Reference no: EM133869015

Business Analytics Project Management

Assessment - Project Simulation

Assessment Description
Data Labelling services to be offered by Uber

The Uber Data Labelling project has now progressed to the stage where it is necessary to prepare a Gantt chart to manage project timing. To do this, the Project Manager meets with their 3 Project facilitators.

Group task

You are to form a group of 3 to 4 class members. One of you will be the Project Manager. The other group members will be Project Facilitators.

The group will discuss the challenges that they are facing/ likely to face in accessing services from Uber's IT department, especially your interface with the Data Science team within the IT Department. You have learnt this team is already stretched with other tasks within the broader Uber operations, especially from the new division seeking to offer self-driving cars within 12 months.

You have also been confronted by Uber Sales Directors, who have informed you they have already acquired several large business customers, on the basis that your service will be operational within 6 months. This has added pressure to timing of a full functioning data labelling service.

One of the Project facilitators has met with representatives from your People and Culture function. They have expressed deep concerns about risks associated with this project, if the data labelling were to be erroneous and lead to human misfortune. They believe a lengthy consultation process is needed before progressing with this project.

Another Project Facilitator has met with Uber's Chief Risk Officer. They are excited by a data labelling
service being offered to third party businesses, but are unclear about data privacy and security issues. They

advocate proceeding with caution and consulting them at each step, to allay any concerns they may have. They mention they have a response time of two weeks after each step, as they also need to consult with other stakeholders, including the Chief Ethics Officer and Uber's internal hackers.

The third Project Facilitator had a family emergency in India and needed to go home for an extended stay. They have now returned to your office, but they are distressed by their personal circumstances and are unable to concentrate on this project - they feel they don't need any more stress in their life. However the scale and timeframe of this project require them to deliver their fair share of project co-ordination. In the project team meeting, you decide to allocate them facilitation that involves monitoring progress of tasks by others, but you have your doubts as to whether they will truly assist or just be a burden for the rest of your team.

Tasks now required from the Project team

You are required to perform the following initial tasks:

Discuss all the tasks to be included in the Gantt chat.

Identify the data that is needed for this project. Hint: Uber has already been using data labelling for each of its divisions (eg Uber taxis, Uber Eats, Uber Freight). Both training data and test data will be needed across a range of business use cases.

Develop a strategy to work with the Data Scientists in the IT Department to access pertinent data for your project.

Determine, at a higher level, the types of models to be build once data is accessed. Who would you consult with in order to determine the nature of these models?

Once your Data Scientists come on board, how will you manage version control during the development of their models and associated software?

Questions for Assessment 2

Prepare a Gantt chart. In so doing, provide a rationale for each task, timeframe and dependency.

List all the stakeholders you consulted with in the preparation of the Gantt chart. Explain the type of information each stakeholder provided and the justification for this information.

Develop a Risk Management plan, based on identified risks. Who did you consult with in the development of this risk plan?

Define the risk appetite of your project, as nominated by your Project Owner/ Project Sponsor. On the basis of this risk appetite and the probability/ impact of each risk, place each risk on a heat map. What is the treatment plan for each of the risks in the "red" region?

Discuss how you will engage your Data Scientists. Likewise, how will the rest of your team engage your Project facilitator, who is stressed by family health issues? How will you set boundaries with the People and Culture Department and the Chief Risk Officer?

What contingencies were allocated to this project and provide an example of when you would activate a contingency fund?