PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Refer to the following scenario titled, “Diet-Cola Marketing Opportunity” below, then answer the following questions. Elizabeth is the project manager for a large soft drink beverage company located in Tallahassee, Florida. One sunny morning, Roger Bruist, the marketing vice president, pays her a visit. “I asked your boss if it was okay to directly talk to you about this project—she said it would be fine,” he starts. “As you’ve probably heard, we’re test marketing a new diet-cola opportunity that we thought would be a big seller. Long story short, I had lunch the other day with a friend of mine from the club. He ordered his usual diet cola but requested three slices of lemon with it. I stared at him while he squeezed those lemons into his diet and dunked the last rind into the mix. Well, I have to tell you the taste is fabulous! “We’ve toyed around with the exact lemon-to-cola mixture in the lab and have come up with what we think is the optimum mix that results in the tastiness factor we’re looking for. “You and I have worked together before and I know your work is top-notch. What we’d like for you to do is put together a project that test markets our new soda in three test areas. We want to target markets that utilize a lot of diet soda. We think the best places to target are Denver, Las Vegas, and Seattle. “We want to know the most profitable markets, the demographics of the most likely consumers, we want three or four alternative label designs to test, and we need to know if we’ll need additional distributors. My department can help with the marketing profiles and plans you’ll need for your project plan. Oh, we’d also like a page added to the company’s website that talks about the new beverage. And if we could quote a key player or two from the National Soft Drink Association in our industry publications that would be icing on the cake.” a. Formulate a brief project charter based on what you know from the scenario above. Include a description of the project and a description of the product. (5 points) b. Document the role of the project manager and project sponsor. (5 points) 2. This exercise pertains to the Validate Scope and Control Scope processes. Please answer the following questions: (2 points each) a. Identify the inputs of the Validate Scope process. How are these inputs used to fulfill the purpose of this process? b. Discuss the tools and techniques used in the Validate Scope process as well as the outputs of the process. c. What inputs of Control Scope can you use to help determine if a scope change has occurred or should occur? d. When scope changes are requested, what parts of the project should be examined for impact? What needs revising or updating as a result of scope changes? e. Describe how the configuration management system and change control system work together in this process. 3. Research the information on performing quality assurance using lean. a. How can lean be used on IT projects? (5 points) b. How can you use Kanban cards, a lean tool, to maximize customer value while minimizing waste? (5 points) 4. You are the project manager responsible for the overall construction of a new international airport. Draw a dependency map identifying the major groups of people that are likely to affect the success of this project. Who do you think will be most cooperative? Why? (10 points) 5. Why is it important to perform stakeholder analysis? What steps should you take in stakeholder analysis? Why is it important to understand stakeholder roles? (10 points)