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116 Applications of Spreadsheets in Education The Amazing Power of a Simple Tool, 2011, 116–139 Project Management Spreadsheet Gaming Application Wee Leong Lee School of Information Systems Singapore Management University, Singapore CHAPTER 7 Address correspondence to: Dr. Wee Leong Lee, School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University, 80 Stamford Road, Singapore 178902; Tel: (+65) 6828-0937; E-mail: wllee@smu.edu.sg Abstract: This chapter seeks to illustrate how simple spreadsheets can be used creatively with amazing outcomes. This will be demonstrated through a project management game, built entirely using standard spreadsheet features and functions. The project management game is designed as a teaching tool to allow players to experience project management in an interactive and fun atmosphere. In the game, players learn to respond to unforeseen events, make appropriate decisions to resolve issues, keep the project team motivated, and take corrective measures to keep the project on track and on target. This chapter is aimed at providing an overview of the game, discussing how it should be played, and explaining the underlying principles behind the rules of the game. It is not meant to be technical, although some amount of logical relationship between variables and mathematical functions will be discussed. Keywords: project management, gaming applications. 7.1 Introduction Spreadsheets were originally intended to help ease laborious accounting work but their applications have extended far beyond just crunching numbers, accredited to their versatility and ease of use. Today they have become one of the most commonly used applications both in school and at work. The use of spreadsheets as teaching tools has also gained popularity in recent years. Spreadsheets have been extensively applied to numerous fields, ranging from engineering, statistics, operations management, business modeling, and Monte-Carlo simulations [1–3]. Microsoft Excel has been the predominant spreadsheet application for many years given the pervasive Microsoft Windows platform. The built-in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) programming language in Excel has greatly enhanced its application beyond the normal usage of spreadsheets. Numerous games have been developed in Excel spreadsheets and are shared freely over the internet. In the course of developing a module in IT projects and vendor management, I looked at what has been done in this area using spreadsheets. I found numerous templates for project plan- Mark Lau and Stephen Sugden (Eds) All rights reserved – c○2011 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Project Management Spreadsheet Applications of Spreadsheets in Education The Amazing Power of a Simple Tool 117 ning, budgeting, and Gantt charts. These templates although useful and easily adoptable with little training did not meet my expectations. I needed a more interactive application that could serve as a teaching tool to allow students to relate to project management concepts and best practices. My search was quite exhaustive but I was unable to find an application in Excel that suited my purposes. However, I did find some commercial websites selling project management simulation tools. Having evaluated some of these commercial project simulation tools, which are often complex, not user-friendly and costly, I shelved the idea of incorporating them for my course. Having taught a course (Computer as an Analysis Tool) which uses spreadsheets as problem solving and modeling tools over four years, I gathered I should have sufficient knowledge and skill sets to build an Excel-based project management game. I have never looked back. The process of building the game although agonizing at times has turned out to be a very fulfilling and enriching experience. Excel is an excellent tool for building an application quickly without messing with database, user-interfaces, and reporting tools. All these functionalities can be developed relatively easily in Excel albeit scalability could be an issue in the long run. The ease of creating user interfaces, rich library of mathematical functions, ease of storing and retrieving data (without having to handle large arrays), and simplicity of the coding in VBA programming language reduce the development effort considerably. A simulator is not to be confused with simulation. A simulator requires the user to respond interactively to requests and events in real-time and their responses to those requests and events will have consequences (e.g., a flight simulator). A simulation, on the other hand, usually requires the user to set up the initial simulation parameters before running the simulation. The outcomes can only be known after the simulation is completed and no action is needed while the simulation is running. The project management game I developed requires the player to set up a project plan (i.e., initial simulation parameters) before executing the plan (i.e., responding to changes). Project managers have to manage multiple performance indexes and make critical decisions to situations that often result in tradeoffs between the performance indexes. Unforeseen events beyond the control of project managers can occur that require good judgment and decision making in order to steer the project toward successful completion. The project management life cycle can be broadly categorized into three stages, namely, project planning, project execution, and control and project closing. Each stage is equally important to ensure project success although I chose to only focus on the project planning and project execution and control in the game to begin with. In this chapter, I will elaborate more on the planning stage while briefly touching on the execution and control stage. The chapter is not meant to be too technical, although some amount of logical relationship between variables and mathematical functions is discussed. 7.2 About the Game: Structure and Features The project management game is designed as a teaching tool to allow players to experience project management in an interactive and dynamic environment. In the game, players learn to respond to unforeseen events, make appropriate decisions to resolve issues, keep the project team motivated, and take corrective measures to keep the project on track and on target. Throughout the gaming exercise, players get to appreciate and experience the complexity of project management in an
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