Assignment

Purpose:

Students will create a Project Charter, which contributes to the success of a project by summarizing the key points of the project. The charter communicates critical success factors such as the purpose of the project, who is involved in the project, the timeframe of the project, costs, resources needed, and how the project benefits the organization.

Instructions:

This assignment is the first of three assignments. Students will read a case study related to business process improvement. In completing the assignment, students will analyze the case study scenario and apply the concepts learned in weeks 1 - 4 by answering a series of questions.

In completing the assignment, students will answer the questions in narrative form and will follow the steps provided below.

Step 1: Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product will be between 7-8 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page.

Step 2: Review the grading rubric for the assignment.

Step 3: Follow this format:

• Title page with title, your name, the course, the instructor's name;
• Introduction;
• Body, in paragraph form using the following section headings:
• Summary paragraph

Step 4: In writing a case study, the writing is in the third person. What this means is that there are no words such as "I, me, my, we, or us" (first person writing), nor is there use of "you or your" (second person writing). If uncertain how to write in the third person.

Step 5: In writing this assignment, students are asked to support the reasoning using in-text citations and a reference list. A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa. View the sample APA paper under Week 1 content

Step 6: In writing this assignment, students are expected to paraphrase and not use direct quotes.

Step 7: Read critically and analyze the scenario provided below:

Mason Williams was a truck driver for the Driving Force carrying company. His route usually consists of the East Coast from Florida to New Hampshire. Mason as do most of the drivers, travels alone in the truck. One of Williams many customers is Dried Goods Limited, a long standing customer of Driving Force. The company has a rule that drivers are not to load or unload the transported goods. However, this rule has been honored in the breech (ignored) when it comes to Dried Goods limited and two other companies. In the last two years, the companies have begun to expect that drivers help load and unload goods. The schedulers in the company are becoming frustrated because drivers like Mason are beginning to be late for pickup and delivery times. Complaints are becoming more frequent and business is being lost. To complicate the problem the sales force is experiencing a request from many new companies for the "extra service" that Driving Force provides to its customers.

Step 8: Write down or highlight key facts from the scenario. Consider making an outline to capture key points in the paper.

Step 9: Use the following headings for the team charter:

• Background
• Scope
• Objectives
• Governance
• Schedule
• Budget
• Assumptions, Constraints, Risks and Dependencies

Step 10: Watch How to Create a Team Charter

Step 11: Now that you have created the Team Charter, you will discuss, the discuss and analyze the process using the following format:

• Introduction.
• Header: Process Issue

- Identify the process issue illustrated in the scenario.

• Header: Analysis: Current Process

- Analyze the current state of the process using a flow chart identifying areas for improvement;

• Header: Determining the Needs of the Project

- Determine the needs of the project using the flow chart and other tools. Identify the KPI factors in the project including business goals and stakeholders needs;

• Header: Project Team Selection

- Select the project team for the process project using team tools including a discussion of cross-functional vs. other team selection methods. Identify the persons who should be included in the team. If that means creating a fictitious person and job to be part of the team do so. Explain in detail the reasons for how you populated your team using the material. It should ultimately use a cross-functional team including the drivers; sales; and schedulers;

• Header: Team Charter

- Create a charter for the group. Use the template Students should address the goals of the project, how they will be accomplished, and who will do what in getting the goals accomplished. The organizational plan should also include time frames and deadline as well as completion dates. In an addendum explain why and how you made the decisions.

Step 12: Create the introductory paragraph. The introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper but is typically written after writing the body of the paper (Questions students responded to above). View this website to learn how to write an introductory paragraph.

Step 13: Write a summary paragraph. A summary paragraph restates the main idea(s) of the essay. Make sure to leave a reader with a sense that the essay is complete. The summary paragraph is the last paragraph of a paper.

Step 14: Using the grading rubric as a comparison, read through the paper to ensure all required elements are presented.

Step 15: Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.

• Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a first measure;
• Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;
• Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4-6 areas that may need improvement.