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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

MANG3034W1

SEMESTER 2 EXAMINATIONS 2013-14 PROJECT MANAGMENT DURATION 120 MINUTES (2 HOURS)

This paper contains FIVE questions. Answer THREE questions in total. You must answer ALL questions in SECTION A and ONE question in SECTION B. Answer each question in a separate answer book. Section A carries 70% of the total marks for the exam paper and you should aim to spend about 80 minutes on it. Section B carries 30% of the total marks for the exam paper and you should aim to spend about 40 minutes on it. An outline marking scheme is shown in brackets to the right of each question. Only University approved calculators may be used. A standard normal table and graph paper is provided with this examination paper.

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MANG3034W1 SECTION A You must answer ALL questions in this Section A1. A project consists of eight activities whose prerequisites, duration, and resource use are given in Table 1.

Activity

Table 1: Project structure Prerequisites Duration Resource use [weeks] [FTE]

A

-

5

2

B

-

3

2

C

A, D

6

1

D

B

2

3

E

B, H

4

3

F

C, E

5

2

G

E

6

1

H

-

4

2

(a)

Draw a valid activity-on-arc network representation, using as few dummy activities as needed. [7 marks]

(b)

Write for each event the earliest and latest event times on the network, calculate total float of each activity, deduce the critical path(s), and identify total minimum project duration. [10 marks]

(c)

Draw a Gantt Chart that shows resource use over time when assuming that all activities start as early as possible. Identify peak resource use and the times when this happens. [7 marks]

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MANG3034W1 (d)

Can you identify a strategy to reduce peak resource use while not extending total project duration beyond the minimum? If yes, demonstrate your answer (e.g. by drawing a new Gantt Chart) and identify peak resource and the weeks in which this happens. If no, explain why this is not possible. [6 marks]

A2. Daniel is a postgraduate student in the School of Management taking the MSc in Business Analytics and Management Science programme. The programme offers students the opportunity to do their dissertation based on real business problems for external organisations – called ‘Summer Projects’. Projects in a wide choice of industry sectors requiring various techniques and skills are sourced by the industrial liaison officers (Paul and Zoe) who build and maintain relationships with project sponsor companies, arrange project related events, and organise project allocations. Daniel has been very keen to do his dissertation in a practical context and gain some work experience that might be of relevance to his future career. He has attended a set of workshops during February, March, and April that helped him to better understand the form and process of doing dissertations based on actual projects with companies. After a comprehensive consideration of the options of projects and personal interests and skills, Daniel submitted his CV and project preferences on May 2nd. A set of interviews were conducted on the project Open Day last week. Fortunately, Daniel has successfully gained a chance to work together with a local business consultancy company (Business South) for his dissertation. As described in the project brief initiated by Business South at the early contact stage (right before the Easter break) with Paul and Zoe, the aim of the project is to access the company’s current performance and develop a business growth strategy. An academic supervisor (Dr Taylor) has been assigned to support Daniel in delivering a successful project as well as dissertation. Below is a project agenda drafted by Daniel:

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MANG3034W1         

Project contract and risk assessment (late May) Project kick-off: student/sponsor/supervisor to review project brief (early June) Initial literature review to investigate the theoretical background and define research questions. (June) Project/dissertation scope confirmation: aim, objectives, deliverables, approach, etc. (late June) Problem structuring and data collection, including interviews with key personnel of Business South and their clients (July) Week 5 report for process control (mid-July) Data analysis and drawing conclusions (August) Presentation/business report to Business South to validate findings (late August) Dissertation writing up (September)

Considering the overall process, including preparation, application, and completion, of Daniel’s summer project: (a)

Briefly outline the major stakeholders in the project. Discuss for each identified stakeholder their role/responsibility, and interest/power in the project. How do you anticipate they will define success? [20 marks]

(b)

Define the key phases of the project lifecycle in this project, including the time scale, management objective(s), project deliverable(s) and the potential risk(s) for each phase. [20 marks] (*All characters in this case are fictitious)

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MANG3034W1 SECTION B You must answer ONE question from this Section B1. It is estimated, based on experience, that a certain project will take 100 days for it to be completed, with a standard deviation of 20 days. (a)

What is the number of days that you need to state in an offer to a client if you want to provide a guarantee of 98% that you can indeed complete the project within the stated number of days? [5 marks]

(b)

State the assumption(s) you made in calculating your answer to part (a), and why this may be reasonable in the context of project management. [5 marks]

Suppose a client wants you to undertake the above project, and is prepared to give you a bonus of £100,000 if you complete the project in 90 days or less [Scheme A]. (c)

What is the probability that you will receive the bonus? [5 marks]

(d)

What is your expected bonus value? [5 marks]

The client now proposes another scheme: you receive a bonus of £300,000 if you complete the project in 90 days or less, but also that you have to pay a penalty of £100,000 if you complete the project in 105 days or more [Scheme B]. (e)

What is your expected net bonus value now (taking into account also the possibility that you will incur the penalty)? [5 marks]

(f)

Given the choice, which of the two schemes [Scheme A or Scheme B] do you prefer? [5 marks] TURN OVER

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MANG3034W1 B2. Joe has been recently appointed as the leader of the coding team. Table 2 shows the plan including the detailed tasks, time and estimated costs for the first project led by him. It is now the end of Week 6. ‘Design output’ has just been completed and the cost to date is £2,850. (a)

Measure the cost and the progress of the project so far using Earned Value Analysis (e.g., cost performance index, schedule performance index). [10 marks]

(b)

Estimate the total cost at completion and the duration of the project. How should Joe use such information? [10 marks]

(c)

Explain the role and importance of Earned Value Analysis in project control. [10 marks] Table 2: Project plan Task Set up Get specs Design output Plan test Write code Unit test Integrate Beta test

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Completion Date (Week #) Week 1 Week 2 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

Budget (£) 600 400 2,000 750 1,000 600 400 600

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MANG3034W1 B3. Christopher is a full-time PhD student funded by an industrial company. It has been six months since he started the degree. There is an annual review towards the end of the first-year of study; this assesses the feasibility and rationale of the research proposal and decides whether PhD candidates are suitable to continue their studies. Christopher has found the past six months quite tough and stressful due to the following difficulties: 





He had to travel frequently to the sponsor company to analyse their problems which were not really relevant to his current study. To meet the requirements of the annual review, a comprehensive range of prior studies should be reviewed. Christopher does not feel he has enough time to do so, partially due to the company visits. Christopher did not have a strong quantitative background. He had to spend a significant amount of time reading every single paper suggested to him by his supervisor who is from the Mathematics department. This has made him feel very frustrated.

(a)

Identify the conflicts appearing in Christopher’s PhD project so far and the sources of the conflicts. [15 marks]

(b)

Suggest how the conflicts can be resolved by using one of the conflict handling styles so that Christopher can work towards a successful annual assessment. [15 marks]

END OF PAPER

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