I need help with a project management case study

CASE STUDY: VIDEO GAME DELIVERY PROJECT

Part 1: Project Integration Management

An international marketing and distribution company has decided to provide a monthly video game rental program as a result of its market research. The Video Game Delivery Project involves developing a Web-based application and support structure to provide customers with video games on a monthly rental basis. For example, a customer would pay a monthly fee and then be able to order several video games over the Internet, receive the games via express mail, return those games via express mail, and keep receiving additional games. Several companies already provide this type of service for movie rentals. Market research and corporate values suggested your company focus on educational and sports-related video games only, and games would be available for all types of platforms, including popular gaming systems, computers, and learning systems used in preschools and elementary schools. You also plan to serve an international market, providing information and products in several different languages. This system must be very user-friendly, providing customers the ability to search for specific games by platform, age and gender appropriateness, customer reviews, sport (for sports-related games), language, and so on. Customers must be able to order the video games, track delivery and return of video games, pay online or via other payment methods (including credit or debit card, check, school payment systems, other electronic payment systems, etc.), and wrte reviews of the games they rent. The system must also be able to track referrals to the site from corporate partners and customer referrals, display advertisements, and track customer usage patterns.

Tasks

1.Research similar Web-based applications. Based on the scenario description of similar Web sites and your personal opinions, summarize the main functions that this system could provide. Rate the functions as mandatory, optional, and nice-to-have. Then provide an initial assessment of how difficult it would be to provide each function. Wrte your results in a one-to two-page paper, citing important references.

2.Concoct a weighted decision matrix using the template from in Templates link to evaluate providing the functions you identified in Task 1 above. Develop at least four criteria, assign weights to each criterion, assign scores, and then calculate the weighted scores for each function. Print the spreadsheet and bar chart with the results. Wrte a one-page paper describing this weighted decision matrix and summarize the results.

3.Formulate the financial section of a business case for the Video Game Delivery Project. Assume this project will take 12 months to finalize and cost about $500,000 and monthly operating costs would be about $50,000 per month for year one and $60,000 per month for years two and three. Estimated benefits are about $1 million the first year after implementation and $2 million the following two years. Use the business case spreadsheet template from Templates link to help calculate the NPV, ROI, and year in which payback occurs. Assume a 7 percent discount rate.

4.Set Up a project charter for the Video Game Delivery Project. Assume the project will take 12 months to end and cost about $500,000. Use the project charter template and examples of project charters in Chapter 3 and 4 as guidelines.

Part 2: Project Scope Management

Congratulations! You have been selected as the project manager for the Video Game Delivery Project. The company's VP of marketing, Lori, is the project sponsor. Now you need to put together your project team and get to work on this high-visibility project. Top management has told you that you can hand pick your team. In addition, you will be working with several other companies on this project. Instead of developing all of the software yourselves, you'll use a Web-based application developed by ABC Corp. Of course, you'll need to customize the application somewhat to meet requirements for this project. ABC Corp.'s senior consultant, Gaurav, is your main contact with that company. You'll also be working with Edsys, an educational systems consulting firm that will help you in determining user requirements and developing partnership programs. Your company has never sold directly to schools, and senior management thinks it makes sense to get professional help in selling to that market segment. One of Edsys's top consultants, Julie, and some of her colleagues will assist you. Initial estimates suggest that about half of the $500,000 budgets for this project will go to hardware costs and the outsourced software and consulting services. You will need two information technology professionals, two marketing specialists, and one purchasing specialist on your internal project team.

Tasks:

1.Develop a scope statement for the project. Use the template provided in Templates link and the example in Chapter 3 as guides. Be as specific as possible in describing product characteristics, requirements, and deliverables.

2.Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. Break down the work to level 2 or level 3, as appropriate. Use the template in Templates link and samples in Chapter 3 and 5 as guides. Print the WBS in list form as a Word file. Be sure to base your WBS on the project charter, scope statement, and other relevant information.

3.Use the WBS you developed in Task 2 above to produce a Gantt chart in Project 2007 for the project. Use the outline numbering feature to display the outline numbers (click Tools on the menu bar, click Options, and then click Show outline number). Do not enter any durations or dependencies. Print the resulting Gantt chart on one page, being sure to display the entire Task Name column.

4.Develop a strategy for scope verification and change control for this project. Wrte a two-page paper summarizing key points of the strategy.

Part 3: Project Time Management

As project manager, you are actively leading the Video Game Delivery Project team in developing a schedule. The two information technology professionals on your team are Matt and Najwa, the marketing specialists are Magda and John, and the purchasing specialist is Nora. Recall that the project is expected to be finalized in one year for $500,000. Assume that all of your internal team members are available to work up to 75 percent of their time on this project. Your project sponsor, Lori, has made it clear that it is important to meet or beat the one-year schedule goal. Your team has agreed to add a one-month buffer at the end of the project to ensure that you wrap up on time or early.

Tasks:

1.Review the WBS and Gantt chart you designed for Tasks 2 and 3 in Part 2. Propose three to five additional activities you think should be added to help you estimate resources and durations. Wrt a one-page paper describing these new activities.

2.Identify at least eight milestones for this project. Wrt a one-page paper describing each milestone using the SMART criteria.

3.Using the Gantt chart you built for Task 3 in Part 2, and the new activities and milestones you proposed in Tasks 1 and 2 above, estimate the task durations and enter dependencies, as appropriate. Remember that your schedule goal for the project is one year. Print the Gantt chart and network diagram.

4.Wrt a one-page paper summarizing how you would assign people to each activity. Include a table or matrix listing how many hours each person would work on each task. These resource assignments should make sense given the duration estimates make in Task 3 above.

5.Assume that your project team starts falling behind schedule. You know that it is crucial to meet or beat the one-year schedule goal. Describe strategies for making up lost time and avoiding schedule slips in the future.

Part 4: Project Cost Management

Your project sponsor has asked you and your team to refine the existing cost estimate for the project so that there is a solid cost baseline for evaluating project performance. Recall that your schedule and cost goals are to finalize the project in one year or less for under $500,000. Also recall that you plan to purchase a Web-base application developed by ABC Corp. and customize it to meet requirements for this project. You'll also have consultants from Edsys, who will help you determine user requirements and develop partnership programs. Initial estimates suggested that about half of the $500,000 budgeted for this project would go to hardware costs and the outsourced software and consulting services.

Tasks:

1.Organize and print a one-page cost estimate for the project, similar to the one provided in Figure 7-1 in Chapter 7. Use the WBS level 1 categories provide below, and be sure to document assumptions you make in preparing the cost estimate. Assume a labor rate of $100/hour for the project manager and $60/hour for other project team members. Assume twice those numbers for outsourced labor.

1. Project Management (internal)

b.Requirements Definition

c.Off-the-Shelf System Installation

d.System Customization (for transferring/entering product and customer information and developing new capabilities like managing referrals, displaying advertisements, and tracking customer usage patterns)

e.Testing

f.Training, Roll Out, and Support

2.Using the cost estimate you generated above, plan a cost baseline by allocating the costs by WBS for each month of the project.

3.Assume you have done six months of the project. The BAC was $500,000 for this 12-month project. Also assume the following:

PV = $300,000

EV = $280,000

AC = $250,000

Using this information, compose a one- to two-page report that answers the following questions:

a.What is the cost variance, schedule variance, cost performance index (CPI), and schedule performance index (SPI) for the project?

b.Use the CPI to calculate the estimate at completion (EAC) for this project. Use the SPI to estimate how long it will take to end this project. Sketch an earned value chart using the above information, including the EAC point. See Figure 7-5 as a guide. compose a paragraph explaining what this chart shows.

c.How is the project doing? Is it ahead of schedule or behind schedule? Is it under budget or over budget? Should you alert your senior management and ask for assistance? Should you talk to you sponsor before the meeting to discuss this data?

Part 5: Project Quality Management

The Video Game Delivery Project team is working hard to ensure that the new system meets expectations. The team has a detailed scope statement, schedule, and so on, but as the project manager, you want to make sure you'll satisfy key stakeholders, especially Lori, the project sponsor. Lori is also very sensitive to customer needs, so you have to make sure the new system is stable and easy to use. You know Lori wants the system to provide the most important capabilities within a year so the company can start making money from this new venture. You also know that you might need to make some tradeoffs in terms of cost and scope to meet the schedule goal.

Tasks:

1.Develop a list of quality standards or requirements related to meeting the stakeholder expectations described above, especially for customers. Also provide a brief description of each requirement. For example, a requirement might be that the new system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that any normal 12-year-old should be able to use it.

2.You have decided to expand the testing program to observe several potential customers using early versions of the system to get their feedback. Compose a one- to two-page paper describing how this testing might work. Try to find information on how real companies get customer feedback such as this.

3.After analyzing results of early customer testing of the new system, you decided to establish a Pareto diagram to easily see what problems or suggestions user reported. First, produce a spreadsheet in Excel, using the data in the table below. List the most frequently described problems or suggestions first. Add a column called "% of Total" and another one called "Cumulative %". Then enter formulas to calculate those items. Next, use the Excel Chart Wizard to generate a Pareto diagram based on this data. Use the Line - Column on 2 Axis custom type chart so your resulting chart looks similar to the one in Figure 8-1.

PROBLEMS/SUGGESTIONS

# OF TIMES REQUESTED

Shopping cart is not like others

18

No easy way to sort products by age, rating, cost, etc.

22

No product pictures

15

Can't use Paypal or similar payment options

3

System is too slow

10

Interface is boring

4

Part 6: Project Human Resource Management

Now that you have expanded the testing for the Video Game Delivery Project, you need to clarify who needs to do what for the customer-testing portion of the project. Recall that the team members include you, the project manager; Lori, your project sponsor; Matt and Najwa from the information technology department; Magda and John from the marketing department; Nora from the purchasing department; Gaurav from ABC Corp., who's providing the Web-based application and helping you customize it; and Julie, your main contact from Edsys, the educational systems consulting firm.

Tasks:

1.Fix a responsibility assignment matrix based on the following information: The main tasks that need to be done for early customer testing are to determine the demographics for the testers, plan how many people and how many testing sessions will be held, find the testers, develop the test, devise the facilities, generate the survey and other methods for getting customer feedback, and analyze the results. Plan a RACI chart to help clarify roles and responsibilities for these customer-testing tasks. Document key assumptions you make in preparing the chart.

2.You've decided to temporarily add additional people to the project to help run the customer testing. Based on feedback from your marketing specialists and the outside consultants, you decide that the customer testing will occur over a ten-day period. Assume that you'll need two marketing specialists and three technical specialists each day, yourself and one administrative assistant half time each day, one facilities expert for the first two days, and two assessment experts the last two days. Establish a resource histogram, similar to the one in Figure 9-6, based on this information.

3.Customer testing has just started, but you realize that there isn't enough physical space or access to computers and other items everyone assumed would be available. You cannot add more people to address these problems, but you can suggest overtime, find additional computers, or provide other amenities to improve the work environment. Compose a one-page paper describing what you can do quickly to address this situation.

Part 7: Project Communications Management

Several issues have arisen on the Video Game Delivery Project. Four months have passed since the project started. Gaurav and his company are complaining about not being paid appropriately. You initially thought you would only need a small amount of customization of the outsourced software, but now the supplier says the customization will cost another $100,000 over their initial budget. The purchasing specialist on your internal project team, Nora, does not like this supplier at all and gets very hostile at team meetings. Everyone else has been fairly happy with the supplier, and you weren't that surprised when they raised the customization estimate. Nora went to senior management (without telling you), and suggested terminating that supplier. Your two information technology specialists, Matt and Najwa, came and told you that they both feel that they are being underutilized on the project. As project manager, you have been getting short, weekly status reports from all of your team members, but many of them did not address challenges people are obviously facing.

Tasks:

1.Establish an issue log for the project. List at least three issues and related information based on the scenario presented.

2.In addition to written weekly status reports, what else might you suggest to improve project communications? Summarize your ideas in a one-page paper.

3.Wrt a one-page paper describing how you might approach two of the conflicts described above.

Part 8: Project Risk Management

Since several problems have been occurring on the Video Game Delivery project (see the running case information in Part 7 above), you have decided to be more proactive in managing risks. You also want to address positive and negative risks.

Tasks:

1.Generate a risk register for the project, using Table 11-5 as a guide. Identify six potential risks, including at least two positive risks.

2.Plot the six risks on a probability/impact matrix, using Figure 11-4 as a guide. Assign a numeric value for the probability of each risk, and its impact on meeting the main project objectives. Use a scale of 1 to 10 to assign the values, with 1 being lowest and 10 being highest. For a simple risk factor calculation, multiply these two values (the probability score and the impact score). Enter the new data in the risk register. Wrt your rationale for how you determined the scores for one of the negative risks and one of the positive risks.

3.Develop a response strategy for one of the negative risks and one of the positive risks. Enter the information in the risk register. Wrt a separate paragraph describing what specific tasks would need to be done to implement the strategy. In addition, include time and cost estimates for each strategy.

Part 9: Project Procurement Management

After a monthly progress review meeting six months into your project, top management approved adding $100,000 to the budget for software customization. Lori, your project sponsor, was not happy with this increase in costs, and she suggested that a procurement audit be performed as soon as possible to avoid any future contractual problems. You have also decided to replace Nora, your internal purchasing specialist.

Tasks:

1.Research information on procurement audits. Wrt a one-page paper with your findings, and describe how a procurement audit might help your company.

2.Wrt a one-page position description for a new purchasing specialist for this project. Be specific in terms of educational and work experience requirements. Include a requirement that this person work closely with project teams to help them know when contractors are not living up to expectations, how they can provide evidence to support their claims, what they can do to prevent this type of problem from occurring.

3.Plan a lessons-learned report for what you may have learned so far as project manager for this project. Use the template provided on the Templates link and be creative in your response.