The University of the South Pacific

Faculty of Science, Technology, and Environment

School of Computing, Information and Mathematical Sciences
IS333 Project Management Semester 1, 2020
Assignment 1 Marking Scheme Weight: 20%

Due Date: Sunday, 15th March, 2020; 11 PM (Fiji Time)

Learning Outcome:
3. Apply scheduling techniques as part of a project management plan.
4. Demonstrate the standard techniques for resolving resource conflicts during project execution.

Instructions
Questions:
There are two questions for this assignment. All questions are compulsory.

Team formation
This is a team based assignment. Hence for this assignment you would need to work in your allocated
team. All documents submitted must have your team information in it. Also submit the mark allocation
agreement with your assignment.

Submission:
 Submit softcopy in Moodle (the team leader must submit in his account his team’s assignment by
the deadline),

Plagiarism: For this and other work in IS333, it’s essential that you avoid plagiarism. Not only do you
expose yourself to possibly serious disciplinary consequences, but you’ll also cheat yourself of a proper
understanding of the concepts emphasized in the assignment. You’ll almost certainly fail the midterm
and/or the final, which will test your understanding of the assignment.
It’s not plagiarism to discuss the assignment with your friends and consider solutions to the problems
together. However, it is plagiarism for you to copy all or part of each others’ solutions.
Any student posting solutions for this assignment in Moodle will be considered to be committing
plagiarism. Don’t submit your solution to any discussion forum or mail it to anyone except the lecturer
or tutors.
If you find somebody has stolen you assignment and produced it as their work, it will be considered
plagiarism. So DON’T leave your flash drives around. Be careful with them. And make sure you log out of
the lab machines when you are finished.

Things to be very careful about!

1. Do not wait till the last minute/second to submit your assignment. (How would you know 11 o’clock
on your clock means 11 o’clock on Moodle server?)
2. Take SPECIAL care of your disks/flash drives possibly containing your solution file till your assignment
is marked. Do not lose them, damage them or have them stolen, as someone else may copy your
work. Avoid the scenario that someone else has copied your work without your knowledge.
3. Do not let anyone else submit your assignment in your Moodle account on your behalf.
4. Check whose Moodle account you are using to submit your assignment.
5. Do not leave your personal class share for others to access.
6. Ensure that you are submitting the “CORRECT” files which contain your assignment solutions.
 Question 1: Scheduling Techniques
Problem Specification
Consider the following network schedule:

Table 1: Network Schedule of an Accounts Payable System

Activity Description Optimistic Most Likely Pessimistic Predecessor
Duration Duration Duration
(days) (days) (days)
1 Accounts Payable System
2 Planning meetings 1 1 2
3 Team assignments 3 4 5 2
4 Program specification
5 Customer requirements 8 10 12 3
6 Feasibility study 3 5 7 5
7 Systems Analysis 6 8 10 5
8 Prelim budget & schedule 1 2 3 7
9 Functional specification 3 5 7 7
10 Prelim design 10 12 14 9
11 Configuration & 3 4 5 10
performance needs
12 Hardware requirements 4 6 8 11
13 Systems specification 5 7 9 10
14 Detailed design 12 14 16 12,13
15 Program specification 8 10 12 14
16 Programming – first phase 27 32 37 15
17 Documentation 14 16 18 15
18 Prototype
19 Development 5 7 9 16
20 User testing & feedback 12 14 16 19
21 Programming – second phase 10 12 14 16
22 Beta testing 18 20 22 21
23 Final documentation package 9 10 11 17,20
24 Training package 4 5 6 21SS,23
25 Product release 3 5 7 22,23,24
SS – Start to start lag

Notes:
 A working day is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (8am – 4pm).
 Staff works Mondays through Friday.
 Project start date is 1st April, 2020.
 The last Friday of every month is a sports day for the company. No work is done on this day.
 The following holidays are observed in a year.
o January 1 – Another Wacky Year Day
o Second Monday in January, March, May, June, August, October, December is Eat-All-You-
Can day
o April 10 – Plagiarism Day
o May 24 – National Panic Day
 o June 18 – Love Your Neighbor Day
o August 15 – National Rocky Road Day
o December 20th - Blame Someone Else Day
o If a holiday falls on a Saturday then Friday will be given as an extra day off, and if it falls
on a Sunday then Monday will be given as a day off.

Given the information provided in Table 1 and key notes, answer the following.

Required:

a) Using an appropriate approach to building a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), develop a graphical
WBS for this project. (10 marks)

Accounts
Payable
System

Planning Team Program Programm Documenta Prototype Progra Beta Final Trainin Produc
meetings assignme specificatio ing – first tion mming testing docum g t
nts n phase – entati packag releas
secon on e e
d packag
phase e

Custo Feasibi Syste Prelim Functi Prelim Config Hardw Syste Detaile Progra Develo User
mer lity ms budget onal design uratio are ms d m pment testing
requir study Analys & specifi n& requir specifi design specifi &
ement is sched cation ement cation cation feedba
s ule perfor s ck
mance

b) Using the 3-point technique, calculate the activity durations (round to nearest whole number). (3
marks) Use the technique used in class as well.

Activit Activity Description Optimistic Most Pessimisti Predecessor Duration Predecessor

y label (a) Likely (m) c (b) Label
1 Accounts Payable System
2 A Planning meetings 1 1 2 1 -
3 B Team assignments 3 4 5 2 4 A
4 Program specification
5 C Customer requirements 8 10 12 3 10 B
6 D Feasibility study 3 5 7 5 5 C
7 E Systems Analysis 6 8 10 5 8 C
8 F Prelim budget & schedule 1 2 3 7 2 E
9 G Functional specification 3 5 7 7 5 E
10 H Prelim design 10 12 14 9 12 G
11 I Configuration & 3 4 5 10 4 H
performance needs
12 J Hardware requirements 4 6 8 11 6 I
13 K Systems specifications 5 7 9 10 7 H
14 L Detailed design 12 14 16 12, 13 14 J, K
15 M Program specification 8 10 12 14 10 L
16 N Programming – first phase 27 32 37 15 32 M
17 O Documentation 14 16 18 15 16 M
18 Prototype
19 P Development 5 7 9 16 7 N
20 Q User testing & feedback 12 14 16 19 14 P
21 R Programming – second 10 12 14 16 12 N
phase
22 S Beta testing 18 20 22 21 20 R
23 T Final documentation 9 10 11 17, 20 10 O, Q
package
24 U Training package 4 5 6 21SS, 23 5 R(SS), T
25 V Product release 3 5 7 22, 23, 24 5 S, T, U

c) You are tasked to draw using appropriate software an AOA PERT chart for the above project;
assuming a finish-start (FS) relationship between activities. (The length of the arrows must be
indicative of the duration). (10 marks)
 AOA

20

25
5
D5 44
1 A1 2 B4 3 C10 4 7 44
E8
F2 106 118
0 1 5 15 6 10 106 122
0 1 5 15 C5
I4 142 147
23 8 H12 9 J6 14 R12 17 142 147
23 K7 S20
N 32
P 7
113
28 40 11 L14 12 M10 13 15 19 V5 20
113
28 40 0
16
Q
14

U5
50 64 74
16 T10
18
50 64 74
127 137
127 137
d) How long will this project take? What is the completion date? (3 marks)

Project will take 147 days. Completion date: November 18, 2020 (Follow notes on page 2 for rules)

e) List all the distinct paths in the project along with their durations. (3 marks)

Path # Path Duration

1 ABCD 20
2 ABCEF 25
3 ABCEGHIJLMNPQTUV 147
4 ABCEGHIJLMNRSV 143
5 ABCEGHIJLMNRUV 128
6 ABCEGHIJLMOTUV 110
7 ABCEGHKLMNPQTUV 144
8 ABCEGHKLMNRSV 140
9 ABCEGHKLMNRUV 125
10 ABCEGHKLMOTUV 107

If using activity numbers:

# Path Duration
1 2 3 5 6 20
2 2 3 5 7 8 25
3 2 3 5 7 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 19 20 23 24 25 147
4 2 3 5 7 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 21 22 25 143
5 2 3 5 7 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 21 24 25 128
6 2 3 5 7 9 10 11 12 14 15 17 23 24 25 110
7 2 3 5 7 9 10 11 14 15 16 19 20 23 24 25 144
8 2 3 5 7 9 10 11 14 15 16 21 22 25 140
9 2 3 5 7 9 10 11 14 15 16 21 24 25 125
10 2 3 5 7 9 10 11 14 15 17 23 24 25 107

f) Which tasks are on the critical path of the PERT chart above? (3 marks)

ABCEGHIJLMNPQTUV
Or
2,3,5,7,9,10,11,12,14,15,16,19,20,23,24,25

g) Identify all Activities in the above project that have a slack and the amount of slack. (3 marks)

Activity Slack
D–6 Any value between 0-127
F–8 Any value between 0-122
K – 13 3
O - 17 37
R – 21 4
S - 22 4
h) You have discovered that the competing accounting package (with significant improvements) is
scheduled for delivery in approximately 144 days. Based on your original schedule above, would you
beat this delivery time? If not, what actions would you take? (4 marks)

No.

Actions that can be taken: (focus on critical path only)

a) Expedite critical activities by:
- Working overtime
- Loading more resources to critical tasks
- Introducing more parallel activities
- outsource

i) One of your two critical systems analysts might be leaving the firm sighting critical family reasons.
What actions would you take to ensure the original delivery time is still met? (3 marks)

- Understudy of analyst,
- don’t let the analyst start anything that he/she can’t finish,
- all documentation of analyst work to be in proper order,
- negotiate incentives with the other analyst

j) The person working on activity 15 informs you he can't start work until two days after the scheduled
starting date. What impact would this have on the completion date of the project? (2 marks)

Activity 15 (M) is on the critical path so the project will take 149 days to complete.

k) By how many days can activity 17 be delayed before it becomes critical? (2 marks)

Activity 17 (O) has a slack of 37 days before becoming critical

l) If activity 19 is delayed by 4 days what will be the new project duration? If there is no effect, state
‘No change in duration’. (3 marks)

Activity 19 (P) is on the critical path so it will have delay the project by 4 days. 147+4=151days

m) Convert the above AOA Chart to an AON Chart (also known as Project Network Diagram) clearly
stating the ES, EF, LS, and LF for each of the activities. Use the following node style for your AON
diagram. Consider the SS relation between activities 21 and 24. (10 marks)
 15 20

03 D

18
15 5 23
20

23 25 106 118 118 138

0 1 1 5 5 15

0 F 4 5 R 4 S
0 A 0 B 0 C

23
23 2 28
25 111
110 12 122
123 122 20 142
0 1 1 1 4 5 5 10 15

15 23 40 44 44 50 74 106 106 113 113 127 SS

137 142 142 147
0 E 0 I 0 J 0 N 0 P 0 Q

0 U 0 V
15 8 23 40 5 44 44 6 50 74 32 106 106 7 113 113 14 127

137 5 142 142 5 147

23 28 28 40 50 64 64 74 127 137

0 G 0 H 0 L 0 M 0 T

23 5 28 28 12 40 50 14 64 64 10 74 127 10 137

40 47 74 90

3 K 37 O

43 7 50 111 16 127

Note: SS, doesn’t make a difference in the solution.

 n) Create a Gantt chart for the above network schedule using project management software. (10
marks)

*Mark as per schedule (Follow the notes given on page two to capture all holidays)

o) Complicating the issue is the concern about the project meeting the promised delivery dates. How
could the project manager convince their clients that they should wait for this product rather than
jump to a package provided by a new entrant in the business? (3 marks)

- Make significant marketing effort.

- Offer price discounts
- Offer post installation service for free or at a discounted rate.

Question 2: Project Overview Statement and Standard

techniques for resolving resource conflicts
In consultation with your team members, choose an ICT related project for your assignment 2. The project
could be addressing an IT problem in your organization or an opportunity.

To assist you in deciding on a project, you can select projects from many different areas, such as banking,
health care, education, transportation, mobile industry etc. The projects can be about creating an
information system; or modifying and existing one, a networking project, ICT infrastructure upgrade
projects, an ICT/telecommunications related project etc; but not limited to these.

The purpose of your assignment 2 will be to prepare a comprehensive plan for a project of your own.
Though you will not be required to implement that project, you will however be required to document on
how you will go about implementing the project. This task is about selecting that suitable project.

Teams are advised not to select projects of trivial nature, such as creating an e-commerce website, or
creating a standalone application to manage inventory. You are also not advised to select projects that
are highly superficial and outside the knowledge of your domain.

Required:
a) After having finalized your project, prepare a Project Overview Statement. (5 marks)
Follow the guidelines below:

Problem or opportunity:
- Discussion of a problem where an ICT solutions is required. This part should discuss the problems or
opportunity ONLY. There should not be any mention of the solution or new proposed system.

Goal:
- one sentence or two or three lines of statements stating what will be built. This is usually stated using
verbs. Also timeline should be stated for example, Implement x-system in 6 months.

Objectives:
these are 8 or 9 statements describing how the goal will be achieved in a step by step fashion. These
statements will define the overall work that will be done in the project. Example: Design system
architecture and implement. Students should avoid writing business objectives such as "the objective of
the project is to increase sales".
Success Criteria:
- state the business benefits that will occur from the project. example, increase in revenue by 10%. A
figure has to be stated.

Risks/Assumptions/Obstacles
- appropriate examples of each should be given.

Open ended question. 1 Marks are awarded for each of the 5 parts of a POS.

b) Discuss the term resource allocation and when resource conflict can arise. (5 marks)
Open ended question. 2 Marks for definition. 3 marks to highlight resource conflict.

c) Discuss two ways you can resolve resource conflicts in terms of the project selected above. (5
marks)
2 marks for listing: Resource Loading and levelling, etc
2 marks for discussion and 1 mark for reference.

Good Luck!!! 
 IS333 Project Management Semester 1, 2020 Assignment 1
Mark Allocation Agreement
After having discussed as group, we recommend the following mark allocation to each group
member based on contribution or lack of it throughout the assignment.

Member ID Percentage of assignment 1 marks

Signed
Member name ID Signature
 Assignment 1 Marking Criteria

Title Project Management

Group Marker
Marks Allocated Attained Remarks
Presentation 5 Documentation
Question 1 (a) 10
Question 1 (b) 3
Question 1 (c) 10
Question 1 (d) 3
Question 1 (e) 3
Question 1 (f) CBOK: 3
Question 1 (g) IT 3
Project
Question 1 (h) Manag- 4
ement
Question 1 (i) 3
Question 1 (j) 2
Question 1 (k) 2
Question 1 (l) 3
Question 1 (m) 10
Question 1 (n) 10
Question 1 (o) 3
Question 2 (a) 5
Question 2 (b) 5
Question 2 (c) 5
Team work 5 Team Contract and Table

References and 3
Appendix

Total 100 (20%)