Revision Flashcards
What is an SPI and what does it mean when it is < 1 or >1
SPI : Schedule Performance Index/indicator
SPI < 1 : The project is behind schedule
SPI > 1 The project is ahead of schedule
Schedule performance indicator = earned value / planned value
SPI = EV / PV
Regulatory requirements are…
Non-negotiable
Parts of “Bottom Up Estimating” budgeting and resources
- Apply estimating techniques at the activity level
- Add up the estimates for all detailed activities
- Estimate all work at the detailed level
- Break down the work
Facts of a ‘Network Diagram’
- Collection of any set of related tasks is a path.
- One Start and One End
- Each task can have more than one successor
- All tasks have at least one successor and predecessor (EXCEPT BEGINNING AND END)
A document called ____________ is created by decomposing the project scope into smaller, more manageable elements.
Work Breakdown Structure
Timothy is moving house and wants to keep his old house as a rental property. What format should he be operating?
Personal , i.e. no company format
Steve and Sally are getting married and there is a national wedding consultant who specializes in Caribbean themed weddings. Sally gets in touch with her to ask about menu options. Which of the activity resource estimation tools and techniques is being used.
Expert judgment.
As a PM you come up with three estimates (one where everything goes wrong, one where some things go wrong, and one where nothing goes wrong) for the cost of your project, and average them together to come up with a final number.
Which activity duration estimation tools and techniques is being used?
Three-point estimate.
You are a PM who has done 4 projects that are very similar to the current one, and in all four of them it took exactly the same amount of time.
Which activity duration estimation tools and techniques is being used?
Analogous estimating.
The activity duration estimation tools:
- Expert judgment.
- Parametric estimating.
- Analogous estimating.
- Parabolic incline returns.
- Three-point estimate.
Once you have finished defining the Project what is the next task?
Project planning.
Is the following statement True or False?
“The majority of projects fail”
True
Chris is teaching water sports and wants to take advantage of limited liability in the event of an unfortunate accident. What company format should he be operating?
Private Limited Company
On a network diagram, the critical path is
The path with the largest sum
You are buying vehicles for a company. A functional requirement maybe that the vehicle is capable of taking a load from a warehouse to a shop.
False
“The system should be available from 9 AM to 5 PM Monday to Friday” is an example of a non-functional requirement
True
What type of requirement is the following?
A verification email is to be sent to user whenever he/she registers for the first time on some software system.
Functional.
Company Formats:
- Limited Liability Partnership
- Sole Trader
- Public Limited Company
- Private Limited Company
- Personal , i.e. no company format
Sanjep wants to set up an investment business. He wants to sell shares in his investment company, using the AIM stock exchange. > What format should he have for the company?
Public Limited Company
From your experience you know that a highway is €1 million per lane per km. How much for 10 km of two lane dual carriageway?
€40 million
Jack and Jill are accountants wishing to combine resources and set up an accountancy firm. What format should they have for the company?
Limited Liability Partnership
David wants to set up a business with his friend Tommy with Split ownership, where they sell goods on Ebay. What format should he have for the company?
Personal
What does the acronym SWOT stand for?
Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat.
4 P’s of Marketing
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
What is the following is the best reflection of the state of a business at a specific moment in time?
Balance Sheet
The Balance Sheet equation states that:
Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders Equity.
A company pays for stationary worth £500 using cash? How is this transaction entered onto the company balance sheet?
Decrease cash by £500 and decrease retained profits by £500.
Tax Avoidance is:
Taking legal measures to reduce your tax bill.
What is a companies Turnover?
Sum of all the money paid into the company.
What is a companies profit?
Sum of turnover minus the cost of sales and admin. Can be positive or negative.
What is Your USP?
‘unique selling point’ - The thing that sets your product / service apart from the competition.
What is ‘Project Management’ ?
Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques
applied to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project.
PMBOK definition
The triple constraint
- Cost/Resource
- Schedule/Time
- Scope/Quality
Scope Creep
Add Time: delay the project to give you more time to add the functionality ($)
Add Cost- recruit, hire or acquire more people to do the extra work ($)
Cut Quality- trade off some non-essential requirements for the new requirements ($)
Project Life-Cycle
- Project Initiation
- Project Planning
- Project Execution
- Project Closure
SMART objectives:
Specific;
Measurable;
Acceptable;
Realistic;
Time based.
Project ‘Scope’
- defining what the project will deliver
What a project scope statement may contain
- Product Scope
- Project Scope
- Deliverables
- Product/Project Acceptance criteria
- What is not part of the project
- Constraints or Assumptions
The five steps of articulation
- Ask customers to define their needs as clearly as possible
- Query all aspects of the need
- Research the need to ensure it is thoroughly understood
- Formulate the need as accurately as possible
- Ask customers to respond to the formulation of the need, and revise it accordingly.
Regulatory Requirements
Internal and external; usually non negotiable
Business Requirements
needs of the sponsoring organization; always from a
management perspective
User Requirements
What the users need to do with the system or product
Functional and Non Functional Requirements
What the system needs to be able to do to satisfy the business and user needs in terms of function and functionality
Technical Requirements
How the system needs to be designed and implemented to provide required functionality and fulfill required operational characteristics.
The purpose of a project plan:
Guides Project Execution
Documents project assumptions
Facilitates Communication
Provides baseline for measurement and control
WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
Provides a framework for organizing and managing the approved project scope
Helps ensure you have defined all the work that makes up the project
Provides a framework for planning and controlling costs and schedule information
Expert Opinion :
Individual who has done it many times
Internal or External to the organization
Industry expert
Utilize for new technology or unfamiliar with the subject
Published Estimating Data :
Articles
Books
Journals
periodicals
Parametric Modeling
- Characteristics of project allows use of a model
- Use statistics, formulae, spreadsheets
Example- Highway is $1 million per
lane per mile. How much for 10 miles
of four lane highway?
Critical Path
- Provides a graphical view of the project
- Predicts the time required to complete the project
- Shows which activities are critical to maintaining the schedule and which are not.
- Demonstrates the longest path of the project
- Drives the project completion date
- Any delay will cause the entire project to be delayed
Contract Types: Y axis ($$) vs X axis (Effort)
- Fixed Price (Profit m = negative, cost (revenue) m = 0)
- Cost-Plus (Profit m = 0, cost (revenue) m = negative)
- Time and materials (Profit m = positive, cost (revenue) m = more positive than profit m)
What is Project Control?
The process whereby the project manager determines the degree to which the project plan is being met.
The focus is on:
– Schedule
– Budget
– Resource Allocation
What does PV stand for?
Planned Value ( Total cost of work scheduled)
PV =
Hourly rate * total hours planned
Planned value = sum:(planned costs x % planned)
What does AC stand for?
Actual Costs (Earned value/Planned Value)
AC = EV/PV
AC =
Hourly rate * total hours spent
Actual costs = sum:($ for all tasks)
What does EV stand for?
Earned Value (Budgeted Cost of Work Performed, BCWP)
Total cost of the work completed as of the reporting date
EV =
Baseline cost * % work actually completed
AC/EAC = % work actually completed
Earned value = sum: (Actual costs x % completed)
What does EAC stand for?
EAC - Estimated At Completion = estimated cost of the project at the end of the project
What does SV stand for?
Scheduled variance
SV =
SV = EV - PV
Schedule variance = earned value – planned value
If SV is negative then the project is behind schedule
If SV is positive then the project is ahead of schedule
CV and CPI
These are measures of how close the work is to being accomplished on budget (CV) and the efficiency of utilization of resources (CPI)
Cost variance = earned value – actual cost
CV = EV – AC
If CV is negative then the project is over budget
If CV is positive then the project is under budget
Cost performance indicator = earned value / actual cost
CPI = EV / AC
If CPI is > 1 then the project is efficient in utilizing resources
If CV is < 1 then the project is inefficient in utilizing resources
What does SPIN stand for?
Situation
Problem
Implication
Need Payoff
The value chain (full life-cycle of a product)
Raw material
Extraction
Manufacture
Consumer
Recycle
What is Porter Market Forces?
A method for analyzing the competitive environment
‘First Movers’ Advantages + Disadvantages
Advantages:
Brand recognition
Switching Costs
Economies of Scale
Disadvantages:
Cheaper to copy
Learning from mistakes
Established markets
Up selling
Increases sale value - increase profit margin
down selling
Increases markets and access to buyers
Cross selling
Increases markets and sales value
What is a patent?
An exclusive right granted to preclude others from using an invention
The different structures
- Functional Structure
- Divisional Structure
- Flatarchy
- Matrix Structure
Functional Structure
-A bureaucratic structure
-Defined by skills/tasks
-Creates Teams to tackle different business aspects
-Each team has a manager
Functional Structure Advantages + Disadvantages
Advantages -
Simple
Creates simply effective Teams and Teamwork
Disadvantages
Creates Silos
Communication and Competition
Divisional Structure
-Normally associated with Very large, Multi national companies
-Each Division works separately on its goal
-Maybe a division geographically
-Can also be across the Value Chain
Flatarchy
Developed from the flat type of organisational structure
-Defined by no (if possible) levels of management
-Used by smaller organisations (but not exclusively)
-maybe one manager reporting to executive levels
Divisional Structures Advantages + Disadvantages
Advantages
-Concentration of efforts
-Centralised leadership
Disadvantages
-Communication
-Conflicting interests
-Complication (tax)
Flatarchy Advantages + Disadvantages
Advantages
-Morale
-Lean/Agile
-Cost efficient
Disadvantages
-conflict
-lack of clarity
-Complexity
Matrix Structure
- Employees split into teams
- Each team answers to two or more managers / leaders
Matrix Structure Advantages + Disadvantages
Advantages
-Creates communication
-Flexible / rewarding workplace environment
Disadvantage
-Confusion
-Conflict
-Cost
-Efficiency
Incorporartion versus unincorporation
“Incorporation is the process by which a new or existing business registers as a limited
company’’
Sole Trader
Sole proprietor (ownership and responsibility)
Not a separate legal Entity
Full liability
Responsible for all your tax affairs (self assessment)
Sole Trader Advantages + Disadvantages
Advantages
-Full ownership
-Flexible
-Limited regulation
-Simple
Disadvantages
-Full liability
-Difficult to raise investment
-Profits subject to income tax
-Workload
Partnership
Two or more people
Share Liability / Profits / Control
Can be formal / informal
Responsible for tax affairs (self assessment)
Not a separate legal entity
Partnership Advantages + Disadvantages
Advantages
- Share liability
-Greater funding options
-Flexible
-Limited regulation
-Simple
Disadvantages
- Share ownership
- Responsible for others decisions
- Difficult to raise investment
- Profits subject to income tax
- Workload
Limited Partnership
NOT a Limited Liability Partnership
General and limited partners
Limited Partners have liability limited to the investment
-
Must register with Companies House
Limited Company
Companies are ‘incorporated’ and a separate legal entity
Must register at companies house with
- a memorandum
- Articles of Association
Limited by shares (Most common members own shares)
Limited by Guarantee (members guarantee to pay a set amount if company goes into liquidation)
Must register with HMRC and pay cooperation tax
- companies liable must make annual tax returns
Memorandum
Cannot be amended
Record that initial members wish to form a company
A legal document signed by all initial shareholders
(guarantors)
Articles of Association
Contract between the company and its members
A set of legally binding rules for the company
- Framework for:
Decisions
Ownership
Control
Public limited company (plc)
- Must have at least two directors and a qualified secretary
- IPO Initial Public offering
- Must have issued shares to a minimum of £50,000
- can become listed by floating on a recognised stock
market
Limited Company Advantages + Disadvantages
Advantages
- Limited Liability
- Can generate investment more easily
- Tax advantages
- Owner retains significant control
Disadvantages
- Complicated
- Accounting responsibilities
- Relatively inflexible
PLC advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
- Limited Liability
- Can generate investment easily
- Shared risk
Disadvantages
- Complicated
- Accounting responsibilities
- Relatively inflexible
- Much more regulated
- Vulnerable to takeovers
Limited liability partnership
Basics,
- a ‘body corporate’ and a separate legal entity
- Limited liability
- Share of profit set by members agreement
- Must register at companies house
Limited liability partnership Advantages + disadvantages
Advantages
- Limited Liability
- Increased internal flexibility
- Tax advantages
Disadvantages
- Complicated set up
- Must publish Annual reports
- Partner Disagreements
What is a trust
Trusts are unincorporated and have no legal identity
- A legal device to hold assets (on behalf of a person of or organization)
- Run by a group of trustees (legal responsibility)
VAT
A general tax added to most products and services
Must register if turnover is over £85,000 in one tax year
The VAT you pay is the balance between the VAT you have
paid and the VAT you have charged
Community Interest Company
Must submit a community interest statement
-
Must have an Asset lock limited transfer of assets
-
Are subject to cap on dividends and interest paid
Dividends
The Shareholders share of the profits
Determined by the companies board of directors
Often paid quarterly.
A dividend yield is the dividend per share divided by the share price
Insolvency
When an entity can’t pay its obligations when they are due.
Eventually can lead to bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Is a Legal status and or process
A process where entities that cannot repay debts seek protection from its creditors.
A declaration of insolvency and initiated by the courts
Cash flow diagram
A-B Investment
B-C The heavy Investment
“start up”
C-D The cash flow turns
D-E Profit is made
E+ As time continues profits
tend to reduce as sales
decrease and costs rise
Rate of return =
= (cumulative net cash flow (f to c) / project life (g) * investment (c) ) * 100
NPV in year n=
cash flow in year n / (1+r)^n
r =
discount rate (%)/ 100
Total NPV =
sum: cash flow in year n/(1+r)^n
t = lifetime of project
Working Capital
The money needed to run the company day to day
Represents operating liquidity
Seed funding
Very Early Investment
Huge Risk
Exchanged cash for start
up capital for equity
ROI
The return (profit) gathered from the initial investment.
Generally given as a percentage.
Generally total profit divided by the initial investment.
(but can be given for a specific period)
ROR
Percentage return in the value of an investment over a time period
NPV
The current value of the future monies (profits) given a specific discount rate
IRR
the rate of growth that an investment is expected to generate
