Instructor’s Manual Abstracts
Vol. 1, Issue 1 IM Abstract: The Race in the Cannabis Screening Device Industry: Will Guard-Ex Be a Winner?
Jane Gravill
Case Overview
As Dastiger Khan, CEO of Guard-Ex Corp., sat in his office on a chilly Monday, February 4, 2019, morning sipping his cup of steeped tea he wondered what strategy Guard-Ex should implement to achieve the firm’s goal of becoming a leader in the emerging marijuana screening device industry. Guard-Ex was part of The Accelerator Centre’s JumpStart program and was located in the Laurier LaunchPad incubator. The firm had designed and developed their own GX420 cannabis screening device. Khan and his team were meeting that morning to prepare for an important presentation with the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police the following week. Khan urgently needed to finalize an effective implementation strategy for their presentation because he knew that the association was expecting to learn how the device would be implemented in the field. Khan reflected upon an article he had read recently that indicated almost 70% of most IT projects fail, and many of those project failures were due to poor implementation strategies. He did not want the GX420 to become another statistic. The Guard-Ex team was aware that the implementation phase of the GX420 project would be the most delicate phase of the project, and that their next steps in the GX420 project were likely to determine whether the Guard-Ex impairment screening device would become a leader in the industry or become a victim of the factor of substitution. The race was on.
Learning Objectives
By working through this case, students should be able to
- Understand the role of the information systems testing and implementation phase within the system development life cycle for Guard-Ex and the options available to the firm.
- Identify the key factors involved in developing optimal System Testing and Implementation plans for the Guard-Ex GX420 project.
- Develop an implementation plan for the Guard-Ex GX420 device.
Course Suitability
This case is suitable for undergraduate students and can be used in information systems management or project management courses.
Recommended Reading
Kroenke, D., Boyle, R., Gemino, A. & Tingling, P. (2019). Experiencing MIS (5th Canadian ed.). Pearson Canada.
Read the The Race in the Cannabis Screening Device Industry: Will Guard-Ex Be a Winner? case.
Request the instructor’s manual (IM) for this case [new tab].