PPMP20007 Negative Risks and Positive Risks Management Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : PPMP20007
• University : Central Queensland University My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Project Management 3

Project Management Concepts - Question 1

a.1.Update all the smoke detectors and safety equipment to meet the new regulations:

The above project can be classified under compliance project as this project is related to regulations set by the government or other regulatory bodies.

2.Launch a new promotional campaign with Qantas:

This project can be classified as strategic project since it have an impact on the bottom and middle line of the company. This project aims to enhance the revenue and increase the customer base of the company.

3.Develop 3 new nature hiking trails:

This project also comes under strategic project as it deals with investing in new areas in order to increase the revenue of the company.

4.Convert the swimming pool heating system from gas to solar power:

The above project can be classified under operational projects. This project focuses to change the operations of the company in order to save money. It have an impact on the bottom line of the company.

b. Scope creep can be defined as the project in which the scope is not well defined and documented beforehand. This is not good for the company and generally lead to failure of the project. Moreover, this leads to many changes and uncontrollable growth in the scope of project.

c. Even with a trained facilitator, there is a possibility of built-in biases. Regular audit of the projects can be the solution for this problem.

Project Management Concepts - Question 2

There are many project management structure than can be used. However, the most appropriate structure that should be used in this situation is functional structure. In this structure type, different units are created to innovate and bring new idea in the market. The functional units that should be created in this project are Marketing, IT, HR and Sales. The units will help to make the project successful such as marketing unit would help to promote the new innovative idea among the potential customers to increase the customer base of the company. 

If the research and development team are sure that the new innovative idea would lead to competitive advantage for the company, then this project structure should be implemented. However, matrix structure of project management could also be used with two chains where the team members have more than one boss or manager, in the case when geographical location is known.

Project Management Concepts - Question 3

Positive risk refers to risk that should be exploited in the scope of the project as it would increase the probability and success of the project. An organization must be open to positive risks and must enhance it. This would further have a positive contribution towards the project. However, negative risk refers to the uncertain circumstances which adversely affect the company. The company should try to avoid negative risks as these risks lead to failure of the project.

Initially, the management and treatment of both types of risks is same. The difference lies in the response of these risks by the company. Negative risks are avoided by the company, whereas, the positive risks are exploited so that the opportunity occurs.

Project Management Concepts - Question 4

a. The role of a conductor of an orchestra is similar to the role of project manager of a company. The conductor unifies performers, sets the tempo, executes clear preparations and beats, listens carefully and shapes everything according to him. All the actions of the conductor of orchestra are aimed for successful performance of the orchestra. Likewise, the project manager supervises everyone as the conductor does. The tasks of manager are to set goals for the company, oversee the team members and make changes where needed. Both the conductor of orchestra and project manager of the company is responsible for their actions and their team members.

b. The project manager has to directly implement the action and have to face the consequences of it. The manager cannot undo the steps taken by him. Whereas, the conductor of an orchestra has the chance to undo the actions after rehearsals.

Project Management Concepts - Question 5

a. Group rewards creates a sense of achievement among the group members. It encourages the team members within the company to outperform the other team members of the company to receive rewards. This leads to a healthy competition in the company. However, individual reward only benefits an individual and also creates jealousy and non-cooperation among the team members. Therefore, group reward should be emphasized over individual reward as it encourages team work.

b. The roles of the team members are not clarified before commencing the project. This is a major cause of internal conflicts happening in the company.

The first action that should be taken as a project manager is to specify the roles of the team members. The roles of different individuals working in the project should be defined beforehand.

Project Management Concepts - Question 6

a. According to the question, the function point count for a software project is 1080.

Number of person months can be calculated as: 1080/6 = 180 person months.

If five persons are working on the project, the minimum duration will be = number of person months / number of person working together = 180/5 = 36 months

b. The minimum number of person needed to finish the project in 12 months= 12 * 5 = 60

c. It is unlikely that the 12 months deadline is achieved with the calculated number of person. The main reason behind this is that the function point software project is given as 1080 but with 60 people months, we are getting 360 function point count.

Project Management Concepts - Question 7

a. Earned value management consists of three elements:

• Planned Value- Planned value refers to the benchmark value of work to be completed within a given period of time.
• Actual Cost- Actual cost is defined as the cost actually incurred in completion of the work.
• Earned Value- Earned value can be defined as to the value of the work that is completed till date.

According to the information given:

Planned Value = (Planned % Complete) * Project Cost = (25/100) * 30000

Planned Value= 7,500

Actual Cost is the amount paid so far. Thus, actual cost = 7,500

Earned Value = 25% * overall net worth of tasks

Earned Value = 25%*30000 = 7,500

Therefore, it can be concluded that Wil is on schedule. This is based on the number of sheared trees shared in five days. A total of 24000 trees are to be sheared. At the end of the first week, 6000 trees have been sheared. This is equal to 25% of the total trees sheared. The calculation above shows that Wil pays $7500 to the shearing crew boss. This is 25% of the total budget allocation of $30000 for the contract. This indicates that Wil is on budget as the amount paid out after five days goes handy with the work done.

To consider whether Wil has used earned value, it is understandable that Wil employs it in the project. Since Wil pays out $7500 to the boss of the shearing crew after shearing 6000 trees in five days, this shows the same. Therefore, Wil uses Earned Value in this project.

b. Wil can develop a scheduling variance:

• By being interested in the course of planning phase of the project, especially on the budget, scope, and schedule.
• Wil could estimate and tally the number of people and equipment to complete the work in time.
• Wil could take decision to alter the program in such a manner that the project is completed within the particular period of one month after the critical evaluation. Moreover, Wil could address the cost variance at the resource side.

Project Management Concepts - Question 8

There are several factors that would promote the implementation of an agile project management methodology successfully:

Organizational:

• There should be committed sponsor/manager.
• There should be cooperative culture rather than hierarchal.

The above organizational factors have a positive impact and make the agile projects successful.

Group:

• High expertise and competence among the team members.
• Great motivation is required among team members.

Human resource factors also play a significant role for the successful implementation of the agile projects.

Individual:

• One must be eager to learn and have a collaborative attitude.
• One must be honest and have sense of responsibility.

The personal characteristics play a significant role in fundamental persona for successful agile projects.

Project:

• Project type of variable scope with an emergent requirement.
• Projects with a team of small size and non-life-critical nature.

The above stated factors which are related to project determines the success of project.

Project Management Concepts - Question 9

a. 1. The network diagram which is a schedule helps to:

1) Provide user-friendly information using schedule formats. For example-Gantt charts and milestone.

2) Give required significant information to the team.

3) Furnish information along with showing the manner the tasks are related.

4) Identifying the location of the points of risk in the schedule and the time involved to accomplish the project

5) Completing the sequence of work, the schedules used as a management tool

6) Tracking the progress about each types of project.

Project schedule provide abundance of information that the managers possess..

2. There is additional information about the schedule which the project manager needs to know. The main limitation of the network diagram is that finish-to-start relationships are only showed. This limitation can be addressed if it is possible to display lead and lag except by adding or subtracting time. This can make the project tracking convenient. Moreover, in network diagram, there are situations when dummy activities could occur. This displays that tasks are dependent on each other. More information and inferences could be drawn, if the problem of dummy activities is avoided.

b.1. The least cost to crash the activity so that a week is reduced is activity E. Therefore, this activity should be crashed to reduce the duration by one week.

2. We cannot calculate crash cost per unit time for each activity in the network due to absence of the values of normal costs. The process would have been complicated if the normal costs were provided.

3. The risks related with compressing projects are that it will result in the elimination of one or more activities in the network or time overrun.

Project Management Concepts - Question 10

Before deciding whether the project is at which stage and whether it is progressing well, cost variance and schedule variance should be analysed.

Cost variance can be calculated as the difference between Earned Value and Actual Cost.

Cost Variance = 35673.08 – 20673.08 = 15000

Thus, this project is 73% under-budget.

Schedule Variance = Earned Value – Planned Value = 35673.08 – 18461.54 = 17211.54

The positive value of schedule variance highlights that we are ahead of the schedule.

Schedule Performance Index = Earned Value/ Planned Value = 35673.08/18461.54 = 1.932

Schedule Performance Index is greater than one. This shows that the project is running ahead of the schedule.

Cost Performance Index = Earned Value/Actual Cost = 35673.08/20673.08= 1.7256

The value is greater than 1. This suggests that the project is under budget. This is the best result as the cost performance index shows the financial effectiveness of the project.

Therefore, positive schedule variance and positive cost variance proposes that the project is progressing well.

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Project Management Assignment Help