Project Control

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Consider the following scenarios.

  1. You are the lead project manager tasked with implementing a hospital’s new patient identification and tracking system. The currently planned system is designed to function using only barcodes, but many key stakeholders have called for the system to also include the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) features. In order to meet the demands of the stakeholders, your project scope expands to include RFID technology. How will you modify your budget and schedule to accommodate this increased scope?
  2. You are managing the development of a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system in a hospital that caters to the suburban population of a major city. A much larger hospital that accommodates most of the city’s downtown residents has recently been severely damaged in a storm. As a result, the inner-city hospital is operating at a low level of capacity and diverts much of its patient flow to other hospitals. In order to help alleviate the strain caused by this new influx of patients, your hospital’s executives are requiring you to implement the CPOE system 2 weeks early. Your project team is currently composed of just enough individuals to complete the project on time using the originaltimeline. The planned CPOE system has many non-essential features that usually take two phases to implement. However, these features are currently planned to be incorporated during your single-phase CPOE implementation. How do you adjust the project’s scope and cost to meet the new schedule demands?
  3. You are managing the implementation of an electronic medical record system in a small physician’s office. Due to much lower-than-expected profits in the fourth quarter, you have had a substantial cut in the amount of funding available for your project. The scope of the medical record system is more extensive than the bare minimum required for a practice of this size. In addition, the implementation schedule is as condensed as possible to reduce downtime in the office. This condensed schedule requires the use of expensive, high-quality resources. How can you adjust your plan to compensate for the project’s reduced budget?

To prepare:

  • By Day 1 of this week, your Instructor will assign you to a specific scenario. Review this week’s Learning Resources on controlling the elements of the “triple constraint,” and consider how they apply to the scenario to which you were assigned.
  • Determine how you could modify the project in your assigned scenario in terms of scope, time, or cost in order to fulfill the project requirements.
  • Consider how you would communicate the modifications you identified to key stakeholders.

THEN

Post the number of your assigned scenario and a description of where and how you would adjust the plan in terms of budget, scope, and timeline. Explain how you would communicate modifications to key stakeholders. Provide rationale for your response.

Learning resources:

Coplan, S., & Masuda, D. (2011). Project management for healthcare information technology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (5th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author.

Cortelyou-Ward, K., & Yniguez, R. (2011). Using monitoring and controlling in an electronic health record module upgrade: A case study. The Health Care Manager, 30(3), 236–241.

Yin G.-L. (2010). Project time and budget monitor and control. Management Science and Engineering, 4(1), 56–61.