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Team AssignmentSusans Consulting Company (SCC) – Problem Overview

Company Overview:

Susans Consulting Company (SCC) has been in business for ten years and has experienced a significant turnover in the project management group, which has prompted senior leadership to investigate. 

A preliminary review by senior leadership has determined that Project Managers are frustrated with the amount of required project management documentation, which has impacted their ability to manage projects successfully. 

A recent review of the project management process has determined that SCC has spent between 30-40% of its total project budget on projects' overhead costs to include project management costs. A review of industry standards is between 5-15% higher than most companies. In addition, senior leaders found that projects are being delivered between 25% and 50% over budget and late 95% of the time.

Note: Project Management overhead includes the PM's time managing the project, attending meetings, and developing the required documentation.   

Request: SCC has reached out to your team because you are experts in defining project management processes and delivering projects on time. The SCC request includes the following:

  • The development of a new project management process which at a minimum should include the following:
    • The ability to track issues, risks, and changes
    • The ability to view project activities to include the ability to view what has been completed and what activities the team is currently working on and what will be done over the next reporting period
    • The ability to view the project costs to include what has been spent to date, baseline budget, any changes to the budget, remaining budget, and cost of the project at completion
  • In addition, to building a new project management process, SCC would like you and your team to manage a project using the new process. 

Assignment: 

Step 1:  Identify a project manager – this individual is responsible for the team assignment ensuring that team members are completing their assigned work and will be responsible for turning in the assignment.

General Note:  Your instructor will act as the sponsor both for the project and for the methodology build-out.  Any questions should be directed to me.

Step 2:  Build a Methodology

  • Identify and describe the methodology to be used by the company.   This should include both a narrative and pictorial representation of the methodology. 
  • Identify and describe the required deliverables for your process.
  • Identify and describe the proposed review and update process for your methodology. 
  • Identify one or more prioritization techniques that will be used to prioritize work – examples can be PV, IRR, NPV, Pay Back Period, and/or dot voting
  • Identify at least 3-5 risks a company should think about when identifying a new methodology.  
  • Identify and describe the optimum organizational structure for the methodology

Step 3: The Project

Using your new methodology, SCC would like you and you to complete the following project:

Scope: The scope of the project consists of 9 applications

  Initial Development Cost (YR 0)  Year 1 Income Year 2 Income Year 3 Income Year 4 Income Year 5 Income
Application 1  $                                       350,000.00  $      65,000.00  $      74,750.00  $      89,700.00  $      94,185.00  $      95,126.85
Application 2  $                                       275,000.00  $      52,000.00  $      62,400.00  $      68,640.00  $      70,012.80  $      71,413.06
Application 3  $                                       500,000.00  $      65,000.00  $      79,300.00  $      83,265.00  $      89,926.20  $      94,422.51
Application 4  $                                       450,000.00  $      50,000.00  $      65,000.00  $      69,550.00  $      73,723.00  $      77,409.15
Application 5  $                                       300,000.00  $    130,000.00  $    143,000.00  $    145,860.00  $    160,446.00  $    170,072.76
Application 6  $                                       450,000.00  $      82,000.00  $      94,300.00  $      95,243.00  $      96,195.43  $    100,043.25
Application 7  $                                       750,000.00  $    230,000.00  $    287,500.00  $    301,875.00  $    316,968.75  $    323,308.13
Application 8  $                                       550,000.00  $      75,000.00  $      91,500.00  $      93,330.00  $    100,796.40  $    103,820.29
Application 9  $                                       250,000.00  $      65,000.00  $      85,800.00  $      88,374.00  $      93,676.44  $      95,549.97

Given the critical nature of the project, the company has developed a high-level budget and potential income for each application. 

  • Year 0 is the projected cost the company has estimated for the build of the component.  This includes a 15% overhead cost for project management work
  • Year 1-Year 5 is the amount of revenue the company has estimated for the product
  • The Acceptable Rate of Return for all projects with the company is 10%

Step 4:  Manage a project

    • Describe the process that your team will use to elicit and decompose the requirements for the project
    • Develop a Project Overview Statement document for the project
    • Create a WBS for the project.  Remember your WBS is a deliverable base, so there should be a section of your WBS which outlines our project management deliverables
    • Using the following information develop a Gantt chart
        Optimistic Estimate Pessimistic Estimate Most Likely Estimate
      Application 1 4 months 9 months 6 months
      Application 2 1 month 5 months 3 months
      Application 3 5 months 10 months 7 months
      Application 4 1 month 7 months 4 months
      Application 5 5 months 10 months 8 months
      Application 6 2 months 9 months 5 months
      Application 7 5 months 12 months 7 months
      Application 8 3 months 13 months 9 months
      Application 9 4 months 11 months 8 months
    • Describe strategies you can use to bring the project timeline to 12 months.
    • Develop a team agreement 
    • Using your defined prioritization process, prioritize each application.
    • Using the defined organizational structure, create a pictorial and narrative description of the organizational structure for the project.
    • Identify at least ten potential stakeholders for your project. 
    • Identify at least five risks to include both threats and opportunities associated with the project.  For each risk, please include the following information:
      • Category
      • Impact
      • Probability
      • Description of the risk
      • Mitigation Strategy
    • Describe the process your team can use to determine if the projects are making the appropriate revenue. 

    Step 5:  Develop your paper using the following requirements:

    • The paper should be between 15-20 pages and should include:
      • Title Page
      • Reference Page
      • Table of Content
    • Your paper should include APA format (Times New Roman, font size 12, double-spaced, proper grammar, and reference list)
    • Your paper should utilize at least one outside scholarly or professional source related to project management
    • Your paper should include an Abstract, Introduction, and Conclusion