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45 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Define project
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A project is an endeavor to accomplish a specific objective through a unique set of interrelated tasks and the effective utilization of resources.
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Define project objective and give examples
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The objective establishes what is to be accomplished - the tangible product that the team must produce and deliver. It may include a statement of the proposed benefits and outcomes that will be achieved; and is why the project is being done.
Example: Expand market share by 3% by introducing a new portable food prep appliance within 10 months with a budget of $2 million. Raise $20,000 for diabetes research. |
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List examples of resources on a project
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People, organizations, equipment, materials, facilities. E.g. doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, surgical instruments, monitoring equipment, transplant organs and operating facilities.
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What role does a customer have during the project life cycle? Why is it important to satisfy them?
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They provide the funds necessary to accomplish the project. It is important they are satisfied because otherwise the project is not a success, and the company will not receive follow-on business. The customer may also refuse to pay or tell others they are unhappy.
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What aspects of a project involve uncertainty? Why?
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A project is based on assumptions and estimates, which cause uncertainty that the project objective will be completely accomplished. Aspects that involve uncertainty include availability and capacity of resources, how long tasks will take, and actual costs.
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Define scope, schedule, cost, customer satisfaction. Why are these constraints?
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Scope: all work that must be done in order to produce the project deliverables, satisfy the customer and accomplish the project objective.
Schedule: timetable that specifies when each task or activity should start and finish. Cost (budget): The amount the customer has agreed to pay for acceptable project deliverables; based on estimated costs associated with resources used to perform the project. Customer satisfaction: Meeting the customer's expectations and developing an excellent working relationship with the customer. These are constraints because tradeoffs are often required between these objectives; e.g. if the budget is fixed, customer satisfaction may be difficult if the customer is requesting scope changes. |
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Describe the main phases of a project life cycle
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Initiation: projects are identified, selected, and authorized through a project charter.
Planning: defining the project scope, identifying resources, developing a schedule and budget, and identifying risks (baseline plan). Performing: the project plan is executed and work tasks are carried out to produce the project deliverables. Performance is monitored and controlled, scope is completed and deliverables meet acceptance criteria. Changes are documented and the baseline plan is updated. Closing: Project evaluations are conducted, lessons learned are identified, and project documents are organized and archived. |
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List and describe the steps required to develop a baseline plan
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1. Establish project objectives
2. Define scope: customer requirements, work tasks, list of deliverables 3. Create WBS 4. Assign responsibilities 5. Define specific activities 6. Sequence activities using network diagrams 7. Estimate activity resources: types (skills, expertise) and quantity. People, materials, equipment. Consider availability and assign specific people. 8. Estimate activity durations 9. Develop a project schedule: for each activity, include earliest/latest start and finish times. 10. Estimate activity costs 11. Determine budget: total cost, cost of work packages. Allocate admin, indirect and overcosts to each activity or work package. Create a time-phased budget over the life of the project schedule. |
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Why must a manager monitor the progress of a project? What can be done if a project is not proceeding according to plan?
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To ensure actual progress meets planned progress (schedule, budget, quality). If not, corrective action must be taken to get the project back on track within the constraints of the project (e.g. adding resources, etc).
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Describe how a global project can be more complex. How might these elements affect the successful outcome of the global project?
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Globalization adds complexity. Factors external to the project itself can create an unstable environment, introduce risk, and affect the success. Examples include:
-Currency exchange rates -Country laws -Partnerships and joint ventures -Political relations -Availability of high demand workforce skills It requires an additional set of competencies, like foreign language skills, cultural awareness, and communication skills. |
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List some benefits of using PM techniques.
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Having a satisfied customer. Creating a project in full scope on time, within budget and meeting quality creates a happy project team. It may result in follow on business from the same customer or referrals. It also enhances skills (provides career opportunities) and knowledge.
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Why is it important to do a thorough and detailed job of needs identification?
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To determine if it is worth pursuing - e.g. if the benefits from implementing a project outweigh the costs/consequences.
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Describe a situation in your life when you have performed needs identification.
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Buying a car.
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Why is it important to select the right project before you begin working?
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Having a good evaluation and selection process increases the odds of selecting the project that yields the greatest overall benefit. If you choose the wrong project and have to cancel it later, it is expensive, and sometimes embarrassing/damaging to reputation if customers are involved.
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Describe how a business selects which projects to work on when there are numerous projects that could be done.
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Businesses have a limited amount of funds and want to spend their funds on the projects that have the greatest ROI. There are five steps:
1. Develop a set of criteria to evaluate the projects against 2. List assumptions 3. Gather data and information for each project to assist with making the decision - financial/qualitative data and input from stakeholders 4. Evaluate each project against the criteria |
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Which elements of a project charter would you use to help plan if you have a project that does not require a project charter? Why?
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It would depend if the project's nature didn't suit the elements in the project charter; or if a project charter just wasn't required. All projects should identify the need, problem or opportunity; and define the scope, requirements, budget and schedule. Personally, I prefer to have these details confirmed in writing to ensure there are no misunderstandings later; especially if turnover occurs.
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Give examples of situations in which a business might develop an RFP.
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-Does not have the expertise to plan and perform the project or parts of the project
-Does not have the resources to perform the work Examples: buying capital equipment; purchasing a social media listening system |
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Give examples of situations in which an individual might develop an RFP.
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Planning a wedding; building a home
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Why is it important for a business to try to quantify the expect benefits of implementing a solution to a problem?
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To identify if the benefits outweigh the costs; and select the project that yields the greatest overall benefit to the organization if multiple projects are being considered. (Considering both tangible & intangible benefits, since some projects are "investment cases").
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What should be contained in a SOW?
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-Scope of the project
-Major tasks or work elements the customer wants the contractor or project team to perform (specific) |
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What is meant by customer requirements? Why must they be precise?
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Customer requirements define specifications and attributes; such as size, quality, color, weight, speed, and other physical/operational parameters the proposed solution must satisfy. Requirements might also address performance (non-functional requirements). The requirements need to be precise to ensure they are clearly understood by the contractor or team; so that the deliverables match what the project initiator had in mind.
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Why would an RFP state the approvals required during a project? Give examples.
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To create "checkpoints" for the project initiator/team to review the work in progress during the project. This minimizes the risk/cost of the contractor developing or designing the completely wrong item; so the contractor has a chance to offer feedback and correct misunderstandings before the project has gone too far.
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Why would a customer give contractors instructions in the RFP to submit their proposals in a standard format?
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When multiple proposals exist, they should be submitted in the same format so that they can be fairly evaluated against each other.
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What does it mean if latest start/finish is before earliest start/finish; or if slack is negative?
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If slack is negative, or "latest start" of activity is negative/before earliest start; it means your project is already behind.
Critical path is always the path with the smallest slack. |
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Describe why building relationships with customers and partners is important. How is this accomplished?
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Customers prefer to work with people they trust. Accomplished by being proactive, engaged, developing trust, and behaving ethically.
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Describe what is meant by pre-RFP and proposal marketing. Why should contractors do it?
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Developing relationships with customers before a proposal exists. Maintaining regular contact to help customers identify needs, problems or opportunities. Establishes trust to increase odds of winning contract once RFP is issued.
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Discuss why contractors must make bid/no-bid decisions and the factors involved in making these decisions. Give example of when to bid, not bid.
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Developing proposals takes time and money. Factors include the competition, the risk, business mission, ability to extend capabilities, reputation with the customer, availability of customer funds, and availability of resources.
Bid: strong reputation with the customer from previous proposal marketing efforts No bid: outside of area of expertise/strategic mission |
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Define proposal and describe the purpose of a proposal. In addition, list the 3 major sections of a proposal and the purpose and elements of each.
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A proposal is a selling document; with the goal of emphasizing the benefits to the customer if the customer selects the contractor to perform the project.
Technical: purpose is to prove that the contractor understands the need/problem and can provide the least risky, most beneficial solution. Contains: *Understanding of the need *Proposed approach or solution *Benefits to the customer Management section: convince the customer that the contractor can do the proposal work (project) and achieve the intended results. Includes: *Description of work tasks *Deliverables *Project schedule *Project org *Related experience *Equipment and facilities Cost section: purpose is to convince the customer that the contractor's price for the proposed project is realistic and reasonable. Includes: *Labor *Materials *Equipment *Facilities *Subcons and consultants *Travel *Documentation *Overhead (indirect costs - insurance, depreciation, accounting, general mgt, marketing, HR) *Escalation *Contingency (management reserve) *Profit |
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What factors must be considered when a contractor develops the proposal price? Why is this not an easy task?
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They must be careful not to price themselves out of the job; but also not to underprice the project, because they might lose money or need to request additional funds (or the customer could be suspicious of their knowledge of the industry). Considerations:
*Reliability of cost estimates *Risk *Value of project to contractor *Customer budget *Competition |
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Should a contractor try to contact a customer after a proposal has been submitted? Why, why not?
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Yes; to make sure it was received, then to see if they have any questions. This must be done in a responsive, not aggressive, way. If the contractor is in an industrial or government situation, they should wait for the customer to initiate contact; which is generally done so that no one contractor receives an unfair advantage.
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How do customers evaluate proposals? What factors might they consider?
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Customers evaluate proposals based on price; technical capabilities; or using a scorecard with a proposal review team. Criteria include:
*SOW/requirements compliance in RFP *Understanding of need *Practicality of proposed approach to solving problem *Experience and success with similar projects *Experience of key project team members *Management ability (planning and controlling project to ensure on time/on budget) *Realistic schedule *Price - total price, detailed breakdown (reasonable, realistic, completeness). Sometimes, customers will shortlist certain vendors and ask them to give an oral presentation and best/final offer. |
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Should the lowest priced proposal always be selected as the winner? Why or why not? Give examples.
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No, it should be based on the value provided. The lowest priced proposal could not meet technical requirements; or could be underpriced (requiring additional investment later). It could also mean the contractor doesn't have a solid grasp of the industry to know how to estimate the price; or that their cost structure isn't a fit with the customer's org.
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Describe 2 different types of contracts, when each should be used, and risks of each
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-Fixed price: set price for proposed work, unless there are agreed scope changes.
*Low risk for customer; high risk for contractor. *Most appropriate for projects that are well defined with low risk. Cost reimbursement: customer pays the contractor for all actual costs; plus an agreed profit. *High risk for customer; costs can overrun the proposed price. May hurt the contractor's reputation if costs exceed the customer's budget. *Most appropriate for projects that involve risk. |
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Give examples of some misc provisions that might be found in a contract
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*Misrepresentation of cost
*Notice of cost overruns or schedule delays *Approval of subcon *Customer furnished equipment or info *Patents *Disclosure of proprietary info *International considerations *Termination *Terms of payment *Bonus/penalty payments *Changes |
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Why does the scheduling function depend on the planning function? Which must be done first? Why?
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The schedule is a timetable for the plan, and can't be established until the plan is made.
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Describe what an activity estimated duration is. How is it determined?
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It is how long it will take to perform each activity - the total elapsed time, including work and waiting time.
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Why might a contractor prefer to state a project completion time in terms of number of days after the project starts rather than a specific date? Give some examples of instances when this would be appropriate.
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In case there are reasons beyond the contractor's control that the project starts later. This might be appropriate if the customer has not yet approved the contract,
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Fig 5.4 - Why is the earliest start time for Review Comments/Finalize Questionnaires day 33? Why is the earliest finish time day 38?
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-It can't start until Pilot/Test Questionnaires is finished
-It will take 5 days to complete |
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Refer to Fig 5.7. Why is the latest start time for Mail questionnaires & get responses day 40? Why is the latest finish time day 105?
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Working backwards, the task that starts after this one has a latest start time of day 105. Mail questionnaires is estimated to take 65 days. 105-65 = 40.
Since Mail questionnaires must finish for input response data to start, it's latest finish is the latest start of input response data (105). |
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Describe the different types of project slack and how each are calculated.
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>Total slack: difference between the earliest finish time of the last activity, and the project required completion time. Shared by all activities on the project. A negative number means the project will be late.
>Free slack - amount of time a specific activity can be postponed without delaying the earliest start time of the activities that immediately follow it. Only exists when two or more activities feed into the next activity; and one takes longer than the other. |
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Why is it important to determine the critical path of a project? What happens if activities on this path are delayed? What happens if activities on this path are accelerated?
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The critical path is the longest path in the project, and has the least slack. If slack is negative, then the estimated durations of some of the activities on the critical path needs to be reduced. If these activities are delayed, the project will be late. If they are accelerated, the project can be brought back on time or finish early.
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Why should a project have a regular reporting period? Should all projects have the same reporting period? Why or why not? What type of data should be collected?
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To compare actual progress to planned progress and determine if corrective action is needed. All projects do not have the same reporting period. Shorter projects will have more frequent reporting than longer projects. Also, projects that are in trouble will have more frequent reporting. Data should be collected on:
1. Actual performance: start/finish times of activities, actual costs expended and committed, earned value of work completed. 2. Info on changes to project scope, schedule, budget |
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Who can initiate changes to a project schedule? Why/when. How are the network diagram and schedule updated to reflect the changes.
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Customer, contractor, project manager, team member, unanticipated event.
>Addition of overlooked activities >Unanticipated occurrences >Adding more detail as the project moves forward Changes can result in adding or deleting activities, resequencing activities, changing estimated durations for specific activities, or a new required completion time. >Earliest start and finish times for remaining, uncompleted activities are calculated based on actual finished times of completed activities. >Latest start and finish times for uncompleted activities are calculated working backward. >Slack may change. |
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Describe how you would apply the four steps of schedule control to a project. If the project needs to be accelerated, what kinds of activities would be the focus? Why?
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1. Analyze schedule to determine areas that need corrective action
2. Decide what corrective action to take 3. Revise the plan to incorporate the chosen corrective actions 4. Recalculate the schedule to evaluate the effects of the planned corrective action >Identify the critical path and any activities that have negative slack; and paths where slippages have occurred. Focus on: 1. Activities that are near term - as project goes on, there is always less time remaining to take corrective action 2. Activities with long estimated durations - more of an impact |
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Why is the scheduling of IS projects so challenging? What are some of the common problems that push IS projects beyond their due dates?
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Many unexpected circumstances; make it difficult to estimate activity durations accurately.
-Failure to identify all requirements -Fail to identify accurate requirements -Growing scope -Underestimating learning curve for new software -Incompatible hardware -Logical design flaws -Poorly selected software -Poor selection of design strategy -Data incompatibility -Failure to perform all phases of SDLC |
