SE 477: Software and Systems Project Management
Assignment 5,  Due: March 8, 2017

Assignment: Execution, monitoring and control, closure

• Description – Questions on the execution phases of a project.
  
• Motivation – discuss the important aspect of project execution.

1. Reading

• Notes: from Lectures 7-9
• PMP Study Guide
  

2. Assignment: Execution, monitoring and control

Answer the following questions. Each answer should be at least a paragraph (more than two sentences) long.

1. An organization has instituted a policy that mandates that post-project reviews be conducted for all software releases.  Unhappy with this new policy, Jo Project Manager requests senior management that it be rescinded.  Jo argues that, on average, about half of her development team is spending too much time going to post-project review meetings for each software release.  These meetings are adding a significant amount of effort to the project schedule and budget.  At those meetings, the team is often asked to take on additional tasks, and the project manager has instructed them to push back and not take on any additional tasks.  In addition to the post-project review meetings, a significant amount of time is spent summarizing the required project data.  The bottom line is that the project manager sees no benefit to spending the effort to conducting a post-project review.  (10 points)
   
   Question:  What should senior management do?  [Choose the best choice from those listed below and then explain why this is the best choice. Justify your answer.]
   
   1. Conduct an analysis of the post project review process to determine the return on investment, with the aim of improving the process. [Use a neutral party.]
      
   2. Rescind the policy requiring post-project reviews.
   3. Hold the project manager accountable for using the data gathered through the post-project review process to set clear achievable goals for future projects.
   4. Request that the project manager conduct a return on investment analysis for the current post-project review process to demonstrate that the post-project reviews are a waste of time.
      
      
2. Discuss the merits of the policy and the underlying agenda of Jo Project Manager. Can you help her to understand why it would be to her advantage to do the reviews and follow-up? (5 points)
   
   
3. What is change control and how does it work? Why is it necessary? And what happens if it is not managed well? (10 points)
   
   
4. Describe the change control process for a project. [At least 8 or 9 steps.] (20 points)
   
   
5. Changes to project scope and requirements can impact various things: tasks, schedule and resources. How is this managed? (10 points)
   
   
6. In working with Cost Schedule Control (EVA) discuss [several paragraphs each]:
1. What is cost variance (CV), how is it used? (10 points)
   
2. What is schedule variance (SV), and how is it used. (10 points)
   
   
7. What are the principal (most important) duties/responsibilities of a Project Manager?  List them and give a short explanation of them. [4 paragraphs!] (20 points)
    
   
8. Explain what quality assurance is and why it is needed in a project. (5 points)

3. Submission Requirements:

• All assignments must be submitted electronically through Desire2Learn (D2L) and are due at 11:59 pm CT on the due date. No extensions or late submissions!
  
• The documents may be in Microsoft Word (.doc) format, HTML, or Adobe PDF.