BAIT3153 Software Project Management (032018)

Tutorial 1
Question 1
a)Matrix organizational structure

b) Disadvantages:
 Employee reports to 2 supervisors (Departmental and Project manager) which spend more time.
 High workload because employees might handle more than 1 project, therefore couldn’t focus well.

Question 2[April 2016(B) Q2a]

(a) Are the functions of management the same as the functions of leadership? Give TWO (2) reasons to
support your answer.
(b) Evaluate FOUR (4) attributes or skills that you as a project manager should have that would have a
great impact on the project outcome.

a)Reasons :
• The functions of management and the functions of leadership are different
Supporting reason:
• The overriding function of management is to provide order and consistency to organizations,
whereas the primary function of leadership is to produce change and movement.
• The manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate whereas the leader’s job is to inspire and
motivate.

b) The attributes/skills of a project manager may be:

• Personal characteristics
• Behavioral skills
• General business skills
• Technical skills

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 BAIT3153 Software Project Management (032018)

Question 3[April 2016 Q1a]

Discuss THREE (3) possible problems that may be encountered in this project. Note that your answer
should include a problem from each category of software project problems.

Students to discuss 3 possible problems from each of the following category: Problems faced in
project management, problems faced by developers, and problems faced by customers.
Examples of problems faced:
In project manager By developers By customers
 Poor estimates and plans  Inadequate specification of work  Changes in business
 Lack of quality standards and measures  Management ignorance of IT environment
 Lack of guidance about making  Lack of knowledge of application  Unclear objectives
organizational decisions area
 Lack of techniques to make progress  Lack of standards
visible  Lack of up-to-date documentations
 Poor role definition - who does what  Preceding activities not completed
 Incorrect success criteria on time

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BAIT3153 Software Project Management (032018)

Question 4:

Discount Rate: 10% (4 decimal places)

Project X Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total
Costs 100,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 -
Discount Factor 1 0.9091 0.8264 0.7513
Discounted Costs 100,000 45,455 33,056 22,539 201,050

Benefits 0 100,000 120,000 100,000 -

Discount Factor 1 0.9091 0.8264 0.7513
Discounted Benefits 0 90,910 99,168 75,130 265,208

NPV (100,000) + 45,455 + 66,112 + 52,591 OR 265,208 – 201,050 =64,158

Discounted benefits –
= discounted benefits – discounted costs X 100%
discounted costs
discounted costs
ROI: 64,158 265208 – 201,050
Use discounted value 201,050 201,050
= 31.90% 64,158
201,050

Discount Rate: 10%

Project Y Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total
Costs 100,000 70,000 60,000 20,000 -
Discount Factor 1 0.9091 0.8264 0.7513
Discounted Costs 100,000 63,637 49,584 15,026 228,247

Benefits 0 100,000 150,000 90,000 -

Discount Factor 1 0.9091 0.8264 0.7513
Discounted Benefits 0 90,910 123,960 67,617 282,487

NPV 259,948 – 228,247 = 54,240

ROI: 54,240
228,247
= 23.77%

We should invest in Project X, since Project X has higher ROI :31.9% &
NPV:64,158.

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BAIT3153 Software Project Management (032018)

Question 5
a) ABC Travel planning on implementing a travel booking system. In the past they were using a
completely manual system, which caused errors and delays for their customers. The project manager
is confident that the implementation will be completed in 6 weeks, with a most optimistic estimate
being 4 weeks, and the worst case scenario might take it to 11 weeks.
What is the result of three-point estimates using the Beta Distribution method for the booking system
implementation?
Beta Distribution: (P + O + 4ML) / 6
= (11 + 4+ 4*6) / 6 = (11 + 4 + 24) / 6
= 39 / 6 = 7 weeks.

b) Given the following information, calculate the value using the Weighted Average(Beta) and Simple
Average (Triangular) techniques.
Activity Optimistic Pessimistic Most likely Weighted Average Simple Average
(O) (P) (ML) (P+O+4ML) / 6 (P+O+ML) / 3
A 3 5 4 4 4
B 4 9 6 7 = 6.1 7
C 2 5 4 4 = 3.8 4
D 10 20 12 13 14
E 23 36 28 29 29
F 8 15 10 11 11
G 5 11 6 7 8

Question 6

Activity Estimated Duration Estimated Status EV

(month) Cost
A 1 20,000 50% 10,000
B 3 20,000 80% 16,000
C 2 30,000 80% 24,000
D 4 40,000 70% 28,000
E 4 45,000 60% 27,000
F 4 55,000 0
G 2 20,000 0
Total 20 230,000 - 105,000

Actual cost(AC): 95,000 ; Planned value(PV): 110,000 (10th month) EV : 105,000

Schedule Variance (SV) = EV – PV (negative indicates behind schedule)

= 105,000 – 110,000 = (5,000) (over time)
Cost Variance (CV) = EV – AC (negative indicates cost is exceeded)
= 105,000 – 95,000 = 10,000 (within budget)

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BAIT3153 Software Project Management (032018)

Question 7 [April 2017 Q1]

You are a project manager in global project with a future team consisting of employees from Asian
Countries.
(a) Challenges :
 Different cultures from different countries might cause culture shock and this might become an
obstacle during the team development.
 Different backgrounds with different mother tongue might cause the misunderstanding and
miscommunication between team members.
 Different working styles, time zones,techniques, etc.

Role(s) of manager:
 Forming: project manager explains the objectives of the project, introduces team members and
their roles, establishes identify of the group, etc.
 Storming: project manager acts as middle man to understand and resolve conflicts between team
members, motivate team members through team building activities, etc.
 Norming: supervise the team’s progress and encourage more sharing between team members,
acknowledge team member’s contribution, etc.
 Performing: act as a facilitator and minimize the supervision.

(b)
 Perform Quality Assurance: Periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure that the
project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.
 Manage Communication: Process of creating, collecting, distributing, storing, retrieving, and the
ultimate disposition of project information in accordance to the communication management
plan.
 Conduct Procurement: Obtaining seller responses, selecting sellers, and awarding contracts.
 Manage Stakeholder Engagement: The process of communicating the working with stakeholders
to meet their needs/expectations, address issues as they occur, and foster appropriate stakeholder
engagement in project activities throughout the project life cycle.

Question 8
Tony Prince is the project manager for the Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project, and team members
include you, a programmer/analyst and an aspiring project manager; Patrick, a network specialist; Nancy,
a business analyst; and Bonnie, another programmer. Other people supporting the project from other
departments are Yusoff from human resources, and Cassandra from finance.
Assume these are the only people who can be assigned to work on project activities. Your schedule and
budget estimation goals are to complete the project in 12 months for under RM 500,000.
(Adapted from Schwalbe, K. Managing Information Technology Projects, 6th edition, 2011, Course Technology, Cengage Learning.)

Based on the goals of the project, develop a critical success factors analysis with 3 possible actions to
meet the goals.
Critical Success Factors Analysis
Goal CSF (Possible action)
 Project schedule: 12  Schedule control
months  Resource control – makes use of internal resources, e.g.
 Project budget: RM people from other departments.
500,000  Cost control

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BAIT3153 Software Project Management (032018)

Question 9 [Sept2017 Q2c]

ANY of TWO factors whether is internal or external to the company
Factors Internal to the Company:
 Company Strengths and Weaknesses:
Profile of assets and skills relative to competitors, including financial resources, technological posture,
brand identification, etc.
 Personal Values of the Key Implementers:
Motivations and needs of the key executives and other personnel who must implement the chosen
strategy.
 These factors determine the internal limits to the competitive strategy a company can successfully
adopt.

Factors External to the Company:

 Industry Opportunities and Threats:
Define the competitive environment with its attendant risks and potential rewards.
 Broader Societal Expectations:
Reflect the impact on the company of such things as government policy, social concerns, evolving more,
and many others.

Question 10
Since the team members are experts in their professions, you should not increase the supervision.

Any 2 of the following corrective actions with explanation

 decreasing individual supervision
 Streamlining the process
 Changing resource priorities
 Changing the phasing of deliverables
 decreasing the number of inspection (since senior)

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