Homework: Strategic Decision Making /Subject- Initiating the Project
Section I: 500 words
Chapter 9: Resourcing Projects.
This chapter deals with assigning people and other resources to a project, looking for overloads, and making necessary adjustments to schedules. After completing this chapter, each student should be able to perform the following:
Core Objectives:
1) Show resource homeworks on a RACI chart, Gantt chart, and resource histogram.
2) Develop an effective project schedule, considering resource constraints.
3) Describe methods of resolving resource overloads.
Behavioral Objectives:
1) Create a Human Resources Management Plan including role descriptions and staffing management plan.
2) Assign roles and responsibilities based on strengths.
Technical Objectives:
1) Compress a project schedule using crashing and fast tracking, and describe the advantages and disadvantages of both.
2) Compare various alternative scheduling methods.
3) Using MS Project, assign resources, pinpoint overloads, and describe methods of dealing with them.
Chapter 10: Budgeting Projects.
This chapter deals with various issues and techniques involved in estimating project costs and establishing project budgets. After completing this chapter, each student should be able to perform the following:
Core Objectives:
1) Define project cost terms and tell how each is used in estimating project cost.
2) Compare and contrast analogous, parametric, and bottom-up methods of estimating cost.
3) Create a time-phased, bottom-up budget for a project.
Technical Objectives:
• Show both summary and bottom-up project budget information with cumulative costs using MS Project.
Behavioral Objectives:
• Describe issues in project cost estimating and how to deal with each.
Section II: 300 words
Reflection and Discussion
Reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Identify what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding.
Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:
1) Describe a potential timing issue that can occur early in a project and a potential timing issue that can occur at the end of a project. How would you address each of these issues in your project?
2) Compare a project you've worked on that was limited mostly by activities with another project you've worked on that was limited mostly by resources. Which did you find more challenging? Why?
3) You are the project manager in charge of construction of a new school building. Give one possible example each of a known known, known unknown, and unknown unknown you might encounter.
4) Give an example of how a project manager could run into problems with cash flow, even when he is within budget on the overall project.
Section III: 500 words.
RACI Chart and Types of Costs Exercise
You will continue to develop your project documentation by completing a RACI chart based upon the Business Case project. The first part of the exercise will be to fill in the chart provided within the attached RACI template Excel file. This should be completed for all six Key Deliverables for any six of the stakeholders you identified in exercise.
The second part of the exercise will be to copy and paste the chart into the Word template provided. The chart should be formatted so that all information is legible and shown within the document. Then, you will draft and explanation/justification of why you made the selections you did for any one of your Key Deliverables (this includes each of the Activities as well).
The third part will be to provide the Types of Costs analysis. Instructions are in the attached document.
Submit only the exercise completed in the Word template (not the Excel file).
When you have completed your RACI Chart in Excel format you will copy and paste it into this document replacing the example below. Follow these steps to complete.
1) Hover your cursor over the blank template below. You will see a small square with crossed arrows inside appear above the upper left-hand corner of the chart. Right click on this square and click Delete Table on the menu that will appear.
2) Go to your Excel file and highlight the full area of the complete RACI Chart. Right click within the selected area and click Copy in the menu.
3) Return to this template. Click the top line of page two previously occupied by the blank template. Then, right click to get the action menu. Under Paste Options you will see several icons. Hover your cursor over the second icon (which should appear as a clipboard) and you should see the words Use Destination Styles (S) appear. Click on this icon to paste your RACI Chart into this document.
4) Make any additional formatting edits needed to ensure that the entire RACI Chart is visible and that the text is legible. This may require manual adjustment of cell, row or text sizes. Table may span several pages if necessary.
Select one of your Key Deliverables and Associated Activities. Provide an explanation of why you assigned the roles that you did for each of the Stakeholders within the three (3) Activities.
Attached excel sheet
Business Case (copy and paste):
Title Project Article #2: High Speed Train
City: California
News source (APA reference): Gourney, A. (2018, July 30). A $100 billion train: The future of California or a boondoggle?
Section IV: Strategic Decision Making 600 words.
Discussion
Go to the end of Chapter 5 and do Exercise 5B "Should Coca-Cola, Build, Borrow, or Buy in2020 -2021?" Steps 1, 2, and 3 (minimum of one-page homework). (When accessing Coca-Cola's website, you'll have to click on "Press Center,".) Then go to the end of Chapter 6 and do Exercise 6A "Perform a SWOT Analysis for Coca-Cola" as an individual, one-page homework.
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
1. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.