Prework

Case Study 1
Orientation:

Software Development

Project:

Cafeteria Debit System

Background:

Employees in the Corporation Offices have expressed frustration over

the bottlenecks experienced in the check out lines in the cafeteria. Time
studies have shown that the following transactions cause the
bottlenecks:

Processing lunch passes

Waiting for people to make "exact change"

Returning food to the lunch counters when employees don't have

enough money

Writing checks for food purchases

It has also been found that there are often long lines at the automatic
tellers at Corporate just before lunchtime. Employees frequently visit
the ATMs to get money for lunch. Additional cafeteria lines and ATMs
can't be added.
Solution:

Your project team has been chartered with the development of a

Cafeteria Debit System. This software development project is aimed at
increasing the productivity of the cafeteria, reducing bottlenecks, and
increasing employee enthusiasm for eating at the cafeteria.
Develop a software solution that will allow employees to pay for their
lunches without the use of cash or checks.
Assume you may use certain hardware to work in tandem with your
software solution.
Your deliverable for this project is a successful pilot test of your
product.

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Case Study 2
Orientation:

Software/Hardware Development

Project:

Athe Audio PC

Background:

Personal computers have, traditionally, been used for word processing

applications, graphic design applications, and for scientific analysis
purposes. Marketing has found a growing use of personal computers in
the field of voice recognition and music composition. Several
competitors are moving into the field of music composition and
playback, as well as voice-controlled operation and audible (spoken)
text output. Market research shows this field growing considerably in
the future, for musicians, deaf people, professionals who need handsfree computer operation, and others. HP wants to take the lead in this
area of PC based applications.

Solution:

Your project team been chartered with the development of a full-feature

audio input/output HP PC. Your aim is to develop a successful first
version of the product so that marketing can run several focus group
studies to assess customer reaction. Inputs supported: Microphones
(music and voice), Standard Hi Fidelity line-level stereo connection,
MIDI. Outputs: Speakers, Hi Fidelity line out, MIDI, hardcopy (printed
text and musical scores).
Assume you may use certain hardware to work in tandem with your
software solution.

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Case Study 3
Orientation:

WWW Software Application Development

Project:

Competition Knowledge System

Background:

Knowledge of HP's competitors is fragmented, not easily accessible,

and is increasingly important to consider if we want to dominate
worldwide markets. Knowledge of HP's competition can come from
many sources: sales reps, marketing centers, divisional competition
analysis groups, public domain records, customers, and other sources.
HP doesn't want to copy what our competition is doing. We want to
"leap frog" their efforts.

Solution:

Your project team has been chartered with the development of a World
Wide Web application to manage knowledge about HP's competitors.
You have been asked to show a prototype of your solution to the
Worldwide Marketing Managers meeting which is scheduled six months
from now. You need to support all common WWW browsers, and
permit both upload and download of stored intelligence data. You also
must provide keyword and full-text search capabilities.
Assume you may use certain hardware to work in tandem with your
software solution.

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Case Study 4
Orientation:

Hardware Development

Project:

The Portable Office

Background:

Market research has discovered that what customers want is a single

solution to the portable office. At the present time there are many
products available that make up a "portable office": fax machines,
cellular telephones, laptop computers, and other office equipment.
The product's briefcase design contains:

High end personal computer with high resolution color LCD screen

Voice recognition and high-quality audio output

200Gb disk storage

12 hour battery

Letter quality, 12 PPM color printer

FAX module

cellular communications network (Voice and Data)

Infra red beam system to link the unit to office based PC's for file
transfer and high speed quality printing.

CD/DVD drive with read/write capability

R & D would like the entire unit to weigh less than 10 pounds if
possible. It is critical to the success of the product to keep production
costs down because product affordability and profit margin are key to
HP.
Solution:

Your project team has been chartered with the development of a

prototype of HP's portable office product.
You have been asked to show a prototype of your solution to the
Worldwide General Managers meeting which is scheduled in six
months.
Assume you may use certain hardware and software to work in tandem
with your software solution.

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Case Study 5
Orientation:

Hardware Development

Project:

HP Laser Disc Playback Unit

Background:

In the early 1970's, Barney Oliver (Director of HP Labs) had a passion

for stereo equipment and designed prototype stereo components with
the HP brand on them. A strategic decision was made not to invest in the
mass production of the units.
Thirty years later, market research has discovered that there is a demand
for high quality laser disc playback units ($10,000 + per unit). High end
components are frequently used by recording studios and audiophiles.
HP doesn't want to copy what our competition is doing. We want to
create a breakthrough in the laser disc market. The product should have
a state of the art user interface, digital sampling technology, and an
advanced loading mechanism. In addition, the unit must handle all
available formats (CD, Laser Disk, DVD) and media sizes
automatically.

Solution:

Your project team has been chartered with the development of a

prototype of HP's laser disc playback unit. You have been asked to
show a prototype of your solution to the North American Audiophiles
meeting which is scheduled six months from now in Las Vegas.
Assume you may use certain software to work in tandem with your
software solution.

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Case Study 6
Orientation:

Hardware Development/Customer Special

Project:

Critical Care Protection System

Background:

Pacific Children's Hospital Corporation (PCHC) has just contracted with

HP to create a solution for their 15 hospitals in California. PCHC has,
unknowingly, built their 15 critical care hospitals near major earthquake
faults. PCHC is now worried that another major earthquake could
disrupt power to their critical care units. PCHC has received a sizable
donation to build an earthquake sensor network throughout California.
This network should register quake activity, relay the event through a
dedicated communications network, analyze the magnitude of the quake,
and if appropriate, activate backup generators and shut down main
power and gas lines. These activities need to take place before the quake
waves reach the particular hospital in danger.
HP has done similar "sensor network" contracts in the past (e.g., Bay
Area Rapid Transit). HP has never developed a earthquake sensor,
however.

Solution:

Your project team has been chartered with the development of an

earthquake sensor and analysis network for Pacific Children's Hospitals.
You have been asked to show a prototype of your solution to the
Hospital Board six months from now at their Hayward facility. (And if
it fails, its probably San Andeass fault.)
Assume you may use certain software to work in tandem with your
hardware solution.

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Case Study 7
Orientation:

Manufacturing

Project:

Moving a Production Line

Background:

A recent flash flood in HP Anchorage has shut down the top-of-the-line

HP Palmtop computer production line. The affected manufacturing
facility performed the following tasks: case molding, display connection
to the board assembly, key pad molding and assembly, power supply
assembly, packaging (including documentation and plastic cases).
There is six inches of water in the old facility. The power to the flooded
facility has been turned off. Two weeks have passed since the flood, and
there is a large backlog of palmtop orders building. Dealer's supplies of
the palmtop are diminishing rapidly. Anchorage is the worldwide
supplier for this product.
HP Bombay presently makes the displays for your palmtops. They have
not had any experience in making calculators. Your keypad molding
equipment looks like it was irreversibly damaged by the flood. The
expensive QA test equipment looks dry and salvageable. You can't
assess the state of the other equipment without testing it.

Solution:

Due to favorable production costs, and the fear of future floods in

Anchorage, the company has decided to move the entire operation to
Bombay.
Your project team has been called together to move the manufacturing
facility to Bombay, salvaging any equipment you can.

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Case Study 8
Orientation:

IT Services

Project:

Secure Web Server

Background:

HP projects require a great deal of information sharing with people

outside the company. Internal WWW sites are very effective with
internal partners, but the firewall prevents access by outsiders.
You have been asked to develop a web server facility at your HP site
that interfaces to the WWW, but is outside the HP firewall. You need to
provide web hosting services to HP teams (and their partners) that are
accessible only individuals who have a need to know.
Several levels of security are required for each group of users (read
only, restricted read only, restricted update, full read/write). Remote
maintenance of content from any location inside or outside of HP is also
required.

Solution:

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Your project team has been asked to obtain all needed hardware,
software and services, and then to put this facility into full production.

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Case Study 9
Orientation:

Marketing

Project:

Latin American MARCOM Campaign

Background:

HP wants to introduce a fully loaded low end PC to Latin American

markets. HP's new product will integrate E-mail, word processing,
spreadsheets, and PC based databases. The product's easy to understand
icons and Spanish language orientation will greatly improve the
productivity of office professionals. Initial market research indicates a
great interest for this product in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and
Venezuela.
Trade shows have been very effective in Venezuela and Brazil in the
past. Television advertising has been effective in Brazil, Mexico and
Venezuela. One limitation to TV advertising in Mexico and Venezuela
is the extensive government control over the importation of videotapes.
All of the governments in South American need to review videotapes at
the time of importation for possible censorship.
Other possible mediums available for marketing communications
programs include print advertising, HP sponsored parties, product
demonstrations, radio advertising, along with many other methods.

Solution:

Your project team has been called together to develop and implement a
marketing communications campaign in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and
Argentina for this product.
Your budget is limited. You may only run TV campaigns in two
countries. You need to introduce your product within a six month
window in order to beat Apple's introduction of their new office product,
"Senor MacGopher".

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Case Study 10
Orientation:

Marketing

Project:

HP Users Conference

Background:

Once a year, HP organizes and runs a conference for business computer

users. New products are introduced, workshops are held, and conference
papers are published. Keynote speakers help draw crowds of over 5,000
HP customers. This year's event will be held in Cloverdale, California.
One of five resorts in the area will have to be chosen.

Solution:

Your project team has been called together to organize and run this
year's user's conference in four months. In addition to organizing the
various speakers and workshops, you also will have to prove (through
measurements) that the conference was worthwhile for HP and our
customers.

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Case Study 11
Orientation:

Finance Project

Project:

Inter-Divisional Billing

Background:

Every month, your accounting department must transfer billings to other

HP divisions. Your department also receives charges from other
divisions. At month end, every accounting organization at HP must
reconcile their general ledger with the ledgers of other divisions. Your
record of bill outs and charges received must balance with the records of
the respective recipients and producers of charges. In a typical month,
your group generates 15,000 charges and receives 12,000 billings.
Your department is currently taking eight days to complete this
reconciliation process. Your six accountants must telephone 86 divisions
every month to compare billings received and billings produced in order
to balance your general ledger. There are many discrepancies and
majority of divisions must be called two and three times before the
problems are resolved. A quick look at the situation has revealed four
major problems:

Solution:

month end reports consume 12 boxes of computer paper, and your

accountants must wade through these reports to identify problems
(this is very frustrating for your accountants);

reconciling with divisions in Europe and Asia is very time

consuming because of the time differences;

60% of your reconciliation errors are caused by late billings from

other divisions;

20% of the charges you receive are in paper form (usually, overseas
faxes) and they to be re-entered into your accounting system.

Your project team has been asked to develop and fully document an
improved process for all of this, to prototype the process using available
systems and facilities, and to develop a proposal for full implementation
and rollout.
Your proposal will recommend all needed hardware and application
software to be developed and/or purchased, with detailed information on
specifications and costs to put this into full production. You must
include costs for documentation, training and initial support in the
proposal also.

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Case Study 12
Orientation:

Response Center Engineering

Project:

Direct Connect

Background:

HP is widely recognized as being an excellent service company.

Survey after survey rates HP as a top post-sales support firm, offering a
wide variety of services (e.g., preventive maintenance, predictive
service, customer education, project management).
When an HP client has a problem with their system, they call the
response center. Their calls are registered in a log, and an engineer will
return the call within a certain time frame. This time frame will depend
on the type of contract they have purchased. It can range from 30
minutes turn around (the most expensive contract) to 8 hours (the least
expensive). At the present time, the engineer calling the customer will
vary depending on who is available. Your "Class A" customers pay the
most for your services and currently get a 30 minute response time.
Your "Class A" customers expect very quick turn around. In fact, two
recent surveys of "Class A" customers have told your team that they
want real time answers from a single engineer. This engineer should
know the customer's business and be familiar with their equipment.
Customers are tired of "re educating" HP's response center engineers
every time someone new responds to a call. Customers want to talk to an
engineer who knows them well.

Solution:

Your project team has been asked to develop a process and system to
quickly connect callers to the same people they have spoken with in
recent calls (when available), and to streamline access to specific call
data for an alternate support contact if the primary contact is
unavailable.
Assume that getting need new hardware and software would be within
the scope of this project.

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Case Study 13
Orientation:

Multi Vendor Management

Project:

The Traffic Manager

Background:

Galactic Motors and Goodhands Insurance have entered into a strategic

partnership to create a computerized dynamic mapping system for cars.
Galactic Motors wants to install small display units in their most
expensive El Dorito models that will display street maps of all North
American cities. A computer will be installed in the back of each car,
and a small satellite dish will be installed on the hood. Drivers will enter
their destinations into the computer, and a map will be displayed
showing the best route to get there.
A cellular phone connection will transmit the car's location (from GPS)
to an HP workstation. The system will collect local data on
construction, weather and traffic accidents via the WWW. Data
transmitted back to the map system will redirect drivers to alternate
routes if there are traffic problems or other conditions to avoid. The
system will also provide access to essential services such as police,
emergency service, nearby fuel stations, restaurant reviews, hotels with
vacancies, etc.
Goodhands wants to reduce their number of claims. By helping drivers
to avoid accidents, on less crowded roads, they feel that they could
recognize a 20% increase in revenues.

Solution:

Your project team has been asked to develop a prototype system to

prove the concept and determine the cost of full implementation.
Assume that you can get any services, hardware or software you need
for this project.

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Case Study 14
Orientation:

Education

Project:

General Management Training

Background:

Your project team recently completed a successful training program for

R&D project managers. Over 15,000 project managers, world wide,
have participated in your training curriculum. You have been able to
show positive reactions to the training, long term behavior change, and
benefits to projects.
General managers have been so pleased with your results, they are now
asking for a development program for themselves.
There are about 100 general managers at HP. Some have been on the job
for a couple of weeks, others have been general managers for 20 years.
Some businesses are growing at 20% per year, and others are actually
declining in profitability.

Solution:

Your project team has been asked to develop an initial version of a

customizable training class. You need to develop a list of content areas,
locate and work with subject matter experts in these areas, and develop
material that could be used by a live facilitator in a traditional
classroom, one-on-one, or via the WWW.
Assume that you can get any services, hardware or software you need
for this project.

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