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case_study_2_part_2.pdf
QSO 640: Project Management
Graded Case Study 2, Part II
Performance Measurement
Shortly after resolving the defective component issue, Schaller asked Varga to calculate
a performance measurement baseline (PMB) at the current point (month 12) in
preparation for an upcoming checkpoint meeting between ECO-Trans and SRT. The
client was anxious to remain within the implementation budget and liked to keep
abreast of any cost variance. Varga asked her assistant to provide her with the project's
earned value (EV) to date, and she added the EV curve to her original cost baseline
curve (planned value). She then emailed this to Schaller to include in his presentation
for the checkpoint meeting.
Project Resource Management
Since the beginning of the ECO-Stream project, Mark Osborne, SRT's Transportation
Department Training Manager, has expressed concern that the end user training occurs
too late in the plan. Varga has heard from him and others at SRT that many of the
locomotive engineers are complaining that they have not been involved in the process
and are not prepared to use the equipment when it comes on board. Their union
representative has repeatedly brought this issue to SRT management and has asked
them to change the project timeline to initiate training earlier.
In early October, Varga learned of a change on another ECO-Trans client project that
pushed its training schedule back several weeks. As a result, two key ECO-Trans training
specialists, Dominic Vonn and Marielle Beauchamp, were now available for a two-week
window to be reassigned temporarily. An internal member of the project team suggested
that Varga assign Vonn and Beauchamp to do some preliminary end user training at
SRT the following week. When Varga reviewed her schedule, however, she saw that the
team would be heavily involved in activities to configure the operating system, and she
did not want to disrupt her plans to kick off training.
She also remarked that the locomotive engineers have been resistant stakeholders
throughout the project. In general, these employees are averse to change of any kind,
especially if they view it as adding any incremental burden to their jobs. Osborne, on the
other hand, has been a vocally supportive stakeholder for the project. He has repeatedly
offered to help positively influence the engineers' perception of ECO-Stream and to
convince them it will actually make their jobs easier. He has asked Varga to attend one
of his training blocks to give the engineers a demo, but she has not yet taken the time to
make this happen.
Although Varga knows that she is way too swamped to deliver a demo for SRT's
locomotive engineers, she pulls up her resource calendar to check the resource
allocation in the Product Management Department, which is staffed with a team of
product specialists who routinely prepare and present product demos and
presentations. Maybe she could send one of them to do a demo?
Proje
ct
Mgm
t
Reso
urce
Constr
aints
Tota
l
Hou
rs
Nee
ded
October November December
10
/6
10/
13
10/
20
10/
27
11
/3
11/
10
11/
17
11/
24
12
/1
12
/8
12/
15
12/
22
Vin
Siede
k
Max
10
hours
per
week
45 3
h
2 h 8 h 4 h 2
h
9 h 5 h 3
h
3
h
3 h 3 h
Roha
n
Singh
Max
20
hours
per
week
61 2
h
12
h
15
h
20
h
12
h
Frank
Herm
ann
Unavai
lable
in Nov.
50 5
h
5 h 5
h
5 h 10
h
10
h
10
h
Susa
nne
Weit
z
Max
10
hours
per
week
36 3 h 3 h 12
h
3
h
3 h 12
h
Eva
Fisch
er
Unavai
lable
12/8 -
12/26
20 5
h
5 h 5
h
5
h
While looking at the calendar, Varga noticed some potential problems with upcoming resource
allocation, but she didn't think it was necessary to resolve them at this point. She assumed that the
product specialists would be willing to do whatever it took to make the SRT implementation a success.
