Project Management

Monday, July 1st

Larry, a technical contact at Hesworld Inc., was finishing his work for
the day when the telephone rang. When he answered the phone, he learned
that the call was coming from Frank, a Hesworld business representative
from the country of Diapolis.

“I’m glad to get you,” said Frank. “I was afraid that you would
be gone for the day and I have an emergency situation to deal with. ”

“What’s the problem?” asked Larry.

“I just got a call from an important customer who requests that we
change our bill format. For one thing, they want us to add a new
routing code for the account, so that they can easily identify the
department to which the billing information should go. Also, in
addition to the usual information contained in the bill, they want two
changes made. First, they want more information added to the account
service charge. Specifically, they want to know the number of checks
processed per month for each customer. Second, they want additional
information on overdraft charges. Specifically, they need a schedule of
charges we make for different levels of overdrafts. ”

“The requests seem reasonable,” Larry says. “Send me our standard
request-for-changes form and then we can work on them. ”

“This is an important customer, Larry, so I hope you can meet the
request promptly. I promised the business user that we would
accommodate the requests by Monday, July 15.”

“That’s really tight,” responds Larry. “However, if we move
quickly, I suppose we can come near to meeting your promise date. ”

“That would be great.”

Thursday, July 11th

Frank’s standard format change request form arrives at Hesworld ten
days after Larry’s phone conversation with Frank. In the section of
the change request form where the change is supposed to be described in
detail, Frank states: “Implement the change requests per my telephone
conversation with Larry Stewart on 1 July.”

Unfortunately, at the time the change request arrives at Hesworld, Larry
is out sick with hepatitis. The doctor suggests that the earliest he
can return to work is in one month.

In Larry’s absence, the change request is forwarded to Nina, a back-up
technical contact. When she

reads the vague description of the needed changes, she does not know
what to do, so she takes the change request to Larry’s supervisor.

“I don’t have any idea of what this change request is about,” the
supervisor tells her. “I think you should call Frank in Diapolis to
find out what he wants.”

Monday, July 15th

Nina does not have an opportunity to call Frank until Monday, July 15.
When she calls him, Frank is delighted to hear from her.

“When I didn’t hear from you folks I got a little panicked,” he
said. “I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to meet the user deadline
for the changes to the bill. Thank goodness you have done your job. ”

“We haven’t done anything, Frank,” Nina states with some
trepidation. “I just got your change request last Thursday and
haven’t had a chance to review it until today. ”

“You mean the work is not done?” asks Frank incredulously.

“To be frank, we haven’t even begun work,” Nina responds.

“This is ridiculous,” shouts Frank. “I’ve promised my business
user a deliverable by July 15, and now I will look ridiculous. ”

“Calm down, Frank,” Nina implores. “How could we make the fix you
wanted if you didn’t send us your change request until last
Thursday?”

“So when can you make the changes? You people are really going to
make me look foolish.”

“I know this is going to upset you Frank, but we don’t even know
what changes you want. Your description of required changes simply
references a conversation you had with Larry. But Larry is out sick, so
we don’t know what you guys talked about.”

Frank begins repeating what he told Larry when Nina interrupts him.

“Frank, you’ve got to put your request in writing. And this time
you must be precise in describing what is required. Also, we need to
have your business user sign-off on the request. ”

“Let me tell you Nina, you sound just like a government bureaucrat!”

Thursday, July 18th

A detailed change request from Frank finally arrives at Hesworld. Given
the change request information, Nina is able to conduct a proper
functional and technical analysis of the implications of the change
request. She writes up her conclusions but discovers two disconcerting
facts:

(1) The outside consultants who are to do the required work are tied up
and will not be able to begin work on the change request until Monday,
August 1.

(2) The outside consultants estimate that accommodating the change
request will take two people ten calendar workdays to do the job. This
means that the earliest time at which the work can be completed is
August 15.

Nina relays this information to Frank. When he first hears it, he
remains silent. The silence lasts so long that Maria believes that the
line with Frank has been disconnected.

“Are you still there, Frank?” she asks. “Hello, are you there?
”

After another moment’s silence, Frank finally responds: “Yes, I’m
here. I must tell you, I am very upset with Hesworld’ lack of
responsiveness. I’m trying to do my job working with users and making
them happy, but it’s hard to do a good job when you people don’t
support me. ”

Nina is hurt by Frank’s accusation, and she is tempted to remind him
that the delays were the result of the way he handled the user’s
change request. But she decides that the wisest thing to do is to keep
her mouth shut.

Tuesday, August 13th

Frank receives the revised product, two days earlier than promised by
Nina. He delivers it to the user, who spends two days testing it.

Thursday, August 15th

The user signs-off on the product, indicating acceptance of the changes.
Following required procedures, the user notifies the Data Center
Librarian to move the changes into production. Because “move change
into production” is scheduled to occur once every two weeks, and the
user’s notification occurred out of the cycle, the actual change is
not moved into production until Friday, August 23.

Questions

Only brief answers needed!

1.      What steps should Frank, the business representative, have
taken at the outset of the change request process to assure that the
change request would have been handled effectively?

2.      How should the requirements associated with the change
request have been described more clearly?

3.      What steps should Larry, the technical contact, have taken
at the outset of the change request process to assure that the change
request would be handled effectively?

4.      What does this case tell us about the link between change
requests and availability of resources to do the job? (Only cite two
examples from the case to make a point.)

5.      In the change request described in this case, what types of
analyses and tests should be carried out in order to assure that the
request has merit and will not have undesired side-effects; and that
requirements have been properly captured?



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