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Project Management Student Project: Project Development using Microsoft

Project

Conference Paper · November 2003

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Canisius College
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT STUDENT PROJECT: PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
USING MICROSOFT PROJECT

Lynn A. Fish 1 , Linda Volonino 2 , and Gerald Rosenfelder 3 , Canisius College, Dept. of
Management and Marketing 1,3 , Dept. of Information Systems 2 , 2001 Main Street,
Buffalo, NY 14208, (716) 888-2640

ABSTRACT

An experiential student project is an effective instructional technique to teach Project

Management concepts. Graduate students complete two simultaneous, different
hypothetical projects utilizing a common resource base, while undergraduate students
develop a single hypothetical project. Over 87% of 106 students have indicated that this
project is a positive learning experience.

INTRODUCTION

A project is an interrelated set of activities, having a definite starting and termination

point and resulting in a unique outcome for a specific resource allocation operating under
a triple constraint - time, cost and performance [10]. Project Management requires the use
of skills and knowledge to organize, plan, schedule, direct, control, monitor, and evaluate
a project [4]. The use of Project Management to achieve organizational goals has
increased rapidly [11] and many business schools have responded with courses to assist
students in learning these unique skills.

Active student involvement through concrete experiences enables improved learning [1]
[6] [7] [9][13]. This paper discusses a project that can be used in a Project Management
course to assist students to actively plan and develop projects, utilize computer
monitoring tools such as Microsoft Project, address the complexity to constraint
planning, and develop student presentation and writing skills.

Projects are an integral teaching mechanism in many programs [2][5][6][12]. So, what
makes this project unique? The project can be used for both graduates and
undergraduates, directly integrates classroom theory into application, requires Microsoft
Project 2002 [3] utilization, and encourages experienced-based learning and professional
development. At the undergraduate level, each student is expected to fully develop a
single, unique, hypothetical project, where the value of the project must be in excess of
$25,000, involve at least three full-time people, and take at least six-months to complete.
Graduate students must fully develop two simultaneous projects using a common
resource pool, where the value of the combined projects must be in excess of $100,000,
involve at least five full-time people, and take at least 6 months to complete. Students are
expected to develop the project simultaneous to classroom discussion. Students
specifically address the project team composition and the "hypothetical" sponsoring firm.
Students are expected to develop qualitative aspects simultaneous to developing the
working Microsoft Project plan.
The project has been used at the graduate and undergraduate level at an AACSB
accredited college. The project can be changed to meet specific curricular requirements
by modifying specific project requirements. The course has been team-taught and taught
individually.

The Project

At the undergraduate level, students are expected to develop a project plan - from
Statement of Work, through Work Breakdown Structure, to timing, resources and costs,
until the entire project plan is completed. Microsoft Project is a requirement for project
completion, as well as a formal written report (75%) and presentation (25%). In the
report, the student addresses specific issues pertinent to project development as shown in
the Figure 1. To complete the project, the student uses his textbook, Project Management:
The Managerial Process by Gray and Larson, Microsoft Project 2002 [3], classroom
discussions, instructor guidance, and additional readings highlighted in classroom
discussions. Students self-select their project topic and have included such projects as
Golf Dome construction, American Heart Association Charity Ball, and a political
campaign. Thus, the project provides a methodology to incorporate application-based
learning into classroom learning while meeting educational goals. The instructor grades
each project on the issues outlined in Figure 1 - project justification, description of the
"firm" and project team, planned approach (including statement of work, Work
Breakdown Structure, resource utilization, and budget), deliverables, contingencies, and
executive summary. Each student must completely address each issue or the instructor
penalizes the project appropriately. The instructor also grades the project on proper use of
depth, application, terminology, well-written, integrative, analysis, and creativity. Student
presentations are graded upon organization, ability to convince the audience to back the
project, clarity, triple constraint presentation, pertinent contingency planning,
incorporation of Project Management issues, and professionalism. Students are advised to
select specific Microsoft Project reports that depict their project, summarize them within
the report and include the actual Microsoft Project report in an Appendix. Students are
encouraged to seek assistance from their instructor with any information systems or
report issues. The project is due the last week of classes, when the classroom
presentations also occur.

As for the graduate project, the project is very similar except students are expected to
complete the project in teams and to develop two simultaneous projects using a common
resource pool as outlined in Figure 1. The students are allowed to self-select their project
teams (2 to 3 students) as well as their similar but different, hypothetical projects to
develop. Typical simultaneous projects have included accounts payable system
implementation in conjunction with bank branch opening, and new house construction in
conjunction with warehouse reconstruction. Students are not allowed to develop two of
the same projects - such as two houses - simultaneously. At the graduate level, project
uniqueness specifically addresses the managerial issues surrounding using a common
resource-base to simultaneously develop two projects. Students are taught Microsoft
Project skills to accomplish this in the database and classroom discussions address the
complex resource issues surrounding this task. Graduate courses require Project
Management: A Managerial Approach by Meredith and Mantel (2000) as the textbook.
Graduate students are required to submit a report (75%) and presentation (25%).

Project Integration into the Classroom Experience

Topics covered in both the graduate and undergraduate courses are similar, although the
depth differs. Qualitative and quantitative Project Management issues are taught in a
product life cycle development format. Issues covered include project initiation such as
project selection, defining the project, statement of work, Work Breakdown Structure,
critical path analysis, managing risk, project time, resource utilization, organization,
leadership, managing project teams, partnering, negotiating, progress and performance,
auditing and project termination. Students are introduced to and develop Microsoft
Project skills to plan, monitor and control projects. Lab experiences, simultaneous to
classroom discussions, are scheduled at critical times throughout the semester. While
students continue to develop their projects, classroom discussions turn to monitoring and
controlling using Microsoft Project, as well as report relevance and creation. Finally,
students baseline their projects, complete their reports, and present their unique projects
to the class. The project requires the student to apply classroom terminology and concepts
to the development of projects. It specifically "walks" the student through basic plan
development as the classroom experiences build the qualitative and quantitative project
plans. Hopefully, through experienced-based learning long-term learning of valuable
concepts will occur!

EVALUATING THE PROJECT

Over three undergraduate and four graduate course offerings, 115 students have
completed this project. Following project completion, students were anonymously
surveyed for their input. Specific to the project, we asked: "Did you learn to apply Project
Management concepts by completing the project?" and "Any suggestions to improve the
project?" One hundred and six students completed the survey. The survey did not include
nine students who completed the project but were missing from class during the survey.
Students’ responses were positive and favored the learning technique. Ninety-five percent
(20 students) of the undergraduate felt the project was worthwhile, with just one student
undecided over its merits. At the graduate level, 85% (73) favored the project, and 11.6%
(10) were undecided. Only 3.5% (3) of the graduate students responded negatively. In
total, 86.8% (92) of the students felt the project was valuable to their learning experience,
10.4% (11) were unsure, and 2.8% (3) responded negatively. A number of students, who
responded that they were unsure, mentioned that they were waiting for feedback prior to
analyzing their experience. Student unedited comments to "Any suggestions for
Improvement" varied. Comments such as "useful in putting a different perspective on the
project material", and "A final isn't needed since the project ties together everything!"
were extremely favorable.

Since student feedback on potential improvements was minimal, we solicited feedback

starting in the Fall of '02 with respect to specific Project Management objectives of
helping students to understand the Work Breakdown Structure, resource allocation,
budget constraints, and project plan development. At the graduate level, comments on
difficulties in competing for resources and simultaneous projects were solicited. Student
responses have been extremely positive to the project assisting in demonstrating each of
these areas. Undergraduates (100%) felt that each area was assisted by the project. As for
the graduates, over 81% felt that the project aided in their understanding of Work
Breakdown Structure and resource allocation. Eighty-eight percent of the students felt the
project assisted them in applying budget constraints, plan development, difficulties in
competing resource allocation and simultaneous projects. Perhaps graduate results
demonstrate student uneasiness with group work and simultaneous project integration in
comparison to their undergraduate counterparts.

PROJECT MERITS

The general advantages of the project as a learning tool are numerous. The project
encourages application-based learning [1][6][9][13], can be used at both the graduate and
undergraduate levels, can be modified to fit a specific course, and can include team-based
or individual learning. Classroom discussions are animated and lively as students
contemplate the relevance of the issues to their projects. At the graduate level, this project
is particularly unique in the development of two simultaneous projects using a common
resource base. The student also develops written and presentation skills. The instructor
gains personal knowledge from reading the reports as to class strengths and weaknesses
particularly when a common issue is detected. Smaller class sizes (less than 30) are
recommended for this project.

As with any instructional technique there are disadvantages or drawbacks to utilizing this
project. Although long-term learning has not been verified. Student comments indicate
that students would like specific demonstration projects to be on-hand for their review.
This demonstration project may encourage students to merely copy the demonstration,
decrease creativity, and defeat the critical thinking aspects of the project. Also, since
many web-sites have actually created projects, there is the potential for students to merely
copy the Microsoft Project portion of the project. With any team projects, team
participation may be an issue. Large class sizes (50 or more) might prove to be difficult
to integrate lab experiences into the course and project. Another disadvantage is the
trade-off between lab and classroom discussion time. Due to the uniqueness of each
project, students struggle with the particular Microsoft Project reports to include in their
final report. Students are uneasy with not knowing exactly what is expected of them. As
with any subjectively graded material, personal instructor biases may exist.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

As demonstrated through the project efficiency and comments, this project has been a
valuable teaching tool for the instructor and students. Future projects will continue to
improve on project wording, develop specific lab activities to assist in project
development, and encourage more specific feedback on specific project benefits will be
solicited for continual improvement purposes.
 REFERENCES

[1] Adler, R. and Milne, M. (1997) “A day of active learning: An accounting educators
symposium” Accounting Education 6(3), pp. 273-280.

[2] Bliss, R. T., and Potter, M.E. (2000) “Integrating the Undergraduate Business
Curriculum: The Case of Babson College”. Journal of Business Education, vol. 1, pp.1 -
13.

[3] Chatfield, C. and Johnson, T. (2002) Microsoft Project 2002: Step by Step, Microsoft
Press, 2002, Redmond, Washington.

[4] Cox, James III and John Blackstone, Jr. (2002) APICS Dictionary: Tenth Edition,
APICS - The Educational Society for Resource Management.

[5] Cutright, K. and Perotti, V. (2000) “Instructional innovation in the Ohio University
College of Business Core Curriculum” 2000 Decision Sciences Institute Proceedings,
2000 Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-21, 2000, Orlando, Florida, vol. 1, pp. 10-12.

[6] Ehie, I. (2001) "Using "Live" Project Teams in an Introductory Production and
Operations Management Course" 2001 Proceedings of the Decision Sciences Institute,
pp. 299 - 302.

[7] Foggin, J. (1992) “Meeting customer needs”, Survey of Business, 28(1), pp. 6-12.

[8] Gray, C. and Larson, E. (2000) Project Management: The Managerial Process,
McGraw-Hill, Boston, MA.

[9] Hill, A. (1997) “Business schools show they can learn to adapt”, Puget Sound
Business Journal, March pp. 1-2.

[10] Krajewski, L. and Ritzman, L. (2002) Operations Management: Strategy and

Analysis Sixth Edition Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. NY, NY.

[11] Meredith, J., and Mantel, S., Jr. (2000) Project Management: A Managerial
Approach, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.

[12] O'Connor, G. and Messler, R. Jr. (2001) "A Truly Multidisciplinary Experiment in
Teaching New Product Development: Lessons Learned" Journal of the Academy of
Business Education, Fall 2001, pp. 72 - 86

[13] Walters G. A. and Marks, S. E. (1981) Experiential Learning and Change: Theory,
Design, and Practice, New York: John Wiley.
 Figure 1: Undergraduate and Graduate Project Management Project

REPORT: 75% of project grade. The following is a minimum description of the tasks you
are to complete for the project. Undergraduates are to address one project, while graduate
students are to address EACH OF 2 SIMILAR, BUT DIFFERENT PROJECTS include:
Executive Summary: (5 points) Triple constraint addressed. Note this is the first page
following the title page and is less than 1 page long.
Project Justification: (10 points) Statement of Work (SOW); purpose of project;
mission; benefits; opportunity posed; innovation, problem and/or need.
Description of the "Firm" & Project Team: (10 points) Who is doing the project? Past
history of the “firm”; Responsibilities of each member; Organizational structure. Detail
background of key personnel to project. (Why these people will be on the project?)
Planned Approach: (35 points) Discussion in report should center on proposed plan
(highlights); minimum schedule; basic resources required (people/facilities); range of
project costs; proposed start/termination date and potential decisions posed by the
project; a Work Breakdown Structure and implied network (DO NOT PRINT OUT
PERT DIAGRAM ON MICROSOFT PROJECT), schedule in detail and critical path;
resource requirements. The main body of the report should not contain the printouts from
Microsoft Project. Please place these in an Appendix to show your depth in planning.
MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: Milestone chart (can be done on
any software) should be included and refer to the Detailed Microsoft Project information.
Detailed plans, including the resources utilized if external to the "Firm". Work
Breakdown Structure: minimally you should outline the structure for the milestones. Note
Microsoft Project cannot create this for you. A NEATLY written WBS will be accepted.
Gantt chart including milestones, duration, start/finish, resources and costs. Start and
finish dates of the project. Costs Summary and Appropriate Analysis (Why should
management back this project financially?) Performance expectations and resource
summaries. Your report should discuss the important managerial factors and the
supporting documentation should include Microsoft Project reports.
Deliverables / Contingencies: (10 points) Any specific areas which need to be legally
defined? What contingencies are there for problems or changes? Legal issues specific to
project. Potential contingencies and appropriate changes to take in this project. Address at
least 3 potential items. Any items specific to how to monitor or control the project?
Other: 5 points will also be awarded based upon depth, application, professionalism,
creativity, and clarity.
PRESENTATION: 25% of project grade. The presentation will be graded upon you
ability to present and communicate the relevant issues to the project in a professional
manner. You will be graded upon the following: organization, ability to convince your
audience to back your project, clarity, triple constraint presentation, pertinent
contingency planning, incorporation of project management issues, equal participation
and professionalism.

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