AcuScan Executive Summary

The project began to lose momentum when the Senior Engineer, Kelly Thomas, expressed concerns over some unrealistic expectations. Kelly claimed that several project requirements were overly optimistic and pushed back on the project proposal, claiming that such a product could not be delivered by the August deadline. Based on this reaction, Pat concluded that contractors needed to be hired in order to work around the staffing constraints in the engineering department, and increased the project budget request by about $250K.

Emails between the Director of Marketing and the Senior Engineer indicate that important issues need to be addressed before problems between the departments escalate to a point that will make it difficult to reconcile differences and work together in order to ensure the success of the project.

Key Points Relating to the Situation
•Sales and service revenues have led to budget constraints which add restrictions to project funding. •Both departments are experiencing stress due to limited resources, pressure to cut costs, and expectations to deliver a new product before the end of the year. •Each department head is operating independently and not working together to collaborate as a team. •A lack of trust and respect has developed between the departments heads due to poor communication. •Decisions are being made based mainly on rather than performing formal research and analysis

Conclusion
The success of “Operation Optimize” is critical to the future success of AcuScan by directly impacting an increase in sales revenue and broadening the company’s customer base and marketing versatility. AcuScan must take immediate action to address concerns of both departments, and guide the project back on track for a successful rollout. At the same time, the company must realize that it will not be able to produce a quality product within the time allotted on a small budget.

Recommendations and Actions to be Taken
Based on the conclusions AcuScan has two possible options. One option is to delay the release of the new product in order to compensate for the lack of man hours. The company can split up the project into a series of rollout phases, which will extend the project timelines, but reduce the workload pressure being placed on the current engineering staff. This would save the company money in the short term, but could potentially impact their competitive edge in the long term if the competition develops a similar product first. The other option is to act on Director of Marketing proposal to hire contractors in order to take on the increased workload. The company would have a dedicated resource for the project while at the same time allowing the engineering staff to continue to provide a high level of quality service to existing customers. The company would have to make a short term budget sacrifice, exacerbating the current budget crisis; however the new product would launch before the end of the year and give AcuScan the competitive edge it needs to increase sales over the long term.

It is proposed that AcuScan align budgeting goals to accommodate the current project timelines and making a small sacrifice in costs to aid in the development by hiring outside contractors. •In order to encourage collaboration between departments, the Director of Marketing must allow that the contractors are selected and managed by the Senior Engineer, who will be the most knowledgeable as to the minimal extra man power needed and the skill set required to accomplish the tasks. •The Senior Engineer must allow that some new product functionality must be developed and brainstorm with the Director of Marketing to design a simple but innovative new product. •The Senior Engineer must also work with the Director of Marketing to bridge the gap of understanding between the two departments by taking time to educate one another at a high level as to the nature of their job and how they can best serve one another.

These action items must be incorporated into the project timeline and each department head must provide a weekly status update as to the progress of the new deliverables in additional to the overall development of the new product.

References

Anonymous. Case Study. UOP Assessment GEN 480. Retrieved from: http://uk.tis.co.in-uop-assessment.
Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall Paul, R. and Elder, L., (2003) The Miniature guide to understanding the foundation of ethical reasoning. The Foundation for Critical Thinking, NJ, Prentice Hall Ruggiero, V. (2004) Thinking critically about ethical issues 6th edition, Burr Ridge, IL, McGraw-Hill