Tutorial 1 - ICT712 Information Technology Project Management

The following content is sourced from: Larson, E 2021, Project Management : The
Managerial Process, McGraw-Hill US Higher Ed ISE, NY. Available from: ProQuest Ebook
Central. [2 July 2021].

Discussion Questions

1. Identify in groups the greatest achievements accomplished by mankind in the last five
decades. Review these accomplishments in terms of the definition of a project. What does your
review suggest about the importance of project management?

2. You manage a hotel resort located on the South Beach on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii. You
are shifting the focus of your resort from a traditional fun-in-the-sun destination to eco-tourism.
(Eco-tourism focuses on environmental awareness and education.) How would you classify the
following projects in terms of compliance, strategic, and operational?

a. Convert the pool heating system from electrical to solar power.

b. Build a 4-mile nature hiking trail.
c. Renovate the horse barn.
d. Launch a new promotional campaign with Hawaii Airlines.
e. Convert 12 adjacent acres into a wildlife preserve.
f. Update all the bathrooms in condos that are 10 years or older.
g. Change hotel brochures to reflect eco-tourism image.
h. Test and revise disaster response plan.
i. Introduce wireless Internet service in café and lounge areas.

How easy was it to classify these projects? What made some projects more difficult than
others?

Case 1 - A Day in the Life

Troi, the project manager of a large information systems project, arrives at her office early to
get caught up with work before her co-workers and project team arrive. However, as she enters
the office she meets Neil, one of her fellow project managers, who also wants to get an early
start on the day. Neil has just completed a project overseas. They spend 10 minutes socialising
and catching up on personal news. Troi walks to her desk and opens her laptop. She was at her
client’s site the day before until 7:30 p.m. and has not checked her e-mail or voice mail since
4:30 p.m. the previous day. She has 2 voicemails, 16 e-mails, and 10 posts on her team Slack
channel. 1 She spends 15 minutes reviewing her schedule and “to do” lists for the day before
responding to messages that require immediate attention.

Troi, spends the next 25 minutes going over project reports and preparing for the weekly
standup meeting. Her manager who just arrived at the office, interrupts her. They spend 20
minutes discussing the project. He shares a rumour about a potential acquisition he’s heard
about. She tells him she hasn’t heard anything but will keep him posted if she does. The 9:00
a.m. project status meeting starts 15 minutes late because two of the team members have to
finish a job for a client. Several people go to the cafeteria to get coffee and doughnuts while

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others discuss last night’s baseball game. The team members arrive, and the remaining 45
minutes of the progress review meeting surface project issues that have to be addressed and
assigned for action.

After the meeting Troi goes down the hallway to meet with Victoria, another IS project
manager. They spend 30 minutes reviewing project assignments, since the two of them share
personnel. Victoria’s project is behind schedule and in need of help. Troi offers to free up some
of the team’s time to help her get back on track.

Troi returns to her office and makes several phone calls and returns several e-mails before
walking downstairs to visit with members of her project team. Her intent is to follow up on an
issue that had surfaced in the status report meeting. However, her simple, “Hi, guys, how are
things going?” elicits a stream of disgruntled responses. After listening patiently for over 20
minutes, she realises that among other things several of the client’s managers are beginning to
request features that were not in the original project scope statement. She tells her people that
she will get on this right away.

Returning to her office, she tries to call her counterpart, John, at the client firm but is told that
he is not expected back from lunch for another hour. At this time, Eddie drops by and says,
“How about lunch?” Eddie works in the finance office and they spend the next half hour in the
company cafeteria gossiping about internal politics. She is surprised to hear that Jonah Johnson,
the director of systems projects, may join another firm. Jonah has always been a powerful ally.

She returns to her office, answers a few more e-mails, catches up on Slack, and finally gets
through to John. They spend 30 minutes going over the problem. The conversation ends with
John promising to do some investigating and to get back to her as soon as possible.

Troi goes outside to the company’s atrium, where she sits next to a creek, meditating for 30
minutes. She then takes the elevator to the third floor and talks to the purchasing agent assigned
to her project. They spend the next 30 minutes exploring ways of getting necessary equipment
to the project site earlier than planned. She finally authorises express delivery.

When she returns to her desk, her watch reminds her that she is scheduled to participate in a
conference call at 2:30. It takes 15 minutes for everyone to get online due to problems with the
technology. During this time, Troi catches up on some e-mail. She spends the next hour
exchanging information about the technical requirements associated with a new version of a
software package they are using on systems projects like hers.

Troi decides to stretch her legs and goes on a walk down the hallway, where she engages in
brief conversations with various co-workers. She goes out of her way to thank Chandra for his
thoughtful analysis at the status report meeting. She returns to find that John has left a message
for her to call him back ASAP. She contacts John, who informs her that according to his people,
her firm’s marketing rep had made certain promises about specific features her system would
provide. He doesn’t know how this communication breakdown occurred, but his people are
pretty upset over the situation. Troi thanks John for the information and immediately takes the
stairs to where the marketing group resides.

She asks to see Mary, a senior marketing manager. She catches up on Slack updates on her
phone while she waits for 10 minutes before being invited into her office. After a heated

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discussion, she leaves 40 minutes later with Mary agreeing to talk to her people about what
was promised and what was not promised.

She goes downstairs to her people to give them an update on what is happening. They spend
30 minutes reviewing the impact the client’s requests could have on the project schedule. She
also shares with them the schedule changes she and Victoria had agreed to. After she says good
night to her team, she heads upstairs to her manager’s office and spends 20 minutes updating
him on key events of the day. She returns to her office and spends 30 minutes reviewing e-
mails, her team Slack channel, and project documents. She logs on to the MS Project schedule
of her project and spends the next 30 minutes working with “what-if” scenarios. She reviews
tomorrow’s schedule and writes some personal reminders before starting off on her 30-minute
commute home.

1. How effectively do you think Troi spent her day?

2. What does the case tell you about what it is like to be a project manager?

Case 2 - Film Prioritisation

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 organisation’s objectives and strategic plan.

COMPANY PROFILE
The company is the film division for a large entertainment conglomerate. The main office is
located in Anaheim, California. In addition to the feature film division, the conglomerate
includes theme parks, home videos, a television channel, interactive games, and theatrical
productions. The company has been enjoying steady growth over the past 10 years. Last year
total revenues increased by 12 percent to $21.2 billion. The company is engaged in negotiations
to expand its theme park empire to mainland China and Poland. The film division generated
$274 million in revenues, which was an increase of 7 percent over the past year. Profit margin
was down 3 percent to 16 percent because of the poor response to three of the five major film
releases for the year.

COMPANY MISSION
The mission for the firm is as follows:

Our overriding objective is to create shareholder value by continuing to be the world’s premier
entertainment company from a creative, strategic, and financial standpoint.

The film division supports this mission by producing four to six high-quality, family
entertainment films for mass distribution each year. In recent years the CEO of the company
has advocated that the firm take a leadership position in championing environmental concerns.

COMPANY “MUST” OBJECTIVES

Every project must meet the must objectives as determined by executive management. It is
important that selected film projects not violate such objectives of high strategic priority. There
are three must objectives:

1. All projects meet current legal, safety, and environmental standards.

2. All film projects should receive a PG or lower advisory rating.

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3. All projects should not have an adverse effect on current or planned operations within the
larger company.

COMPANY “WANT” OBJECTIVES

Want objectives are assigned weights for their relative importance. Top management is
responsible for formulating, ranking, and weighting objectives to ensure that projects support
the company’s strategy and mission. The following is a list of the company’s want objectives:

1. Be nominated for and win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature or Best Picture of
the Year.
2. Generate additional merchandise revenue (action figures, dolls, interactive games, music
CDs).
3. Raise public consciousness about environmental issues and concerns.
4. Generate profit in excess of 18 percent.
5. Advance the state of the art in film animation and preserve the firm’s reputation.
6. Provide the basis for the development of a new ride at a company-owned theme park.

ASSIGNMENT
You are a member of the priority team in charge of evaluating and selecting film proposals.
Use the provided evaluation form to formally evaluate and rank each proposal. Be prepared to
report your rankings and justify your decisions.

Assume that all of the projects have passed the estimated hurdle rate of 14 percent ROI. In
addition to the brief film synopsis, the proposals include the following financial projections of
theatre and video sales: 80 percent chance of ROI, 50 percent chance of ROI, and 20 percent
chance of ROI.

For example, for proposal #1 (Dalai Lama) there is an 80 percent chance that it will earn at
least 8 percent return on investment (ROI), a 50/50 chance the ROI will be 18 percent, and a
20 percent chance that the ROI will be 24 percent.

To complete the task, you must follow the steps below:

1. Read the scenario and ask questions before starting step 2

2. Use the Project Priority Evaluation Form to individually assess and rank the proposals
3. Discuss your evaluation with assigned group members and select a leader to report
result
4. Communicate result

FILM PROPOSALS

PROJECT PROPOSAL 1: MY LIFE WITH DALAI LAMA

This project is an animated, biographical account of the Dalai Lama’s childhood in Tibet based
on the popular children’s book Tales from Nepal. The Lama’s life is told through the eyes of
“Guoda,” a field snake, and other local animals who befriend the Dalai Lama and help him
understand the principles of Buddhism.

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PROJECT PROPOSAL 2: HEIDI
The project is a remake of the classic children’s story with music written by award winning
composers Syskle and Obert. The big-budget film will feature top-name stars and breathtaking
scenery of the Swiss Alps.

PROJECT PROPOSAL 3: THE YEAR OF THE ECHO

This project is a low-budget documentary that celebrates the career of one of the most
influential bands in rock-and-roll history. The film will be directed by new-wave director Elliot
Cznerzy and will combine concert footage and behind-the-scenes interviews spanning the 25-
year history of the rock band the Echos. In addition to great music, the film will focus on the
death of one of the founding members from a heroin overdose and reveal the underworld of
sex, lies, and drugs in the music industry.

PROPOSAL 4: ESCAPE FROM RIO JAPUNI

This project is an animated feature set in the Amazon rainforest. The story centres around
Pablo, a young jaguar that attempts to convince warring jungle animals that they must unite
and escape the devastation of local clear cutting.

PROJECT PROPOSAL 5: NADIA!

This project is the story of Nadia Comaneci, the famous Romanian gymnast who won three
gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The low-budget film will document her life
as a small child in Romania and how she was chosen by Romanian authorities to join their
elite, state-run athletic program. The film will highlight how Nadia maintained her independent
spirit and love for gymnastics despite a harsh, regimented training program.

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PROJECT PROPOSAL 6: KEIKO— ONE WHALE OF A STORY
The story of Keiko, a famous killer whale, will be told by an imaginary offspring, Seiko, who
in the distant future is telling her children about their famous grandfather. The big-budget film
will integrate actual footage of the whale within a realistic animated environment using state-
of-the-art computer imagery. The story will reveal how Keiko responded to his treatment by
humans.

PROJECT PROPOSAL 7: GRAND ISLAND

This project is the true story of a group of junior-high biology students who discover that a
fertiliser plant is dumping toxic wastes into a nearby river. The moderate-budget film depicts
how students organise a grassroots campaign to fight local bureaucracy and ultimately force
the fertiliser plant to restore the local ecosystem.

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