EBTH Global Project 2020-21

Project Management Report to roll out EBTH Business in UK and Europe - Phase I

By:
Selma Nanaani
Stefano Massetto
Javed Mohammad

For:
Dr. Laden Husamaldin
Senior Lecturer Information Systems and Project Management

28 March 2020
Table of Contents

Background............................................................................................................................................3

Rationale for Project Methodology.......................................................................................................6

Rationale for Project Specification.........................................................................................................8

Project Specifications.............................................................................................................................9

Rationale for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).................................................................................11

Work Breakdown Structure.................................................................................................................13

Budget and Cost Estimate....................................................................................................................22

Rationale for Stakeholders Engagement:.............................................................................................25

Power-interest matrix for stakeholders:..............................................................................................26

Key skills for EBTH Project....................................................................................................................28

Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................31

References...........................................................................................................................................32

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
Background

1. History and introduction

Everything but the House (EBTH), co-founded in 2008 by Denny and Brian Graves as an online estate
auction business in Cincinnati, USA. Within a short span of 9 years by 2017 it was valued at USD 215
million (Coolidge, 2020) with annual sales reaching a respectable USD 90 million. It was also declared
Ohio’s most valuable start-up operating in 27 markets within 22 states in the United States (Maddox,
2017). It then saw its market-share decline and revenues plummeted. In 2018, it had undergone
major restructuring and management change and Scott Griffith was appointed the CEO further
slashing 21 of the 27 markets. In August 2019, EBTH was purchased by its original founders Brian
Graves and Jacqui Denny along with a syndicate of investors for USD 3.5 million. It was USD 7.5
million in debt at the time (Brownfield, 2019). EBTH has been the centre of attention since, in the
local press and media from being an entrepreneurial marvel to a company that seems to have lost
direction. The new management is determined to turn this around.

Management at EBTH now wishes to leverage their strengths in the re-commerce market (What is
Recommerce? - Definition from Techopedia, 2012) with a successful proof of concept and over a
decade of experience in the estate auction business. It now aims to invest towards expansion into
new territories which have potential to help growth through greater revenues correspondingly
higher margins. EBTH has also learnt from its past experiences which led the Company to have a lack-
lustre performance since change of management in 2018. In first phase of this expansion project,
management has shown a positive interest to develop the UK and European niche retail markets for
EBTH. The management have, therefore, established this project as the preferred way to accomplish
its goals.

2. Purpose of the report

The purpose of this report is to present to the management / board the following:

a. Establish the groundwork for the initiation of phase 1 of EBTH expansion project globally in
the territories set out through the guidelines document provided by the project sponsor.
Special emphasis on the ‘Blue Banana corridor’ (Colliers International, 2013) in Europe which
is logistically well connected and explained in more detail below.
b. Provide rationale for project methodology which would lead to successful and timely
completion within given constraints.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 c. Capture project requirements and specify quality of the deliverables at all stages of the
waterfall methodology.
d. Identify and estimate resources required to accomplish throughout the project lifecycle.
e. Securing management agreement and funding for the project
f. Recommend an appropriate Project specification for ‘EBTH Global Project 2020-21’.
g. Recommend an appropriate Work Breakdown Structure with timeline of the project.
h. Identifying and managing risks, issues and changes in the project.
i. Providing an estimated budget.
j. Ensuring stakeholder engagement.
k. This report lays down the principles based on which it will make following recommendations
on completion:
i. Outcomes of the project.
ii. Lesson learnt through project management which will assist in successful operations
in the post-maintenance phase i.e., after closure of the project and hand over to
EBTH for business as usual.
(APM body of knowledge, 2012)

3. Lessons Learnt from US operations and mitigating actions:

a. Centralisation of logistics process has been a major cause in the fall of revenues in the US
business. Starting in 2016, Nielsen (then CEO of EBTH) and his crew moved to a centralized
nationwide processing system which was called ‘National Consignment Network’
(Brownfield, 2019) that operated in Blue Ash. EBTH’s far-flung locations began trying to grow
sales at all costs by throwing as much stuff on trucks to Cincinnati. Costs soared. So did
breakage of fragile items. Customers were unhappy at huge shipping fees even on modest
orders and poor service (Maddox, 2017).
i. Mitigating action 1. Bearing this issue in mind, the project management team will
develop systems for decentralised logistics/ shipping / courier services to keep
postage, packaging and delivery cost to the buyer to a minimum to improve the
service markedly.
ii. Mitigating action 2. Expansion into new territories has been carefully selected after
considered analysis of UK and European markets. The so-called ‘Blue Banana
Corridor’ (Colliers International, 2013) is logistically the most well connected area in
Europe with a population of 110 million. This corridor is the largest urbanised
territory in Europe, starts from Liverpool in the UK all the way to Genoa in the north

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 of Italy which includes major EU economic centres such as Brussels and Antwerp in
Belgium, the Randstad region in the Netherlands, the German Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-
Neckar regions, the Basel and Zürich regions in Switzerland and the Milano and
Genoa regions in Northern Italy. This multimodal corridor incorporates the Rhine
River as the key inland waterway in Europe, as well as important tunnelling projects
in Switzerland, including the world’s longest and deepest rail tunnel, the Gotthard
Base tunnel. Not only is the region most densely populated megapolis but also
economically strong in Europe (Wojciechowski, 2020). This emphasises the need and
ease of access between more de-centralised logistic hubs.
b. One of the significant features of EBTH success has been its method of operations as an e-
commerce company that acts like a technology company with regular feature releases and
content deployment (Maddox, 2017). High quality infrastructure is therefore an important
consideration in all expansionary moves by EBTH.
i. Supporting action: The choice of new territories also encompasses technology as a
key consideration. The Blue Banana corridor is considered not only the main axis of
circulation in Europe but also for its efficient e-commerce, new technologies (IoT –
Internet of Things), multimodal connectivity and transport networks.
c. EBTH mobile app does not support Android services and therefore, attracts limited and
selected customer base. In a survey conducted by PCMag in December 2018, Android held
54.2 percent market share in the United States compared to 44.8 percent of iOS (Marvin,
2019). The numbers of Android users in Europe are, however, 71.9 percent compared to 27.6
percent iOS users (Mobile Operating System Market Share Europe | StatCounter Global Stats,
2020).
i. Mitigating Action: The upgraded website which is part of the project tasks will work
on all mobile devices as a web app, avoiding compatibility issues and the need to
download any app. This should make the services accessible to the greater majority
of customers.
d. In the actual process of bidding for online auctions the use of fraudulent credit cards in the
US to make purchases has been a big challenge for EBTH (EBTH Case Study - Sift Resources,
2019). The management believe that the project team should ensure all necessary actions in

cyber-security and IT development are taken to curb fraudulent activity.

i. Mitigating action: The project will be installing and testing new anti-fraud tools to
provide a safe service for bidders and prevent loss of revenues to EBTH.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
4. Rationale for Project Methodology
After the initial meeting with the management the Project Manager has concluded that Waterfall
methodology would be the selected approach for the EBTH expansion project.

Waterfall methodology is a sequential design process. This means that as each of its stage (analysis,
requirements specification, design, implementation, testing and integration, and operation and
maintenance) are completed, the EBTH project team can move on to the next step. This will assist in
keeping the integrity of the project for the several reasons explained below in the document.

It may be noted that once a step has been completed, project team can’t go back to a previous step –
not without scratching the whole project and starting from the beginning. There’s no room for
change or error, so a project outcome and an extensive plan must be set in the beginning and then
followed carefully (Agarwal, 2019).

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
Keeping the above in mind, key considerations for EBTH Project are as follows:

a. Project aims to achieve strategic goals and will, therefore be linked clearly to the strategy and
mission. Resources will be directed in such manner as to accomplish these successfully
[ CITATION Mer16 \l 2057 ].
b. Scope, outcome and expectations for the project must be clearly and thoroughly defined.
c. Project will be executed in linear strategy in sequential phases to mitigate any issues due to
remoteness and distribution of project teams and locations.
d. Facilitates departmentalisation and managerial control of the project.
e. Virtual teams will be distributed across different countries and time zones. Advanced
telecommunications and computer technologies will allow the teams to conduct their work and
complete project successfully. Waterfall methodology is best suited to support teams with well-
defined processes.
f. Entire project will be scheduled to preserve the constraints of time and budget
while reducing risk.
g. As employees are operating remotely, the impact of any staff turnover will be minimal due
to waterfall’s strong documentation.

Once the project methodology has been agreed, the next step in the initiation process is to prepare
the project specification document.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
5. Rationale for Project Specification
The project specification provides an overall summary of the project directed towards the top
management and will outline who is involved in the project. It may be noted that project
specification does not entail how the project will be carried out. A project specification workshop has
been conducted with stakeholders for the following purpose:
a. Establish the project
b. Agree on the top deliverables
c. Discuss the resourcing required which will adequately manage the project during the
lifecycle.
d. Establishing schedule outline for the project.
e. Budget tolerances so that the project manager knows when to consult with the project
sponsor.
f. Defining high level risks at this stage as the process of managing risk is not a static process. It
may be noted that more risks may be identified as others are mitigated.

In order to assist with the project specification, the involvement of key stakeholders at the early
stages of the project creates:
a. An understanding and agreement.
b. Stakeholders understand key potential issues and risks.
c. Helps develop early communication and alleviate conflicts that may occur concern issues
over resources, cost, delivery and specifications.
[ CITATION Mer16 \l 2057 ]

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
6. Project Specifications

Project Name: EBTH Global Project 2020-21

Start Date: 01/06/2020
Goal: To roll out EBTH business globally gaining maximum strategic and commercial
advantage for growth and expansion of markets
Deliverables:  To launch and promote website and operations in EU market (HQ in
Ireland) and UK by 30/09/2020.
 Establish EBTH warehouses within the Blue Banana corridor (Colliers
International, 2013) to maximise logistic advantage i.e., Dusseldorf and
London and Madrid for the Iberian Peninsula.
 Establish an efficient fulfilment system / local partnership with shippers,
couriers and logistics companies that serves UK and Europe.
 Link the US website globally for greater synergy, expansion and sales within
new markets.
 To maximise economic returns from leveraging EBTH’s proven concept of ‘re-
commerce’.
 To maximise strategic and commercial advantage from low tax benefits,
currency exchange rates and free market economies.
 Ensuring local governments’ policies are not in contradiction of company’s
commercial objectives.
 Make available and train requisite internal and outsourced staff for on-going
operations.
Constraints: Time:
01/06/2020 to 30/12/2020
USA 147 workdays / UK – 150 workdays / Ireland – 149 workdays (excluding
weekends and public holidays) - 7 calendar months

Cost/Budget:
$ 4 million

Quality:
 Achieve strategic goals aimed by EBTH
 Satisfy international legal, tax and regulatory compliance.
 Strengthen the good reputation of EBTH with the US and EU market.
 Provide efficient on site and outsourced customer services / shipping and
delivery system.
 A good quality culture throughout the organisation.
 Strong support for the project and its managers from the higher
management. (Lock, 2007)
 A highly-motivated staff
 Appropriate regard for health and safety of all involved in the project.
 Reliability and freedom from troubles and malfunctioning.
 Project will be environmentally friendly

Deliverables/  An upgraded version of the EBTH website to cater for the expansion with
Outcomes: added functionalities: 5 languages, international shipping, currency

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 converter, payment options.
 Establish headquarters in Dublin with a view of taking benefit of low taxation,
availability of highly skilled workforce.
 New warehouses in London, Madrid and Dusseldorf.
 Network with partners for local logistic services
 Prepare a procurement system that fulfils all purchasing requirements for the
project;
 Establish a logistic and shipping system that is more decentralised across
Europe and UK;
 Legal and customs documentations (regulatory, agreements, insurances and
compliances) to be prepared and compliance ensured;
 Establish a financial system that controls and monitors cashflow, budgeting
and payments during the project lifecycle and after closure of project for
smooth operations;
 Carry out targeted media campaigns and below the line marketing that is
effective and attracts customers at the lowest acquisition cost.
 Employ required staff and train requisite internal and outsourced staff for on-
going operations beyond the maintenance and operations phase of the
project;
Benefits for the  Low tax and corporate tax benefits by strategically locating headquarters in
organisation Dublin.
 Benefits through currency exchange.
 Increase revenues in new markets.
 EBTH raises its international profile with a more global outlook.
 Will allow EBTH to hedge its recent diminishing revenues in existing
sales and allow for reinvestment in core business in US in future.
 Creation of local partnerships in supporting industries.
 International markets will help increase competitive advantage at home.
Known limitations/ Risk to the company:
Risks - New competitors in the global market, difficulty in establishing the EBTH brand
in the EU market.
- Higher costs of managing after company growth in term of additional staff
required and training needed.
- Currency exchange rate can affect the company profit.
Risks to the project:
- Exceeding the allocated budget
- Legal and Regulatory risk of foreign market
- Duties and taxes involved in international business
- Socio-political risks during the implementation phase (e.g., Brexit, Corona virus)
- Errors in the initial requirements can cause serious delays to the project.
- Any evolving requirements may seriously impact the completion time and
budget of the project.
- Currency exchange rate fluctuations may affect project budget.
- Customer care, shipping and operations quality is not as expected.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
7. Rationale for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A work breakdown structure is a logical, hierarchical tree of all tasks needed to complete a project
from which work can be allocated to departmental managers and other members of the project
organisation. (Lock, 2007).

a. The Work Breakdown Structure will help to analyse the work involved in planning and
implementing this project. In a situation where project teams will operate remotely across
five countries, the complexity of project and importance of the WBS cannot be disregarded.
b. The WBS will break the project into ‘work packages’ and further into specific tasks or project
components.
c. The WBS should reduce the risk of errors of omission in cost estimates.
d. It helps in putting together the deliverables we need to produce during the project.
e. The WBS helps us prepare a project schedule so that tasks maybe placed in the order that
they need to completed in.
f. It helps plan which tasks need to be finished before others can begin.
g. Lack of a good WBS could result in inefficiency, scheduled slippages and cost overruns.
(Devaux, 1999)
h. Every project task will be given a name or descriptive title augmented by a specific code.

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is displayed below.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 EBTH Global Project Full Work
Breakdown Structure

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 12

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 13
Work Breakdown Structure

The WBS for EBTH Global Project (1.0) has been segmented into 7 main areas. All departments will work in
consonance with each other for smooth completion during lifecycle of the project. Main categories have been
displayed below and further expanded on the following pages.

EBTH Global Project

1.0

Logistics and Creative, PR

Legal HR IT Facilitation Finance
Procurement and Marketing
1.01 1.02 1.04 1.05 1.06
1.03 1.07

1. Legal
2. Human Resource
3. Logistics and Procurement
4. IT
5. Facilitation
6. Finance
7. Creative, PR and marketing

The tasks / activities of each of these teams/ departments has been broken down in further detail below. These
departments will coordinate with relevant departments for timely outcomes during the project’s critical path.
The roles, responsibilities and skills required by all teams has been detailed in the stakeholder section of this
report.

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 14

 Legal
1.01

Regulations Agreements Insurances

1.01.01 1.01.02 1.01.03

Employment Warehouse Lease Public liability

1.01.01.01 1.01.02.01 1.01.03.01

Licencing with Professional

Local Authority
local Authority Indemnity
1.01.01.02
1.01.02.02 1.01.03.02

Company Employer's liability

Compliance
Registrations
1.01.01.03 1.01.03.03
1.01.02.03

Taxation Partnership Cyber Insurance

1.01.01.04 Agreements 1.01.03.04
1.01.02.04

Service Business property

Agreements coverage
1.01.02.05
1.01.03.05

NDA
1.01.02.06

Website Ts&Cs
1.01.02.07

Website Privacy
Policy
1.01.02.08

Legal (1.01)
The legal team will be responsible for the following:
1. Keep EBTH Cincinnati up to date with regulations that apply to the project in the UK as well as the EU.
These will cover:
a. Employment law. The legal team will then coordinate with EBTH HR team to ensure compliance.
b. Local authority regulations that apply not only in locations where new warehouses are being
taken up but also with respect to business rates, planning and building regulations, trading
standards services, environmental services and health and safety.
c. Any other compliance matters that may require resolution / action by EBTH.
d. Local taxation regulations to include EU, and national for the UK
2. Legal team will confirm that all contracts and agreements have been vetted before signing off with all
internal and particularly external stakeholders and are in line with UK, EU and local laws.

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 15

3. Advise and ensure that all relevant insurances and indemnities are in place for protection and peace of
mind.
4. Legal team will make itself available during all phases of the project (as and when required basis) to
ensure efficient completion of the project.

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 16

 HR
1.02

Training and
Recruitment Development Admin
1.02.01 1.02.03
1.02.02

Warehouse Health & Safety

Training manuals
Manager plans
1.02.02.01
1.02.01.01 1.02.03.01

Stockroom Training
manager internal staff Communication
1.02.01.02 1.02.02.02 across organisation
1.02.03.02

Stockroom Training for

assistant partners
1.02.01.03 1.02.02.03 Payroll and
Benefits
1.02.03.03
Employee
Drivers
Retention
1.02.01.04
1.02.02.04

Inventory
controller
1.02.01.05

Front desk/
Reception
1.02.01.06

Customer Service
1.02.01.07

Security Personnel
1.02.01.08

Marketing
Manager
1.02.01.09

Country Manager
1.02.01.10

Human Resources (1.02):

1. HR department to ensure that all relevant persons are recruited in timely order to avoid impeding the
project at any stage.
2. HR will ensure that required staff are trained not only during the design, implementation and testing
phases but also in the operations and maintenance phase.
3. HR will also be responsible to carry out all necessary administrative tasks during the project lifecycle.
Tasks that must be continued on completion of the project can then be handed over to the project
sponsor/ client company for efficient continuation of business as usual.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 Logistics and
Procurement
1.03

Logistics Plan Establish new Shipping Procurement

1.03.01 logistic Equipment to 1.03.04
partnerships new locations
1.03.02 1.03.03

Locations plan Vans

1.03.01.01 Local cargo & Customs, taxes 1.03.04.01
couriers and duties
1.03.02.01 detailed
1.03.03.01
Stationary
International 1.03.04.02
shipping &
couriers
1.03.02.02 Furniture and
fixtures
1.03.04.03

Equipments
1.03.04.04

Logistics and Procurement (1.03)

The four main roles that logistics and procurement will be responsible for during the implementation phase
would include:
1. Prepare a logistics plan document which would detail the following:
a. A business case for selection of locations for warehouses in London, Dusseldorf and Madrid and
a detailed plan for head office in Dublin.
b. Supply chain management and shipping processes
c. Evaluate local laws, regulations, standards and other factors that have a direct bearing on
EBTH’s logistics operations.
2. Establish new partnerships with couriers, shipping and handling companies that operate successfully in
the new territories to create a more de-centralised logistics model delivery of customer purchases.
3. Equipment, furniture and fixture, IT equipment that is required for the head office and warehouses
would be delivered to respective locations. Logistics department would ensure that relevant customs
and duties payable are coordinated with finance. Coordination with other departments like IT and
facilitations would be carried out for the timely delivery of equipment.
4. Procurement would be responsible for sourcing / buying all required equipment and delivery to relevant
locations.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 IT
1.04

Network and Software Backup server

IT Relocation Development
connectivity Installation Installation
Plan document 1.04.03
1.04.01 1.04.04 1.04.05
1.04.02

Set up Company Websites in local

System testing Ststem testing
Intranet server languages
1.04.04.01 1.04.05.01
1.04.01.01 1.04.03.01

Set up PCs and

Website testing
pheriperals
1.04.03.02
1.04.01.02

Internet Service Online payment

Provider systems
1.04.01.03 1.04.03.03

Phone System Cyber security

1.04.03.04 1.04.03.04

Video Call
System
1.04.03.05

Interconnect
with data centre
1.04.03.06

System testing
1.04.03.07

Information Technology (1.04)

IT will be responsible for the following:
1. Prepare an IT relocation document. This document will provide an end to end solution of all IT
requirements and interconnectivity between US, EU and the UK.
2. Commissioning of end to end connectivity between all EBTH locations.
3. Carry out all IT development including websites in local languages, currency and payment systems.
Installation of any software / relevant applications and testing for functionality will be ensured during
the implementation and operations and maintenance phases.
4. Coordinating with Finance, Facilitation, Procurement and Legal for relevant tasks in the implementation,
testing and operations and maintenance phases of the project lifecycle.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 Facilitation
1.05

Warehouse
Location selection
Management
1.05.01
1.05.02

London
Secure Lease
Warehouse
1.05.02.01
1.05.01.01
Expansion options
1.05.02.08
Ireland Office Storage racks
1.05.01.02 1.05.02.02
Offices in
Warehouses
Dusseldorf Signage and 1.05.02.09
warehouse branding
1.05.01.03 1.05.02.03
Planning consents
Madrid Electricity, water 1.05.02.10
Warehouse and sanitation
1.05.01.04 1.05.02.04
Parking facility
1.05.02.11
Heating, ventillation
and airconditioning
1.05.02.05
Local
Transportation
Facilitation (1.05) 1.05.02.12
Floor load
limitations
1. Facilitation will be responsible for the selection of all new locations including warehouses and offices for
1.05.02.06
final approval by EBTH Cincinnati. Business rates
2. It will be responsible for the set up and management of all facilities during1.05.02.13
implementation phase and
carry on through to the operations Ceiling Heights
and maintenance phase. They will ensure that all facilities will be
1.05.02.07
handed over on project completion for the smooth continuation of operations.
Fire Precaution
measures
1.05.02.15
Repairs
1.05.02.14

Environmental
considerations 20
EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 1.05.02.16
 Finance
1.06

Training of Accounts Open local bank Payments of bills Track and monitor Authorisation of
and Finance teams in accounts for new locations spending funds
new locations 1.06.02 1.06.03 1.06.04 1.06.05
1.06.01
Finance (1.06)
Finance department will hold a key role throughout the lifecycle of the project. Their responsibilities include:

1. Training of newly hired finance and accounting teams for familiarisation with existing accounting
systems used by EBTH.
2. Opening up bank accounts in new territories and coordinate with legal team and project sponsor for the
provision of all banking requirements for this process.
3. Approval and payment of finds and bills for the efficient functioning of project. It will also be
responsible for tracking and monitoring of all spending.

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 Creative, PR and
Marketing
1.07

Media Mix and Training new marketing

Press release
Advertising Plan staff
Website contents 1.07.03
1.07.02 1.07.04
1.07.01

Map local media of

Social Media and web
interest
Define partnership for 1.07.02.01
01.07.03.01
local photos, videos and
contents
1.07.01.01

Local print/outdoor media Translations / localizations

1.07.02.02 1.07.01.02
Translations / localizations
1.07.01.02

Branding plan
1.07.02.03

Translations / localizations
1.07.03.02

Creative, PR and Marketing (1.07)

Creative, PR and Marketing department will be responsible for:

1. Updating EBTH’s website with additional translated and localised contents for new market / countries.
2. Define partnerships with local partners for photo and video shootings and contents in local language.
Local partners will catalogue and produce visual contents for items to be auctioned in local area on the
website.
3. Map local media of interest and produce localised press releases.
4. Plan and execute the media mix advertising campaigns for website launch and promotion during initial
operations period.
5. Apply brand guidelines in new warehouses and office materials (brochures, office stationery, printed
materials, leaflets etc.) to bring conformity to the EBTH brand in the new territories.

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 8. Budget and Cost Estimate

Reliable cost estimates are necessary for all projects. It would not be possible to carry out a financial appraisal,
prepare a business plan, establish detailed budgets, control spending, assess manpower requirements or
perform any other management procedures (Lock, 2007).

a. Key considerations in estimating cost accuracy

i. The complexity of EBTH expansion project due to its simultaneous progress in five different
countries.
ii. The better the project definition in the project specifications and WBS, the less chance there
should be of making estimating errors.
iii. Initial cost estimations for the total project cannot be free of error and completely accurate.
iv. Currency fluctuations may affect the actual cost of the project. This means that this may be a
significant factor in determining the costs accurately.
v. Other key considerations that may affect the accuracy of estimates below (due the distribution
of teams across 5 countries) will include important regional and global political or socio-
economic events
i. Brexit
ii. The Covid-19 pandemic
iii. Oil prices due to price wars

b. Key features of this cost estimation

The costing below is a ‘feasibility estimate’ which is based on the following:
i. Significant amount of preliminary project design has been carried out.
ii. Quotations have been obtained from potential suppliers.
iii. The ‘confidence factor’ for this estimation is approximately ±10 percent. As mentioned before currency
fluctuations may be a major factor in determining the accuracy of the ‘confidence factor’ and cost
variance.
(Lock, 2007)

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EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
XVARIABLE COSTS
Staffing
Role
Management
Coordinators/Mid-level
Operations / Junior level
Developers IT Management
Developers IT
Coordinators/Senior
Developers Junior/ testers
Project management
Local consultants
Outsourced services
Service
Security Contract (daily rate)
Legal
HR
Training
Miscellaneous
Item
Transport/ Flights/ hospitality
Fuel
Marketing and promotions
Stationery/ branding
Insurances
Training material
Translations/localisations
external services
Risk/ contingency funds
Man hours and costs
Period Hours/
No of persons Locations (weeks) week Rate (USD) Total Direct cost (USD)
3 5 16 40 $ 30.00 $ 288,000.00
10 5 16 40 $ 15.00 $ 480,000.00
25 5 16 40 $ 12.00 $ 960,000.00
1 1 8 40 $ 30.00 $ 9,600.00
2 1 8 40 $ 25.00 $ 16,000.00
5 1 8 40 $ 15.00 $ 24,000.00
1 1 30 40 $ 30.00 $ 36,000.00
2 1 5 40 $ 120.00 $ 48,000.00
$ 1,861,600.00
Hours Rate (USD) Total (USD)
$ 120,000.00
120 $ 120.00 $ 14,400.00
200 $ 25.00 $ 5,000.00
200 $ 25.00 $ 5,000.00
$ 144,400.00
Description USD
$ 70,000.00
$ 52,000.00
Covering a period of 4 months $ 500,000.00
$ 50,000.00
Indemnity, personnel, facilities/ buildings, business $ 100,000.00
Printing and distribution of material $ 2,000.00
For web development and training materials $ 40,000.00
$ 200,000.00
$ 1,014,000.00

FIXED COSTS
Facilities and Others
Item Description USD
Rent Warehouses 3x warehouse (London, Dusseldorf, Madrid) including bills $ 140,000.00
Rent Office Including utility bills etc $ 40,000.00
Op fixed costs $ 100,000.00
Vans / cars 16 vehicles for 4 locations. (Average price $25,000) $ 400,000.00
Equipment IT and miscellaneous $ 150,000.00
Furnitures and fixtures 4 locations/ offices/ warehouses $ 150,000.00
$ 980,000.00

Grand Total $ 4,000,000.00

24
EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
25
 9. Rationale for Stakeholders Engagement:

Most project successes depend on the people involved with the project. For effective project management,
the identification of potential stakeholders is required along with their roles and responsibilities.
Stakeholders are all the people who have an interest or an effect on the success or failure of the project and
therefore, in the case of EBTH, the completion of the global expansion project will hinge significantly on the
views, perception, requirements, and personal agendas of stakeholders.
Managing stakeholder engagement is, therefore, an important process which involves the following
activities [ CITATION Mer16 \l 2057 ].
a. Obtaining and confirming stakeholders’ commitment to the project’s success at the appropriate stages
of the project.
b. Communicating with stakeholders to manage their expectations.
c. Proactively addressing stakeholder concerns before they become major issues
d. Resolving issues in a timely fashion once they have been identified.

Stakeholders engagement process

(Pemilie Eskereod, 2013)

26
EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 Power-interest matrix for stakeholders:

In Stakeholder Management the Medlow's Matrix (1991) is a tool used to analyse our stakeholder groups
based on Power (the ability to influence our organisation strategy or project resources) and Interest (how
interested they are in the organisation or project succeeding). Using a Stakeholder Analysis will help by
getting opinions, gaining support, communicating with stakeholders and understanding them (Botten,

2006).

In this matrix, the position where is allocated the stakeholder shows the actions, we need to take with
them.
 High power, high level of interest (key players): These people must be fully engaged, by making great
efforts to keep them satisfied.
 High power, low level of interest (keep satisfied): Keep them engaged by involving them on regular
basis.
 High power, low level of interest (keep informed): These types of stakeholders, should be kept
adequately informed, they can often be very helpful.
 Low power, low level of interest (Minimal effort): Keep an eye on to check, but don’t bore with too
much communication. (Cadie, 2010)

27
EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 10. Stakeholders Engagement

Relevance
*
Internal / to Power-
Role External Responsibilities project interest
Stakeholder success matrix
 Major decisions High D
 Ensures Adequate governance mechanisms in place
Project Sponsor Internal  communication with stakeholders
(Andy Nielsen)  Authorizes resources
 Appoints Project Manager
 Activity and resource planning High -
 Organizing and motivating
Project Manager Internal  Time management
 Cost estimation and budget
 Monitor progress
 Managing risk
 Managing reports and documentation
Business analyst  Business development High C
(Jon Nielsen) Internal  Relationship maintenance
(Jacquie Denny)  Strategy direction
 Authorizing and payments of funds High C
Finance Manager Internal  Budget management
 Ensuring financial robustness
 Managing cash flow
 Management reports
Technical business Internal  Technical vision and solutions High B
analyst  Bridging business and technical teams
(Bobby Uhlenbrock)  Data analysis and statistics solution

 Compensation and benefits High B

Human resource Internal  Ensuring employees satisfaction
management  Training of staff
 Health and safety
Legal team Internal  Regulatory advice for UK and EU High A
 Regulatory compliance
 Contracts, agreements and relevant insurances
Trainers and Internal and  Consultant for HR Manager High A
consultants External *  Design and provision of the training program.
IT Team/  Technical development High C
Developers and Internal  Intranet between USA, UK and EU
coders  Upgrading EBTH website with new functionalities
 Prepare test cases and training manuals.
Help desk and  Customer service Low A
Support Internal **  Emails and phone enquiries.
(Mike Reynolds)
 Managing all logistics and fulfilment High B
Logistics and Internal **  Dealing with returns,
warehouse team  monitoring warehouses stock, responsible for shipping
arrangements.
Marketing team  Managing websites’ contents High B
Internal**  creative process (photo, filming, descriptions etc.)
 Marketing /promotional content.
 Dealing directly with clients.
Project Suppliers External  Provision of required equipment/ furniture and fixture/ High A
stationery
Administration Internal  Office administration Low B
Manager
Internal trainers and consultants up to testing and integration phase and new team takes over in the maintenance and operations phase.
** Internal team up to implementation phase and new team takes over in the testing/ integration and maintenance and operations
phase.

28
EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report
 11. Key skillsets for EBTH Project

A high-level description of necessary skills required by stakeholders to fulfil their roles and responsibilities
has been detailed below:

a. The Project Manager

The PM will have a tedious task in managing the project across two continents in 5 countries, USA, UK,
Germany, Spain and Ireland.
i. PM must have excellent skills in managing virtual teams in a diverse and multi-cultural
environment. Such a scenario accentuates the difficulties of an already complex project.
ii. During the planning phase the PM will establish project objectives and key performance
requirements for staff members, set milestones with deadlines. The PM will also outline
responsibilities, schedules and budgets.
iii. Anticipate risks to the project, problems and build contingencies.
iv. Responsibility consists of planning resources being used.
v. Engaging with the workers and creating motivation, managing efficient working processes in
timely fashion
vi. Other significant day to day operational responsibilities and coordinating project components.
vii. Maintaining communications with all relevant stakeholders and team members. PM will also
resolve conflicts that may arise either in the project team or with stakeholders.
viii. Document agreements, meetings and communications.
ix. Preserving the integrity of the project.

b. Business Analyst (BA).

The project also identifies business analyst as a stakeholder as in having the responsibility of:
i. The BA must have a clear understanding of end-to-end business cycles and facilitate problem
solving and decision-making.
ii. Assist with the business case for the EBTH project.
iii. Assessing different business issues and directing the strategies, address them to achieve desired
results.
iv. Working on the prospect of enhanced relationship maintenance in developing the position of
the business.

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 29

 c. Finance Manager
Is a key stakeholder in the success of the project who ensures that the cost element is rigorously kept in
line with project objectives. The finance team will have to stay on top of currency fluctuations and their
impact on the project.
i. Working with the team and assist with the business needs of the project including bills and
payments.
ii. Monitoring cashflow during the lifecycle of the project.
iii. Tax compliance.
iv. Data gathering and analysis and coordinating with the PM.
v. Preparing reports to keep senior management up to date on project’s cost status.

d. Technical analyst
i. Assessing the technical framework with data analysis and providing statistical solutions.
ii. Technical vision and solutions.

e. HR Manager
The HR Manager will have a difficult task employing across different countries and cultures. The task is
further compounded by the fact that knowledge of different employment laws and regulations will be
learnt.
i. Employing new staff who will be multi-cultural and multi-lingual.
ii. Preparing training materials in different languages and in line with local laws and regulations.
iii. Ensuring the employee in the project team are being managed well.
iv. Maintaining health and safety across the organization.
v. Training of staff
vi. HR Manager will have to work in close collaboration with the legal team which will provide
necessary guidelines for local employment and contractual laws.

f. Legal Team
Since EBTH is starting up in new territories i.e., the UK and the European Union, legal guidance is of
utmost importance not only for the management but for the Project Manager and the team.
i. Look into the legislative matters of the company process and ensure compliance.
ii. charged of the regulatory advices for UK and EU.

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 30

 g. The helpdesk
i. Provision of customer service, dealing with phones enquiries and emails.
ii. Learn local cultures and how to deal with complaints in a timely manner.
iii. Be multi-lingual as it is common for Europeans to know at least two languages.
iv. Assist with IT team in delivering a seamless communications network.

h. Logistics and warehouses teams

i. Managing all logistics and fulfilment
ii. Responsible of monitoring warehouses stocks and shipping arrangements.
iii. In charge of dealing with returns.
iv. Purchasing and delivery of materials/ furniture/ fixtures/ stationery etc. required to make
warehouses functional.

i. IT Team / Developers and coders

i. Creating multi-lingual intranet between the USA, UK and EU.
ii. Upgrading the EBTH website with new options and features.
iii. Ensure the web content is compliant with local laws including Ts&Cs and Terms of use etc.
iv. Cyber-security systems, payment gateways are set up and tested for any security breaches.
v. The IT team will be required to work in close collaboration with the technical analyst, legal team
as well as the marketing team to accomplish their tasks.

j. Marketing team
i. Looking into the marketing content
ii. Targeting consumer needs and requirements
iii. Managing websites design and contents,
iv. Dealing directly with clients and bringing feedback for improvement of services.

k. Administration Manager
i. Administrative jobs and its management
ii. Dealing with local government including licensing and planning permissions.
iii. Everyday tasks that guarantee unhindered project activity during the lifecycle of the project but
particularly the smooth functioning of operations during the maintenance and operational
phase.

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 31

Conclusion

EBTH will be a new entrant in the EU and UK markets. Setting up the expansion project is a clear manifestation
of the ambitious plans to expand its market-share across the globe. The management believes in strong
business ethos, effective practices, proven business concept and a history of successes. At the same time there
is evident recognition of past failures and the innate will to overcome previous disappointments. Since taking
over the Company last year the management consider themselves in a position where expansion into new the
territories of EU and UK will provide them with the business leverage to enhance the core business in the USA.
It must be repeated here that most project successes depend on the people involved with the project. Although
roles, skills and competencies of the project team and other stakeholders are common however, the project is
essentially complex due to virtual teams, multi-cultural and multi-lingual nature and a project to be set up
across several legal, national and geographic boundaries. The project team views this project with a sense of
purpose and an extremely exciting opportunity to learn and succeed. The waterfall project methodology will
suit the project’s divided and remote nature. To ensure that the matter complexity not seen as an impediment,
detailed and extensive documentation, clarity in processes and communication, the cooperation and
collaboration of all team members and stakeholders will be a key ingredient for the success of EBTH project
along each phase of its lifecycle. The project team will work towards keeping the integrity of the project
together to deliver efficiently and effectively on the three main constraints of cost, time and performance.

EBTH Global Project 2020-21 Report 32

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