CASE STUDY

We Are Big for Green Technologies

You work for We Are Big, Inc., an international firm with more than 100,000

employees in several countries. A strategic goal is to help improve the environment

while increasing revenues and reducing costs. The Environmental Technologies

Program just started, and the VP of Operations, Natalie, is the program sponsor. It is

the program manager, and there is a steering committee made up of 10 senior

executives, including Natalie, who oversees the program. Several projects operate

within this program, including the Green Computing Research Project. The CIO and

project spongor, Ben, has given this project high priority and plans to hold special

interviews to hand-pick the project manager and team. Ben is also a member of the

program steering committee. The main purpose of the Green Computing Research

Project is to research possible computer systems applications of green computing in

different areas, including the following:

1- Data center and overall energy efficiency

2- Disposal of electronic waste and recycling

3- Telecommuting

4- Virtualization of server resources

5- Thin client solutions

6- Use of open source software

7- Development of new software to address green computing for internal use and potential sale to other organizations

The budget for the project is $500,000, and the goal is to provide an extensive report,

including detailed financial analysis and recommendations for which green

computing technologies to implement. Official project request forms for the

recommended solutions will also be created as part of the project. Ben decided to have

five people working full-time on this six-month project and to call on people in other

areas as needed. Ben wanted to select, the most relevant candidate for the project

management, who is expected to have a prior experience in green computing projects,

excellent verbal and oral communication, ability to write and edit program codes in

at least two programing languages

As, this is a r&w projett for the company, the requirements cannot be clearly expressed

and expected to become clearly defined as the project progressed. Ben insisted to be

in the project managers' selection committee, and used the criteria mentioned above

by giving it weights and scores for each applicant to come up with a short list based

on the higher weighted scores

Upon selecting the project manager, Ben is expecting him to initiate the project by

having a wide discussion with major stakeholders including the VP of Operations,

steering committee members, CIO and project sponsor himself, then to create the

project charter, and call for a kick-off meeting to declare the initiation of the project.

Questions

1. What are the criteria used to short list Project Manager Candidates?
2. What do we call the method for short listing?
3. List the major items to be included in the Green Computing Research Project scope.

1. Name three stakeholders.
2. How do you measure the success of the Green Computing Research Project?
3. Assume that you have been selected, as a project manager, what would you do differently during the project initiation?

1. Do you agree with Ben that the project manager must be capable of writing some of the system codes? Why?

1. What would you say if project manager finished the project within one year & 6 months, after requesting additional budget of $500,000?