A&D High Tech (A): Managing Projects for Success Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

A&D High Tech (A): Managing Projects for Success Case Solution

Introduction

A&D High Tech is a business with headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, that provides products and services for computers. The firm generates sales through its retail locations in the American Midwest. The company plans to open an online store in order to compete on the global market. A&H High Tech made the decision to launch an online store in order to seize the market, outperform the competition, and cut costs. Mr. Webb, the CIO, decided to create a unique software for creating an internet store as a consequence. (Mark Jeffery, 2006).

Purpose

The project’s goal is to create bespoke software that will allow the firm to operate an online store. The online store’s design is N-tiered because it provides more flexibility. The company’s mission is to become the industry leader by differentiating itself through its IT structure in order to attain the goal of low cost and high market share. This initiative is a collaboration between Chris and the Geneva-based employment firm for the provision of software engineers.

Project Information

The project began in 2002. Mr. Webb has assembled a team of six professionals led by Eric Robertson. In four weeks, this cross-functional team accomplished its planning duties, as well as a project prototype based on HTML pages showcasing the user interface. The project’s business needs included gathering orders, capturing leads with configuration, and the project’s process flow required daily operations with exceptional handling due to system faults. As physical infrastructure, the technical design was N layered, with a DMZ zone and two fire barriers for servers. All tasks had been scheduled, and resources had been given to them.All of the resources were identified, but the software developers were not accessible, so Robertson hired a business to provide them. All of the operations were on schedule, however Mr. Robertson, the project manager, had to quit the project due to a family issue, and the project was handed to Chris Johnson to head the team as project manager.

Roles and Responsibilities

All parties have been assigned roles and obligations. Stakeholders comprise anybody who potentially be impacted by this project, including leaders, members, consumers, users, and investors. (See Appendix 1)

Project Completion Date

The project planning began in the year 2002, and it was scheduled to be finished by Christmas 2003. It would take 127 days, or over 4.2 months, to complete. The timetable contained the overall time necessary together with its previous actions.

Tasks

The project’s needed tasks have been prepared using the thorough work breakdown structure. Tasks range from obtaining system and software requirements until project completion. The online shop project is an innovative and fresh project for the organization; nevertheless, A&D has not used this option yet since it believes it would damage its client handling approach. It conducted an industry assessment and discovered that its competitors make more from internet retailers than from hand sales.

Description

To identify the activities and their related sub-tasks, a thorough work break-down structure has been created. To begin, there is a need to assess the available resources and the specifics required for the online shop project. With the assistance of project management planning, the project scope, needs, and resources have been established. A documented work breakdown structure has been created, which includes the following core tasks and subtasks.

Time

Each job has been assigned with suitable time estimates based on the requirements of the linked work. Two or more jobs might be completed in a single period of time. Each assignment has been allotted a number of days in order to be completed on time. The project will take 127 days to complete if numerous tasks are completed at the same time. Schedule estimates will assist managers in completing tasks on time and with limited resources.

Dependencies

Every task would have to finish its linked job. There is a requirement to complete one work before beginning another. For example, before creating a process flow, gather business requirements. Similarly, the product catalogue must be created before the shopping cart. (See Appendix 2)

Total Costs

Resources

Human and capital resources are examples of resources. The online shop project will necessitate software engineers, an online ordering application, leaders, strategic managers, and competent team members. (See Appendix 3)

Strategies

The entire cost of the project is related with one of two strategies: construct or purchase. The build or purchase strategy study will aid in understanding and determining the correctness and feasibility of the company’s decision to construct its own systems and software for the online version of the firm. The analysis will comprehensively highlight the advantages of the build and buy strategies that the organization’s management has for pursuing the new business project, as well as the disadvantages and issues that they both present for the new project that the management of the business wishes to initiate.

Buy Strategy

Some of the most important advantages that the firm may get if the company’s management chose the purchase approach to launch and develop the company’s new online business project are depicted below.

Cost-cutting measures.
No resource redistribution.
Less time required for project implementation.

The features listed above are the most important benefits that the firm’s management might have achieved for the company by pursuing this approach. The acquisition of software and systems for this new business endeavor would save the company money on research and development since it would not have to construct brand new systems from scratch. The acquisition of systems and software will also assist the company’s management in keeping the company’s resources, including valuable human resources, directed toward the operations of the business in the markets, and the time for project implementation will be reduced significantly as the business will not have to develop, test, and implement the system itself, which is a lengthy and time-consuming process. The following are some of the most serious drawbacks of this method.

Increasing degree of customization in order to enable all of the business’s technical and operational requirements.
The firm will not have a competitive edge in the marketplaces.

The above-mentioned drawbacks are the most serious concerns with this method for company management since the systems and software will be provided by a third party and will not be tailored to the firm’s offerings and activities. The company’s management will need to make significant changes to these systems in order to make them relevant to the company’s offerings and operations.This will also eliminate the chance for the business’s management to obtain a competitive edge over rivals in the marketplaces since the systems will not be as efficient and effective as the firm need to pursue their operations in the online markets.....................

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A&D High Tech (A): Managing Projects for Success Harvard Case Solution & Analysis