Exam questions wednesday Flashcards
List and describe five phases of in an extended project life cycle
Concept is the first phase in the project life cycle. It includes the development and approval of the business case. During concept stage, Initial ideas about
the project are developed, different options are reviewed in order to provide solutions to the problems and opportunities for which the project is required. This
phase is important as it usually ends with gate review which approves the preferred option and determines the viability of the project.
Definition is the second phase in project life cycle at which the preferred option agreed in the earlier phase will be developed as a project. That is an important phase as it includes definitions to the procedures and tools that will be used during the products
development. For example, Definition phase includes the development of the Project Management Plan (PMP) and all its component plans such as configuration Management plan, Risk management …etc.
Development is the third phase in the project
life cycle during which project team are following the procedures defined in the PMP in order to produce and deliver the products defined in the same documents. This phase includes several stage reviews in order to enable monitoring the work progress. This phase is important since by its end products / deliverable are ready to be delivered to the Client.
Hand over and closure is the phase during which final
product will be commissioned and handed over to the end users. If everything goes right, then the sponsor will sign the approval on behalf of the end users. During this phase Project closure is announced, PACs and FACs are released, and project team members are disbanded. An example for handing over and closure process is the demobilisation of the construction team from site and the commissioning of the bridge crossing the river.
Benefits Realisation phase follows the completion of
the project. Sponsor is responsible for the benefits realisation together with the end users. Products should be operated in a manner that brings change and improvement to Business as usual activities and should fit in purpose. This phase is important as it determines whether the actual benefits desired from the project are achieved or not.
List four typical leadership qualities and describe how each assists in directing or supporting a project team
When working with a contractor, or a new and inexperienced team member it would be appropriate to tell them how to do the task you are asking them to undertake. The project manager should inform these people how to do the task in hand, why it is important and why it is being done in that way. This is the way to deal with new staff or contractors because, although they may be motivated to perform the task, they will not have the knowledge or experience to do s. The project manager must recognise the lack of these things and manage them appropriately to ensure they are motivated to perform in an effective way.
A project manager will often be called on to sell their project. For example, when the project is initially starting up all team members must buy into the projects objectives and tasks to ensure they perform to the best of their abilities, therefore increasing the chance of the project’s success. While not focusing on the tasks involved at this point the project manager must sell the overall vision to galvanise the team’s support.
When the project is in full flow a project manager will often be called upon to deal with experts in the relevant field. These experts will require some supervision, although not to quite the same extent as someone less experienced. The project manager must participate with these experts to encourage their input to and interaction with the project. The project manager must strike a balance between micro-managing experts and leaving them unsupervised – both of which can lead to de-motivation.
A project manager is unable to do all of the component tasks of a project themselves and it is therefore important that they learn the art of delegation. Trusted, experienced team members can be delegated to when the task is suited to their skill set, thereby reducing the burden on the project manager.
Explain the term leadership
Situational leadership is when a leader recognises that different situations, and working with different people, call for different management or leadership styles. For example, while it may be appropriate to tell a new team member exactly what is required of them and why, while delegating a task in its entirety to a more experienced team matter who can work unsupervised
Explain 5 approaches being used to conflict resolution and the circumstances under which each might be used.
Accommodate- sacrifice your own goals.
Avoid ignore the conflict
Compromise both parties obtain something but make some sacrifices
Compete higher power uses to their goals
Collaborate both parties working together to a mutually beneficial agreement
Explain the five steps in creating a robust schedule for a project whs scope has been defined
Wbs pbs
Activity definition
Network diagram
estimating
Gantt chart critical path analysis
Resource histogram
Costing robust schedule
Critical path analysis
List and Describe four components of Project Quality Management
Quality planning is the process by which the project manager defines, as part of the project management plan, how they will manage quality in the project. This plan defines the roles and responsibilities people on the project will have in relation to quality. It will also define the processes by which the product specification will be written and how they will subsequently be tested once the product has been produced. The plan will also define the further quality management steps such as how quality assurance, quality control and continual improvement will be checked and implemented. It is also important that the plan also takes into account any factors external to the project, such as relevant legislation or ISO 9000.
Quality assurance is the process by which the quality of the project processes themselves are checked and assessed. It is important for stakeholders to know that the processes set out in the project management plan are being followed and assurance provides this reassurance. Assurance can involve training staff so they are aware of and follow the processes, external audit of the project, the implementation of lessons learned and also checking that any suppliers used are suitably accredited. Assurance checks the right processes are being followed and thereby instils confidence in the project, and ultimately the product being produced.
Quality control is the process whereby the outputs or products of the project are checked against the specification to make sure they are fit for purpose. The way these checks will be carried out will have been defined in the quality planning stage. There are several methods of quality control which can be used such as a visual inspection (the specification was for a blue door – this is a blue door), measurement (the door was to be 2m high – it is 2m high), sampling (where 3 out of 100 items are checked and, if ok, the product is accepted). Quality can also be assessed over time within given tolerances using a process control chart. Clearly the testing method will depend on the specification and output and should be determined at the planning stage. These processes help show stakeholders that the product meets the requirements they set, thereby increasing confidence in the end products.
Continual improvement is the process whereby a project, as a result of the continuous quality checks it carries out, revisits and improves its processes to improve the end product. This requires the effective implementation of a feedback loop early on and ensures lessons learned are fed back to improve future performance. By doing this the project’s ability to produce to specification will improve over the life cycle of the project, increasing the chances of success of a project.
List and Describe five benefits of adopting a formal risk management process
Defining ways to deal with risk.
Consistency.
Allowing for contingencies.
Common reference for audit and assurance.
Sponsoring organisations have clear perspective of risk have clear perspective of risk.
List and describe five components of a project communication plan
Who. When or frequency of communication. How or Communication flow. What including security and confidentiality. Feedback
List and describe five things a project manager might do to prepare for a negotiation
Brief the team Consider what’s in it for them Consider the best alternatives to a negotiated agreement Decide where the meeting will be Research the other side
Describe how the following can be used to communicate a schedule to different stakeholders:
A WBS illustrates all of the work and their associated packages that will produce all of the products of a project. It is the first step in creating a schedule. It can be used to communicate with the user/sponsor to ensure that the project will deliver all of the requirements
A network diagram takes the WBS and applies logic to it. The result is a WBS sequenced as a series of event/activities. Activity dependencies can now start to be understood and work package owners can be consulted to discuss/agree the duration’s of their respective tasks.
gantt chart enables the PM to discuss/agree any necessary amendments with the respective work package
resource histogram provides a visual representation of the resource required to deliver the schedule of works contained within the Gantt Chart. profile to be derived which aids communication with the resource owners/schedulers when discussing smoothing and levelling.
Milestone charts are a high level document which only illustrate key milestones of a project. They can prove useful when presenting to senior members of a sponsoring organisation
What are the EV calculations
EV= % complete x budget
CV=EV-AC
SV=EV-PC
CPI=EV\AC
SPI=EV\PC
EAC= BAC/PC EFD = PD/ SPI
