This "Reinventing the Practices of Distance Information Systems Development: CGI and the Hubble Project - Part A" case study discusses the issues encountered by CGI. The company has recently entered into an agreement for the development of information systems for a client in Los Angeles. This case study looks at the challenges faced by the company regarding project management.
​Carmen Bernier, Line Dube, Vital Roy
Harvard Business Review (HEC001-PDF-ENG)
May 01, 2009
Case questions answered:
- What are the important characteristics of the Hubble project that could lead to significant risks? How would you prioritize these risks? What mitigation steps were taken in the Hubble project to help minimize the probability or impact of these risks?
- What elements of traditional project management may be ill-suited to the Hubble project?
- What alternate approach was proposed by CGI Quebec?
- If CGI implements the modified agile approach, what project risks remain? What can be done to minimize these remaining risks?
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Reinventing the Practices of Distance Information Systems Development: CGI and the Hubble Project - Part A Case Answers
What are the important characteristics of the Hubble Project that could lead to significant risks? How would you prioritize these risks? What mitigation steps were taken in the project to help minimize the probability or impact of these risks?
Hubble Project was born to meet the growing needs of the organization because the traditional MRIS (Managers Research Application System) application was unable to support the growth objectives of the organization (Carmen Bernier, 2009).
The Hubble Project was the most significant project undertaken by the Financials, and it cost US$4 million. The following characteristics of the project lead to significant risk:
- The IT team of Financials located in Los Angeles does not have sufficient resources and expertise to complete the project.
- Financials lack the foundation to handle significant and complex projects.
- CGI is located in Quebec, and Financials is located in Los Angeles. So, this distance could lead to communication and language issues. Communication issues can create many problems in the progress of the project.
We would prioritize these risks with the collaboration of the team members and stakeholders. The risk that has the most impact on the Hubble Project will be given more attention here. In this case, our priority should be to eliminate the risk of failure that can arise from distance and communication issues.
Financials has adopted an excellent framework to minimize the probability or impact of risk in the project. Financial formed a team of employees and experienced consultants. Besides, the financial analyst of Financials will analyze and communicate to CGI the business needs of the analyst who will use the new system (Carmen Bernier, 2009).
The financial analyst will be responsible for identifying and analyzing the team’s needs and communicating them with the CGI. CGI has decided to work with the team centralized at Financials. Both teams tried to eliminate the difficulties that they can face from distancing.
The CGI team was sure that they would provide a reliable solution to Financials regarding the Hubble Project and would avoid any surprises and misunderstandings that could arise due to distance. The CGI team decided to perform a demonstration to the client before delivering the software.
What elements of traditional project management may be ill-suited to the said project?
The elements of traditional project management that may be ill-suited to the Hubble Project are…
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