7_Smart Solar Paper

Project Proposal

Energy Efficient Solar Panels with Energy Consumption Monitoring Software

Smart Solar Inc (Group 2): Jai Master, Meeta Agarwal, Nartan Patel, Nasir Khan, Saipriya Chinthagumpala, and Touhid Zaman

Professor: Dr. Kern Peng Class: EMGT335 Advanced Project Management

Due Date: 03/14/11

Paper outline: We are pleased to provide Smart Solar Inc executive board with the Project Proposal and Implementation Plan to combine our unique light-weight high-power generating PV solar panel system with an energy consumption monitoring software. This paper outlines the core components of our approach, activities, resources and methodology to develop and deliver the product. This proposal includes the details of the following key areas in project management:

Smart Solar Inc. Introduction Smart Solar vision and mission statement Core Competences Objectives of the project Market summary and opportunities Financial analysis in terms of expenses and revenue Resource planning Risk analysis and mitigation strategies Key milestones and timeline Project closure

Introduction:

Company Background: Smart Solar Inc. was founded in 2008 in Santa Clara, California by a group of individuals passionate about development and promotion of alternative energy solutions. Company’s current product portfolio includes manufacturing of advanced light weight, high power generating PV solar panel system and a web-based user interface to manage and control transformed power in every household and business.

Mission statement:

Our mission statements are below:

Integrate and install environmentally friendly solar panels with a monitoring system at lower cost and help reduce carbon footprint significantly.

Provide user-friendly interface to manage and control generated electricity.

Provide remote, urban and industrial clients the means to save money, reduce ecological impact and realize their sustainable living goals.

Smart Solar Inc vision is to: Be one of the leading solar energy product and service provider Provide the highest quality and cost effective products and services

consistently Operate with the highest business ethics

Organizational Structure:

We have a blended traditional organization structure to include project, functional, geographic, product, customer, and process management groups:

Smart Solar Core Competencies:

Smart Solar core competencies are the unique resources and strengths to sustain our competitive advantage and identify behaviors and skills all employees are expected to demonstrate to carry out the mission and goals of Smart Solar.

Metrics based Quality and Process Control Systematic & quality assurance in compliance with ISO standards-ISO-

9001 (quality) and ISO-14001 (environmental) certifications 6 Sigma management of the workshop and SW products Special focus on the triple constraint theory

Increased Scope = increased time + increased cost Tight Time = increased costs + reduced scope Tight Budget = increased time + reduced scope.

Technical Expertise Product Concepts: Innovative and user friendly product development Comprehensive and regular training/ certification program

Cost effective products Best delivery time performance (promise >95% PAS) Support of Diversity: Treat all people with respect; value diverse perspectives;

participate in diversity training opportunities; provide a supportive work environment for the multicultural workforce; applies the Lab’s philosophy of equal employment opportunity; shows sensitivity to individual differences; treats others fairly without regard to race, sex, color, religion, or sexual orientation; recognizes differences as opportunities to learn and gain by working together; values and encourages unique skills and talents; seeks and considers diverse perspectives and ideas.

Summary of Solar Technology: Solar power is the fastest growing energy source in the world, and for good reason. It offers a limitless supply of clean, safe, renewable energy for heat and power. It is more affordable, easily acquired, and more reliable than before. The advantages of Solar and other renewable power sources are clear: greater independence from imported fossil fuels, a cleaner environment, diversity of power sources, and relief from the volatility of energy prices, more jobs and greater domestic economic development. All over the world, solar energy systems have reduced the need to build more carbon-spewing fossil-fueled power plants. They are critical weapons in the battle against global warming. As the cost of solar technologies has come down, solar is moving into the mainstream and growing worldwide at 40-50% annually. There has been an explosion in the market for energy efficient homes over the past three decades. Green buildings became a reality during the energy crisis of the 1970s and today, energy efficiency is an integral part of home building.

Objective of the project:

Objective of this proposal is to get approval from Smart Solar Inc. executive board to combine our unique light-weight high-power generating PV solar panel system with an energy consumption monitoring software.

Web based users interface can provide our customers with a broad range of readouts to help them monitor how installed solar systems behave during different time of the day, identify customer’s energy needs and help them make sound decisions for energy consumption.

Software specific features and benefits:

Provides access to data anytime, anywhere via the web Provide simple graphics & easy-to-understand charts Enable quick comparison and analysis of data with customizable reports Can also be integrated with Smart Meters to monitor Electricity

consumption and charges Secured and Reliable – maintains a 24/7 secure data accessibility

detailing the amount of electricity generated and consumed periodically Software will be compliant with ISO standards Help sell more Solar panels where it can be managed remotely anywhere

and anytime. Reduces electricity usage and costs by identifying savings opportunities. Secured and reliable Web based interface on computers and iPhone Apps

Solar PV and energy monitoring device specifications:

Consumes 2.5 watts continuous power or 45 watt-hours/24 hours Recommended operating temperature: 50º to 150ºF Data Logger protected from voltage surges and lightning Windows 2000, XP, Vista compatible Minimum 1024 x 768 video resolution One available COM port, OR USB port with USB to COM converter CD-ROM drive System memory stores data locally for greater than a year Data downloads automatically to personal computer

Market Summary and Opportunities:

Solar Smart Inc. research group has performed detailed research and analysis and prepared a report “Solar Generation: Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Empowering the World”. This report aims to provide a clear and understandable description of the current status of developing Photovoltaic power generation and monitoring devices worldwide, and also of its untapped potentials and growth prospects in the coming years. The main outcome of the study is below:

PV technology combined with energy consumption monitoring devices is dominating the market!

Solar energy supplies over 35% of electricity and 69% of our energy needs by 2050 (3500 GW), dominated by solar electric photovoltaic (“PV”) technologies.

Solar energy development increases energy security More energy resiliency, robustness and reduced vulnerability

Renewable energy sector is growing rapidly Rising world energy demand Rising crude oil pricing Solar energy development brings 12 jobs per MW (35 million +) Environmental concerns (global warming is the major one) World renewable power capacity represented just 4% of total electricity

production (2009 data)

Companies and investors are rushing to develop new Solar market opportunities

Beyond the financial benefits, green marketing translates into added value for customers

Consumers are willing to “go out of the way” to work with more environmentally sensitive organizations, and are willing to pay a premium to do so

Sales for environmentally sensitive products have increased 10-fold over the last 10 years

Over 70% of Americans are interested in seeing the expansion of renewable energy (survey done in 2008)

Expanding opportunity internationally

Competitors:

Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context through which to identify opportunities and threats. Competitor profiling coalesces all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in the support of efficient and

effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and adjustment. Smart Solar Inc. has a marketing and strategic business group to research, analyze, and develop strategic plans. The most important task this group has is competitor profiling. The strategic rationale of competitor profiling is powerfully simple. Superior knowledge of rivals offers a legitimate source of competitive advantage. Smart Solar Inc. uses a common technique to create detailed profiles on each major competitor. These profiles give an in-depth description of the competitor's background, finances, products, markets, facilities, personnel, and strategies. This involves:

Background Financials Products Marketing Facilities Personnel

Based on the recent analysis and considering above facts Smart Solar Inc. has the following major competitors in Solar Panel and Power management Software industry

Sun Power Inc. Kyocera Canadian Solar Inc Neo Solar PVT Solar

Competitor analysis & competitive advantage:

Smart Solar competitor analysis & competitive advantage for offered products and services are as below:

Company Sun Power PVT Solar Smart Solar

Solar Panels Moderate Good Better due to high end photo voltaic cells

Web interface for Panel monitoring

No Little Computer and iPhone based App

Cost of solar panels

Moderate High Moderate-High

Market Share 30% 15% 25%Cost (Software license)

N/A $45 per unit (average)

$50 per unit (average)

Our competitive advantage is light weight, highly efficient Solar panels integrated with energy management web based software that can be accessed using computers and iPhone application. It provides its customers user friendly interface to track and optimize energy use and production.

Marketing Programs:

A marketing strategy will be identified to capture the opportunity in various markets worldwide. This effort will include, but is not limited to:

Identifying various customers and needs globally Combo package offering for Solar Panels for monitoring software Consumer research survey Advertizing Promotion strategy

Customers: Smart Solar Customer portfolio includes residential, consumers, commercial and small –medium enterprise businesses around the world. Due to energy management software integration with company’s highly efficient solar panel systems, company is expecting to grow its current product portfolio to Enterprises and various Service provider customers.

Financial analysis in terms of expenses and revenue:

Smart Solar software package will be installed as a combo package with company’s light weight highly efficient solar panel systems. Software pricing effort will be based on how many solar panels that will be managed by the Smart Solar software. We are planning to charge for a software licensing fees that needs to be installed while integrating the software with the panels. Each panel integration with Smart Solar software will cost $50. We expect Smart Solar to generate revenue of $1000 (average) for software integration per household. For enterprises, small and medium sized businesses, this cost is expected to be ~$2-3k (one time installation fee) as more solar panels are expected to be installed than a household. Additional feature integration, such as accessing data from Smart Meters for Power Consumption monitoring, energy need forecasting (based on supply & demand) etc will be free once basic license for solar panel is installed. We are also expecting to generate additional revenue for the company from advertisements displayed on our website for power monitoring.

Expected Revenue:

Smart Solar revenue model is based on a per home cost including 20 panels * $700/panel = $14,000 for solar panel installation and an additional $1000 for Smart Solar Software Licensing fees. We will thus charge $15,000 per house and ~ $30,000 for commercial and small –medium businesses. We aim to service ~100 houses (in the consumer segment) and ~50 commercial and small -medium businesses in 2011 with more in the future. We are expecting an increase in demand of our combo solar system package each year given the growing trend in the solar market.

Y-2011 Y-2012 Y-20130

50

100

150

200

250

Projected Unit Sales Plot

Year

# Un

its

Resource Planning:

Effective use of the people involved with a project Smart Solar Inc. follows the processes which include:

Human resource planning: Identifying and documenting project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships.

Acquiring the project team: Getting the needed personnel assigned to and working on the project.

Developing the project team: Building individual and group skills to enhance project performance.

Managing the project team: Tracking team member performance, motivating team members, providing timely feedback, resolving issues and conflicts, and coordinating changes to help enhance project performance.

Smart Solar Inc. organizational planning involves identifying and documenting project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships.

Outputs include: Project organizational charts Staffing management plans Responsibility assignment matrixes Resource histograms

Human resource and engineering personal support flow!

Work Definition and Assignment Process

The budget estimate is based upon both the needs of the customer and Smart Solar Inc. previous experience with similar implementations. There are some costs which fluctuate based upon the economy and cost of fuel. However, overall Smart Solar Inc. does not see any need for cost over runs during this project. For example below is a sample of the major task within this project and the cost associated with each task. These costs are compared to that of the project baseline then recorded as actual for tracking purposes.

Budget Category Estimated Costs Explanation

Headcount (FTE) 13 (exist)Included are 9 programmer/analysts, 2 database analysts, 2 infrastructure technicians…no need to hire more!

Compensation $1,008,500 Calculated by employee change notices (ECNs) and assumed a 4% pay increase in June. Overload support was planned at $10,000.

Travel $25,000 Incidental travel expenses , most associated with attendance of user conferences and off-site training.

Depreciation $91,000 Depreciation expense associated with capitalized software program purchases

Rents/Leases $98,000 Expenses associated with the Mach1 computing platforms.

Total Costs $392,000 Estimate (excluding headcount)

$25,000 May not need

$153,000 Incidental expenses associated with things such as training, reward and recognition, long distance phone charges, miscellaneous office supplies.

Services (Consultation)

Other Supplies and expenses

Cost budgeting involves allocating the project cost estimate to individual work items and providing a cost baseline (Detailed itemized cost):

Budget Details Total Cost Baseline Variance Actual

Software Development $392,000.00 $300,000.00 ($26,145.00) $15,830.00

Preliminary Approval of Work $17,282.50 $19,534.50 ($2,252.00) $15,830.00

Requirement analysis $32,760.00 $54,600.00 ($21,840.00) $0.00

Site Visits $10,380.00 $11,232.00 ($852.00) $0.00

Collaboration Meeting $14,720.00 $16,480.00 ($1,760.00) $0.00

Data Acquisition $44,720.00 $45,360.00 ($640.00) $0.00

Create GUH User Accounts $15,405.00 $15,565.00 ($160.00) $0.00

Data Conversion $13,685.00 $15,085.00 ($1,400.00) $0.00

Host Test $4,262.50 $5,142.50 ($880.00) $0.00

Data Quality Check $6,200.00 $9,600.00 ($3,400.00) $0.00

Data Input $42,500.00 $37,000.00 $5,500.00 $0.00

Quality Assurance Audit Internal $9,400.00 $11,600.00 ($2,200.00) $0.00

Quality Assurance Audit External $3,500.00 $3,500.00 $0.00 $0.00

Test Run $2,640.00 $2,952.00 ($312.00) $0.00

Internal Final Review of requirements $13,200.00 $14,760.00 ($1,560.00) $0.00

Performance check $3,140.00 $3,540.00 ($400.00) $0.00

User training $23,310.00 $27,230.00 ($3,920.00) $0.00

Online Virtual Training With live data $8,680.00 $11,200.00 ($2,520.00) $0.00

Close Out Meeting $3,150.00 $3,550.00 ($400.00) $0.00

Feedback Session with Staff $4,400.00 $4,920.00 ($520.00) $0.00

Smart Solar Inc. Project cost control includes (earned value management is an important tool for cost control; technique that integrates scope, time, and cost data of a project):

Periodic regular monitoring cost performance Ensuring that only appropriate project changes are included in a revised cost

baseline Informing stakeholders of authorized changes to the project that will affect

costs

1 2 3

-400,000-200,000

0200,000400,000600,000800,000

Income chart

Income $Cost $Profit $

Work Breakdown Structure

Key Milestones:

Key Milestones Estimated Completion DateSolar Panel Selection 3/25/2011

SW Development 9/6/2011

Product Integration 10/14/2011

Pilot Period 11/25/2011

Project Completion 1/12/2012

Solar Package

Solar Panel Selection

Identify Desired Panel

Software Development

Requirement Analysis

Design

Coding

Testing

Maintenance

Implementation

Integration

Testing

Performance Check

Marketing Program

Identify Target Customer

Customer Need Analysis

Create Marketing

Material

Trial Period withSelected

Customers

Feedback From Trial

Customers

Improvements in Package

This table describes the key milestones in order to complete the project in a timely manner. The first task involves selecting the appropriate solar panel that we can integrate with our software. Software development will consist of building, coding and testing the final product. The total project length is estimated to take 219 days till completion.

Project timelines:

The project begins on the 14th of March 2011 and should be completed by early January 2012. As the project progresses, various reports and charts are assessable through the Microsoft Project program. These reports and charts include Tracking Gantt charts, Resource allocation graphs, Resource sheets, and Resource Usage sheets. The reports and charts monitor the project and can help identify areas that require additional attention and/or resources to ensure the tasks are completed in a timely manner. The charts and graphs also provide means of communicating the status of the project to anyone requiring information about the project, both internally and externally.

The figure provides a brief snapshot of the Tracking Gantt chart which helps identify current tasks and pending task in order for each implementation team to monitor and update.

Project Risk Assessment and Mitigation:

In any project planning process, we hope for the best. Yet, there is always a chance of something unexpected preventing a project from achieving success. Smart Solar Inc. Project risk management team is about having the confidence of knowing what to do when the worst occurs. Project risk management consists of two key aspects: determining the risk, and designing counter measures. When determining risk there are three key aspects to consider: The event causing the risk, the likelihood of the event happening and the impact on the plan if the event occurs. Smart Solar Inc. for each of the projects follows a blend on various processes to manage risk.

Risk identification: determining which risks are likely to affect a project and documenting their characteristics

Qualitative risk analysis: characterizing and analyzing risks and prioritizing their effects on project objectives

Quantitative risk analysis: probability and consequences of risks HIGH: Critical to the customer or the project, may even force project

cancellation

MEDIUM: Significant, but not catastrophic. The project would be able to recover and meet its objectives at a level that is acceptable to management and the customer.

LOW: Relatively little impact to the project that cannot be successfully dealt with. The risk event, should it occur, is considered to be circumstantial or of slight consequence to the objectives of the project

Risk response planning: taking steps to enhance opportunities and reduce threats to meeting our project objectives

Risk monitoring and control: monitoring known risks, identifying new risks, reducing risks, and evaluating the effectiveness of risk reduction

Based on the assessment analysis for this project, below are the potential risks and mitigation:

Category Risk Condition Impact Mitigation

Product Integration

PV panel compatibility with SW

H Various tests performed during R&D; no show stopper identified

Cost and Time

Estimating errors; inadequate productivity; errors in estimating time or resource availability; poor allocation of float; early release of competitive products

M Contingency reserve or allowances are provisions held by the project sponsor that can be used to mitigate cost or schedule risk if changes in scope or quality occur

Human Resources

Poor conflict management; poor project organization and definition of responsibilities; absence of leadership

M Increased focus on the system of Project Manager selection

Risk Ignore risk; unclear assignment of risk; poor mitigation

M Every potential risk is discussed with fishbone analysis completed and risk database for future reference

Acts of God

There is a risk of natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, etc. can delay the project during operations phase

M Standard insurance and replacement products are held to mitigate the risks

Installation

Incorrectly installed solar panels can pose dangers

M Specified installation procedures in compliance with all safety codes and trained professional installers

Regulatory issues

The possibility that regulators may revise the prices downward midway and renegotiate

L Assurance from the government with which they are pursued give confidence

Product safety

Photovoltaic panels may contain hazardous materials or emit radiation posing dangers with excessive exposed

L OSHA safety standard specification and certification program in place

Project Closure:

Smart Solar Inc. places a strong emphasis on project closure to assure no lose-ends are left untied. There are several phases to the project closure process.

We will discuss each phase and its importance to the overall project.

Administrative Closure Closing procurement contracts and matching up the supplier invoices Performing reviews of each of the members involved on the project Obtaining required signatures to confirm the completion

Final Project Report

Summarizes all work accomplished by the project tem Original work description versus the actual work performed Development Results versus the Project Timeline

Lessons Learned Documentation of all lessons learned for future reference

Post Implementation Meeting Discuss/review the project’s successes and failures

Project Celebration Opportunity to acknowledge individual and/or team contributions

Document Repository Project information is gathered and sent to the repository for future

reference

Project Audit Process:

Smart Solar Inc. conducts periodic project audits to look at the following things: Review why the project was selected Performance measures and forecast data Reassess the project role in the organizations priorities Check the culture to ensure it corresponds to the project scope

Audits will also assess if the project team is functioning well, and is appropriately staffed. An audit will also check on external factors that may change where the project is heading or its importance to the organization. The main areas that will

be analyzed are the budget, milestones, and timelines to ensure that there was adequate documentation made as well as ensure that any future cost overruns can be fixed in the planning stages.

Risk Analysis and Change Management:

During our weekly status meeting, we will identify issues and take corrective action to ensure we stay on top of the project, within scope of the project, and on time. A documentation of the change and the corrective action taken will be noted and placed into the project plan for review. Anytime there is a change in the project plan, a message will automatically be sent out to every team member. When this message is received, it is every employee’s responsibility to make sure that they check the change or problem and be ready to offer feedback soon. When all of the changes are finalized and the project is brought to a close, the project plan will be reviewed and ways to improve our process will be discussed. This meeting will be attended by all members of the implementation team.