Define the goals and objectives for your analysis. What questions are you trying to
answer? What issues are you trying to resolve?
Schedule Requirements
Dubai Medical Center, an urban, nonprofit, 450-bed rehabilitation hospital
began to see a significant decline in admissions. The Dubai Medical Center’s mission
focuses on inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation of the severely injured and
catastrophically ill. While the patient census varied from month to month, it appeared
to the Dubai Medical Center Board of Trustees that the inpatient population was slowly
but steadily declining. The hospital’s market researchers reported that fewer people
were being severely injured due to the popularity of seat belts and bicycle/motorcycle
helmets. In order to get a handle on the future of the organization, the Board, and the
CEO, Ali Salma M.D. called for a major strategic planning effort to take place. In
January 1999, the Dubai Medical Center held a planning retreat to identify future
opportunities. The outcome of the retreat was that the Medical Center needed to focus
its efforts around two major strategic initiatives. The first, a short- run initiative, was to be
more cost-effective in the delivery of inpatient care. The second, a long-run strategy,
was to develop new programs and services that would capitalize on the existing, highly
competent rehabilitation therapy staff and the Dubai Medical Center’s excellent
reputation in the Gulf Cooperation region.
At the time of the retreat, Ali Salma’s parents were living with him and his family.
Ali was an active member of the “sandwich generation.” His parents were aging and
developing many problems common to the geriatric populace. Their increased
medical needs were beginning to wear on Ali and his family. It crossed Ali’s mind that
life might be more pleasant if the hospital Board approved an expansion of the
Medical Center’s campus to include an assisted living facility.
In March 1999, Ali had his Business Development team prepare a rough estimate
of the potential return on investment of an assisted living facility. He asked the team to
identify different options for facility construction and the associated costs. The team
also did a complete competitive analysis and examined the options for services to be
offered based on Dubai Medical Center’s potential population base and catchment
area. The Business Development team visited several facilities across UAE. The team also
interviewed companies that could oversee the design, building, and operation of the
facility for Dubai Medical Center. The development team produced a preliminary
business plan based on the recommended structure for the facility, estimated capital
expenditure needs, estimated income from operation of the facility, as well as
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projected revenues to other Medical Center programs resulting from the facility’s
population.
The plan was presented at the May 1999 meeting of the Board of Trustees. Ali
Salma and his team introduced the Board to the concept of opening an assisted living
facility on Dubai Medical Village. The facility would be set up as a for-profit subsidiary of
the Medical Center so that it could generate a profit and not be subjected to the strict
guidelines of the hospital’s accrediting agencies. As a subsidiary organization, however,
the Board would still have control. The chosen facility design was a freestanding
apartment- like facility with a sheltered connection to the Hospital for access to the
kitchen and hospital services. The facility would have 100 units with 15 to 30 of the units
classified as “heavy-assisted” and built to code to house the physically and medically
disabled. The rest of the units would be “light-assisted,” larger apartments. The
population would be approximately 110 to 150 residents, with most being single
occupants rather than couples.
The light-assisted apartments could hold residents who required only minor
medical and social interventions. The residents of the heavy-assisted section would
have more medical needs and would require assistance getting around. The Business
Development team recommended this type of programming model, because many
assisted living facilities were erected across the country, but few had a medical focus
and offered the types of services that Dubai Medical Center could offer—physical and
occupational therapy programs, and behavior management programs to name a few.
The Board was assured that the facility would meet the strategic initiative of a
growing business. The business plan projected an immediate increase in the number of
referrals to the outpatient therapy programs. Another projected deliverable of the
project was to enable Dubai Medical Center to strengthen its focus on reimbursable
preventive and wellness programs for the healthier geriatric population. The project’s
longer term goal was to increase the census in the hospital’s inpatient units by having a
location where people could age in place until they were in need of hospitalization,
and then such a facility would be right next door.
Depending on the exact size of the apartments, their equipment, and the actual
ratio of heavy- to light – assisted units, Ali estimated that the entire project would cost
between AED 80million and AED110million for the facility construction. That estimate
included the cost of land, furnishings, and a sheltered connection to the hospital. When
up and running, it was estimated that the net income would range between AED 9
million and AED12 million per unit per year. The team estimated the net cash flow for
the entire project to be around AED 20 million per year.
Ali requested the Board to approve the concept and allow his team to prepare a pro
forma plan to the Board for approval. The plan would include a recommended design
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for both heavy- and light-assisted apartments. It would also include all costs of land,
construction, furnishings, and staffing. Income estimates would be included and would
be conservatively biased. A timetable would also be included.
The Board conducted several executive sessions, and by the middle of May
voted to approve the concept. They approved the architectural-constructionmanagement
firm recommended by the team, and they requested Ali to proceed with
developing a complete project plan. The Board appointed two Board members to sit
on Ali’s planning group.
In June, Dr. Ali gathered his executive team together and presented the project
mission, and scope. He reported that the board had approved a small budget to
finance the planning process. The Board also stipulated that construction could not
begin until after the November 1999 due to some holidays schedules. The Board also
stated that they would like a plan that would allow the facility to open by July 2000, as
research has shown that many adult children find the summer the easiest time to assist
their parents in finding an alternative to independent living arrangements. The CEO and
executive team were now confident that they were ready to launch the project to
plan, build, and open an assisted living facility at the Dubai Medical Center.
A few days later, Ali decided that it was time to set up the team that would take
responsibility for what he called the DALF project. He quickly decided to include the
following staff at the launch meeting:
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Vice President of Business Development and Marketing
• Rehab Services Medical Director
• Construction Project Manager for capital facilities projects
• Chief Operations Officer (COO) (nursing, facilities, food services, and
housekeeping)
• Director of Information Services
• Director of Support Services (central supply, purchasing, and security)
Even though the department directors from Support Services and Information
Services would not be involved until later, Ali decided to include them from the
beginning. Ali knew some members of his team had a tendency to become obstacles
to progress if they felt left out.
Ali named the group the DALF Project Steering Committee and held the first
meeting. Ali presented his vision for the facility. He told the group that he personally
would be managing this project. He led a discussion of all the major steps that must be
included in the project plan, and asked each team member to identify the areas for
which they would accept responsibility. The hospital’s Construction Project Manager
took responsibility for the construction of the facility, and the COO volunteered to
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oversee the building design, as well as define the needs for food services,
housekeeping, staffing, and policy and procedure development. The CFO agreed to
develop the budgets for each area of the project as well as the operating budget for
the facility. The CFO also agreed to create the payroll and accounting systems
necessary to operate the facility.
The IS director accepted responsibility to define and set up all the telecommunications
and information system needs of the facility. The VP of Business Development agreed to
create a preliminary marketing plan, and a communication package for the
community and hospital staff. In addition, she discussed organizing a major ground
breaking event. The Medical Director said that he would design an assessment tool for
determining residents’ level of medical needs upon moving in to the facility. He felt this
was the first step in defining what clinical services should be offered to residents. Ali told
the team that he would develop the management structure for the new facility and
work with in-house counsel to identify all governmental regulations as well as all industry
standards that pertain to an assisted living facility and govern the facility’s practices. Ali
gave the team two months to come back with their detailed action plans for their
areas of responsibility.
After series of meetings Ali felt that his team members had worked well together at
determining the steps and the associated costs of the program. The CFO presented the
program budget first, and then project team members presented their draft project
plans.
Based on information accrued from project team members the Project
Manager arrived at the following major task/activities for implementation of the
project.
ID Task Name Predecessors Duration (Weeks)
A Foundation NONE 3
B Erect Frame A 4
C Roof B 4
D Windows B 1
E Doors B 1
F Electrical B 3
G Rough-in frame C,D,E,F 2
H Door Opener E,F 1
I Paint G,H 2
J Clean-up I 1
The project Manager decides to hire you as a consultant to help develop the project
further.
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1. What advice would you provide the PM in determining the Early Start/Free Slack
(ES/FS) for an activity with two predecessors?
2. What advice will you provide the PM in order to manage the critical path tasks
differently than non-critical path tasks?
3. Draw a Project Network given the information for the construction project.
4. Complete the forward and backward pass, compute the activity slack and
identify the critical path of the project
5. Draw a Gantt chart for the project and superimpose the slack on the chart
6. What is the next step the team members must take in order to complete their
project
Where required, your write-up should be in essay format, using APA guidelines. Make
sure to include in your paper an introduction, literature review, analysis, discussion and
findings, concluding remarks, recommendations, and references on any literature
providing concepts and theories in support of your paper. Please include sections and
subsections to make your final paper easy for reader to follow and ensure that your
paper is free from grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Please note that
literature review and additional references will add value to your paper and provide
trust and clarity to the readers.
All papers are to be submitted through TURNITIN
On or before Sunday April 17, 2016 by mid-day.
Use the following format to save your assignment file: IBS_412_Business Project
Management: Hassan A (where Hassan = last name and A = initials).
Guidelines for Analyzing Case Studies
While there is no “formula” for analyzing case studies, the following guidelines are
recommended;
1. Define the goals and objectives for your analysis. What questions are you trying to
answer? What issues are you trying to resolve?
2. Rapidly skim through the case study and get a sense for how the case study has
been structured
3. Read through the case study with paper and pencil and make notes as you go along
4. Structure the information in the case study: this is the key step.
a. Think of the information given in the case study as “raw data” that you have gathered
to help you answer the questions and resolve the issues in Step 1 above.
b. You need to structure this data in order to resolve the issues. Here are some useful
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dimensions along which you can structure the given information chronologically:
c. Evolution of the industry in which the enterprise operates (changes in technology,
customer needs, competitive landscape, etc.)
d. Evolution of strategy – business, technology, and market – of the enterprise
e. Evolution of technology (including manufacturing), product platforms, and product
lines of the enterprise
f. The technology, product, and process development process within the enterprise
g. Growth (or decline) of the enterprise with respect to of market share, revenues, costs,
profits, etc.
h. Organizational structure of the enterprise
i. Key decisions made at different stages in the life of enterprise, and the drivers for these
decisions
j. The interconnections and relationships between all the above factors
k. Make extensive use of figures, tables, trees, etc. to shape your thinking during the
structuring process.
l. Perform any necessary analysis, for example, revenues or costs associated with different
design options
m. Draw conclusions, answer questions, resolve issues, and make recommendations using
the structured information in Step 4.
Abstract
The abstract is a brief summary of the Case Analysis providing the purpose, method used in writing the paper, the findings, and some conclusions. The abstract should not exceed 250 words, it is one paragraph and not indented.
Title of Your Paper
Introduction starts here
The introduction is the part of the paper that provides readers with the background information for the Case Study. Its purpose is to establish a framework for the study, so that readers can understand how it is related to other study. It establishes the issues or concerns leading to the case study by conveying information about a problem. The introduction follows the table of contents and is the first page of the paper which is numbered with the number 3 (title page counts as 1, table of content as 2, introduction first page as 3).
In your Case study paper, the problem that leads to the need for the study will be stated in the introduction. It might spring from experience in the real world or may come from an extensive debate in government/academia, among top executives or society in general.
Literature review
A literature review is both a summary and explanation of the complete and current state of knowledge on case study as discussed in the course. A literature review is organized around ideas, not the sources themselves as an annotated bibliography would be organized. You should assess previous studies and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. You also have to think about which themes and issues your sources have in common.
The literature review gives readers easy access to research on a particular topic by selecting high quality articles or studies that are relevant, meaningful, important and valid and summarizing them into one complete report. You should organize your literature review as clearly as possible. Make sure to select only those topics most directly related to the case question at hand. You should not simply provide summary of each study but rather tie together the results of the studies so that their relevance is clear. When conflicting findings are reported in different studies, suggest possible explanations. Your lecturer may specify the minimum or maximum number of literature to be reviewed.
Discussion
Case Questions (To be matched to Case question)
Carefully examine the case questions and develop your remaining sections to match the questions. Do not position the questions as topics, rather form titles with the case questions. For example, would you characterize the decisions in Coke as structured decisions or unstructured problems? becomes “Structured and Unstructured Decision in Coke”. The case analysis then will follow in this section as it relates the title. See below for guidelines in analyzing case studies.
Conclusions/Recommendations
The conclusion is often thought of as the easiest part of the paper but should by no means be disregarded. There are a number of key components which should not be omitted. These include:
– summary of question posed
– summary of findings
– summary of main limitations of the study at hand
– details of possibilities for related future research.
You should note that the conclusion is not the place to introduce new insights into the question at hand. All ideas and thoughts should have been already mentioned at this stage. New thoughts should refer to future research questions.
References
From the very beginning of a case project, you should be careful to note all details of concepts and theories gathered from texts books and articles ad provide citations in your paper. List the references in alphabetical order based on the writing style adapted. Referencing may follow at this time any approved style of writing, e.g. APA, MLA, Harvard, etc. Whichever style is adopted, the students must be consistent in its usage throughout the paper.
Appendix
The appendix should be used for collected data (e.g. questionnaires, transcripts,) and for tables and graphs not included in the main text due to their subsidiary nature or to space constraints in the main text. Although the appendices should be listed in the table of contents, it should be remembered that the appendices should be read parallel to the main text, not following it. The reader cannot, however, be expected to know exactly when each appendix is relevant and must, therefore, be told when to refer to which appendix.
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