Question #1:
What was Fay’s role in initiating ResNet? Why did she succeed when other NWA employees in the IS department, who had similar ideas years earlier, did not?
Answer:
Fay Beauchine became VP for Reservations at NWA while the company was using 30 years old technology at their reservation system (PARS). She knew that developing a new information system was critical for implementing a vision, that focused on sales rather than service and she wanted to sponsor this new information system. So from the project management perspective the role she took in initiating ResNet project, was the role of executive sponsor.
Her success key factor in ResNet internal marketing was the fact that all previous unsuccessful efforts were made by…show more content… Peeter was able to use this knowledge to assist his executive sponsor (Fay) to communicate and find the key stakeholders and managers, in order to promote the ResNet project.
Exercise #1:
Review the actions taken by Peeter and other senior managers that helped get ResNet off to a good start. How do these actions compare to what earlier chapters presented as good project management practice? List each action and find specific statements in earlier chapters of this book, that support (or do not support) each.
Answer:
Peeter has made the following actions that helped him to give the ResNet project, off to a good start:
1. Quickly assembling a strong project team. Peeter had twenty people working on ResNet before there was even an official budget for the Beta ResNet. In other case studies discussed in previous chapters the initial staffing was one of the major problems, e.g. in JWD case the project manager position was assigned after key decisions in initials phase were made.
2. Getting key stakeholders involved in the project early. Peeter included stakeholders from all of the areas involved in ResNet, especially top management, marketing, the user community, and the IS Department.
3. Preparing detailed analysis of the business problem and developing project measurement techniques. Peeter knew that senior management would constantly question the value of ResNet.
