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Exam 2015, questions - term 1

Project Management Concepts (Central Queensland University)

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Examination Cover Page

Examination Period: 2015 Term 1 AFFIX

Academic Institution: Central Queensland University STUDENT ID
Academic Group: Higher Education Division
Academic Career: Postgraduate
STICKER
Examination Type: Standard HERE

I have read and understood the penalties involved if I do not abide by the rules
outlined on the back of this examination paper.

Student Signature:
Student ID Number

Course: Project Management Concepts

Subject Area: PPMP
Catalog Number: 20007
Paper Number: 1
Component: ALL Components

Duration: 180 minutes Restrictions: Closed Book

Perusal Time: 15 minutes
First Contact: Jacqueline Jarvis Contact Number: (07) 4923 2859
Second Contact: Richard Egelstaff Contact Number: (07) 4930 6425

Office Use: Release examination paper via the CQ University Past Exams website two weeks after the DE/SE examination period? Yes

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Special Instructions to Students:

Please see instruction sheet on first page of the examination paper.

Examination Office Supplied Materials

1 x Rough Paper

QUESTIONS ANSWERED MARKS QUESTIONS ANSWERED MARKS

Number of examination answer booklets used:

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This examination paper is not to be released to the student at the conclusion of the examination.
Central Queensland University considers improper conduct in examinations to be a serious offence. Penalties for
cheating are exclusion from the University and cancellation with academic penalty from the course concerned.

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Project Management Concepts — PPMP20007

Instructions Sheet

1. Write all answers in the spaces provided in this examination

paper.

2. Answer all eight questions.

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TOTAL 50 MARKS
Students MUST answer all EIGHT questions.
Write ALL answers in the space provided in this examination paper.

Question 1 7 Marks
(a) There are three major deliverables for the closure stage in the typical project
life-cycle. These are wrap-up, evaluation and retrospectives. Describe what
each one encompasses. (3 marks)

Question 1 continued over page

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Question 1 (continued)

(b) For what type of projects would you recommend an agile project management
approach rather than the more traditional project management approach? In
your answer explain why you believe it would be advantageous to use the agile
project management approach for these types of project. (2 marks)

(c) Describe four disadvantages of agile project management. (2 marks)

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Question 2 4 Marks
The CQ Bikes company has set up a weighted scoring matrix for the evaluation of
potential projects. The table below shows the information for the four projects under
consideration.

(a) Based on the data in the weighted scoring matrix, which project would you rate
highest? Explain your reason. (1 mark)

(b) What is the major advantage of using a weighted scoring matrix and should the
decision be made purely on the result of the weighted model above? Explain
your answer. (1 mark)

Question 2 continued over page

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Question 2 (continued)
(c) When evaluating projects it is useful to use both the payback model and the
Net Present Value Model (NPV). Briefly describe the payback model and how
it is used in the project selection process. (2 marks)

Question 3 4 Marks 

You work for a large company where approximately 80% of the core work of the
organisation involves teams working on very large, complex projects where time is
usually a critical factor.

(a) What project management structure would you expect this organisation to use
and why? (2 marks)

Question 3 continued over page

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Question 3 (continued)

(b) What are four disadvantages of this structure? (2 marks)

Question 4 6 Marks 
(a) What is “scope creep” and what impact will it have on a project? Is it always
negative? Explain your answer. (3 marks)

Question 4 continued over page

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Question 4 (continued)

(b) What are the best defences against scope creep? (2 marks)

(c) Risk reduction is the most common risk “treatment”. When we talk about risk
reduction what is being reduced? Give an example of risk reduction to illustrate
your answer. (1 mark)

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Question 5 6 Marks
(a) What information is shown in a responsibility matrix (RM)? (1 mark)

(b) When would it be appropriate to use a RM rather than a WBS? (1 mark)

(c) Complete the following table by entering a tick in the appropriate cells to
indicate whether top-down or bottom-up estimates would be preferred for each
of the different conditions shown. (2 marks)

Condition Top-down estimate Bottom-up estimate

Strategic decision making

Fixed-price contract

High uncertainty

Small, internal project

Question 5 continued over page

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Question 5 (continued)
(d) A highly cohesive project team is normally desirable. However, such teams can
have problems. Describe two potential pitfalls of a highly cohesive project
team and what the project manager can do to try to avoid these pitfalls. (2 marks)

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Question 6 6 Marks

This question relates to the project described in the network diagram and resource
requirements table below.

Network Diagram

A 

1 6

B  E 

2 2 5 3
G 

7 2

C  F

3 5 6 10

D 

4 4

Activity  KEY:

Activity number  Duration estimate (in months) 
 
 

Question 6 continued over page

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Question 6 (continued)

Resource Requirements

Task Resources (workers) required

for the duration of the task

A 2

B 2

C 2

D 2

E 2

F 2

G 4

Assume that the number of workers required for a task does not change for the
duration of the task and that once started a task cannot be interrupted.

(a) Complete the table below to show the current resource requirements for the
duration of the project. (2 marks)
  MONTHS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Total
number of
workers

Question 6 continued over page

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Question 6 (continued)

(b) What is the total number of “worker months” of effort for this project? (1 mark)

(c) Perform resource levelling (within available slack) and show the result in the
table labelled “Final Answer”. Two extra tables are provided for your working if
needed. (2 marks)

  MONTHS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Total
number of
workers

  MONTHS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Total
number of
workers

Question 6 continued over page

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Question 6 (continued)

Final Answer:
  MONTHS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Total
number of
workers

(d) Are there any disadvantages of performing resource levelling (within available
slack)? (1 mark)

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Question 7 7 Marks

These questions are based on the following network diagram for a project:
 

B  F 

2  10  6  9 

A  C  G  J 

1  5 3  5  7  5  10  8 
I 

D  9 
H  6 

4  6  8  7 

E 

5  5 

KEY: 

Activity 

Activity number  Duration estimate (in weeks) 

Question 7 continued over page

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Question 7 (continued) 

(a) Given that the customer would like the project completed in 30 weeks,
complete the table below listing the following values for each activity: earliest
start time (ES), earliest finish time (EF), latest start time (LS), latest finish time
(LF), total slack (TS). (3 marks)

Activity ES EF LS LF TS

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J

(b) What is the critical path(s) (i.e. the most critical path(s)) for this project?
(1 mark)

Question 7 continued over page

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Question 7 (continued)

(c) Only the activities in the following table can be shortened (crashed). They can
all be crashed by up to 2 weeks. The costs to crash each activity/task are
shown in the table. (3 marks)

Task/Activity Cost to shorten task by 1 week

A $3000

B $900

D $2000

E $800

F $3000

G $900

H $1500

(i) You are required to shorten the project in the network diagram by 1
week less than your earliest finish time for the smallest possible cost.
What activity or activities would you shorten/crash to achieve the
reduction in the project duration of 1 week and why? You must explain
your choice(s). (1 mark)

Question 7 continued over page

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Question 7 (continued)

(ii) You are then asked to shorten the project in the network diagram by a
second week. What activity or activities will you shorten to reduce the
project by a second week and why? You must explain your choice(s).
(1 mark)

(iii) What is the total cost to shorten this project by two weeks? Show your
working. (1 mark)

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Question 8 10 Marks

The formulae required to answer this question are provided in the table below.

Value Description Formula

EV Earned Value EV =% completed *original budget
CV Cost variance CV = EV-AC
SV Schedule Variance SV = EV-PV
CPI Cost performance index CPI =EV/AC
SPI Schedule performance index SPI =EV/PV
EACf Forecasted estimate of EACf = AC + [(BAC-EV)/CPI]
completion or forecasted cost
at completion (if we continue BAC is the total planned value of
at the same efficiency on the the project
project)
 

This question relates to the following network diagram and baseline budget table.

A  5  4 

1  2
G
D
6  3 
B  3  3 

2  5 
E  F  F

4  5  5 5

KEY:  Activity 

Activity number 
Duration estimate (in months) 

Question 8 continued over page

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Question 8 (continued)

Activity TBC Month

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

A 30 30

B 8 8 10 8 8

C 10 10 10 10

D 70 70 70

E 20 20 20 20 20

F 30 30 30 30 30

G 40 40 40

Total

Cumulative

Table 1: Budget Table (values are in thousands of dollars)

Question 8 continued over page

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Question 8 (continued)

(a) Complete the following table to provide a status report for the project at the end
of month 7: (2 marks)

End of Month 7
Activity Actual % EV AC PV CV SV
complete
(Earned (Actual Cost) (Planned (Cost (Schedule
Value) Value) Variance) Variance)
A 100% 50
B 100% 40
C 50% 15
D 10% 22
E 40% 45
F 0% 0
G 0% 0
Cumulative totals
Table 2: Status Report (Actual costs are in thousands of dollars)

(b) Based on the data in tables 1 and 2 (and any necessary calculations you need
to perform using this data), complete the following assessment of your project
status at the end of month 7 by completing (i) – (viii) in the sentences below.

You are required to either fill in the dollar value in the blanks or circle the
correct answer where you are given a choice of answers. Note: When
answering the questions below requiring a dollar value, show the exact amount
(e.g. $100,000) not in thousands of dollars as shown in tables 1 and 2.

Show all your working clearly in tables 1-2 and in the space provided at the
end of the question.

Question 8 continued over page

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Question 8 (continued)

The project is currently (i) $ (ii) (under ) / (over) budget and is

getting (iii) $ worth of work for each dollar spent.

(2 marks)

There is (iv) $ worth of (v) (additional work that has been done)

/ (work that was supposed to have been done that has not been done).

(1 mark)

If the project continues at the same rate of efficiency calculated by the CPI, the

forecasted cost at completion would be (vi) $     (1 mark)

The project would therefore be forecasted to come in (vii) $

(viii) (under) / (over) budget. (1 mark)

Show your working for part (b) below:

CPI :

Forecasted cost at completion:

Any other calculations:

Question 8 continued over page

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Question 8 (continued)

(c) Is there any reason you might expect the CPI to change in the future? Explain
your answer. (Hint: are there any particular trends in any of the tasks at this
stage and if so what are they and how could they impact on your predictions?)
(1 mark)

(d) Is there any other data or information other than the SV that the project
manager should view to assess the status of the project schedule? Comment
on the status of the project schedule for this project. (2 marks)

– End of paper –

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