Reference no: EM131412025

Project Management

SECTION A -

This ECA case is designed to allow students to apply the materials learned from the course. Students are encouraged to use Microsoft Project software for this assessment.

Please note that the details of this project are fictitious. Any resemblance to real life situations is purely coincidental.

PROJECT CASE: Skill Future Course Development Background

As Singapore economy matures and education Ievel increases, having a tertiary education does not guarantee Singaporeans employment. In fact there is a gap between job requirements and academic qualifications. Companies are looking for people who possess skills to solve problems. Hence government promotes life-long earning. Skills Future is established to develop an integrated, high-quality system of education and training that responds to constantly evolving industry needs. Citizens are given support to upgrade their skills and mastery.

Digital Science Institute (DSI) is a private education centre providing Engineering and IT trainings. With government's launch of Skills Future, DSI sees an opportunity to conduct more technical courses on the latest technologies. As many companies require fast prototype developments, 3D Printing will be a grow area There is a potential demand for 3D Printing courses which trainees can pay for with their Skills Future fund. DSI has proposed to the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and apply for funding to set up a 3D Printing Course and Lab. DSI management call it the 3D Printing (3DP) Project.

Section 1: Managing the Project Team

Assuming you are DSI's Head of Program (HOP) for Manufacturing Courses. There is no strong knowledge in 3D Printing in your department yet.

On 1 Sep 2016, the CEO, M r. Alan Tan, appointed you to head the 3DP Project. He wants the project to start on 1 Nov 2016. The course must be launched on 3 Jan 2017, the first day of the new academic year. WDA will fund only part of the project cost. Hence, CEO wants you to minimise the project cost where possible. As a start, basic 3D Printing theories and practical lessons must be conducted. Any expansion of the syllabus can be done in future runs.

Question 1

(a) To reflect on the CEO's directions, appraise the priority of the project and construct a project priority matrix.

(b) You are asked to form the project team by recruiting members either internally or externally. Analyze and discuss three (3) personal attributes (excluding technical expertise) of team members that are most critical to the success of this project.

Section 2: Developing a Project Plan

After some searching, the following members are recruited to the project team:

(i) Yourself: Project Manager.

(ii) Mr. John Harvey: A 3D Printing academia hired from an overseas research institute.

(iii) Ms. Roshida: DSI's Lab Manager.

(iv) Ms Jessy Ang: DSI's Purchasing Officer.

You conducted a pre project discussion with your team members. The team worked out the project activities and preliminary details as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Activities List for 3D Printing (3DP) Project

Activity Number	Description	Duration	Prede­cessors	Resource
1	3D Printing (3DP) Project
2	Project kick off meeting	1 day		PM
3	Requirement studies	5 days	2	John
4	Course development	21 days	3	John
5	Recruit instructors	15 days	3	PM
6	Purchase 3D printers	14 days	3	Jessy, 3D Printers
7	Purchase workstations	7 days	3	Jessy,Workstations
8	Lay electrical cables	5 days	3	Roshida, Electrical Cables
9	Lay network cables	5 days	8	Roshida, Network Cables
10	Setup workstations	8 days	7,9	Roshida
11	Install 3D printers	7 days	6,10	Roshida
12	Test overall system	4 days	10,11	Roshida
13	Print course material	8 days	4	John, Course Materials
14	Apply Ski I I sFuture status	6 days	4,5	PM
15	Administer students' applications	5 days	14	PM
16	Promote to i ndustry	7 days	14	PM
17	Setup online portal	5 days	13	John
18	Standby and support	3 days	19FF	Roshida
19	Launch course	1 day	12,13,15,16,17	PM

A budgetary costing would have to be reported for approval. The unit costings are shown in Table 2 and 3:

Table 2: Hourly rates for staff cost

Resource Name	Cost (Week day rate)
PM	$50/hr
John	$55/hr
Roshida	$45/hr
Jessy	$40/hr

The following resource costs can be treated as material costs for relevant activities

Table 3: Material/Ad-hoc Item Cost

Resource Name	Material/Item Cost
3D Printers (1 lot)	$24,000
Workstations (1 lot)	$12,000
Electrical Cable (1 lot)	$1,500
Network Cable (1 lot)	$1,000
Course Materials (1 lot)	$1,000
Ad-hoc Admin Staff	* $450 per day (for week days)
Temp Engineer	* $360 per day (for week days)

Note on the costs:

1. The Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday (PH) and Leave-In-Lieu rates for Project Team members and Ad-hoc staff are two times that of normal week day.

2. As the project will be partly fund by WDA (percentage of funding will be decided by WDA), you have to present the project cost to your management. Hence all related staff costs involved in this project shall be treated as variable costs calculated based on the number of days each staff works on the project.

3. The ad-hoc Admin Staff, internally from DSI, is to be deployed by pulling staff out from other lower priority projects. The Temp Engineer is to be contracted from an outsourcing company. Their costs are to be calculated based on actual durations needed, and added to the related activities costs.

Note on using MS Project for Q2 &3:

1. The above schedule and costing are based on a 5-day work-week. Each day has 8 working hours. No work will be performed on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays unless otherwise stated or you deem necessary. Do not change any durations predecessor relationships or the resources assignments unless you can justify with good reasons to do so.

2. The relevant public holidays which may fall into the project period are Christmas on 25 Dec 2016 and New Year on 1 Jan 2017. If a Public Holiday falls on Sunday, the next day (Monday) will be a Leave-in-lieu. No I eave-in-lieu for Public Holiday on Saturday. You have to mark in MS Project all Public Holidays and Leave-in-lieu as Non-Working Days (Project-> Change Working Time).

3. Click View->Gantt Chart (Leftmost icon)->More View->Resource Sheet to enter the name, type and cost of each resource item into the Resource Sheet.

4. Click View->Gantt Chart4 Gantt Chart, then View->Table->Entry to enter the Task Name, Duration, Predecessors and Resource in the Gantt Chart Entry Table View. Do not change the order of the activities (you are not required to rearrange the list according to WBS).

Set Activity 1 as the Higher Level Activity by highlighting all activities before and right indent them to second level.

Then Click Project -> Project Information -> Set Start Date as directed by CEO.

Right click on Activity 19 Launch Course to access its Information; Under Advanced Tab, Set Constraint Type as "Must Start On", set Constraint Date as the date directed by the CEO.

5. To see any resource conflicts, select all task, right click to choose Auto Schedule, then Resource Tab ->CI ear Levelling. Observe any resource conflicts.

6. Diagrams, charts, tables, graphs and relevant project outputs may be shown as images in Q2 & 3. These must be appropriately formatted and presented so that they are legible and can be comfortably viewed.

Question 2

(a) Prepare and construct a Gantt Chart using the information and steps outlined above before resolving any resource conflicts. Present the MS Project Gantt Chart View with columns for Information (i), Task Name, Duration, Start Date, Finish Date, Predecessors and Resource Names clearly shown. Determine the Project Finish Date (Activity 1)

(b) Determine the total project cost before resolving the resource conflicts. Present the information with a MS Project cost table or report.

(c) Examine any resource conflicts and activities delayed. Identify the activities and resources involved.

(d) Evaluate the most cost effective way to resolve each conflict without sacrificing other priorities. You may use Auto Resource Leveling feature of M S Project (see note below), but you must explain what the levelling has done.

If the conflict cannot be resolved through Auto Resource Leveling, appraise two options for accelerating project completion when resources are not constrained, bearing in mind that the core team has already been formed, the members' pace cannot be quicken further and the task cannot be transferred to other members with different skills.

For each option, evaluate the impact on cost then choose the best option. Explain any changes you make to the project.

Note: To Level Resource, do the followings:

Click Resource-> Levelling Option -> check the Level button, click on Level Entire Project, then uncheck the box: Level only within available slack. Finally click Level All. Then click Skip for activities that cannot be levelled.

After resolving the conflicts and schedule issues, you made the necessary schedule and cost changes to the M S Project File. The CEO approved the changes.

Set the status date (Project->Status Date) as 2 Nov 2016. Then set the baseline in MS Project (Project->Set Baseline- Entire Project). The project proceeds on.

Section 3: Tracking a Project

During the implementation period, the following issues emerge:

i. The 3D printers cost increased by 5% due to the appreciation of US Dollar.

ii. The 3D printers initially cannot be interfaced with the workstations. Test overall system (Activity 12) requires three additional days to solve the problem.

iii. The network cabling routing paths has to be redesigned due to some obstruction in the building structure. The cost of Network Cables increased by $600 due to additional cables required. There is no change in the schedule.

Question 3 -

You are required to carry out the following:

(a) Issue (ii) on solving the interface issue will potentially increase the project cost. Examine the four options to cut/minimize project cots. Appraise the feasibility of each option in solving the problem. Propose the best option and evaluate the change in project cost.

(b) Incorporate issues (i) to (iii) and their solutions into the MS Project File. The project went on till completion. Set Status Date to two working day after the Finish Date of the Project (Activity 1). Then update the MS Project.

Construct a Tracking Gantt Chart. Determine the Finish Dates for "Test overall system" and for the entire Project.

(c) Evaluate and interpret the project's Cost Performance Index (CPI), by using appropriate formula Verify your CPI with a MS Project cost table or report.

Section 4: Closing a Project

Question 4

(a) Assess and discuss whether the project has met the objectives set by the CEO. Determine if the project is considered a success.

(b) Recommend two (2) actions that could have been done earlier to prevent the issues in Question 3 from occurring during the project or to minimise their impacts.

SECTION B -

The Senior Management of Digital Science Institute (DSI) asked you, Project Manager for 3D Printing Project, for a presentation one week after project completion. Your presentation should address the following issues:

1. What were the objectives and priorities of the project, and were they met?

2. Were there changes in the schedule and what were the contributing events?

3. Was there a cost overrun and what were the contributors for the cost overruns, if any?

4. Lessons learnt and suggestions for future projects.

Prepare a video recording of the presentation of at least 3 minutes but not exceeding 6 minutes. There are two methods for ECA video assignment submission; either Record Media or Upload Media For Upload Media,  please note that your file size should be no more than 500M B and the format is in .mp4.

SECTION C -

Prepare a set of PowerPoint presentation upon which the video presentation is based. Please note that the PowerPoi nt must be converted to PD F before submission to MyUniSIM (Canvas).

Attachment:- Assignment.rar