Al Hamad Pharmacy Store Project
- Business Case
The Al Hamad Project intends to exercise professional and academic experience in pursuit of a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) accreditation. It also targets a return on investment of 25%, along with the provision of medical services. The services will target the areas of the university and the public. The health center is along Takhassusi Street, next to Alfaisal University. The project is to complete in 6 months beginning 1st January 2020 and cost SAR 30,000.
Saudi Arabia exhibits economic prospects for several reasons. In the Middle East, the nation is the most productive Arab state and the largest economy. Before the COVID-19, OPEC cuts, and drone attacks, Saudi Arabia was growing at 2.4% (Banco Santander). The scorching pandemic will shrink the national economy by 2.3% in 2020 before recovery of 2.9% in 2021, a rate that will make the economy one of the fastest-growing in the region (1).
Also, with a high GDP per capita of SAR 121,395, Riyadh is the second most prosperous city in the Middle East. The area of 7.6 million is the capital city and offers strategic investment prospects for business enthusiasts.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia’s demand for healthcare services is on the rise. According to statistics from Informa Markets (1), the nation’s population is to double from 32.6 million to 77.2 million by 2050. In the same period, life expectancy will increase from 73.1 to 76.1 years, and a demographic transition from Baby Boomers to Generation X, Y, and Z will lead to increased lifestyle diseases. All of these aspects demand increased healthcare services.
Still, the engagement faces costs, time, and quality risks. Implementation must remain within the financial, time, and excellence constraints. The environmental setting, aesthetic aspects, and drug quality must meet or exceed the buyers’ expectations.
- System Approach and Business Initiative
As a self-sustaining system, the project supports a practical governance framework detailing how it attains objectives, optimizes performance, and manages risks into the broader ecosystem. Guided by strategic initiatives, the project aligns material and human resources to realize overall purposes as efficiently as possible. A system of approaches and objectives then helps optimize the productivity of the resources. In the initial phases, I undertook a detailed systems study to identify the most significant project aims and then implement delegated systems to support these objectives as much as possible. These systems will complement and support each other in the bid to ensure sufficient progress towards targeted goals.
- Quantified Business Initiatives
The project’s overall strategy ensures a commitment to patient care, quality research, and client education. Daily, the engagement offers high quality, safe patient care in a respectful, professional, and productive communication environment. The project’s business-level objective involves offering medical diagnosis, as well as medication to the populations living around and within the university, especially those who do not enjoy coverage by the university medical scheme. By the end of 31st December, the intent is to have attained an inventory turnover rate of 6 per annum. Attaining this objective will make the health center self-sustaining. A mix of over the counter payments and reimbursements under selected medical coverage schemes constitute its revenues. Core values to support service delivery in the first six months entail patient-centered care, excellence, inclusion and diversity, integrity and honesty, and teamwork, and respect.
- Project charter
| Project Name | Al-Hamad Pharmacy- Takhassusi St. | |||||
| Project Sponsor | XXX | Project Manager | XXX | |||
| Date of Approval | XXX | Last Revision Date | XXX | |||
| Project description | To introduce a new pharmacy store to meet service and product supply gaps around Al-Faisal University | |||||
| Scope | ||||||
| Business case | To attain returns on investment of 25%, enhance access to medication by parts of the university community and the surrounding area, and compound experience as a practitioner | |||||
| Constraints (Prioritized) | Time | Six months | ||||
| Budget | SAR 30,000 | |||||
| Scope | Service: Pharmacy, Geography: Al-Faisal Neighborhood, Clients: Citizens and Expatriates | |||||
| Approach | Prioritize budget and quality over time | |||||
| Project deliverables | ||||||
| Benefits (measurable results) | KPI | Baseline | Goal | |||
| R.O. I | 0 | 25% | ||||
| Inventory turnover | 0 | 6 p.a | ||||
| Enhance access | Limited | 20 clients per day | ||||
| Practical experience | Limited | PharmD | ||||
| Key stakeholders | Name | Success criteria | ||||
| Al-Faisal University | Quality health service | |||||
| Neighboring community | Quality health service | |||||
| Riyadh Administration | Business regulation compliance | |||||
| Ministry of Health | Service extension | |||||
| Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) | Health and practice certification | |||||
| Risks | Supply chain disruptions, medication errors, quality issues, budget overshoot, reputation erosion, and economic losses. | |||||
- Assumptions and Constraints
Al Hamad faces several assumptions and constraints. The project considers some factors, for the sake of planning, to be accurate, or certain without adequate proofing. Also, some internal and external aspects limit implementation impacting on the project’s performance and that of its processes. These aspects are as follows.
Analysis of Assumptions and Constraints
| Project requirements | |||
| Assumption Description | Constraint Description | ||
| Financial resources | Full funding from personal savings and family | Budgeting capping at SAR 30,000 | |
| Time | Completion within the 6-months’ time limits | 6-month time limit | |
| Quality | Highest quality medication | Available supply chain networks | |
Prioritizing constraints
| Constraint | Score | Actions | |
| 1 | Budget constraints | 80% | Pursue cost-effective strategies, prioritize operations, limit wastages |
| 2 | Quality constraints | 50% | Work with accredited suppliers of quality content |
| 3 | Time limitations | 40% | Use work implementation schedules and activity management tools. |
- Stakeholders Register
Many people will gain to lose due to operationalizing the project.
| Project name | Al-Hamad Pharmacy- Takhassusi St. | ||||
| Stakeholder | Project Role | Type of Stakeholder | Type of Communication | Power
(1-5) |
Interest
(1-5) |
| Project Manager | Direct and implement | Owner Manager | Directed | 5 | 5 |
| Employees | Implement | Worker | Directed | 4 | 4 |
| Patients/clients/buyers | End-users | Customer | Marketing | 5 | 5 |
| Neighborhood | Labor/security | Community | Public relations | 3 | 1 |
| Riyadh Administrators | Authority | Regulator | Traditional reporting | 5 | 2 |
| Saudi Commission for Health Specialty (SCFHS) | Approval | Regulator | Traditional reporting | 5 | 3 |
| Suppliers | Inputs | Supplier | Directed | 2 | 2 |
| Competitors | Resource contest | Competitors | Marketing | 2 | 2 |
Where a score of 1 is the least, and 5 the most.
- Stakeholders Management Grid
Some stakeholders have the power to change or stop the Al Hamad Project. Others are highly interested in the project’s success because of overlapping interests. The rest lies in between. In the stakeholder grid, project managers and the end-users yield high degrees of power and have significant interests in the project’s success. Regulators, on the other hand, wield power to stop the implementation because of the power bestowed on them by the government. They pose a significant risk to the business, and, as such, the project must always satisfy their concerns. Community and employees have substantial interests but no power. They know that if the project succeeds, they can access medication and health conveniently. They also understand that engagement offers employment opportunities for community members. Finally, competitors and suppliers, who in this case are many, small, and scattered, have some power and interest. Monitoring their interests is essential to ensure those significant engagement divergencies that might deteriorate relations are managed and constrained.
- Scope Management Plan
- Project Scope Statement
The project began on 1st January and is ongoing. The involved team analyzed and produced minimal required documentation, including estimates, milestone charts, and lists of risks based on which the team will agree on the final dates and scope. The new Al Hamad Pharmacy will limit only to pharmaceutical services at the outlet located along Takhassusi St. The WBS listed below contains a more detailed assessment of deliverable. Expectations are that the project will operate within identified constraints and assumptions.
- Work Breakdown Structure
- WBS Dictionary
| Code | Title | Description |
| 1. | Initiation | Initializing the project |
| 1.1. | Develop a business case | Outlaying the project’s economic feasibility |
| 1.2. | Assume Project Management Role | Transferring the project manager’s roles to the owner-manager |
| 1.3. | Develop project charter | Formally authorizing the existence of Al Hamad Pharmacy Project, including providing direction and a sense of purpose |
| 2. | Planning | Laying down the blueprints |
| 2.1. | Create WBS | Breaking work into minor tasks to make work more approachable and manageable |
| 2.2. | Plan schedules | Listing deliverables, activities, and milestones |
| 2.3. | Plan resources | Identifying the critical financial, material, and human resources needed to ensure the project can attain stated deliverables. |
| 2.4. | Plan budget | Estimating capital expenditures, operational expenses, and sales revenues |
| 2.5. | Plan risk management | Identifying, evaluating, and controlling threats to the project’s wellbeing |
| 3. | Execution and control | Rolling out operations |
| 3.1. | Manage registration and compliance | Ensuring observation of regulatory and business registration guidelines, such as SCFHS accreditation and business licensing |
| 3.2. | Manage communication | Identifying and controlling the flow of information to stakeholders |
| 3.3 | Managing procurement and supplies | Handling the inflow of inputs, including medical inventories, and supplies of necessities |
| 3.4. | Build subsystems | Implementing subsystems, entailing inventory management and human resources systems |
| 4. | Closeout | Winding up the project phase |
| 4.1 | Transform into a self-sustaining business | Re-inventing the project as a self-sustaining business with revenues that cover operational expenses and capital risk compensation. |
- Scope Baseline Maintenance
The project is entirely new. R. O. I. is 0, and customers serviced are 0. Also, there is limited career work practical experience.
- Deliverable Acceptance
Acceptable deliverables entail a R. O. I of 25%, an annual inventory turnover rate of 6, 20 client service per day, and adequate professional experience as a pharmacist essential for pursuing PharmD.
- Scope and Requirement Integration
The project’s scope must align with the resources available. Involves directing and managing work, controlling and monitoring progress, and ensuring proper closure.
- Project management and business analysis integration
Entails ensuring the management of the project agrees with the overall business analysis on matters of performance and profitability. The team sees the project as a means of supporting the business transition from one state to the next. It comprises aligning the scope of the project with the needs of the business in a way that the project’s process helps attain a desirable change in business from the point of non-existence to operationalized existence. Al Hamad Pharmacy’s deliverables are part of the following business benefits after the change process culminates.
- Milestone List
Involves an overview of Al Hamad’s progress regarding critical stages or goals
| Milestone | Description | Type |
| Funding | Soliciting and receiving extra funding from relatives | Internal |
| Preparing plans and budgets | Itemizing the relevant plans and budget to make implementation easier | Internal |
| Business license approval | Registering Al Hamad Pharmacy as a limited liability company, and securing local business permits | External/Mandatory |
| Pharmacy practice approval | Securing approval to practice pharmacy and run a center | External/Mandatory |
| Business location | Involves securing a suitable location along Takhassusi St. and close to Al Faisal University. | |
| Securing suppliers and supply contracts | Identifying wholesalers of desired medications | Internal |
| Promotions-Launch | Making the unique aspects and benefits of the business known to buyers | Internal/Interim |
| 6 Months of performance review | Assessment of deliverables | Final |
- Activity Duration Estimates (PERT)
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) technique assesses tasks in schedules and determines variations of the Critical Path Method (CPM). It assesses the time needed to accomplish each task and its associated dependencies, which helps the project team in charge of identifying the minimum time essential to complete the project.
| Task | Effort Horse | Optimistic (O)-Weeks | Most Likely (M)-Weeks | Pessimistic (P)-Weeks | Expected time
(P+4M+O)/6 |
| A) Funding | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4.6 |
| B) Preparing plans and budgets | 6 hours | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| C) Business location | 2 days | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2.1 |
| D) Business license approval | 12 hours | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| E) Pharmacy practice approval | 6 hours | 3 | 4 | 8 | 4.5 |
| F) Securing suppliers and supply contracts | 3 days | 4 | 5 | 8 | 5.3 |
| G) Promotions-Launch | 8 hours | 4 | 5 | 8 | 5.3 |
| H) Performance review | 4 hours | 24 | 28 | 36 | 28.7 |
| Completion | 42 | 55 | 79 |
According to PERT, the most optimistic perspective is that the project concludes in 42 weeks. Still, average expectations are that it will take 55 weeks, or in the worst-case scenario, it might last 79 weeks and cost the project significant losses in cost overruns.
- Network Diagram (CPM)
Understanding the longest path in time from the start to the finish of Al Hamad Pharmacy helps identify the minimum time essential to accomplish the entire task. The method employed is the Critical Path Method (CPM) that graduates from the PERT.
| Activity | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | |
| Predecessor | – | A | A | A, C | D, C | E | F | G | |
| Expected time | 4.6 | 3 | 2.1 | 4 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 28.7 |
Activity A does not have a predecessor. Activity B needs activity A to conclude before starting. Also, Activity C requires A to conclude. Moreover, Activity D is reliant on engagement A and C terminating before it begins. Furthermore, E relies on the completion of D and C. Finally, activity F comes after E, G comes after F, and H follows G.
Calculation of the critical path line
| A | ES, EF |
| t | LS, LF |
Where, A=Activity, t=expected time, ES=early start, EF, early finish, LS=late start, and LF=late finish
Slack comes from subtracting Early start time from Late start time or eliminating Early Finish time from Late Finish Time.
The critical path follows A- C-E-F-G-H and is the longest route.
Works Cited
Banco Santander. Saudi Arabia: Economic and Political Outline, 2020, available at
https://santandertrade.com/en/portal/analyse-markets/saudi-arabia/economic-political-outline [Accessed on 5th July 2020]
Informa Markets. Healthcare Opportunities and Challenges in Saudi Arabia. Omnia Health,
2020, https://insights.omnia-health.com/reports/healthcare-opportunities-and-challenges-saudi-arabia [Accessed on 5th July 2020]