ASSIGNMENTS- MBA Sem-II MB0033 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENTS- MBA
SEM-II
Subject code: MB0033
Subject Name: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Set 1& Set 2

Submitted By:
Mr. Mithesh Kumar
Reg. No. 520930668
948-000-9987
Kumar.mithesh@gmail.com

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

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 project requires huge investments which should not go waste.
 A loss in any project would have direct or indirect impact on the
society.
 Prevent failures in projects.
 Scope of the project activity may undergo a change.
 Technology used may change during the course of project
execution.
 Consequences of negativity in project related problems could be very
serious.
 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.

 Manpower refers to all the man hours required from various personnel
working directly or indirectly on the project.
 Materials refer to all materials that become part of the project. In the
case of a building this will include cement, steel, aggregates, doors &

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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.
 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.
 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

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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.

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.1. 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.

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Fig 1: Connection between Process Groups in Phase

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:
 Requirements to design
 Design to production or construction
 Production to distribution
 Construction to operation

The Project Lifecycle: A life cycle of a project consists of

a) Understanding the scope of the project,
b) Objectives of the project,

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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?

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.

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

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.

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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 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

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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.

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

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

target. Project process is classified into two main categories:

 Project management process Project management process is defined by the

organization. It describes and organizes the work of the project.
 Product oriented process Product oriented process is defined by the life
cycle. It specifies and creates products and related works.

The various steps in the identification process of a project are as follows:

i. Identify initial requirements.
ii. Validate them against the project objective.
iii. Identify the criteria for assessing the success of both the final project
product and the process used to create it. Ex: quality objectives,
quantitative requirements for the project.
iv. Identify the framework of the solution.
v. Prepare a template of the frame work of solution to illustrate the
project feasibility.
vi. Prepare relevant charts to demonstrate the techniques of executing the
project and its different stages.
vii. Prepare a proper project schema of achieving the defined business
requirements for the project.
viii. Identify training requirement
ix. Make a list of the training program necessary for the personnel
working on the project.
x. Identify the training needs of the individuals working in various
functions responsible in the project.
xi. Prepare a training plan and a training calendar.
xii. Assess the capabilities and skills of all those identified as part of the
project organization

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

a) Project organization:

Process Skills and Activities

 Prepare an outline project justification, plan and
project Budget.
Initiation
 Selection and briefing of the project team,
assigning roles and organization.
 Feasibility study risk and key success factors.
· Project definition and project plan.
Planning
· Communicate to the team.
 Allocating and monitoring the work and cost.
Execution  Ensuring work and team cohesion.
 Reporting progress.
 Monitoring progress and managing changes.
Control
 Helping the team to solve project problems.
 Satisfactory delivery.
Close
 Compiling lessons from project experience

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

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Initiate Planning

Develop Software Development Plan

(SDP)

Review and Approve

SDP

Implement SDP Processes and

Apply SPTO Process

Measure 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.

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 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.
 Project coordinators- client coordinator and technical coordinator.
 Clearly define this coordination, control activities and identify the brief
suitable personnel to carry them out.

e) Key stakeholders: Identify management level personnel who are critical to

the success of the project. Document the responsibilities of stakeholders

f) Stage teams :
 Identify appropriate personnel required for the stage, define the team
structure and appoint team leaders.
 Document the time commitment and responsibilities to be performed
by the team members.

g) Key resources
 Individuals assigned to a key resource role may work towards
gathering “Business key resources” and “Technical key resources”.
They are project coordinators and team invitees.

h) 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).

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

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

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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 as :-
 
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 company’s 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. 

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.
 

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

Project Management Knowledge Areas: 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.

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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.
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 helps in decision making in arriving at optimum allocation of resources.
The information systems are 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, task lists and specification so that they know what needs to be
done next.
 
The four major aspects of a PMIS are:-

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a. Provide information to the major stakeholders i.e. 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.

Macro issues

a) Evolving Key Success Factors (KSF) Upfront: In order to provide complete

stability to fulfillment of goals, one need to constantly evaluate from time to
time, 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

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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
a\voided 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)
 

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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 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 multi-skilled functioning even at junior most levels.
 

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

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 project is during
its 85 to 95 % progress stage. Thereafter the resource required decrease to zero i.e.
when the project comes to a finish.

Key elements of a Productivity Improvement Program:

i. 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.

ii. 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.

iii. 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.

iv. 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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v. 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.

vi. 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.

vii. 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.

viii. Schedule  Quality  Review: It  is  recommended  that  quality  review  be 
scheduled  at  the beginning of the stage and also ending of every stage.

ix. Agenda for quality review: Create and distribute a quality review agenda
specifying the objectives, products, logistics, roles, responsibilities and time
frame.

x. 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 wheatear it meets the prescribed
quality standards.

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xi. Follow up: QR complete product status revised from ‘In Progress’ to ‘QR
Complete’.Follow up the actions planned in strict manner which ensures confo
rmity to the standards.

xii. 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.

Q.2:- Explain the relevance of Work Breakdown Structure in determining

responsibility area. Explain in detail GDM and its key features.

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:

Fig: Work Break Down Structure

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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.
 
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
 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 World-wide 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.

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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 add-ons suit belated
Customer Needs.

Special Features of GDM

Some of the special feature of GDM is -
 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
 Near-Shore Development, Manufacture and Delivery for
better Logistics
 Mapping of Economical Zones rather than Geographic Zones
 Continuous Floating virtual Inventory to save Time and
Efforts.

 Q.3:- What do you understand by Resource Smoothing? What is the

significance of reviewing ROI?

Resource smoothing: is part of the resource leveling process. In itself,

resource smoothing is the process that, not withstanding any constraints imposed
during the leveling process, attempts to determine a resource requirement that is
"smooth" and where peaks and troughs are eliminated. For example, even if 7 units of
a given resource are available at any one time, utilizing 5 of these units each week is

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preferable to 4 one week, 7 the next, 2 the next and so on. Even if there is no limit to
the amount of any one resource available, it is still desirable that resource usage is as
smooth as possible. Given that the resource requirements of those activities on the
critical path are fixed, some order or priority needs to be established for selecting
which activity and which particular resource associated with this activity should be
given priority in the smoothing process. In determining which activity should be
given priority, a subjective judgment should be made about the type of resource (or
resources) associated with each activity; priority should be given to the activities
whose resources are considered to be most important. Beyond this consideration,
activities should be ranked in order of total work content and total float or slack
available for that activity. A useful device for prioritizing is to consider the ratio of
total work content/total float remaining and give priority to activities with the highest
value of this ratio.

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 see 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

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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 upgrades all sites with one
standard upgrade package.

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.

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

Concurrency in High Technology Development: As the application of

technology has become critical for the survival of organization it has become
imperative for organizations to initiate measures for the development of high

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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 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

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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?

ERP: is the acronym of Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP utilizes ERP

software applications to improve the performance of organizations' resource planning,
management control and operational control. ERP software is multi-module
application software that integrates activities across functional departments, from
product planning, parts purchasing, inventory control, and product distribution, to
order tracking. ERP software may include application modules for the finance,
accounting and human resources aspects of a business.

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
management, quality control, cost management, manufacturing
process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing flow.
 Supply Chain Management :
Inventory, order entry, purchasing, product configuration, 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, benefits.
 Customer Relationship Management :
Sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer contact and call
center support.

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 Data Warehouse :
And various self-service interfaces for customers, auppliers, and
employees.

ERP Improves Productivity Before ERP systems, each department in an organizatio
n 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.
 

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

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
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:

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

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
traceability, 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

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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

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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