EVM@ABC India Ltd.*

EVM@ABC India Ltd.

On a cold chilly morning at around 10.30 a.m., Vivek was called by his boss, Shaan, to his chamber.

Shaan: Vivek, what do you mean, we cannot rollout the Network on time as planned. It has already crossed several months and we are yet to release 4G connections to customers and now you are submitting a report saying that we may not deploy the system as announced. Do you know what it means? I think you have failed to assess the implication of your report. Since the start of the project I am studying the project review reports submitted by the earlier Project Manager and I don’t understand what went wrong? Every report had depicted that the project was under control although with variations in budget and time. As a CTO, how can I explain to the management now? I want to know what went wrong in this project and it’s your responsibility to diagnose the problem and come out with a solution.

Shaan was the Chief Technical Officer (CTO), of ABC India Limited (ABC), a well-established, country-wide Telecom Service Provider and he was responsible for the 4G Telecom project implementation in the state of Chhattisgarh. He was very furious after referring to a study report submitted by the newly appointed Project Manager, Vivek. The project was not moving according to the project schedule and that had resulted in changing the project manager. Vivek was brought from the Head Quarters of ABC.........

ABC India Limited

ABC India Limited (ABC) is an Indian company, having its core business in the field of Oil and Gas exploration and production, textiles, production of polyester, also offering Telecom services PAN-India. The company is focused on providing digital services for businesses, households and organizations in the education sector. The company has telecom spectrum of 2300 MHz in 14 circles, 1800 MHz in 20 circles and recently purchased 800 MHz in 10 circles. The company’s cumulative investment in spectrum was INR34,000 crores............

Project Scope

Central node for the whole of Chhattisgarh is installed at Raipur which is further connected to locations in the four directions as protection............

Establishment Phases of a Telecom Project

In a telecom project, for launching of the services, the project activities consist of Site Survey, Civil Work, Electrical Work, Fiber Layout, Equipment Installation, Integration and Commissioning, and Cluster Optimization.

Site Survey: Ahead of cascading activities, the site survey consists of site acquisition, physical site survey, report reviewing and planning in tool for further validation............

Civil Work or Tower Erection: In this process, a tower has to be erected at the site before site acquisition and NOC has to be taken from the respective authorities.......

Fiber Laying and Termination at Intra city and Intercity: For communication from one tower to other tower, media is required.............

...................

Project Planning

The project was first planned during 2012 and the tender was issued to all the companies. The initial tender estimated the timeline to be about 2 years. The original project timeline and some of the basic details about the tender are shown below:............

Possible Solution to Vivek’s Dilemma

On the second day of having called Professor Amras, Vivek received a call on his mobile at about 10:00 A.M.

Amras: Hi Vivek ...I got a suggestion for you
Vivek: Thank you... please guide me Sir
Amras: .................

Assignment Questions

1) Why did Shaan think that the project was under control and ignored the variances?
2) What are the steps that could have been taken by Vivek to avoid delays in the project, if he would have been the Project Manager from the start of the project?
3) ................

Exhibits

Exhibit I: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - The WBS structure shown helps understand the complex nature of the telecom project of Raipur City

Exhibit II: The Combined EVA Report

Exhibit III: The EVA Curves Obtained from the Planned, Earned and Actual Values

Exhibit IV: Civil Works (in INR thousands of crore)

Exhibit V: Electrical Works (in INR thousands of crore)

Exhibit VI: Fibre Laying (in INR thousands of crore)

Exhibit VII: Equipment Installation & Commissioning (in INR thousands of crore)

EVM@ABC India Ltd.

Synopsis

This case is designed to make the students or participants understand how to analyse a project that has already encountered problems while implementation. Specifically, this case introduces students or participants to the concept of “Earned Value Management” in Project Management. This case centers on the need of ABC India Ltd. (ABC) to quickly diagnose and discover ‘why the company’s prestigious Telecom Project is experiencing problems in completion and suggest a possible solution to ABC to fix the problem. This case helps the students/participants to understand (i) the essentials of Earned Value, (ii) the measurement of Earned Value, (iii) the role and importance of Earned Value Management in Projects and (iv) to develop ability to diagnose and suggest solutions to project implementation problems.

Pedagogical Objectives

• • To understand the essentials of Earned Value
• • To understand the measurement of Earned Value
• • To understand the role and importance of Earned Value Management in Projects
• • To develop ability to diagnose and suggest solutions to project implementation problems

Case Positioning and Setting

This case is an easy introduction to Project Management and oversight to students at the Post Graduate level in Management Studies viz., MBA, Executive-MBA, PGDM, etc., and executives. This case is aimed to deliver the essentials of Earned Value Management and its importance in Project Execution.

Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding (PCU)/Before the Classroom Discussion

The students/participants are required to have the preliminary knowledge about the concepts of Project Management. This should include the Project Management Model, Project Life cycle, Scheduling, Execution and Project Monitoring & Control. The preliminary requirement helps the students/participants to actively participate in the discussions and have an adequate analysis of this case.

Assignment Questions

• I. Why did Shaan think that the project was under control and ignored the variances?
• II. What are the steps that could have been taken by Vivek to avoid delays in the project, if he would have been the Project Manager from the start of the project?
• III. .................

Preamble

This case was designed as a self-contained introduction to “Earned Value Management (EVM)”. The Analysis of Earned Value in a project calls for a study of project planning, scheduling and the costs per activity in the project. The Earned Value chart is shown in Exhibit (TN)-I.............