SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT - Mid Sem Solutions

Mid-Sem Paper Solutions:

Note: Provide justification for your choice; else you will get zero, More than one choice may be the right answer.

Question:
When using Agile methods, planning is usually done based on:
A.    Scheduled Milestones                   B. Series of Releases
C.    Fixed Requirements                      D. Technical feasibility

Answer: B
Series of Releases

Justification:
AGILE methodology is a practice that promotes continuous iteration of development and testing throughout the software development life-cycle of the project. In Agile Planning, Selection of features develops during a specific set of time(The sprint).

Basically, in an Agile Project - release plan is focused on planning multiple iterations in an effort to determine when each release will be delivered. In order to achieve the product vision,

Tip: There are lots of reasons which you can use here, the basis on your work. If you have worked in an agile project. 

Question:
All of the following statements concerning stakeholders are true except
A.    Differences between or among stakeholders should be resolved in favor of the customer.
B.    Managing stakeholder expectations may be difficult because stakeholders often have very different objectives that may come into conflict.
C.    Project stakeholders may influence the course of the project and its results.
D.    Differences between or among stakeholders should be resolved in the most cost-efficient manner consistent with project objectives.

Answer: D
Differences between or among stakeholders should be resolved in the most cost-efficient manner consistent with project objectives.


Question:
During a company event, you had the opportunity to talk to a colleague project manager. He told you that in his current project actual costs are15% under cumulated costs scheduled for today. What do you think?
A.    The information available is not sufficient to assess project performance.
B.    The project will probably be completed with total costs remaining under budget.
C.    A significant cost increase during the further course of the project will probably bring the costs back to the baseline level.
D.    Original cost planning must have been poor to allow this variance.

Answer: A
The information available is not sufficient to assess project performance.


Question:
Most change requests are because of:
A.    An omission in defining product/project scope
B.    A value-adding change
C.    An external event
D.    All of the above

Answer: D
All of the above.

Justification:
-> omission in defining the scope of the product (e.g., failure to include a required feature in the design of a telecommunications system).
-> omission in defining the scope of the project (e.g., using a BOM instead of a WBS).
-> A value-adding change (e.g., an environmental remediation project is able to reduce costs by taking advantage of technology that was not available when the scope was originally defined).
-> An external event (e.g., a change in a government regulation

Question:
The first step in project planning is to
A.    determine the budget.
B.    select a team organizational model.
C.    determine the project constraints.
D.    establish the objectives and scope.

Answer: D
establish the objectives and scope.

Justification:
These steps will help you to define the work that needs to be done - or in other words, define the scope of the project. Once this is defined, you'll be able to allocate tasks and give your team the direction they need to deliver the project on time and on budget.

Question:

Fill in the blanks. If you enter the answers in the crossword it will help to find the correct answer: Write answers only in the following format:

Answer format

Across		Down
No	Word	No	Word
1		1
2		3
5		4
8		6
9		7

Across

Down

1. Based on systematic reuse systems are integrated from existing readymade commercial bought out components also called _________. 2. A series of coordinated, related, multiple projects that continue over an extended time and are intended to achieve a goal. _________ 5. Project outcomes are not known. They are ________. 8. Period over which the initial investment on a project is recovered. _______. 9. K in KLOC. _________.

1. Project effort is never simple. It is _______ 3. Uncertainty results in ________. 4. Historically most popular plan driven model. __________. 6. People who have an interest in a project are said to have a _____ in the project. 7. Acronym for characteristics of project objectives.________

Answer:

Across		Down
No	Word	No	Word
; 1	COTS	1	Complex
2	PROGRAM	3	RISK
5	Objective	4	WATERFALL
8	PAYBACK	6	Stake
9	KILO	7	SMART

Note: If you know any point, feel free to tell us in a comment box.

Question:
What are the choices available to the project manager to deal with the identified and prioritized risks?

Answer:
Note: The answer can have a different aspect. Below is just a approach which may use. 

Plan the response: It's important to remember too that projects are always liable to change as they progress so the risk management process should be responsive to change and the risks should be re-assessed from time to time if the project is long or complex.

For each identified risk decide:

• firstly, what could be done to minimize the chance of it occurring.
• secondly, what action could be taken if the risk does occur. 

After analyzing these then you will be better prepared to deal with it. The usual options to mitigate risks that are threats (rather than opportunities) are:

• Accept
• Avoid
• Transfer
• Reduce

Question:

In the context of Project Planning and Scheduling
A.    Define Critical Path
B.    Define Float

Answer:

Critical Path:
The critical path is the longest sequence of activities in a project plan which must be completed on time for the project to complete on the due date. An activity on the critical path cannot be started until its predecessor activity is complete; if it is delayed for a day, the entire project will be delayed for a day unless the activity following the delayed activity is completed a day earlier.

The critical path is very useful in helping to manage any project.

Float:
The time by which an activity may be delayed without affecting the overall project duration.


Float = Latest Finish – Earliest Finish

There are 2 types of float:

Free Float – Amount of time a task can be delayed without affecting the succeeding task.

Total Float – Amount of time which an activity can be delayed without affecting the end date of the project.

C.    Create the Precedence Network and find the Critical Path(s) for scheduling the following activities. Use the format to represent the node                                        6 Marks

Tip: 80% probability of coming

Solution:

Critical Path: A , E, D, F, I, .[last is DOT - > End point]
The critical path is calculated where the float value is 0.

Problem:
Develop a network diagram for the project specified below:

Activities	Precedence
A
B	A
C, D	B
E	C
F	D
G	E, F

Solutions:

Activity A has no predecessor activity. i.e., it is the first activity. Let us suppose that activity A takes the project from event 1 to event 2. Then we have the following representation for A:

For activity B, the predecessor activity is A. Let us suppose that B joins nodes 2 and 3. Thus we get 

Activities C and D have B as the predecessor activity. Therefore we obtain the following:

Activity E has C as the predecessor activity. So we get

  

Activity F has D as the predecessor activity. So we get  

Activity G has E and F as predecessor activities. This is possible only if nodes 6 and 6l are one and the same. So, rename node 6l as node 6. Then we get

 

and

G is the last activity.

Putting all the pieces together, we obtain the following diagram the project network:

Problem 2:

The following details are available regarding a project:

Activity	Precedence	Duration
A		3
B	A	5
C	A	7
D	B	10
E	C	5
F	D, E	4

 

Draw a network diagram, Determine the critical path, the critical activities and the project completion time

Solution:

First, let us construct the network diagram for the given project. We mark the time estimates along the arrows representing the activities. We obtain the following diagram:

Path 1:

with a time of 3 + 5 + 10 + 4 = 22 . 

Path 2:

with a time of 3 + 7 + 5 + 4 = 19 . 

Compare the times for the two paths. Maximum of {22,19} = 22. We see that path I has the maximum time of 22. Therefore, the path I is the critical path.  

Network Diagram

Critical Activities: Just follow path 1 and get the activities name. So hence the critical activities are A, B, D and F. 

The project completion time is 22. []