Jennifer Childs Case Study

PROJECT PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT

JENNIFER CHILDS  CASE STUDY

FOR

MODULE M1

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JENNIFER CHILDS CASE STUDY

Executive Summary

Jennifer Childs, the owner and president of a pharmaceutical company informs managers at a staff meeting that the company has made 200 000 dollars more than expected in profits, for the year. She announces that she would like to reinvest this money back into the company by funding project that will either contribute to the increase in sales or the reduction in costs. .Jennifer asks her three key managers to put together a prioritized list of possible projects and then to make proposals to her for consideration of approval. Jennifer informs the managers that she may decide to use all funds to one approved project and it should therefore not be assumed that the funds will be split amongst the projects.

Julie Chen, the Product Development Manager is currently working on a new prescription drug project which is taking much longer than she expected and is concerned that competitors may be working on a similar project and may bring such to market sooner. Julie is aware that Jennifer is growing impatient with her project but believes the company’s long term growth depends on it. Julie wants to use the funds to purchase new sophisticated lab equipment and hire a respected scientist from a large firm.

Tyler Ripken, Production Manager who has been with the company for 6 months has noticed that production flow is very insufficient and believes this is due to poor planning during production upgrades. Tyler wants to form employee teams to assist with the implementation of a better layout which he believes will increase capacity and reduce costs. Production supervisors, however reminds Tyler that Jennifer was responsible for implementing the current layout so this could be a sensitive issue. They also inform him that Jennifer does not want employees to get involved in decision making as they should be doing their jobs and leave decisions to management.

Jeff Mathews, Operations Manager, who is in charge of the computer information systems as well as accounting operations, believes that the current computer system is out-dated and no longer able to handle transaction volumes due to company expansion. Jeff would like to buy new computers and hire computer programmers to upgrade the software. Jeff believes a new system will improve customer service. Jennifer is unfortunately not happy about spending money on computer upgrade and in fact believe that some of the accounting operations could be outsourced, reducing the need for some of Jeff’s staff.

After the staff meeting Joe Sanchez, Marketing Manager, approaches Jennifer in her office and asks her to reconsider the projects request made to her managers and rather allow him to invest all the excess profit into hiring new sales reps. Joe plays on Jennifer’s emotions by saying that this is what her Father would have done. Joe is also hoping that the three managers will not be able to agree on the priorities of the projects and this will cause Jennifer to agree with his suggestion.

Question 1

Do you regard Jennifer’s verbal Request for Proposal (RFP) as sufficient?

An RFP is a critical document which has to state comprehensively and in detail what is required by the customer. This document is prepared by the sponsor and is used to solicit proposals from a contractor or supplier to provide a service or item. This document will include the following:

Business Requirements:

Project Overview / Objectives – Describes the nature of the project and its expected outcomes.

Statement or Scope of Work - Outlines the work that needs to be performed.

Terms and Conditions - Includes the type of contract to be used / payment terms and termination process.

Evaluation Criteria - These are the attributes that will be taken into account when evaluating and selecting suppliers. Factors include financial stability, experience, qualifications etc.

Date for submission of proposals.

Technical Requirements

Defines the performance outcomes of the item being procured.

Conclusion:

Jennifer’s verbal request vaguely includes the projects objectives, being increasing sales and reducing costs, which also does not have a specific target. There is no mention of any of the requirements of a RFP, like Scope of work, Technical Specifications, Selection Criteria. Her request is therefore not sufficient.

Question 2.

Regarding the business case which precedes the programme proposal, what should the order of priority for implementing the projects in the portfolio be in order to maximise the strategic organizational benefits? In your business case discussion, also indicate how you would handle Joe Sanchez’s request to increase the sales force?