Project Management Case Study – ( OVERVIEW )

Pat Fullerton

Delightful Dinners by Dana

Delightful Dinners by Dana (DDD) is a local caterer and provider of banquet services in the Smyrna, DE area.
Dana is the proprietor. It is late October 2018 and he has been contracted to plan and execute a banquet for
Cole Inc. in December 2018.

The Project – Headquarters Business Achievement Event

Jim Jones is the Executive Director of Cole Inc. He has been designated as the sponsor of the Cole Inc. Annual
Achievement Banquet. Jim has started working with Delightful Dinners’ by Dana (DDD) owner, Dana, who
will also serve as the project manager for Mr. Jones’ event. Jim wrote some notes regarding this year’s banquet
so he might reduce the chances of forgetting something. He passed this bullet list along with some other written
information to Dana for his review. The information is as follows:

Things For This Year’s Banquet

 Dinner – four course
 Fancy hotel banquet site in 20 mile radius of our facility
 Background music
 250 guests to invite – RSVP
 3 – 5 Guest Speakers
 DDD will be responsible for paying and reconciling related expenses
 DDD will manage the entire banquet project

We (the Cole Inc executives and I) are holding this banquet to celebrate the year’s business
achievements. The event should be entertaining and enjoyable for all attendees. We believe it should be
a fun time that provides a chance for building camaraderie among the “troops”. The selected speakers
should be entertaining, but some should also be both motivational and educational so that attendees with
professional certifications may obtain professional development units (PDUs).I will speak after desert is
served.

Our target budget for the event is $110,000. While this is not hard and fast, we would prefer to only
spend that amount but certainly less than $125,000. In addition, there are several dates we have in mind.
However, these dates only span three Saturday’s in December and, therefore, must be scheduled for one
of these three Saturday’s. Finally, the above bulleted list only represents my initial ideas. Should DDD
discover that additional and/or different items may be more appropriate, I will certainly give them due
consideration.

The Project Team

You are the project team. Your assignment is to walk through each major component of developing a project
plan with the instructor facilitating. Each component will be a small sample and will assist you and our
teammates in developing your more challenging team lab components throughout the rest of the class.

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Project Management Case Study – ( SOLUTION )

Business Objectives

 Cole Inc. wishes to convene a banquet event to celebrate their achievements

for the year
 The event should serve as an enjoyable celebration and be considered an
“employee benefit” by the attendees
 Employees should feel it was time spent building camaraderie
 The event should also be motivational and entertaining while providing some
PDUs for those able to take advantage of such credits
 The executive Committee would like to spend $110,000 or less

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Project Management Case Study – ( SOLUTION )

Business Requirements

 Banquet must be a dinner held in between the 6:00 – 11:00 PM timeframe on one of 3
identified Saturdays
 Dinner must be at least 4 course
 Banquet must be held at a 4 star or better hotel
 Hotel must be in the Northern New Castle area.
 Low-volume background music to be played when speakers are not at podium
 Must have 3 to 5 speakers and one must be a comedian
 Of the speakers, 2 should be approved to provide PDUs for certification attendees
 Two of the speakers must do several short “bits” that come in between course 1 and 3
 Jim Jones must have a 15 minute spot on the agenda after desert and coffee has been
served to make comments and deliver awards
 DDD must provide overall project management
 DDD must pay and reconcile all expenses

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Project Management Case Study – ( SOLUTION )

Success Measures
 Event held at 4 star hotel or better
 At least 95% response to RSVPs
 Hotel within 20 mile radius of Cole Inc. facility
 At least 3 speakers spoke at event and 1 was a comedian and 1 provides PDUs
 Meal at least 4 courses
 Banquet held on one of the 3 Saturdays requested
 Final expenses are less than $125,000
 High percentage of attendance (not 100%)
 High percentage of attendees satisfied with the event (not 100%)

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Project Management Case Study – ( SOLUTION )

RAID – Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Definitions, OOS – Out Of Scope

Risks
 With the 3 specific Saturday dates, restriction it is possible that adequate facilities in the
desired area won’t be available
 With the 3 specific Saturday dates, availability of speaking talent may be limited and may
either cost more than customary or limit our choice of speakers.
 Non-hotel, seasonal working staff have limited availability and it may cost more than
expected to hire the necessary staff
Assumptions
 Suitable banquet accommodations will be located in the desired area
Issues
 It has not yet been identified who will be responsible for developing the guest list
 It has not yet been identified who will be responsible for developing the agenda
 It has not yet been identified who will approve the menu and speaker selections
Definitions
 PDU – Professional Development Units (continuing education credits)
 DDD – Delightful Dinners By Dana
 Cole Inc. – Company sponsoring eveny
Decisions
 Dana will be the project manager and Jim Jones the sponsor
Out Of Scope
 No awards or other takeaways are expected to be provided
 No live DJ or other live music hosting is required (only background music)
 No dance floor or dance related facilities are expected
 No requirement to provide transportation for attendees

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Project Management Case Study – ( SOLUTION )

Project Flexibility Matrix

SCOPE SCHEDULE RESOURCES WHY

LEAST FLEXIBLE x There are only 3 Saturday’s to

choose from

OPTIMIZE x There are required deliverables

but flexibility was offered

MOST FLEXIBLE x Have target budget but can

spend more to achieve
schedule and scope requirements

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 Project Management Case Study – ( SOLUTION )

Work Breakdown Structure - Major Deliverables

Level 1 - Project Name
BANQUET PROJECT

Level 2 - Major Deliverables

Planning & Dinner Room & Guests Staff Speakers Project

Supervision Equipment Management

Level 3 - Work Packages/ Tasks

Create Detailed Create Menu Determine & Create Guest Hire Shoppers Determine EXECUTING
Plan Rent site/ List Speakers
rooms
Get Budget Create Determine & Create and Hire Cooks Invite Conduct
Shopping List Rent tables & Send Speakers Recurring
chairs invitations Meetings
Disbursements Shop Determine & Reconcile Hire Servers Work with Produce
& Reconcile Rent sound RSVPs Speakers on Progress
Accounts system Topics Reports
Coordinate Cook Create Create Name Hire Hosts Contingency Obtain
All Background Tags Plan for Customer
activities Music No-show Acceptance
speakers
Serve Rent settings Identify and Hire Sound Create and CLOSING
And utensils Plan for Music Techs Send thank
Special needs You notes
guests
Rent/buy Hire Clean Up Ensure all
decorations Crew Materials
Returned
Rent/buy Close/
Equipment Reconcile
(pots, etc) Budget
After-
Action
Review with
Sponsor