Case Study on Synaptic Corporation - Essay Example

?Running Head: CASE STUDY ON SYNAPTIC CORPORATION Case Study on Synaptic Corporation Insert Insert Grade Insert 7 March2011 Outline Introduction Risks that the Information Management Process Faces: Delay Risks Estimate Risks Dependency Risks Risk Tools to be applied on each Risk Type Conclusion Reference Case Study on Synaptic Corporation Introduction This essay is on a case study of Synaptic Corporation, which is a company that develops drugs. The company’s staff is broadly divided into two: Information management and computational scientists. The Company faces cultural challenges and lack of proper communication and coordination between the two teams (Makarov, C, 2007, p. 1-5). This results to several risks within the Corporation. This essay identifies the risks facing the Information management process and their respective tools as recommended by the hired consultant. Risks that the Information Management Process Faces Delay Risks To be able to fully give the solutions to the issues that are plaguing Synaptic Corporation, as a consultant, I would like to point out some of the risks that from my analysis and research, seem to be affecting the company. These types of schedule risks are quite common; they are defined to be slips in schedule as a result of aspects that are at least ostensibly under the project’s control. More than half of the scheduled risks are represented by delay risks. There are about four types of delay risk. They include hardware, parts, information, and decisions (Kendrick, 2009, p. 72). Main sources of delay with regard to parts are problems to do with delivery and availability. Delays may also be as a result of available parts that did arrive at the required time although they have been discovered to be having defects. For example in the current case, the Information Management complains that the scientific software development presented to them by the Computational biologists is defective and that it does meet the standards of the company apart from being incompatible with the company architecture. This therefore causes the Information management to delay in making decisions that are critical to the operation of the corporation based on what the computational scientists have to present. Another case in the delay category is information type of delay. Both misunderstandings and communication time lags may result to information delay. In other cases, there can be interruption in the delivery of required reports as well poor access to the relevant information (Kendrick, 2009, p. 72-73). In the synaptic case, there is delay risk as a result of information based delay. This can be deduced from the explanation given by the Information Management managers. They assert that the computational team does not make consultations with them early enough (indicating communication time lags). Apart from this, the computation scientists are blamed for submitting an end product to the Information Managers which requires which does not give the latter sufficient time to switch to a new set of servers on a deadline that is too tight. They also claim that doing all this requires both planning and budgeting that should have been done earlier. This clearly points out an element of information delay due to communication time lags between the two groups. On the other hand, I have found out as a consultant that computational scientists are complaining of the Information Managers’ slow pace of development and perceive their demands about documentation and governance as bureaucratic and uneconomical. In their view, the Information managers are behind the technology curve. This from my point of view as a consultant is a clear show of misunderstanding between the two groups, which are the key cause delay risk in fulfilling the objectives of the corporation. The other cause of delay risk is the hardware that is required to ensure that project work has been performed. These include both equipment and systems that may be late (Kendrick, 2009, p. 73). In the case of Synaptic Corporation, one of the hardware that is useful in the execution of project work is the PC that is under scientist Steve Levitt’s custody. It has Oracle’s latest version, soft ware and data that is instrumental for one of the processes of biological computational. The details in this PC do not have any other back up within the organization and he is the only one accessible to it. Even Steve’s own colleagues cannot operate the software in absence. He has to be consulted over the cell phone so as top disclose more details regarding the use of the information in the PC. Steve has not been willing to make the information regarding the operation of the PC available (Makarov, 2007, p. 2). Hence, this causes lateness in performing project work that may require the use of the PC and all the relevant information saved in it during the times that Steve is not available to operate it. This caused further delay and problems on the purpose for which the information was intended when an error was found in the main database of scientist Steve. Another cause for project slippage is slow decisions. Unwillingness of both managers and other relevant stakeholders to take quick actions in ensuring that the project is on schedule may result to delay risk (Kendrick, 2009, p. 73). One of the slow decision making processes observed in the Synaptic Corporation case is the inability of scientist Steve and his manager to make a decision regarding the importance and need to allow his colleagues and other members of the organization to have an access to his PC and to the important information contained in its database. Additionally, whereas the Information Management group prefers to arrive at decisions through groups, the Computational Biology group is used to working in solitude and making their own decisions. This independence may result to the delay risk in making decisions that represent the welfare of the corporation Estimating Risks These are cases where insufficient time is allocated to the activities of the project. This is where most managers will admit to have problems. The advice that I may give as standard is that, history should be relied upon for good estimates; however, history may not prove to be helpful in cases where the environment is in constant flux. There three sub categories that relate to the estimating risk. They include judgments, learning curves and imposed deadlines (Kendrick, 2009, p. 73). The most often type of estimating risk is the case of learning curves. When new people, new technology, or both are used, the quality of estimates is not normally good. The aspects of the project that may call upon members of staff to undertake responsibilities that they are not accustomed to is always too risky (Kendrick, 2009, p. 72). In the current case, this is well portrayed towards the end of 2006 when errors are traced in Synaptic’s main database. After two months investigations, the error is said to have originated from scientist Steve’s calculations. Apparently, there was a change in some of the parameters in doing a given experiment earlier on in the year and both Steve and his supervisor had forgotten to correct this. Since the Information Manager was not familiar with calculations of Steve’s research and could not access the scientist’s software, he could not respond to the demands put on him to correct the error. The other estimating problem that is quite evident in most organizations is judgment. In cases where some of the estimations may be overoptimistic, the estimate risk may even be larger. Handling this source of estimating risk requires proper planning, clear comprehension and decomposition of the task such that steps and efforts needed are well known. It also calls for proper keeping of records. Future estimates should not be created from the archives of metrics and project data. This is because estimates of the future are more consistent with reality than with estimates of the past. Guesswork is always less preferred to having some data. The parameters used by Steve and his supervisor in a previous experiment may not directly apply in the current situation with regard to the Corporation’s database due to dynamism that has been brought up by change in time and other factors. The third subcategory of estimating risks is imposed deadlines. This is where project team has no say towards aggressive deadlines that are set by technical that are set on technical projects. The source of errors in such estimates may originate from outside (Kendrick, 2009, p. 74). For instance, in the case of Synaptic Corporation, the main database is under the control of the Fast consultants, and since most of the scientists within the Corporation have been reaching out to third party consultants rather than the Information Management of the company, there are higher chances of the source of errors with regard to the database may originate more from the outside. Moreover, my research shows that the Synaptic Company may also be undertaking some projects based on the demands and the deadlines given by other clients. Such strict deadlines may deny the company an opportunity to use the latest information and relevant parameters to accomplish some projects. Dependency Risks From my view as a consultant, the three subcategories for this are other projects, legal aspects and infrastructural factors. A greater portion of dependency risks emanate from other projects. Several smaller projects may interact and connect to the larger project. The projects might contain information that could be relevant to each other. It is always difficult to handle all these links within a large organization. The degree of damage increases as time advances and most of the errors are discovered towards the advanced stages of the project (Kendrick, 2009, p. 74-75). This is exactly the case witnessed at Synaptic Corporation. Parameters that were used by Steve to conduct a given experiment earlier on in the year after being altered were found to have caused many errors in the firm’s main database. Risk Tools to be Applied on each Risk Type After discussing the types of risks affecting the Synaptic Corporation, I would like to point out several risk tools that can be applied so as to deal with these risks. The best risk management tool to be applied to the all the delay risks is risk avoidance. This involves a change of the project management plan to do away with the threat completely. This may be achieved through reducing the scope, extending the schedule or applying strategy change. Some of the delays can be avoided early enough through improving communication, acquisition of expertise and clarifying requirements (Project management Institute, 2008, p. 303). This should also be applied to the dependency risks where there should be an improvement in communication regarding information related to various projects to avoid carrying forward errors that originated from another project into the main project. For example, Steve should have shared the information regarding the changed parameters from an experiment to avoid them being applied to cause errors in the Company’s main database and to other vital projects. For the estimate risks, my recommendation as a consultant on the best tool to be applied by the Synaptic Corporation is risk mitigation. It entails reducing the possibility and impact of a risk event to be within acceptable threshold limits. Hence, action ought to be taken early to reduce the possibility and impact of the risk is preferable than dealing with it after it has taken place (Project management Institute, 2008, p. 304). For example, more caution should be exercised be the Computational Scientists to ensure that the parameters within the Company’s database are not interfered with. Conclusion In summary, my research and analyst as a consultant shows that the three types of risks facing Synaptic Corporation are dependency, estimating, and delay risks. Both the Information Management and Computational Biologists have a role to play in the causes of the risks, as well as in their management and for that matter. In dealing with delay and dependency risks, I urge the IM management to apply the tool of avoidance. On the other hand, risk mitigation will be the best tool to be applied for the estimate risk. References Makarov, C. (2007). Research Information Management at Synaptic (Attached Material). Kendrick, T. (2009). Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing Your Project. (Attached Material). Project management Institute. (2008). A Guide to the Project management Body of Knowledge (Attached material). Read More