SST101

Timed Online Assignment – January Semester 2022

Principles of Project Management

Tuesday, 24 May 2022 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

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Time allowed: 2 hours

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INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:

1. This Timed Online Assignment (TOA) contains FOUR (4) questions and comprises
FIVE (5) printed pages (including cover page).

2. You must answer ALL questions.

3. If you have any queries about a question, or believe there is an error in the question,
briefly explain your understanding and assumptions about that question before
attempting it.

4. You MUST submit your answers via Canvas (similar to TMA submission) at the
end time of this TOA (as stated on this cover page). The 15 minutes grace period as
shown on Canvas is strictly meant for technical issues encountered during
submission. Thereafter, you will not be able to submit your answers and you will be
considered as having withdrawn from the course. No appeal will be allowed.

5. You are to include the following particulars in your submission: TOA Course Code,
your Full Name, and SUSS PI Number. Name your submission file as
TOACourseCode_FullName_StudentPI. Use underscore and NOT Space. Example:
TOAXYZ_RaphaelLee_T1923161 (omit D/O, S/O).

6. Your submission should consist of only one file and must not exceed 500MB in size.
The file must be a Microsoft Word file saved in .doc or .docx format. All answers are
to be typed. Flowcharts and graphs may be scanned or photographed and embedded
in the Word file provided it does not exceed the file size limit of 500MB. Images of
handwritten answers will not be marked.

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TOA – January Semester 2022
7. To prevent plagiarism and collusion, your submission will be reviewed by Turnitin.
The Turnitin report will only be made available to the marker and you will not be
able to view it.

8. The University takes plagiarism and collusion seriously, and your Turnitin report will
be examined thoroughly as part of the marking process.

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TOA – January Semester 2022
Answer all questions. (Total 100 marks)

Question 1

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate answers.

(a) Two major dimensions of strategic management are responding to change in the
external environment and allocating __________ to improve an organisation’s
competitive position.

(b) Project __________ are instrumental in winning approval of the project and in
protecting the project during the critical development stage.

(c) _________ can arise when equipment, resources and people are being shared
across projects and functional activities lends itself to conflict and competition.

(d) Scope creep can be reduced by carefully crafting and writing your __________.

(e) __________ is a top-down estimating method when projects closely follow past
projects in terms of features and costs.

(f) __________ tells us the amount of time an activity can be delayed and not delay
the project.

(g) A __________ is a list of questions which address traditional areas of uncertainty

on a project.

(h) A __________ is an alternative plan which represents actions that will reduce or
mitigate the negative impact of a risk event.

(i) __________ generally represent overhead costs such as supervision,

administration, consultants, and interest.

(j) The __________ is used to plot the difference between the scheduled time on the
critical path at the report date with the actual point on the critical path.
(20 marks)

Question 2

(a) State if you agree with the statement below. Appraise the statement and explain
your position.

“Scope creep occurs when your project is completed over-budget.”

(5 marks)

(b) Identify and describe the FIVE (5) steps in defining a project.
(10 marks)

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TOA – January Semester 2022
(c) Consider the statement below. Outline at least THREE (3) consequences of this
approach.

Many organisations skip the step of creating a WBS, in the interests of

nimbleness and agility – or because they are being asked to “build the plane
while flying it.”.

(9 marks)

(d) Consider the statement below. Determine THREE (3) types of teams which can
benefit from using work breakdown structures.

“Business project managers use work breakdown structures to ensure an

organized, visible view of their projects and their components.”

(6 marks)

Question 3

(a) Select the best method for project estimating if the final product is not known and
the uncertainty is very large. Justify your selected method.
(5 marks)

(b) Differentiate between top-down and bottom-up estimating approaches. Explain

why you would prefer one over the other.
(10 marks)

(c) Explain how resource scheduling is linked with project priority.

(4 marks)

(d) Demonstrate how resource scheduling reduces flexibility in managing projects.

(6 marks)

Question 4

You have a wedding film production project that is scheduled to be completed in 10 days
at a budgeted cost of $10,000. At the end of day 6, you decided to do an analysis and it
was determined that the job is 70% complete and you have already spent $6,500.

Your Earned Value Analysis is assumed to have a baseline plan of a linear distribution
rate.

(a) Differentiate between an Earned Value Analysis (EVA) with Earned Value
Management (EVM).
(7 marks)

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TOA – January Semester 2022
(b) Determine your project’s earned value on day 6.
(2 marks)

(c) Determine your project’s schedule variance. Comment if your project is ahead,
behind schedule or on time.
(3 marks)

(d) Determine your project’s cost variance on day 6. Comment if your project is
under, over budget or on budget.
(3 marks)

(e) Determine your project’s SPI on day 6.

(2 marks)

(f) Determine your project’s CPI on day 6.

(2 marks)

(g) In reviewing the budget report of a project, you notice that spending on the project
is running about 10 percent over plan. Evaluate if the project in trouble. Show
your assessment with a suitable explanation.
(6 marks)

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TOA – January Semester 2022