HR Monitoring & Utilisation Enhancement

Dashboard
Skills City – Cloud Security Bootcamp (CS2 – JUN2024)

Key project information

Name of the client organisation Beech Tree (Private Equity)

Client organisation website Beech Tree PE
Client’s Delegate Full Name Paul Franks
(Key Contact) Email Address paul.franks@beechtreepe.com
Full Name Devi Vara Prasad Pirla
Project Co-ordinator
Email Address Comms via Skills City Queries / Discord
Number of Learners Required (per team) 6 (on average – not a guarantee!)
Project Duration (in weeks) 12 (3 intro & preliminary work + 8 of Project R&D work from
learners + 1 for Talent Showcase Week)

About the Industry Projects

Industry Projects are a fundamental (and compulsory) activity of the Skills City Bootcamps. Their
purpose is to enhance the knowledge acquisition process during the Bootcamp by providing the
learners with the opportunity to work on a real-life project with organisations from various industries,
thus developing fundamental skills like the following:
• Planning & Organisation: Creating a detailed plan, setting goals & milestones, organising
and using existing resources efficiently to achieve objectives.
• Time Management: Task allocation & prioritisation, resources management and allocation,
project scheduling,
• Communication & Transparency: Effective, clear and open communication between team
members to ensure the contribution and frequent reviewing of the outcomes from all the
different stakeholders (Agile Methodology).
• Risk Management: Identifying potential risks, establish mitigation strategies, addressing
any issues and challenges in a proactive manner.
• Leadership & Team Building: Guiding a team toward achieving goals; inspire trust, foster
teamwork and collaboration, provide direction and motivation, resolve conflicts, making
difficult decisions, keeping team productive & focused on the end goal.
• Professionalism: Maintaining a high standard of ethics, integrity and accountability in all
project-related activities, problem-solving mentality along with reliability, punctuality and
respect between the team members.

IN4 Group Ltd. (Company Reference Number: 11891136)

About the client company
Beech Tree (Private Equity)
Helping create value is at the heart of our Investment Strategy
We want to make a difference to the companies we invest in. Building value is at the heart of
everything we do. We are an active and supportive investor – utilising our proven Value Creation
Toolkit alongside our experience to help our management teams deliver ambitious growth plans.

Sales & Marketing

From the outset we look to invest in the sales and marketing functions through a ‘results driven’
methodology. Building sales momentum and illustrating strong organic growth on exit is key to
maximising value.
Product & Service Extension
We have significant experience in accelerating product development. Launching a new range of
features or services will often enhance the business proposition creating value arbitrage.
Automation & Efficiency
We help our businesses to scale efficiently by automating services and workflows, typically through
the use of the latest technology – allowing them to grow exponentially without the need for significant
growth in overheads.

Project outline
What is the business problem to be addressed in this Industry Project?
A common theme across Beech Tree’s corporate portfolio is the lack of visibility in the utilisation
and effective productivity of staff across a business.

For example, if a business employees 100 consultants (or other employees), who are working on a
number of different departments or projects, the productivity must be reflected towards a number of
well-established metrics, so that the company ensures that their resources (either human or
inanimate) are utilised as best as possible.

Furthermore, when it comes to the employees, the company must account for their absences /
booked holidays to ensure that their place and responsibilities are adequately covered while they
are absent.

What would an ideal solution to this problem involve?

Accounting for the challenge as this is presented above, the learners will need to create a proof-of
concept solution, using appropriate AWS tools and principles (e.g. WAF & CAF, databases,
dashboarding). There is no need to worry about any data, as you can utilise dummy data to check
the compatibility of the different data types and categories in your proposed service, and you need
to account for security considerations. A high-level proof-of-concept architecture could be built
using AWS to support your findings, after completing the conceptual design phase.

IN4 Group Ltd. (Company Reference Number: 11891136)

The solution architecture will need to consider and include the following features:
• Overall utilisation of the consultants (month per month)
• For this feature, you will need to consider:
• Departments
• Type of consultant
• Individual record for each consultant
• Level of activity of consultants per department
• For this feature, you will need to consider:
• Workload quantification of consultants (per type of consultants, per
department) (in descending order)
• Type of consultants mainly involved in departmental activities (in
descending order)
• [OPTIONAL] Analysis of time utilisation:
• Active work time chargeable to clients (for external projects)
• Active work time (for internal projects)
• Training time
• Holiday / Sick Leave
• This way, the organisation will be able to assess the level of workload across the
different departments or any requirement to increase/reduce the number of a
specific type of consultants in the different departments.
• Workload management & scheduling
• For this feature, you will need to consider:
• Workload management and scheduling for a period of up to 3 months
ahead (potentially use a structure like an interactive Gantt chart with
filters).
• You can always create a similar structure as above (with the level of
activity).
• [OPTIONAL] Work coverage: Work won / committed over consultant
availability (in hours) within that 3 month period; this will ensure that HR
arrangements are planned and made.
• This way, the organisation will be able to assess the level of potential workload
across the different departments or any requirement to better utilise their resources
in the different departments within a time of period of up to 3 months ahead.
Potential job roles associated with this Industry Project
Project Manager, Solutions Architect, Database Administrator, Data Analyst, QA Analyst, HR
Specialist, Business Intelligence Analyst, Operations Analyst

IN4 Group Ltd. (Company Reference Number: 11891136)

Project objectives and deliverables
What are the Industry Project objectives & deliverables?
Objectives
• Create a proof-of-concept solution architecture using AWS-based tools and principles,
incorporating the following features:
o Overall utilisation of the consultants (month per month)
o Level of activity of consultants per department
o Workload management & scheduling
• Create a visualisation of the solution architecture, outlining the relations between the
different features of the infrastructure (as an image/ flowchart) (find example here).
• Thoroughly document the research and development process of the solution architecture to
allow for a smoother handover and use of deliverables by the client.
Deliverables
• Report
• Presentation
• Solution Architecture (image, .png)
• Proof-of-concept files

Project guidance & support

Purpose Full Name Organisation Email Address

Project Support & Paul Franks Beech Tree

Reporting (Private Equity)
(Client’s side)
Reach out via Skills
Project Support & Devi Vara Prasad Skills City
City Queries
Reporting Pirla
(skillscityqueries@in4
(SC Bootcamp)
group.co.uk)
Skills City Project Georgios Evangelinos Skills City
Management Team
(Project Delegate)

IN4 Group Ltd. (Company Reference Number: 11891136)

Appendix - Project work arrangements
Presence
● As most of the projects are computer-based, they will be taking place virtually. Hence, there
will be no definite need for physical presence of the group members (at HOST or
elsewhere) while the project is in progress (unless otherwise agreed).
● However, if you consider necessary to attend physically (for project-related purposes, e.g.
hardware testing, development of prototype, visit to the client), please communicate this to
your Project Co-ordinator as early as possible (providing a notice at least 3-5 days). The
same principle applies if we require you to attend HOST Salford physically (same notice
period as above for our invite).
● You are welcome to come and work at HOST Salford, after discussing appropriate space
availability with your project co-ordinator.
Meeting Attendance & Project Support
● There will be recurring weekly updates (between the team and the respective project co-
ordinator) to monitor and evaluate the progress and the completion of the
objectives/deliverables.
● You are required to conduct work (both individually and as a team) during the guided-
learning hours (time provided as Project Work), to ensure the completion of the project.
● Each team member is responsible for being present in every meeting (virtually, unless
otherwise agreed in advance) and provide timely notice to their fellow team members and
their respective Project Team Co-ordinator (at least 1-2 days) in case of necessary
absence.
● In case of unforeseen absence, you must contact Skills City Queries via email within 48
hours from the time that the meeting took place, explaining the reason of absence.
● Each team meeting with the client will be chaired by the Project Co-ordinator and the
Project Management Team Delegate will also be present (internal team meetings are
excluded).
● Recording the meeting is only allowed upon prior consent from the client.
● The Project Management Team will hold a secondary support role during the Project
(focusing mainly on supporting the Project Co-ordinator and the Project Client) and you are
required to reach them only through Skills City Queries and not directly.
● Essential Skills Sessions on important skills will be held by the Project Management Team.
● Nevertheless, the primary point of contact for support during Project will always be the
Project Co-ordinator.
Further Information
● Working hours: Mon – Thurs (09.00 – 17.00), Fri (09.00 – 15.00)
• Talent Showcase Week / Project Presentations (In-person): TBC

IN4 Group Ltd. (Company Reference Number: 11891136)

Disclaimer

❖ The details of the Industry Project described in the brief and the number of students required for it will be
agreed in consultation with the client organisation and the Skills City Project Management Team.
❖ This Project Brief will be released to the Skills City Bootcamp students upon confirmation of project
deliverables and requirements with the client.
❖ The content of this project is property of the client providing the project and Skills City, as part of the
curriculum provided in the Skills Bootcamps.
❖ To ensure and protect the confidentiality of the information provided, Non-Disclosure Agreements
(NDAs) between Skills City and project team members will be signed (upon entering the Bootcamp).
o For this reason, any project-related information must not be shared in any external platform
(not provided with or agreed to with the Skills City staff) or to any person outside the team
involved in the Industry Project, prior to and following the conclusion of the project and without
any written consent of the client.
o Any learner found in breach of the confidentiality agreement signed (either by knowingly
disclosing or storing information in external platforms or by not contributing to the project work)
could potentially be removed from the Bootcamp.
❖ The series of meetings between the team and the client will be organised by the Project Management
Team delegate associated with this Project. After this, project-related communication with the client will
be handled and monitored primarily by the Project Management Team.
❖ The duration of the Bootcamp is a total of 12 weeks. The project work will follow the curriculum with the
work being finalised in weeks 10-11 and presented in Week 12.
❖ Clients only: For any queries regarding this form, please contact the Project Management Team.
o Georgios Evangelinos: georgios@in4group.co.uk
o Jonathan Walsh: jonathan@in4group.co.uk

IN4 Group Ltd. (Company Reference Number: 11891136)