THE WALLACE E. CARROLL SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MD240: Management Information Systems
Fall 2002
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Team Project
Team Project: Case Study Simulation on Customer Relationship Management
The team project will involve a case study simulation led by staff from Deloitte Consulting (DC) here in Boston. Students will form teams, and each team will serve as MIS consultants to a made-up corporation. This case experience will be based on a case study of a real consulting engagement involving choices surrounding the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
The Objective:
The goal of this experience is for you to experience first-hand the life of an MIS consultant, and to go through an experience in which you must make some decisions like they make in their consultancy. Another objective is to provide you with opportunities to interact with actual MIS consultants who deal with the technologies we talk about in class on a daily basis. Many of these consultants will be BC alumni, and they are all volunteering their time to help you gain a better understanding about the MIS consulting industry, the activities in their daily jobs, and the topic of CRM.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this experience, you should learn the following:
(1) You'll know a lot about MIS consulting and CRM.
(2) You'll know how to present a sales pitch for IT consulting services (and conversely, if you need to buy such services in the future, you'll know what you're being told and what you're not being told).
(3) You'll know how to write a response to a Request For Proposal (RFP) for IT consulting services (or other consulting services), in order to try to win a client.
(4) You'll have a chance to present your solution to, be questioned by, and be judged by, Deloitte managers and partners (and, of course, your instructor).
The Prize:
The case simulation is a competitive exercise. After the presentation of your suggested solutions, the Deloitte judges will announce the top three teams' solutions. Your instructor will present a BC-branded prize to those teams on the final day of class.
Your Project Team:
You will be asked to form groups of approximately 5 students each. While the natural tendency when doing so is to pick (a) a group of your friends, or (b) those sitting closest to you in class ... I suggest you not do this.
You may want to make sure that your group has a mixture of people with tendencies toward project management (i.e., the "Project Manager" type), concept development and brainstorming (i.e., "Concept People"), documentation of what you accomplish (i.e., "Document Manager/Word Expert/PowerPoint Expert"), and abilities to envision how to choose and adapt technologies to create systems ("Techie Types/Techno-Geeks").
One person MUST volunteer or be chosen to serve as the Project Manager for the team. This person will be the primary contact who will interact with the DC employees who will work with your team. The Project Manager will set up group meetings with the DC employees, and of course, will need to manage group members to get the project done.
Further information about the consulting roles that individuals in your team will need to take on will be given during the first DC class presentation.
Project Timeline:
The timeline for this project will be as follows: (Dates and times will be updated as these days approach.)
Friday, September 27 (3:00-4:15, Fulton 115): Staff members from DC will attend class to introduce themselves, and will present a presentation on what MIS consulting involves, what their backgrounds are, what their jobs are like, and what different personnel roles are available in MIS consulting. They will then present the Case Study that each of your MIS consulting teams will be asked to present a solution for. They will describe the client's problem, present each team with materials about the client problem, and outline the expected deliverables at the end of the consulting engagement.
Friday, October 11 (3:00-4:45, Fulton 115): Staff members from DC will attend class and will present a presentation on what CRM is, how it affects sales force management and customer service, the various technologies involved, and so forth. They may demonstrate a few of the software packages that are used today.
From October 11 To November 22: Each team will work on providing a solution to the client. Each team will have access to a DC staff person who will serve as a "Managing Partner" to help guide your team toward an appropriate solution and to make sure you don't end up way off track. Each team will have access to a DC staff person who will serve as a "Client Company Manager" who can provide you with answers to any questions that may arise. These contacts with DC staff will probably require one telephone conference call involving your whole team, and perhaps other contacts between the MD240 team project manager and the two DC staff members.
Each MD240 team will probably want to figure out what sort of roles each person will want to take for solving the case. One person should definitely be chosen to be a Project Manager who can drive the project forward. Other roles may include: Technology Guru, Process Modeler, and other roles (these will be described by our DC presenters on March 22).
Friday, November 22 (1:00-6:00): All teams from MD240 will take a bus downtown to the offices of DC to present the teams' case solutions in the DC boardroom. Each team will present their solution to a judging panel of DC managers who will evaluate the team presentations, choose the best solution, and present what was actually done as a wrap-up to the experience. Each team will need to be prepared to present a 10 minute overhead presentation of their suggested solution to the case. Each team will probably need to choose two persons from the team to present their results, in order to meet the 10 minute presentation time limit.
After the presentations are finished and a winning team has been chosen, there will be a debriefing to explain to you how this case was solved in the real consulting engagement. There also may be time for a short social period during which you will get to further meet and get to know the DC staff who have been involved in this case simulation experience.