Project Plan - the Eastland Mall Branch Bank Project

Assignments Group assignment 1 The Eastland Mall Branch Bank Project Due date Question 1 Develop a project charter for the original project. A project charter is intended to be the document that launches the project.

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From Kerzner; Project Management for Executives, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982, pp 150--157. This case is meant a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation.

The Eastland Mall Branch Bank Project

The steering committee was to meet in fifteen minutes to discuss the fate of the Eastland Mall Project. Jack O'Boyle was conversing with the chief executive officer (CEO) of 5 Third National Trust. "I don't know what the outcome of the meeting will be," lamented O'Boyle, senior vice-president of systems and software programming. "I really thought Vince knew his stuff about project management. Maybe this banking industry really isn't suited to that approach." "Let's not quit before the final count," responded Buzz Adams, CEO. "Let's wait to hear 10 what Vince has to say at this meeting he called with the steering committee. It doesn't look to me like the Eastland Branch could possibly open on schedule, and I would tend to agree with you about project management. However, I've seen it work in New York's largest financial institutions. There has to be a good reason why it isn't working here. I say we let Vince make his presentation and then discuss some alternatives to get the branch open. 15 Afterwards, we should all have a talk with the steering committee members about the future of project management here at Third National."

History Vince Stewart had accepted a position with Third National Trust immediately after college 20 graduation in 1972. With a bachelor's degree in operations research, he was assigned to the systems and software programming department. He did commendable work on analysis and software for a series of check transportation studies. From 1974 to 1976, he was the system analyst in charge of software for Third National Trust's "Easy Money" automated teller machines. 25 Vince's experience in the systems and software programming department quickly showed

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him the advantages of project management in controlling a small staff in a task with limited scope and duration. As his experience and interest grew, he took part in several project management seminars given by local colleges and professional organizations. By 1977, not only was Vince convinced of the benefits of project management, he was also 30 the leading proponent of project management throughout Third National Trust. Third National Trust is located in a major midwestern city. After eighty-two years of existence, it had assets of $2.1 billion and had ninety-one branches serving the commercial interests and residential mortgage markets. Third National Trust is firmly established as one of the five dominant banks in its largely conservative area. Although it had experienced 35 tremendous growth, Third National was falling behind in its use of state-of-the-art technology and services. In fact, several of the branches had experienced declines in mortgage loans, commercial loans, and time deposits. Several branches had been closed recently which further hurt Third National's image. In spring 1976, the board of directors appointed Buzz Adams as chief executive officer of Third National Trust. 40 Adams came to Third National from his position as senior vice-president of research for a New York bank. He was a firm believer in computer and communications technology as the answer to banks providing new services in an increasingly competitive financial market. His main thrust would be to increase the automation of services to Third National's customers and try to recover some of the sagging market. 45 Upon his arrival at Third National, Adams fired or reassigned over half of the 224 officers. At the senior-officer level, he moved the senior vice-president of marketing to planning, fired the senior vice-president of systems and software programming, and brought with him, from New York, Jack O'Boyle as senior vice-president of systems and software programming. He also brought along his own senior vice-president of marketing. 50 At his first management meeting in the summer of 1976, Adams declared the need for an aggressive automation plan to provide new services using state-of-the-art technology. He announced project management as the means for maintaining a competitive posture. The first such project would be opening a branch at Eastland Mall. This would be Third National's first attempt at locating a branch within a large suburban shopping mall and 55 would reverse the bank's policy of decreasing the number of branches over the past five

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years. The new branch would be designed around an "Easy Money" automated teller machine (ATM) for the convenience of evening and weekend shoppers. Adams appointed a steering committee to spearhead the Eastland Mall Branch Project. The committee consisted of Jack O'Boyle, the vice-presidents of marketing, of planning, of branch 60 banking, of accounting, and of personnel, the assistant legal counsel, and the assistant vice- president of audit. Adams gave the project a completion date of Labour Day, 4 September 1978.

A Project Team Picks a Project Team 65 On 6 September 1976, the vice-president of branch banking scheduled the first meeting of the Eastland Mall Branch Project Steering Committee.

VP Branch Banking Considering we're a half hour late in getting the meeting started, let's get down to business right away. Two years is a tight time frame for my 70 people to convert a shoestore into a branch at Eastland Mall. Who's going to take the minutes of these meetings? VP Planning What is the project management approach Buzz Adams was talking about last week? O'Boyle Let me answer that one. In a systems approach a project 75 manager takes all variables into account in order to attain a goal limited by time, cost, and performance. In order to coordinate the project's tasks, he heads a project team whose staff is drawn from a variety of functional areas. VP Branch Banking When you cut through all that jargon, it sounds like the implementation teams we've had