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Project Management Simulation • Weight 20% (5% for each) of the final grade • Due no later than 11:00 p.m. on Sunday of Unit 3, 6, 8, and
10 Objectives [CLO 1, CLO 2, CLO 3, CLO 4]
On successful completion of this assignment, students should be able to: • Understand how different decisions make by project
managers to change parameters or constraints on their projects can have varying impact on their project outcomes
• Identify and apply different strategies in managing projects • Think critically about the approaches that they take to best
manage their project. Brief Description
Instruction for simulation assignments vary from case to case. Students will pay special attention to information accompanying the simulation paper and use appropriately. Your professor will build a library in Harvard Business Publishing of the course material, use it to build a course pack and distribute this to you. When activating the course pack, the professor will determine the payment mode and communicate this to you. The activation process will produce a unique course pack link that will be emailed to students or posted to gain access and for purchase of the simulation. It is important to purchase the simulation prior to the beginning of class as the simulation begins at the start of week 3. *The simulations is to be purchased by each student and will be done individually. Details of simulation can be purchased from Harvard Business Publishing link: Austin, R. D. (2021). Project management simulation: Scope,
Resources, Schedule V3. Product #: 7701-HTM- ENG. https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/7701-HTM-ENG? cid=email%7Cmarketo%7C2022-06-13-project- management-v2-sim- retire%7C1202239%7Cproduct%7Cusers%7Cidp%7Cjun2 022&acctID=8315972&mkt_tok=ODU1LUFUWi0yOTQA AAGE- 7GdA6NCmKAyFJcpDGMfdgXXVY5k7AQHoY1mD434 eBQjqJdCgyQFlol2v5z5_LOuJvzQC9lfo7PB8oyPlq3MjIno J_f5G_OrdmaTHxVREA
Schedule
• Unit 3 – Session 1: Play and Debrief of Scenario A – Project Management Causes and Effects
• Unit 6 – Session 2: Play and Debrief of Scenario B, C and F – Managing Risk and Uncertainty
• Unit 8 – Session 3: Play and Debrief of Scenario D and E – Making Tough Tradeoffs
• Unit 10-Session 4: Summary Debrief, fill out a contingency- based project management framework
Late Submission Policy • This assessment is subject to the Late Submission penalty
policy, namely 5% per day for three days. • This page will close and will not allow further submissions
after this Late Submission period has expired. • In the event of an emergency preventing you from
submitting within this time frame, special permission must be obtained from your instructor. Documentation substantiating emergency is required. In such a circumstance, if the extension is granted, the professor will reopen the submission function for you on an individual basis.
• Please do not email your submissions to your professor, either before or after the due date; all coursework should be submitted through the online course (Moodle).
• For time management purposes, students are strongly advised to submit their assignments by the due date above, relative to their local time zone. Late penalties will not be applied until after 8:00 a.m. Atlantic Time the following day.
Project Management Stimulation Session 1: Play and Debrief of Scenario A (project Management Causes and Effects)
• Weight 5% of the final grade • Due no later than 11:00 p.m. on Sunday of Unit 3
Submission Instructions This is the student’s first encounter with the simulation. After playing the simulation, students will generate a short debrief summary that responds to the following assignment questions: 1. As you play the simulation, try to discover how varying
decision parameters (target scope, team size, team skill level, amount of outsourcing, target completion date, overtime, and allowed time in meetings) affect project outcomes (tasks completed, cost incurred, productivity, new problems discovered, project completion date) and team attributes (morale, stress level, rates of mistakes).
a. What causes each effects did you identify? b. What might explain the causal relationships you’ve
discovered? 2. What strategies did you attempt in managing your projects?
What worked? What didn’t? 3. What assumptions underline your emerging ideas about
managing projects in the simulation? In other words: What change would prompt you to reconsider the approach you’re discovering is best for managing projects?
Simulation Scenario A: Easily achievable targets, with even weighting between objectives and low level of uncertainty.
Senior management expects you to release a new printer retaining rough parity with the competitor’s new printer. The projected schedule allows you to ramp up manufacturing and marketing quickly enough to match the competitor’s new printer profile with your own printer. The target budget supports a cost structure that will permit profit margins at a level roughly equivalent to those of the current printer. Market intelligence gathered on your competitor’s plans is considered reliable, so the target specifications for your new printer, required to retain parity with their new printer, are clearly defined, well understood, and expected to remain stable throughout the project. Management has indicated that scope, schedule and cost are of equal importance in a successful launch, and they have committed to providing stable access to resources during the project. Scenario Point Distribution of Scenario A
Target Points for Meeting Target
Points for Exceeding Target
Total Points
Project Scope 200 100 300
Project Schedule 200 100 300
Project Resources 200 100 300
Team Process 100 n/a 100
Total Point 1000
Evaluation and Feedback Scenario Session 1 will be marked in its entirety out of 100. The following rubric indicates the criteria students are to adhere to, and their relative weights to the assignment overall.
Activity/Competencies Demonstrated % of Final Grade
1. Simulation Outcome as Reported in Simulation site (50%) a. Scenario “A” Score (1000 points and factored to 50%) 50% 2. Project Management Causes and Effects (30%) a. Outlines the influence of each effect 10%
b. Explained the causal relations affecting the parameters 10%
c. Provide underlining assumptions emerging from project 10%
2. Communication (10%) a. Uses language clearly and effectively 5% b. Information organized intelligently and holistically 5% 3. Attention to Detail (10%) a. APA Referencing and formatting (title, headings, and
references) 5%
b. Spelling and grammar checks 5% Total 100%
Project Management Stimulation Session 2: Play and Debrief of Scenario B, C and F – Managing Risk and Uncertainty
• Weight 5% of the final grade • Due no later than 11:00 p.m. on Sunday of Unit 6
Description This session should probably be shorter than the first session, because students are now already familiar with the simulations and won’t be surprised by the unexpected events in the scenario. It’s best to allow time to play each scenario, B, C and F, one or two times. These scenarios will be more challenging for students than scenario A, so students may want to play longer, in order to try to master the new challenge. The instructor has some control over how surprised students are likely to be by the staff, crises in Scenario B and the competitor announcements in Scenario C, and the many sources of uncertainty in Scenario F. For example, situation the simulation within a course topic explicitly called something like “Managing Risk and Uncertainty” can obviously forewarn the students. Even without complete surprise, the simulation will be effective. The situation in the simulation will not be much different than the situation facing a real project manager. He or she knows to expect something unexpected but doesn’t know what it might be. Before beginning, suggest some questions that guide student thinking in the direction of managing risk and uncertainty but that do give away too much.
Submission Instructions After playing the simulation, students will generate a short debrief summary that responds the following assignment questions: 4. What’s different about the project context in this scenario? 5. In this scenario, how have causal relationships been affected
or changed? Why have they changed? 6. What strategies did you use to deal with this scenario? What
worked? What didn’t? Were you able to complete the project successfully?
7. Having dealt now with different project scenarios, how would you revise your project management advice? If so, how?
Simulation Scenario B: Project has staffing crisis mid- project. Project will lose up to 3 staff members and be unable to hire for 2 weeks.
Senior management expects you to release a new printer which will upstage the competitor’s expected new printer announcement. The target schedule is shortened to allow you to ramp up manufacturing and marketing soon enough to pre- empt the competitor announcement with an announcement of your own. The budget will support a cost structure that permits a profit margin which is slightly better than the current printer’s margin. Your own analysis of the work required, and subsequent work breakdown structure has led to you conclude that these targets are difficult but achievable. Market intelligence gathered on the competitor’s plans is considered reliable, so the target specs for your new printer, required to upstage your competitor’s new printer, are reasonably well defined/understood, and expected to remain stable throughout the project. Comparatively, you are pleased that your project is reasonably staffed because other Project Managers are struggling to complete their work with limited resources. Scenario Point Distribution of Scenario B
Target Points for Meeting Target
Points for Exceeding Target
Total Points
Project Scope 175 100 275
Project Schedule 175 100 275
Project Resources 250 100 350
Team Process 100 n/a 100
Total Points 1000
Simulation Scenario C: Competitor issues surprise announcement mid-project. Schedule target will move up and points for schedule will increase.
Senior management expects you to release a new printer which will allow you to upstage the competitor’s expected new printer announcement. The target schedule is shortened to allow you to ramp up manufacturing and marketing soon enough to pre-empt the competitor announcement with an announcement of your own. The budget will support a cost structure that permits a printer profit margin which is slightly better than that of the current printer. Your own analysis of the work required, and subsequent work breakdown structure has led you to conclude that these targets are difficult but achievable. You’re concerned, however, that the market intelligence gathered about your competitor’s plans might not be reliable. Management has committed to providing stable access to resources during the project. Scenario Point Distribution of Scenario C
Target Points for Meeting Target
Points for Exceeding Target
Total Points
Project Scope 200 100 300
Project Schedule 200 100 300
Project Resources 200 100 300
Team Process 100 n/a 100
Total Points Earned 1000
Simulation Scenario F: Chaotic scenario in which students encounter multiple unanticipated events. Use of prototypes is key to project success.
Senior management expects you to release a new printer that contains an advanced feature involving new technology. This new technology exists but it is in a nascent state and is still in flux. Your R&D team is working on refining it, but there’s still a lot you don’t know about it. To make matters more complicated, you think your main competitor might also be working on incorporating this technology into their new offering, though your market intelligence on exactly what they’re doing is incomplete and probably unreliable. Schedule is tight on this project, since management would like to release the printer containing this advanced feature before the competition, but your budget is also substantially higher due to expected development complications. There are disagreements among the management team about the wisdom of placing such a big bet on a new technology, and the leaders of other projects are clamoring for resources for their own understaffed projects. Scenario Point Distribution of Scenario F
Target Points for Meeting Target
Points for Exceeding Target
Total Points
Project Scope 300 n/a 300
Project Schedule 100 100 200
Project Resources 200 200 400
Team Process 100 n/a 100
Total 1000
Evaluation and Feedback Scenario Session 2 will be marked in its entirety out of 100. The following rubric indicates the criteria students are to adhere to, and their relative weights to the assignment overall.
Activity/Competencies Demonstrated % of Final Grade
1. Simulation Outcome as Reported in Simulation site (50%) a. Scenario “B”, “C” and “F” Score (3000 points and
factored to 50%) /50
2. Managing Risk and Uncertainty (30%) a. Identify differences in the project context /7.5
b. Indicates the changes and reasons for changes in the causal relationships
/7.5
c. Outline strategies for dealing with issues in the scenarios and how to revise the PM advice
/15
3. Communication (10%) a. Uses language clearly and effectively /5 b. Information organized intelligently and holistically /5 4. Attention to Detail (10%) a. APA Referencing and formatting (title, headings, and
references) /5
b. Spelling and grammar checks /5 Total /100
Project Management Stimulation Session 3: Play and Debrief of Scenario D and E – Making Tough Tradeoffs
• Weight 5% of the final grade • Due no later than 11:00 p.m. on Sunday of Unit 8
Description Scenario D and E present very difficult situations to students. They will find these scenarios very challenging and perhaps quite frustrating as they realize that they cannot achieve their objectives. Scores in D and E tend to be lower than for the other scenarios, and the range of scores can be very wide. Students should play long enough to realize that they won’t be able to complete these projects successfully and will therefore need to adopt an approach thatmarks the best of a challenging situation. If both scenarios are used, play time should last a bare minimum of 20 minutes. Again, suggest questions for students to bear in mind as they run the simulations.
Submission Instructions After playing the simulation, students will generate a short debrief summary that responds to the following assignment questions: 8. In this scenario, what has changed? 9. What strategies did you use to deal with this scenario? What
worked? What didn’t? Were you able to complete the project successfully?
10. Having dealt now with these different project scenarios, how would you revise your project management advice?
Simulation Scenario D: Very difficult management targets, with points weighted towards schedule compliance.
Senior management expects you to release a new printer which will allow you to leapfrog the competitor’s expected new printer announcement and capture market share early. The schedule is highly aggressive, allowing you to ramp up manufacturing and marketing soon enough to dramatically pre-empt the competitor’s announcement and seize a market leadership position. Management has indicated that releasing the new printer ahead of the competition is critical to success. Consequently, the points available for meeting or exceeding schedule goals are much higher than for scope. Target specs, required to be sure of far exceeding your competitor’s new printer, are clearly defined, well understood, and expected to remain stable throughout the project. Management has committed to providing stable access to resources during the project. Scenario Point Distribution of Scenario D
Target Points for Meeting Target
Points for Exceeding Target
Total Points
Project Scope 125 75 200
Project Schedule 300 100 400
Project Resources 200 100 300
Team Process 100 n/a 100
Total 1000
Simulation Scenario E: Very difficult management targets, with points weighted towards scope compliance.
Senior management expects you to release a new printer that represents a significant improvement over the competitor’s expected printer. By positioning the printer as a high-end, fully featured printer you will be able to price the printer significantly higher while still maintaining market share. The schedule remains the same, making this a difficult goal to achieve. The points available for meeting the scope goal have been increased and are significantly higher than for schedule or cost. Target specs are clearly defined, well understood, and expected to remain stable throughout the project. Management has committed to providing stable access to resources during the project. Scenario Point Distribution of Scenario E
Target Points for Meeting Target
Points for Exceeding Target
Total Points
Project Scope 300 100 400
Project Schedule 125 75 200
Project Resources 200 100 300
Team Process 100 n/a 100
Total 1000
Evaluation and Feedback Scenario Session 3 will be marked in its entirety out of 100. The following rubric indicates the criteria students are to adhere to, and their relative weights to the assignment overall.
Activity/Competencies Demonstrated % of Final Grade
1. Simulation Outcome as Reported in Simulation site (50%) a. Scenario “D”, and “E” Score (2000 points and
factored to 50%) /50
2. Making Tough Trade-offs (30%) a. Indicates appropriate changes emerging from
scenario /10
b. Indicates strategies in dealing with issues and shows what worked and did not work
/10
c. Provides advice in dealing with issues in this scenario and how to revise the PM advice
/10
3. Communication (10%) a. Uses language clearly and effectively /5 b. Information organized intelligently and holistically /5 4. Attention to Detail (10%) a. APA Referencing and formatting (title, headings, and
references) /5
b. Spelling and grammar checks /5 Total /100
Project Management Stimulation Session 4: Summary Debrief – Developing a project management framework
• Weight 5% of the final grade • Due no later than 11:00 p.m. on Sunday of Unit 10
Description The basic goal is to synthesize learning from the individual sessions. Students will evaluate correlation graphs based on the date from all scenarios. In addition, they will revisit advice in each of the topic areas mentioned in the analysis section of the guide (i.e. Project Planning, Basic project Management Advice, managing people factors, Managing Risk and Uncertainty, and making Tough Tradeoffs). The correlation graphs may be used earlier, but they are perhaps best used after a significant amount of data (a large number of students runs) has been accumulated. It’s a good idea for the instructor to carefully identify the correlation graphs that have something to offer (not all will). Note that graphs don’t capture all the subtleties of the simulation – for example, graphing the number of hours in meetings against a project outcome measure does not take into account when during the project (early or late) most meeting hours occurred (and that does matter in the simulation).
Submission Instructions After playing the simulation, students will generate a short debrief summary that responds to the following assignment questions: 11. Let’s revisit your ideas about how decision parameters
(target scope, team size, team skill level, amount of outsourcing, target completion data, overtime allowed, time in meetings, number of prototypes) affect project outcomes (task completed, cost incurred, productivity, new problems discovered, project completion date) and team attributes (morale, stress level, rates of mistakes). How have your ideas about these causal relationships changed? How confident are you now in your hypotheses about them?
12. What strategies work for managing projects? What strategies work when uncertainty is low or high? What strategies work when objectives are realistic or not?
Evaluationand Feedback Scenario Session 4 will be marked in its entirety out of 100. The following rubric indicates the criteria students are to adhere to, and their relative weights to the assignment overall.
Activity/Competencies Demonstrated % of Final Grade
1. Simulation Outcome as Reported in Simulation site (40%) a. Evaluation and reporting of correlation graphs from scenario /40 2. Developing a project management framework (40%) a. Outlines the changes in decision parameters and the changes in their
causal relationships /10
b. Indicates strategies in dealing with issues and shows what worked and did not work
/10
c. Indicate strategies that work for managing projects, when uncertainty is low or high and finally when objectives are realistic or not
/20
3. Communication (10%) a. Uses language clearly and effectively /5 b. Information organized intelligently and holistically /5 4. Attention to Detail (10%) a. APA Referencing and formatting (title, headings, and references) /5 b. Spelling and grammar checks /5 Total /100
