Tutorial 1 Chapter 1 (Yap Mun Keong)

1. List down SIX advantages of using formal project management. (6 marks)

Better control of financial, physical, and human resources Improved customer relations Shorter development times Lower costs Higher quality and increased reliability Higher profit margins

2. Every project has attributes. Explain those 6 attributes. (12 marks) A project has 6 attributes which are: Has a unique purpose whereby each project has its own objectives to serve different needs of the stakeholders. Is temporary where the project will reach an end. Is developed using progressive elaboration such as phase of the implementation of the project Requires resources, often from various areas in terms of labors, materials, infrastructures to start the project Should have a primary customer or sponsor to aid the financial of the projects Involves uncertainty and risk management where hidden costs and delays might occur

3. List down ten most important skills and competencies for project managers. Which skills do you possess? List down the skills. (12 marks) People skills Leadership Listening 1

Integrity, ethical behaviour, consistent Strong at building trust Verbal communication Strong at building teams Conflict resolution, conflict management Critical thinking, problem solving Understands, balances priorities

I possess the following skills: Leadership to lead the team and ensure teamwork and co-operation between members during the project Verbal communication as I believe Im able to communicate well to different peoples as well to understand their ideas for the project.

4. Give 4 examples of IT projects. Do they vary from each other or they serve the same purpose? (6 marks) 4 examples of IT projects are: A help desk or technical worker replaces ten laptops for a small department A small software development team adds a new feature to an internal software application for the finance department A college campus upgrades its technology infrastructure to provide wireless Internet access across the whole campus A cross functional task force in a company decides what Voice-overInternet-Protocol (VOIP) system to purchase and how it will be implemented.

They are varying from each other and serve different purposes. Each project has its own unique purposes which mean that they have its own benefits to the employers and company. Different project has different implementation and objective to overcome or to improvise a situation.

5. What is Project Management Institute (PMI)? (2 marks)

Project Management Institute (PMI) is an International professional society for project managers founded in 1969. PMI has continued to attract and retain members, reporting 225,432 members worldwide by 12/31/06. There are specific groups in many areas like engineering, financial services, health care, IT, etc. It is also for project management and certification programs continue to grow.

6. What Helps Projects Succeed? List down 10 factors and choose 3 to explain how these factors can help project team. (13 marks) Executive support User involvement Experienced project manager Clear business objectives Minimized scope Standard software infrastructure Firm basic requirements Formal methodology Reliable estimates Other criteria such as small milestones, proper planning, competent staff, and ownership

a) Project managers have to be well-experienced to lead the team and know how to handle critical problems to ensure that the project runs smoothly. b) The employers and users have to involve each other with clients or stakeholders during every phase of the project to ensure the project can be accomplished on time and align with the project purposes. c) Reliable estimates are important in terms of estimating the cost of the project and dateline of the project to ensure there is not loss during the project and the project will be successful on the date given.

7. Define project and project management. (2 marks) A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. The operations are work done to sustain the business. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. 8. What does the Gantt chart show you? (3 marks)

Gantt chart illustrates the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Gantt charts can be used to show current schedule status using per cent-complete shadings and a vertical "TODAY" line as shown here. 9. Explain the following diagram: (3 marks)

This diagram is named the triple constraint of project management.

It demonstrates in pictorial fashion, the key attributes that must be handled effectively for successful completion and closure of any project. For thoroughness, the key attributes of the Triple Constraint are itemized as follows: Time This refers to the actual time required to produce a deliverable which in this case, would be the end result of the project. Naturally, the amount of time required to produce the deliverable will be directly related to the amount of requirements that are part of the end result (scope) along with the amount of resources allocated to the project (cost). Cost This is the estimation of the amount of money that will be required to complete the project. Cost itself encompasses various things, such as: resources, labor rates for contractors, risk estimates, bills of materials, etc. All aspects of the project that have a monetary component are made part of the overall cost structure. Scope These are the functional elements that, when completed, make up the end deliverable for the project. The scope itself is generally identified up front so as to give the project the best chance of success. The common success measure for the scope aspect of a project is its inherent quality upon delivery.

10.Give 5 examples of stakeholders. (5 marks) Stakeholders are the people involved in the by project activities. For examples, Stakeholders include: The project sponsor who sponsor the entire or part of the projects The project manager who supervise and ensure the project runs smoothly Customers who paid for the project to be done The project team who are involved on managing the project and implementing the stages. Suppliers who supply the needs for the project.

11.What are best practices? Give 2 examples. (2 marks)

Best practice is an optimal way recognized by industry to achieve a stand goal or objective. For example, making sure the projects are driven by the 5

strategy. The project that is undertaken has to fit according to the business strategy and eliminate the unwanted projects as soon as possible. Besides that, another example of best practice is to engage the stakeholders. Often, ignoring stakeholders often lead to project failure. It is wide to engage stakeholders at all stages of a project and encourage teamwork and commitment at all time.

12.List down 5 project management tools and techniques. (5 marks) Project charter, scope statement and WBS (scope) Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path analysis, and critical chain scheduling (time) Cost estimates and earned value management (cost) Resource allocation PERT chart

13.Different Skills Needed in Different Situations. Explain the statement given. (2 marks)

For example, the situation where large projects require leadership, communication and team building skills are the most important skills. But, high uncertainty projects require skills like risk management, expectation management and planning skills.

14.Differentiate between a project manager and a program manager. (3 marks)

A project manager is the manager who has responsibilities on planning, scheduling, coordinating and working with people to achieve goals. However, program manager provides leadership and direction for the project managers heading the projects within the program.