Question

(Scenario )You are a manager at Lectocomp Electronics Manufacturing Company, a company that produces a number of different computer boards used in various products produced by their customers. At the company’s quarterly meeting, the head of marketing described a new product to be introduced in the first quarter of the next fiscal year, approximately twelve months from now. The product will be a device used in different medical products. As a result, any work done on that product falls under various government regulations. This regulation aspect is new to Lectocomp Manufacturing. This product will open new markets for the sales channel, lay the foundation for add-on products, and generate new revenues. You have only seen preliminary sketches of the new product, but you are very excited by it.

The project will require participation from most of the company’s departments: design, engineering, production, purchasing, shipping, sales, and marketing departments. Lectocomp Manufacturing uses another company to produce the prototype boards; the final boards will be manufactured in-house. Although this is a "mission-critical" project, no additional staff will be added. People will be expected to balance their project responsibilities with their day-to-day work (including other projects). The project manager is to be selected from the engineering department. This is a first, as the project managers normally come from the marketing department. A project of this scale has never been managed by an in-house person before. Historically, a project manager/consultant has been brought in. You were hired as an engineer with Lectocomp three months ago, and this week, you were told that you have been selected to be the project manager. In your prior job, you were a project manager for most of the company’s large initiatives—most of which were quite successful.

You have experience in manufacturing and medical products but have not done any product work since you started at Lectocomp. You have been involved in some engineering clean-up activities and have not worked with many people outside your department yet. The company has not historically had strong processes to follow nor has communication been a core competency. However, six months ago, a new CEO was brought on board who has focused on improving the organization’s skills in those areas. She is the leader who has insisted on managing the project internally. She is also somewhat familiar with the regulated environment and requires that you follow all the strict, formal processes that will need to be implemented as the project progresses. She is in the process of interviewing candidates for a new quality manager position. This manager will be responsible for implementing the required processes, controls, and metrics; you will be working closely with that person.

You have been meeting with the CEO, the project sponsor, your manager, and the heads of all the other departments to discuss the project and their expectations. You are starting to be concerned about the level of risk of this project and whether or not the organization really understands it. As far as you can tell, the company has never done formal risk management, taking a more relaxed approach to risks. You are starting to develop your risk management plan; you will present it to your manager and the sponsor in two weeks along with some other project planning deliverables.

Assignment Guidelines:

• Create a project charter and identify the key constraints of the project (scope, budget, timeline, quality, people resources, etc.).
• Using the scenario from this unit, create a spreadsheet that lists all the project risks you see based on what you currently know about the project. List at least 15 risks. For each project risk, provide a:
  • Detailed description
  • Category (schedule, strategy, people, etc.)

Note: This list will be used in later activities throughout the course.

Your submitted assignment (250 points) must include the following:

• A 2-4 page typed document that includes:
  • A project charter and identification of key constraints
  • At least 15 risks listed in a spreadsheet with a detailed description and the category of each

Answer 1

1. Project Name : Medical device project

2. Reasons for the Project :

new product launch in an area uncharted by the company ( medical devices )

The product if successful will open new markets

​​​​​​​additional revenue

​​​​​​​lay the foundation for add on products thereby increasing the width of the product line

3. Objectives of the Project

Develop the prototype

Meet all the necessary regulatory guidelines while developing the prototype

​​​​​​​Develop a working model

Pilot launch

Meet the deadlines .i.e product launch window is 12 months

4. Constraints of the Project :

No additional manpower allocated

This is for a medical application and company has no experience of developing a product for medical devices

The product has to meet strict regulatory criterions

Company has not undertaken formal risk management and hence no body understands or appreciates the risk associated with it

5.Main stakeholders

design, engineering, production, purchasing, shipping, sales, and marketing departments , quality and the project manager ( myself) , CEO

6. Risks identified

Department	What can go wrong	Likelihood & impact	How to mitigate the risk	Cost of mitigating risk
Marketing	Pricing can be wrong , launch date delay , not enough stocks , high delivery lead time , market acceptability	Very high	To do enough research , everything to be synchronized	Market study cost
Engineering	Prototype not successful , design not executable	Very high	To coordinate with design , quality etc.	To do research and more time required
Sales	High price , bad timing , low awareness , less acceptability due to novelty	Very high	To coordinate with marketing on these issues	Investment of time
Design	Bad design , improper design	Very high , product can be delayed	To coordinate with engineering on these issues	Investment of time
Production	Quality issues, timing with the launch date	Very high	To coordinate with purchase , design etc.	Investment of time
Shipping	Quality issues while shipping , breakages , high shipping costs as it is a medical product	High	To figure out the costs etc.	Investment of time