1. APRIL 18-23, 2012 PROJECT PLAN TO DEVELOP A LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN FOR RETAIL EMPIRE, INC. Prepared by: Alice Monroe, Chief Learning Officer and Ray Svenson Consulting, Inc. Sample PHASE 1: Project Planning 1 ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 112 Two Mile Bridge Road Roberts MT 59070 www.raysvensonconsulting.com e-mail: ray@raysvenson.com Office phone: 406-446-1861 Mobile phone: 406-425-4013

2. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 2 Project Plan PROJECT PURPOSE The purpose of this project is to Analyze and anticipate the learning needs of Retail Empire’s employees Assess the capabilities of the current Learning and Development System to meet the anticipated needs Propose a future-state Learning and Development System Develop an Implementation Plan to transition to the new system PHASE 1: Project Planning

3. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 3 Project Plan BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE Retail Empire currently has approximately 2,500 stores in North America and is adding stores at the rate of 250 per year. There is a plan to enter Europe within the next two years. The Company’s growth plans involve not only adding stores, but growing top-line sales ($ billions) and margin ($100s of millions) in existing stores. We are underperforming compared to our top two competitors. Employee turnover in the stores exceeds 100%. There are major performance improvement initiatives underway in  Merchandising  Marketing  Supply chain  Retail operations  Information technology PHASE 1: Project Planning

4. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 4 Project Plan BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE (cont.) Existing training focuses mainly on the stores by training store managers at the Corporate Learning Center and expecting the store managers to train store employees using a curriculum supplied by Corporate Learning & Development. Training outside of Retail Operations is ad hoc except for Information Technology, which has its own small training department and Leadership Development which is rudimentary. We have never conducted a full-scale strategic analysis of the Company’s Learning and Development needs. The performance of the business is critically dependent upon the skills and knowledge of all of its employees. The stakes for Learning and Development could be in the $ billions. PHASE 1: Project Planning

5. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 5 Project Plan SCOPE Geographical  Focus mainly on North America.  The model will be constructed with the intent of migrating it to Europe. Learning Needs Focus  Leadership Development, all levels  Retail Operations  Merchandising  Marketing  Supply Chain  Information Technology (both IT employees and users in all departments) Time Horizon  Focus on the next three years  Evolutionary plan for six years PHASE 1: Project Planning

6. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 6 Project Plan DELIVERABLES Analysis findings and conclusions  Business-driven Learning and Development needs for each area of focus  Estimated business benefits of systematically addressing the L&D needs  Assessment of current L&D capabilities to meet the identified needs  Forecast of the numbers of people needing L&D in each area over the next three years  Relevant best L&D practices, both internal and external  Future L&D system requirements Future L&D System Architecture  Mission, philosophy, and goals for L&D  Learning and Development strategies and delivery systems to be employed  Learning facilities and information technology infrastructure  L&D processes  L&D organization structure, roles, and responsibilities  Governance of L&D (Business Leaders setting ongoing direction and priorities)  Sourcing strategies  Partnerships with Universities, schools, and contractors  L&D staffing strategy  L&D financing strategy  System for measuring and reporting results PHASE 1: Project Planning

7. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 7 Project Plan DELIVERABLES (cont.) Implementation Plan (several scenarios)  Three-year goals, milestones, and timeline to transition to the new L&D system  Forecast of workload and cost for both implementation and ongoing L&D operations  Communication and Change Management Plans  Business Case PHASE 1: Project Planning

8. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 8 Project Plan KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Project Leader, Alice Monroe, Chief Learning Officer  Organize and lead the Working Team  Be accountable to company executives, Sponsors, and Executive Steering Team  Perform as liaison with best practices companies  Secure the necessary resources  Recruit Sponsors Project Manager, John Jones (full-time for four months)  Maintain project tasks lists and assignments  Track progress and troubleshoot and resolve problems  Schedule all meetings, interviews, etc. (with administrative support)  Perform as liaison with the consultant Working Team which includes representatives from key departments selected by Executive Steering Team (one-third time for four months)  Conduct analysis tasks  Participate in analysis, design, and implementation planning meetings  Present findings to Sponsors and Executive Steering Team PHASE 1: Project Planning

9. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 9 Project Plan KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (cont.) Sponsors, Janet Elias, President and Paul Johnson, HR VP  Recruit Executive Steering Team members  Review project deliverables  Advocate for the project Executive Steering Team which includes the president, HR VP, and VPs of key departments  Review analysis findings and future L&D System Architecture  Review Implementation Plan and Business Case and advocate to Executive Leadership Team for approval  Provide members to the Working Team  Provide access to people and information  Advocate for this project Consultant, Ray Svenson  Provide the project process and tools  Support the Project Leader and Project Manager  Facilitate analysis, design, and implementation planning meetings  Review deliverables  Help prepare Executive Briefings  Provide straw models for critical future L&D system components PHASE 1: Project Planning

10. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 10 Project Plan CRITICAL INTERFACES HR  Director, Recruiting and Staffing  Director, Performance Management  Director, HRIS Finance  CFO IT  Systems Architecture Buildings and Facilities  Chief Architect’s office Functional Departments  Executive Steering Team members PHASE 1: Project Planning

11. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 11 Project Plan PROJECT APPROACH Project Plan Develop Specifications and Design Details Sponsor Review Analysis Findings and Conclusions Design High Level L&D System Architecture 3-5 Year Implemen- tation Plan and Business Case Business Needs Analysis Assess Current L&D Capabilities Research Best Practices & Competitors’ Practices Develop Population Forecast PHASE 1: Project Planning

12. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 12 Project Plan PROJECT APPROACH (cont.) Business Needs Analysis  Analyze documented business plans  Analyze initiative plans and documents  Analyze business performance data  Interview executives and some middle managers  Conduct site visits to stores and warehouses  Conduct focus groups with employees in targeted functions Assess Current L&D Capabilities  Complete a capabilities inventory with each organized training group  Conduct a technology assessment to assess the existing technology infrastructure capability to support e-learning and tracking of learning results Research Best Practices and Competitors’ L&D Practices  Identify internal best practices by interviewing L&D leaders  Conduct literature search  Interview employees who worked for competitors or best practice companies  Interview L&D leaders in best practices companies  Visit selected best practices companies PHASE 1: Project Planning

13. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 13 Project Plan PROJECT APPROACH (cont.) Develop Population Forecast  Segment the learner population  Analyze historical population size, growth, and turnover per segment  Forecast population size, growth, and turnover per segment by analyzing business plans and staffing plans for three years Analysis Findings and Conclusions  Conduct a five-day Working Team meeting to summarize the data collection findings, draw analysis conclusions, and develop requirements for the future-state L&D system  Document the findings, conclusions, and requirements in an Analysis Report  Prepare an Executive Briefing and brief the Sponsors and Executive Steering Team members PHASE 1: Project Planning

14. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 14 Project Plan PROJECT APPROACH (cont.) Design High-level L&D System Architecture  Prepare straw models of alternative design concepts  Conduct a five-day Working Team meeting to design the L&D System Architecture  Document the design in a Design Report  Prepare an Executive Briefing package and brief the Sponsors and Executive Steering Team members  Conduct an Executive Steering Team meeting to approve the design and receive suggestions for change  Amend the design per the Executive Steering Team recommendations Develop Specifications and Design Details  Subteams create sufficient detail to permit implementation planning and cost estimating PHASE 1: Project Planning

15. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 15 Project Plan PROJECT APPROACH (cont.) 3-5 Year Implementation Plan and Business Case  Conduct a five-day Working Team meeting to —Review the design details —Develop alternative implementation scenarios (3) Milestones and timeline for implementation work Estimate implementation workload and cost Estimate L&D operations workload and cost —Develop a Communications and Change Management Plan —Develop a Business Case for proceeding with implementation  Develop a spreadsheet model for implementation cost and resources  Complete cost estimating, where needed  Run the spreadsheet model for the alternative scenarios  Conduct a two-day Working Team meeting to review the resource estimates and plan the Executive reviews  Document the Implementation Plan  Develop the Executive Briefing package  Brief the Sponsors and Executive Steering Team members  Conduct an Executive Steering Team review for approval and scenario selection  Plan and conduct a review with the Executive Leadership Team for authorization to proceed PHASE 1: Project Planning

16. ©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 16 Project Plan BUSINESS CASE FOR GOING FORWARD The business stakes associated with employee Learning and Development are in the range of hundreds of $ millions to $ billions. Meeting the Learning and Development needs of the business is likely to cost $ tens of millions per year. This project, at an estimated total cost of $300,000 will shape our Learning and Development approach to make sure that our investments are directed to provide the highest leverage for improved business results. PHASE 1: Project Planning