CASE STUDY

CHOKLET is a retailer of fashion goods operating in a highly competitive marketplace. The Board of the company has given the go-ahead to redesign the company's website to make it more convenient for customers to use. The project is currently at week 12 and there are problems with the functionality of the site and the fact that it is not easy to navigate. The Project Manager, Khaleel, has expressed concern about the rising costs of the project and the time needed to improve the functionality. He estimates that the change to the functionality will delay the project by three weeks. Khaleel understands that improved customer satisfaction (by making the website easy to use) is important. There will also be diminishing returns since the increased levels of customer satisfaction obtained by the change in functionality will be offset by the increased time and cost spent. The Board has had feedback from the project team members who have complained that there has been a lack of visibility of the project manager. Team members have said that they were unaware of any deadlines as they had not been shown any plan or schedule of work and this had made it difficult to prioritize tasks and understand how they can contribute to the project. The Board of CHOKLET has called an emergency meeting with the Project Manager in order to come up with some immediate solutions which address the project slippage. It has been recommended that Khaleel also needs guidance on how to improve his management of project teams before he leads any future projects.

1. Business Case Summarize the case project according to your understanding of the brief under the following categories:

Strategic Business Objectives (ie the underlying business targets justifying this project);

Project Objectives;

Key Performance Indicators; (ie measure of success)

Major Deliverables; and Major Milestones.

2. Stakeholder management Summarize the major stakeholders in this project. What are the main issues that will concern them? How would you manage their concerns and interests? Draw up a communications plan that summarizes what information will receive and by what method. What problems might you encounter in managing specific stakeholders?

3. WBS how to draw a diagram or table documenting a Work Breakdown Structure for this project, showing major areas of work and deliverables/milestones. This must be organized by deliverables or work areas and should contain at least 12 separate work packages.