The University of Western ontario's

Executive Summary

The University of Western Ontario’s plat of HMS pinafore has built a solid reputation over the last few years of a premium high quality theatre at a low price.

Francis Hoven has taken on the daunting task of producing this play as a volunteer along with other volunteer help. He must do so in a tight timeline with little monetary resources.

Francis must review all key priorities of the production planning process in order to identify his critical path objectives to ensure the play commences on Jan 13. In doing so Francis must take on information from his teammates who have been involved on the play before to help aid he in developing a fool proof schedule that will meet the timeline and budget set out to him by the University.

Francis must follow key project management guidelines to aid him in drawing out a network diagram that will increase his likelihood of success. In doing so Francis takes into consideration the schools Christmas break and exam schedule so he doesn’t run the risk of having cast and crew members bail on him due to stress and overwork leading up to the plays first performance.

Issue Identification

Francis Hoven the producer in conjunction with his team has a variety of issues at stake in ensuring the production of HMS Pinafore is successful. In the short term they must first address receiving budget approval, hiring of a publicity director and set out advertising to hire the crew and cast members. These issues are of most important in the short term as they set precedence on the next parts of schedule to move forward with the production plan.

In the long term Francis has major hurdles to overcome to meet the teams schedule and have all activities completed and prepared for opening night. Francis’s major hurdles include first formalizing a proper schedule and identifying risks and opportunities so the team can ensure each item gets executed within the time frame. In order to do so Francis must find ways to provide a schedule that will address the concerns of Christmas break, final exams, not burning out the volunteers and students and falls in line with the set out budget that he must adhere to.

Environmental and Root Cause Analysis

Francis’s schedule and work flow diagram he must put forward is hindered by final exams and the Christmas break which must be addressed properly to minimize the risk of having crew and cast members drop out due to overwork. This problem is further constricted by the budget. The project budget set forward does not include labour as volunteers are all utilized in the plays production. Francis cannot enhance the schedule with monetary resources to the most critical part the people (although he could hire a master builder for the set). This reliance on his cast and crew members further iterates the importance of setting forth