmed before going on with the final product development phase	The project team should use agile methodology instead of waterfall model for developing the product specifications are not clear. This will enable them to develop a flexible product at each stage of the project and new features can be added at every stage
Internal	Time delay in testing phase		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	In to save time in the testing phase the project team should constantly monitor the use of the new Smartphone by the employees and consumers to understand the level of scope creep.	The project team should set excess buffer time for compensating for any delay.

Table 7

Conclusion

The report has developed an effective project management plan where the project scope has been described in detail. The Gantt chart shows the critical and non critical tasks in the project where it has been seen that majority of the tasks are critical tasks. The risk register and the quality plan have also been developed and the project of developing a new competitive product in the market would be successful based on the report generated.

References and Bibliography

Apple. (2018). Business. Apple. Retrieved 28 April 2018, from https://www.apple.com/business/

Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Chow, A. F., Woodford, K. C., & Lambe, N. (2014). Using project deliverables and project management for timely completion of student projects. Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences, 5(3), 323.

Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management. Project Management Institute.

Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge.

Heagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

Heumann, J., Wiener, M., Remus, U., & Mähring, M. (2015). To coerce or to enable? Exercising formal control in a large information systems project. Journal of information technology, 30(4), 337-351.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Taylor & Francis.

Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Wang, W. C., Weng, S. W., Wang, S. H., & Chen, C. Y. (2014). Integrating building information models with construction process simulations for project scheduling support. Automation in construction, 37, 68-80.

Turn in your highest-quality paper
Get a qualified writer to help you with

“ Developing A New Smartphone For Apple Inc. â€“ Project Plan ”

Get high-quality paper

NEW! AI matching with writer

Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:

Turnitin Report

Formatting

Title Page

Citation

Outline

Place an Order