Term 1 Standard Examination 2014

ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Instructions Sheet

1. Write all answers in the spaces provided in this examination

paper.

2. Answer all eight questions.

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 Term 1 Standard Examination 2014

ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

TOTAL 50 MARKS
Students MUST answer all EIGHT questions.
Write ALL answers in the space provided in this examination paper.

Question 1 4 Marks
Briefly describe each of the four stages (according to Larson et al.) of a typical
project life-cycle.

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 2 6 Marks
(a) When evaluating projects it is useful to use both the payback model and the
Net Present Value Model (NPV). Briefly describe each model and how it is used
in the project selection process. (4 marks)

Payback Model:

NPV:

Question 2 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 2 (continued)
(b) Why should an organisation use a priority system that is open and published
when evaluating potential projects? (2 marks)

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 3 3 Marks
Evidence suggests that project success is related to the amount of autonomy project
managers have over their project. However, it is also important to balance the needs
of the project with the needs of the organisation. Selecting the “right” project
management structure (matrix, projectised, functional etc.) is a complicated process
that requires consideration of a number of issues at both the project and the
organisational level.

Hobbs and Menard (cited in Larson et al.) identified seven project factors that
should influence the choice of project management structure. List three of the seven
factors and explain how these factors influence the choice of project management
structure. (3 marks)

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 4 5 Marks
(a) What are the best defences against “scope creep”? (2 marks)

(b) Briefly describe what is involved in risk analysis and evaluation. (3 marks)

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 5 9 Marks
(a) What are the differences between “bottom-up” and “top-down” estimating
approaches and under what circumstances would you prefer either or both
approaches?

(4 marks)

Question 5 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 5 (continued)
(b) List each of the stages of the “five-stage team development model of teams” in
the order in which they occur and provide a brief description of each stage.
Your descriptions must include information about how well the team is
functioning “as a team” at each stage. (5 marks)

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 6 6 Marks

This question relates to the project described in the network diagram and resource
requirements table below.

Network Diagram

1 6

B
E
2 2
5 3

C
3 3

4 4 KEY:

Activity

Activity number Duration estimate

(in months)

Resource Requirements

Task Resources (workers) required

for the duration of the task

A 1

B 3

C 1

D 2

E 3

Question 6 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 6 (continued)

Assume that the number of workers required for a task does not change for the
duration of the task.

(a) Complete the table below to show the current resource requirements for the
duration of the project. (2 marks)

MONTHS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
B
C
D
E
Total
number of
workers

Question 6 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 6 (continued)

(b) When performing “resource constrained scheduling” you may find that several
activities need the same limited resource at the same time. In that case, it is
necessary to make a decision about which activities will be allocated the limited
resources at that time. What are the three priority rules that were used in the
course to decide which activities get allocated the resources when the need
exceeds the resources available? (2 marks)

Question 6 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 6 (continued)

(c) Assume that there will be a maximum of 3 workers available to work on this
project for the duration of the project. This means that it will be necessary to
perform “resource constrained scheduling”. Complete the table with the
heading “Final Answer” showing the resource requirements for the duration of
the project after you perform “resource constrained scheduling” using the
priority rules for allocating limited resources described in the course. You are
provided with two additional tables below to help you with your working if
required. (2 marks)

MONTHS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
B
C
D
E
Total
number of
workers

MONTHS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
B
C
D
E
Total
number of
workers

Final Answer
MONTHS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
B
C
D
E
Total
number of
workers

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 7 6 Marks
These questions are based on the following network diagram for a project:

B F

2 3 6 4

A C I

1 3 3 10 9 2
H

D G 8 16

4 12 7 4

5 7

KEY:

Activity

Activity number Duration estimate (in weeks)

Question 7 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 7 (continued)

(a) Given that the customer would like the project completed in 45 weeks,
complete the table below listing the following values for each activity: earliest
start time (ES), earliest finish time (EF), latest start time (LS), latest finish time
(LF), total slack (TS). (3 marks)

Activity ES EF LS LF TS

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I

Question 7 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 7 (continued)
(b) Only the activities in the following table can be shortened (crashed). They can
only be crashed by 1 week. The costs to crash each activity/task are shown in
the table.

Task/Activity Cost to shorten task by 1 week

C $1200

D $2300

F $1300

H $1600

You are required to shorten the project in the network diagram by 2 weeks less
than your earliest finish time for the smallest possible cost.

What activity or activities would you shorten/crash to achieve the reduction in

the project duration of 2 weeks and why? You must explain your choice(s).
(2 marks)

(c) Would you say that this network is very sensitive, moderately sensitive or
insensitive and why? You must explain your reason. (1 mark)

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 8 11 Marks

The formulae required to answer this question are provided in the table below.

Value Description Formula

EV Earned Value EV =% completed *original budget
CV Cost variance CV = EV-AC
SV Schedule Variance SV = EV-PV
CPI Cost performance index CPI =EV/AC
SPI Schedule performance index SPI =EV/PV
EACf Forecasted estimate of EACf = AC + [(BAC-EV)/CPI]
completion (if we continue at
the same efficiency on the BAC is the total planned value of
project) the project

This question relates to the following network diagram and baseline budget table.

A
E
1 5
5 2
C

3 7
B

2 3 D

4 5

KEY:
Activity

Activity number Duration estimate (in months)

Question 8 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 8 (continued)

Total Month
Activity Budgeted
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
cost
A 35 35 40 35 35
B 15 25 15

C 50 50 40 40 40 40 40

D 30 60 60 60 30

E 50 50

Total
Cumulative

Table 1: Budget Table (values are in thousands of dollars)

Note: When answering the questions requiring a dollar value, show the exact
amount (e.g. $100,000).

(a) According to Table 1, what should be the cumulative budgeted cost at the end
of month 5? (Show your working by completing the totals and cumulative
totals in table 1 above.) (1 mark)

Question 8 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 8 (continued)
(b) Complete the following table to provide a status report for the project at the end
of month 5: (4 marks)

End of Month 5
Activity Actual % EV AC PV CV SV
complete
(Earned (Actual Cost) (Planned (Cost (Schedule
Value) Value) Variance) Variance)
A 80% 140
B 100% 50
C 20% 50
D 35% 84
E 0% 0
Cumulative totals
Table 2: Status Report (Actual costs are in thousands of dollars)

(c) What does the data in the completed status report table tell you about the
budget and schedule for the project overall? In your answer you must state
whether the project is under budget, over budget or on budget (according to the
plan) and whether the project is on schedule, behind schedule or ahead of
schedule. (2 marks)

Question 8 continued over page

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ICT Project Planning and Management — COIS20008

Question 8 (continued)
(d) Are there any limitations in using SV or SPI to make a judgement about the
schedule and is there anything else that you should take into account?
(1 mark)

(e) Given the current status of the project at the end of month 5 are there any
actions that the project manager should take? (2 marks)

(f) How would a priority matrix help the project manager in this situation?
(1 mark)

- End of paper –

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