Main and Resit examination revision guidelines CC2005 Revision - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Project Planning and Management Main and Resit examination revision guidelines

CC2005 Revision  Exam paper  choice of any three questions out of five  two hour paper  formula sheet provided  exam is 50% of the module  need to pass exam and coursework on aggregate at 40%  passing a resit component caps the component at 40%

CC2005 Revision  Style of exam questions  similar to past years  use of project management tools and techniques  justifications and recommendations  understanding definitions and use of terms  you will not be asked questions relating to the detailed hands-on use of MS Project

Tools and Techniques  What tools and techniques are available for:  investigating issues of cost ?  dealing with risk factors?  identifying the activities and tasks within a project?  resource allocation and scheduling ?  planning and monitoring the project?  estimating the resources/time for a software project?  managing the project team ?

Tools and techniques  Make sure you know:  how to use the tools and techniques  how to interpret the results  what the traps/pitfalls are... ...and how to avoid the “understandable mistakes”!  justify why you would make one recommendation rather than another (not simply on the basis of cost)

 How to manage risk ?  How to prioritise ? • consequence against probability • impact, severity, likelihood  Difference between containment action and contingency plan ?  Who is responsible for monitoring risk ?

 How are diagrams used to show effect of risk  effect of containment action   How are calculations used to show impact of risk on effort and duration  impact of containment action on effort and duration   How would you make your decision effort & duration reduced or increased?  critical path affected? 

Management and Leadership Different leadership styles different levels of involvement: autocratic – democratic – laissez-faire what are the key characteristics of each? Motivation different theories include: Taylor, McGregor, Maslow, Alderfer, Herzberg "Happiness at Work Index" 2007 survey and later studies what are the key factors of each theory?

 Teams  Different team structures Organisation Hierarchy Chief  Functional structure Senior Senior Senior Middle Middle Middle Middle Junior Junior Junior Junior Junior  Project structure Director of Director of IS Director of Computing Courses Multimedia Courses Courses  Matrix structure Head of Computing Dr Anvil Ms Box Mr Court Department Head of IS Department Mrs Day Dr Elder Mr Fry Director of Multimedia Ms Gray Mr Hall Dr Ivan Department

 Dealing with costs  Definition of terms • Net Present Value, Apparent Value, etc?  Use of calculations • evaluate the cost of different options • consider the appropriate number of years • include any income / expenditure at the right time

 Making the decision • which is cheapest? • which is better value? (not always the cheapest) • consider other appropriate factors: help-line, training, documentation, reliability of supplier, response time for callout, obsolescence of equipment, maintenance costs for aging equipment, options to upgrade, other investment opportunities etc.

 Scheduling staff and activities  use of Gantt charts  dependencies between activities  constraints affecting the schedule  PERT analysis • calculating expected time • impact on length of project

 Scheduling staff and activities  use of Gantt charts  dependencies between activities (sequence)  constraints affecting the schedule  changing staff allocation to tasks  how many staff used per day?  what is the peak day for staff resources?

 Scheduling activities  Use of network diagrams  indicate activities in sequence  indicate activities in parallel  calculate the critical path  PERT analysis  calculating expected time  impact on length of project  Use of resources  how many staff used per day?  what is the peak day for staff resources?

General exam hints  Practise answering questions in a time limit  use examples from blog; change the values  Plan your time: 3 questions in 2 hours  maybe 35 minutes/question, 15 minutes for review  you might want to plan a short pause between answers  Stick to the time you have allowed for each question  if you get stuck - move on - come back to the answer later  Check location, date and time: plan your journey  visit the site beforehand  check exam track: http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/examtrack/

General exam hints  Follow the invigilators’ instructions  leave bags where requested (usually front/back of hall)  have your student id card ready on the desk  You may not  join the exam more than 30 minutes after the start  leave the exam in the last 15 minutes  For CC2005, you may use a calculator  but not the calculator function on a mobile phone  make sure you have a calculator ready!

Any Questions? Good Luck!

Further Reading  Gray CF & Larson EW (2000) Project Management, McGraw-Hill  Cadle J & Yeates D (2001) Project Management for Information Systems, 3rd edition, Prentice-Hall  Yeates D & Cadle J (1996) Project Management for Information Systems, 2nd edition, Prentice-Hall  Burke R (1999) Project Management: Planning and Control Techniques, 3rd edition, Wiley (or other editions)