Quantum Bank Inc. is a regional bank with branches throughout the southeast. In
ID: 363195 • Letter: Q
Question
Quantum Bank Inc. is a regional bank with branches throughout the southeast. In early 1999 the bank
launched a website that provides its customers with the ability to check the balance of their accounts, and
obtain information about the bank's various services, obtain contact information, email questions, and link
to a variety of other useful sources of information. Given the site's tremendous success, competition from
both traditional and non-traditional organizations, and the desire to expand its presence beyond its
current geographical area, Quantum decided to significantly expand its online offerings. More specifically,
Quantum would like to expand its website to include an online bill payment service, allow customers to
apply for credit cards and loans online, open accounts, and manage their investment portfolios online.
Vice-President of Information Systems, Stacey Thomas, has been charged with overseeing the project.
One of her first tasks was to select the project manager. Because of the strategic importance of the
project, she had a strong preference for staffing the project internally as opposed to employing the
services of one of the many consulting firms available that specialize in these types of projects. After
developing a list of ten or so possible candidates to serve as project manager, she finally pared the list
down to the two finalists described below.
Bill Fence: Bill joined Quantum in 1995 after graduating from a well-respected small private school with a
degree in computer science. His first assignment as a member of the bank's help desk provided him with
exposure to a variety of areas in the hank. He quickly gained a reputation for capable solving difficult
technical problems. In addition, users of the bank's various computer systems were often heard
commenting on how service-oriented Bill was and on his ability to describe concepts in nontechnical
terms.
Because of both his technical knowledge related to hardware and his ability to program, Bill was selected
to develop the bank's website in 1998. Bill worked alone on this project and had frequent meetings with
one of the bank's directors of Information Systems, who supervised the project. Initially, the director did
most of the design work and Bill did the computer programming. Bill often proposed alternative ways for
incorporating key features into the website, and the director would choose among the options Bill
identified. Toward the end of the development project, Bill began to take a more active role in proposing
features to include in the site.
The development projects was largely completed on time and on budget considering the changes in the
scope that were made as the project progressed. Several suggestions that would have extended the
site's functionality were tabled to be considered after the site was officially launched.
In his current position as webmaster, Bill is in charge of maintaining the bank's website. Although Bill's
reports now include a programmer and a hardware specialist, his approach is very much hands on,
staying involved with all technical aspects of the site. Bill has developed an excellent rapport with his two
direct reports, and they have emulated much of Bill's style including working long hours and even
competing to see who can accumulate the largest number of soft drink cans, empty candy wrappers, and
computer printouts on one desk.Andy Dover: Andy also joined the bank in 1995 after completing his MBA at a large public university.
Andy entered graduate school immediately after graduating with a Civil Engineering undergraduate
degree at the same university. Andy spent his first year rotating between various departments in the
bank's management training program. After completing this training, Andy requested a permanent
assignment to the operations group. His initial assignment was to oversee the check encoding operation.
After implementing several process improvements, Andy was promoted to senior operations analyst and
worked on several large process improvement projects.
Performance evaluations of Andy suggested that one his greatest strengths was his ability to step back
from a problem and understand how the various issues were interrelated. His evaluations further
recognized him as "a highly motivated self-starter with very good organizational skills." His organizational
skills also helped him present effectively information, and he was often requested to make short
presentations related to a particular project's status to senior management.
By almost all accounts, Andy was considered highly competent, completing assigned tasks in a timely
fashion with little or no direct supervision. At the same time, Andy always made it a point to communicate
regularly with other project team members to keep them abreast of his progress. He was often passionate
about his ideas and could typically get buy-in from other team members for his ideas.
Andy is almost always seen carrying his planner. As an avid stock investor, he makes it a point to stay
abreast of trends in technology. He has a basic understanding of how the Internet works and knows all
the important buzzwords. While he has fooled around and created a couple of web pages, he knows very
little about more sophisticated programming languages such as Java, and knows even less about
computer hardware beyond its basic purpose.
Questions:
1. Who would you recommend Stacey Thomas select to serve as project manager? Why?
2. How would you recommend this project be organized? Functional project? Pure project? Matrix?
Why?
3. Do you agree with Ms. Thomas's decision that the project should be staffed internally? Why?
4. What are the major advantages of staffing the project with Quantum employees?
5. Are there any advantages to utilizing the services of an outside consulting firm? Describe the pros
and cons of using outside consultants.
Explanation / Answer
Q1) Stacey Thomas should select Andy Dover as project manager to implement the sophisticated banking IT project considering his experience in leading management projects to completion. His focus on completing projects in time within the schedule by delegating the tasks to the team members makes him more competent to handle the project compared to Bill Fence who is a core technical resource good at handling complex codes and is good at functionality identification and technical aspects of the project. He can be a specialist team member in the project.
Q2) The project can be organized as matirx project as it involves functional aspects from various departments and a continuous interaction among experts from various departments. It should be a mix of project management and functional build, development and testing.
Q3) I agree with Thomas's decision that the project should be staffed internally due to the below reasons -
1. Support for the project becomes easier as the internal employees are well aware of the functionalities and any issues in future can be handled easily.
2. Future upgrades can be implemented within minimum schedule and time considering the knowledge and experience the employees possess.
3. Dependency on external consultants is reduced.
Q4) The major advantages of staffing the project with Quantum employees include -
1. Better control of the project
2. Quality of the project can be monitored continuously
3. Cost and lead time of the project can be minimized.
Q5) Below are the pros and cons of outside consultants -
Pros -
1. The project can be outsourced and the internal resources can be concentrated on the firm's core competencies.
2. Better revenue realization
3. Tapping into external knowledge and inviting talent
Cons -
1. Loss of control
2. Quality issues
3. Delayed response times