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EXAMINATION PAPER: School Department Level TITLE OF PAPER COURSE CODE Date Duration

ACADEMIC SESSION 2008/2009 Computing and Mathematical Sciences Information Systems and Digital Media Three IT Project and Quality Management COMP1305 Tuesday 2nd June 2009 2 hours

BAHRAIN GREECE KENYA MALAYSIA MALAWI MYANMAR SAUDI ARABIA SRI LANKA SYRIA TRINIDAD ZAMBIA

15:00 15:00 16:00 18:30 14:00 15:30 16:00 18:30 14:00 09:30 15:00

BOTSWANA HONG KONG LONDON MALTA MAURITIUS RWANDA SINGAPORE SOUTH AFRICA TANZANIA UAE

15:00 18:30 13:00 14:00 18:00 14:00 17:30 15:00 16:00 17:00

You MUST answer question 1 from Section A which is worth 40 marks AND TWO questions from section B which are worth 30 marks each. If you answer more than two questions from section B, marks will ONLY be awarded for your TWO best answers. CALCULATORS AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES ARE NOT PERMITTED

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Section A (Compulsory) 1. Quality is essential for the success of most projects. (a) In the context of quality, what is the importance of each of the following terms? SMART criteria DMAIC Ishikawa (fishbone) diagrams the "7 run" rule the Delphi Technique [15 marks] (b) Clearly differentiate between "Quality Control" and "Quality Assurance" in the context of project management. [10 marks] Evaluate critically the benefits that could result from a successful implementation of CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) in an organisation. [5 marks] Critically evaluate how the use of metrics can affect the quality of a software development project. Give examples of some suitable metrics. [10 marks]

i. ii. iii. iv. v.

(c)

(d)

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Course Title: IT Project and Quality Management COMP 1305 Page 2 of 5

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Section B (Answer any TWO questions) 2. Managing project resources is a key aspect of project management. (a) Draw an appropriate diagram to show the weekly cost for a project consisting of these activities, where each activity begins as soon as its predecessor is completed. Most of the tasks have weekly costs. Many tasks have a one-off cost as well as weekly costs the one-off cost is payable in the first week of the task. Activity A B C D E F G H I J Predecessor(s) B A, B D E, C D, G F, H D, H Cost per use (in 1000s) 0 4 3 0 0 0 3 10 3 3 Duration Cost per week (in weeks) (in 1000s) 3 3 5 4 3 5 4 5 3 4 8 5 3 3 2 0 1 3 5 4 [10 marks] (b) What is the total cost of the above project? What would be the impact on the project duration if a constraint of a maximum of 15,000 per week expenditure was imposed? Assume that each task cannot be subdivided or extended in duration. [10 marks] (c) Task H has a one-off cost but no weekly cost and a duration of 2 weeks. Give an example of a task of this type in the context of an IT software development project. [5 marks] (d) Task E has no one-off cost, but does have a weekly cost. Give an example of a task of this type in the context of an IT software development project. [5 marks]

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Course Title: IT Project and Quality Management COMP 1305 Page 3 of 5

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3. Consider the risks associated with a major IT project of implementing a new software system for a national Department of Health to enable a number of centres located around the country to enter sensitive personal data into a central database using a secure web site. (a) In this context explain the importance of each of these items, giving example in each case i. Contingency plans ii. Fallback plans iii. Contingency reserves [6 marks] (b) Discuss critically the project management techniques that can be used to try to minimise the risk of a project of this nature. [10 marks] Clearly explain the difference between the risks posed by "known unknowns" and "unknown unknowns" to an IT project [4 marks] Describe the different ways of communicating between the various stakeholders in a project of this complexity, critically evaluating any risks associated with each method. [10 marks]

(c)

(d)

4.

Projects often exceed the time allocated to them. (a) Explain the importance of each of the following terms in the context of project time management: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Critical Chain Scheduling Levelling of resources Crashing of tasks PERT SWOT analysis [10 marks]

Question 4 continued on the following page.

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Course Title: IT Project and Quality Management COMP 1305 Page 4 of 5

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Question 4 continued. (b) Explain what is meant by a critical path for a project and critically evaluate how critical paths are used by project managers to help them meet project deadlines. [5 marks] Discuss critically techniques for authorising and recording the changes to a project as the project progresses. [9 marks] Explain why many IT project time estimates are inaccurate. [6 marks]

(c)

(d)

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Course Title: IT Project and Quality Management COMP 1305 Page 5 of 5