CESIM PROJECT Decision-making guide

Table of Contents Chapter 1. About Cesim ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Chapter 2. Simulation Platform Introduction .................................................................................................... 3

2.1. General User-Interface Options ............................................................................................................. 3

2.2. Home Page .............................................................................................................................................. 4

2.3. Decision Areas ........................................................................................................................................ 5

2.4. Results .................................................................................................................................................... 6

2.5. Schedule ................................................................................................................................................. 8

2.6. Teams area ............................................................................................................................................. 9

2.7. Readings ............................................................................................................................................... 10

2.8. Forums .................................................................................................................................................. 11

Chapter 3. Project overview ............................................................................................................................ 12

3.1. Project organization ............................................................................................................................. 12

3.2. Main Objective and Winning Criterion ................................................................................................. 12

3.3. Decision-making flow ........................................................................................................................... 12

Chapter 4. Decision-making sections .............................................................................................................. 14

4.1. Outlooks ............................................................................................................................................... 14

4.2. Project Map .......................................................................................................................................... 15

4.3. Gantt chart ............................................................................................................................................ 16

4.4. Tasks ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

4.5. Project management ............................................................................................................................ 20

4.6. Tracking ................................................................................................................................................ 22

4.7. Player Skills ........................................................................................................................................... 23

4.8. All Projects ............................................................................................................................................ 24

Chapter 5. Results ............................................................................................................................................ 25

5.1. Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 25

5.2. Individual sub-project pages ................................................................................................................ 27

5.3. Time, cost and quality .......................................................................................................................... 27

5.4. Budgets ................................................................................................................................................. 27

5.5. Comparison ........................................................................................................................................... 27

Chapter 1. About Cesim

Cesim provides corporations, universities, and other educational institutions easy-to-use and cost-effective business simulations that can be integrated in various business courses. Headquartered in Finland since 1996, we operate globally through our own offices and partner network.

Chapter 2. Simulation Platform Introduction

2.1. General User-Interface Options

1. My Info – Through this page, you can personalize your Cesim player account by adding personal data about yourself, as well as a picture, which will then be shown in various part of the user interface. You can also change your password here, or even your email. On the bottom of the page, there are two checkboxes or determining when you wish to receive automated email notifications. It is highly recommended that all students use valid emails here, as otherwise they could miss important information during the game. Also, the "Forgot my password" feature works through email, making password recovery impossible through an invalid email address.

2. Support – This is your best way to reach the Cesim Support team, should you run into problems or issues relating to the game functionality. Please note that for any content related questions, you should primarily contact your instructor. 3. Change Language – You will find a list of supported languages for the game here. You can change the user interface language at any point of the game.

2.2. Home Page

1. Player Information

2. Email function – Use this to easily reach your team members and instructor through emails. An easy to use checkbox allows you to choose which team members you want to reach. 3. This panel shows all the important on-going data of the course. On the top you see the main indicators of the last round. Below it, you will find information about round deadlines, forums messages and quizzes.

2.3. Decision Areas

The Decision Area is split into several theme based sub-categories (e.g. Tasks, Project management, etc.).

The actual decisions are entered into dedicated fields within their respective areas. There are two general types of decision making fields: 1. In the white cells you enter your decisions.

2. Drop-down menus are used in certain decisions where there are some specific options to choose from. The system automatically updates the budgets and calculations as you make decisions.

Once the round deadline is passed, the game will automatically calculate results based on the final decisions found in the Decision Area.

2.4. Results

As mentioned before, the round results are calculated immediately after the deadline passes based on the decisions made in Decision Area. The games also allow you to review the results from completed rounds, including possible practice rounds, at any given time during the course of the simulation by using the Results page drop-down menu. You may also utilize some special features, such as downloadable Excel versions of the round results and slideshows of main indicators.

1. The universe drop-down menu lets you choose any universe in the on-going course. 2. Use the Round drop-down menu to choose the desired round results. 3. Use the "Download" button to download an excel file of the chosen round results.

2.5. Schedule

In the schedule section, you can see a list of the number of rounds that have been set for the course, as well as the deadlines for each round. In cases where the time zone set by the user is different from the system time, this page will show the deadlines in both user time and the system time set for the course. The simulation games are often started with practice rounds. Please note that practice round results have no effect on the results of the real rounds, and are simply used to learn game mechanics and practice forecasting results. Once the practice round(s) are over, the game will reset to the initial market situation.

2.6. Teams area

The Teams area allows you to see details about players across all teams in all universes of the course. You may also edit team information, such as team name, slogan and team description. Team members may also move freely between teams until the deletion of empty teams has occurred, and the game has officially begun. Click the "Join Team" button to move to a different team. Once empty teams have been deleted and the game has begun, it is only possible for the instructor to move students between teams.

2.7. Readings

This section contains all the documentation that is needed to understand and enjoy the game. The generic reading materials will include the decision making guide and the case description. Instructors can also upload custom case specific materials here. The decision making guide shows you the basics of the simulation, such as user-interface functionality, how to make the decisions, what should be considered when making decisions, and the general order which you should begin with each round. The case description gives information regarding the business case that is being played during the course. It gives a general understanding of the project situation, trends and future challenges. Certain case specific parameters may also be given in the case description.

2.8. Forums

The forums are a great way for the players to contact their instructors or co-players, and vice versa, when face-to-face contact is not possible. The benefit of forum usage compared to private emails is that it is easy for everyone with the rights to view the forum to contribute to the discussion. The forums are split into a Team Forum, and a Course Forum. As the names suggest, in the Team Forum, only your team members can see the posts and reply to them. The Course Forum on the other hand is available for everyone on the course to participate in, regardless of team and universe. Instructors are able to view and reply to forum posts in both sections. As such, the course forum is a good place to ask questions that everyone on the course can benefit from, while the team forum is the ideal place to discuss sensitive team related issues. Unless disabled in the "My Info" section, players will get notified by email whenever something is posted on their team forum area.

Chapter 3. Project overview

3.1. Project organization

The project is divided into 2-4 sub-projects. You are assigned as a project manager in one of the sub-

projects. The project manager is responsible for completing a sub-project with the help of 2-4 virtual team

members. The project manager needs to cooperate with the other project managers who run other sub-

projects that are part of the same project.

All project managers start with a pregenerated team, with each member having their own particular

skillsets. Project managers can switch team members between the projects within one program.

3.2. Main Objective and Winning Criterion

The goal of the simulation is to maximize the value gained for the customer while minimizing the costs

incurred. These goals are naturally dependent on each other, hence a balance between expenses and value

creation must be found.

The value gained by customer is dependent on finishing the project on time and the project quality. Project

is complete, when all non-quality tasks are completed. Project is scheduled to take four months. However,

there is a fifth month for finishing the project in case it is not completed in time. However, teams suffer a

value penalty in case they are late finishing the project. The severity of the penalty depends on how late

they are.

The project quality is measured in quality points, which are awarded by completing specific tasks. Often

these tasks are located at the end of the project. The value of the project is created by accumulating quality

points.

The exact formula for winning criteria is

𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 × 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 − 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 − 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 × 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

Information about the value of quality and time is provided in the simulation parameters.

3.3. Decision-making flow

These instructions will help you as you go through the decision making tool for the first time. In the beginning, you may want to follow the decision making flow that is presented here. Later, when you are more familiar with the model, you can make decisions as you prefer. 1. Unless the ongoing round is the first round, review the results from the previous round. Discuss with

team members how to possibly improve both schedule performance and cost performance.

2. Read the outlook section and take notes on possible changes or events that have an effect on the

project.

3. Get familiar with the player skills and the required skills of the different sub-projects and tasks.

Transferring team members between different sub-projects may prove useful for achieving optimal

performance.

4. Make a plan which tasks you are going to complete during the round and also during future rounds.

Project Map and Gantt chart should turn out useful in this. Things can change fast and everything might not

happen as planned but it is good to have a general idea what should be completed by when. Due to the

collaborative nature of the simulation the communication between teams is extremely important. Some

tasks have prerequisite tasks, which are part of another sub-project. Bad internal coordination will most

likely make the project miss the deadline or even fail.

5. Allocate the tasks to team members. Aim for the best productivity per cost (cost performance) while

keeping up with the schedule. Use outsourcing, overtime and team member transfer decisions to your

advantage when necessary.

6. Keep track of the progress of the project with the tools available. Project map and Tracking tabs keep you

updated.

7. Wait for the round finish.

Chapter 4. Decision-making sections

4.1. Outlooks

You should check the program updates from the outlooks page every round. This page includes any updates

regarding your program/project resources and other issues that may have an impact on the project and

program overall.

4.2. Project Map

The project map shows the breakdown of your sub-project into tasks. The starting tasks are on the left and the tasks completed last are on the right. The connections represent prerequisite requirements. The task to the left must be completed before starting the task connected to it to the right. The completion status map shows which tasks have already been completed and which are not yet completed. Besides those properties, the drop-down menu offers other views that show different types of information of the tasks, including dependencies between projects, tasks that are outsourceable, tasks that have quality priority, and tasks that have certain skill priorities. Additionally, by hovering the mouse over a task you can see the number of workdays and prerequisite for the particular task.

4.3. Gantt chart

Participants can use the Gantt chart to plan their projects. During the planning stage you can fill the planned starting time for the task in the Starting time column. Blue bars in the chart indicate the planned time and duration of a particular task and green bars indicate the actual time and duration of the task. For example, task #5 was planned to be started in the beginning of the project (starting time 0) but it was completed in Round 2. When you hover your mouse over a task you will see the prerequisite tasks and duration. In addition, if the task is completed, you will see who completed the task. Dotted vertical lines indicate the round deadlines and planned finish (PF) of the project.

4.4. Tasks

On the Tasks page, project manager assigns the tasks for the different team members. Tasks can be

assigned only if the prerequisite tasks are already completed or assigned and the work on them doesn’t

start until the assigned prerequisite tasks are completed. Communication with other sub-project managers

is needed as some tasks have prerequisite tasks in other sub-projects.

1. Select a team member to whom you want to assign tasks and see productivity information

2. Select a task for which you wish to see productivity stats of the current team member selected

3. Select task priorities here. Work on 1st priority task will start immediately after prerequisite tasks are

completed. Work on 2nd priority task will start after completing 1st priority task with the same condition and

so on.

4. Productivity information shows how quickly the currently selected team member will complete the

currently selected task.

5. The spider chart visualizes the effectiveness with which team members can complete a certain task by

comparing their skills to the average skill level. Closer to the center of the chart indicates better efficiency

in completing the task. Put the # of the task in the box above the chart and the chart will show each team

member’s ability to complete the task. In order to improve the readability of the chart it is possible to

enable/disable individual team members from the chart by clicking their names.

6. Here you can assign the currently selected team member to work overtime. Input the number of

overtime workdays needed.

7. At the bottom of the page project managers can access a summary table that shows how tasks have

been allocated to each team member, how many workdays will be spent for the task, and the level of

completion.

8. The bar chart on the middle of the page shows the time allocation for each member. Green indicates

allocated time and red indicates unallocated time, also called “slack”. Slack should be avoided during the

project since it is typically charged as a cost for the project. When you hover the mouse over the bars you

can see which tasks have been allocated to each team member.

In general the task allocation should be done finding balance between maximizing overall productivity and

minimizing overall cost. Total productivity is inversely proportional to the workdays required for a team

member to finish the task. A person with total productivity of 1.00 will complete the task in the total time

shown in Average workdays column. Total productivity is calculated from skill-specific productivities and

the amount of work the task requires under each skill domain. Skill-specific productivity is related to the

team member’s skill level in that domain, naturally higher skill translating to higher productivity. Members

with higher skills and hence productivity tend to have a higher labor cost.

Besides just focusing directly on productivity figures and labor costs, avoiding excessive slack time and

overtime work is necessary.

Some of the tasks are also outsourceable. Consider, whether it is better to use your own workforce or use

outsourcing.

4.5. Project management

1. The project management page shows information about the costs for each team member. The labor costs section shows the costs for regular workdays, overtime workdays, and slack workdays. Slack and overtime costs are proportional to the normal labor cost. The costs may vary from one round to another. 2. Here you can find the time that each team member has available for the project during the round. This is subject to variation from one round to another. Overtime workdays can be allocated on round-by-round basis. 3. Transfers to other sub-projects within the program can be done here. The transfer takes effect during the round following the decision. You should look at Player Skills and All projects pages to discover if a project member is better suited to some other sub-project than they are currently assigned to. 4. Tasks can be outsourced on this page. The table shows the outsourceable tasks and costs of outsourcing them. 5. Here it is possible to transfer cash between the sub-projects.

4.6. Tracking

Tracking page has charts that depict the round-by-round evolution of costs, time and quality of the project.

It is useful to check these tables before submitting the final decisions.

Quality is an important factor in the simulation and there are specific quality tasks that need to be

completed in order to accumulate quality points. Quality chart shows the accumulated quality points. Here

you can check that the project is accumulating quality points according to the plan.

At the bottom section of the tracking page you find tables that give detailed information about the

workdays, costs, and accumulated quality of the project.

4.7. Player Skills

1. Select team member whose skills you want to see in the chart.

2. The chart compares the skills of the selected team member to the average skills of the team.

There are typically 10 skill domains in which the team members have different skill levels. The table at the

bottom of the page allows you to rank the team members in the whole program by the skill values. You can

sort the individuals in ascending or descending order by clicking the skill name in the title bar.

4.8. All Projects

All projects page shows the total and skill-specific time requirements for each project. This page is useful

when you compare your team members’ skills to the skill requirements of the project. In case your team

members have different skill sets compared to what the sub-project requires, you should discuss with the

other project managers within your program about switching team members between projects.

Total number of workdays per project is calculated based on average skills. If you are able to match the

individuals with the right skills to the tasks, you will complete the project with less than planned workdays.

Chapter 5. Results

Results become available under the Results page after the first round has been completed.

5.1. Summary

Program summary page shows the project status, winning criterion, use of overtime workdays, and

completion levels for each project.

1. Relative efficiency measures how the tasks are allocated between team members. Values above one

suggest that the team has assigned tasks to members who have higher than average skills in them. This

metric doesn’t take labor costs into account so it is not possible to say that higher values are always better.

2. Cost performance index is a measure of the expenses spent on the project. This is calculated by

comparing the earned value to the actual costs of the project. A value above 100% indicates that we have

earned more than we have spent (favorable condition) and a value below 100% indicates that we have

earned less than we have spent (negative condition).

5.2. Individual sub-project pages

These pages show the progress of the individual sub-projects. There are charts available showing the

project map, remaining number of tasks, number of workdays used and costs incurred.

5.3. Time, cost and quality

Time, cost, and quality page shows the same information for the whole program and each project

separately for the round that was just completed (this round), previous round (last round), and

cumulatively.

Important indicator on this page is the Overall quality, %. This shows how much of the available quality

points we have collected during the program and projects.

5.4. Budgets

On the budgets page you find budgets and accumulated costs for the whole program and each project

separately. The bars on the left show the proposed budget and approved budget. The blue line shows the

remaining budget after each round and the stack bar shows how the money has been spent during each

round. You can remove any items from the chart by clicking the relevant chart legends.

5.5. Comparison

On this page the universes can be compared with each other. Winning criterion and other relevant metrics

for the total figures, as well as for individual sub-projects are shown.