Background Kopi Shop Pte Ltd (shall be known as "Kopi Shop") has been one of a few food court operators in Singapore. The firm was founded by its CEO, Mr Alan Tam, some five years ago, and it has a small team of ten operations staff. Kopi Shop operates five food courts around the island, mostly in the sub-urban malls, and the food court stalls are leased to hawkers while Mr Tam and his team manage the cleaning and other operational areas. Kopi Shop distinguishes itself from other food courts by serving only halal-certified dishes and drinks, and this is aligned with Mr Tam's belief that his business shall cater to all Singaporeans. Business has been above average and Kopi Shop's food courts have been attracting a good crowd of mostly seniors and families living in the housing estates due to the attractively priced hawker food served in air-conditioned comfort. Amongst the list of projects to undertake in 2024, Mr Tam and his team of operational staff has decided to implement the one of the more technologically challenging projects, Project D: Replace Kopi Shop's Food Court Point of Sales System to an advanced version that is integrated with Amazon's Web Services. The project shall be known as the System Migration to Amazon (SMA) Project. NTT Data, an IT service provider headquartered in Tokyo, shall be appointed as the systems integrator and as the main contractor. Lenovo Services, an IT hardware vendor, shall be providing the IT equipment needed in the SMA Project. Mr Tam has also appointed the following staff to the SMA Project Team: You, the Operations Manager at Kopi Shop, shall be appointed as the SMA Project Manager. Chan, a Kopi Shop Area Manager, shall be in charge of liaising with NTT Data and providing the service provider with information on Kopi Shop's internal processes so that the new system can be tailored to Kopi Shop's needs. Raman, an Operations Executive at Kopi Shop, shall be working with Lenovo Services to procure the necessary IT hardware and equipment. Mary, an Administrative Executive at Kopi Shop, shall be in charge of all administrative and payment matters relating to the SMA Project.

Question 1a CEO, Mr Tam, would like the SMA Project to start on 01 August 2023 and aim for completion before 27 November 2023. Also, The project team should be financially prudent but reasonable expenses with good justifications will be approved. More importantly, the new system has to meet high security and reliability standard due to sensitive financial information according to Mr Tam, and it has to adhere to Personal Data Protection Act. Hence, the CEO advised the team to not rush through the project, and if there is a conflict between cost and time, controlling cost has a higher priority. Recommend the priority of the project and construct a project priority matrix based on the CEO's direction.

Question 1b This is the first time you are working with Chan, Raman and Mary in a project. Discuss a unique and relevant influence currency you can use on each of the team members in order to influence them towards successful project completion.