Reflective Statement

Learning project management was no easy task. Last couple of months I have started using Microsoft Project at work. Our department only consist of a small support team but using the skills I have acquired over the last couple of months I think it has helped me in many ways. I have already started planning server migration for Xmas holiday transition using Microsoft Project and without this I would be lost.

I would also like to thank my team for there support. I think we did really well and hope to continue sharing ideas in the near future.

Mark

Chapter 7 - Exercise 1

Given the following information for a one year project, answer the following questions. Recall that PV is planned value, EV is the earned value, AC is the actual cost, and BAC is the budget at completion.

PV= $23,000 EV= $20,000 AC= $25,000 BAC= $120,000

a. What is the cost variance, schedule variance, cost performance index, and the schedule performance index for the project?

Cost Variance
CV = EV - AC
CV= $20,000 - $25,000 = -$5,000

Schedule Variance
SV = EV-PV
SV= $20,000 - $23,000 = -$3,000.0

Cost Performance Index
CPI = EV / AC
CPI= $20,000 / $25,000 = 80%

Schedule Performance Index
SPI = EV / PV
SPI= $20,000 - $23,000 = 87%

b. How is the project doing? Is it ahead of schedule or behind schedule? Is it under budget or over budget?

Based on above values, the Schedule Variance has a negative value which means that the project has taken longer than planned to perform the work. However, the CPI index which is 111% means the project is over budget. The project is also behind schedule based on the Schedule Performance Index which is 83%

c. Use the CPI to calculate the estimate at completion for this project. Is the project performing better or worst than planned?

As we know the budget at completion (BAC) is $120,000 and the cost performance index (CPI) is 80%.

Therefore EAC = BAC/CPI
EAC = ($120,000 / 80%) * 100 = $150,000

Therefore the project is over $30,000 which means the project is worse than planned.

d. Use the schedule performance index to estimate how long it will take to finish this project?

The time allocated for this project is 12 months and schedule performance index is 87 %. Therefore Estimated time to completed = Original Time Estimate/SPI
Estimated time to complete = 12 months / 87% = 13.80

The time to complete this project will take 13.80 months or 13 months and 26/27 days depending on the calender month.

e. Sketch the earned value chart based for this project, using figure 7-5 as a guide.

Chapter 10 - Exercise 2

How many different communication channels does a project team with six people have?

Equation used:
Number of communications channels = n(n-1)/2 where n is the number of people involvedNote: In excel formula looks like =n*(n-1)/2

Therefore for six employees:

6(6-1)/2 = 15 communications channel

How many more communications channels would there be if team grew to ten people?

(10(10-1)/2) – (6(6-1)/2) = 30

For an extra four employees there will be an additional 30 more channels. Making it a total of 45 channels for ten employees

Chapter 9 - Excerise 1

Chapter 9 - Exercise 1

Your company is planning to launch an important new project starting January 1, which will last one year. You estimate that you will need one full-time project manager, two full-time business analysts for the first six months, two full-time senior programmers for the whole year, four full-time junior programmers for the month of July, August, and September, and one full-time technical writer for the last three months. Using Microsoft excel to create a stacked column chart showing a resource histogram for the project.

Answer below:

Chapter 8 - Exercise 2

Chapter 8 - Excercise 2

Create a Pareto diagram based on the information in the table below. First, create a spreadsheet in excel, using the data in the table below. List the most frequent customer problems first. Add a column called % of Total and another called Cumulative %. Then enter formulas to create those items. Create a Pareto diagram based on this data.

Chapter 6 - Exercise 2

Consider Table 6-3, Network diagram data for a small project. All duration estimates or estimated time are in days; and the network proceeds from Node 1 to Node 9.













2b. All the possible paths for Table 6-3

Path 1: A-B-E-H-K Length: 2+2+2+2+2 = 10 Days
Path 2: A-C-F-H-K Length: 2+3+3+2+2 = 12 Days
Path 3: A-C-F-I-J-K Length: 2+3+3+5+1+2 = 16 Days
Path 4: A-D-G-J-K Length: 2+4+6+1+2 = 15 Days

2c. Since the critical is the longest path, Path 3 A-C-F-I-J-K is the critical path which takes 16 days

2d. The shortest possible time to complete the project is Path 1 A-B-E-H-K which takes 10 days

2e.

Pert Introduction Activities:

Q1 Answer:

Path 1: A-B-C-E-I Length: 2+3+1+4+3 = 13 Days
Path 2: A-B-D-F-I Length: 2+3+3+3+3 = 14 Days
Path 3: A-G-H-I Length: 2+2+5+3 = 12 Days

Since the critical path is the longest path, Path 2 A-B-D-F-I is the critical path which takes 14 days

Q2 Answer:

What is the slack time for tasks, C, D and G?The slack time for task C is 1 day.

Answer explained below.

The node before task C splits off to another task which is task D. This means both tasks are being done at the same time. Task C = 1 + Task E = 4 = 5 days. Task D = 3 + Task F = 3 = 6 days. Therefore Task C or E can have an extra 1 day to finish.

Task D cannot have any slack or float time because it is part of the critical path as the path needs to run on time. The slack time for task G is 2 days because it requires Path B,D,F to be finish which takes total of 9 days where task G and H takes are total of 7 days.

Q3 Answer:
Task C would no impact on the completion date. Both Task C and E have a total of 1 slack day available. This means if Task C started a day late then task E would be able to start a day late also providing Task C has been completed.

Q4 Answer:
The critical path is still required to be completed. Hence having said this there isn’t any shortcut. The project manager would require allocating more resources or asking the project team to complete overtime work. This also depends on the nature of scope.

Q5 Answer:
Since both task D and F have been shorten by one day each making it a total of 2 days reduction then therefore it is not the critical path. Referring to Q1 answers, Path 1 A,B,C,E,I is the critical path because it takes 13 days whereas the old path takes 12 days to complete.

Gantt Introduction Activities:

Q1 Answer:
Task 7 is the first milestone for the project which is Sign Contracts.


Q2 Answer:
The alterations cannot commence before Monday 11th December therefore make its task 8 – Prepare site. This means there can two paths.
Path 1 – Task 8, 9, 11, 12 = 7 days
Path 2 – Task 8,9,10,12 = 6 days

There is 1 days difference between both tasks but because we didn’t include weekends Path 2 has 3 slacks days and Path 1 can have 2 slacks if they run into any problems.

Q3 Answer:
Due to the cabling being delayed from the 14th to the 18th the project will still be completed on time. The project final milestone requires to be finished by the 21st December. Installing cabling only takes 3 days. Having said the project manager could allow overtime still.

Q4 Answer:

The project manager would have to ask what options he/she have. This is purely common sense. Project Manager may ask the team to work longer hours, hire additional contractors or reducing the time for other task in the project.

Chapter 5 - Exercise 2

Create the same WBS described in Chapter 5 Exercise 1 using Project 2003, indenting categories appropiately and using outline numbering feature.


Please click on the picture below to see the results:

Chapter 5 - Exercise 1

Using PowerPoint, Visio or similar software to create a WBS in chart form. Assume the level 1 categories are initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing. Under the executing section, include level 2 categories of analysis, design, prototyping, testing, implementation and support. Assume the support category includes level 3 items called training, documentation, user support, and enchancements.

I have decided to use Microsoft Visio to do this:

Please click on the picture below to see the results:

Chapter 4 - Exercise 4

Exercise 4 question can be found page 190. I have decided to use Excel to create weighted scoring model to determine the grades for a course.



Please click on the picture below to see the results:

Chapter 3 - Exercise 1

Chapter 3 - Exercise 1



Study the WBS Gantt Charts provided in Figures 3-3 and 3-4. Enter the WBS into Project 2003, indenting tasks as shown to create the WBS heirachy. Then enter durations and dependencies to try to reproduce the Gannt Chart. Check your work with the files available on the companion website for this text.



Please click on the picture below to see the results:

Chapter 2 - Exercise 5

Chapter 2 – Exercise 2

Write a one- to two-page summary of an article about the importance of top management for successful information technology projects.

“..In fact, without top management commitment, many projects will fail” (Schwalbe, 2006, P51)
The importance of top management support or commitment throughout the life cycle of a project would ensure projects are successful and is in place for achieving the organizational goal. Project Managers often find their job easier when Top management values in information technology through the organization. With the input of top management promoting the use information technology to be an integral part of the company, projects will most likely be successful.

As projects affects many areas of an organizations, top management must ensure projects managers are doing a good job of project integration. Project Managers often need someone to mentor and coach them on leadership issues as often some project managers may come from technical backgrounds and have little management skills. Top management should encourage project managers to take classes to developing leadership skills and provide support whereas possible.

Project managers often require resources for unique project at any given time. With top management support project managers will be able to obtain resources in timely matter through the project such as buying new IT equipment

Lastly, Top Management are key stakeholders and should be involved in the lifecycle of the project. Management should review the status at the end of each phase of the project. This ensures the project is on schedule and is in line with company goal.

Chapter 1 - Exercise 5

a) What functions does project management software that you cannot do easily using other tools such as a spreadsheet or database?

Today many project managers still use basic productivity software such as Word, Excel, Report writer, and so on to perform many project functions such as determining project scope, time, cost, resources and documentation.

Two main project management tools that cannot be done by productivity software are Gantt Charts and Network diagrams.

• Gantt Chart is a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and there corresponding start to finish dates in a calendar format (Schwalbe, P25)
  
• Network Diagram primary purpose is to display the critical path. The critical path is the series of tasks that dictates the calculated finish date of the project. (Bunin, PRJ9)

b) How do three different tools you reviewed compare, based on the cost of the tool, key features, and other relevant criteria?

1. Microsoft Project
   
   Microsoft Project is the leader in project management software. Microsoft Project enables project planning, resource scheduling, multiple types of diagrams and reports, project costing, project control and project status update. (http://www.infogoal.com/link.php?n=603). Microsoft has different versions of its project management product ranging for single application to Enterprise Management solution which allows to standardize project management processes across an organization and communicate with project team members and other stake holders or partners over the web, intranet or extranet. (Bunin, PRJ10)
   
   Pricing for Microsoft Project range from single to client access licenses if using Project Server and Office Enterprise Project management


2. IQ Coordinator project management allow companies to increase communications by bringing together tasks, expenses, meeting notes and so on in a collaborative way online. Some key features of IQ Coordinator are Central Information repository, project roles, Gantt and Text charts. Pricing range from $25-$200 based on modules and the licenses are also shared.
   
   http://www.theiqgroup.com/index/IQ%20Coordinator/p/cat/76999/content/77625?session_id=8a230ad2c4d18572d39d4cbee95440ade4e89e36
   
3. VPMi PMO
   
   VPMi has two versions standard and professional. Both versions offer similar features such as task management, resource management, milestone tracking and project prioritization. However the professional version offers integration into Microsoft productivity suites, resource forecasting, and features such as risk management. Product comparison for both standard and professional can be found here. http://www.vcsonline.com/VCS/VPMi/VPMi_Comparison.htm
   
   There are 3 different pricing options for the VPMi software which includes Software as a Service (SaaS), Hosted and local implementation. SaaS cost $20/user and Hosted cost $30/user

The 3 software detailed above are all low-high-end tools. Each software caters for a difference audience and the purchase of software really determines on the project itself.

C) How can organizations justify investing in enterprise project management software?

Organizations should invest in enterprise project management software if they wish to:

1. Standardize project management processes across the organization
2. Communicate and collaborate with project team members and other stakeholders or partners over the web, extranet or intranet
3. Report projects in the organizations and roll-up scorecards
4. Understand resource and workload and availability across projects
   

(Bunin, PRJ10)

Welcome

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my blogging site. This is the first time I have used any form of blogging services. I have to admit I am pretty impressed so far.

I will using this blogging service for my Uni course - ITC493 IT Project Management.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Mark