Task 4
Task 4 SWOT Analysis
Now write a SWOT Analysis for the business you have chosen. To do this use all the information you have prepared so far. This includes:
? What you really know about the business and its location, competitors, etc. ? Your estimate of its financial situation.
? The information contained in your customer profile and the ideas in your focus group
report.
? Anything else that you think is a realistic assessment of the context for the business.
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Guide to Task 5
After gathering all the information about the business, and deciding on the objectives of our project, we have now reached the stage when we can plan in detail all the things we will have to do to reach those objectives. In other words, we need to plan the activities.
Let us take part of a project and see how this can be done. Suppose you have decided to improve your shop by installing new shelves that are more flexible and can hold more goods. The first thing to do is to write a list of all the stages that you have to go through, all the things that need to be done. ? ? ? ?
Your first list might look like this: Design the new shelves Order the new shelves
Accept delivery of the new shelves Install the new shelves
Then you think about your existing stock and shelves and write another little list: ? Take old stock from shelves ? Move old stock to store
? Remove old shelves
? Move old stock back from store ? Fill new shelves
Then you think that because the new shelves can hold more goods on display you will need to get some new goods: ? Order new goods
? Accept delivery of the new goods ? Fill new shelves
When you look at these things carefully, you will notice that some of the activities can only be done when others have been completed, and that these connections run between the lists. You then have to work out which activities absolutely depend on other activities being completed and which can be happening at the same time.
As you identify these important sequences, you are doing what is called a critical path analysis. This will help you plan what you are going to do so that the essential things
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are done in the right sequence.
Don’t forget to include things such as getting official permissions or certificates if they are necessary for your project. The final stage of this bit of planning will be to see how long each bit of activity will take and then arrange your chart to fit along a time-scale. This will show when each of the activities will happen and how long each should take from beginning to end of the project.
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Task 5
Task 5 Action Plan
? List all the things that will have to be done in order to carry out your business project.
To do this, start at the beginning and list everything in a logical sequence. What has to be done first, then what, and so on? You may find that there is more than one set of tasks. ? Put each set of tasks as a simple flow chart, with each task in a separate box. Do this directly on paper at this stage.
? Looking at your flow chart, decide which tasks MUST be done before others and which can be done independently. Now combine your flow charts into a single one.
? Now work out how long each task will take. This will enable you to work out how long the project will take.
? Now, starting at the end of the project and working backwards, you can decide when each activity will take place.
? Add these times to your flow chart, and you should produce a chart. ? Write an Action Plan for your project.
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Guide to Task 6
Once we know what activities we have to do, who will do them and how long it will take to do them, we are ready to begin to work out what the project will cost.
Costs can be divided into four kinds: ? Costs of materials and equipment
For example, if your project involved redecorating your office you would include here the costs of the paint and the paint brushes, etc.
It might also include the cost of renting any equipment which you don’t want to buy and keep, such as a ladder to reach the ceiling. In a different project you might have to include the costs of things like postage and telephone charges.
? Costs of time and labor
Here you will include what you have to pay other people who do work for you, like the people who do the painting of your office. Such people often charge by the hour, so you will need to know how many hours it will take them to do the job. Any other services you have to pay for will be included here.
? Costs of finance
These costs might include the interest you will pay the bank if you have to borrow money to carry out the project. They might also include the value of any earnings that you may lost in order to carry out the project. So if you cannot do your own job while your office is being repainted, you would have to include the amount of money you would earn if you didn’t stop working for that time.
? Contingency allowance
Contingency allowance is a sum of money you set aside to pay for anything that you might not have thought of, or have estimated wrongly. For example, if you had estimated that the painter would need two days to do his job, but because the job turned out to be more complicated than expected he actually took three days, you would have to find the money to pay him for an extra day. Contingency costs are usually estimated as a percentage of the total of all the other costs. Depending on how complex the project is, you might use 5%, 10% or even 15% as the figure to put into your costing. Carrying out the risk analysis will help you decide how much you need to allow for contingencies.
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