Sam Arnott was looking forward to his annual summer break and everything seemed to be going well with Project Moon. The analysts, working with their counterparts from Apollo, had amassed a huge amount of internal data and were studiously working their way through it. Allen had appointments for initial interviews with all the senior managers that needed to be seen and together with her consultant colleague had arranged telephone conferences with Apollo Advance's main customers. The attendees for the first workshop, due to be held the week of Arnott's return from holiday, had been chosen and Klingner had promised that one of their ICT experts would be available to attend the critical first two workshops. Just as Arnott was about to leave on the Friday afternoon, Allen came to see him 'just to check that he would be available on his mobile where he was going'. Arnott made it clear that in his absence, all queries should be directed to Jill Davy. At the start of week four, Arnott returned refreshed from his holiday and was looking forward to the first workshop at the end of the week. He called in Davy to check on progress. When she arrived to see him she seemed a bit nervous, especially when he asked her how things were Case Study Apollo Tech Solutions Part 3 STUDENT COPY.pdf - Adobe Acrobat Reader (32-bit) Edit View Sign Window Help File Home Tools Case Study Apollo ... x -3C Sunset 2 / 5 Student Copy + 51.9% DC Q Search going. It transpired that some of the critical data about customers for the first workshop looking at 'where are we now?' was not available. This was the task allocated to one of the inexperienced analysts as Allen had assumed that this would be a relatively straightforward task. All the analyst had to do was to ask the respective sales managers for three sets of figures for each customer for the last three years: total sales, sales by product line and total gross margin. While all the sales managers in AA who were asked for this information, diligently gave some figures, it became clear that some of these were estimates (as managers didn't have any accurate figures) and those that were based on real information used different methods to calculate sales and gross margin. Some sales were booked only when the money was received by Apollo and others when contracts were signed with an agreed fee, for example. Gross margin was even more complicated as just about every customer contract was calculated differently from those including only the cost of providing the product and to those including varying levels of overheads as well. Of more concern, Davy had only spotted the large discrepancies in the data late the previous week, when she had asked the analyst for the information. This problem was a legacy of the way the Apollo Advance business had been built up over the years, with many personnel joining Apollo from the acquired businesses. They had got used to 'doing things their own way'. Arnott soon realised that was going to be a major obstacle to progress and told Davy to quickly convene a meeting of her fellow commercial accountants to try and find a common methodology of working out these key figures. He also insisted that Allen should be involved as it was partly Ferguson & Co's fault that this issue had not been highlighted earlier because of the inexperience of the analyst. Davy and Allen were to report back to him by the end of the week with a solution. He then 1 LCA Bu ENG US X Sign In & 6:03 PM 2/23/2023 E.O lu | 5 Case Study Apollo Tech Solutions Part 3 STUDENT COPY.pdf - Adobe Acrobat Reader (32-bit) Edit View Sign Window Help File Home Tools Case Study Apollo ... x -3C Sunset 3 / 5 Student Copy 51.9% DC contacted Klingner and asked for his advice regarding the impending workshop. Q Search Klingner's view was that the workshop should go ahead as it was important to maintain momentum and he also didn't want to signal to those outside the project team that there were issues. Klingner convinced Arnott that they could work with the provisional figures that Davy and Allen had promised him. Moreover, the focus of the workshop was less about actual answers but more about how the attendees (some of Apollo Advance's senior managers) viewed the business and how they responded to the challenges made by the industry expert from Ferguson & Co. So preparation for the workshop continued. Arnott hoped that this was the only issue he had to deal with that Monday morning. It was not to be. His PA came in and said that four senior managers from AA who had not been invited to the workshop had individually asked to get a full briefing from him on the project. He was reluctant to do this but realised that at least one meeting with these individuals was needed, so he told his PA set up the sessions in the next couple of weeks. While some in Apollo felt they were not being consulted enough, he also had to deal with more communication issues at the afternoon Executive Board meeting. He had hoped to give a positive report on progress but before he could start Irvine (CEO) complained that in the last three weeks, Klingner had insisted on seeing him every time he came to the head office, which was once a week. McPherson also said268that both Klingner and Allen had tried to have 'brief chats' to update him. Both asked Arnott whether all this was really necessary as neither Klingner nor Allen seem to give them much new information, rather it felt like a 'fishing trip' for more business for Ferguson & Co. Arnott said that he would talk to the pair and ensure only meetings with the consultants 1 LCD Bu ENG US X Sign In & 6:03 PM 2/23/2023 E.O lu | 5 Case Study Apollo Tech Solutions Part 3 STUDENT COPY.pdf - Adobe Acrobat Reader (32-bit) Edit View Sign File Window Help Home Tools -3C Sunset Case Study Apollo ... x 4 / 5 Student Copy + 51.9% DC would be those that Irvine or McPherson initiated until the end of the project. By the afternoon before the workshop, Davy (with Allen's help) had come up with a solution to the customer data problem. Arnott spent the rest of the day with them and other project team members crunching through the raw data to be ready for the following day. It was with some relief that the first workshop went well, even if it was a little uncomfortable for some of the participants. The consultants from Ferguson & Co were very challenging of AA's senior managers who were defensive when presented with the consultant's analysis of their current business. Many of the assumptions they held were shown to be untrue or misguided, such as large customers always being the most profitable. Q Search There were more tensions in the second workshop, looking at 'where they wanted to be'. Many of the managers had grand aspirations for these dynamic new markets but often the industry expert from Ferguson & Co showed up their lack of technical expertise and true knowledge of these markets. Arnott admired the way Klingner was able to identify who was the key stakeholder in the room (seen by their peers as the leader in the field) and test out their true abilities. It was becoming clear that there were those in the organisation who were up to the challenge of turning around this business and there were others that were not. However, when it came to present strategic options to Irvine, McPherson and Arnott, Klingner and Allen stuck to the 'non-people' issues, such as having a new customer management system, focusing on more profitable customers and investing in the three sectors that had the best long-term prospects for growth. Irvine and McPherson were happy with the outline plan and Project Moon proceeded to its final stage of building M Le Bu ENG US X Sign In & 6:03 PM 2/23/2023 E.O lu | 5 Case Study Apollo Tech Solutions Part 3 STUDENT COPY.pdf - Adobe Acrobat Reader (32-bit) Edit View Sign File Window Help Home Tools -3C Sunset Case Study Apollo ... x 5 / 5 Student Copy 51.9% DC Q Search a new strategy and understanding the requirements in terms of implementation. The next two workshops ran smoothly and the stage was set to reveal the new strategy at a conference attended by all Apollo Advance's senior managers on the 3/4 September. Arnott and his colleagues from Apollo on the project team were tired because of the relentless pace set by Ferguson & Co but overall were happy with the outcome of Project Moon. Questions 1. Did Arnott achieve the right balance between controlling the team and delegating the tasks? What would you have done differently? 2. How would you have handled the project shock of the customer data issue? 3. How should the 'people issues' been dealt with in this project? Le Eu ENG US X Sign In & 6:03 PM 2/23/2023 E.O lu | 5