Department of Business and Accounting

COURSE: Project Planning and Control

COURSE CODE: BPP2113 DOC
SEMESTER: 1 (2020-21) MARKS:
TOPIC:
TYPE OF ASSESSMENT: Group Assignment /40
ASSESSMENT NO: 3
TIME / DEADLINE: December 16, 2020
STUDENT NAME STUDENT ID Pres. Marks (20) Total (60)

FEEDBACK (If Any):

LECTURER NAME: KHURAM SHAHZAD SIGNATURE:

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

1. Following guidelines should be followed related to formatting of this assignment.

Font Style: Times New Roman
Font Size: 12
Line and Paragraph Spacing: 1.5
Margin: 1” (Top & Bottom), 1.17 (Left & Right)
References: APA Referencing
2. Penalty for late submission: 5% deduction from total marks for each day after due date.
3. Cover page and declaration of original work form must be attached (scanned copy).
4. Online submission on Turnitin stays mandatory, in accordance with policy of MC.
 Assessment Type: GROUP ASSIGNMENT

Assignment Requirements:

The assignment consists of two parts. Students will work in groups for this assignment, consisting
of 3-5 members in each. Every group will collect the required information, brainstorm with team
members and compile a report in line with the given formatting guidelines.

PART A
Assume that an automobile company based in Muscat is planning to produce and launch a new car in
Oman. For this purpose, the top management of the company is considering following three options but
one will be selected out of these to undertake a new project.
1. A Sports car
2. An Environment friendly car
3. A Fuel efficient family car

Question1: Based on the market dynamics of Oman, which ONE of the above projects should be
selected? Explain your choice with reasoning in minimum 300 words. [10 Marks]
Question 2: In order to foresee the viability of the projects, which technique should be used here for
project selection; Net Present Value or Return on Investment? Explain the selected technique in support
of your answer in minimum 300 words. (Reference Chapter 2) [10 Marks]

PART B
A telecommunication company was undertaking several new projects in the country. For planning
and managing the database of all projects, company was relying heavily on Excel spreadsheets. Due
to the growing number of large scale projects, the use of Excel was not meeting the requirements
and the pace of work. Earlier they were comfortable in using traditional methods of planning and
maintaining the data of telecommunication projects in spreadsheets and were not expecting that the
company would win several new projects. With more projects in pipeline, developing timelines,
resource calendars, keeping a record of completed work, maintaining suppliers’ data and other
planning stuff was getting difficult particular for large scale projects.
Eventually the administration of this telecommunication company decided to use Microsoft Project
to meet the complex and increased requirements of new projects. After the decision, the biggest
constraints identified were the cost of purchasing the license of this software, tight deadlines of
ongoing projects and time required to train the employees on this new software. The administration
hesitated in finalizing a decision due to these constraints and therefore continued to work on Excel
spreadsheets by postponing the decision to incorporate Microsoft Project. Beside this, the company
in several projects was using Earned Value Analysis to collect information about the progress of
ongoing projects in terms of schedule and cost.

Question 1: Do you agree with the decision of company’s administration to postpone the use of
Microsoft Project at that crucial time? Explain the implications of this decision according to your
viewpoint in minimum 300 words. [10 Marks]
Question 2: Elaborate the effectiveness of using Earned Value Analysis to assess the progress of
ongoing projects in minimum 300 words. [10 Marks]

Note: Be original in stating your concepts explicitly and reflect subject knowledge in your answers.

Course Code: BPP2113 Page 2 of 3

 Assessment Type: GROUP ASSIGNMENT

Assessment of presentation:
Each group is required to develop a presentation on MS Power Point. Individual assessment based
on online presentation will be done according to the following criteria.

Clarity of concept and understanding (5 Marks)

Knowledge of material in slides (5 Marks)
Delivery of the presentation (5 Marks)
Questions & Answers (5 Marks)

Individual Marks for Presentation: 20 Marks

Total: 60 Marks

Course Code: BPP2113 Page 3 of 3