7/23/2021 Appendix 2: Chapter Questions – Project Management

Appendix 2: Chapter Questions

Chapter 2: Project Management Overview

1. Everyone has been involved in projects. What is the largest project you have
been involved in? (You do not have to have been the project manager, but could
have played another role.)
1. Write one sentence that describes the objective of the project.
2. Describe specifically how this project meets the definition of a project
used in this textbook. (How is it unique? What were the time constraints?
If it is over, how did you know it was over? If it is ongoing, how will you
know when it is over?
3. What was your role? Were you the project manager, a volunteer, some
other role? If you were not the project manager, who was?
4. Was the project part of a larger portfolio or program of projects?

5. Who else was involved?

6. What was the budget?
7. Did you anticipate any risks at the outset? Did the project experience any
outside forces that caused a change in either the objectives or the
approach to achieving those objectives?
2. In what ways can the following activities be seen as projects? In what ways do
they resemble ongoing, routine business activities? Feel free to add assumptions
and details to describe how the activity might be a project in one context and
routine in another.
1. Reading the chapter before attending a university lecture.
2. Taking the bus to work each day.
3. Piloting an aircraft between Vancouver and Fiji.

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4. Teaching a course for the first time; teaching the same course every
semester.

Chapter 3: The Project Life Cycle (Phases)

1. Go online and search for project life cycle models. Identify at least two that are
different from the PMI model, and compare and contrast the phases. Be sure to
cite your sources.
2. How does the application of a phased approach to project management vary in
different industries? Do you think that the phases work the same in construction
as they do in event management or software development?

Chapter 5: Stakeholder Management

1. Identify a major public infrastructure project that is either underway, complete,

or proposed in your region. This could be a bridge, road, building, or something
of that nature. For the project you have identified, think of as many stakeholders
and stakeholder groups as you can. Create a three-column table. In column 1, list
the stakeholders. In column 2, list what each stakeholder wants to get from the
project. In column 3, list the influence each stakeholder has over the project.

2. How can the stakeholders change over the course of a project? Give examples of
changes in who the stakeholders are, and also in how their interests or influence
over the project might change throughout the term of the project.

Chapter 7: Project Initiation

1. Software project decision point.

1. You need to determine an interest rate to use—select an interest rate and
explain why you think this number should be used. Use it in your

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calculations in item 1.2.

2. Given the information below on options 1 and 2, carry out three forms of
analysis: breakeven, ROI, and NPV.
3. Make a recommendation on which way to proceed, based on the TCO for
each option.

Option 1: Purchase the FunSoft package: Cost $200,000 for software and
$85,000 for hardware in year one; with $50,000 to customize it and a $40,000
annual licensing fee for the life of the contract. There will be an annual saving of
$61,000 due to the layoff of a clerk.
Option 2: Purchase the SoftComm package, which will operate on the vendor’s
hardware: Cost $250,000 for a five-year license, payable half up front and half
during the first year of implementation. The maintenance contract, at $75,000 a
year, includes all currently identified modifications to the software for the first
three years. The clerk’s hours will be cut by half, for a saving of $25,000 a year.

In both cases, sales are expected to increase from the current $1 million a year, by 10%
per year each year (over each year’s previous year’s sales) after full implementation.

Assume a five-year life for the software.

Chapter 9: Scope Planning

1. A project to put on a major international sporting competition has the following

major deliverables: Sports Venues, Athlete Accommodation, Volunteer
Organization, Security, Events, and Publicity (which has already been broken
down into pre-event publicity and post-event publicity.) Prepare a WBS for any
single major deliverable on the list. Remember the 100 percent rule, and number
your objectives.

Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning

Your team has been asked to test and document enhancements to a web application that

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allows buyers to purchase custom-printed canvas shoes. The tasks and dependencies are
as follows:

Create a testing plan

Once the testing plan is ready, your team can:

Test the user interfaces

Test the database
Test the network
Write the documentation first draft

When the user interface tests are complete, you can:

Perform user testing—enlist some users to test the user interface

When the database and network testing are complete, you can:

Perform integration testing—network with the database

When the user testing of the user interface and the database testing are complete, you
can:

Perform integration testing—database, network, and user interface

When all integration testing and user testing are complete, you can:

Perform system testing

Then you can:

Review and revise documentation

After all other tasks are complete, you can:

Obtain management approval

Duration estimates for the tasks:

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 a.  3 days
 b.  10 days
 c.  6 days
 d.  7 days
 e.  20 days
 f.  5 days
 g.  3 days
 h.  2 days
 i.  8 days
 j.  4 days
k.  5 days

1. Create a network diagram and a Gantt chart for the project tasks. Ask your
instructor if you are permitted to use software such as Microsoft Project to help
you prepare your diagrams.
1. What is the planned duration for the testing project?

2. What is the critical path for the testing project?

3. For each task NOT on the critical path, calculate the amount of slack
available.

4. If the user testing of the user interface takes 15 days, what will the impact
be on the project duration?
2. Go online and find at least two sites with definitions of fast tracking and
crashing a project schedule.
1. Prepare proper reference citations for the sites you located, using APA
style.
2. In your own words, write definitions for project fast tracking and project
crashing.
3. Consider the plan you prepared for the software system testing project in
question 1 above. If you were informed by management that you must
reduce the planned duration of the project by five days, describe how you,
as a project manager, could crash or fast track this project. Be specific in
identifying exactly what could be changed in the project plan for each
option.
4. (continuation of question 2.3) If the request to speed up the project occurs
after day 25 of the original schedule, what is the only option available?

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3. Go online and research the difference between total slack and free slack.
1. Prepare proper reference citations for the sites you located, using APA
style.

2. Write definitions of total slack and free slack in your own words.
3. Why would the distinction between different forms of slack be important
to a project manager?

Chapter 12: Budget Planning

1. Wedding cost estimation: Given the following information, calculate the

estimated costs for a wedding with 250 guests and a bridal party of six, using the
methods indicated. Show your work.

Note that members of the bridal party are already counted as guests, you don’t
need to add them twice.

1. Parametric estimate
2. Bottom-up estimate

3. Analogous cost estimate

4. You will probably notice some differences in the estimated values. Are
these differences significant? What might cause the differences? If you
were estimating a significant project in the future, which method(s) would
you use and why?

5. Your mother points out you should probably have valet parking, which
will cost $500. Which estimate(s) will change?

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Wedding Cost Estimates

Item Dollars
Groom’s brother’s wedding, last year, 175 guests, $20,300
similar venue and style
Catering $65 per person
Photographer $1,500
Rental of hall $500
Clothing, bride $2,000
Clothing, groom $750
Flowers $800
Other décor items $500
Cake $500
Gifts for bridal party $80 each
Wedding planner $2,000
Wedding planner’s estimate of typical cost for this $10,000 plus $75
kind of wedding per guest

2. Earned-value analysis. A project budget calls for the following expenditures:

Task Date Budgeted Amount

Build forms April 1 $10,000
April 1 $50,000
Pour foundation
May 1 $100,000
May 1 $30,000
Frame walls
June 1 $30,000
Remaining tasks July 1 and beyond $500,000

Define each term in your own words, calculate these values for the above
project, and show your work:

1. Budgeted cost baseline (make a graph illustrating this one)

2. Budget at completion (BAC)

3. Planned value (PV) as of May 1

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4. Earned value (EV) as of May 1 if the foundation work is only two-thirds

complete. Everything else is on schedule.

5. SV as of May 1.

6. Actual cost as of May 1 is $160,000. Calculate the cost variance (CV) as

of May 1.
7. Schedule performance index (SPI)

8. Cost performance index (CPI)

9. Estimate to complete (ETC), assuming that the previous cost variances

will not affect future costs

10. Estimate at completion (EAC)

Chapter 13: Procurement Management

1. In addition to cost, what factors should be considered in selecting a building

contractor? What can go wrong if the lowest bid is selected and nothing else is
considered? (Answer in your own words, maximum 70 words.)
2. What is the difference between an RFP and an RFQ? Give two specific examples
where an RFQ could be used and two specific examples where it is more likely
that the organization will go with an RFP. (Use examples NOT from your
textbook.)

3. Cost reimbursable contract calculation.

1. A contract calls for a total payment of $800,000 with a guarantee.
Essentially the contractor is guaranteed to make at least $200,000 above
his costs. If the contractor can demonstrate his costs exceed $600,000, the
project will pay the difference, with a $50,000 ceiling on the overage. The
contractor demonstrates he spent $623,000. How much (gross) must the
project remit to the contractor?

2. Another option for the same contract has the contractor guaranteed to be
paid his costs plus 20%, for costs that exceed $600,000. With the same
initial assumption—guarantee of $800,000 gross payment (no
requirement to itemize costs), but if the contractor can show that costs

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exceed $600,000, the project will pay $800,000 plus the costs that exceed
$600,000, plus 20% of those excess costs, with a ceiling of $900,000
gross. The contractor demonstrates he spent $623,000. How much (gross)
must the project remit to the contractor?

3. Under option 3.2, at what dollar amount of total costs would

the contractor be assuming all of the excess costs beyond that point?

4. In which option did the project assume more of the risk of a cost overrun?
Explain.

Chapter 14: Quality Planning

1. Prepare a Pareto chart of the possible causes for a student to fail a final
examination in a university course.

2. Vehicles are identified by RFID tags in order to collect bridge tolls. The project
manager is considering two different technologies for RFID readers. By
sampling two different options, the following data are collected about the
accuracy of the readers:

Option 1: 99, 98, 99, 94, 92, 99, 98, 99, 94, 90            Option 2: 98, 97, 97, 97, 98, 98,
97, 97, 98

Calculate the mean, mode, and standard deviation of the two options.

Chapter 16: Risk Management Planning

1. Describe the general processes that should be followed in managing risks

throughout a project. Be sure to include the general sequence in which these
processes are carried out.

2. Prepare a sample risk register for a project to put humans on Mars (four or five
risks).

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3. Prepare a probability versus impact matrix for your school’s Winter Club ski trip
(at least four identifiable risks).
4. For one of the risks you have identified in question 2 or 3, describe how it could
be avoided, transferred, mitigated, or accepted.

5. What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative risk analysis? Which
one is always done? Why is the other one not always done for every project?

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