Appendix

3ISY509 Project Management case study May 2010

St Mark’s Charity shop administration and management project

St Mark’s Charity is located in Park View, Peckham and was established by Julie
Torrance, following the death of her son Steve from leukaemia in 1973. The hospice
focuses on providing high quality specialist palliative care for patients suffering from
advanced and progressive illnesses. They also provide advice and support for
families and carers free of charge.

The aim of the organisation is to provide high quality care and services for both
outpatients and inpatients at the hospice. There is a weekly outpatient clinic which is
run by Mr Jonathan Smith, Medical Director and an inpatient unit which includes
facilities for up to 40 patients. Also, there is a day care facility which includes hair
and beauty treatments, therapies such as acupuncture, massage etc. for up to 30
patients.

The charity is managed by the Board of Trustees who plan strategically and are
responsible for overseeing the long-term development of the organisation. The
administration is conducted at the Head Office which is located at the Tower building,
Beaconsfield Road, Peckham. The operations at Head Office focus on fundraising,
marketing, finance, recruitment and strategic decision making.

The charity receives 35% of funding from the government. Another source of funding
is legacies and donations from local businesses such as Marks and Lacies, Coopers
Retail Ltd etc. Other fundraising is undertaken by organising events such as
parachute jumps, walks, trips to famous sites, firework displays etc.

The website is crucial for marketing and fundraising as the charity relies heavily on
voluntary contributions from the community. However, it is basic and the Board of
Trustees would like it redesigned as there is increasing pressure with targets having
been set in relation to raising donations.

The charity has set up 24 charity shops which are all located in Peckham. In
addition, the Board of Trustees are planning to open another 2 in July 2011. These
shops are key to generating income to support and fund the hospice.

Each of the 24 shops currently uses tills and operates a manual file based system
which has disadvantages. The manual system currently used affects the charity’s
performance and ability to adapt and respond to external changes.

The scenario focuses on the furniture shop (based in Tottenham Court Road,
Peckham) which deals with high value items compared to the other shops. The
furniture shop generates the highest proportion of income for the hospice in relation
to the other shops. Only one of the 24 shops currently sells furniture as well as
bric-a-brac and the other 23 shops sell clothes and bric-a-brac only.

All 24 shops are open Mondays through to Saturdays from 9.00 to 17.30.

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The Manager and Assistant Manager run the furniture shop (located in Tottenham
Court Road) to ensure targets for income generation and fundraising are achieved.
This shop deals with collections and deliveries of furniture so the charity employs four
drivers at the shop. There are three drivers who deliver using the large van and the
fourth driver uses the small van. The small van is primarily used for collection of
bric-a-brac, books etc.

The Area Manager, Peter Jordan is responsible for establishing targets for each of
the shops. It is the Area Manager’s responsibility to monitor performance of each
shop and report back to the Finance Manager, Louise Burns, who is located at Head
Office.

Each evening the shop manager sends the area manager monies collected at the
shop together with the till receipts. Refunds can only be authorised by the manager
or the assistant manager. A credit note can be issued to the customer but this needs
to be recorded and a note made for the area manger together with the till receipt and
other information. Peter will send the monies and everything to Louise but will make
a record of the daily sales from each of the shops.

Role of volunteers

Volunteers are key to success as they give up their time to contribute. Therefore
volunteers help out at the shops and this is how St Mark’s is able to control and keep
costs to a minimum. They contribute to the running of the shops and maximise the
profit which is raised for the hospice.

The volunteers work either in the morning or in the afternoon. The morning shift is
from 9.00-13.00 and the afternoon shift from 13.00-17.00. The volunteers select the
shift they prefer when they start working with the hospice and it may be possible to
change the shift at a later stage. A volunteer may choose to work 2 days eg a
morning shift on a Monday and an afternoon shift on a Saturday and this is often the
case in practice.

The volunteers schedule is displayed on the notice board within each shop so that it
can be clearly seen by all. Usually 2-3 volunteers are required for each shift and the
schedule should be arranged with the manager.

Dennis Byron is based at the Head Office and is responsible for the recruitment of
volunteers for both the shop and the hospice. The shop managers make a request to
Dennis specifying the number of volunteers needed. Volunteers are recruited by
advertising in the local newspaper and also using the current website. Dennis
interviews all volunteers and if accepted, the contact details for new volunteers are
passed onto the shop managers.

In each shop the contact details are currently stored on index cards and it is also
necessary to keep this information at Head Office, so Dennis will keep a record of
this. The names, addresses, contact phone numbers eg landline and mobile phone
numbers, are kept both at Head Office and at the shops.

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Furniture shop operations

Volunteers arrive at the shop and undertake the tasks as requested by the manager
and assistant manager. There is currently a need for a volunteer rota.

If volunteers cannot make it to the shop then it is necessary for them to ring the
manager to advise that they will not be able to attend. The volunteer schedule (which
is published on the notice board) will be amended as the name of the volunteer for a
particular shift will be taken off. The manager will use the volunteers’ contact details
and by phoning around, try and obtain another volunteer to fill in, so that a shift does
not remain at risk. One volunteer for a shift is a problem, so the minimum should be
two. Volunteers must advise the manager three days in advance if they are unable
to attend a particular shift so that arrangements can be made for cover. In the worst
scenario, if the shop does not have enough volunteers it will have to close.

Furniture deliveries and home collections

Where furniture is purchased, up to three items can be delivered for a customer in

one transaction. The delivery charge is £25 but if there are more then 3 items then
each additional item is charged at £5. For a sale where the furniture is to be
delivered to the customer, a record of the transaction together with customer
information is made in the sales book. Delivery has to be within a two mile radius of
the shop.

For every sale transaction relating to the purchase of furniture, a delivery form is filled
out by a volunteer who records the customer’s details. The delivery form is then
given to the Shop Manager who checks against the delivery schedule to identify the
time slots which are available for the following week. The date and time (only
morning or afternoon specified) for the delivery is arranged and the customer’s
details are recorded on the delivery schedule eg name, address and day time phone
number.

Where donations of clothing, bric-a-brac and furniture are made, collections can be
arranged from the home of the donor. A donor contacts the Shop Manager either in
person or by phone to arrange home collections. A manager will record details of the
donor such as the name, address, items to be collected on a collections form. The
collection has to be arranged, so the manager needs to check against the collections
schedule and arrange a convenient time slot and day for the donor and charity.

The collections schedule is updated and a copy of the collections form is stored in
the collections file. Collections can be arranged on the phone or in person whereas
deliveries will be arranged in the shop when a sale is made.

For collections and deliveries, all forms must be in separate files so the manager can
refer to these in future. Cancellations and rescheduling of collections and deliveries
are made eg where an individual has arranged for a collection or donation and the
date is no longer convenient so that may require rescheduling or cancellation.

The Shop Manager needs to refer back in this case to the collections file and to the
collections schedule so that the entries can be deleted and the collection can either
be rescheduled or marked as a cancellation.

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Payments and refunds

Payment for furniture is usually in cash but there is flexibility to pay by cheque as well
as by credit card. Customers purchase furniture and usually take it away there and
then in their own transport. If they want to keep the furniture for four days at the shop
then it is possible however, a £10 charge is made for storage and the collection can
then be made. If a customer does not collect within the four day time limit then the
customer is charged an additional £10 per day extra and this continues until the
customer collects the furniture.

If customers require a refund this is up to the manager’s discretion and the customer
will not be given a cash refund. Instead, a credit note will be issued to the customer
and this refund will be recorded in the refunds file and a copy of the credit note is
stored in the till also, as it enables the area manager to identify and make a record of
refunds issued. The credit note is valid for up to three months so the customer is
able to purchase from any of the 24 shops using the note.

Monitoring the financial performance of the shops

It is important for the Shop Manager to monitor the sales information so that
performance can be evaluated.

The till records transactions so it is possible to identify the sales made in total at the
end of the day by the shop. It is important to identify the sales trends as it varies
depending upon the time of year, quality and quantity of the items donated etc. The
Shop Manager keeps a written record of the daily total sales and breakdown by cash
and card sales in a diary but that is a very time-consuming process and it would be
useful to have a more efficient process of recording. The information is then together
with the till receipt, card receipts, credit notes and monies sent to the area manager
who is able to identify general trends from the shops. The area manager needs to
identify the best performing shops so that a bonus can be paid to the managers.

Reporting is a key problem with the current system as it is difficult to monitor the
performance of each shop and performance needs to be evaluated.

Project brief

Mr Dennis Byron is your Project Sponsor and he has appointed your project team
(from Business Solutions Ltd) to replace the existing manual system with a
computerised system. The furniture shop will be used as the pilot for the project and
if successful, then the system will be implemented in the remaining shops.

If this is successfully delivered then your project team may be appointed to replace
and redesign the existing website as a separate project. The website is not included
in this scope currently and a separate budget would be allocated for the website
project.

The total amount allocated is £145,500 and the start date is Monday 12 July 2010.
The deadline for completion is Friday 11 March 2011.

PRINCE2® will be tailored and applied to the project and a Project Board will be
established for effective project governance and reduce risk.

PRINCE2 is a registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce

(OGC) in the United Kingdom and other countries.