ASSIGNMENTS - MBA - II SEMESTER

MB0033

SET 1

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Q.1:- Define project management, resource, process and project cycle. Explain the life-
cycle of a project.

Ans:- Project management : It is an art of controlling the cost, time, manpower,

hardware and software resources involved in a project. as “the application of knowledge,
skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements”. Project
management is accomplished through the application of and integration of the project
management processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and
closing. The project manager is the person responsible for accomplishing the project
objectives.

Need for project management : Project management is necessary because:-

(a) A project requires huge investments which should not go waste

(b) A loss in any project would have direct or indirect impact on the society
(c) Prevent failures in projects
(d) Scope of the project activity may undergo a change
(e) Technology used may change during the course of project execution
(f) Consequences of negativity in project related problems could be very serious
(g) Changes in economic conditions may affect a project

Resource : We discussed earlier that the most important step to arrive at the relationship
between the four constraints is to make an accurate assessment of the resources required, and
the costs thereof. At this stage, we shall broadly classify the resources required under four
categories.

(a) Manpower refers to all the man hours required from various personnel
working directly or indirectly on the project.

(b) Materials refer to all materials that become part of the project. In the case of a
building this will include cement, steel, aggregates, doors & windows, mechanical
electrical/instrumentation equipment and materials, finishing materials like tiles water
proofing, ironmongery, consumables utilized in the construction etc. In summary all
materials that become part of the building structure.

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 (c) Tools and Plants are those items that are deployed to aid the construction of
the project like lifting equipment (cranes etc.), concreting equipment, welding
machines, dozers, transport vehicles and all machineries deployed as construction
aids. They do not become part of the project, they are utilized for the implementation
of the project, and they are transferred to other projects after such utilization for the
ongoing project. The owner may own some of these tools and plants in which case he
will need to apportion an internally predetermined hiring cost of the same to the
project. For the tools and plants deployed for the project and not owned by the owner,
hiring costs charged by the external agencies shall be apportioned to the project.

(d) Infrastructure refers to temporary arrangements that need to be provided for

project implementation and dismantled at the end of the project. Examples are labor
camps, electric power and water supply systems built for the construction of the
project, dedicated telecommunication facilities during construction at project sites etc.
Each one of the abovementioned resources has a cost associated with it and the sum
total of these costs will form a part of the project cost.

It should however be noted that several additional cost elements contribute to

the total project cost like financing costs, insurance costs, overheads etc

Process : PMBoK organizes Project management processes into five groups, defined as
the Project Management Process Groups, each group comprising one or more processes. This
grouping helps in understanding the relevance and significance of the sequence of, and
interaction between the various processes in project management. However, a process group
is not a totally discrete phase occurring in isolation from another process group, and the
processes have inherent interactions between themselves throughout the implementation of a
project. We will briefly define these process groups as under, while a more detailed
explanation of each process group follows subsequently.

Initiating process group defines and authorizes the project or a project phase.

Planning process group defines and redefines objectives and plans the course of
action required to attain the objectives and scope that the project was undertaken to
address.

Executing process group integrates people and other resources to carry out the
project management plan for the project.

Controlling process group regularly measures and monitors progress to identify

variances from the project management plan so that corrective action can be taken
when necessary to meet project objectives
Closing process group formalizes acceptance of the product, service or result
and brings the project or a project phase to an orderly end.

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 Broadly, the process groups tend to be deployed in the sequence listed as the project
progresses. In the event that a project goes off-course, re-planning comes into play, and if a
project is found to be in serious trouble, it may have to go all the way back to the initiating
process to be restarted.

To summarize, the result or output of one process group often becomes an input to
another. In the central process groups planning, executing and control), all the links are
looped i.e. the links of these central process groups are iterated – planning provides execution
with a documented plan early on, and then provides documented updates to the plan, as the
project progresses. Fig. 2A illustrates this.

Process Groups in a Phase Also, though these process groups are presented above as
discrete, one-time events; these events overlap and take place at different levels of activity
across each phase in the project life cycle. Fig. 3-2 illustrates this overlapping.

Project Cycle : A project cycle basically consists of the various activities of

operations, resources and the limitations imposed on them.

Project Life cycle: Collectively, the project phases are known as the project life cycle.
Thus the project life cycle serves to define the beginning and end of the project. For example,
when an organization identifies an opportunity, it will conduct or authorize a feasibility study
to decide if it should undertake the project. The project life cycle definition will determine
whether the feasibility report is treated as the first project phase, or as a separate standalone
project. The phase sequence defined by most project life cycles generally involves transfer of
deliverables (or technology) such as:

(a) Requirements to design

(b) Design to production or construction
(c) Production to distribution
(d) Construction to operation

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The Project Life Cycle : A life cycle of a project consists of

(a) Understanding the scope of the project,

(b) Objectives of the project,
(c) Formulation and planning various activities,
(d) Project execution and
(e) Project monitoring and control the project resources.

Deliverables from preceding phase are usually approved before work starts on the
next phase. The requirement of speedy completion of the total project will often necessitate
overlapping of phases i.e. a subsequent phase is begun prior to approval of the previous phase
deliverables, when the risks involved are deemed acceptable. This overlapping is termed fast
tracking.

Q.2:- What are the roles and responsibilities of a project manager?

Ans:- The Project Manager : A project manager is a person who manages the project.
The project manager is responsible to carry out all the tasks of a project. Responsibilities of
the project manager

· Budgeting and cost control

· Scheduling tasks
· Allocating resources
· Tracking project expenditures
· Ensuring technical quality
· Manage relations with the customer and company

Life cycle of a project manager overlaps with the development life cycle in the
middle.

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Roles and Responsibilities of a project manager starts before the development and continue
after delivery of the product.

The project manager conducts the analysis of the problem and submits a detailed
report to the top management. The report should consist of what the problem is, ways of
solving the problem, the objectives to be achieved, and the success rate of achieving the goal.

The project manager and the project team to complete projects on schedule within
budgeted cost and in full accordance with project specifications. At the same time, they help
achieve the other goals of the organization, such as productivity, quality and cost
effectiveness. Hence the objective of project management is to optimize project cost, time
and performance (includes quality).

Today large and small organizations recognize that project management, with its
structured approach to planning and controlling of projects, is a necessary core competency
for success. Like general management, project management also involves all aspects of
planning, organizing, implementing and controlling .However, it has its own techniques like
work breakdown structure, critical path analysis, PERT (Program evaluation & review
technique), which will be discussed in later units.

The project manager needs to be proactive in striking a balance between these

constraints by making the client aware of the limitations pertaining to time, budget,
technicalities etc. In striking this balance, he needs to plan the deployment of resources in
sufficient detail.

Issues are made clear by the project manager to avoid as many surprises as possible.
Bottom-up project management can also be viewed as a way of coping with the increasing
gap between the information necessary to manage knowledge workers and the ability of
managers to acquire and apply this information.

The project manager’s expectations are clearly communicated to each project

participant. Following this approach, ambiguity opens the door for potential failure, and the
managers should be as specific as possible when communicating their expectations. Process
formality is very important for this approach. Examples of the top-down approach
applications can be found in many organizations. One of such example is the New York
Times, a leader in the newspaper industry. Several years ago, American Journalism Review
(www.ajr.com) reported that The Times’ executive management felt that they were far from
what was necessary for creation of a vibrant workplace and a successful organization. Power
was centralized and masthead editors experienced overall control.

Team members very often have read-only access to the project plan and cannot make
any contributions or changes. The employees send their updates to the project manager in
disconnected files via e-mail. The project manager then has to collect all the data and put the

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information manually into the project plan. After that, he or she has to communicate the
changes to the corporate executives. All these routine procedures lead to a situation where the
project manager's talents often are buried by the routine work. The huge amount of
mechanical control/synchronization work often leaves little very time for leadership from the
project manager.

The project manager is the one to conduct the work of his team and choose the right
direction for the project development, based on the information received from the individual
employees. Thus, the role the project manager plays in the project changes.

Project managers should be familiar with, and be able to use or direct the project
team, to use the appropriate tools to ensure that estimates provided during the planning
process are reliable. Estimation tools are driven by historical data and many can serve as a
parametric model which can be scalable based on the size of the project.

Once the Project Management Review has been conducted, follow up with
program/project managers on any issues or concerns requiring attention, the status of open
items from the review, and CIO reporting actions, e.g., reports to the CIO Council. The CIO
may also recommend quality assurance analysis be conducted.

The project manager is responsible for raising issues or concerns that require
assistance or guidance to the attention of the CIO. These items should be communicated
whenever they become known, and not held to the next Project Management Review. The
CIO will assign appropriate OCIO staff available to help resolve open items. The program /
project manager should communicate the status of these items in each quarterly review until
the items are resolved / closed.

The program/project manager is responsible for tracking the open items from the
review and communicating the status in each quarterly review until the items are closed. The
supporting the scheduling of reviews will coordinate with the program/project manager after
the quarterly reviews to help ensure that new items have been captured for tracking and
action by the program/project manager.

The project manager should make it a habit of expressing appreciation openly for any
good work done. Cross Functional Teams have become a necessity and the synergy they
generate would be lost if interpersonal behavior is not of high standard. As members are from
different functions, understanding the requirements or compulsions of others is difficult. This
fact should be impressed upon all the members and requesting them to cooperate is vital.

An experienced project manager and his team may manage more than one project at a
time. The project team is responsible for ensuring that the project upon completion shall
deliver the gain in the business for which it is intended for. The project team has to properly
coordinate with each other working on different aspects of the project. The team members
are responsible for the completion of the project as per the plans of the project.

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Q.3:- Explain the various steps in the identification process of a project. What are the
tools used in project planning?

Ans:- Project: A project may be stated as:

· A programme of non routine work bringing about a beneficial change

· Guided by at least one well engaged sponsor who has both adequate
authorities
· resources to charter the project effort
· Has a start and an end date
· A multidisciplinary team brought together for the project
· Scope of work that is well defined
· Constrained by cost, time and quality

Project Processes : A project process is a series of activities to achieve the target.

Project process is classified into two main categories:

(a) Project management process Project management process is defined by the

organization. It describes and organizes the work of the project.

(b) Product oriented process Product oriented process is defined by the life
cycle. It specifies and creates products and related works.

Process Groups : It consists of the following:

(a) Initiating processes: recognition to start and establishing commitment.

(b) Planning processes: devising and maintaining a workable scheme to

accomplish the business need

(c) Executing processes: coordinating people to carry out the plan

(d) Controlling processes: monitoring and measuring progress and taking

remedial action

(e) Closing processes: Formalizing acceptance and bringing project to an

orderly end.

Process Interactions Initiating Processes Every process is initiated by management

group decision which results in the next phase of the project.

(a) Planning Processes

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 · Planning has the major importance
· Plans are nothing planning is everything
· Planning processes are highly interdependent
· If the cost is unacceptable, scope and time may need to be redefined

(b) Executing processes

· Interactions depend on the nature of the work
· They are dynamic & dependent on Team Innovations

(c) Controlling processes

· Measuring project performance [time, cost, quality]
· Identifying variances from the plan
· Updating project plans
· Taking corrective action

(d) Closing Processes

· Review of the project
· Findings
· Analysis of the project performance with respect to various processes

(e) Customisation
· Large projects may need details A detailed project management plan
might be necessary to indicate every detail in the initial stages.
· Smaller projects may need relatively less details A detailed plan may not
be required in the initial stages.

Project Planning The purpose of project planning is to first identify the areas of the
project work and identifying the forces affecting the project and then to define the
boundaries
of the project. Also the scoping has to be explicitly stated on the line of the project objective
s
It also has to implicitly provide directions to the project. The planning and scoping should b
e such that the project manager is able to assess every stage of the project and also enabling
the assessment of the quality of the deliverable of the project at every stage. The various ste
ps of project scoping and its characteristics are:

(a) Identify the various parametric forces relevant to the project and its stages.
(b) Enable the team members to work on tools to keep track of the stages and
thereby proceed in the planned manner.
(c) Avoiding areas of problems which may affect the progress of the project.
(d) Eliminating the factors responsible for inducing the problem.

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 (e) Analyzing the financial implications and cost factor at various stage of the
project

Planning Tools The tools which may be necessary for coordinating a project successfully
are as follows:-

(a) Project organization

Process Skills and activities

Initiation • Prepare an outline project justification, plan and project

Budget
Selection and briefing of the project team, assigning roles
and organization
• Feasibility study risk and key success factors

Planning • Project definition and project plan

• Communicate to the team

Execution • Allocating and monitoring the work and cost •

Ensuring work and team cohesion
• Reporting progress

Control • Monitoring progress and managing changes

• Helping the team to solve project problems
Close • Satisfactory delivery
• Compiling lessons from project experience

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(b) Project structure Development plan, project tracking and oversight

Initiate planning

Develop software
development
plan(SDP)

Review and approve

SDP
Implement SDP
processes and apply
SPTO process

Measurement and
improve the process

Revise the SDP

Record lessons learnt

(c) Project Key personnel Identify those business areas that are within the
scope or directly interface with the scope boundary and list them in the “Business
area” column of the project assignment worksheet Identify the key personnel for
each area and list them in the “Person” column of the project assignment worksheet.

(d) Project management team It is a senior management team, which will be

accountable for the project. Identify project sponsor, client representative and technical
representative. Stage managers who will plan and manage the project on a day-to-day
basis for this stage

(e) Project coordinators Client coordinator and technical coordinator

clearly define these coordination, control activities and identify the brief suitable
personnel to carry them out.

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Q.4:- What is Risk Management? How can risks be prioritized?

Ans:- Risk Management Risks are those events or conditions that may occur and whose
occurrence has a harmful or negative impact on a project. Risk management aims to identify
the risks and then take actions to minimize their effect on the project. Risk management
entails additional cost. Hence risk management can be considered cost effective only if the
cost of risk management is considerably less than the cost incurred if the risk materializes.

There are different types of risk involved in a project. The main types are:-

(a) Project risks it is the risk arising out of a change in the scope of the project,
changes in the work quantities, changes in the resource requirements, estimation
error or unexpected developments in a project.

(b) Market risks it is the risk arising out of a change in any of the
following marketing parameter – price change, changes in market regulations,
economic changes, competition, competitors product changes, etc.

(c) Industry risk it is the risk arising out of a change in scientific instruments
used in business activity, changes in companies policies because of changes in the
industry.

(d) Social and political risk it arises out of changes in labour situation,
labour laws, environment law, etc.

The risk process, described below, should be performed at the beginning of a

project, at the beginning of major phases in a project (e.g., requirements, design, coding and
deployment) and when there are significant changes (e.g., feature changes, target
platform changes and technology changes).

At the end of this unit, we have provided you with a copy of our risk process. It is sim
ple, effective, and takes 90 to 120 minutes for projects that are 1260 personmonths. Projectss
maller than 12 personmonths take 4060 minutes. You can control the length of the sessionby
controlling the scope you pick. Most sessions usually take less than two hours.

There are four steps to manage a risk:

(a) Risk Identification:- To identify risks, we must first define risk. Risks
are potential problems, ones that are not guaranteed to occur. When people begin
performing risk identification they often start by listing known problems. Known
problems are not risks. During risk identification, you might notice some
known problems. If so, just move them to a problem list and concentrate on future
potential problems.

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 Risk identification can be done using a brainstorming session. The brainstorm
typically takes 15 30 minutes. Be sure to invite anyone who can help you think of
risks. In the brainstorming session, people call out potential problem that they think
could hurt the project. New ideas are generated based on the items on the brainstorm
list. A project manager can also use the process to refer to a database of risk
obtained from past.

The information obtained from such databases can help the project
manager to evaluate and assess the nature of the risk and its impact on the project.

Example of risks are: “We may not have the requirements right.
“The technology is untested,” “Key people might leave,” “The server won’t restart in
situation X,” and “People might resist the change.” Any potential problem, or critical
project feature, is a good candidate for the risk list.

(b) Risk prioritization: Risk prioritization focus on the highest risk.

Prioritization requires analyzing the possible effects of the risk event in case it
actually occurs. This approach requires a quantitative assessment of the risk
probability and the risk consequences. For each risk rate the probability of its
happening as low, medium or high. If necessary, assign probability values in the
ranges given for each rating. For each risk, assess its impact on the project as low,
medium, high or very high. Rank the risk based on the probability. Select the top few
risk items for mitigation and tracking.

Refer to a list of commonly used risk mitigation steps for various risks from
the previous risk logs maintained by the PM and select a suitable risk mitigation step.
The risk mitigation step must be properly executed by incorporating them into the
project schedule. In addition to monitoring the progress of the planned risk mitigation
steps periodically revisit the risk perception for the entire project. The results of this
review are reported in each milestone analysis report. To prepare this report, make
fresh risk analysis to determine whether the priorities have changed.

Q.5:- What is Project Management Knowledge Areas? Explain briefly PMIS.

Ans:- Project Management Knowledge Areas and Relationship : It comprises of

various techniques needed to manage projects, the practical methodologies adopted in
formulating a project and managing the resources which would affect the project
completion. Relationship with other management disciplines is essential for a project to be
successful. Supporting disciplines includes law, strategic planning, logistics, human resource
management and domain knowledge.
Need for project management : Project management is necessary because:-
a) a project requires huge investments which should not go waste
b) a loss in any project would have direct or indirect impact on the society
c) prevent failures in projects

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 d) scope of the project activity may undergo a change
e) technology used may change during the course of project execution
f) consequences of negativity in project related problems could be very serious
g) changes in economic conditions may affect a project

Project Management Information System (PMIS): A information systems is

mainly aimed at providing the management at different levels with information related
to the system of the organization. It helps in maintaining a discipline in the system.
A system is prone to malfunctions if not properly maintained. An information system
dealing with project management tasks is the project management information system. It help
in decision making in arriving at optimum allocation of resources. The information systems is
based on a database of the organization. A project management information system
also holds schedule, scope changes, risk assessment and actual results. Usual information
systems are not designed for projects. Normal information systems tell managers if
they are working within the scope of the budget. The information is communicated to
managers at different levels of the organization depending upon the need. Upper
managers need to know information on all projects regarding
progress, problems, resource usage, costs and project goals. This information helps them take
decisions on the project. They should review the projects at each milestone and arrive at
appropriate decision. Project manager and department managers need to see each project
schedule priority and use of resources to determine the most efficient use across the
organization. Project team members need to see schedule, takes lists and specification so
they know what needs to be done next.

The four major aspects of a PMIS are:-

(a) Provide information to the major stakeholders ie the right information at
the right time.
(b) Assist the team members, stakeholders, managers with necessary
information and summary of the information shared to the higher level managers.
(c) Assists the managers in doing what if analyses about project staffing,
proposed staffing changes and total allocation of resources.
(d) Help organizational learning by helping the members of the organization learn
about project management.

A good PMIS is possible to be developed from the team members and not
from the systems administrators of the company. Organizations tend to allocate such
responsibility by rotation among members with a well designed and structured data entry and
analytical format.
Q.6:- List out the macro issues in project management and explain each.

Ans:- Macro issues

(a) Evolving Key Success Factors (KSF) Upfront: In order to provide complete
stability to fulfillment of goals, one needs to constantly evaluate from time to time,

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the consideration of what will constitute the success of completing a project and
assessing its success before completion. The KSF should be evolved based on a basic
consensus document (BCD). KSF will also provide an input to effective exit strategy
(EES). Exit here does not mean exit from the project but from any of the drilled down
elemental activities which may prove to be hurdles rather than contributors. Broad level of
KSF should be available at the conceptual stage and should be firmed up and detailed out
during the planning stage. The easiest way would be for the team to evaluate each step for
chances of success on a scale of ten. KSF should be available to the management
duly approved by the project manager before execution and control stages. KSF rides above
normal consideration of time and cost – at the levels encompassing client
expectation and management perception – time and cost come into play as subservient to
these major goals.

(b) Empowerment Title (ET) – ET reflects the relative importance of members of the
organization at three levels:

(i) Team members empowered to work within limits of their respective allocated
responsibilities – the major change from bureaucratic systems is an expectation
from these members to innovate and contribute to time and cost.
(ii) Group leaders are empowered additionally to act independently towards client
expectation and are also vested with some limited financial powers.
(iii) Managers are empowered further to act independently
but to maintain a scientific balance among time, cost, expectation and perception,
apart from being a virtual advisor to the top management.

(c) Partnering Decision Making (PDM) PDM is a substitute to monitoring and

control. A senior with a better decision making process will work closely with the project
managers as well as members to plan what best can be done to manage the future better
from past experience. The key here is the active participation of members in the
decision making process. The ownership is distributed among all irrespective of levels –
the term equally should be avoided here since ownership is not quantifiable. The right feeling
of ownership is important. This step is most difficult since junior members have to
respond and resist to being
pushed through sheer innovation and performance – this is how future leaders would emerge.
The PDM process is made scientific through:
(i) Earned value management system (EVMS)
(ii) Budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS)
(iii) Budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP)
(iv) Actual cost of work performed(ACWP)

(d) Management By Exception (MBE) – “No news is good news” . If a member wants
help he or she locates a source and proposed to the manager only if such help is not
accessible for free. Similarly, a member should believe that a team leaders silence is a sign of
approval and should not provoke comments through excessive seeking of opinions. In short

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leave people alone and let situation perform the demanding act. The bend limit of MBE can
be evolved depending on the sensitivity of the nature and size of the project. MBE
provides and facilitates better implementation of effectiveness of empowerment titles.
MBE is more important since organizations are moving toward multiskilled functioning
even at junior most levels.

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 ASSIGNMENTS - MBA – II SEMESTER

MB0033

SET 2

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Q.1:- Providing adequate resources is key to productivity – Comment.

Ans:- Resource It refers to manpower, machinery, money and materials required

in the project. During the course of executing the project, it is seen that the resource
requirement increases from start to an intermediate stage of the project. It further
increases at rapid rate and becomes constant while the project is during its 80 to 95%
progress stage. Thereafter the resources requirement decreases to zero i.e when the
project comes to a finish. Refer the Characteristic chart. Plan the resources required for
various stage of the project. Brief both the project team and the key resources about the
objectives of every stage, planned activities, products, organization, metrics and project
controls.

Key elements of a Productivity Improvement Program:

1. Obtain Upper Management Support Without top management support,

experience shows a PIP likely will fail. The Chief Executive Officer should issue a clear,
comprehensive policy statement. The statement should be communicated to everyone in the
company. Top management also must be willing to allocate adequate resources to permit
success.

2. Create New Organizational Components A Steering Committee to oversee

the PIP and Productivity Managers to implement it are essential. The Committee should be
staffed by top departmental executives with the responsibilities of goal setting, guidance,
advice, and general control. The Productivity Managers are responsible for the day-to-day
activities of measurement and analysis. The responsibilities of all organizational components
must be clear and well established.

3. Plan Systematically Success doesn't just happen. Goals and objectives

should be set, problems targeted and rank ordered, reporting and monitoring requirements
developed, and feedback channels established.

4. Open Communications Increasing productivity means changing the way things

are done. Desired changes must be communicated. Communication should flow up and down
the business organization. Through publications, meetings, and films, employees must be told
what is going on and how they will benefit.

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5. Involve Employees This is a very broad element encompassing the quality of
work life, worker motivation, training, worker attitudes, job enrichment, quality circles,
incentive systems and much more. Studies show a characteristic of successful, growing
businesses is that they develop a "corporate culture" where employees strongly identify with
and are an important part of company life. This sense of belonging is not easy to engender.
Through basic fairness, employee involvement, and equitable incentives, the corporate
culture and productivity both can grow.

6. Measure and Analyze This is the technical key to success for a PIP.
Productivity must be defined, formulas and worksheets developed, sources of data identified,
benchmark studies performed, and personnel assigned. Measuring productivity can be a
highly complex task. The goal, however, is to keep it as simple as possible without distorting
and depreciating the data. Measurement is so critical to success, a more detailed analysis is
helpful.

7. Quality Control This is very important in any project. Quality control is possible
if the project members follow the quality charts and norms very strictly.

8. Schedule Quality Review It is recommended that quality review be

scheduled at the beginning of the stage and also ending of every stage.

9. Agenda for quality review Create and distribute a quality review agenda
specifying the objective, products, logistics, roles, responsibilities and time frame.

10. Conduct quality review The quality review is to be conducted in a structured

and formal manner. Quality review should focus on product development and its
quality factors. Focus on whether it meets the prescribed quality standard .

11. Follow up QR complete product status revised from ‘In progress’ to ‘QR
Complete’. Follow up the actions planned in strict manner which ensures conformity to the
standards.

12. Review quality control procedures Verify that the quality objectives for
each product are appropriate and that all participants are satisfied both with the process and
its outcome.

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Q.2:- Explain the relevance of Work Breakdown Structure in determining
responsibility area. Explain in detail GDM and its key features

Ans:- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The entire process of a project may
be considered to be made up on number of sub process placed in different stage called
the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

A typical example of a work breakdown structure of a recruitment process is indicated

below :

This is the technique to analyze the content of work and cost by breaking it down into its
component parts. Project key stages form the highest level of the WBS, which is then used to
show the details at the lower levels of the project. Each key stage comprises many tasks
identified at the start of planning and later this list will have to be validated.
WBS is produced by identifying the key elements, breaking each
element down into component parts and continuing to breakdown until manageable work
packages have been identified. These can then be allocated to the appropriate person.
The WBS does not show dependencies other than a grouping under the key stages. It is not
time based there is no timescale o the drawing.

GDM The Global Delivery Model (GDM) is adopted by an Industry or Business such that it
has a capability to plan design, deliver and serve to any Customers or Clients
Worldwide with Speed, Accuracy, Economy and Reliability.

The key Features of GDM are

· Standardization

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 · Modularization
· Minimum Customization
· Maximum Micro structure

Adoption of a Combination of the Greatest Common Multiple and the Least Common
Factor of a Large Mass of Microbial Components.

(a) Standardization Ingenious Design and Development of Components and

Features which are like to be accepted by 90% of Worldwide Customers. Global
Standards of Design focusing on highly standardized Methods and Processes of
manufacture or Development. Adopt Plug and socket Concepts with minimum
adaptable joints or Connections.

(b) Modularization Product or Solution split up into smallest possible individual

Identifiable Entities, with limited Individual Functioning Capability but powerful
and robust in Combination with other Modules.

(c) Minimum Customization Minimum Changes or Modifications to suit

Individual Customers.

d) Maximum micro structuring Splitting of the Product Modules further

into much smaller entity identifiable more through characteristics rather than
application Features. Approach through Standardization of these Microbial
Entities even across Multiple Modules. Application of these Microbial Entities
to rest within multiple Projects or Products or even as addons suit belated
Customer Needs.

Special Features of GDM

· Cuts across Geographical and Time Zone Barriers
· Unimaginable Speeds of Response and Introduction.
· Common Pool of Microbial Components
· Largely Independent of Skill Sets required at Delivery Stages
· Highly automated Processes
· Quality Assurance as a Concurrent rather than a Control Process
· NearShore Development, Manufacture and Delivery for better Logistics
· Mapping of Economical Zones rather than Geographic Zones
· Continuous Floating virtual Inventory to save Time and Efforts.

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Q.3:- What do you understand by Resource Smoothing? What is the significance of
reviewing ROI?

Ans:- ROI - Return on Investment (ROI) is the calculated benefit that an organization is
projected to receive in return for investing money (resources) in a project. Within the context
of the Review Process, the investment would be in an information system development or
enhancement project. ROI information is used to assess the status of the business viability of
the project at key checkpoints throughout the project’s lifecycle.

ROI may include the benefits associated with improved mission performance, reduced
cost, increased quality, speed, or flexibility, and increased customer and employee
satisfaction. ROI should reflect such risk factors as the project’s technical complexity, the
agency’s management capacity, the likelihood of cost overruns, and the consequences of
under or nonperformance. Where appropriate, ROI should reflect actual returns observed
through pilot projects and prototypes.

ROI should be quantified in terms of dollars and should include a calculation of the
breakeven point (BEP), which is the date when the investment begins to generate a positive
return. ROI should be recalculated at every major checkpoint of a project to se if the BEP is
still on schedule, based on project spending and accomplishments to date. If the project is
behind schedule or over budget, the BEP may move out in time; if the project is ahead of
schedule or under budget the BEP may occur earlier. In either case, the information is
important for decision making based on the value of the investment throughout the project
lifecycle. Any project that has developed a business case is expected to refresh the ROI at
each key project decision point (i.e., stage exit) or at least yearly.

If the detailed data collection, calculation of benefits and costs, and capitalization data
from which Return on Investment (ROI) is derived was not required for a particular project,
then it may not be realistic or practical to require the retrofit calculation of ROI once the
project is added to the Review portfolio. In such a case, it is recommended that a
memorandum of record be developed as a substitute for ROI. The memorandum should
provide a brief history of the program, a description of the major benefits realized to date
with as much quantitative data as possible, and a summary of the process used to identify and
select system enhancements.

Some of the major benefits experienced by sites that installed the information system
that would be important to include in the memorandum are:

(a) Decommissioning of mainframe computers

(b) Reduction/redirection of labour
(c) Elimination of redundant systems
(d) Ability to more cost effectively upgrade all sites with one standard upgrade
package.

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 In each case above, identify the specific site, systems, and labour involved in
determining the cited benefit. Identify any costs or dollar savings that are known or have been
estimated. The memorandum will be used as tool for responding to any future audit inquiries
on project ROI.

For the Project Management Review, it is recommended that the project leader
replace the text on the ROI document through -

(1) A note stating which stage of its cycle the project is in;

(2) A bulleted list of the most important points from the memorandum of record;

(3) A copy of the memorandum of record for the Review repository.

In subsequent Reviews of the information system, the ROI slide can be eliminated
form the package. There is one notable exception to this guidance. Any internal use software
project in the maintenance phase of its lifecycle that adds a new site or undertakes an
enhancement or technology refresh that reaches the cost threshold established by Standard
will need to satisfy capitalization requirements. It requires all agencies to capitalize items
acquired or developed for internal use if the expected service life is two or more years and its
cost meets or exceeds the agency’s threshold for internal use software. The standard requires
capitalization of direct and indirect costs, including employee salaries and benefits for both
Federal and Contractor employees who materially participate in the Software project.
Program managers are considered to be the source of cost information for internal use
software projects. If capitalization data is collected for the project in the future, the project
would be expected to calculate and track its ROI.

Q.4:- Explain the concept of concurrency in High Technology Development.

Ans:- Concurrency in High Technology Development As the application of technology

has become critical for the survival of organisation it has become imperative for
organizations to initiate measures for the development of high technology to be ahead of
competition. No doubt, there are many specialized Research and Development firms which
offer their expertise to their clients’ problems. However, their services are available to the
competitors and many technologies developed by the company’s own research personnel
cannot be shared with outsiders. So the strategy would be utilize the services of external
resource to the extent they are suitable for our purpose, but with a strong base of R and D of
our own. This will really differentiate the best companies from other ordinary ones. The
following give some guidelines in the form of rules which would help organisation to be
strong in this area.

Building concurrency into every activity is essential to reduce the development cycle
time and to counter the technology obsolescence. Many of the tasks that are normally done in
a serial fashion can be done in parallel by synchronizing the flow of information. The

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practices of the concurrent engineering where the design of the product and all its associated
processes are carried out simultaneously based on team work and participation. Would not
only help in reducing the development cycle time, but also improves the product functionality
with regard to requirements. Concurrency can be accomplished in many ways both for
product development as well as technology transfer, user evaluation and production.

Example - Tactical Aircraft: Concurrency in Development and Production of F-22

Aircraft Should Be Reduced (Letter Report, 04/19/95, GAO/NSIAD-95-59). Because the F-
22 fighter plane is not urgently needed and the Defense Department (DOD) has discovered
engine and software problems with the aircraft, GAO urges that the F-22 be thoroughly tested
before large numbers of these expensive aircraft are acquired. Concurrency between the
development and production phases of F-22 means that independent testing of high-tech
features of the aircraft will not be completed before the Air Force makes a significant
commitment to producing the F-22. Among other things, the F-22 boast an advanced
architecture for the integrated avionics system, a propulsion system that will allow cruising a
supersonic speeds without the afterburners that current fighters needs, and low observable
technologies. The military has already disclosed engine and stealth ness problems, and the
potential for avionics and software problems underscore the need to demonstrate the aircraft's
capabilities before committing to production.

Q.5:- What are the main utilities of an ERP package?

Ans:- Enterprise Resource Planning Manufacturing management systems have

evolved in stages over the few decades from a simple means of calculating materials
requirements to the automation of an entire enterprise. Around 1980, over frequent changes
in sales forecasts, entailing continual readjustments in production, as well as the unsuitability
of the parameters fixed by the system, led MRP (Material Requirement Planning) to evolve
into a new concept : Manufacturing Resource Planning (or MRP2) and finally the
generic concept Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

The initials ERP originated as an extension of MRP (material requirements

planning then manufacturing resource planning). ERP systems now attempt to cover
all basic functions of an enterprise, regardless of the organization's business or charter.
Nonmanufacturing businesses, nonprofit organizations and governments now all utilize ERP
systems. To be considered an ERP system, a software package must provide the
function of at least two systems. For example, a software package that provides both
payroll and accounting functions could technically be considered an ERP software package.

However, the term is typically reserved for larger, more broadly based applications.
The introduction of an ERP system to replace two or more independent applications
eliminates the need for external interfaces previously required between systems, and
provides additional benefits that range from standardization and lower maintenance to
easier and/or greater reporting capabilities.

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Some organizations -typically those with sufficient inhouse IT skills to integrate multiple
software products - choose to implement only portions of an ERP system and develop an
external interface to other ERP or standalone systems for their other application needs. For
example, one may choose to use the HRMS from one vendor, and the financials
systems from another, and perform the integration between the systems themselves.

Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules,
which would include:

Manufacturing Engineering, Bills of Material, Scheduling, Capacity, Workflow Manageme

nt,Quality Control, Cost Management, Manufacturing Process, Manufacturing Projects,
Manufacturing Flow Supply Chain Management Inventory, Order Entry, Purchasing, Product
Configurator, Supply Chain Planning, Supplier Scheduling, Inspection of goods,
Claim Processing, Commission Calculation.

Financials General Ledger, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts

Receivable, Fixed Assets

Projects Costing, Billing, Time and Expense, Activity Management

Human Resources Human Resources, Payroll, Training, Time & Attendance, Rostering,
Benefits

Customer Relationship Management Sales and Marketing, Commissions, Service,

Customer Contact and Call Center support

Data Warehouse and various SelfService interfaces for Customers, Suppliers, and Employees

Enterprise Resource Planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource plann
ing that followed material requirements planning . MRP evolved into ERP when "routings"
became a major part of the software architecture and a company's capacity planning activity
also became a part of the standard software activity. ERP systems typically handle
the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing, and accounting for
a company. Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software can aid in the control of
many business activities, like sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production, inventory
management, quality management, and human resource management.

ERP systems saw a large boost in sales in the 1990s as companies faced the Y2K prob
lem in their legacy systems. Many companies took this opportunity to replace their legacy
information systems with ERP systems. This rapid growth in sales was followed by a
slump in 1999, at which time most companies had already implemented their Y2K solution.

ERPs are crossfunctional and enterprise wide. All functional departments that are
involved in operations or production are integrated in one system. In addition to

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manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and information technology, this would include
accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management.

The Ideal ERP System

An ideal ERP system is when a single database is utilized and contains all data for
various software modules. These software modules can include:

a. Manufacturing: Some of the functions include; engineering, capacity, workflow

management, quality control, bills of material, manufacturing process, etc.
b. Financials: Accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, general ledger and
cash management, etc.
c. Human Resources: Benefits, training, payroll, time and attendance, etc
d. Supply Chain Management: Inventory, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling,
claim processing, order entry, purchasing, etc.
e. Projects: Costing, billing, activity management, time and expense, etc.
f. Customer Relationship Management: sales and marketing, service, commissions,
customer
contact, calls center support, etc.
g. Data Warehouse: Usually this is a module that can be accessed by an organizations custo
mers, suppliers and employees.

ERP Improves Productivity Before ERP systems, each department in an organization would
most likely have their own computer system, data and database. Unfortunately, many
of these systems would not be able to communicate with one another or need to store or
rewrite data to make it possible for cross computer system communication.
For instance, the financials of a company were on a separate computer system than the
HR system, making it more intensive and complicated to process certain functions.

Once an ERP system is in place, usually all aspects of an organization can work in
harmony instead of every single system needing to be compatible with each other. For large
organizations, increased productivity and less types of software are a result.

Q.6:- Explain three levels of SCMo documentation. Explain PILIN.

Ans:- Requirement of Documented systems in Supply Chain Monitoring (SCMo)

It is possible today to establish a system aligned with an organizations supply chain. It

can be an add-on to existing ERP-systems. The main objectives are

i) Prevention of stock-out and over supply

ii) Early warnings, elimination of bullwhip effect

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 iii) Optimized allocation in bottleneck situations due to network-wide
inventory and demand transparency

The main Principles behind is the Integration of supply chain participants, Exchange
of demand and inventory information, transparency & Visibility of inventories and demands
for multilevel supply chains. It also eliminates time lags in the information flow and ensures
synchronization of demand information. SCMo set up (Initialization) The main steps for the
set up are :

a) Determination of the potentially critical part of the supply network Criteria:

b) Mapping of Structures a) high shortage risk and effect, long lead and reaction
times, high total inventory cost, frequent engineering changes.

Main Features – The main features of such system are –

i) Releases and Iterations planning – It is a simple way to create project plan.

ii) Dashboard – It is a quick project status reporting tool.
iii) To-Do lists – Identify and list the Integrated assignments.
iv) Integrated QA - Bug Tracking, Test Cases management, user story-to-bugs
Trace-ability, QA stats and charts.
v) Time Tracking - Create more accurate estimates of time.

Significance of Documentation

It might sometimes be difficult for an organization to straightaway launch into a

Project Management exercise, even if they are well equipped, particularly if the project is too
large – for e.g., development of a new product, expansion of capacity, modernization of
facilities, diversification into a totally new business area, getting into a Joint venture etc. In
this case, the core project team itself might feel the need to have some major inputs before
even a tentative plan could be drawn up. A well-drafted Business Plan would ideally serve
this purpose, provided it is handled systematically & professionally.

• The documentation system is intranet based to provide immediate access to current,

up-to-date process documentation. The system allows users to navigate through
graphical structures to relevant documentation and processes which were created with
the ARIS-Toolset.

• The content of the process Documentation System includes the area supply chain
management from the Odette supply chain Management Group. The system includes
graphical process documentation, in the form of process chains, as well as the entire
range of documentation related to the processes.

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 • The Process Documentation System gives, according to its objectives, as overview
and a detailed view of the relevant processes for SCMo.

• The entry point in the documentation system is the model “Process Overview SCMo”.
This model is the starting point for the navigation to other models.

• The vertical navigation is the navigation on different levels. The horizontal navigation
is the navigation on one level.

• Microsoft has a team project management solution that enables project managers and
their teams to collaborate on projects. The Microsoft Project 2002 products in this
solution are Microsoft Project Standard 2002, Microsoft Project Server 2002, and
Microsoft Project Server Client Access License (CAL) 2002.

PILIN – PERSISTENT IDENTIFIER AND LINKING INFRASTRUCTURE As

the FRODO and MERRI projects have matured, there is a growing realisation that
sustainable identifier infrastructure is required to deal with the vast amount of digital assets
being produced and stored within universities. This is a particular challenge for e-Research
communities where massive amounts of data are being generated without any means of
managing this data over any length of time.

The emphasis in the PILIN Project will be on building identifier management

infrastructure based on a technology (Handle) that is now under development through the
auspices of CNRI to underpin sustainable global identifier infrastructure.

PILIN aims to meet a specific need common to e-Research communities, the

proposed work to be undertaken will be transferable to other communities, such as the VTE
sector, the Le@rning Federation and the TILIS Project.

The project aims to take advantage of existing governance and consultative

mechanisms within the ARROW environment to ensure relevant and sustainable outcomes
and optimal return on investment. The project will be run in partnership between ARROW
and the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), specifically through the RUBRIC
Project.

Aims and Objectives

• Support adoption and use of persistent identifiers and shared persistent identifier
management services by the project stakeholders.
• Plan for a sustainable, shared identifier management infrastructure that enables
persistence of identifiers and associated services over archival lengths of time.

Project Outputs

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1. Best practice and policy guides for the use of persistent identifiers in Australian e-
learning, e-research, and e-science communities.
2. Use cases describing community requirements for identifiers and business process
analysis relating to these use cases.
3. E-Framework representations of persistent identifier management services that
support the business requirements for identifiers.
4. A “pilot” shared persistent identifier management infrastructure usable by the project
stakeholders over the lifetime of the project. The pilot infrastructure will include
services for creating, accessing and managing persistent digital identifiers over their
lifetime. The pilot infrastructure will interoperate with other DEST funded systemic
infrastructure. The development phase of the pilot will use an agile development
methodology that will allow the inclusion of “value-added” services for managing
resources using persistent identifiers to be included in the development program if
resources permit.
5. Software tools to help applications use the shared persistent identifier infrastructure
more easily.
6. Report on options and proposals for sustaining, supporting (including outreach) and
governing shared persistent identifier management infrastructure.

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