The community framework for projects,

programmes and portfolios

Foundation Course
Exercises
2017
 Bicycles

Scenario Background

Brook Bicycles is a bicycle manufacturer with great ambitions for the future. With the
recent introduction of a P3 Management Support Office (P3MSO), it is committed to the
effective use of project, programme and portfolio management to achieve its strategic
objective of becoming one of the top 20 bicycle manufacturers in the world.

Brook Bicycles is planning to move its factory and offices to a newly developed
business park on the outskirts of town. The new site has been procured to enable future
planned expansion of the company’s product line.

Work is now required to the design and refurbish the new offices and factory, relocate
the existing furniture and machinery and purchase new furniture and machinery. The
existing production line will need to be de-commissioned, relocated and re-
commissioned in the new factory. Once complete, all staff and operations will relocate
to the new site. No interruption to production is expected. The move should take place
over the Easter holiday, so any schedule delays are clearly important as there is zero
tolerance on time. The old building will have to be secured and made ready for resale.

The planned relocation needs to be communicated to all staff, suppliers and customers.
A budget of £2,500,000 has been allocated to the relocation, with a tolerance of
£125,000.

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Exercise 1 – Organisation Management

Activity 1

From the pen pictures below, suggest an appropriate organisation structure for the
relocation of the factory and offices.

Pen Pictures

Kate Blackall - Managing Director: Kate has been with the company since it started 10 years
ago. She has lots of drive and enthusiasm coupled with a sound business background. She has
an MA in Business Studies. Kate is due to go on maternity leave from the middle of September.
Jonathan Good - Finance Director: Jonathan has an accountancy degree, knows the business
well and has recently been promoted to FD after three years as the Chief Accountant. He has
total responsibility for the Company’s accounting systems.
Simon Howard – Sales & Marketing Director: Simon has known Kate for many years as they
are both keen golfers. He has an impressive track record in sales and marketing having worked
for leading industry players. He joined the company 8 months ago and in the last year has been
struggling to turn the sales around.
Alison Saunders - HR Director: Alison has worked with Kate since the company started and
takes full responsibility for all staff matters. She has some concerns over the potential for staff
disruption and retention rates.
George Cotterelle – Directors PA: George has been Kate’s PA for the past 6 years and she is
worried about her role when Kate goes on maternity leave. Jonathan will be taking on a number
of Kate’s responsibilities whilst she is away and George will be reporting to Jonathan.
Sonia Nixon - Purchasing Manager: Sonia has been managing the company suppliers and
contractors for 8 years and has a wealth of experience in contract negotiations and
management. There’s not much that gets in and out of the door without Sonia knowing about it.
Neil Partridge - Head of Production: Neil has been with the company for 6 months and is
responsible for all operational and logistics functions. He is excited by the move and sees this
as an opportunity to bring in new working methods and procedures, although he has yet to
convince Kate and Simon that this is a good idea.
Iain Smith - Facilities Manager: Iain works closely with Neil in keeping the whole operation
running smoothly. All building and facility issues are handled by Iain, who prides himself on his
response times and ability to resolve problems.
Nicola Jones – Logistics Manager: Nicola is in charge of the warehouse and stores. Once an
order is received from a customer her team liaise with Neil’s managers and they arrange
delivery of supplies to the customer site. She also liaises with the Accounts team for invoicing
and billing.
Ivan Blaggington-Wilsmythe – Chief Accountant: Ivan has been in post since Jonathan was
promoted 3 years ago. He is very methodical and makes sure that the accounts are always in
excellent order. He is a great asset to the company. He was instrumental in introducing quality
procedures into the company 2 years ago.
Neil Furby – Sales Manager: Neil is responsible for all the sales in the company. He is keen to
improve sales and is looking forward to working with marketing in turning sales around. He
believes that there are lots of opportunities for cross selling some of their other products. He
has been with the company 5 years. He has 3 Customer Account Managers working for him,
Scott Bradley, Bill Pratt and John Doe.
Joan Harrington – Marketing Manager: Joan joined the company on the same day as Neil and
they have been close friends and colleagues ever since. Joan has a team of 4 staff who design
and produce all of the company advertising and marketing material.

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Sue Smythe – Administration: Sue has a team of 5 administrators and reports to Alison within
HR. Her team carries out most of the general administrative tasks for the whole company,
supporting all departments.
Andy Worman – Equipment Supplier: Andy is the account manager from Brook Bicycles
preferred equipment supplier and manages the provision, support and maintenance for all Brook
Bicycles operational equipment. For the past 4 years Andy has held the supply contract for
Brook Bicycles and been working with Sonia in ensuring that all Brook Bicycle’s equipment is
supplied and maintained to the highest standards.

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Exercise 2 – Control

Activity 1

Suggest appropriate controls for the Brook Bicycles factory and office relocation
project.

Cybernetic controls:

Go/No go decision points:

Post controls:

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Exercise 3 – Change Control

From: Neil Partridge, Head of Production

To: The Project Manager

This morning I briefed my staff on the intended decommissioning of the production line
over the two week Easter holiday and that it will be re-commissioned ready to continue
production on their return to work after Easter. During the briefing we discussed my
proposed new working methods and procedures, which could increase our productivity
by 12%. The proposed changes would need 4 weeks elapsed time to modify the
production line and 1 week to test. The cost would be around £75,000. The planned
relocation of the production line provides an ideal opportunity to implement the
proposed changes.

Activity 1

Carry out an impact analysis on this change request.

Description:

Impact on products:

Impact on effort:

Impact on plans:

Impact on tolerance:

Impact on Business Case:

Impact on risk:

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Exercise 4 – Schedule Management

A display of historic bicycles is to be assembled in the reception area of Brook Bicycles

new offices. The activities required have been identified.

First, the display has to be designed following which the selected vintage bikes will be
serviced and the building materials bought. The frame of the display can then be
assembled.

The backdrop will contain photos of the bikes being serviced. Once the bikes have
been serviced and photos taken, the large graphic panels can be produced which are
then installed on the completed frame.

The bikes themselves can also be installed when the frame is complete. Once the
graphics and bikes have been installed the display is complete.

The activity list is:

• Design Display
• Service Bikes (includes photography)
• Buy Materials
• Produce Graphics
• Build Frame
• Install Bikes
• Install Graphics
• Display Complete

Activity 1

Take a sheet of paper and draw a precedence network from the above information.
Hints:
• You might find it easier to write the activity names on small post it notes and
arrange these on an A3 sheet before drawing in the links.
• The network will contain links that cross. Don’t worry too much about producing a
sparkling example of draftsmanship, as long as your result is readable.

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Activity 2

Use the example solution from activity 1 to have a go at critical path analysis (including
the forward pass, backward pass and float calculations). Mark the critical path on your
diagram.
The activity durations (in days) are:

Design Display 3 Build Frame 4

Service Bikes 2 Install Bikes 2

Buy Materials 2 Install Graphics 1

Produce Graphics 2 Display Complete 0

Hints:
The forward pass calculates earliest start and finish dates which are in the corners of
the top row. The backward pass calculates latest start and finish dates which are
written in the corners of the bottom row.
On the forward pass watch out for activities where two links converge, e.g. Install bikes.
Use the higher of the two preceding earliest finish dates.
On the backward pass watch out for activities where two links converge e.g. Build
frame. Use the lower of the two succeeding latest start dates.

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Exercise 5 – Financial Management

Initial research for Brook Bicycles has identified three possible locations for a new retail
outlet.

Although the project is only required to acquire, refurbish and launch the new shop, the
business case needs to reflect longer-term benefits. Therefore, this investment
appraisal extends four years beyond the likely completion of the project and will be
included in handover documentation at the end of the project. The marketing
department has provided sales estimates. Initial cost estimates cover acquisition,
refurbishment and launch costs.

Option 1 – The Cascades

Initial investment = £595k

Year Income £k Outgoing £k

1 900.00 500.00
2 954.00 544.00
3 1011.00 575.00
4 1071.00 600.00
5 1136.00 650.00

Option 2 – The Village Quarter

Initial investment = £693k

Year Income £k Outgoing £k

1 900.00 529.00
2 954.00 550.00
3 1011.00 572.00
4 1071.00 595.00
5 1136.00 619.00

Activity 1

Use the tables on the next page to calculate the net cash flow for each year and the
cumulative cash flow over five years. All figures are in thousands.

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Option 1 – The Cascades

A B C D E
Cumulative cash flow
Year Income Expenditure Net cash flow (B-C)
(E from previous year + D)
0
1
2
3
4
5

Option 2 – The Village Quarter

A B C D E
Cumulative cash flow
Year Income Expenditure Net cash flow (B-C)
(E from previous year + D)
0
1
2
3
4
5

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Activity 2

Plot these figures on the graphs below to identify when payback occurs.

Option 1 – The Cascades

Option 2 – The Village Quarter

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Exercise 6 – Risk Management

Brook Bicycles has a major project to move the factory and offices to a new location.
One of the critical success factors was that the move should take place over the Easter
holiday, so any schedule delays are clearly important. The key milestones are:
• Office Layout Complete
• Factory Layout Complete
• Removal Company appointed
• Refurbishment complete
• Production line de-commissioned
• Existing furniture moved
• Machinery moved
• New furniture delivered
• New office operational
• Production line commissioned
• Old building secured
• Project complete

Activity 1

Based upon this high level definition of what the project includes, identify five or six
risks to the schedule of the Relocation Project.

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Brook Bicycles’ European Sales Manager has a meeting arranged in Amsterdam with a
potential large client. He really wants to make a good impression. The Sales Manager’s
flight is booked but he has heard that there is a risk of an Air Traffic Control dispute,
which will ground all flights.

Activity 2

There are a number of things that the Sales Manager could do in response to
this risk. Identify which of the types of response the following actions fall into
(i.e. is each action an example of Avoid, Transfer, Reduce or Accept):

Action Type

Arrange for the client to visit Britain

Arrange for Brook's Dutch Sales Manager to attend
the meeting as well
Do nothing
Travel by rail

Don't dwell on these too long. It is possible to interpret an action in more than
one way. Allocate the types of action to the examples that seem to be the
best fit.

Each way of responding to a risk tackles the probability of the risk occurring and the
impact it will have if it does occur, to differing degrees.

Activity 3

Consider each of the approaches to risk and tick the boxes to indicate
whether they address impact, probability or both.
Impact Probability
Avoidance  
Transfer  
Reduction  
Acceptance  

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Brook Bicycles has heard that one of their suppliers has developed a self-repairing tyre
for motor vehicles that automatically seals punctures. The supplier is considering
whether to adapt the technology to fit bicycles.
This could have potential marketing benefits for Brook’s new range of Mountain Bikes
giving them an advantage over the competition.

Activity 4

There are a number of ways in which Brook Bicycles could respond to the
possibility of the technology being adapted for bicycle tyres (i.e. is each action
an example of Exploit, Share, Enhance or Accept):

Action Type

Form a partnership with the supplier to develop the

technology
Buy a licence for the technology and adapt if for use
on bicycles
Do nothing
Make a contractual commitment to buy 50,000 tyres
over two years if a bicycle version is available

As before don't dwell on these too long as they can be interpreted in more
than one-way. Allocate the types of action to the examples that seem to be the
best fit.

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