Assignment
Part I
• Everyone has been involved in projects. What is the largest project you have been involved in? (You do not have to have been the project manager, but could have played another role.)
o Write one sentence that describes the objective of the project.
o Describe specifically how this project meets the definition of a project used in this textbook. (How is it unique? What were the time constraints? If it is over, how did you know it was over? If it is ongoing, how will you know when it is over?
o What was your role? Were you the project manager, a volunteer, some other role? If you were not the project manager, who was?
o Was the project part of a larger portfolio or program of projects?
o Who else was involved?
o What was the budget?
o Did you anticipate any risks at the outset? Did the project experience any outside forces that caused a change in either the objectives or the approach to achieving those objectives?
• In what ways can the following activities be seen as projects? In what ways do they resemble ongoing, routine business activities? Feel free to add assumptions and details to describe how the activity might be a project in one context and routine in another.
o Reading the chapter before attending a university lecture.
o Taking the bus to work each day.
o Piloting an aircraft between Vancouver and Fiji.
o Teaching a course for the first time; teaching the same course every semester.
• Go online and search for project life cycle models. Identify at least two that are different from the PMI model, and compare and contrast the phases. Be sure to cite your sources.
Part II
• Go online and find at least two sites with definitions of fast tracking and crashing a project schedule.
o Prepare proper reference citations for the sites you located, using APA style.
o In your own words, write definitions for project fast tracking and project crashing.
o Consider the plan you prepared for the software system testing project in question 1 above. If you were informed by management that you must reduce the planned duration of the project by five days, describe how you, as a project manager, could crash or fast track this project. Be specific in identifying exactly what could be changed in the project plan for each option.
o (continuation of question 2.3) If the request to speed up the project occurs after day 25 of the original schedule, what is the only option available?
• Go online and research the difference between total slack and free slack.
o Prepare proper reference citations for the sites you located, using APA style.
o Write definitions of total slack and free slack in your own words.
o Why would the distinction between different forms of slack be important to a project manager?
• A project to put on a major international sporting competition has the following major deliverables: Sports Venues, Athlete Accommodation, Volunteer Organization, Security, Events, and Publicity (which has already been broken down into pre-event publicity and post-event publicity.) Prepare a WBS for any single major deliverable on the list. Remember the 100 percent rule, and number your objectives.
Part III
Earned-value analysis. A project budget calls for the following expenditures:
|
Task
|
Date
|
Budgeted Amount
|
|
Build forms
|
April 1
|
$10,000
|
|
Pour foundation
|
April 1
|
$50,000
|
|
May 1
|
$100,000
|
|
Frame walls
|
May 1
|
$30,000
|
|
June 1
|
$30,000
|
|
Remaining tasks
|
July 1 and beyond
|
$500,000
|
Define each term in your own words, calculate these values for the above project, and show your work:
o Budgeted cost baseline (make a graph illustrating this one)
o Budget at completion (BAC)
o Planned value (PV) as of May 1
o Earned value (EV) as of May 1 if the foundation work is only two-thirds complete. Everything else is on schedule.
o SV as of May 1.
o Actual cost as of May 1 is $160,000. Calculate the cost variance (CV) as of May 1.
o Schedule performance index (SPI)
o Cost performance index (CPI)
o Estimate to complete (ETC), assuming that the previous cost variances will not affect future costs
o Estimate at completion (EAC)
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
o The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
o The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
o Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.