"COMPUTER-AIDED PROJECT PERFORMANCE CONTROL SIMULATION: AN INTERACTIVE EXPERIENTIAL GAMING TECHNIQUE FOR MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING" Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 299 "COMPUTER-AIDED PROJECT PERFORMANCE CONTROL SIMULATION: AN INTERACTIVE EXPERIENTIAL GAMING TECHNIQUE FOR MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING" A. James Wynne Virginia Commonwealth University J. Michael Klosky, Virginia Commonwealth University Charles A. Snyder, Auburn University Business decisions today have far greater impact upon a firms survival or growth due to the complex interrelationships existing in modern enterprises. As a consequence an increased effort is being made to improve decision making tools. This paper presents an experiential learning approach for enhancing a student’s knowledge of significant variables critical to making the best choice among alternatives in a production/operation management setting. The vehicle used to develop this learning technique is called CAPPCOSIM*, a computer gaming simulation which models the manage- cent of a product development project utilizing a cost plus incentive fee contract. INTRODUCTION The CAPPCOSIM programs were developed as an extention to, and enhancement of two separate gaming simulations namely CAPERTSIM and CAPCONS. These predecessor simulators provided the basic vehicle for CAPPCOSIM whose cost significant extensions were: 1) An interactive gaming environment 2) The use of noncommittal trial runs 3) The introduction of stochastic perturbation of the model 4) The inclusion of non- linear technical option tradeoffs in addition to cost and time tradeoffs. The version of CAPPCOSIM currently in use was programmed in Fortran on the H-P 300011. It is designed to be played in private sessions at a CRT terminal. During a user session any number of trial run decisions can be simulated without adversely affecting the real” decision for the current decision period. However, once the player commits to a real” decision, the result is final and the player is " locked from any attempt to replay the decision. Results of trial runs are normally displayed at the terminal, but optionally may be reproduced on the printer. Final results of each player’s decision are automatically recorded on the printer. At the present time, the nature of the project and its associated PERT network are “hardwired” into the simulation. Basic starting cost figures, tradeoff relationships and stochastic characteristics are loaded into the model by the game coordinator prior to participation by the players. THE PROJECT NETWORK In this simulation, the project to be undertaken is the development of a prototype vehicle. The develop-cent process is represented by a PERT type network of 33 events and 50 activities. The structure of the network is assured to be fixed, with the exception of the possibility of selected activity cancellations, which may be effected by setting activity tine to zero. The player therefore has no capability to alter the structural features of the network to represent substitution of one technical process with another. All activities have cost and tire characteristics associated with them and come of the activities have a technical achievement level associated with them. Although technical levels will be discussed later, it is important to note that when these exist, tradeoff relationships exist between all three activity characteristics. Additionally, these tradeoff relationships can be defined by the game coordinator in some cases. As a control feature, tine characteristics for each activity are forced to fall within reasonable control limits established internal to the program. Control Limits are also applied to technical levels when used as an activity characteristic. Decision periods for the players correspond to predetermined milestone events in the network. Thus after each “final” player decision the nodal is advanced through the network to the next milestone. A status report is issued upon reaching the new milestone to indicate the activities completed during the simulated tine period and the characteristics of these activities. Seven milestone events are represented in the network and total tire simulated for the project is 18 months. INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENT The player interfaces with the simulated project at project start and at the seven milestone events of the network. At each of these junctures the player has the requirement to decide how he should adjust activity durations, with consequential cost changes and technical levels. In all cases his overriding objective is to make changes which meet minimal contract requirements of the project and which will serve to maximize the incentive fees he seeks to earn. His knowledge of project behavior is incomplete due to stochastic phenomenon which may perturb the model and random factors which may affect the tradeoff relationships between activity characteristics. The model is designed to permit the player to ‘test’ potential strategies under “ideal” conditions. That is to say, the results of the players trial decisions are given without consideration of stochastic effects or random factors which impact the relationships of activity characteristics. The player initiates his session and is prompted for the nature of the session, i.e. trial or real. Multiple trials may be made in a single session and a session can be terminated without a final decision being made. During the trial decision the user is prompted to supply necessary information on prepared changes in activity characteristics. The intent of this process is to provide the player with educated estimates of the consequences of various decision strategies which might be used during the Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 300 current decision period. It is hopefully assumed that the student comes to the session having carefully thought out the best selection of strategies for this decision period although it is recognized that a player could try decision options willy-nilly until he found what he felt was the best. Such behavior is not controllable since any number of trial sessions is permitted. STOCHASTIC NATURE OF MODEL It is an unpleasant fact of life that things rarely go according to plan. Deliveries are later than expected, inferior materials have to be substituted for the quality of materials originally projected and many other denzens of capricious fate. The more notable of these stochastic varieties of the model are announced to the player after his final decision is made via memos and notes depicting the manner in which such events would actually be heralded. For example, wildcat strikes by disgruntled workers seem to be a common occurrence. Such a misfortune might be announced to the player as a management memo as follows: Head, Project Mgt. Office 11/15/78 Subject: Project SPAV A wildcat strike in the transportation industry held up delivery of materials for frame construction by two weeks. Through use of overtime in frame assembly (activity 31-21) the tire less has been cut. Change in scheduled time is 6 days. Change in project cost is $1136.75. There is no change in technical performance. The consequences of this unexpected occurrence must now be dealt with by our player at his next milestone session and any incentive losses incurred hopefully recovered. INCENTIVE APPROACH The simplest way to approach a project is to assume that we wish to minimize tine with little restraint on cost or conversely to minimize costs with little constraint on tine. Such an approach is, of course, unreasonable. In real world situations we are faced with cost limitations and time requirements and frequently quality requirements (standards). This simulation assumes that the player is operating in a cost plus incentive node in which he earns bonus money by achieving specific cost time and quality levels at phases in the project life and at its completion. The player can improve the fee he obtains for a specific contract incentive factor by doing better than the minimal acceptable level. As an example, assume that the weight of the end product is subject to incentive. The requirement is to minimize the vehicle weight A target weight is established by the entity letting the contract and the associated fee identified. Say the target fee is $33,750.00 for a weight of 13,000 pounds. If the project manager can get the weight below this figure and still meet all other minimum requirements his fee will be larger. For each target incentive factor, a range of fees or a fee relationship is pre-established. Thus, in the current example, a weight of 11,500 pounds will generate a fee of $67,500 but weight reduction beyond this point will not improve the fee. In addition, if weight exceeds 14,500 pounds then no incentive fees are paid for the entire project since that represents a critical contractual threshold beyond which the contract is violated. The player is kept informed of his current status as regarc3s fees earned and the critical nature of all incentive factors. This report is issued at the completion of each milestone event so that the player can reflect upon the best approach to take in the next decision period so as to insure compliance with threshold limits of incentive factors and optimize his fee receipts. CONCLUSION The gaming simulation described is designed to provide the student with a realistic exposure to the decision making process when using sophisticated planning tools. The interactive nature of this simulation allows the players to fully exercise their analytical capabilities through trial decisions that can be easily and conveniently evaluated. It is felt by the authors that the many features added to the project management process for heightened realism will enhance the quality of student participation and forcefully bring home the uncertain nature of the environment in which he will one day be required to operate. REFERENCES (1) CAPCONS, Richard J. Schonberger (ed.), University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1975. (2) CAPERTSIM. U.S. Army Management Engineering Training Agency and the U.S. Army Logistics Management Center, Fort Lee, Virginia, 1974. (3) chase, R . B. & Aquilano, N.J. Production and Operations Management: A Life Cycle Approach. Richard D. Irwin, Homewood, Illinois, 1977. (4) Wiest, J.D. & Levy, F.K. A Management Guide to PERT/CPM. Prentice-Hall Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1977. Table of Contents Volume 6, 1979 The Use of Cases with Role Plays in a Research Methods Course Debugging and Implementing the Live-Case Approach to Marketing Research in the Australian Environment Using a Case as the Basis for a Modified Debate Using Cases in Business Communication Classes A Structured Approach to Case Analysis and Reporting Intercollegiate Case Analysis Competition as an Experiential Learning Experience Attributes Germane to Student/Live Case Situations Understanding Dispute Resolution Through Experiential learning Personality Development and Conflict Dynamics: An Experimental Design to Study the Effects of Teaching Methodologies on Conflict Resolution Interpersonal Competence and the Digital PDP-11:40 The process of Writing a Collective Bargaining Simulation: A Case Study in Practical Pedagogy Simulating Negotiations in an Educational Context Simulations as a Technique for Teaching Collective Bargaining Experiential Processing of Differing Managerial Perspectives: The Use of a Game Show Format Individual Self Report vs. Group consensus in Small Decision-Making Groups Effects of Sex-Role Stereotypes on Promotion Decisions: An Exercise Computer Aids to Planning: The Budget and Forecasting Module Use of a Microcomputer in a Decision Analysis for Investment Portfolio Selection A Game of Investment Strategy: Description, Use, Criticism and Modification Coping with Future Uncertainties Through Probabilistic Budgeting Administration and Design of Simulation Materials for a Specialized Management Training Program Managing Stress in Organizational Life Banksim: The Bank Management Simulation Issues in the Organizational Application of Simulation and Experiential material Games Within Games: The Role of the Glitch Experiential Learning from Classroom to Business An Evaluation of the Small Business Institute Program as an Experiential learning Exercise Conversations with Top Management (Simulated) Experience in the Use and Assessment of Simulation in Management Education A Statistical Analysis of Simulation Users: Relationships between Stress and Human Subject guidelines Group Decision Making in a Computer Game Analysis of Demographic and Psychosocial Variables Comparing Performance During Three Managerial Accounting Simulation Schedules Business Policy Simulation and the Intense Course Structure The Use of Intensive Simulation in Executive Development and Academic Settings The Use of Experiential Exercises in the Undergraduate Consumer Behavior Course A Personal Marketing Strategy Approach: Framework and Application Teaching PERT Experientially in Marketing Research Discovering the Majority Fallacy An Experiential Approach to Studying International Business A Demonstration of the Business Simulation Game as a Curriculum Assessment Device Relating Teaching Methods with Educational Objectives in the Business Curriculum The Junior Achievement Applied Management Program as a Compromise Situation Between the Simulation and the Internship Who is Using Computerized Business Games?: A View from Publishers' Adoption Lists Trials and Tribulations in Testing Educational Innovations An Examination of the Perceived Effectiveness of Computer Simulation in a Classroom Setting as Affected by Game, Environmental and Respondent Characteristics Game Administration: A Life Cycle Analysis Research on the Effectiveness of Using a Computerized Simulation in the Basic Management Course Gaming and Attitudinal Change The Teacher-Student Relationship in Experiential Classes and the Student's Perception of Course Effectiveness An Exploratory Study of Student Characteristics and Educational Processes in Programmatic Experiential learning General Incongruity Adaption Level (GIAL) as a Predictor of Risk Preferences in a Simulated Management Game The Cap-Stone Opportunity: Combining Business Simulation and Experiential Learning Incorporating MIS/DSS into Policy Courses Via Simulation Who Benefits Most from Participation in Business Policy Simulations: An Empirical Study of Skill Development by Functional Areas The Use of Program NAMEX in Teaching the Accounting for Nonmonetary Assets The Use of Program CVP in Teaching Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis Experiential vs. Traditional Classroom Approach in the Basic Management Course: A Puerto Rican Experience A Guide to the Successful Use of Business Simulation Games The Dynamic Aspects of Interactive Gaming Puts the Realism into Gaming System Representation of SIMORG The Design of a Database System to Support Business Simulation and Experiential Learning A Data Entry and Retrieval System for a Computer Simulation (DERS) Simulation - An Advantage for Accounting Research Computer-Aided Project Performance Control Simulation: An Interactive Experiential Gaming Technique for Managerial Decision Making Utilization of Manual Simulation Games to Develop Scenarios of Future Events - An Exploratory Study Foundry: A Foundry Simulation Customized Debriefing: The Achilles Heel of Experiential learning? Computerized Business Simulations and Experiential Learning Exercises: An Instructional Interface The Baseball Game: A Group Role Observation, Problem Solving Experience A Practical Design for Experiential Learning Exercises: Roles, Technical Equipment and Alternative Debriefing Formats