Project Cases

Project Case Studies

Project Case Solution Procedure
How to Analyze a Case Study

Dynomax Incorporated Dynomax is a defense industry contractor which produces military electronic equipment including, radar and Global Positioning Systems. The company is in the process of downsizing and commercializing its product line. Some of the company's divisions will be sold off and the remainder will be consolidated under a new management structure. The uncertainty about which divisions will be retained and which will be divested has created a strategic planning paralysis in the company-wide Information Systems department. The director of IS gives an extensive review of his vision for the future; however, there is wide-spread skepticism about him and his plan. The case includes two organization charts and a flow chart of the director's planning process.

Rusnak Insurance Agency Rusnak Insurance is a medium-sized, full-service local insurance agency with 34 employees. The company has recently experienced a rapid growth in premium sales and in the number of policies to be serviced. However, the company's level of information technology has not kept pace with the growth which leads to operational difficulties and inefficiencies which leave the agency's president/owner worried that he may lose some of his key employees. The owner does an extensive analysis of available technologies. His choices include upgrading the existing technology, acquiring various types of all new technologies, and outsourcing his information technology operations. The case includes an organization chart and two charts comparing the benefits, performance and costs of all the alternatives

Glenview Insurance Agency
Glenview Insurance is a medium-sized, full-service local insurance agency with 27 employees. The company has recently gone through some difficult times. Profits in the last few years have been stagnant or declining. The owner/partners, while highly experienced in the insurance industry, have little knowledge of or desire to manage their information technologies. This lack of attention and strategic vision has left the agency with a large quantity and variety of unrelated computer systems. A comprehensive technology plan is needed to put the company back on a growth path to profitability. The case includes an organization chart, a list of major insurance underwriting companies and a list of computer hardware owned by the company.

Shaeffer Properties

Shaeffer Properties is a large holding company with major investments in the hospitality and health-care industries. The company founder and president is a dynamic, charismatic individual who manages with an authoritarian top-down approach. He wants to be involved in all decisions made by the company. He has heard many complaints about the level of service provided by his Information Systems department. The vice president of IS is concerned about the future direction of the IS function and about the future his own position. He plans for an upcoming meeting with the president and other key people in the company by reviewing past problems and formulating a strategy for the future. The case includes financial statements, two organization charts and sample forms for logging and resolving system problems and enhancement requests.

Washington Mercy Hospital Washington Mercy Hospital has contracted with a systems integration company for the installation and customization of a new, comprehensive patient information system. An incomplete and misunderstood request for proposal leads to the acquisition and installation of a system that does not perform up to levels specified in the contract. The hospital and the systems integrator disagree over who is at fault, how the system can be brought up to specification and who should bear the additional cost. As an alternative to expensive litigation, both parties agree to resolving their dispute with the assistance of an experienced mediator. The mediation testimony by both parties is quoted in detail. The case includes RFP detail, cost information and sample measurements of network response times

St. Francis Hospital St. Frances is a 210 bed non-profit hospital which provides a full range of services. The hospital has a history of difficulties in managing its inventory and billing of medical supplies and other materials. Several previous attempts, under several previous materials managers, to implement modern inventory management systems and procedures have been only partially successful. The top administrator of the hospital has received numerous complaints from patients who were incorrectly billed or billed for items they never received. He is openly concerned about the medical consequences of these mistakes. The cause of the mistakes is tracked to a problem of identification code incompatibility between multiple systems as well as pricing and data entry mistakes. There is disagreement about who caused the problem and who should be responsible for fixing it. The case includes an organization chart, a list of departmental responsibilities and three sample printouts from the inventory management and patient billing systems

Medical Testing Laboratories Medical Testing Laboratories is a non-profit corporation with 65 employees. The laboratory performs comprehensive, specialized testing for several regional area hospitals. The lab has a reputation for the highest quality testing procedures; however, recent growth has put stress on its test data acquisition, storage and reporting procedures. The lab director puts an inexperienced, but brilliant computer scientist in charge of developing, from scratch, a new, fully automated test data management system with Internet transmission of test results. The system development project is poorly planned and executed, leading to a management reorganization which may not be justified. The case includes two organization charts, one before and one after reorganization.

Charleston Corporation Charleston Corporation is a multidivisional company with major interests in rail, truck and ship transportation facilities. The company is in the process of planning an update of its aging information technology infrastructure in order to remain competitive in the transportation industry. The case centers around an IT steering committee meeting in which the company's high-level information technology managers and high-level information technology users, all with different agendas, debate strategic IT direction and how the company's limited IT funding should be spent. The case includes four organization charts and selected financial data.

Rocky Hill Laboratories Rocky Hill Laboratories was established to perform independent testing and certification of military and civilian electrical and electronic equipment. The case centers around one small division which is responsible for testing and certifying electric generators. The division management team has purchased the components necessary to fully automate their testing and reporting procedures; however they underestimated the time, effort and skill that would be required to actually implement the new system. The consultant that is brought in to evaluate only the hardware and software purchase decision discovers that no formal project implementation plan is in place. The case includes financial data, an organization chart, test procedure diagrams, a list of hardware components, a list of system benefits, and the data needed for PERT/CPM analysis

Cedar Rapids Vision Center Cedar Rapids Vision Center is a small Ophthalmologic clinic with 12 clerical and medical employees and a business manager. The business manager wants to update and fully automate the clinic’s back-office procedures in anticipation of a major expansion of the clinic, but the doctor and owner of the clinic is skeptical of his plan. In addition, some of the employees are resistant to the change that will occur with the plan. The hardware/software choices are varied; including IBM, Dell, Apple and Compaq. There are also various levels of sophistication, performance and price from which to choose. The case includes an organization chart and a table describing the functionality and cost of the hardware and software under consideration.

Dynomax Incorporated	Dynomax is a defense industry contractor which produces military electronic equipment including, radar and Global Positioning Systems. The company is in the process of downsizing and commercializing its product line. Some of the company's divisions will be sold off and the remainder will be consolidated under a new management structure. The uncertainty about which divisions will be retained and which will be divested has created a strategic planning paralysis in the company-wide Information Systems department. The director of IS gives an extensive review of his vision for the future; however, there is wide-spread skepticism about him and his plan. The case includes two organization charts and a flow chart of the director's planning process.
Rusnak Insurance Agency	Rusnak Insurance is a medium-sized, full-service local insurance agency with 34 employees. The company has recently experienced a rapid growth in premium sales and in the number of policies to be serviced. However, the company's level of information technology has not kept pace with the growth which leads to operational difficulties and inefficiencies which leave the agency's president/owner worried that he may lose some of his key employees. The owner does an extensive analysis of available technologies. His choices include upgrading the existing technology, acquiring various types of all new technologies, and outsourcing his information technology operations. The case includes an organization chart and two charts comparing the benefits, performance and costs of all the alternatives
Glenview Insurance Agency	Glenview Insurance is a medium-sized, full-service local insurance agency with 27 employees. The company has recently gone through some difficult times. Profits in the last few years have been stagnant or declining. The owner/partners, while highly experienced in the insurance industry, have little knowledge of or desire to manage their information technologies. This lack of attention and strategic vision has left the agency with a large quantity and variety of unrelated computer systems. A comprehensive technology plan is needed to put the company back on a growth path to profitability. The case includes an organization chart, a list of major insurance underwriting companies and a list of computer hardware owned by the company.
Shaeffer Properties	Shaeffer Properties is a large holding company with major investments in the hospitality and health-care industries. The company founder and president is a dynamic, charismatic individual who manages with an authoritarian top-down approach. He wants to be involved in all decisions made by the company. He has heard many complaints about the level of service provided by his Information Systems department. The vice president of IS is concerned about the future direction of the IS function and about the future his own position. He plans for an upcoming meeting with the president and other key people in the company by reviewing past problems and formulating a strategy for the future. The case includes financial statements, two organization charts and sample forms for logging and resolving system problems and enhancement requests.
Washington Mercy Hospital	Washington Mercy Hospital has contracted with a systems integration company for the installation and customization of a new, comprehensive patient information system. An incomplete and misunderstood request for proposal leads to the acquisition and installation of a system that does not perform up to levels specified in the contract. The hospital and the systems integrator disagree over who is at fault, how the system can be brought up to specification and who should bear the additional cost. As an alternative to expensive litigation, both parties agree to resolving their dispute with the assistance of an experienced mediator. The mediation testimony by both parties is quoted in detail. The case includes RFP detail, cost information and sample measurements of network response times
St. Francis Hospital	St. Frances is a 210 bed non-profit hospital which provides a full range of services. The hospital has a history of difficulties in managing its inventory and billing of medical supplies and other materials. Several previous attempts, under several previous materials managers, to implement modern inventory management systems and procedures have been only partially successful. The top administrator of the hospital has received numerous complaints from patients who were incorrectly billed or billed for items they never received. He is openly concerned about the medical consequences of these mistakes. The cause of the mistakes is tracked to a problem of identification code incompatibility between multiple systems as well as pricing and data entry mistakes. There is disagreement about who caused the problem and who should be responsible for fixing it. The case includes an organization chart, a list of departmental responsibilities and three sample printouts from the inventory management and patient billing systems
Medical Testing Laboratories	Medical Testing Laboratories is a non-profit corporation with 65 employees. The laboratory performs comprehensive, specialized testing for several regional area hospitals. The lab has a reputation for the highest quality testing procedures; however, recent growth has put stress on its test data acquisition, storage and reporting procedures. The lab director puts an inexperienced, but brilliant computer scientist in charge of developing, from scratch, a new, fully automated test data management system with Internet transmission of test results. The system development project is poorly planned and executed, leading to a management reorganization which may not be justified. The case includes two organization charts, one before and one after reorganization.
Charleston Corporation	Charleston Corporation is a multidivisional company with major interests in rail, truck and ship transportation facilities. The company is in the process of planning an update of its aging information technology infrastructure in order to remain competitive in the transportation industry. The case centers around an IT steering committee meeting in which the company's high-level information technology managers and high-level information technology users, all with different agendas, debate strategic IT direction and how the company's limited IT funding should be spent. The case includes four organization charts and selected financial data.
Rocky Hill Laboratories	Rocky Hill Laboratories was established to perform independent testing and certification of military and civilian electrical and electronic equipment. The case centers around one small division which is responsible for testing and certifying electric generators. The division management team has purchased the components necessary to fully automate their testing and reporting procedures; however they underestimated the time, effort and skill that would be required to actually implement the new system. The consultant that is brought in to evaluate only the hardware and software purchase decision discovers that no formal project implementation plan is in place. The case includes financial data, an organization chart, test procedure diagrams, a list of hardware components, a list of system benefits, and the data needed for PERT/CPM analysis
Cedar Rapids Vision Center	Cedar Rapids Vision Center is a small Ophthalmologic clinic with 12 clerical and medical employees and a business manager. The business manager wants to update and fully automate the clinic’s back-office procedures in anticipation of a major expansion of the clinic, but the doctor and owner of the clinic is skeptical of his plan. In addition, some of the employees are resistant to the change that will occur with the plan. The hardware/software choices are varied; including IBM, Dell, Apple and Compaq. There are also various levels of sophistication, performance and price from which to choose. The case includes an organization chart and a table describing the functionality and cost of the hardware and software under consideration.

Project Case Studies

Project Case Solution Procedure How to Analyze a Case Study

Project Case Solution Procedure
How to Analyze a Case Study