One manager will need to run the store and direct the staff. One full time Pharmacist will need to be employed which is a legal requirement. Another 7 full time equivalents will need to be employed which will range from staff working all week and maybe extra staff at the weekend where customer figures are likely to increase. These staff will be working 7 days a week at the Discover Trentham store. Equipment – 5 tills will need to be purchased, installed and staff be trained up for them. Then at least 2 islands will be needed for both the beauty and health sections of the store, these can cost up to 20,000 each.

Then at least 10 shelving units will be needed to accommodate all of the products on sale. The units will have 3 or four stories of shelving and be double sided and have gondola ends for offers. Other equipment that would need to be bought are tills. 5 tills will need to be purchased that will cost i?? 1,000 each, therefore it will cost i?? 5,000 all together for the tills. Furthermore, refrigeration units will need to be purchased because the new store will sell drinks and refreshments which will mainly appeal to the tourists that want a drink or sandwich.

These are likely to cost in excess of i?? 20,000 each. Working Capital – The equipment and fixtures and fittings all cost money. This money needs top be readily available to ensure that the store is fully operational in 6 months. If the right budget isn’t set and there isn’t enough money then this won’t happen. The budget needs to be big enough to accommodate the i?? 105,000 quote for fixtures and fittings, the i?? 5,000 for tills and installation and also the i?? 40,000 for the 2 fridges. Therefore, not including promotion costs that will come from head office.

The working capital will need to be i?? 150,000. other costs that will be incurred include staff costs, but these will not need to be paid in the 6 months in advance of the new store opening. Technology – Technology is crucial in businesses these days. Epos systems are a necessity, they allow for automated ordering using barcodes, thus making the ordering process much smoother than it would be years ago. Other technology needed will include state of the art CCTV to try and cut down on theft which is an everyday worry of any business working in the public.

Monitoring is essential so that the Boots store can continue to perform at the level it needs to succeed. It is also essential that any problems that occur are dealt with right away. Things don’t always go the right way, therefore when things go wrong a tool that can help is troubleshooting. Troubleshooting is a method of solving the problem by working out what is actually causing the problem. By getting to the root of the cause, you can put it right so that it will hopefully not cause any further problems.

Troubleshooting can be done in many ways and is good completed in a group where more peoples opinion can be gained to help get to the root cause. Ways that I, the boots manager could use troubleshooting includeWhen managing and monitoring the objectives in a business it is very important that every step along the way of doing this is monitored to ensure that each step is carried out properly and will result in the objective being completed successfully thus fulfilling the business aims. There are many different methods that can be used to monitor business aims and objectives.

Namely Critical Path Analysis and Gantt charts. Critical path analysis, also known as CPA, is a type of planning technique, used to plan complicated projects. It shows all of the operations in a project or operations and the time taken to show those that are critical to the completion of the operation. For example if one operation is delayed it will directly impact on the other operations that are yet to be fulfilled. By following the critical path it can be decided which path is most critical and most important to the projects/operations success. This is what a CPA chart would look like –

Diagram ref. wikipedia. co. uk The critical path follows the top line i. e. A-B-D-F-G. this is because this line takes the longest to complete, so if the critical path was the bottom line then the top operation wouldn’t be able to be completed because it takes longer to complete than the lower operation. A CPA essentially located the longest time that the task will take to complete and shows where more than one task can be done at the same time to save time. A business like Boots would greatly benefit from using a CPA table to monitor its performance and future planning.

It will allow them to see realistically how long a task will take to complete and see when things should be done. By having a specific route to completion then the objective is more likely to be completed successfully because the end is in sight as such and everyone has their own objective within the small tasks of the critical path. Another method of monitoring that will help monitor the performance and future planning of Boots is a Gantt chart. Gantt Charts (Gant Charts) are useful tools for analyzing and planning more complex projects.

A Gantt chart is a useful tool for planning and scheduling projects. They allow you to assess how long a project should take, determine the resources needed, and lay out the order in which tasks need to be carried out. When a project is under way, Gantt charts are useful for monitoring its progress. You can immediately see what should have been achieved at a point in time, and can therefore take action to bring the project back on course if things are off course. Tools to create Gantt charts include Microsoft Project, this computer programme can allow a business to build and manage Gantt Charts.