BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise California University of Management and Sciences Virginia Campus 4300 Wilson Blvd. Suite#140, Arlington, VA 22203 Tel: 703.663.8088 Fax: 703.663.8090 Web: http://www.calumsva.edu E-mail: info@calumsva.edu BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise Instructions: The project for this course will consist of a series of application case studies and questions that will evaluate your level of understanding of basic project management concepts and the application of skills and core competencies required by project managers. This project application exercise consists of one mandatory Case Study and one of two optional Case Study to be completed throughout the course and will be turned in for credit during Week 9. As a graduate-level student, you are required support your answers in an essay format that will assure the instructor that the student understands and can clearly articulate the basic concepts of project management. Students are encouraged to use graphics, charts, or other graphical representation to display data that will support their discussions. Usage and citing of references is highly encouraged. This is an individual effort and any evidence of plagiarism or academic dishonesty will result in zero credits for this assignment. An electronic version of this application package can be found in the course Dropbox. 1 BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise Case Study #1 (Required) Klanton Bower Data Center The Klanton Bower Data Center is a commercial data center specializing in small business IT services such as mass memory storage, email and enterprise systems servers, and website services. The data center, which has been in business for eight years, was started by the current owner, Klanton Bower, Ph.D., a data system specialist and research scientist. The data center also has four senior managers and several technicians and support staff who manage all the equipment and IT services infrastructure. Dr. Bower and the senior management have been researching next-generation equipment for a possible expansion of their services to meet current market demands and to prepare for future next-generation requirements of large enterprise software platforms. As Dr. Bower and senior management review the capability of current infrastructure equipment and what is required to upgrade and expand to meet future demands, this is considered a large-scale expansion of their current operation and is viewed as a special project. Dr. Bower has asked senior management to outline what equipment would be needed, provide estimated delivery dates of equipment, and create an outline of the events required to accomplish this expansion project. Senior management understand the importance of purchasing the correct equipment and, from a project standpoint, correctly managing installation and testing as well as the go-live to have as little impact on the data center operations as possible and have a seamless crossover so that current customers will not be affected. In the initial outlay of logistics, it has been determined that one piece of critical server equipment has a lead time twice as long as several of the other pieces of equipment, and that may pose a challenge in the installation and testing of all the equipment. Fortunately, this piece of equipment can be installed at a later date and be integrated and tested at that time. The second challenge is clearing enough space in the current data center for installation of the entire expansion infrastructure. The primary components of this project include finalizing research and the equipment list; procuring all equipment and establishing delivery schedules; organizing and clearing the data center floor for the expansion of equipment; and sequencing all activities required for the installation, testing, verification, and go live cross-over to implement the new equipment. 2 BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise Project Planning (Activity Definition) (Wilson Ch. 4, PMBOK Ch. 5, & Kerzner Ch. 11) 1. Identify work activities (WBS). 2. Collect critical information for each activity. 3. Define responsibilities (Responsibility Matrix or RACI). Network Planning (Activity Sequencing) (Wilson Ch. 5, PMBOK Ch. 6, & Kerzner Ch. 12) 1. 2. 3. 4. Find any activity information that would be useful in sequencing activities. Determine a diagramming method (PDM) Identify predecessor relationships, if any. Create a network diagram of activities Resource Estimating (Wilson Ch. 6, PMBOK Ch. 6, & Kerzner Ch. 14) 1. 2. 3. 4. Develop a list of resources needed on the project. Can you identify any resource constraints for this project? Are there any special capability requirements for resources? Which estimating method would be best for this project and why? Activity Duration Estimating (Wilson Ch. 7, PMBOK Ch. 6, & Kerzner Ch. 14) 1. Selected duration estimating method based on the information available in the case study to derive activity durations. 2. What sources of subject matter experts might be available? 3. Are there any identifiable estimating constraints? 4. Determine activity duration estimates for each activity. Schedule Development (Wilson Ch. 8, PMBOK Ch. 6, & Kerzner Ch. 12) 1. 2. 3. 4. Review resource requirements and develop resource loading matrix Analyze work activity relationships using a network diagram and determine the critical path Does any resource leveling need to be addressed? Are there any other scenarios oppressiveness of relationships that may improve network schedule? 3 BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise Case Study #2 (Optional) Millbrae Hander Medical Center Expansion: Case Study The Millbrae Hander Medical Center has been an inner-city outpatient medical facility for 12 years and is in need of expansion to include more examination rooms as well as the addition of inpatient rooms. Millbrae Hander, founder of the medical center, passed away 5 years after the facility was opened, and the Millbrae Hander Foundation has succeeded in managing the operations of the medical center in his absence. This medical center has become a landmark facility within the community because it not only caters to the inner-city community but also has served as an educational platform for medical interns. The medical center, currently sized at 36,000 square feet, is suffering from overcrowding in the limitation of outpatient service only and lack of examination rooms and staff preparation areas. The medical center has undergone two small remodeling endeavors to remedy this situation, but the increased demand for medical services continues to put pressure on the size of this much-needed medical facility. City planning has authorized an expansion of 10,000 square feet to the existing facility and use of property and parking adjacent to the existing facility that the medical center currently owns. The medical center has a combination of two large donations and has secured low-interest financing to manage the remainder of the total financial responsibility. The director and staff of the medical facility are excited about the approval of this expansion and want to move forward with project planning. An architectural firm has been identified to produce all building specifications, drawings, and documentation necessary for city permits to be drawn. A project management firm has been identified to manage the construction and move in phases for this project. Representatives from the Millbrae Hander Foundation, the executive director of the medical center, and key department staff supervisors have formed a panel of stakeholders to identify what is needed in the expansion of the medical center. A list of critical areas and a general project budget have been formulated and communicated to the architectural firm, and an overall project duration of ten months has been established for completion of the expansion project. At this point, the project manager only has financial information for the building and land at $525,000 and an initial budget of $725,000 for medical equipment and supplies. The stakeholder panel has issued an initial project budget of $1,300,000 and has communicated that only $25,000 emergency buffers 4 BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise are available. The stakeholder panel has also issued the requirements as to what will be included in the expansion, as listed here: Quantity Description Size Square Footage 6 Staff offices 12 x 12 864 22 Inpatient rooms 14 x 16 4,928 10 Examination rooms 12 x 12 1,440 2 Staff prep areas various 1,264 2 Restrooms 14 x 20 560 1 Waiting area 18 x 24 432 1 Staff break area 14 x 16 224 2 Storage rooms 12 x 12 288 Project Cost Estimating (Wilson Ch. 9, PMBOK Ch. 7, & Kerzner Ch. 15) 1. Identify other necessary items that do not have assigned costs, such as architect fees, permits, parking lot, landscaping and signage, furniture, and so on. 2. Identify sources for cost information on items identified. 3. Are there any cost constraints? 4. Use at least two different cost estimating techniques in developing the cost estimates for this project. 5 BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise Project Budget Development (Wilson Ch. 10, PMBOK Ch. 7, & Kerzner Ch. 15) 1. Choose a budget development method and explain your selection 2. Establish a project budget baseline 3. His budget contingency planning necessary? 6 BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise Case Study #3 (Optional) JP Phentar Construction: Case Study JP Phentar has owned and operated his construction company for 27 years and is currently interested in building a custom home for his own family. Phentar Construction has specialized in large and exotic custom homes built in areas that present challenges, such as heavily wooded and rocky terrain, hillsides, and sandy beach sites. Phentar Construction has built large custom homes for executives, heads of state, and movie stars around the world; those projects generally include interesting and challenging amenities for construction companies to manage in the course of building homes. Phentar is pulling out all the stops on this construction project to include things in his own home that his family can enjoy although they are typically out of the norm for most family residences. Phentar has purchased three acres of foothill terrain that include several large rock outcroppings that have to be removed for the construction of an 8,500 square foot six-bedroom, six-bathroom home. This home will also include an elaborate game room with professional pool table and arcade games, a large family room with rock fireplace, and a fully functional home theater room with large-screen TV and surround sound and theater seating. The home will also feature as its primary centerpiece a 35,000-gallon saltwater fish tank that will start at the main floor in the center of the house and extend for two stories to the ceiling. This fish tank will include a large rock wall covered with all manner of coral and sea urchins, flowing water movement, and it will be stocked with an elaborate display of tropical fish. The exterior of the home will include a large pool with spa and a covered patio with full outdoor kitchen, including a fully functional brick fire oven. Because Phentar has built homes with similar amenities in the past, he knows all too well several of the contractors required to outfit these types of amenities can present challenges in cost estimation, level of quality, and ability to stay on schedule. Concerns with this particular project lie within clearing the initial acreage of large rock, and specialized amenities such as the game room, theater room, and fish tank that can present challenges during the scheduling of these activities in the course of building the home. There can be serious issues in the timing of these activities because they can affect other areas of the home during construction. Phentar is confident this project can be completed if proper project management tools and techniques are 7 BA 573 Project Management Application Exercise implemented to monitor and control critical activities through the course of this project life cycle. Project Schedule and Cost Monitoring (Wilson Ch. 11, PMBOK Ch. 7, & Kerzner Ch. 15) 1. Determine what information gathering tools would be most affected on this project and what activities would need to be monitored 2. Based on data that would be generated from work activities, but types of analytical tools would be used to determine project status? 3. Can any corrective actions be initiated? Project Schedule and Cost Control (Wilson Ch. 12, PMBOK Ch. 7, & Kerzner Ch. 15) 1. Determine the most effective schedule, costs, and quality control tools that could be utilized on this project. List the work activities and what tools best control that activity. 2. Could be critical chain method be implemented on this project? If so, what parts? 3. Could schedule fast tracking be used on this project? If so, explain how. 4. For any quality control inspections or regulatory inspections required on this project? 8