Assessment Item 2 – Group Case study
Due Dates: See Moodle for the exact date and time for the submissions listed below:
Individual student sub-deliverable submissions: (2 marks x 5 = 10 marks)
? Sub-deliverable 1: End of week 6
? Sub-deliverable 2: End of week 7 (plus peer assessment) ? Sub-deliverable 3: End of week 8 (plus peer assessment)
? Sub-deliverable 4: End of week 9 (plus peer assessment)
? Sub-deliverable 5: End of week 10 (plus peer assessment)
Final Group submission: End of week 11 (30 marks)
Weighting/Total: 40% (A group of maximum 4 members)
Important notes regarding assignment submissions:
1. Individual student sub-deliverable submissions are to be submitted by all members of the group as zip files in their own submission area on the Moodle unit website. These are your individual attempts at the work before your group meeting. Each individual submission has a different due date. Exact dates and times are given on the Moodle unit website. The table below provides a summary of what is to be submitted in the zip files for each individual submission.
T2, 2017
Sub-deliverable Week Due Description of ZIP file contents
1 6 A zip file with your .mpp files saved at the end of practicals 1, 2 and 3 with solutions.
2 7 A zip file containing the Part A question 1 .mpp file, i.e. PartAQ1.mpp and your completed peer assessment form(s).
3 8 A zip file containing:
1. Word document with answers for Part A
2. PartAQ2.mpp
3. PartAQ3_resources.mpp
and your completed peer assessment form(s) (See Assessment Item 2 link for details)
4 9 A zip file containing:
1. A Word document with the answers to Part B
2. PartB.mpp
3. Practical 4 and your completed peer assessment form(s)
5 10 A zip file containing:
1. A Word document with your answers to Part C questions
2. A copy of your group’s PartC.mpp and your completed peer assessment form(s)
Notes:
• Individual submissions are not marked in detail.
• Markers will check your work to ensure that you have an on-time submission and that you have prepared your answers in readiness for your group meeting.
• All marks for this assessment item depend on students making a satisfactory contribution to the group.
• If students are not contributing they may be asked to work on the assignment as an individual and/or have marks adjusted.
• Both peer assessment and individual submissions will be taken into account
• 2 marks per each sub-deliverable
• Attend tutorial and be able to show work if requested (tutors to monitor and track who/when they check progress)
• Submissions must be on time – late submissions even by a minute will yield 0 marks • Check your submission. Do not expect Moodle to submit automatically the ‘draft’ ones.
• Submit a reasonable effort in every submission
Markers may provide some comments and/or ask you to meet with them during your tutorial/practical class.
2. Late submissions of individual sub-deliverables will automatically be given a mark of 0. Individual subdeliverables must be submitted on-time with peer assessment to be awarded marks.
3. You must aim to submit your assignment and individual sub-deliverable submissions at least 1 hour before the due date. This will avoid unnecessary late penalties if you have any technical issues while submitting your assignment.
4. If you do experience a problem uploading your assignment online and cannot get help from TASAC, make sure that you email your assignment files to your tutor before the due date. This will allow your tutor to view the work that was completed before the deadline. Note that you will also be required to submit the assignment online through Moodle as soon as possible.
5. Currently, any drafts in Moodle are automatically submitted by Moodle on the due date. However, you should not rely on this for your submission as this default behaviour may change. This also means that you should not leave something uploaded as a draft if you do not want to it to be submitted automatically on the due date.
6. If you upload after the due date (even with an extension) you must ensure that you press submit for marking when you upload your work.
7. All group members are responsible for checking that the correct versions of the files for the final group submission are submitted on time. The answers in the Word document must correspond to the data in the mpp files.
Additional Notes:
1. You are required to take your current versions of your Microsoft Project practicals and assignment 2 to your tutorial/practical classes from week 3 onwards. You are scheduled to commence the Microsoft Project practicals in week 3.
2. Remember that it is your responsibility to keep backups of all your work and of your current version of the final group assignment.
Table of Contents
1.0 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4
2.0 The Case Study – Mobile App Development .............................................................................................................. 4 2.1 Milestones ............................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Table 1- Work Breakdown Structure ...................................................................................................................... 6
2.3 Table 2 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
2.4 Table 3 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
3.0 Part-A Developing the Schedule ................................................................................................................................. 8
4.0 Part B: Modifying the Schedule ................................................................................................................................ 11
5.0 Part C: Tracking Progress .......................................................................................................................................... 12
5.1 Status Report ........................................................................................................................................................ 13
6.0 Peer Assessment ....................................................................................................................................................... 14
7.0 Final Group Submission ............................................................................................................................................ 14
7.1 Marking Guide/Criteria ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Appendix-A – Status Report Template............................................................................................................................ 17
1.0 Overview
This case study simulates a project management scenario where the student takes on the role of project manager. Students are required to use Microsoft project management software as part of this assessment task.
This is a group assignment that also includes five individual student submissions (see below). You should aim for groups of four students. Four is the maximum number of students allowed in a group. Ideally, no group should have fewer than 3 students.
(Note that distance education students have the option of smaller groups or working on this as an individual assignment. To form groups with other distance education students, use the distance education forum on the unit website.)
Although this is a group assignment, all members of a group are required to attempt all parts of the assignment individually as assessment item sub-deliverables 1 - 5. Members of the group are required to submit their own individual attempt for each of the sub-deliverables in Moodle before the group meets to consolidate answers to produce the -group solution-. There are separate submission areas and due dates for the individual submissions. On time submission of the 5 sub-deliverables is worth a total of 5 marks, but these submissions are also to be used to assess individual contributions and may impact on a student’s final mark. Late sub-deliverable submissions will be given a mark of 0.
Groups must meet at least once a week to produce the “group solution” for the most recently submitted individual sub-deliverable. This solution should then be added to the “in progress” final group solution. All members of the group must keep a copy of the “current group assignment”.
It is also important to meet early in week 10 to produce the updated schedule to be used to complete the Part C questions and status report. Each group is responsible for providing their own status data. This means that the group members must collaborate to produce the PartC.mpp file to be used to complete the Part C questions. This is explained further in Part C.
There is one final group solution to be submitted at the end of the assignment. It is worth 30 marks and is to be submitted by only one member of the group. The names and student ids of all members of the group must appear clearly on the coversheet of the final assessment submission.
Peer assessment and your individual submissions will also be used to assess group member contributions. If any member of a team is not contributing satisfactorily to the group then he/she may have marks adjusted and/or be asked to leave the group and be required to complete the assignment as an individual. If you are having any difficulties within your group you must alert your tutor/lecturer as early as possible.
The following information is provided:
1. A case study (Mobile App Development)
2. Specific assessment questions that must be answered
3. Information regarding the submission of the assessment
4. Marking criteria
Where necessary, students are expected to find relevant information in the academic literature to justify their answers. Any assumptions made must be clearly documented.
2.0 The Case Study – Mobile App Development
Synthesys Informatics is a mobile application development company specialising in delivering comprehensive solutions in mobile apps, information systems development, systems integration and software testing. The company’s headquarters are located in Melbourne and the company has over 15 years’ experience in custom software and mobile development for medium to large enterprises. The company has won a contract to develop a Mobile App Messenger called BINCO for a big telecom company. The BINCO project is developing a mobile application like WhatsApp, IMO and Skype etc. with special features in sharing files, streaming data and live events.
The project will be able to begin from 2 October 2017. This will be the official start date of the project and should be noted in the Project Information section in Microsoft Project. You are appointed as a project manager to manage the development and production of the new project. Several people are involved in this project including you as the project manager, Ms. Anderson as the Director of Mobile App Development, and a project team listed in Table 3.
Your task is to generate the project schedule and allocate the resources provided to you using the information given regarding the milestones (see below table) and the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) shown in Table 1, and the resources and costs given in Table 3.
2.1 Milestones
The following milestones have to be taken into account by your team members.
Milestone Name Description
M1. Initiation Gate: Charter approved The project charter must be approved before any marketing or requirements analysis begins.
M2. Functional requirements approved After the functional requirements are complete.
M3. Design Gate - ART detailed design approval This gate is a go/no go decision point where the Architectural Reference Team has reviewed the detailed design for the prototype and approved that the detailed design is sufficient to proceed with the development of the prototype.
M4. Prototype
Development Complete This milestone occurs after the completion of all three modules of the prototype have been developed.
M5. Release 1 Development complete This milestone occurs after the completion of the two modules of Release 1 have been developed.
M6. Go-live Gate – Go-live approved by Project Board The project board will approve the Go-live after the errors and bugs identified in the system and user acceptance testing of release 1 have been fixed.
M7. Completion Gate - Project final report approved by Project Board The project board will approve the Project Final Report has been written which includes lessons learnt, confirmation that procurements have closed and all other documentation has been archived in compliance with the organisations document management procedures.
M8. Post Project Review Report Approval Approval of the Post Project Review Report can only be done after the report has been written.
Note that the following resource abbreviations are used:
Project Manager (PM)
Business Analyst (BA)
App Developer (AD)
Test Engineer (TE)
Project Officer (PO)
Marketing Officer (MO)
2.2 Table 1- Work Breakdown Structure
Task name Duration Predecessor
The BINCO Project
1. System Concept & Planning
1.1 Concept paper 1 person day of PM
1.2 Project kick off meeting 1 person day of PM, BA,
PO and AD 1.1
1.3 Stakeholder identification 1 person day of PM and
BA 1.1
1.4 Risk identification 1 person day of PM, BA and AD 1.1, 1.3
M1. Initiation Gate: Charter approved
2. Requirements analysis
2.1 Marketing campaign Stage 1 6 person days of MO M1
2.2 Focus group - ideation 4 person days of PM M1
2.3 Options analysis 10 person days of PM 2.2
2.4 Business requirements 15 person days of BA M1
2.5 Story board design 10 person days of BA 2.2
2.6 Functional requirements 10 person days of BA and AD 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5
M2. Functional requirements approved
3. Prototype Design
3.1 Prototype basic design 30 person days of AD
(assume all
3 staff are working Together over the 30 days) M2
3.2 Technical Feasibility Assessment 5 person days of AD M2
3.3 Architectural Reference Team presentation 5 person days of PM 3.1, 3.2
3.4 Prototype detailed design 15 person days of AD 3.3
M3. Design Gate - ART detailed design approval
4. Prototype development
4.1 Module 1 10 person days AD M3
4.2 Module 2 10 person days AD M3
4.3 Module 3 10 person days AD M3
M4. Prototype Development Complete
5. Prototype Test
5.1 Test case development 5 person days of TE M4
5.2 Prototype system testing 5 person days of TE 5.1
5.3 Prototype User Acceptance Testing 10 person days of TE 5.1
5.4 Prototype system & user interface bug fix 8 person days of AD 5.2, 5.3
5.5 Prototype Lessons Learnt 1 person day of BA, MO,
PM, PO, AD and TE 5.4
6. Release 1 Design
6.1 Marketing campaign Stage 2 6 person days of MO 5.2, 5.3
6.2 Detailed design
10 person days of TE and AD ( 2 AD to be assigned to this task) 5.5
7. Release 1 Development
7.1 Module 4 10 person days of AD 6.2
7.2 Module 5 10 person days of AD 6.2
M5. Release 1 Development complete
8. Release 1 Test
8.1 Release 1 Systems Testing 10 person days of TE
(assume all 2 staff are working together over the 10 days) 7.2
8.2 Release 1 User Acceptance Testing 6 person days of TE (assume all 2 staff are working together over the 6 days) 7.2
8.3 Release 1 bug fix 5 person days of AD 8.1, 8.2
M6. Go-live Gate – Go-live approved by Project Board
9. Launch
9.1 Marketing Campaign Stage 3 12 person days of MO M6
9.2 Deployment and Go-Live 1 person day of AD Note: Deployment and Go-Live can occur on the last day of the
Marketing campaign
Stage 3
10. Closure
10.1 Lessons Learnt 1 person day of BA, MO,
PM, PO, AD, TE 9.2
10.2 Close procurement 5 person days of PM 9.2
10.3 Release project team 1 person day of PM 10.1
10.4 Finalise and archive project documentation 7 person days of PM and
PO 10.1
M7. Completion Gate - Project final report approved by Project Board
11. Maintenance
11.1 Maintenance period 8 person days of AD
(fixed duration) 9.2
12. Post Project Review
12.1 Post Project Review Report 2 person days of PO 11.1, M7
M8. Post Project Review Report Approval
Notes:
1. One “person-day” is a “unit of work” representing the work done by one person in one day. It means that the task will normally take one person one day to complete. You can assume that a week refers to a normal working week of 5 days (Mon-Fri) with people working 8 hours per day. This is the default in Microsoft Project. Unless otherwise stated you can also assume a linear relationship, i.e. 3 person-weeks will take one person 3 weeks or 3 people one Week. Note that this is not necessarily the case in practice. Refer to the discussion of the “mythical man-month” in your text book (Brooks’ law, chapter 9). In addition, some tasks will be a fixed duration (e.g. delivery times).
2. For the purposes of this assignment (to reduce variability in solutions and complications for the markers) build your Part A1 schedule by assuming that you allocate one resource (i.e. one person with the required skills) to each task. In that case, if the task required 3 person-weeks of an AD you would assign one AD to the task and give it duration of 3 weeks.
2.3 Table 2 - Dates staff will not be available to work on the project
Public Holidays Dates
Melbourne Cup Day 7 Nov, 2017
Christmas – New year eve 25 Dec, 2017 – 1 Jan, 2018 inclusive
Australia Day 26 Jan, 2018
Labour Day 12 Mar, 2018
Good Friday 30 Mar, 2018
2.4 Table 3 – Available Resources
Resource $/hour Number Available
App Developer $85.00 3
Business Analyst $65.00 1
Test Engineer $60.00 2
Project Officer $45.00 1
Project Manager $100.00 1
Marketing Officer $75.00 1
The App Developers work a 40 hour week from Monday to Friday (i.e. a 5 day week with 8 hour days). There are no differences among the abilities of the three App Developers).
3.0 Part-A Developing the Schedule
Assumptions
You are free to make any assumptions necessary to complete the assignment. However each assumption must be justified and stated clearly in your assessment word document. Marks will be deducted for any unreasonable assumption or for stating an assumption and then ignoring it in your assignment.
3.1 Part A: Developing the Schedule
For part A of the assessment you must complete the following tasks and questions. Read all the questions before you commence the tasks. The schedule is to be developed in an appropriately named Microsoft Project 2013 file (see the name specified below) and the questions are to be answered in a Word document. Any assumptions must also be listed at the beginning of the Word document (after the coversheet).
Q1. Use Microsoft Project 2013 to develop the project schedule according to the instructions below.
For this assignment, unless the specification states otherwise, you must initially allocate only one of each required resource to a task. To clarify, some examples are given below. For example, based on the information in Table 3, you should initially allocate:
• One AD to work on “5.4 Prototype system & user interface bug fix” for 8 days.
All tasks must be automatically scheduled tasks for this assignment. Remember to make this the default setting before you begin adding tasks to your schedule.
Ms. Anderson has asked that the following be included in the schedule:
i. Project information (start date, Author etc.) and Holidays listed in Table 2
ii. A project title of “The BINCO Project”. This is also to appear as the overall project summary at the top of your “WBS” in the mpp file. It must appear as task 0 with WBS number 0. All tasks should be “indented” according to the WBS structure described in the case study (see Table 1).
[See the Microsoft Project practicals for details about how to add the project title and how to make it the overall project summary]
iii. A WBS column before the “Task Name” column and a WBS Predecessors column after the “Task Name” column as shown below:
Task WBS Task WBS Duration Start Finish Predecessors Resource
Mode
Name
Predecessors
Names
iv. The milestones are to appear at the end of the task list in your schedule. See the Milestone table for details. (Note that this is not always a requirement in a project schedule. Milestones can be embedded in the schedule or listed at the start. In this assignment you are required to add them at the end.).
v. Ms. Anderson has also asked you to use a “customised WBS code” for the milestones. For example, if you double click on the first milestone, you can change the WBS code to M1 as illustrated in the screenshot below.
vi. Resource allocation details. vii. The critical path(s) automatically displayed in red on the bars of the Gantt chart view of your schedule
At this point there may be resource over allocation issues. Do not attempt to resolve these before answering question 2. Save this version of your schedule in PartAQ1.mpp. You will be required to submit this file as part of your assignment submission.
Q2. At this point ignore any resource over allocations. Copy your PartAQ1.mpp schedule to PartAQ2.mpp.
i. Ms. Anderson asks you to allocate all two TE to task “5.3 Prototype User Acceptance Testing”. Assume that with the additional resources the task still requires “10 person-days” (i.e. that there will be a reduction in duration as the work can be divided equally between the two resources).
a. What is the new duration of task 5.3 and has this change impacted on the overall duration of the project? Explain.
b. Does adding resources to a task always reduce the duration in this way? (Hint: your explanation should include some discussion of the “mythical man month”.)
ii. Save PartAQ2.mpp. You will be required to submit this file as part of your assignment submission.
Q3. Copy your PartAQ2.mpp schedule to PartAQ3_resources.mpp. If your schedule has any resource over-allocation issues resolve these in the PartAQ3_resources.mpp file without adding any additional resources. For this assignment, do not “split tasks” and do not allow levelling to “adjust individual assignments on a task”.
Save this “modified” version of the PartAQ3_resources.mpp file. You will be required to submit PartAQ3_resources.mpp file as part of your assignment submission.
i. Describe how you resolve any resource over-allocation issues.
ii. Does the fact that your project is resource-constrained have any impact on your overall project duration and end date? Explain the changes you notice and give reasons.
Continue working with this version of the schedule (PartAQ3_resources.mpp) when you are answering the remaining questions in Part A.
Q4. Write a memo to Ms. Anderson providing the following information:
i. The expected completion date of the project, assuming it commences with task 1.1 on 2nd October
2017 and the total duration of the project; ii. An explanation of the main factors that cause the project to require that length of time and any recommendations that you might make to reduce the duration if time was a priority for the project;
iii. The estimated direct labour costs for each of the resource types working on the project. Present the costs in a table similar to the following:
Resource Name Cost
App Developer
Business Analyst
Test Engineer
Project Officer
Project Manager
Marketing Officer
Total Direct Labour Costs:
Assume that you will send the project schedule as an attachment to the memo. The information in the memo must correspond to the PartAQ3_resources.mpp file.
Information about writing memo can be found on the unit website in the same area as this specification.
Q5. Are there any tasks/activities or deliverables that you believe may have been overlooked and should be included in the WBS? You should be able to identify at least one possibility.
4.0 Part B: Modifying the Schedule
Copy your PartAQ3_resources.mpp file into a file called PartB.mpp file.
The following changes to the estimates for Tasks 7.1, 7.2 and 9.1 are proposed.
Task New Resource & Duration estimates
7.1 Module 4 15 person days of AD
7.2 Module 5 15 person days of AD
9.1 Marketing Campaign Stage 3 15 person days of MO, BA
In addition to the changes in the above table, Ms. Anderson has asked you to allocate all AD to work together on 7.1 and 7.2
Based on the information given above complete the following tasks. Read all the tasks before you commence.
1. In your PartB.mpp make the changes in the order given in the tables below and as you make each change note the impact relative to the “current status” (i.e. the status after the previous change) it has on the:
• Overall project duration
• End date
• Direct labour costs for the project
When answering this question, do NOT attempt to resolve any resource over-allocation issues until you have completed all the changes required (i.e. all the changes to 7.1, 7.2 and 9.1). Some of the issues may be resolved as you work through the changes.
You need the information about the impact of each change to answer questions 2 and 3 below.
If as a result of all the changes there are any resource over-allocation issues resolve these and note any resultant change to the project duration.
Highlight all the changes on your schedule. Save your schedule with the highlighted changes in your PartB.mpp file. This PartB.mpp file is also to be included as part of your final assignment submission.
1. Describe the impact of each of these changes on the project duration in a table similar to the following:
Change Impact on Project duration (Longer /
Shorter / No Impact By how much Explanation
Change in person-days required for 7.1 & 7.2
Allocation of All 3 AD to 7.1 & 7.2
Change in person-days required for 9.1
Allocation of BA to 9.1
If the combination of changes have had an additional impact that would not have occurred if a change was made in isolation you should also discuss this in your answer to this question. Similarly, if there were resource over-allocation issues that had to be resolved and resulted in a change to the duration, this should also be discussed. However, when answering this question, do NOT attempt to resolve any resource over-allocation issues until you have completed all the changes required (i.e. all the changes to 7.1, 7.2 and 9.1 including the additional 3 AD and allocation of BA). Some of the issues may be resolved as you work through the changes.
2. Describe the impact of each of these changes on the direct labour costs for the project in a table similar to the following:
Change Impact on Direct
Labour Costs (More / Less / No Impact By how much Explanation
Change in person-days required for 7.1 & 7.2
Allocation of All 3 AD to 7.1 & 7.2
Change in person-days required for 9.1
Allocation of BA to 9.1
5.0 Part C: Tracking Progress
In this part of the assignment you are to imagine that your project is underway and that it is time to produce one of your regular status reports.
This means that your group needs to meet together early in week 10 to save the baseline and enter the status data for your project. Your group must enter the data together and make sure that everyone has a copy of the updated PartC.mpp file. This is to ensure that everyone in the group is working with the same information when they develop their individual status report.
The individual sub-deliverable due at the end of week 10 includes the group’s version of the PartC.mpp file plus your individual answers to the Part C questions.
In week 11, you must meet to complete the group version of the Part C answers and include this in your final group submission. All previous “group” answers should already have been completed before week 11.
Saving the baseline and entering the status data (together as a group)
Note that the fourth Microsoft Project practical is an example of what is required for Part C. Make sure that you have worked through practical 4 before attempting Part C of this assignment.
1. Copy PartB.mpp to PartC.mpp. Save the baseline for this version of your project in PartC.mpp.
2. Assume that it is now 26th January 2018 and that you have data about when tasks actually started, their duration (which must be consistent with the start date and the status date, i.e. they cannot have a start date and a duration that takes them beyond the 26/01/2018). Assume that you have also collected data about the estimated remaining duration for all the tasks that have commenced (but not yet finished). If a task has been 100% completed assume that you know the actual start date and actual finish date.
Assume that status reports are produced every two weeks and that all the earlier status reports have been completed according to this fortnightly schedule. Given that 26/01/2018 is the end of week 16, you should record the status report number as “8” when you complete the status report for this section of the assignment.
In your PartC.mpp file (in which you have saved a baseline)
a. Set the status date to 26th January 2018 and include a solid, purple status date gridline in your project to ensure that the status date is clearly visible in your Gantt Charts. View the Tracking Gantt chart.
b. Enter some status data.
Follow the instructions in Microsoft Project practical 3 to enter the status data (i.e. for tasks not running according to schedule use the “mark on track” drop down list to select “update tasks” option to enter start dates, actual durations and remaining durations).
Assume that tasks 1.1 and 1.2 are 100% complete and that they started and finished at the times scheduled in the baseline.
For the purposes of this assignment you are to invent your own data about the status of the other project tasks. This means that you have to enter status data about the other tasks that you would expect to have started by the status date. (Use the status date gridline you created in part (a) to identify tasks that require status information.)
For tasks that should have been started by the status date you are to enter reasonable data about their start date, actual duration (up to the status date) and estimated duration remaining (or completion date).
Do not have all tasks starting and finishing exactly according to your original estimates and make sure that your changes do not violate any predecessor constraints (i.e. do not start a task before the predecessors have been completed). Aim to enter data so that you can see a cost and/or schedule variance that you can then interpret and explain in your status report.
You are free to enter data to make tasks finish early or late or enter data about the remaining duration that means a task is expected to take either more or less time than originally estimated. It is also acceptable to have some tasks that are tracking according to their original duration estimates, but not all tasks.
Save your changes in PartC.mpp and use this file to answer the status report questions below.
5.1 Status Report
Based on your group PartC.mpp file each member of the group must complete and submit their individual attempts at the following tasks before meeting to produce the final group solution.
c. Based on the current status of your project, you are to produce a status report using the template provided in Appendix-A of this document. (It is a similar format to “exhibit 13.1” in the textbook). Make sure that you complete all sections of the status report.
Detailed explanations for why tasks are not tracking according to their original estimates are not required for this assignment as the data you entered is “fictitious”.
However, in this section you must indicate which tasks are responsible for your project status being better or worse than planned.
For the “major changes or issues” and the “risk watch” sections enter “no change”.
6.0 Peer Assessment
The aims of this peer assessment are twofold:
1. To provide information to the markers to help with their assessment of student work
2. To give students feedback to help to improve their skills when working as part of a team.
With regard to point 1, although there are regular peer assessments scheduled as part of this assessment item (weeks 7 -10), it is also important that you alert your tutor as early as possible if you are experiencing problems within your group (for example, if a team member is not attending meetings or is coming to meetings unprepared). If there are problems, it is your responsibility to contact your tutor and discuss any issues as early as possible.
In terms of point 2, it is important that the feedback be used in a positive way. It should only include “constructive criticism”, i.e. it should:
• Provide positive feedback so that the team member understands what they are doing that works well.
• Provide constructive criticism, i.e. advice about how a team member could improve their team work.
• Be polite and positive.
The Peer Assessment Forms are available on the unit website in the same area as this assignment specification.
7.0 Final Group Submission
The final group solution with the MPP files and assignment answers must be submitted in the electronic submission system on Moodle by one member of the group. It is important that only one member of the group submits the work. Otherwise, Turnitin will produce a very high similarity score for your work.
The final group submission is due at the end of week 11 (exact date and time shown in Moodle).
Unlike the individual sub-deliverable submissions, this submission area will not accept zip files. The final group submission is to consist of six individual files as follows:
1. A Word document with the coversheet/title page (shown below) and the group answers to all the questions in Part A, Part B and Part C.
2. The following set of .mpp files:
a. PartAQ1.mpp
b. PartAQ2.mpp
c. PartAQ3_resources.mpp
d. PartB.mpp
e. PartC.mpp
Content of the Word Document in the final submission
To avoid problems with Turnitin, do not copy the questions from this assignment specification into your Word document.
However, do make it as easy as possible for your marker to identify the question you are answering by labelling each question clearly.
For example:
Part A
Question 1
Your answer
Question 2
Your answer
The Word document must have a coversheet/title page at the start of the document that clearly shows all members of the group. A template for the coversheet/title page follows.
PPMP20007
Assessment Item 2 Coversheet
Group Members:
Student Name: Student Id:
Student Name: Student Id:
Student Name: Student Id: Student Name: Student Id:
7.1 Marking Guide/Criteria
Assignment Criteria Marks Marks
Question
available
awarded
Individual Sub- deliverables Marked separately on Moodle 10
Part A
Assumptions Listed, justified and stated clearly at the start of the Word document (if any)
Q1 The adequacy of the Project Schedule 7
Q2 a) Impact on duration; b) Discussion of relationship 2
Q3 Dealing with resource issues 2
Q4 Appropriateness of the written memo with all the information included and data corresponding to the schedule. 4
Q5 Any additional tasks overlooked 1
Sub Total Part A 16
Part B
Q1 The adequacy of the amended Project Plan 2
Q2 Description of impacts of each of the changes on duration 2
Q3 Description of impacts of each of the changes on cost 2
Sub Total Part B 6
Part C
Q1 Save baseline 0.5
Q2 Status date set + gridline + 0.5
Enter sensible status data (up to the gridline only)
1
Completed status report 6
Sub Total Part C 8
TOTAL 40
Appendix-A – Status Report Template
Project Name: enter project name Status Report report #
Project Manager: enter the name of the project manager (for this assessment item, enter the names of all members of the group
Status as of: enter status date End of Week: week #
Earned Value Figures
PV EV AC SV SPI CV CPI BAC EAC VAC
Enter the earned value figures in the table above. The data in this table must correspond to the data in your
PartC.mpp file
Project Description
A brief description of what this project is about.
Milestone Status
Milestone Description Week
scheduled (baseline) Date scheduled (baseline) Week & date
Reached
M1 Project Start – 1 1 (start),
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6
M7
M8
For each milestone, enter the milestone description and week scheduled for completion according to your baseline. If a milestone has been reached enter that information in the last column. If the milestone has not been reached, leave the last column blank. The information about M1 has been entered for you.
Status summary (schedule and budget)
Schedule
Planned finish date (from Gantt chart): enter date
Current estimated finish date (from tracking Gantt chart): enter date
The planned cost to date: enter the planned cost to date here
The actual cost to date: enter the actual cost to date here
The earned value to date: enter the earned value to date here
Schedule Variance: enter schedule variance here
Summary:
1. Based on the finish dates in the tracking Gantt chart, explain whether the project is currently ahead or behind and by how much.
2. Based on the schedule variance (SV) explain in dollar terms whether more or less work has been completed compared to what was planned and by how much.
Budget
The actual cost to date: enter the actual cost to date here
The earned value to date: enter the earned value to date here
Cost Variance: enter the cost variance here
CPI: enter the CPI here
Summary:
1. Explain whether the project is currently over or under budget and by how much
2. Based on the current data (and assuming the project continues at the same rate of efficiency), report the estimated cost at completion. Explain whether this means the project is expected to be over or under budget at project completion and by how much.
Explanations
Explanation of current status. Identify the tasks responsible for the results and explain the reasons. For this assignment you must at least highlight which tasks are not tracking according to their original estimates and explain whether they are performing better or worse and by how much.
Major changes or issues since last report
Describe any major changes or issues since the last report
Risk watch:
Review the risk plan and project risks. Document any changes here
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