Concept explainers
At the Hard Rock Cafe, like many organizations, project management is a key planning took With Hard Rock’s constant growth in hotels and cafes, remodeling of existing cafes,
“Without Microsoft Project,” says Hard Rock Vice-President Chris Tomasso, “there is no way to keep so many people on the same page.” Tomasso is in charge of the Rockfest event, which is attended by well over 100,000 enthusiastic fans. The challenge is pulling it off within a tight 9-month planning horizon. As the event approaches, Tomasso devotes greater energy to its activities. For the first 3 months, Tomasso updates his Microsoft Project charts monthly. Then at the 6-month mark, he updates his progress weekly. At the 9-month mark, he checks and corrects his schedule twice a week.
Early in the project management process, Tomasso identifies 10 major tasks (called level-2 activities in a work breakdown structure, or WBS):† talent booking, ticketing, marketing/PR, online promotion, television, show production, travel, sponsorships, operations, and merchandising Using a WBS, each of these is further divided into a series of subtasks. Table 3.8 identifies 26 of the major activities and subactivities, their immediate predecessors, and time estimates. Tomasso enters all these into the Microsoft Project software.‡ Tomasso alters the Microsoft Project document and the time line as the project progresses. “It’s okay to change it as long as you keep on track,” he states.
† The level-1 activity is the Rockfest concert itself.
‡ There are actually 127 activities used by Tomasso: the list is abbreviated for this case study.
TABLE 3.8 Some of the Major Activities and Subactivities in the Rockfest Plan
The day of the rock concert itself is not the end of the project planning. “It’s nothing but surprises. A band not being able to get to the venue because of traffic jams is a surprise, but an ‘anticipated’ surprise. We had a helicopter on stand-by ready to fly the band in,” says Tomasso.
On completion of Rocktest in July, Tomasso and his team have a 3-month reprieve before starting the project planning process again.
3. Identify five major challenges a project manager faces in events such as this one.
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 3 Solutions
Operations Management
- N5 Explain some of the basic principles of cost management, such as profits, life cycle costs, tangible and intangible costs and benefits, direct and indirect costs, and reserves. Why is defining activities a process of project time management instead of project scope management?arrow_forwardEarned Value Analysis of the project supported by cost Performance Index and Schedule Performance Index readings. Comment on the progress of each activity and overall health of the project. Activity BCWS ACWP 1- Percentage Completion 80% Rs. 30,000 Rs. 25,000 2- Percentage Completion 40% Rs. 60,000 Rs. 80,000 3- Percentage Completion 100% Rs. 80,000 Rs. 78,000 Cumulative Rs. 170,000 Rs. 183,000arrow_forwardProject # SR 55H has finished 13 months of a 24 month planned schedule. You are given the metrics below: What is the project status? Budget for the program = $55,000; EV (cumulative) = $27,500; AC (cumulative) = $25,225 a. There appear to be no problems, the project could finish slightly under plan. b. The project is behind schedule, but will finish on time if they are about 12.5% more efficient. c. The Project now is ahead of plan, but might have a problem in finishing on time. d. The Project is in trouble and the team needs to be about 9% more efficient to finish on original plan. e. You cannot tell based on the metrics above. f. You have no idea what to say; they asked the wrong person.arrow_forward
- The ability to differentiate between project work and project operations is a fundamental concept in the study of project management.Discuss the differences between Project Work and Normal Operations.arrow_forward1. Analyze the cost variance metric, and include the equation and what the acronyms stand for. 1. Describe one project software program that could help a project manager control costs.arrow_forwardProject Duration= Planning on spending per month Project Budget (BAC) Percent complete per month Performance Analysis % Complete Planned Value (PV) Actual Cost (AC) Earned Value (EV) Schedule Variance (SV) Schedule Performance Index (SPI) Cost Variance (CV) Cost Performance Index (CPI) Estimate at Completion (EAC) Estimate to Complete (ETC) Variance at Completion (VAC) 5 months $300,000.00 $1,500,000.00 Month 1 20% 20% of work completed 15% of work completed Spent additional $110,000 Month 2 Instructions: Utilizing the EVM cheat sheet provided by the instructor, complete the calculations i formulas and functions to attain your answers. Please do not simply plug in numbers. This exerci ability to use Excel. Finally, answer the questions below to explain your answers. Question 1: What do your SV numbers tell you about the project schedule and how? Answer 1: Question 2: What do your SPI numbers tell you about the project schedule and how? Answer 2:arrow_forward
- Explain how earned value management (EVM) may control costs and monitor project success and hypothesise why it is not utilised more commonly. What are some guidelines for evaluating cost variation, schedule variance, cost performance index, and schedule performance index numbers?arrow_forwardA successful project need a project management plan. How to ensure this statement. You may have point from the financial management control. Justify its strengths and its weaknessesarrow_forwardYou are the project manager of the softwaration project in the table below. You would like to find the minimum-cost schedule for your project. There is a $500-per-week penalty for each week the prop delayed beyond week 25. In addition, your project team determined that indirect project costs are $2,000 per week. 9 Normal Activity Immediate Predecessor(s) Time (weeks) 1 A B C D E F G H 1 a. What would be your target completion week? The target completion week is week A A, B B D E. F G C.F (Enter your response as an integer.) b. How much would you save in total project costs with your schedule? Total Savings S (Enter your response as an integer) 79832N 10 12 8 Normal Cost (S) 3,000 3,000 10,000 3,000 4,000 2,000 3,000 5,000 2,000 Crash Time (weeks) 1 58829136 Crash Cost ($) 3,000 6,000 12,000 9,000 5,000 5,000 9,000 7,000 8,000arrow_forward
- [Project Management] Because a housing project is running late, the developer will need to complete and deliver the houses as quickly as possible. You and your management team are responsible for mitigating the situation by including a time-cost trade-off analysis into the project. You will need to include the following: Normal crash Activity Prior Days cost, RM Days cost, RM A 7,000 7,000 B A 8,000 9 8,000 B 14 6,000 12 11,000 D B 18 5,000 11 8,500 E C,D 12 8,000 12 8,000 E 20 6,000 16 12,000 E 7,000 7,000 E 11 11,000 7 15,000 G, H 10 15,000 21,000 7 I, F 6 9,000 6 9,000 Construct a network diagram (PDM), including activity early start, late start, early finish, late finish and float.arrow_forwardProject manager manage project budget in project-oriented organization. 1-TRUE 2-FALSEarrow_forwardLet us consider an IT project P scheduled for 6 months where: Project team must develop two activities a month for 6 months • Each activity is planned to cost 50 $ • We observe the project at the beginning of month 5 and we find that 10 activities are already finished, and that CPI is equal to 0.4. 1. How is the project performing from a schedule perspective? 2. How is the project performing from a cost perspective? 3. What is the actual cost of the project? 4. If we assume that the COST variance experienced in the project will continue, how much more money will it take to complete the project? 5. If we suppose that the variance experienced were to stop, what is the project's estimate at completion? 6. What is the project's TCPI using the project's budget at completion? 7. If the project manager focuses on the percentage of the project that is complete. What should he/she report? 8. Imagine that instead of 5 months and actual cost…arrow_forward
- Practical Management ScienceOperations ManagementISBN:9781337406659Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.Publisher:Cengage,Operations ManagementOperations ManagementISBN:9781259667473Author:William J StevensonPublisher:McGraw-Hill EducationOperations and Supply Chain Management (Mcgraw-hi...Operations ManagementISBN:9781259666100Author:F. Robert Jacobs, Richard B ChasePublisher:McGraw-Hill Education
- Purchasing and Supply Chain ManagementOperations ManagementISBN:9781285869681Author:Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. PattersonPublisher:Cengage LearningProduction and Operations Analysis, Seventh Editi...Operations ManagementISBN:9781478623069Author:Steven Nahmias, Tava Lennon OlsenPublisher:Waveland Press, Inc.