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Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester 1
MB0049 – Project Management - 4 Credits
(Book ID: B1138)
Assignment Set- 1 (60 Marks)
Q.1 List and explain the traits of a professional manager.
Ans. Being a good manager is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. The first time you try to fit
the pieces together, it takes a while to get everything to fit smoothly. The second time you
attempt to make the pieces fit, you are a little more familiar with the pattern. Each time after that,
it becomes more and more natural to easily match everything together and have it all turn out
right.
The pieces of the puzzle a manager has to put together are:
1. advertising
2. recruiting
3. holding productive meetings
4. motivating a person who is in an emotional or financial slump
5. handling types of personalities they don’t relate to
6. recruiting people that are happy on other jobs, but are ready for change.
All of these techniques combined together make a great manager. In fact, great managers have
ten characteristics, and if each of these ten characteristics is developed, you will become a great
leader and a great manager.
Let’s start off with quality number one. The very first thing we find in a great manager is a total
commitment to building a team that functions in unison to reach their goals. Great managers
realize they are a team. Their team is made up of individuals that have different beliefs, values,
and ideals, but they all have to function in unison to reach the goals of the company.
The second characteristic we find in a great manager is they live what they teach and they
command respect by their example. You can’t be one thing and say another because you’ll lose
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respect. It’s not that important that your salespeople just like and admire you. It is important that
they respect you first ?the other things will follow.
Quality number three is very important. Great managers don't become buddies. They practice
business detachment with subordinates off the job.
Number four is also very important. Don’t play favorites. What do I mean by this? Make a
mental note of the words ‘justice?and ‘fairness.? These two words are critical in leadership ?that
you are totally just and totally fair through everything. You’re going to have to realize that if you
play favorites in the office, the group will know it, and you will lose respect. Not only that, they
start saying to themselves, “The reason I’m not doing good is not my skills, not my ability. I’ve
got a manger that gives the best business to other people. I can’t make it.?And by the way, the
person you’re playing favorites with over the years can be the one that will cause you the biggest
challenge when you go through change in policy or leadership, or when you really need
something done. So remember, just be fair and don’t play favorites!
Number five is so critical. Great managers develop future vision. They see their company
position, their market share, and their competitive edge in the future. But great managers also
have to start seeing themselves in the future, the office in the future, the number of salespeople
they’ll have, and how they are going to delegate. How do you develop future vision? It comes
back to having a plan and a goal. You must learn how to delegate authority and eventually
replace yourself. What do you delegate? Anything you can train anyone else to do which keeps
you from doing three things: recruiting, managing, and training.
Number six. They attack pending problems and rapidly make tough decisions. Average managers
don’t make decisions. In fact, they make decisions so slowly, that eventually there is no need for
a decision. What they had to decide upon has already taken place, so there is no need to do
anything, you see? Now, as far as making decisions about managing your office, there’s one
thing I want to warn you about. Until you totally learn your skill of managing, rely on the people
above you and run decisions past them. Rely on others for your knowledge and growth until, of
course, you have all the answers.
Don’t forget number seven if you really want to build a great sales force: promote risk-taking.
You want to promote risk-taking with your salespeople. What do I mean by risk-taking? I’m
talking about your salespeople going out a little bit on the edge as to the things they own, the
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things they buy, and the way they live. In essence, they must gradually ‘up? their overhead as
you teach them to ‘up?their income. As a good manager, we help people increase their overhead
with balance, so that as they grow income-wise, they also grow emotionally and enjoy their
income. Promote risk-taking. Teach your salespeople they have to take a little risk in order to
grow.
And don’t forget number eight. Great managers are specialized at recruiting, training, and
retaining top people. That is a great manager’s main specialty. Becoming a great trainer or
teacher is necessary, because if you can't duplicate yourself and the concepts you used as a super
salesperson, you won't be able to complete the entire puzzle.
Now number nine is interesting. Good managers look at change as healthy. Change excites an
office. It keeps people on their toes. It motivates people to go far beyond what they normally
would, and not only that, it keeps people out of a rut. That’s why great managers don’t do the
same thing every day. They don’t come in at the same time every day. They don’t eat lunch at
the same time every day. They keep everyone on their toes. I’ll tell you a basic truth about
salespeople: if you have a set schedule, they will develop their schedule right around yours.
The last characteristic great managers must learn is to help people change their self-images by
using their individual needs to be comfortable. Salespeople lack confidence because they are
afraid and don't know what is going to happen to them. A manager’s job is not only to instill
confidence, but also to increase the way salespeople look at themselves. You see, self-image is a
mirror reflection of who you think you are. It may not be who you are. Your goal is to develop
your salespeople and to get them to grow far beyond their wildest dreams. It starts with how they
see themselves
Q.2 Describe in brief the various aspects of project management?
Ans. For the success of any project management program, a specific skill set is required. All
project management programs are unique and have their own set of challenges obstacles and
solutions. A successful project management plan should have a dedicated team that concentrates
on effective planning; accurate analysis and skill based objective building that is centered round
the project at hand.
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Some of the main challenges of project management are
Proper and effective communication with the firm’s stake holders
Managing employee stress and pressures that arise out of projects
Proper allocation of resources that results in high profits
Preparing in advance for potential problems that may arise in the project
Assigning responsibilities to employees based on their capabilities.
Here are some of the key aspects of a successful project management program:
You can call your project management plan a full success when three main factors are taken care
of:
Resource allocation
Completion of targets within time lines
Completion of targets within the allocated budget and resources
This can happen only when you have a full understanding of the business and what you desire
from it. Firstly, conduct a detailed analysis of your business and understand its structure and
mode of operation fully and accurately. Take care of even the smallest and most irrelevant detail
before implementing a project management program. Set definite goals that are sound and
realistic within achieve-able timelines.
Decide the necessary methods and equipment required for implementation of the plan
beforehand itself so that you can start on time without any delays and loss of valuable resources.
And lastly make a thorough plan with the complete details of all expected expenses and
resources that will be required. This is highly important as money matters the most in any project
management plan for any firm.
Q.3 Compare the following:
a. Traditional Vs. Projectised Organization
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Ans. When the execution of projects is a normal part of the organization's business, it is expected
that the organization will establish, in parallel with the Operations function, a function to manage
the projects. This would normally include a Central Project Office or Project Management Office
(PMO), and specialized personnel to manage projects. The PMO, under a Chief Project Officer
(or similar title) will develop standards and practices directed at the effective execution of
projects and the attainment of schedule, cost, scope and quality objectives. In doing so, a project
management planning and information system is put in place, and periodic measurements of
project progress and performance are conducted.
In the traditional organization, responsibility for determining and achieving the organization's
goals are assigned to the Operations function. Senior managers, having titles such as COO, CTO,
CIO, CFO, Strategic Planner, etc., establish objectives and goals, and develop strategies to
achieve these. When there are projects associated with these goals, these senior managers are
expected to select from a menu of proposed and pending projects. The objective is to create the
mix of projects most likely to support the achievement of the organization's goals - within the
preferred strategies - and within the organization's resource (people and funding) constraints.
A problem, common to many organizations, is that there is no connection between the
Operations and Projects functions, nor is there a structured, consistent, and meaningful flow of
information between these two groups. The organization's objectives (enterprise-level goals) are
hardly ever communicated to the Project Office, and the periodic measurements made by the
projects group cannot be related to these objectives.
When attempting to determine exactly how an organization fits in to the grand scheme of the
organization and analysis as well as the conducting of any of a number of series of given
projects, it is helpful to attempt to categorize as to whether a particular organization can be
deemed to be that of a projectized organization. A projectized organization refers specifically to
the particular and specific organization in question that has been built through the utilization of
an organizational structure that has been set up in a manner in which the project manager leads
the group and in which the project manager has the ultimate authority to make any and all
decisions involving the organization, including, but no necessarily limited to, the assignment of
all priorities, the application of any predesignated resources, and also any and all direct workings
of persons that have been assigned to the project already or may be assigned in the future.
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b. Reengineering Vs. E-engineering
Ans. Reengineering implies changes of various types and depth to a system, from a slight
renovation to a total overhaul. Some of the typical challenges our clients have:
A system was developed for us, but we'd like to change several things, namely improve the
system's functionality, usability, security, stability and performance; change the system's
architecture or adjust it for another platform. Unfortunately, we don't have the detailed
documentation on this system or a knowledgeable enough staff. How do we implement the
desired changes?
We have three systems with roughly the same functionality, which work on different platforms.
As these systems supplement each other, users have to use all three of them. This makes their
work more complicated (starting one system means first shutting down the other two) and adds a
lot of extra work for the system administrators (when a new user is added, the data must be
copied to all three systems). We want to have one system instead of three.
We have a best-selling software solution and received an order from a major client to modify it.
However, no company wants to undertake its maintenance. What shall we do?
A software component was written by someone who is no longer with the company, and there is
nobody capable of working on the system's maintenance. There is no documentation or
comments in the program. What shall we do?
E-engineering is a competitive tool for boosting profits and increasing productivity. It supports
24-hour-a-day operations while avoiding the burnout that is common among American techies
who work grueling hours, according to Hossein. More than just a source of cheap labor, e-
engineering makes it "a lot easier finding technical talent because we're working with an
international labor pool," he adds.
But, scheduling adjustments have to be made when working with colleagues in another time
zone. Offsetting the advantages of running an around-the-clock business, communication among
programmers can be tricky when there is a 10-hour time difference. Ion Badulescu, a software
engineer at HydraWEB Technologies Inc., a New York City company that makes load balancers
for Web servers, has encountered problems when working with developers in other parts of the
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world. Today, Badulescu works from his home in Irvine, Calif., but prior to that he worked for
HydraWEB from his home country of Romania. "Conference calls with three or four people are
difficult," he says. "Phone contact with a foreign country is chancy at best. The best way to
communicate is via email."
Q.4 List out the macro issues in project management and explain each.
Ans. Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing and managing
resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. It is
sometimes conflated with program management, however technically that is actually a higher
level construction: a group of related and somehow interdependent engineering projects.
A project is a temporary endeavor, having a defined beginning and end (usually constrained by
date, but can be by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives,
usually to bring about beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands
in contrast to business as usual (or operations), which are repetitive, permanent or semi-
permanent functional work to produce products or services. In practice, the management of these
two systems is often found to be quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct
technical skills and the adoption of separate management.
The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals[4] and
objectives while honoring the preconceived project constraints.[5] Typical constraints are scope,
time, and budget.[1] The secondary—and more ambitious—challenge is to optimize the
allocation and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives.
Today, relatively low-cost, trusted, security technology is readily available and easy to use. At
the same time, powerful statistical tools that can be used to analyze situations under risk—often
very effectively—by individuals with little or no understanding of the advanced statistics or
decision theory upon which these tools are based are available. And, with business globalization,
people (distributed project-team members) have become, to a much greater extent, a fungible
resource.
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Three issues that can contribute to a project's success or failure.
Enterprise-level project management systems typically include, but are not limited to, the
collaborative use of packages such as:
Microsoft Project Server
Microsoft Project Professional
Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Visual Studio Team Suite (used to develop custom Web Parts for
SharePoint)
Microsoft Team Foundation Server (used for further collaboration among developers)
Each of these applications has plenty of endogenous security built in, right out of the box. My
concern in this article is the exogenous security that you must provide, in addition, so that
unauthorized individuals don't have access to your project management applications and data.
Security is a big, open-ended subject. What I'll do here is make the point that you can't assume
that, just because you implement a number of layers of de rigeur, "by-the-book" security
practices, your data is safe.
To that end, I'll focus on system authentication and authorization and data encryption using
digital certificates (the foundation of Public Key Infrastructure, or PKI). These are electronic
credentials, issued by a certification authority (CA), that are associated with a public and private
key pair. The certification authority certifies that the person who has been issued a digital
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certificate is indeed who he or she claims to be (see Reference 1 for further details). First, a little
background information on, and then, how you might get a false sense of security from using
PKI.
Digital certificates are important because today's password authentication schemes are little more
than security placebos. They perversely inspire abuse, misuse, and criminal mischief by
deliberately making users the weakest link in the security chain. You're far more secure with a
layered approach to authentication—one that starts with a digital certificate.
More than any other security protocol or technology available today, PKI can define trust in a
granular way. You can use its strengths to protect information about the status of your project
from outside competitors or even inside personnel who might misuse information about your
work-in-process. But, because of PKI's mystique, the all-too-frequent careless use of PKI can
lead to unwanted consequences. (See Reference 2 for an account of what to believe and what to
disbelieve about what you've been told by PKI marketers.) Today, the user interface to your PKI-
based security system often starts with his or her use of a smart card.
A smart card is a programmable device containing an integrated circuit that stores your digital
certificate. These portable cards serve as positive, non-refutable proof of your identity during
electronic transactions. As such, they allow you to digitally sign documents and e-mail messages,
encrypt outgoing e-mails to be deciphered only by their intended recipients, authenticate into a
domain (certificate logon), and automatically log into Internet and Intranet Web sites. To use a
smart card, a user must be issued a smart card certificate by his or her certificate authority. Smart
cards traditionally take the form of a device the size of a credit card that is placed into a reader,
but can they can also be USB-based devices or integrated into employee badges. And, smart
cards can be combined with a PIN (which you can think of as a password) to provide two-factor
authentication. Physical possession of the smartcard and knowledge of the PIN must be
combined to authenticate successfully.
Q.5 Describe the various steps in risk management listed below:
Ans. a. Risk Identification: Taking into account information gathered in Risk assessment, an
inventory of relevant risks to the genebank operations should be made. The major risks to
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genebanks are germplasm mis-identification, unstable storage facilities and insufficient funding
support. An extensive list of risks gathered in documents from five CGIAR Centers and
genebank of the Philippine Rice Research Institute, discussions with four USDA-ARS
conservation and database management sites and information contained in various genebank
management literature has been compiled and is set out in Table 1 for seeds and Table 2 for
clonal materials.
The generic risk assessment tool for seed crops and clonal crops serves as the input forms for
risks and other information required for a particular genebank. For this step, the general area of
genebank operations and specific activity and the risk source/indicator should be identified.
These can be selected from those listed in Table 1a and Table 2a, but need not be limited to
these.
Also, as part of the risk identification step, risk ownership should be identified. This means
identifying the organizational unit or manager who is responsible for monitoring, analyzing,
evaluating the risk and implementing the controls or contingency plans associated with the risk.
Most of the risks identified will be managed by managers and staff within the genebank or larger
Genetic Resources Unit (or equivalent) in which the genebank staff are organizationally located.
Ans. b. Risk Analysis: Risk analysis covers both the potential impact (or consequence) of the
identified risks, and their likelihood (probability). In the case of likelihood, an intrinsic
likelihood was first considered, taking into account the nature of the risk and its probability in
the absence of controls or other mitigations, and then adjusted for mitigating controls that
were confirmed as being in place. To develop a quantitative risk assessment, a point system for
the scales or levels of the likelihood and impact of risks was devised in the context of
genebanking operations. The point system was simplified and, consistent with the approach
taken by many CGIAR Centres for their enterprise wide risk management frameworks; a 3-point
scale was proposed: 1 point (Low), 2 points (Medium), and 3 points (High) for both likelihood
and impact.
Intrinsic likelihood
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The likelihood levels table below provides suggested definitions for the likelihood scale. These
likelihood levels can be amended to suit a particular genebank’s conditions. Should a genebank
wish to initially simplify this further, a 2-point scale could be adopted: 1 point (Low) and 2
points (High) for both likelihood and impact.
Likelihood levels
Low (1)Very unlikely to practically impossible; 0-10% of the time. (Example: one
or no occurrence in ten years.)
Medium (2)Occasional; 20-60% of the time. (Example: two or six occurrences in ten
years.)
High (3)Moderately frequent to frequent; Above 60% of the time. (Example: seven
and more occurrences in ten years.)
Ans. c. Risk Management Planning: Risk Management Planning is about defining the process
of how to engage and oversee risk management activities for a project. Risk Management
planning is an important part of project management. Having a plan on how to manage risk,
allows one to task to plan versus innovating and deciding after the fact and in the midst how to
handle a risk. The earlier Risk Management planning is engaged within increases the possibility
of success of all risk management activities and processes especially if the process definition was
created with input and buy-in from the project manager and key project stakeholders.
The inputs for Risk Management Planning are:
Project Scope Statement – The Project Scope Statement documents the project scope including a
description, major deliverables, project objectives, project assumptions, project constraints, and a
statement of work. In Risk Management Planning, the project scope statement is commonly used
for identifying project boundaries and assumptions.
Project Management Plan – The Project Management plan contains the WBS which is used in
Risk Management Planning to determine possible areas where risks can occur. For example, if
the WBS has usability testing being the last item completed after integrated testing. This is a risk.
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The usability of the application may have affect on how the information is passed into and out of
the application. This could be considered a Project Management Planning Risk.
Organizational process assets – The organizations’ process assets may contain defined standards
and policies pertaining to risk management. Process assets included are risk categories, roles and
responsibilities, and processes of how to have a decision made.
Enterprise environmental factors – Enterprise environmental factors reveal the risk tolerance of
the organization and the individuals involved in the project. For example, patient billing
departments or leaders commonly have absolutely no risk tolerance for any impact to cash flow.
This is especially true in non-for-profit organizations like hospitals. However educators and
researchers have a high level or risk tolerance. Therefore in an academic medical center, one
could have two ranges of risk tolerance. Understanding how much risk your stakeholders and
organization are comfortable with help with decisions regarding the type, level, and amount of
risk management to apply in the project.
Ans. d. Risk Review: The credit environment in the majority of the Group’s core markets
remained generally benign throughout 2007, notwithstanding the turbulent market conditions in
some western markets in the second half of the year triggered by the sub-prime mortgage crisis
in the United States. The Group’s strategy to pursue growth in Asia, Africa and the Middle East
has resulted in no direct exposure to US sub-prime mortgages and extremely limited indirect
exposure.
The Group’s liquidity remains strong and is being used to strengthen relationships with key
clients and to continue to support growth opportunities.
Market risk is tightly controlled using Value at Risk (‘VaR’) methodologies complemented by
stress testing. VaR increased in 2007 as a consequence of increased volatility and growth in the
financial markets business of the Wholesale Bank.
The Wholesale Banking portfolio remains robust with new provisions continuing at a low level.
The absolute level of recoveries in 2007 was lower than in recent years due to a lower stock of
problem accounts after several years of benign credit conditions, and good progress in
management of these accounts. Forward credit portfolio quality indicators remain stable. The
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Wholesale Banking asset backed securities portfolio includes mortgage backed securities and
collateralised debt obligations. This portfolio, representing around two per cent of assets, has
been affected by the market dislocation but has had limited impact on the Group’s performance.
The asset backed securities portfolio continues to be closely monitored and proactively managed.
Q.6 ABC Company implements got a very big project and they decided to allot the same to
a new project manager, who joined the company recently. In order to execute the project
successfully, what are the various phases in which the project lifecycle should be divided.
Ans. The Project Life Cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to accomplish the project’s
goals or objectives. Regardless of scope or complexity, any project goes through a series of
stages during its life. There is first an Initiation or Birth phase, in which the outputs and critical
success factors are defined, followed by a Planning phase, characterized by breaking down the
project into smaller parts/tasks, an Execution phase, in which the project plan is executed, and
lastly a Closure or Exit phase, that marks the completion of the project. Project activities must be
grouped into phases because by doing so, the project manager and the core team can efficiently
plan and organize resources for each activity, and also objectively measure achievement of goals
and justify their decisions to move ahead, correct, or terminate. It is of great importance to
organize project phases into industry-specific project cycles. Why? Not only because each
industry sector involves specific requirements, tasks, and procedures when it comes to projects,
but also because different industry sectors have different needs for life cycle management
methodology. And paying close attention to such details is the difference between doing things
well and excelling as project managers.
Diverse project management tools and methodologies prevail in the different project cycle
phases. Let’s take a closer look at what’s important in each one of these stages:
1) Initiation
In this first stage, the scope of the project is defined along with the approach to be taken to
deliver the desired outputs. The project manager is appointed and in turn, he selects the team
members based on their skills and experience. The most common tools or methodologies used in
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the initiation stage are Project Charter, Business Plan, Project Framework (or Overview),
Business Case Justification, and Milestones Reviews.
2) Planning
The second phase should include a detailed identification and assignment of each task until the
end of the project. It should also include a risk analysis and a definition of a criteria for the
successful completion of each deliverable. The governance process is defined, stake holders
identified and reporting frequency and channels agreed. The most common tools or
methodologies used in the planning stage are Business Plan and Milestones Reviews.
3) Execution and controlling
The most important issue in this phase is to ensure project activities are properly executed and
controlled. During the execution phase, the planned solution is implemented to solve the problem
specified in the project's requirements. In product and system development, a design resulting in
a specific set of product requirements is created. This convergence is measured by prototypes,
testing, and reviews. As the execution phase progresses, groups across the organization become
more deeply involved in planning for the final testing, production, and support. The most
common tools or methodologies used in the execution phase are an update of Risk Analysis and
Score Cards, in addition to Business Plan and Milestones Reviews.
4) Closure
In this last stage, the project manager must ensure that the project is brought to its proper
completion. The closure phase is characterized by a written formal project review report
containing the following components: a formal acceptance of the final product by the client,
Weighted Critical Measurements (matching the initial requirements specified by the client with
the final delivered product), rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing project
resources, and a formal project closure notification to higher management. No special tool or
methodology is needed during the closure phase.
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Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester 1
MB0049 – Project Management - 4 Credits
(Book ID: B1138)
Assignment Set- 2 (60 Marks)
Q.1 Write a short note on the following:
Ans.
a. Work Breakdown Structure: A work breakdown structure (WBS) in project management
and systems engineering, is a tool used to define and group a project's discrete work elements in
a way that helps organize and define the total work scope of the project. A work breakdown
structure element may be a product, data, a service, or any combination. A WBS also provides
the necessary framework for detailed cost estimating and control along with providing guidance
for schedule development and control. Additionally the WBS is a dynamic tool and can be
revised and updated as needed by the project manager. The Work Breakdown Structure is a tree
structure, which shows a subdivision of effort required to achieve an objective; for example a
program, project, and contract. In a project or contract, the WBS is developed by starting with
the end objective and successively subdividing it into manageable components in terms of size,
duration, and responsibility (e.g., systems, subsystems, components, tasks, subtasks, and work
packages) which include all steps necessary to achieve the objective. The Work Breakdown
Structure provides a common framework for the natural development of the overall planning and
control of a contract and is the basis for dividing work into definable increments from which the
statement of work can be developed and technical, schedule, cost, and labor hour reporting can
be established. A work breakdown structure permits summing of subordinate costs for tasks,
materials, etc., into their successively higher level “parent” tasks, materials, etc. For each
element of the work breakdown structure, a description of the task to be performed is generated.
This technique (sometimes called a System Breakdown Structure) is used to define and organize
the total scope of a project.
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The WBS is organised around the primary products of the project (or planned outcomes) instead
of the work needed to produce the products (planned actions). Since the planned outcomes are
the desired ends of the project, they form a relatively stable set of categories in which the costs
of the planned actions needed to achieve them can be collected. A well-designed WBS makes it
easy to assign each project activity to one and only one terminal element of the WBS. In addition
to its function in cost accounting, the WBS also helps map requirements from one level of
system specification to another, for example a requirements cross reference matrix mapping
functional requirements to high level or low level design documents.
b. Estimation Approach:Project managers are under a lot of pressure to produce estimates of
time and cost for systems development very early in a project, typically in the first two weeks.
However, estimating a development project from outline requirements and not from a physical
design is like a home buyer saying, “Quote me a price for building a house, but I am not sure
where I want the house located, or about the number of rooms, or whether it should be of brick
or wood.” It is not surprising that project estimates are as bad as they are, but that they can be
made and met at all. Three approaches can be taken to estimating:
1. Using industry experience
2. Using the experience of one’s own organization
3. Rolling up more or less detailed estimates of the project effort
Using Industry Experience: Function Points
Perhaps the most useful form of recorded industry experience comes in function point counts.
Many people measure software efforts based on the number of lines of code. The trouble with
this measure is that the same function involves many more lines in a low-level language than in a
high-level language. Often, an algorithm coded in one language requires more lines to be coded
in another language. A function point count is a more stable measure of software size than lines
of code, because it is based on the number of inputs, outputs, files, and other measures of
complexity. The International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) has put considerable effort
into devising and maintaining standard methods for sizing software.
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Q.2 List and define in Brief all the tools for Post Implementation Review
Ans. Completing a project" is not the same thing as ending the project management process.
Simply finishing doesn't ensure that the organization benefits from the project's outcome.
For example, after completing a year long project to establish a new quality management process
for your organization, you want to make sure that what you set out to do was actually achieved.
Your objective wasn't to simply deliver a process – but rather, to deliver the process that
addresses the specific business need you intended to meet. This is the real measure of success.
To make the most of the benefits that the project can deliver, however, you also need to check to
see if further improvements will deliver still greater benefit. The post project review is the last
critical step in the project life cycle, as it allows an independent party to validate the success of
the project and give confidence to the stakeholders that it has met the objectives it set out to
achieve.
This template helps you perform a Post Implementation Review by:
Measuring the benefits and objectives
Deciding whether the project was within scope
Assessing the final deliverables produced
Reviewing the project against schedule
Comparing the expenditure against budget
Stating the final outcome of the project
The Post Implementation Review template also helps you to:
Identify the key project achievements and milestones
Document any lessons learned for future projects
Communicate its success to stakeholders
This Post Implementation Review template provides you with the steps needed to review a
project and document its overall level of success. It includes all of the sections, tables and
practical examples you need, to document a Post Implementation review today.
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Q.3 Define the Basic categories of performance management.
Ans. Performance management (PM) includes activities that ensure that goals are consistently
being met in an effective and efficient manner. Performance management can focus on the
performance of an organization, a department, employee, or even the processes to build a
product or service, as well as many other areas.
Performance management as referenced on this page is a broad term coined by Dr. Aubrey
Daniels in the late 1970s to describe a technology (i.e. science imbedded in applications
methods) for managing both behavior and results, two critical elements of what is known as
performance
This is used most often in the workplace, can apply wherever people interact — schools,
churches, community meetings, sports teams, health setting, governmental agencies, and even
political settings - anywhere in the world people interact with their environments to produce
desired effects. Armstrong and Baron (1998) defined it as a “strategic and integrated approach to
increasing the effectiveness of organizations by improving the performance of the people who
work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors.”
It may be possible to get all employees to reconcile personal goals with organizational goals and
increase productivity and profitability of an organization using this process. It can be applied by
organisations or a single department or section inside an organisation, as well as an individual
person. The performance process is appropriately named the self-propelled performance process
(SPPP).[citation needed]
First, a commitment analysis must be done where a job mission statement is drawn up for each
job. The job mission statement is a job definition in terms of purpose, customers, product and
scope. The aim with this analysis is to determine the continuous key objectives and performance
standards for each job position.
Following the commitment analysis is the work analysis of a particular job in terms of the
reporting structure and job description. If a job description is not available, then a systems
analysis can be done to draw up a job description. The aim with this analysis is to determine the
continuous critical objectives and performance standards for each job.
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Q.4 Write a short note on the following:
Ans.
a. Professional Responsibility: Professional Responsibility is the area of legal practice that
encompasses the duties of attorneys to act in a professional manner, obey the law, avoid conflicts
of interest, and put the interests of clients ahead of their own interests.
Conflicts of interest. This occurs where the same lawyer or firm is representing both sides in a
lawsuit, or previously represented one side. In countries with the adversarial system of justice, a
conflict of interest violates the right of each client to the undivided, zealous loyalty of his lawyer.
Conflicts may also occur if the lawyer's ability to represent a client is materially limited by the
lawyer's loyalty to another client, a personal relationship, or other reasons.
Incompetent representation. Attorneys have a duty to provide competent representation, and the
failure to observe deadlines or conduct thorough research is considered a breach of ethics.
Mishandling of client money. Clients often advance money to lawyers for a variety of reasons.
The money must be kept in special client trust accounts until it is actually earned by the lawyer
or spent on court fees or other expenses.
Fee-splitting arrangements. Attorneys may not split fees with non-attorneys, or with other
attorneys who have not worked on the matter for which the client is represented.
Disclosure of confidential information. Lawyers are under a strict duty of confidentiality to keep
information received in the course of their representations secret. Absent law to the contrary,
lawyers may not reveal or use this information to the detriment of their clients.
Communication with represented parties. An attorney may not communicate directly with a
person who they know to be represented by counsel with respect to a matter for which the
attorney is seeking to communicate. For example, in a civil suit, the plaintiff's attorney may not
speak to the defendant directly if the attorney knows that the defendant is represented by counsel
without their attorney's express consent.
Improper solicitation and advertising. Attorneys generally may not solicit business by personally
offering their services to potential clients who are not already close friends or family members.
Advertising by attorneys is also strictly regulated, to prevent puffery and other misleading
assertions regarding potential results.
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b. Business Orientation: Although many firms have adopted the BPO concept, little to no
empirical data existed substantiating its effectiveness in facilitating improved business
performance. McCormack (2000) conducted an empirical study to explore the relationship
between BPO and enhanced business performance. The research results showed that BPO is
critical in reducing conflict and encouraging greater connectedness within an organization, while
improving business performance. Moreover, companies with strong measures of BPO showed
better overall business performance. The research also showed that high BPO levels within
organizations led to a more positive corporate climate, illustrated through better organizational
connectedness and less internal conflict. Another empirical study by Kohlbacher (2009) reveals
that BPO is positively associated with customer satisfaction, product quality, delivery speed and
time-to-market speed.
For a central concept, one that has become something of a Holy Grail for 1990s managers, BPO
has remained remarkably hard to pin down. Its champions argue that it is a new approach to
management that replaces the rigid hierarchies of the past ("I report to my boss") with structures
that are much flatter, more cooperative, more process-oriented ("I report to my customer.").
Many of us have had experience with both types of organization and we know intuitively what
BPO feels like. Yet, if you're like me, you want a more solid foundation on which to make
decisions and recommendations.
Most of the literature on business process orientation has been in the popular press and lacks a
research or empirical focus. Although empirical evidence is lacking, several models have
emerged during the last few years that have been presented as the high performance, process
oriented organization needed in today and tomorrow’s world. Deming, Porter, Davenport, Short,
Hammer, Byrne, Imai, Drucker, Rummler-Brache and Melan have all defined what they view as
the new model of the organization. According to each model’s proponent, the “building” of this
model requires a new approach and a new way of thinking about the organization which will
result in dramatic business performance improvements. This “new way of thinking” or
“viewing” your organization has been generally described as business process orientation.
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c. Personnel Productivity: Personnel Productivity pertains to the obligation of a lawyer to
perform his duties in a fitting manner. Not only does this include a professional and legal
approach to an attorney’s duties, but also to the moral aspect of the profession, which is not
always specified by the law. Personnel Productivity is also largely related to “legal ethics,” a
guideline of appropriate conduct that a legal practitioner is obligated to perform both to his
clients and to the court.
One popular issue with regard to Personnel Productivity is “conflict of interest." This situation
usually occurs when a lawyer is closely related to or in intimate affinity with a person subjected
to court rulings. This creates a predetermined bias for or against the potential client, which can
influence a lawyer’s decisions, actions, and judgment. Lawyers are recommended, if not
required, to refuse the person as a client. The most that a lawyer can do in this situation is refer
the person to another legal practitioner or give general legal advices outside of court.
Withdrawal from representation” is another issue under the area of Personnel Productivity.
Given certain circumstances, an attorney must discontinue representing a client, whether
voluntarily or out of necessity. Many lawyers perform a voluntary withdrawal if they discover
their client is the guilty party, such as in fraudulence, sexual assaults, or even murder. A client’s
failure to give the arranged fees can also result in withdrawal. If the attorney is not physically,
emotionally, and mentally able to take on his responsibility, the withdrawal is also mandated by
court.
In terms of court duties, a lawyer should also make known to the court instances of perjury, or
lying under oath. Misconduct of fellow attorneys, judges, or other legal practitioners should also
be reported. As a professional, a lawyer is also not allowed to directly seek out for clients, as this
somehow removes the latter’s freedom of decision.
d. Conflict Management: Conflict management refers to the long-term management of
intractable conflicts. It is the label for the variety of ways by which people handle grievances—
standing up for what they consider to be right and against what they consider to be wrong. Those
ways include such diverse phenomena as gossip, ridicule, lynching, terrorism, warfare, feuding,
genocide, law, mediation, and avoidance. Which forms of conflict management will be used in
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any given situation can be somewhat predicted and explained by the social structure—or social
geometry—of the case.
Conflict management is often considered to be distinct from conflict resolution. In order for
actual conflict to occur, there should be an expression of exclusive patterns, and tell why the
conflict was expressed the way it was. Conflict is not just about simple inaptness, but is often
connected to a previous issue. The latter refers to resolving the dispute to the approval of one or
both parties, whereas the former concerns an ongoing process that may never have a resolution.
Neither is it considered the same as conflict transformation, which seeks to reframe the positions
of the conflict parties.
Q.5 Comment on the following
Ans.
a. Importance of DMAIS in project management cycle
The projectised mantras of production management can be broadly identified as - Define
Measure, Analyze, Improve, Standardize (DMAIS). These projectised mantras help in
identifying, evaluating, and selecting the right improvement solutions for managing a project.
The mantras also help in identifying the critical issues thus assisting the organization to adapt to
the changes introduced through the implementation of different solutions.
The phases associated with each projectised mantra of production management are:
1. Define: benchmark, customer requirement, process flow map, quality function deployment,
project management plan
2. Measure: data collection, defect metrics, sampling
3. Analysis: cause and effect, failure modes and effect analysis, decision and risk analysis,root
cause analysis, reliability analysis
4. Improve: design of experiments, modeling, and robust design
5. Standardize: control charts, time series, procedural adherence, performance management,
preventive activities displays the various phases of DMIAS.
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b. Knowledge areas of project management: A subset of project management that includes the
processes required to ensure that the various elements of the project are properly coordinated. It
consists of:
Project plan development—integrating and coordinating all project plans to create a consistent,
coherent document.
Project plan execution—carrying out the project plan by performing the activities included
therein.
Integrated change control—coordinating changes across the entire project.
A subset of project management that includes the processes required to ensure that the project
includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.
It consists of:
Initiation—authorizing the project or phase.
Scope planning—developing a written scope statement as the basis for future project decisions.
Scope definition—subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable
components.
Scope verification—formalizing acceptance of the project scope.
Scope change control—controlling changes to project scope.
A subset of project management that includes the processes required to ensure timely completion
of the project. It consists of:
Activity definition—identifying the specific activities that must be performed to produce the
various project deliverables.
Activity sequencing—identifying and documenting interactivity dependencies.
Activity duration estimating—estimating the number of work periods that will be needed to
complete individual activities.
Schedule development—analyzing activity sequences, activity durations, and resource
requirements to create the project schedule.
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Schedule control—controlling changes to the project schedule.
A subset of project management that includes the processes required to ensure that the project is
completed within the approved budget. It consists of:
Resource planning—determining what resources (people, equipment, materials) and what
quantities of each should be used to perform project activities.
Cost estimating—developing an approximation (estimate) of the costs of the resources needed to
complete project activities.
Cost budgeting—allocating the overall cost estimate to individual work activities.
Cost control—controlling changes to the project budget.
A subset of project management that includes the processes required to ensure that the project
will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken. It consists of:
Quality planning—identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and
determining how to satisfy them.
Quality assurance—evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide
confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.
Quality control—monitoring specific project results to determine if they comply with relevant
quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance.
Q.6 What are the various SCMo soft wares available in project management? Explain each
in brief.
Ans. The various support software that may be used for managing projects are:
1. ARROW
2. FEDORA
3. VITAL
4. PILIN
5. MS EXCHANGE SERVER 2003
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The ARROW Project
It is a consortia of institutional repository solution, combining open source and proprietary
Software
Why Arrow
Arrow is preferred support software because it:
• Provides a platform for promoting research output in the ARROW context
• Safeguards digital information
• Gathers an institution’s research output into one place
• Provides consistent ways of finding similar objects
• Allows information to be preserved over the long term
• Allows information from many repositories to be gathered and searched in one step
• Enables resources to be shared, while respecting access constraints
• Enables effective communication and collaboration between researchers
The vision of project ARROW: “The ARROW project will identify and test software or solutions
to support best practice institutional digital repositories comprising e-prints, digital theses and
electronic publishing.”
What did the ARROW project set out to achieve? ARROW project wanted to be a solution for
storing any digital output. Their initial focus was on print equivalents such as thesis and journal
articles among others. It provided solution that could offer on-going technical support and
development past the end of the funding period of the project.
What is ARROW now? It’s in a development stage combining Open Source and proprietary
software such as Fedora, VITAL, Open Journal Services (OJS). It is not a centralised or hosting
solution. Every member has their own hardware and software.
Why Fedora
ARROW wanted a robust, well architected underlying platform and a flexible object-oriented
data model to be able to have persistent identifiers down to the level of individual data streams. It
accommodates the content model to be able to be version independent.
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Since the beginning of the project ARROW has worked actively and closely with Fedora and the
Fedora Community. The ARROW project’s Technical Architect is a member of Fedora Advisory
Board and sits on Fedora Development Group.
This association is reinforced by VTLS Inc. VTLS President is a member of Fedora Advisory
Board and VITAL Lead Developer sits on Fedora Development Group
Why VITAL
VITAL refers to ARROW specified software created and fully supported by VTLS Inc. built on
top of Fedora. It currently provides:
1. VITAL Manager
2. VITAL Portal
3. VITAL Access Portal
4. VALET – Web Self-Submission Tool
5. Batch Loader Tool
6. Handles Server (CNRI)
7. Google Indexing and Exposure
8. SRU / SRW Support
9. VITAL architecture overview
VITAL is part of creative development of ARROW institutional repositories. VITAL has the
following features:
1. Inclusion of multimedia and creative works produced in Australian universities
2. Limited exposure nationally or internationally
3. Addition of annotation capability
4. Inclusion of datasets and other research output not easily provided in any other publishing
channel
5. Being developed in conjunction with the DART (ARCHER) Project
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6. Exploration of the research-teaching nexus tools that will allow value added services for
repositories
7. Integration with or development of new tools that will allow value added services for
repositories (for instance the creation of e-portfolios or CVs of research output of individual
academics)
PILIN – Persistent Identifiers and Linking Infrastructure
There has been a growing realisation that sustainable identifier infrastructure is required to deal
with the vast amount of digital assets being produced and stored within universities. PILIN 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 broad
objectives are to:
1. Support adoption and use of persistent identifiers and shared persistent identifier management
services by the project stakeholders
2. Plan for a sustainable, shared identifier management infrastructure that enables persistence of
identifiers and associated services over archival lengths of time
3. Deploy a Worldwide Site Consolidation Solution for Exchange Server 2003 at Microsoft
4. Add Picture
5. Use Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 to consolidate more than 70 messaging sites worldwide
into seven physical locations In this context, let us look at Microsoft Model Enterprises (MME).
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