Essay Instructions: Rock ‘n’ Reggae Case Project
A Project Management Decision-Making Game
Your company, Planners 'R Us, specializes in effectively managing projects. Previous experience has involved conference management systems, commercial construction, and software development projects.
A new, intriguing project offers another opportunity to apply your project management expertise. A municipality wishes to put together an outdoor summer music festival, “Rock ’n’ Reggae,” in a town in the state of Florida, USA. This will feature a number of top music groups, and should attract interest from students, local residents, and music fans throughout the region. The event will be staged at Marley Memorial Field, a high school football stadium with a capacity of 8000.
Your company has met with city and school officials to develop a list of activities required to make Rock ’n’ Reggae a reality. Table 1 below includes twelve activities as well as their durations and immediate predecessors. Appearing below the table is a visual depiction of the project plan in the form of a network diagram (Figure 1). The subscripts on each activity denote the number of weeks of work that activity is expected to require. Arrows denote the order of activities. For instance, activity E cannot be started until activity A is completed, and activity H cannot be started until both C and D are complete. The start and end nodes are dummy nodes and do not need to be worked on. Note that at the beginning of the project, activities A, C and D are available to start working on, as they have no predecessor activities. Be sure to understand the diagram before reading further. If you cannot see a diagram below, click on the "Case Study PDF" link at the top of the page.
In addition to the project write-up, your job is to allocate workers to tasks each week during the project. Planners ‘R Us has agreed to complete the project in 10 weeks (finishing two weeks before the Festival), and wants to minimize the costs associated with the project. All tasks A-K must be completed in 10 weeks. You have four (4) workers, although you do not need to use all of them every week ??" there are other tasks they can do in your company.
For bookkeeping purposes, your company will charge $200 per week for each worker that you use. If you happen to need an additional worker, there is one (1) available, but that person would then not get their other work done; thus, you will be charged $300 per week for the additional worker. In addition, if the project is “late”, there will be complications during the last two weeks before the Festival, costing Planners ‘R Us $2000 per week due to a serious loss of goodwill and plenty of negative publicity.
The final cost to consider involves expediting tasks. You can assign an extra worker to a task in any given week in order to finish it in less time. For instance, if a task requires 2 weeks but you assign two workers, it will be completed in one week. However, putting two workers on a task is not quite as efficient as having one worker complete it from start to finish. Doing this requires additional coordination (by you) and may require some overtime by the workers. These costs total an additional $100 per week. The most workers that can be assigned to any task in a week is two (since having 3 or more requires so much additional coordination that no reduction in time is achieved). To summarize, the most workers on any given task is two (2) per week, and the total number of workers you may employ for any week is at most five (5).
Table 1- Rock ‘n’ Reggae Activity Chart
Activity
Description
Duration
(weeks)
Immediate
predecessors
A
Contract negotiation with selected music groups
3
-
B
Find a construction firm & build the stage
5
C
C
Contract negotiation with roadies
2
-
D
Screen and hire security personnel
3
-
E
Ticket distribution arrangements
1
A
F
Organize advertising brochures and souvenir program printing
4
D
G
Logistical arrangements for music group transportation
1
E
H
Sound equipment arrangements
3
C, D
I
Processing of travel visas (for international groups)
5
F, H
J
Hire parking staff, and make parking arrangements
4
E, B, H,
K
Distribute media passes and arrange for MTV recording
5
G
L
Arrange for concession sales and restroom facilities
2
F
Being an experienced manager, you are aware that all projects involve various uncertainties (e.g., delays, additional requirements, or even improved efficiency) that can occur at any time. Since you do not want to lose your reputation for on-time delivery in, you are determined to plan the project well and be as efficient as possible from the first week on.
You will need to develop a plan for the whole project, but the first decision that needs to be implemented is how to allocate workers for the first week. Report this decision to the instructor by completing and submitting the Employee / Task Assignment Reporting Sheet provided below.
When decisions for first week allocations have been submitted, the instructor will let you know of any changes that may occur regarding the project. Then, you will make decisions for the 2nd week.
HINT: As in the real world, projects can be impacted by both internal and external events, and the instructor will keep you posted on any “developments” that may impact the project. Therefore it is imperative to watch for messages, instructions and updates from your instructor via the Chat Room or other means, and react accordingly.
Project Write-Up
In addition to the series of completed task assignment sheets referred to above, this exercise also requires you to submit a 5-section project paper that consists of :
1. Section I - Project Plan
In this section, you will write up this project’s concept, constraints and expectations.
1. Section II - Work Breakdown Structure
Regard each of the twelve activities as a work package and identify the tasks in each. For this exercise, you are urged not to be overly granular in your breakdown; it will be sufficient to list four to five tasks for each package.
2. Section III - Risk analysis
1. List the potential threats and uncertainties associated with staging the Rock ‘n’ Reggae concert using the information contained in this case description.
2. Perform a quantitative analysis.
3. Section IV - Cost Estimate
Using the information available, develop a cost estimate for the Rock ‘n’ Reggae event.
1. Section V - Schedule Chart
Develop a project schedule using a program such as MS Project to produce either a PERT or Gantt chart.
Your instructor will direct you whether to submit this paper section-by-section, or as a an integrated whole.
Adapted from a game design by: Ken Klassen, Brock University and Keith Willoughby, Bucknell University © 2003, Ken Klassen & Keith Willoughby
Note: This game has been developed for educational purposes. It may be used, disseminated, and modified for educational purposes, but it may not be sold. In all uses of the game, the original developers must be acknowledged (as has been done above).
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Employee / Task Assignment Reporting Sheet*
*Note : Depending on class size, your instructor may opt to conduct this as a team exercise. If so, list names of the team members on this sheet.
NAME: _________________TEAM: ____________________________________
Week
Tasks to work on
# of employees per task
Week
Tasks to work on
# of employees per task
1
7
2
8
3
9
4
10
5
11
6
12
There are faxes for this order.
