In working out your responses to the Discussion Question, you should choose examples from your own experience or find appropriate cases on the Web that you can discuss. Credit will be given for references you make to relevant examples from real companies. Please make sure that you cite and reference all your outside sources properly, as per the Harvard Referencing System.
Read the following case studies and select one:
Project Management Institute, Inc. (2007) PMI® case study: China</country-region> telecom [Online] Project Management Institute, Inc. Available from: http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Case%20Study/ChinaTelecomCaseStudy.ashx (Accessed 18 April 2012)
Project Management Institute, Inc. (2007) PMI® case study: project management improves Lenovo’s strategy execution and core competitiveness [Online] Project Management Institute, Inc. Available from: http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Case Study/Lenovo case study.ashx(Accessed: 18 April 2012)
Project Management Institute, Inc. (2007) PMI® case study: The 2005 Canada</country-region> games [Online] Project Management Institute, Inc. Available from: http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Case Study/Case_Canada Games.ashx (Accessed: 18 April 2012)
Then, from the three projects discussed in the Lecture Notes, select one. Discuss the similarities and differences between the two case studies that you have selected, namely, one from the list above and the other from the Lecture Notes. Compare the triple constraints (cost, schedule, and scope) and the project management processes in each of your two selected case studies. In addition, list at least three lessons that you learnt on analysing each case study.
Please submit your initial response through the Turnitin submission link below in addition to posting it to the Discussion Board thread.
Lecture Notes:
(i will send it full)
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Execution and Control with Risk
Week 8: Project management exercise
Week 8 introduction
This week, you will compare three projects from three different industries. There are many analysis techniques available, for example, sensitivity analysis (seeing how performance varies with changes in key assumptions); break-even analysis (determining the sales needed to recover the investment); Monte Carlo simulation (using random numbers to forecast the likely time for completing a project); political, economic, social, and technological (PEST) analysis; Porter’s five forces (the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of customers, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitute products, and competitive rivalry within an industry); and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. Some techniques are aimed at evaluating a market, others at performing analysis for selecting projects, and still others at forecasting the required sales. SWOT analysis is frequently used for strategic planning and selection of markets. It can also be used during the life of a project to identify and mitigate risks before they affect the timeline, scope, or budget. In addition, it can be used after the project is completed to help the team identify the mistakes and issues they can avoid or plan for in similar future projects.
This week, SWOT analysis will be adapted for the ‘within case’ analysis of each of the selected projects. Cross-case analysis will then be demonstrated by comparing each component of the SWOT analysis.
The three projects selected for comparison were selected because they encountered differing issues during the execution phase. Each project is briefly introduced, followed by the organisation of the project team, the SWOT analysis, and a summary and conclusions. The lecture concludes with a comparison of the three projects. Review of SWOT analyses for three projects
Online readings (‘Case Study Report South Coast Telecommunication Project’, ‘Ji’nan Broadcasting Corporation’, and ‘Why Projects Fail: A University Accounting System’)
Recommended readings (Westwood: pp. 27–28 and Finkelstein & Shattock, 2001)
This week, you will analyse projects from the following three industry sectors:
Telecommunications: The South Coast Telecommunications Project
Broadcasting: Ji’nan Broadcasting Corporation’s (JBC) Data and Voice Project (DVP)
Education: A University Accounting System Project
South Coast Telecommunications Project
Introduction: The South Coast Educational Service District (SCESD) lies in a remote region of Oregon.
Students had limited access to technology (such as computers and the Internet) and other educational resources. In addition, teachers needed to travel long distances (a 5-hour round trip) to attend training sessions. The South Coast Telecommunications Project was designed to bring the Internet to SCESD. The goal of the project was to facilitate educational experiences for both students and teachers.
This project was completed in two phases. The first phase focussed on building the telecommunications infrastructure needed for distance learning and collaboration, including videoconferencing and interactive teleconferencing equipment. This phase also focused on the creation of the South Coast Area Network (SCAN) aimed at providing Internet access and related services to schools in the region. SCAN later became a for-profit Internet service provider (ISP) company. The creation of SCAN and the purchase of two additional servers later led to the development of a virtual learning network (VLN).
In the second phase, users, especially teachers, were trained to use the equipment. This training was essential since the ability of the teachers to use the technology would directly affect the quality of the students’ learning experience.
The project budget was $1,284,528 of which $249,750 was a government grant. The duration of the project was approximately 2 years. The team size is unstated in the case study report.
Organisation: The project was funded by the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP) and managed by SCESD. The project involved partnerships with the following six groups:
SCAN (an ISP company)
The Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC)
Educational Software of Oregon (a company which specialises in the development of computer-based learning)
Cyberlynx (a volunteer group which refurbishes old computers and trains local citizens in using them)
Schools in the SCESD service area
O’Conner & Co. (a private consulting firm which assisted in the project)
SWOT analysis:
Strengths
Internet access
Prior to the project, schools in the region had limited access to technology and educational resources. The project aimed at providing the schools access to the Internet and its resources.
Community support
The project received strong support from the community members. This included fundraising and volunteer efforts, which boosted the project’s budgets and resources.
All schools in the district actively participated in the project.
The project received a grant from TIIAP. At SCESD’s request, TIIAP also provided funds for additional servers.
Communication
The stakeholders at SCESD had clear goals for the project. They communicated these goals clearly to the project team, which enabled the team to set priorities and focus its efforts on the customers’ needs.
The project team provided frequent and detailed status updates (weekly status reports and biweekly status meetings) to the project stakeholders.
The project team gave development partners clear direction, ensuring that the partners understood their role in the development process.
The project team listened to the advice and status updates of the project partners and managed risks accordingly.
As a result of these strengths, many of the goals of the project were realised. End users (students and teachers) obtained increased access to the Internet and the many educational opportunities being offered through SCESD. The teachers’ travel time to training events was significantly reduced because they were able to use the virtual network, which increased their productivity in the classroom.
Weaknesses:
Unplanned expenses
The telecommunications equipment originally identified for the project was obsolete by the time project funds were received. Therefore, the project team was forced to purchase equipment which was more expensive than what had already been planned.
Each stage of the project (purchasing, configuring, and installing) required more time and funds than originally anticipated. In particular, the project team underestimated the time and funds needed to test and integrate the telecommunications infrastructure into the schools.
Loss of political and administrative support
The SCESD superintendents who had been most supportive of the initiative resigned midway through the project. The new superintendents were not as supportive.
Loss of technical expertise
SCESD could not implement a planned SWOCC Bridge programme (intended to provide tutoring to students in specific subject areas) because of technical problems and the fact that two professors from SWOCC (who provided technical support for developing the VLN for the Bridge programme) retired. The nonimplementation of the Bridge programme resulted in strained relations between SWOCC and SCESD.
Financial constraints
Because TIIAP partially funded the project, the amount of money that the schools could receive from property taxes was legally limited. This, in turn, limited the amount and quality of the equipment that SCESD could provide to the schools.
Opportunities
The project presented an opportunity to provide an important service to an isolated community. It significantly improved students’ educational experiences and the quality of life for teachers.
The project forged partnerships between several organisations. Each partner made specific contributions to the project:
SCAN provided Internet access, making videoconferencing possible.
SWOCC planned to provide a Bridge programme (but this didn’t happen).
Educational Software of Oregon helped in the development of the VLN.
Cyhberlynx assisted with Web site development and contributed 5,000 free hours of work on the VLN.
Schools in the SCESD service area provided portions of the funding required to secure the grant money.
O’Conner & Co. assisted in all aspects of implementation of the VLN.
Threats
The project team should have anticipated and planned for the risk that the technology it initially selected would be obsolete by the time funds were received.
SCESD should have identified the risk of involving professors who were nearing retirement and made a succession plan which met the needs of the project.
Although project-related communication among the project team members and partners was frequent and complete, the team could have proactively engaged the new superintendents to gain their support.
Summary and conclusions: Although the project did not achieve all of its original goals, the project team did achieve its core mission: to provide access to the Internet and other educational resources, to enhance the level of technological literacy among teachers and students, and to create a VLN in SCESD.
DVP of JBC
Introduction: JBC is a public broadcaster in China’s Shandong province.
JBC had four departments, including a newly established department of data and voice services, created to enter the government-owned telecommunications market which was soon to be privatised. This would allow commercial establishments to enter this market. No data services had existed within the province to this point. The goal of DVP was to provide voice and data services to 90% of businesses and residents dispersed over 200 square kilometres in the Shandong province. This included:
Providing up to 5,000 high-speed data lines and up to 3 million voice lines
Ensuring that equipment is scalable
In order to provide data services, a data communications network and transmission equipment had to be set up. JBC hired contractors to install the required equipment.
There were conflicts regarding DVP among the managing directors at JBC. The managing director of radio and television programming thought that JBC had no legal right to resell data and voice services provided by China Post & Telecom (a government-owned national provider). The managing director of corporate services had made a request to use Alcatel products instead of Nortel products.
The project budget was Renminbi (MB or CNY) 110 million or US$13.3 million. The duration of the project was approximately 7.5 months. The lead time to prepare the DVP network was estimated to be 8 to 9 months.
Organisation: The project was sponsored by JBC. The project team consisted of only the project manager, Zhou Jianglin, who managed the contractors responsible for the installation of equipment. Zhou reported to Han Xiaowei, the managing director of data and voice services, and was supported by the administrative staff. There was no in-house telecommunications engineering expertise, causing Zhou to rely on the contractors for advice regarding telecommunications engineering. His requests to hire staff with telecommunications engineering expertise and additional administrative staff were refused.
Han had assured Zhou that he would resolve any conflicts among the managing directors.
SWOT analysis:
Strengths
JBC had experience in providing content for broadcasting.
Although Zhou had recently been promoted as a project manager, he had the capability and knowledge to execute the project successfully.
Zhou had made good grades in school and as a result had been selected to be an exchange student in London.
He was an electrical engineer and spoke fluent English.
He had experience (as a user) in the Internet.
Zhou implemented rigorous project management practices, including tracking of the project cost and progress against the original plan and clear communication with project stakeholders and contractors.
Weaknesses
Lack of an adequately staffed project team
Zhou had no project team. He was required to do all administrative and information gathering tasks himself.
Lack of experience
JBC had no experience with the technical issues surrounding voice and high-speed data transmission. For technical issues, Zhou relied mostly on the recommendations of Eastern Postel, the lead contractor.
Poor collaboration among project stakeholders
Han interfered in selecting the type of equipment to be used for the project rather than letting Zhou (with Internet and electrical engineering experience) determine the best set of products to use.
Eastern Postel shared that the equipment supplied by Alcatel was not ‘Type Approved’ (approval required for new or imported equipment). The managing director of corporate services had requested the use of Alcatel equipment because he thought it was more robust. Eastern Postel was pressured into using the Alcatel equipment even though it would involve more time and expense to test the integration of Alcatel equipment into the data communications network.
Han asked Zhou to start the project even though the conflicts among the managing directors were not resolved.
Possible political corruption
The local Shandong government required that JBC conduct unplanned type-approval testing (testing done in a government testing facility for compatibility of new or imported equipment). This slowed down the project and may have been a cover for unethical practices. The official reasons for requiring type-approval testing were:
Ensuring that equipment protocols worked as stated
Testing safety
Approving imported equipment
Unofficial reasons included:
Unscrupulous government officials could receive bribes by insisting on type testing.
Government officials insisted on testing to intentionally delay the project in the hope that JBC might use locally built equipment.
Government officials insisted on testing in order to give local companies an opportunity to study the equipment and technologies being used. These companies could then use reverse engineering on the equipment and produce similar products without investing time in research and development.
Unplanned expenses
Problems arose when the company hired to conduct the testing (China Standards Approval Agency) demanded more money for testing than the agreed-upon price.
As a result of these weaknesses, the project scope was reduced to 2,500 data lines from the initial scope of 5,000 data lines and only 1 million voice lines instead of 3 million voice lines, which limited JBC’s ability to reach customers in the region. JBC was planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in January 2005. Failure or weakness in DVP could affect the value of the IPO.
Opportunities
The project presented an opportunity for JBC to provide data and voice services to thousands of residential and business customers throughout the Shandong province and to increase its customer base.
Threats
Political manoeuvring and personal agendas worked against timely completion of the project.
Summary and conclusions: Zhou was put into a difficult position. He was told to complete a project with unrealistic schedule, budget, and quality constraints. Ultimately, it was his careful tracking of changes in the project scope and costs which enabled JBC to make the informed decision to reduce the scope in order to meet the project’s schedule and stay within budget.
University Accounting System Project
Introduction: A major European university wanted to have a paperless administrative office. The university’s accounting system was decentralized. The goal of the accounting system project was to provide the university with a unified accounting system and train the administrative staff in using the new system. The government requirement for reporting on funding provided to the university was one of the driving factors behind a unified accounting system.
To develop and implement the accounting system, the university had to purchase a new computer system and enter into a contract with a database software supplier. The project was completed on time. However, the accounting system failed during its first 6 weeks of operation. The system was fixed, but several months later, university employees reported that it was still not functioning properly. A major investigation ensued, revealing that basic project management processes had not been followed and that it would take two years to correct the problems within the system. The university considered legal action against the vendor and the consulting firm.
The original project budget was £4.7 million. The project was delivered at a cost of more than £9 million. The project duration was about 3 years. The project was approved mid-1997 and went live in August 2000. The project team included the hardware vendor, the information technology (IT) services team, and consultants.
Organisation: The project had no senior-level sponsor. Several changes in the role of the project manager occurred during the project. External consultants were originally hired to provide consulting services but eventually were given the management of the entire project.
SWOT analysis
Strengths
The project team had the determination to push the project through—despite the disruption it faced when moved to a new office—and meet project completion date. Even in the face of concerns over the readiness of the project, the director of finance (in essence, the chief information officer [CIO]) supported the decision to deliver on schedule.
Weaknesses
Lack of sponsorship
The project was initiated by the university chancellor, who failed to delegate oversight of the project team to a senior member of the IT services team. Most of the senior members of the university’s finance division sought early retirement. Eventually, the project sponsor was the newly appointed director of finance.
After the project manager’s resignation about a year before the go-live date, bills were approved by the IT services team and paid by the university’s accounting office, but no university official reviewed the project status.
Lack of clear goals and expectations
There was no statement of work to guide the project team. In an effort to begin work quickly, the chancellor held a series of informal meetings in which he outlined his goals for the project. Following those meetings, he asked the project manager to ‘run with it’.
Contracts with a succession of external consultants were drawn up and signed without legal review.
Poor planning and risk identification
The project team had no backup plans in case of unplanned expenses, delays, or increases in the project scope.
The university had no contingency plan in case of accounting system failure.
Poor tracking processes
Although the first project manager set up a baseline project budget and schedule, small shifts in the plan, including several key technical decisions, were not documented. This led to the ultimate failure of the accounting system.
Lack of continuity in staffing and poor hand-off procedures
The first project manager went on maternity leave six months after the project began, and later resigned. Two subsequent project managers also resigned.
Handover processes between the outgoing and incoming project managers were informal and undocumented.
Lack of contingency planning
When the accounting system failed, there was no alternative procedure for the administrative staff to continue work.
As a result of these weaknesses, the final project deliverable failed and required extensive rework.
Opportunities
A number of lessons came out as a result of the investigation. None of the lessons learned were difficult. Simply paying attention to basic project management principles would have eliminated most of the problems encountered by the university. Key lessons learned included:
The initial business case for any project should include a clearly defined set of goals and realistic cost estimates.
Consultants must be provided with a statement of work which clearly defines the expected outcomes of the project and prioritises project goals.
Projects must have a sponsor who actively and regularly monitors progress.
Continuity in staffing is critical for the success of a project. When changes in staffing occur, the sponsor should monitor the communication of these changes and handover procedures between outgoing and incoming staff.
The project manager and the project team must document and analyse the impact of unplanned events that affect the project scope, budget, or schedule. Following this analysis, actions should be taken to ensure that the goals of the project are met. These actions might require a change in the budget, scope, or schedule.
If the goal of the project is to produce viable deliveries and the project team has the stakeholders’ support to change the schedule in order to meet the goal, the project manager should consider rescheduling the completion date.
When changing software systems, there must be a contingency plan in case of glitches or failure.
Threats: The biggest threat to this project was the failure to follow basic project management principles and processes, for example:
The lack of a project sponsor
The lack of project documentation
The failure to properly hand over the project when staff changed
Summary and conclusions: The accounting system project was a failure. The team investigating the project recommended several actions to prevent other such incidents. The recommendations included:
Restructuring the IT services team
Developing an information systems strategy for the university
Defining procedures for monitoring IT projects
Implementing formal procedures governing the use of external consultants
Comparison of the three projects
Given below is a comparison of the three projects in five areas. The first three areas are the triple constraints: cost, schedule, and scope. The projects are also compared in the area of communication because of its vital role in managing a project and coordinating the efforts of the team members. The final area of comparison is project management practices since their lack was the key to the failure of the University Accounting System Project.
Budget:
SCESD requested an increase in the budget to allow for the purchase of additional servers but remained within approved budgets.
The DVP requested an additional budget to hire additional staff but was refused.
The University Accounting System Project seemed to be totally unconstrained with regard to the budget. Although the initial project met budget goals, the system’s failure and rework resulted in excessive costs.
Scope:
SCESD had to reduce the project scope (the Bridge programme) due to technical difficulties.
DVP had to reduce the project scope from 5,000 high-speed data lines and 3 million phones to 2,500 high-speed data lines and 1 million voice lines.
The University Accounting System Project did not meet its scope goals in that the system failed.
Schedule:
SCESD had to extend its schedule in each phase because initial schedule estimates for each stage of the project (purchasing, installation, and configuring) were too low.
DVP had to reduce the project scope in order to meet its schedule.
The University Accounting System Project met its schedule but released a product that did not meet expectations.
Communication:
SCESD had excellent communication among all stakeholders.
DVP’s project manager communicated well with project stakeholders and contractors; however, unresolved conflicts among the managing directors led to administrative roadblocks.
Communication, in general, at the university was poor, which also affected the project. There was confusion about who was in charge of the project—the finance department or the IT services team.
Project management processes:
SCESD formed numerous partnerships to help the project. The project team carefully tracked and communicated the progress of the project against the plan. Strong collaboration between project stakeholders and the project team enabled them to proactively address challenges. As a result, the project achieved most of its stated goals.
DVP’s project team consisted of the project manager. He carefully tracked the project’s costs and progress against the plan. This enabled the project stakeholders to make key decisions regarding the project scope, which eventually led to the project’s limited success. Challenges that the project manager faced included having to work with equipment from three vendors instead of one, having equipment decisions mandated rather than based on technical factors, having an inadequate budget, and not being allowed to increase the project team beyond the project manager.
The University Accounting System Project failed to use even the most basic of project management processes such as budgeting for all expenditures, making sure that the roles and responsibilities were clear, and releasing a product which was simply not ready to meet scheduled dates. As a result, the project failed.
Key messages:
Accurate planning is essential so that budget projections are as accurate as possible.
Accurate planning also ensures that there is time to implement the project scope. Having some contingency time and plan allows the project to absorb many unforeseen difficulties.
Good communication is vital to project success.
Proven project management processes should be used.
Week 8 summary
This week covered three projects which had problems during execution. The South Coast Telecommunications Project was designed to provide Internet access to students and teachers in SCESD. The main issues with the project were unplanned expenses, loss of political and administrative support, and financial constraints. Conversely, communication and community support were the two main strengths of this project. As a result of these strengths, the project achieved most of its original goals.
The second project, DVP, was conceived to provide voice and high-speed data communication to a province in China. The main issues which occurred during the project were:
A project team which consisted of only the project manager
Lack of in-house telecommunications engineering expertise
Poor collaboration among project stakeholders
Unplanned expenses
Possible political corruption
Despite these issues, the project manager implemented rigorous project management practices which enabled JBC to reduce the project scope in order to meet its schedule and stay within the budget.
The University Accounting System Project was intended to provide unified accounting services to the user community of a large university. Prior to this project, the university’s accounting system was decentralized, which made accounting for government funds difficult. The project team met the planned completion date; however, several issues with regard to basic project management processes led to the failure of the final project deliverable.
References
Anon. (1999) Case study report South Coast telecommunication project 96073, National Telecommunications and Information Administration [Online]. Available from: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/TOP/research/EvaluationReport/case_studies/416096073e.PDF (Accessed: 2 December 2009).
Mark, K. (2009) ‘Ji’nan Broadcasting Corporation’. In: Kerzner, H. Project management case studies. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, pp.196-204.
Click here to view the reading.
Laurie, J. (2003) Why projects fail: a university accounting system, JISC infoNet [Online]. Available from: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits/infokit-related-files/project-failure-university-accounting-system (Accessed: 7 December 2009).
Finkelstein, A. & Shattock, M. (2001) ‘CAPSA and its implementation: Report to the audit committee and the board of scrutiny’, Cambridge University Reporter, CXXXII no 6, November [Online]. Available from: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2001-02/weekly/5861/ (Accessed: 30 December 2009).
Westwood, J. (2006) How to write a marketing plan. 3rd ed. London: Kogan Page.
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