Scenario A

Heating and Air Flow Solutions Ltd (HAFS) was founded in the mid-nineties by Alan Halton. From
small beginnings, they have grown to be a successful, mid-sized firm with over a hundred
employees. For more than a decade they have competed for and succeeded in winning contracts to
install and service heating systems in commercial premises. Their clients typically operate from
multiple sites and this has helped fuel growth at HAFS. More recently the emergence of the
pandemic in the UK saw work come to a standstill for several weeks in Spring 2020. However, since
then there has been a significant rise in interest for the other side of their business – air flow
solutions. Such solutions include air conditioning and air filtering systems. The latter have been
particularly popular as organisations seek to filter the air circulating within their buildings to help
reduce the risk of Covid infections. Alan believes air filtering systems could quickly become a much
more significant part of HAFS business, having previously generated only a small proportion of their
income.

You are one of their recent recruits. You have been hired as a graduate Projects Officer on a salary of
£24000 per year. This is an entry-level position into the world of commercial project management.
You will be working on a range of heating and air flow projects, supporting HAFS existing project
managers and project directors. As you develop, you are expected to take on more responsibility
until you are managing such projects yourself. However, a rather different project task has just been
given to you…

As part of a recent review, HAFS decided it was time to revisit their use of digital technology.
Increasingly, they are able to install internet enabled monitoring technology which provides real
time data on the performance of heating and air flow systems remotely. This can the be used by
HAFS to respond more quickly to any faults that develop and even pre-empt certain problems by
offing advanced warning that an issue is developing, something that would have previously gone
undetected until it worsened and caused the system to shut down. To date, HAFS have researched
the market for such digital, internet-enabled technologies and come up with a short list of three
providers. Each has been invited to make detailed presentations to HAFS about their offerings and
how they might add value to HAFS business.

Alan Halton wants to get a feel for each of these suppliers – he is keen to find one (or more) of them
that is a good fit for and will work well with HAFS. So, rather than inviting them to HAFS Head Office
in Hull, it has been decided that he and other senior colleagues will instead visit each supplier at
their main UK site.

You have been given the task of planning and organising the transport and accommodation details
required to visit each of the three shortlisted suppliers during one trip. This will provide you with an
opportunity to demonstrate your existing project management skills. Further details about the
requirements of this task are as follows -

1. HAFS staff required are: Rita Ali, Head of Corporate Services; James Leach, Finance Director;
Robert Dixon, Operations Director; and Alan Halton.

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2. Date: all three visits to take place in one trip during the week commencing Monday 31st
January 2022.
3. You are to plan the transport and accommodation for this trip. The journey will begin in Hull.
4. You have not been given a precise budget for this project. Instead, you are required to plan
and cost two alternatives – one has been described as “mid-priced” and the other “higher-
priced”… but Alan added “don’t go mad though, we’re not paying for flashy £1000/night
hotel suites”. So, please avoid budget hotels, but also avoid some of the really expensive
options which are also available – the brief requires you to include a ‘higher priced’ option,
not an ‘extremely high priced’ one.
5. Alan has decided that, having been away for three nights, he and his senior colleagues will
all head home after the end of their final meeting. This means one of them travelling back to
Hull, two more travelling to Brough and the fourth travelling to York. You therefore need to
take account of this within your planning.
6. Arrangements have been made to see the first supplier at 09.00 on Tuesday 1st February so
you need to arrange travel from Hull and accommodation overnight on the 31st January. The
supplier is based at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, EH14 5DU.
7. The meeting with the second agency is arranged for 11am on Wednesday 2nd. Their address
is 3 Forbury Place, Forbury Road, Reading, RG1 3JH. The senior team will need up to 4 hours
in Reading from the start-time mentioned.
8. HAFS are meeting with the third agency at 10am on Thursday 3rd February. Their office is
located at 40 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1JA. It is expected that the senior team will
have finished by approximately 12.30pm.
9. Whilst working to identify their shortlist of suppliers, an employee from one of them
mentioned that a HAFS client who installed their technology could expect to benefit from a
saving of at least double the cost. (This is based upon picking up faults earlier, avoiding more
substantial and expensive repair costs etc. Spending ‘X’ is therefore claimed to result in
savings of double ‘X’). The HAFS senior team are slightly sceptical about such claims.
However, James did think it offered a good opportunity for you to demonstrate another
project management skill, calculating the net present value of these potential savings.
Assuming the cost to a HAFS client would be £100,000 per year over three years, you are
required to work out the net present value of the expected savings on this spend. Use the
two times multiple and an interest rate of 5% in your calculations. Assume that the savings
are realised in the same years as each £100,000 is expended.

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Please remember that scenario information is provided to enable students to produce a report in
which they respond effectively to the requirements set in the question. You should therefore
ensure that you refer to the criteria set and the additional detail in the relevant marking guidance
sheet. Both the assignment question and marking guidance sheets are available in our Module
Handbook which has been posted on Canvas.

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