Project Management Case Studies Textbook Read The Enterprise

Project Management Case Studies Textbook

Read The Enterprise Resource Planning Project, p. 121–129.

Case Discussion Questions:

Do projects go from green to red overnight? If they do, what is the likely cause?

Should a firm-fixed-price contract have been awarded from the ERP effort?

What is the ultimate goal of a recovery project?

Do stakeholders expect trade-offs during recovery?

Solution

1. No a project do not usually go from green to red overnight. A green project means that the project is going on schedule and a red project means that there will be a delay or cost overruns.

In this case Jerry has been assigned to handle a failed (red) project. The project went red as a process of not being able to integrate all the modules that Prylon had bought from a variety of vendors.

If a project goes from green to red overnight, it means that there was a planning issue in the project from the beginning. The estimation in terms of time or cost was wrong in the initial stage only for this to happen.

2. No, firm-fixed-price contract should not have been awarded from the ERP effort. Thishas resulted in no adjustments in price. Prices will only be subject to changes as stated in the agreement between MANNIX and PRYLON. This has resulted in a position of disadvantage for Mannix Corporation as they have to absorb cost overruns related to the project.

From Prylon\'s point of view the firm-fixed-price contract led cost savings for them.

3. A recovery project seeks to put the project gone off track, back on track. As mentioned in the case, the ultimate goal of a recovery project is not to finish on time, but to finish with reason- able value and benefits for Prylon Corporation.

4. Yes, stakeholders do expect trade-offs during recovery. From the employees point of view the recovery process could mean longer working hours and burning the midnight oil. From the management\'s point of view the trade off is between the benefit from the recovery and the cost overrun involved for the recovery.