School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment (SCEBE)

Department of Computing

Module: IT Project Management 1

Module code: M3I324177

TRIMESTER A SESSION 2020/2021

First Diet Individual Coursework 2

Module Leader –Fathiya Mohammed

Submission Date: No later than Friday 20 November 2020 at 23:59

1. COURSEWORK 2 – INDIVIDUAL COURSEWORK

1.1 GENERAL GUIDANCE

This will be an individual based project assignment.

1.1.1 Submission
The coursework should be submitted no later than 23:59 on Friday 20 November 2020. The submission
should be via GCU Learn through the Assignments folder link: first diet individual coursework.

1.1.2 Marking Scheme

The marks for each of the deliverables are clearly indicated, these marks add up to a total of 100. To pass
the module, you must achieve at least 40% overall score for the coursework. If you score less than 40%, you
will not normally qualify for a module pass and are likely to have to resit the element you have failed. You
will be expected to work on your coursework in the self-allocated sessions from Week 9 onwards. The online
sessions are opportunities for you to seek advice and guidance and for the teaching team to monitor
progress. It remains your responsibility to be active in your learning and engage with online materials and
other resources. Contact your tutor via email if you have any questions.

1.1.3 Requirement for Coursework Submission

At degree levels 3 and 4 and postgraduate level the following statement should be incorporated into any
piece of coursework submitted by a student:

“This piece of work is my own original work and has not been submitted elsewhere in fulfilment of the
requirement of this or any other award.”

It should be declared by each student in the front page of the coursework.

Thus, you should ensure that the work for this coursework is solely your own and that you do not infringe the
Plagiarism regulations. For further guidance on the various forms of plagiarism you should consult:

http://www.gcal.ac.uk/student/coursework/writing/plagiarism.html

You should also ensure that you use proper citation, referencing and bibliography. Information about citing,
referencing and bibliographies can be found at:

http://www.gcal.ac.uk/student/coursework/referencing/index.html

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Task: As a IT project manager, write a recommendation 2000-word report to the executive management to
address the following:

a) Discuss how you would go about to make use of various tools and techniques of Project Time
Management (PMT) during the initial stage project scheduling e.g. the use of network activity
diagrams, critical path(s), float table, milestones. In your report you should evaluate the use of
critical path, crashing, fast tracking, project buffers, and PERT to support efficient project scheduling.
In addition, as a project manager when would you consider terminating a project, i.e. 'pulling the
plug' on a project (20 marks).

b) Compare and contrast different tools for estimating, scheduling and monitoring a software project
and discuss how you would apply techniques to analyse selected projects and based on their
identified financial projections. Your report should cover project’s selection methods and techniques
for financial analysis of competing projects. You may use examples to illustrate any points (20 marks).

c) Examine why most international development projects in Africa fall into development traps and
ultimately run the risk of failure. Your discussions should suggest how you would deal with
methodology, accountability, capability and culture challenges on your projects (20 marks).

d) Ethics is the study of a system of rules of conduct (codes of behaviour) and principles of evaluation
such as social justice. In the final part of your report debate whether hacking can ever be considered
ethical. For example, there may be instances where hacking can be seen as beneficial – in bringing to
light information of general public interest. (20 marks)

e) Critically evaluate the role of professional and legal issues in relations to software projects. This
should include a consideration of each aspect of the software law covered in this module, and
analyse its applicability to a software project as a released product. You should also indicate any
elements of specific functionality you would have implemented in the system to assist with the
compliance of the professional and legal issues (20 marks).

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