Review for exam II

1. Review for exam II March 11, 2014

2. Format for exam • 60 multiple choice • 3 sets of discussion questions

3. Bring…/Don’t Bring… • Bring… • Scantron sheet • Pencil, eraser, calculator • Don’t Bring… • Paper • PDAs, Pocket PC’s, tablets, • Programmable, high memory storage devices

4. We Covered: • Burns Chs 4, 7, 8 • Schwalbe, Chs 3-8

5. We also covered • Probabilistic PERT (formulas will be given to you) • Each task (activity) requires three time estimates – Optimistic, Most likely, Pessimistic • Crashing

6. Ch 3—PM Process Groups—a Case Study Ch 4--integration management Ch 5—scope management Ch 6—time management Ch 7—cost management Ch 8—quality management Schwalbe, Chs. 3-8

7. For Schwalbe material • Skim the chapter • Look for definitions and concepts • Work the multiple choice at the end • Read the chapter Summary

8. The Project Team • Ideally, the PM should become involved at what point in a project? • What about the other project team members? • Which is easier to develop? Skills or competencies? • What have many organizations done about this? • Create a learning laboratory for wanna be project managers • Use a hierarchy of job classifications for aspiring project managers

9. Parkinson’s Law • What is it??

10. Processes

11. More Processes

12. What are the processes that make up the cost management knowledge area? • Estimate Costs • Determine Budget • Control Costs

13. What are the processes that make up the quality management knowledge area? • Plan Quality • Perform Quality Assurance • Perform Quality Control

14. Human Resources Management • Develop HR plan • Acquire team • Develop team • Manage team

15. Team Development and Effectiveness • Name the five states of team development according to B.W. Tuckman • Effective project teams have what characteristics? • Next slide • Barriers to team effectiveness include what? • Next slide

16. Characteristics of effective project teams • A clear understanding of the project objective • Clear expectations of each person’s role and responsibilities • A results Orientation • A High Degree of Cooperation and Collaboration • A High Level of Trust

17. Unclear goals Unclear definition of Roles and Responsibilities Lack of project structure Lack of Commitment Poor Communication Poor Leadership Turnover of project team members Dysfunctional behavior Barriers to team effectiveness are…

18. The Core Team • The project team is comprised of two categories of team members--core and contracted • Core team members are with the project from cradle to grave, albeit only part time • Selection criteria: Commitment, shared responsibility, flexible, task oriented, team oriented, open-minded, work across departments,

19. The Contracted Team • Contracted team members are with the project for only a short time, during which they produce a specific deliverable and then leave • What problems, do contracted team members present to the PM? • Window of availability, project orientation, commitment to the project

20. Level Project Resources • What is meant by resource leveling? • Why do we need to level resources? • What is meant by splitting activities? Stretching activities? • Can you split or stretch activities that are on the critical path? • Why or why not?

21. Schedule and Document Work Packages • How many tasks in a work package? • How many cost accounts in a work package? • What chart is recommended for scheduling a work package? • Organized by due date, and again by activity manager

22. POSSIBLE MC Questions • What is contingency? • Which of the following is used to calculate probabilities? CPM, PERT, Gantt, or Crashing • A key tool used to track cost and schedule is… • Costs or benefits that are easily measured in dollars are called--TANGIBLE

23. Scope Management

24. Schwalbe Ch. 6: Time Management • Define Activities • Sequence Activities • Estimate Resources • Estimate Activity Durations • Develop Schedule • Control Schedule

25. Schwalbe Ch. 7: Cost Management • Estimate Costs • Determine Budget • Control Costs

26. Cost Management – Estimate Costs • Cost estimation – our weakest link • Three types of cost estimates • Rough cut (35-72 months out), budgetary (24 months out)and definitive (1 month out) • Could us MS project to do definitive cost estimation • There are many spreadsheet templates to assist with cost estimation—more popular than MS Project

27. Cost Management – Control Costs • Use EVA/EVM • EVA – Earned Value Analysis • EVM – Earned Value Management • Won’t cover these on this exam…

28. Life Cycle Costing • Does it make sense to spend more time on development so that life cycle costs will be less?

29. Types of Costs • Direct costs • Direct labor costs –hourly rate * hours • Indirect costs • Overhead (administration, pension, health care costs • Sunk costs • Money that has already been spent; consider it gone

30. Cost Estimation Tools • Analogous estimates • Also called top-down estimates • Bottom-up estimates • Parametric modeling – COCOMO • It helps when you have a past project…

31. Schwalbe Chapter 8: Quality Management • Plan Quality • The longer a defect remains, the _____it is to fix • Perform Quality Assurance • How can we test designs? • Test all affected logic paths • Perform Quality Control • Use an off-side independent tester—beta testing

32. Planning Quality • What functionality?—based on requirements • What outputs?—also based on requirements • What performance?—also… • What reliability?—also… • What maintainability?--also…

33. Tools for Quality Control • Cause and effect diagrams (fishbone diag) • Statistical process control charts • Run charts • Scatter diagrams • Histograms • Pareto charts

34. Types of testing as part of Quality Assurance • Design Walkthroughs • Module (unit) testing • Integration testing • Regression testing • System testing • Beta testing

35. Quality and Cost • They are related • Consumer’s perspective: higher cost means better quality • Producer’s perspective: better quality means lower cost • Less rework – less debugging • Less scrap • Less liability claims • Greater market share

36. Quality Costs • Costs of conformance (good quality) • Prevention (4% of revenues) • Process innovation and improvement • Appraisal • Walkthroughs and testing • Costs of nonconformance (bad quality) • Internal External (up to 40% of revenues)

37. Close out the Project • STEPS • Ensure all deliverables are installed/delivered • Get client acceptance of deliverables • Ensure documentation is in place • Get client sign-off on final • Conduct post-implementation • Celebrate success

38. Obtain Client Acceptance • The client decides when the project is done • PM must demonstrate that deliverables meet client specifications • Ceremonial Acceptance • formal acceptance not required, such as plan and conduct a conference • Formal acceptance • a written acceptance procedure that requires the project team to demonstrate compliance

39. Miscellaneous • Be able to crash a network as we did in class • You must know by now that adding resources to a project that is behind might only make it finish later, because of the training and communication overhead • You must know by now that most IT projects need to be finished quicker

40. Miscellaneous • You must know by now why frozen requirements are usually desirable, but not possible • Frozen requirements, like the proverbial snowman, are a myth—both will melt when enough heat is applied • SOOO00oooo???? use a Change Control Board

41. THAT’S ALL FOLKS