The purpose of this âcase exerciseâ is to provide you with experience in using a project selection process that ranks proposed projects by their contribution to an organizationâs mission and strategy.
FUND RAISING PROJECT
Assume you are a member of a class on project management. Each student will join a team of five to seven students who will be responsible for creating, planning, and executing a fund raising project for a designated charity. The fund raising project has two goals: (1) raise money for a worthy cause and (2) provide an opportunity for all team members to practice project management skills and techniques.
In addition to completing the project a number of deliverables are required to complete this assignment. These deliverables include
Project proposal Implementation plan Risk management plan Status report
Project reflections presentation Project retrospective/audit
Approved projects will receive $250 seed money to be reimbursed upon completion of the project.
âMUSTâ OBJECTIVES
Every project must meet the âmustâ objectives as determined by the instructor. There are four must objectives:
All projects must be safe, be legal, and comply with university policies. All projects must be capable of earning at least $500.
All projects must be able to be completed within nine weeks.
All projects must provide an opportunity for every member of the project team to experience and learn about project management.
Among the factors to consider for the last objective are the extent to which there is meaningful work for every member of the team, the degree of coordination required, the extent to which the team will have to work with external stakeholders, and the complexity of the project.
âWANTâ OBJECTIVES
In addition to the must objectives, there are âwantâ objectives that the instructor would like to achieve.
Earn more than $500 for a charity. Increase public awareness of the charity.
Provide a resume-worthy experience for students. Be featured on local TV news.
Be fun to do.
ASSIGNMENT
You are a member of the class priority team in charge of evaluating and approving fund raising projects. Use the provided proposal evaluation form to formally evaluate and rank each proposal. Be prepared to report your rankings and justify your decision. You should assume that these projects would be held at your university or college.
FUND RAISING PROPOSALS
PROJECT PROPOSAL 1: HOOPS FOR HOPE
The project is a three-on-three basketball tournament to raise money for the Down Syndrome Association. The tournament will consist of three brackets: co-ed, male, and female teams. There will be a $40 entry fee per team and additional funds will be derived from the sale of commemorative T-shirts ($10). Winning teams will receive gift baskets consisting of donations from local businesses and restaurants. The event will be held at the university recreational center.
PROJECT PROPOSAL 2: SINGING FOR SMILES
The project will hold a karaoke competition with celebrity judges at a popular campus night spot. Funds will be raised by $5 admission at the door and a raffle for prizes donated by local businesses. Funds will be donated to Smile Train, an international organization that performs cleft lip surgery at a cost of $250 per child. The event will feature pictures of children born with cleft lips, and with every $50 earned a piece of a picture puzzle will be added until the original picture is covered with a smiling face.
PROJECT PROPOSAL 3: HALO FOR HEROES
The project will be a Halo video game competition to be held over the weekend utilizing the collegeâs big-screen electronic classrooms. Teams of four players will play each other in a single elimination tournament, with the grand prize being a Sony Play Station 4 donated by a local video game store. Entry fee is $24 per team, and individual players will be able to play in a loserâs bracket for $5. All proceeds will go to the National Military Family Association.
PROJECT PROPOSAL 4: RAFFLE FOR LIFE
Organize a raffle contest. Raffle tickets will be sold for $3 apiece, with the winning ticket worth $300. Each of the six team members will be responsible for selling 50 raffle tickets. All profits will go to the American Cancer Society.
PROJECT PROPOSAL 5: HOLDâEM FOR HUNGER
Organize a Texas Holdâem poker tournament at a campus dining facility. It will cost $20 to enter the tournament with a $15 buy-back-in. Prizes include $300, $150, and $50 gift certificates to a large department store. Fifty percent of the gift certificates will be paid for by entry fees, while the remaining 50 percent is expected to be donated by the store. All players will be eligible to win two donated tickets to menâs and womenâs basketball games. Funds raised will go to the local county food shelter.
PROJECT PROPOSAL 6: BUILD YOUR OWN BOX
The purpose of this project is to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless. Students will donate $10 to participate in building and living in a cardboard city on the university quad for one night. Building materials will be provided by local recycling centers and hardware stores. Hot soup will be provided by the team at midnight to all participants. Proceeds go to the local homeless shelter.
Project Priority Evaluation Form
> Should milestones only be on the critical path?
> Why should a milestone be a concrete, specific, measurable event?
> Does partnering only work on construction projects?
> What best practices are evident in this snapshot?
> Has anyone used these strategies when dealing with foreigners? Or wish he or she had?
> Patti Smith looked up at the bright blue Carolina sky before she entered the offices of Horizon Consulting. It was Friday, which meant she needed to prepare for the weekly status report meeting. Horizon Consulting is a custom software development company
> What does this project say about the importance of taking a socio-technical approach to projects?
> What disadvantages of outsourcing were evident in the Boeing 787 project?
> How did Singer establish effective patterns of communication?
> How did Singer enhance trust on his project?
> Looking back on your experience working on low-priority projects, did any of these strategies work?
> In addition to acting as a cheerleader, what other important roles does Tom West suggest a project manager play?
> How easy do you think it is to identify people who respond to challenges?
> What similarities do you see between the Ford Diesel team and the Mac team at Apple and the Skunk Works at Lockheed?
> How important is a fun culture for innovation?
> Which of the eight characteristics associated with positive synergy were not evident in the 2004 team that lost in the Olympics in Athens?
> Bruce Palmer had worked for Moss and McAdams (M&M) for six years and was just promoted to account manager. His first assignment was to lead an audit of Johnsonville Trucks. He was quite pleased with the five accountants who had been assigned to his team,
> How does the nominal group technique prevent groupthink from occurring on a project?
> What do you think would have happened if the work had been completed in Japan instead of Australia?
> Which of the eight characteristics associated with positive synergy were evident in the case of the Redeem team?
> What aspects of the Arthur Andersen culture contributed to the scandal?
> It seems like every 5–10 years a scandal damages, if not brings down, a well- known business. Is this inevitable, given the competitive nature of business?
> What do you think would have happened to the crew of the Endurance if Shackleton had not led by example?
> How important is leading by example on a project?
> Can you think of other metaphors that would be appropriate?
> What aspects of being a project manager are not reflected in this metaphor?
> Why is a conductor of an orchestra an appropriate metaphor for a project manager?
> The purpose of this case is to give you experience in using a project priority system that ranks proposed projects by their contribution to the organization’s objectives and strategic plan. COMPANY PROFILE The company is the film divisi
> Have you ever used bets to motivate someone? How effective was it?
> Wui arrived in Mobile, Alabama, in the middle of summer, unprepared for humidity and heat. The first day he bought a lightweight, breathable business suit. He was helped by a salesgirl who smiled as she packed the coat and slacks into a box. Americans ar
> On December 26, 2004, an earthquake reaching 9.1 on the Richter scale triggered a series of devastating tsunamis off the coast of Indonesia. They spread throughout the Indian Ocean, killing large numbers of people and inundating coastal communities acros
> Michael Thomas shouted, “Sasha, Tor-Tor, we’ve got to go! Our driver is waiting for us.” Thomas’s two daughters were fighting over who would get the last orange for lunch that day. Victoria (“Tor-Tor”) prevailed as she grabbed the orange and ran out the
> Ken Buttrey scratched his head as he looked over an e-mail from John Barbata. Ken was the team lead on the Jasper Jones project. He and 13 other developers were charged with creating Jasper Jones (JJ), a new character to appear in the next edition of the
> Kendra Hua worked for six years as a software engineer in the IT Department at Point 2 Point (P2P), a large freight moving company. She liked her job and the people she worked with. While she did some maintenance work, she worked primarily on projects, u
> Olaf Gundersen, the CEO of Wireless Telecom Company, is in a quandary. Last year he accepted the Maximum Megahertz project suggested by six up-and-coming young R&D corporate stars. Although Olaf did not truly understand the technical importance of the pr
> You are a member of a project management practicum class. The major assignment for this class is to plan and implement a fund-raising project that will raise at least $1,500 and provide an opportunity to practice project management. You have joined a gro
> Scanner Project You have been serving as Electroscan’s project manager and are now well along in the project. Develop a narrative status report for the board of directors of the chain store that discusses the status of the project to da
> Ventura Stadium Status Report Case You are an assistant to Percival Young, president of G&E Company. He has asked you to prepare a brief report on the status of the Ventura Stadium project. Ventura Stadium is a 47,000-seat professional baseball stadi
> Hector Gaming Company (HGC) is an educational gaming company specializing in young children’s educational games. HGC has just completed their fourth year of operation. This year was a banner year for HGC. The company received a large influx of capital fo
> Tree Trimming Project Wil Fence is a large timber and Christmas tree farmer who is attending a project management class in the spring, his off season. When the class topic came to earned value, he was perplexed. Isn’t he using EV? Each summer Wil hires c
> The purpose of this case is to provide you with an opportunity to practice negotiations. PROCEDURE STEP 1 The class is divided into four groups, each comprising the project management group for one of four projects at Goldrush Electronics. STEP 2 Read
> Chad Cromwell, head of university housing, gazed up at the tower at Buxton Hall and smiled as he walked toward the landmark building. Buxton Hall was built in 1927 as a residential complex for over 350 students at Pacifica State University. At the time,
> Sitting in her office, Karin Chung is reviewing the past four months of the large corporate accounting software installation project she has been managing. Everything seemed so well planned before the project started. Each company division had a task for
> Shell Case Fabricators (SCF) designs and builds shell casings that enclose electronic products such as calculators, cell phones, and modems. Typically the cases are plastic or plastic compounds. SCF has six different production lines that cover different
> Franklin Equipment, Ltd. (FEL), with headquarters and main fabrication facilities in Saint John, New Brunswick, was founded 75 years ago to fabricate custom-designed, large machines for construction businesses in the Maritime Provinces. Over the years it
> Tran was taking his dog, Callie, on her evening walk as the sun began to set over the coastal range. He looked forward to this time of the day. It was an opportunity to enjoy some peace and quiet. It was also a time to review events on the Ajax project a
> Amber Briggs looked nervously at her watch as she sat at the front of a large table in the cafeteria at Kerzner Office Equipment. It was now 10 minutes after 3:00 and only 10 of the 14 members had arrived for the first meeting of the Kerzner anniversary
> Cerberus is a successful producer of specialty chemicals. It operates nine large campus sites in the United States, with a number of different business units on each site. These business units operate independently, with direct reporting to corporate hea
> Tom Bray was mulling over today’s work schedule as he looked across the bay at the storm that was rolling in. It was the second official day of the Pegasus project and now the real work was about to begin. Pegasus was a two-month renovation project for A
> Garth Hudson was a 29-year-old graduate of Eastern State University (ESU) with a BS degree in management information systems. After graduation he worked for seven years at Bluegrass Systems in Louisville, Kentucky. While at ESU he worked part time for an
> Several complications arose during the course of trying to meet the deadline of January 20 for the “Now” wedding rehearsal. Since Lauren was adamant on having the wedding on January 21 (as was Connor for obvious reasons), the implications of each of thes
> On December 31 of last year, Lauren burst into the family living room and announced that she and Connor (her college boyfriend) were going to be married. After recovering from the shock, her mother hugged her and asked, “When?” The following conversation
> Rassy and the team were concerned with the results of your analysis. They spent the afternoon brainstorming alternative ways for shortening the project duration. They rejected outsourcing activities because most of the work was developmental in nature an
> You are the assistant project manager to Rassy Brown, who is in charge of the Nightingale project. Nightingale was the code name given to the development of a handheld electronic medical reference guide. Nightingale would be designed for emergency medica
> Each year countries enter their sailing vessels in the nine-month Round the World Whitbread Sailboat Race. In recent years about 14 countries entered sailboats in the race. Each year’s sailboat entries represent the latest technologies
> This case is based on a project introduced in Chapter 6 (p. 209). You will need to use the project plan created in the Ventura Baseball Stadium case to complete this assignment. Ventura Baseball Stadium is a 47,000-seat professional baseball stadium. G&E
> Given the project network derived in Part A of the case from Chapter 7, Appendix 7.1, Beth also wants to be prepared to answer any questions concerning compressing the project duration. This question will almost always be entertained by the Accounting De
> On June 23, 2018, in Thailand, a group of 12 boys aged between 11 and 17 from the local football team, named the Wild Boars, and their 23-year-old assistant coach entered the Tham Luang cave. Tham Luang is a large cave complex in northern Thailand along
> We have great information systems for reporting, tracking, and controlling costs on design projects. Our planning of projects is better than any I have seen at other companies. Our scheduling seemed to serve us well when we were small and we had only a f
> Fatma settled down for lunch at the Yank Sing Chinese restaurant. She was early and took the time to catch up on her e-mail. Soon she would be joined by Jasper and Viktoria, two fellow 2014 grads from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Jasper worked
> What kinds of projects is Agile PM best suited for and why?
> Describe the four phases of the traditional project life cycle. Which phase do you think would be the most difficult one to complete?
> What are some of the key environmental forces that have changed the way projects are managed? What has been the effect of these forces on the management of projects?
> Jack and Jill Smith have just retired and want to build a small, basic cabin in the Blue Mountains of Vermont. They have hired Daryl Hannah as the general contractor for the project. She has assembled a team of three workers to complete the project: Tom,
> Define a project. What are five characteristics that help differentiate projects from other functions carried out in the daily operations of the organization?
> How does a Kanban board work?
> Why should an organization be interested in knowing what level they are at in the project maturity model?
> How can outsourcing increase the quality of work performed?
> Trust can actually encourage disagreement and conflict among team members.” Explain why this would be the case.
> Which of the eight traits/skills associated with being an effective project manager is the most important? The least important? Why?
> Define a white elephant in project management. Provide a real-life example.
> What are the eight elements of a typical scope statement?
> The technical and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides of the same coin. Explain.
> The Munsters have been saving money in order to buy a house. They figure that, given current interest rates, they could afford a $400,000 home. Before looking at houses on the market they decide to explore the possibility of building a new home. The Muns
> Bill (senior VP of product development): Carlos [project manager], we have to talk. I am concerned about the way we manage project risk here at Futuronics. I just came from an international “Future Mote Devices” meeting at UC Berkeley. [Note: A mote is a
> Calculate the direct and total direct costs of labor for a project team member using the following data: Hourly rate: $50/hr Hours needed: 100 Overhead rate: 30%
> Calculate the direct cost of labor for a project team member using the following data: Hourly rate: $50/hr Hours needed: 120 Overhead rate: 40%
> Safety is a major concern when working on projects abroad. Select a country that you would consider dangerous to work in and look up the travel advisory provided for that country by the U.S. State Department (http://travel.state.gov/). How safe is it to
> Following are four mini-cases from practice. Break into small groups and (1) analyze the case and (2) provide five recommendations for the IT Department.
> Access agilealliance.org and review the subsections Agile 101 and Timeline. What do they have to say about how Agile evolved and gained acceptance in the project management community?
> Use a project you are currently working on to hold a Scrum meeting according to the steps outlined in Figure 15.5. Designate one member to act as the Scrum master and hold a standing meeting that lasts no longer than 15 minutes. Assess the value of such
> Break into small groups and identify at least two real-life examples of projects in which a. The scope and technology are well known. b. The scope is well known but the technology is less well known. c. The scope is not well known but the technology is k
> Interview a project manager who works for an organization that implements multiple projects. Ask the manager what kind of closure procedures are used to complete a project and whether lessons learned are used.
> Given the following project network, baseline, and status information, develop status reports for periods 1–4 and complete the project summary graph (or a similar one). Report the final SV, CV, CPI, and PCIB. Based on your data, what is
> Review the network of stakeholders on p. 358 (Figure 10.1). Choose five different stakeholders and provide examples of why a project manager would need to negotiate with that stakeholder.
> You are a member of the X State University (XSU) student body entertainment committee. Your committee has agreed to sponsor a spring concert. The motive behind this concert is to offer a safe alternative to Hasta Weekend. Hasta Weekend is a spring event
> Break into four groups and review the instructions for a “Get the most you can” exercise provided by your teacher. Complete the exercise. What was your initial strategy? Did it change? If so, why? What does this exercise tell you about our ability to col
> Enter “outsourcing” in an Internet search engine and browse different websites. Who appears to be interested in outsourcing? What are the advantages of outsourcing? What are the disadvantages? Does outsourcing mean the same thing to different people? Wha
> The following activities are based on a current or recently completed group project that you are (were) involved in. This project may be a student project, a work project, or an extracurricular project. a. How strong is the team identity on this project
> The following activities are based on a recently completed group project that you were involved in. This project may have been a student project, a work project, or an extracurricular project. a. Analyze the development of the team in terms of the five-s
> The following seven mini-case scenarios involve ethical dilemmas associated with project management. How would you respond to each situation and why?
> Identify an important relationship (co-worker, boss, friend) in which you are having trouble gaining cooperation. Assess this relationship in terms of the influence currency model. What kinds of influence currency have you been exchanging in this relatio
> You are the project manager responsible for the overall construction of a new international airport. Draw a dependency map identifying the major groups of people that are likely to affect the success of this project. Who do you think will be most coopera
> You are organizing a benefit concert in your hometown that will feature local heavy metal rock groups and guest speakers. Draw a dependency map identifying the major groups of people that are likely to affect the success of this project. Who do you thin
> Access the Project Management Institute website and review the standards contained in the PMI Member Ethical Standards section. How useful is the information for helping someone decide what behavior is appropriate and inappropriate?
> From the following information, compute the early, late, and slack times for each activity. Identify the critical path.
> Trans Systems is a small information systems consulting firm located in Meridian, Louisiana. Trans has just been hired to design and install a local area network (LAN) for the city of Meridian’s social welfare agency. You are the manager for the project,
> Do an Internet search for the Keirsey Temperament Sorter Questionnaire and find a site that appears to have a reputable self-assessment questionnaire. Respond to the questionnaire to identify your temperament type. Read supportive documents associated wi
> Use the following information to compress one time unit per move using the least-cost method. Assume the total indirect cost for the project is $2,000 and there is a savings of $100 per time unit reduced. Calculate the total direct, indirect, and project
> Use the following information contained below to compress one time unit per move using the least-cost method.* Reduce the schedule until you reach the crash point of the network. For each move identify what activity or activities were crashed and the adj