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Case Study 2 SHARP PRINTING AG

The document discusses a case study about Sharp Printing AG and their project to develop a color laser printer for under $200. It provides context about the project manager Lauren being skeptical of initial estimates from top management. The estimates were later found to be 20% over budget and 4 months late. The questions discuss actions the project manager could take, whether top management's estimates were appropriate, and which estimating techniques are best for critical projects. Responses recommend using a priority matrix, meeting with top management, and both top-down and bottom-up estimating techniques like function points and consensus-based estimating.

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Kamran Ali Abbasi
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617 views

Case Study 2 SHARP PRINTING AG

The document discusses a case study about Sharp Printing AG and their project to develop a color laser printer for under $200. It provides context about the project manager Lauren being skeptical of initial estimates from top management. The estimates were later found to be 20% over budget and 4 months late. The questions discuss actions the project manager could take, whether top management's estimates were appropriate, and which estimating techniques are best for critical projects. Responses recommend using a priority matrix, meeting with top management, and both top-down and bottom-up estimating techniques like function points and consensus-based estimating.

Uploaded by

Kamran Ali Abbasi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Case Study “Sharp Printing, AG”

1.1.At this point what would you do if you were the project
manager?

1.2. Was top management acting correctly in developing an


estimate?

1.3. What estimating techniques should be used for a mission


critical project such as this?

Abstract

This report is focused on answering the key questions from the


case “Sharp Printing, AG”. The organization needed to acquaint
a color laser printer with buyers and organizations for under
$200. The top administration chose with real deliverables, item
dispatch dates and evaluated expenses of the whole venture
based on their experience. Meeting with the center level
administration was booked where every one of the particulars
and venture points of interest were given out. Lauren was picked
as the task administrator of the undertaking who was cynic of
the high danger of the venture. An estimation of the whole
venture was attempted to choose the objectivity of the top
administration. The results of the evaluations were that the
expense were 5125.000, 20% over the normal cost and time
required was additionally 4 months more than anticipated to
assemble the innovation.

Introduction of the case

Lauren was chosen to be the project administrator of a task of


actualizing a color laser printer for customer and business
market at a sensible cost. However there were issues in expense
and time estimates. Contextual investigation is about what
requirements to done by the undertaking supervisor to conquer
this issue.
At this point what would you do if you were the project
manager?

The present state is that the laser printer is a prominent, key


undertaking to build income. Time to market is imperative. It is
sensible to expect the base up appraisal is more precise than the
underlying macro estimate. If I were a project manager, I would
use the priority matrix in order to help the top administration to
develop clear priorities. Time is considered as one of the
significant factors as the color printer is a technology where a
short delay could cause the rivals to introduce the same product
with particularly low price that could make the whole project
valueless. Hence, the time to market would be focused on. On
the other hand, performance is considered to be the critical
factors in developing the product that also has reasonable
quality. Hence, it is significant to offer the value for money for
the item except the product will be unsuccessful in the long time
period. Another area of the priority matrix is the cost. This
factor is due to the fact that the estimate showed that the price
has already amplified than the estimate of the senior
management where the efforts of cost cutting which included
talking with the design, production and marketing administrators
were not capable of creating the great impact. Hence, time is
considered as the important factor while performance is also
needed, so the only choice that we have to admit is increased
costs.

In addition to this, I would also plan a meeting with the senior


administration in order to explain the priority matrix while
getting the consent to augment the cost. At the similar period, I
would take certain decisions in order to change the scope of the
project where necessary. I would observe whether producing
within the organization or outsourcing technology can decrease
the issue of cost. On the other hand, I will also conduct the
break even analysis with the different estimated cost in order to
get know whether the company could attain the full profit which
the senior managers expected. I would also use the work
breakdown structure which would better assess the risks
connected with the cost and time of the project while inspiring
the use time phased budget when conducting the estimations.
Lastly, I would also conduct a meeting with the project team in
order to entail them the revised budget estimate as well as
revised work breakdown structure. I would also get their
feedback about the revisions. In case the project team becomes
satisfied with the revised plan, I would continue the project and
also license the project.

Was top management acting correctly in developing an


estimate?

Based on the analysis of the situation, it seemed that the senior


administration has made the judgment call by relying on the
faulty and inaccurate information. The project is known not a
noteworthy leap forward in the business. Determinations,
including the cost appraisal, were set up exclusively in light of
their related knowledge. There was insufficient thought in
building up an estimate. Both sides neglected to achieve an
agreement on their evaluations. There was additionally
miscommunication between top administrations. They have
utilized macro estimate which are just adequate to organize
ventures, yet not for the precise task gauge. Top administration
was as well “blinded” with the “guaranteed rewards”. The
promising figure for evaluations was plainly improbable.

What estimating techniques should be used for a mission


critical project such as this?

In spite of the fact that it is anything but difficult to propose


assessing down to the work package level, there are mission
basic activities where time is basic and expense must be
precisely controlled. If the printer costs the company
excessively, the company might not be capable for selling it for
no more than $200 without losing cash.  As this project includes
the elements which both estimating techniques are utilized in,
the company must utilize both bottom-up and top-down methods
in order to determine the necessities. A top-down method which
must be utilized is the consensus methodology. This method
utilizes the past experiences of senior management in order to
give a rough knowledge about the time and cost which the
project might entail. On the other hand, additional useful top-
down methodology is the function point’s method. This method
offers an enhanced in-depth look at the single deliverables as
well as the difficulty included in accomplishing them.

Other methods such as apportionment and ratio methods must


not be used for the mission critical projects. This is because
these methods tend to rely largely on the information from
previous projects. As mission critical projects involve exploiting
something which is never done beforehand (Assante et al.,
2013), information and data from previous projects would result
in a flawed estimate.

Discussion Question:
Question 1. At this point, what would you do if you were the
project manager?
To identify the project risks it is necessary to do deathly
analysis of entire
project. If I was in the project manager, firstly I will consider
firstly these three
factors 1. Project duration 2. Cost 3. Performance
 After considering the basic factors I will arrange meeting
with the senior
management so it will be helpful to identify the other priorities
for project. And
also, with presence of senior management other constrain could
be discuss
effectively which are directly or indirectly relate to the project.
Moreover,
approval can be get directly from senior management. So, that
will be helpful to
take any big decision towards the project.
After discussing and getting approval with top management, I
will make new
project scope and project schedule based on research. So,
company can
complete the project efficiently on time.
Question 2. Was top management acting correctly in
developing an estimate?
 As per my opinion, top-management was not current for
making a project
estimate due to following reasons
1. Before making the project estimate it is necessary to collect
and compare
the data with similar project or previous project but in this case,
they don’t
collect and compare.
2. They make the project estimation based on assumption rather
than using
standard method or formulated method
3. Project manager plays a vital role for making cost and time
estimation but
top management did not take advice from expert before making
estimation.

What weakness are inherent in this estimating approach?


Estimated cost should be either in top-down approach or bottom
up
approach.
Router system project cost is 0.6 million dollars in the chart,
implementation is covering 50% almost 0.3 million dollars, it
should be cut
down as top-down approach and the remaining amount should
be utilized
for the design.
Next point is, In-housing testing has 40% estimated cost
which is much
higher than expectations. Hence, data should be appropriate,
detailed and
realistic. If there is any error in the estimation of the cost, whole
estimation process can be fail.
For the programming, some extra amount of the cost should
be transfer
from the implementation that could be beneficial for the project.
Project must be related to the past experience that it would be
easy to
estimate the cost
Question 3. What estimating technique should be used for a
critical project such as
this?
There are many estimation techniques available for estimate
time and
cost. For the time estimation I go through the PERT (Project
evaluation
review technique technique) technique. Through the PERT
technique we
can effectively make project schedule and also, we can get
different time
estimation like we can estimate minimum amount of time,
longest and
most probable time.[ CITATION Wri18 \l 16393 ]
For the cost estimation, I believe that bottom up technique is
most
effective technique but it is necessary to have every detail for
project then
we can apply this technique. In this technique we can determine
each and
every activity cost from the bottom level. And also rolls up to
the total
project cost.

Question 4. Total estimated project cost to be $600,000, what


are the estimated cost for the
following deliverables as per WBS figure?
A. Design: 40% of total project cost so estimated cost will be
240,000
B. Programming: 20% of total project cost so, estimated cost
will be 120,000
C. In-housing testing: 40% of total project cost so estimated
cost will be 240,000.

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