Question: 1 (Chapter 8, Exercise-2, Page no: 330)
Create a Pareto diagram based on the information in the table below. First, create a spreadsheet in Excel, using the data in the table below. First, create a spreadsheet in Excel, using the data in the table below. List the most frequent customer problem first. Add a column called “Cumulative%.” Then enter formulas to calculate those items. Next, use the excel chart wizard to create a Pareto diagram based on the data. Use the line- Column on 2 Axis custom type chart so your resulting chart looks similar to the one in figure 8-1.
Customer Complaints / Frequency / WeekService rep cannot answer customer's questions / 120
Customer is on hold too long / 90
Service rep does not follow through as promised / 40
Customer gets transferred to wrong area or cut off / 20
Answer:
Pareto analysis identifies the vital few contributors that account for quality problems in a system, which is referred as 80-20 rule. It indicates that 80% of the problems are always due to 20% of the causes.
This rule has always been of interest, whether working in code or doing analysis such as, in the customer services field there is some individuals with unique circumstances who bring complexity and challenge to the business rules and code. This Project Management Exercise nicely demonstrates this rule.
Customer ComplaintsFrequency / Week / % of Total Complaints / Cumulative %
Service rep cannot answer customer's questions / 120 / 44% / 44%
Customer is on hold too long / 90 / 33% / 78%
Service rep does not follow through as promised / 40 / 15% / 93%
Customer gets transferred to wrong area or cut off / 20 / 7% / 100%
Total / 270 / 100%
Customer Complaints Histogram
Question: 2 (Chapter 9, Exercise-1, Page no: 380)
Your company is planning to launch an important new project starting January 1, which will last one year. You estimate that you will need one full-time project manager, two full-time business analysts for the first six months, two full-time senior programmers for the whole year, four full time junior programmers for the months of July, August, and September, and one full-time technical writer for the last three months. Use Microsoft Excel to create a stacked column chart showing a resource histogram for this project, similar to the one shown in Figure 9-6. Be sure to include a legend to label the types of resources needed. Use appropriate titles and axis labels.
Answer: See Attachment chapter 9, exercise 1
Or
Types of resources / Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun / Jul / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / DecProject Manager / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
Business Analyst / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2
Senior Programmers / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2
Junior Programmers / 4 / 4 / 4
Technical Writer / 1 / 1 / 1
Question: 3 (Chapter 10, Exercise-1, Page no: 419)
Create a stakeholder analysis for project communications. Assume your organization has a project to determine employees’ training needs and then provide in house and external sources for courses in developing communications skills for employees. Stakeholders could be various levels and types of employees, suppliers, the human resources department in charge of the project, and so on. Determine specific stakeholders for the project. List at least one type of project communication for each stakeholders and the format for disseminating information to each. Use table 10-1 as an example.
Answer:
By using example 10-1 table provides stakeholders basic communication analysis, where shows which stakeholders should get which written communications. Generally it contains the information such as the contact person, when the information is due and what is the particular format for the information needed. Below it has been shown basic stakeholder analysis is based on the selected project for training needs.
Stakeholders
Document Name
Document Format
Contact Person
Due
General Manager
Basic user manual
Hard copy
Project manager
30 October, 2007
IT Manager
IT setup manual
Hard copy and soft copy
Project manager
30 October, 2007
IT Manager
Software manual
Hard copy and soft copy
System Manager
1st November, 2007
Project manager
Mail server setup manual
Hard copy and soft copy
Project manager
1st November, 2007
Other stakeholders
Basic user manual
Hard copy
Project manager
3rd November, 2007
The above analysis is based on the following points:
Ø The systems administrator is the project manager.
Ø A basic user manual contains new features, changes and instructions to use the new installed IT system.
Ø An IT setup document contains all the information like setup, configurations, software and so on about the new IT system.
Ø A software manual contains about the setup information of software.
Question: 4 (Chapter 10, Exercise-3, Page no: 420)
Question: How many different communications channels does a project team with six people have? How many more communications channels would there be if the team grew to ten people?
Answer:
According to the formula,
We know the number of communications channels = n (n-1)/2, [where n is the number of people involved]. (Page: 398, Schwalbe 2004).
For six people in a project, there are 6* (6-1)/2 = 15 different communications channels are available.
If the team grew to ten people, there are 10* (10-1)/2 = 45 different communications channels are available.
That means (45-15) =30 more communications channels would be needed if the team grew to ten people.
Reference:
Schwalbe, K 2004, Information technology project management, 4th Edition. (page 398 )
Question: 5 (Chapter 11, Exercise-4, Page no: 461)
Suppose your organization is deciding which of four projects to bid on. Information on each is in the table below. Assume that all up-front investments are not recovered, so they are shown as negative profits. Draw a diagram and calculate the EMV for each project. Write a few paragraphs explaining which projects you would bid on. Be sure to use the EMV information and your personal risk tolerance to justify your answer.
PROJECT / CHANGE OF OUTCOME / ESTIMATED POINTSProject 1 / 50 percent
50 percent / $120,000
-$50,000
Project 2 / 30 percent
40 percent
30 percent / $100,000
$50,000
-$60,000
Project 3 / 70 percent
30 percent / $20,000
-$5,000
Project 4 / 30 percent
30 percent
20 percent
20 percent / $40,000
$30,000
$20,000
-$50,000
Answer:
Probability (P)*Outcome= EMV
Project 1
P=0.50*$120,000=$ 60,000
Decision
P=0.50*-$ 50,000=-$25,000
Project 2
P=0.30*$100,000=$30,000
P=0.40* $50,000=$20,000
Decision
P=0.30*-$60,000=-$18,000
Project 3
P=0.70*$20,000=$14,000
Decision
P=0.30*-$5,000=-$1500
Project 4
P=0.30 $40,000=$12,000
P=0.30 $30,000=$9,000
P=0.20 $20,000=$4,000
Decision
P=0.20 -$50,000=-$10,000
Project 1’s EMV=$ 60,000-$25,000=$35,000
Project 2’s EMV=$30,000+$20,000-$18,000=$32,000
Project 3’s EMV=$14,000-$1500=$12500
Project 4’s EMV=$12,000+$9,000+$4,000-$10,000=$15,000
Based on the above diagram, I think project 1 I would bid on, because the EMV provides an estimate for the total dollar value of a decision, I want to have a positive number, the higher the EMV, the better project should be.
If I just looked at the potential outcome of the 4 projects, project 2 looks more appealing. It could earn $150,000 in profits from project 2, but it can only earn $120,000 for project 1. However, there is only a 50 percent chance of getting that $120,000 on project 1, and there is a 70 percent chance of earning $150,000 on project 2. Therefore, using this EMV diagram, it can clearly help account for all possible outcomes and their probabilities of occurrence therefore reducing the tendency to pursue overly aggressive or conservative risk strategies.
Read only conclusion if it doesn’t appear on blog site
Conclusion:
While websites are still a foundation of the Internet, it has never really enjoyed the kind of popularity that blogs have recently gotten. Blogging makes me to become an online publisher with its easy to use publishing platforms where there is no more messing around with HTML coding, software problems or web design issues. It is really easy to express myself and I also can connect myself with like-minded people. In future it will be useful to use content management systems. I can easily establish myself as an expert I my field of interest. Blogging also eventually lead to my blog becoming an authority site, which will rank well in search engine. I can make communities with this. It will expand my network of friends, business associates and clients.
Prince Sharif 9 11384184