eusp

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE

SOUTH PACIFIC

IS333 Project Management

Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment
School of Computing, Information and Mathematical Sciences

Final Examination
Semester 1 2017

F2F and Online

Duration of Exam: 3 hours + 10 minutes

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Writing Time: 3 hours

Instructions:

This exam has TWO sections - A and B.

Section A has 20 multiple choice questions

Section B has 4 analysis questions.

Answer ALL questions from Sections A and B

Answer multiple choice questions on the multiple choice grid provided on page 7.

Answers to Sections Band C should be written in the spaces provided

You may use non-programmable calculators.

This exam is worth 40% of your overall mark. Minimum pass mark for this exam is 40/100.

There are a total of 22 pages including this cover page

Section A: Multiple Choice Questions (20 marks)

Al You have recently been assigned to provide an accurate project schedule for constructing a new
state ofthe art IT Lab at USP. You are evaluating the network diagram for the construction project,
and are using the forward pass calculations to construct the schedule. You are trying to calculate
the earliest start time for laying the foundation of the centre. The expected duration for this task is
150 days. The task must be completed within 300 days. The slack for this task is 20 days.
Based on this information, what is the earliest start time of this task?

[A] 150
[B] 300
[C] 130
[D] 180
[E] None of the above

A2 The process of getting a group of diverse individuals to work effectively together as a team is the
definition of

[A] leadership
[B] project management
[C] the project manager's responsibilities
[D] implementation
[E] team building

A3 For a project, the following earned value data have been assessed:

AC: $ 4,000,000
CV: $ -500,000
SPI: 1.12
BaC: $ 9,650,000

What is the planned value?

[A] $3,000,000
[B] $3,125,000
[C] $3,500,000
[D} $9,650,000

A4 A cost performance index (CPI) of 0.89 means:

[A] At this time, we expect the total project to cost 89 percent more than planned.
[B] When the project is completed we will have spent 89 percent more than planned.
[C] The project is only progressing at 89 percent of that planned.
[D] The project is only getting 89 cents out of every dollar invested

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AS What are the best uses of PERT:

[A] Used in the planning phase to do "what if for the project.

[B] Assist in the controlling of changes to the project.
[C\ Is used in the process of preparing a WBS for the project.
[0] To measure future consequences of activities.
[E] A and o.

A6 Suppose you are managing a software development project. The project is expected to be
completed in 8 months at a cost of $10,000 per month. After 2 months, you realize that the project
is 30 percent completed at a cost of $40,000.

Which of the following is right about this project?

[A] ahead of schedule and under budget

[B] ahead of schedule and over budget
[C] behind schedule and under budget
[0] Behind schedule and over budget

A7 Change requests can occur due to:

[A] An external event such as a change in government regulation.

[B] An error or omission in defining the scope of the product.
[C] An error or omission in defining the scope of the project.
[0] A and C
[E] all ofthe above

AS Which statement describes best the purpose of the communications management plan?

[A] The project management plan is a subsidiary document of the overall communications
Management plan.
[B] The communications management plan describes rules of behavior and respect for
Communications in cross-cultural teams.
[C] The communications management plan describes the information delivery needs
Including format and level of detail.
[O} the communications management plan focuses on the use of communications
Technologies by the project management team

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 Use the project information given in the following table to answer questions 9 -11. This project
has five activities. All times are in weeks.

Activity Immediate Optimistic Time Most Likely Pessimistic

Predecessors Time Time
A - 3 4 11
B - 5 7 15
C A,B 4 6 14
D B,C 2 3 10
E C,D 5 8 17

A9 Using the data in the above table to calculate the expected time and variance for each activity,
which ofthe following statements is true?

[A] The smallest expected time is for activity C

[B] The smallest variance is for activity E
[C] The largest expected time occurs for activity B
[D} The largest variance is for activity E

AlO What is the minimum project duration?

[A] 21
[B] 24
[C] 25
[D} 28
[E} 30

All What is the latest start time (lST) for A?

[A] 0
[B] 1
[C] 2
[D} 3
[E} 4

Al2 The process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities
to assess performance and recommend necessary changes is:

[A] Plan Quality Management

[B] Perform Quality Assurance
[C] Control Quality
[D} Manage Quality

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A13 A project manager is faced with making a decision about a risk that the team has identified. The
risk involves the design of a report plug-in for the existing Point of Sale system. It has been found
that the new report module will not be able to handle more than 10,000 records for a given report
run. If sales volumes increase drastically the report module may not be able to handle the influx
of data. Upon further investigation it was found that the anomaly could be attributed to the use
of a lower precision data type. The project team decides that the design ofthe module should be
modified by to use higher precision data types. This technique is called:

[A] Risk avoidance.

[B] Risk acceptance.
[C] Risk rejection.
[D} Risk deflection
[E} Risk declaration.

A14 Perform Qualitative risk analysis is a process that belongs to which process group in Project Risk
Management?

[A] Initiating
[B] Planning
[C] Executing
[D] Monitoring and Controlling
[E} Closing

A15 Resource levelling will generally:

[A] Reduce the time needed to do the project.

[B]lncrease the total time necessary to do all the tasks.
[C] Reduce the overutilization of resources.
[D} Reduce resources to the lowest skill that is possible.

A16 Which is not one of the project status reports:

[A] Current period reports

[B] Cumulative reports
[C] Exception reports
[D} Milestone reports
[E} Variance reports

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A17 A project with CPI =1.25, Actual Cost (AC) =$200 and Planned Value (PV) = $350.
What is the Schedule Performance Index (SPI)?

[A] 1.25
[B] 0.80
[C] 0.71
[O} 1.40

Al8 For the project with Earned Value (EV) = $360, Actual Cost (AC) = $400 and both Cost
Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI) equal 0.80. The original project
budget is $1,000. Assuming the remaining work will be impacted by the current cost
performance and current schedule performance, what is the Estimate at Completion (EAC) of
the project?

[A] $1040
[B] $1200
[C] $1400
[O} $1600

Al9 If you add three more people to a project team of eight, how many more communication
channels will you add?

[A] 8
[B] 11
[C] 27
[O} 28
[E} 55

A20 Table below shows the crash and normal times and costs for a project.

Activity Normal Normal Crash Crash

Duration Cost ($) Duration Cost ($)
(days) (days)
A 120 12,000 100 14,000
B 20 1,800 15 2,800
C 40 16,000 30 22,000
D 30 14,00 20 2,000
E 60 l3,500 45 18,000
F 50 3,600 40 4,800

Which two activities are the most attractive choices for crashing?

[A] B, A
[B] B,O
[C] 0, A
[0] 0, F
[E] A., C

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Section A - Multiple Choice Questions (Each question has only one answer)
1) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
2) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
3) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
4) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
5) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
6) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
7) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
8) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
9) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
10) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
11 ) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
12) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
13) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
14) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
15) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
16) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
17) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
18) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
19) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)
20) (A) (8) (e) (D) (E)

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Section B: Analysis Questions (Total 80 Marks)

In this section, answer all questions

81 Project Management and Earned Value Analysis (20 marks)

a) Your company has decided to develop a new in-house computer system and the
project plan has been prepared. Explain briefly the FOUR key steps in the project control
life cycle. . (4 marks)

b) What is project closure? Describe SIX processes in project closure phase.

(4 marks)

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c) List FOUR general software project risks and describe the risk reduction techniques
that can be applied to them (4 marks)

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 D/7

In the above, assume tasks A, B & C all started on the same day. Planned durations are
in days and are the numbers in the boxes shown above. Assume five days have been
completed. A is 60% complete, B is 70% complete and C is 50% complete. So far,
$1800 has been spent on A, $2000 on Band $4000 on C. The daily costs for A, Band C
are $400, $500, $800, respectively. .

d) Calculate budget, ACWP, BCWS, BCWP, CV and SV for tasks A, Band C.

Complete the following table. (5 marks)

TASK BUDGET AeWp BeWS BeWp ev SV

A

TOTALS

e) Determine how healthy the project using the above calculations. Determine the value
of EAC for tasks A, Band C. (3 marks)

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B2 Project Reporting and Network Analysis (20 marks)
a)

(i)The project manager is often required to make a highlight report. Outline FIVE types of
information you might expect to see in a highlight report

ii) Name any other THREE report types that a project manager might produce, stating
who gets them, for what purpose and what they typically contain.

(6 marks)

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Your company has decided that it needs a new sales recording system and that an off-the-shelf
package is the best solution. The main tasks have been identified and durations assessed as
follows:

Activity Description Optimistic Most Likely Pessimistic

Time (days) Time (days) Time
(days)

A Draw up a functional requirements 10 20 30

specification
B Consider various relevant software 5 15 25
packages and select one
C Identify and specify the necessary 6 10 14
hardware and communications equipment
D Order the hardware and equipment 2 5 8

E Identify the key package modifications 7 10 13

needed to meet the functionality required
F Modify the software package as 20 40 60
necessary_
G Accept delivery and install all hardware 40 50 60
and equipment needed for the package
H Design a training plan 10 15 20

I Set up a testing plan 12 15 18

J Unit test all the amended package 14 20 26

modules

K Train the users 8 15 22

L Full integration and acceptance testing 11 15 19

M Implement the new system 3 5 7

The following are the interdependencies among the activities.

D B cannot start until A is completed

n C, E, H and I cannot start until B is completed
o D cannot start until C is completed
D F cannot start until E is completed
D G cannot start until D is completed
o J cannot start until F, G and I are completed
n K cannot start until H is completed
n L cannot start until J and K are completed
D M cannot start until L is completed

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b) Draw an activity-on-node (AON) diagram for these 13 project tasks (A to M). Calculate,
display and clearly label on the diagram, the earliest and latest start and finish times and
float of each task (9 marks)

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c) Describe how each of the following changes to task durations (on their own) would affect
the critical path and project duration. Explain your answers stating new critical path and
project duration if there is any change.
(3 marks)

i) Task B - reduced to 5 days

ii) Task F - increased to 55 days
iii) Task G - reduced to 35 days

d) By making use of the N (0, 1) tables provided calculate:

I. The probability that the project will be completed in 120 days. (1 mark)

II. By what date is management 97 percent sure completion will occur? (1 mark)

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83 Project Quality and Project Crashing (20 marks)

a) Describe THREE differences between quality assurance and quality control. Provide an

Example of a quality assurance activity and an example of a quality control activity.

(5 marks)

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A cost reimbursable type, design and construct, contract has been let to company A to work as
a subcontractor for a project, related to a Space Programme, which involves the construction of
a section of a launching platform. A team of engineers has determined the activities,
precedence constraints, cost details and time estimates as given in the table below.

Activity Immediate Normal Normal Crash Crash

Predecessor( s) Duration Cost ($) Duration Cost ($)
(weeks) (weeks)

A None 21 12,000 17 14,000

B None 4 1,800 3 2,800
C B 8 16,000 6 22,000
D C 6 1,400 4 2,000
E B 12 13,500 9 18,000
F D,E 10 3,600 8 4,800
G A 3 1,400 1 600
H F,G 3 7,000 1 19,000

You are required to:

b) Draw an activity-on-arrow (ADA) network to represent the above project. Using normal
durations calculate the minimum project completion time and identify the critical path and
other paths. (5 marks)

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c) Calculate the crash cost per week for each activity (2 marks)

d) Suppose that management wants to shorten the project to 24 weeks to beat competition.
Which activities should be crashed, and for each crashed activity provide the total number of
weeks crashed and the total cost. Justify your strategy at each step. Illustrate your answer
using a table. Provide the overall project crashing cost? (8 marks)

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84 Resource Allocation and Resource levelling (20 marks)

a) Explain the process by which the project manager would assign staff resources to the
activities of a project. Indicate some factors he/she might consider in this process.
(4 marks)

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Consider a project with the following information:

Activity Duration Predecessors Resource Hours Total Resources

Needed per Week Required
(Weeks)

A 3 -- 6 18

B 5 A 4 20

C 7 A 4 28

D 3 B/C 6 18

E 5 B 2 10

F 4 D 4 16

G 2 C 3 6

b) Construct the project activity network using AON methodology and highlight the
~~p~ ~~~

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 c) Complete the following table (3 marks)

Activity Duration ES LF Slack

A 3
B 5
C 7
D 3
E 5
F 4
G 2
H 5

d) Create a Time-Phased Resource Loading Table for this project, identifying the
activity early start and late finish points. (4 marks)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
A

e) Assume that the maximum resource hours per week available for the project are eight. Can
you identify any weeks with resource over commitments? (1 mark)

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 f) Resource level the loading table. Identify the activity that can be rescheduled and reconfigure
the table to show this reallocation. Describe your solution (4 marks)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
A

APPENDIX

EVM Formulas:

CV = EV - AC or BCWP - ACWP

SV = EV - PV or BCWP - BCWS

CPI = EV/AC or BCWP/ACWP

SPI = EV/PV or BCWP/BCWS

EAC =AC+ ETC

EAC = AC + BAC - EV

EAC = AC + (BAC - EV) I CPI

EAC = AC + (BAC - EV) I (CPI * SPI)

EAC = BAC I CPI

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STANDARD NORMAL DISTRIBUTION : Table VaI ues Represent AREA to the LEFT of t he Z score.
Z .00 .01 .02 .03 .04 .05 .06 .07 .08 .09
0.0 .50000 .50399 .50798 .51197 .51595 .51994 .52392 .52790 .53188 .53586
0.1 .53983 .54380 .54776 .55172 .55567 .55962 .56356 .56749 .57142 .57535
0.2 .57926 .58317 .58706 .59095 .59483 .59871 .60257 .60642 .61026 .61409
0.3 .61791 .62172 .62552 .62930 .63307 .63683 .64058 .64431 .64803 .65173
0.4 .65542 .65910 .66276 .66640 .67003 .67364 .67724 .68082 .68439 .68793
0.5 .69146 .69497 .69847 .70194 .70540 .70884 .71226 .71566 .71904 .72240
0.6 .72575 .72907 .73237 .73565 .73891 .74215 .74537 .74857 .75175 .75490
0.7 .75804 .76115 .76424 .76730 .77035 .77337 .77637 .77935 .78230 .78524
0.8 .78814 .79103 .79389 .79673 .79955 .80234 .80511 .80785 .81057 .81327
0.9 .81594 .81859 .82121 .82381 .82639 .82894 .83147 .83398 .83646 .83891
1.0 .84134 .84375 .84614 .84849 .85083 .85314 .85543 .85769 .85993 .86214
1.1 .86433 .86650 .86864 .87076 .87286 .87493 .87698 .87900 .88100 .88298
1.2 .88493 .88686 .88877 .89065 .89251 .89435 .89617 .89796 .89973 .90147
1.3 .90320 .90490 .90658 .90824 .90988 .91149 .91309 .91466 .91621 .91774
1.4 .91924 .92073 .92220 .92364 .92507 .92647 .92785 .92922 .93056 .93189
1.5 .93319 .93448 .93574 .93699 .93822 .93943 .94062 .94179 .94295 .94408
1.6 .94520 .94630 .94738 .94845 .94950 .95053 .95154 .95254 .95352 .95449
1.7 .95543 .95637 .95728 .95818 .95907 .95994 .96080 .96164 .96246 .96327
1.8 .96407 .96485 .96562 .96638 .96712 .96784 .96856 .96926 .96995 .97062
1.9 .97128 .97193 .97257 .97320 .97381 .97441 .97500 .97558 .97615 .97670
2.0 .97725 .97778 .97831 .97882 .97932 .97982 .98030 .98077 .98124 .98169
2.1 .98214 .98257 .98300 .98341 .98382 .98422 .98461 .98500 .98537 .98574
2.2 .98610 .98645 .)., .98679 .98713 .98745 .98778 .98809 .98840 .93870 .98899
2.3 .98928 .98956 ,,(, .98983 .99010 .99036 .99061 .99086 .99111 .Yc>134 .99158
2.4 .99180 .99202 .99224 .99245 .99266 .99286 .99305 .99324 .99343 .99361
2.5 .99379 .99396 .99413 .99430 .99446 .99461 .99477 .99492 .99506 .99520
2.6 .99534 .99547 .99560 .99573 .99585 .99598 .99609 .99621 .99632 .99643
2.7 .99653 .99664 .99674 . ;99683
. .99693 .99702 .99711 .99720 .99728 .99736
2.8 .99744 .99752 .99760 .99767 .99774 .99781 .99788 .99795 .99801 .99807
2.9 .99813 .9' .99819 .99825 .99831 .99836 .99841 .99846 "9851 .99856 .99861
3.0 ,tJ9865 .99869 .99874 .99878 .99882 .99886 .998';·, .99893 .99896 .99900
3.1 .99903 .9~906 .99910 .99913 .99916 .99918 .99921 .99921; .99926 .99929
3.2 .99931 .99934 .99936 ;99938 .99940 .99942 .99944 .99946 .99948 .99950
3.3 .99952 .99953 .99955 .99957 .99958 .99960 .99961 .99962 .99964 .99965
3.4 .99966 .99968 .99969 .99970 .99971 .99972 .99973 .99974 .99975 .99976
3.5 .99977 .99978 o .99978 .99979 .99980 .99981 .99981 .99982 .9'.1983 .99983
3.6 .99984 .99985 .99985 .99986 .99986 .99987 .99987 .99988 .99988 .99989
3.7 .99989 .99990 .99990 .99990 .99991 .99991 .99992 .99992 .99992 .99992
3.8 .99993 .99993 .99993 .99994 .99994 .99994 .99994 .99995 .99995 .99995
3.9 .99995 .99995 .99996 .99996 .99996 .99996 .99996 .99996 .99997 .99997

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