Student ID ________________

Semester / Year: Semester 2 2018

Faculty / Dept: Management and Marketing

Subject Code: MGMT90031

Subject Name: Project Management

Writing Time: 2 hrs

Reading Time: 15 minutes

Open Book Status: Yes / No

Number of Pages (including this page): 7 pages

Authorised Materials:
English-other language translation dictionaries. Calculator - Casio FX82 (any suffix).

Instructions to Students:
This examination contributes 60 % to the final subject mark.

This examination paper includes 2 sections:

Section A: Contains 3 questions. You are required to answer all three (3) questions. This
section accounts for 35 marks.

Section B: Contains 3 essay type questions. You are required to answer all three (3) questions.
This section accounts for 25 marks.

Formulae at end of exam

Instructions to Invigilators:
Student may keep the paper: Yes / No
Student may annotate the paper during reading time: Yes / No
Paper to be held by Library: Yes / No

Extra Materials Required:

None

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 Section A 35 Marks

Q1. As part of a new product development project a team has identified 8 initial activities (All
times are in days). The indirect cost per day is $1,000

Activity Predecessor Normal Time Normal Crash Crash

Cost $ Time Cost$
a — 5 500 4 2,500
b — 4 400 2 2,000
c a 4 700 3 1,600
d a, b 2 200 1 1,500
e a,b 3 300 — —
f c 6 800 4 3,900
g d,e 5 500 4 1,000
h f,g 4 600 2 1,800

(a) Draw the network diagram for normal time:

(i) Find each activity's ES, EF, LS, and LF
(ii) Identify all paths and their duration. Identify the critical path?
(iii) Are there any near critical paths?
(iv) Calculate the slack for each activity.
(v) For an all-normal level of project activity calculate the time and cost
5 Marks

(b) Calculate the crash cost-per-day (all activities may be partially crashed).
3 Marks

(c) What is the optimal project time and what will it cost?
3 Marks

(d) Calculate the shortest delivery time for the project. What is the cost?
3 Marks

(e) If the indirect cost was $400 per day how would that change the optimal project time and cost?

3 Marks

(5+3+3+3+3)= 17 Marks

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Q2. On day 33 of a market research project was estimated by the Gneral Manager of Marketing to
have created $6000 worth of value. Its actual cost was $6500, and the projects planned cost
for this stage was $5600. The planned cost for the completed project is $12,000.

(a) Compute the SV, CV, and CPI for the project. Identify all values used.

3 marks

(b) What is your assessment of the project on day 33? Use appropriate formulae to justify
your answer. Clearly, define all assumptions and the rationale for your answer.

4 marks

(c) If the project is expected to be completed in 66 days what implication might this have for
project planning? Use appropriate formulae to justify your answer. Clearly, define all
assumptions and the rationale for your answer.
6 marks

(3+4+6)= 13 Marks

Q3. You are one of three carpenters assigned to complete a short construction project. Right
before the start of the project, one of your fellow carpenters was hospitalised and will not be
available to work on the project.

Develop a resource-constrained schedule in the loading chart that follows to see how long the
project will take with only two carpenters. Activities A, B, C, D, E, G, and H require two
carpenters to complete. Activity F requires only one carpenter. No splitting of activities is
possible.

(a) By week 12 which activity will be finished with a resource constrained project of two
carpenters?
2 marks

(b) How long will it take for all activities to be finished with two carpenters?

3 marks

(c) How long would the project take to finish if you were able to have three carpenters from
week 10?

2 marks

(2+2+3)=5 Marks

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 Part A = 17 marks +13 marks + 5 marks = 35 Marks

4
 Section B (25 Marks)

Jack and Alien’s new gaming laptop.

Jack Daniel is an expert in digital signal processing and was promoted to Senior Design Engineer just
two years after Alien whose company motto is “For gamers by gamers”. After serving as a Senior
Design Engineer for two years, he was promoted to Project Manager and asked to oversee a product
development project involving a relatively minor product line extension one of Alien’s gaming
keyboards.
Alien had a range of existing gaming laptops and gaming peripherals that are distributed through a net-
work of value-added resellers. After completing the gaming keyboard product line extension project
about nine months ago, Jack was asked to serve as the project manager for a project to develop a new line
of ”Superlite” gaming laptops. This was the first time he was to lead a major strategic project for the
organization so Jack wasted no time in planning the project. Based on the success of the product line
extension project, he decided to modify the work breakdown structure he had developed for the product
line extension project and apply it to this new project to develop a new line of notebook computers. He
recalled the weeks of planning that went into developing the work breakdown structure for the desktop
product line extension project. The entire project team had been involved, and that was a relatively
straightforward product line extension. The current project was more complicated, and there simply
was not sufficient time to involve all team members. What was the point of wasting valuable time and
resources to re-invent the wheel? Jack thought between his experience and the suggestions made by the
Vice-President he has more than enough information to plan the project.

After modifying the work breakdown structure, Jack scheduled a meeting with the Vice-President of
Product Development to discuss staffing the project. As was typical of other product development
projects at Alien, Jack and the Vice-President agreed that the project should be housed within the engineering
division. In his capacity as project manager, Jack would serve as liaison to other functional areas such as marketing,
purchasing, finance, and production. However thought since they had finished the desktop product line
extension project they should have plenty of spare capacity for the new line of notebook computers. Jack
was concerned that half the engineers had already been assigned to other projects but thought that if
everything worked out well it should still work.

As the project progressed, it continued to slip behind schedule. Jack found it necessary to schedule a meeting each
week to address how unanticipated activities would be completed. For example, last week the team realized that
no one had been assigned to design a light system to allow the screen to attach and detach the base so that it could
be used as a touch screen.

Indeed, Jack found himself increasingly in crisis mode. For example, this morning the manufacturing group
sent a heated email to Jack complaining about his conflict management style which was described as aggressive.
The manufacturing group noted that they just learned of the notebook computer project and based on the design
presented to them, they would not be able to manufacture the printed circuit boards because of the extensive
amount of surface mount components required. Jack responded to this message by noting that the engineering group
was doing its job and had designed a state-of-the-art notebook computer. He added that it was the manufacturing
group's problem to decide how to produce it. He thought some people just do not have a "can do" attitude wanted
to spend too much time talking about problems.

Just as troubling was the crisis that had occurred earlier in the week. The Vice-President of Product
Development had requested that the notebook computer incorporate a new type of interface that would
allow the notebook computer to synchronise information with the new portable playing platform Alien was
about to introduce. Jack explained that incorporating new interfaces for high speed synchronise of large
would delay the introduction by a minimum of several months. Nevertheless, the Vice-President was adamant that
the change be made. The Vice-President of Product Development said to Jack it was pretty obvious from Alien's
President's speech last week that all Aliens products would interface with each other and expressed concern that
Jack seems to be losing his "can do" attitude and wanting to spend too much time talking about problems. The
5
Vice-President of Product Development thought it was time to get a new project manager. He felt Jack
did not know how to play the game and was disappointed that Jack had messed up such a simple project.

Questions:

Q1. Does Jack Daniel show the competencies' of a good project manager? Describe the
characteristics of a good project manager and compare Jack to these characteristics using
frameworks discussed in the course.
5 marks

Q2. “Jack’s great strength is his ability to manage teams.” Do you agree or disagree? Use relevant
concepts from the course and specific examples from the case to justify your answer.

4 marks

Q3 How could the problems facing Jack been avoided or lessened if good project management
practices and auditing processes had been used. Identify four problems and how these could
have been addressed using specific concepts and frameworks covered in the course. Clearly
define the problem and provide specific examples of how specific concepts and frameworks
covered in the course these could have been used to lessen the risk or impact of this problem.

16 marks

(5Marks + 4 Marks + 16Marks = 25 Marks)

END OF EXAMINATION

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 Formulae

7
Library Course Work Collections

Author/s:
Management and Marketing

Title:
Project Management, 2018, Semester 2, MGMT90031

Date:
2018

Persistent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/11343/220936