M Sc PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Assignment 2-Project Planning
Submission date 3rd May 2020, midnight
You must adhere strictly to the limit on the pages specified for each question. Writing beyond the specified limit will be ignored.
Marks will be awarded based on the following criteria:
- Your understanding of the main themes of the lectures.
- Evidence that you have read additional material and refer (using references) to the contributions from relevant authors in the field.
- Clear structure and presentation of the MS-Project outputs and their analysis.
Report Submission
- You should submit on the Blackboard, No extension is given
- Report should be submitted in .doc or .docx format, no pdf, .xls or other format is not accepted.
- File name of the submission should include student’s first and last name
- All output from MS Project should be exported to your assignment document. No Excel or Project files are accepted.
The Assignment is worth 50% of the module.
PART 1 (Max marks 25% of the total marks)
A Teesside PLC has won a contract to work on a major Project to start on 1st October 2019. As a Project Manager you need to develop and analyse the planning schedule for this project using MS-Project. Your project team has identified major activities of the project, their dependency and resources needed to run each activity (see Appendix 1).
Appendix 1 provides information about the project, which includes project logic (activity links and their relationship – finish to start (FS), start to start (SS), and start to finish (SF)), activity durations, resource allocation and work breakdown structure (WBS).
You have been asked to perform the following planning and scheduling processes using Microsoft Project 2012 or later version.
A: CPM & WBS (Max marks 10% of the total marks)
- Draw a Gantt-Chart and CPM network for the project. Calculate early start (ES), early finish (EF), late start (LS), late finish (LF) and total float (TF) based on As Soon as Possible (ASAP) method and identify critical path.
- Draw WBS for the project (must include Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4) and discuss the importance of WBS as a Project Management tool. (250 words)
- Explain why identification of the critical path is important? Also comment on the changes to the Critical Path, if the project is developed using As Late as Possible (ALAP) method. (250 words)
B: Resource Planning (Max marks 10% of the total marks)
- Produce and draw smoothed resource histograms for the skilled labour resources used in the project. Critically assess the output identifying the maximum units of each resource required for this project. (250 words)
- Carry-out resource levelling for Unskilled resource only (do not use automatic resource levelling) and discuss how activities might be delayed beyond LST to cater for the limits on Unskilled resources as a result of levelling. Consider resource pool for unskilled resources as 7 units per day. (250 words)
- Explain and discuss the process of resource levelling. (250 words)
C: Cost Analysis (Max marks 5% of the total marks)
- Calculate the cost of each activity in the project (level 3). Consider the standard cost of a skilled labour as £10/hr, unskilled labour as £5/hr and equipment as £25/hr.
- Produce cumulative cost-time curve for the project.
Note:
- Start the project on 1st October 2020.
- Use default UK working calendar (i.e. Saturdays and Sundays are non-working days, 8 working hours in a day, bank holidays should be considered as non-working days)
- Use resource unit as decimal.
- Use fixed duration and set unit as days.
- Clearly identify each part of the answers to the questions.
- Use header and footer to clearly indicate what the chart or graph is showing.
PART 2 (Max marks 25% of the total marks)
4D Planning
- Use Synchro Pro software and link the Building Project planning data with the given 3D CAD Building Model. Use both Assignment2.1.xml and Assignment2.2.xml with Assignment2.dxf. You will have two different models to review. Identify issues and conflicts with the proposed plans and changes. You should provide the pictures of the visualisation on your assignment. Briefly discuss the linking procedure carried out. (250 words).
- Define 4D planning. Discuss the purpose and benefits of 4D systems as a Project Management tool in an Engineering industry (500 words)
Appendix 1 Details of activities, relationships & resources for the Project
| Level 1 | Work Packages (Level 2) | Activity Description (Level 3) | (Level 4) | Immediate Predecessors | Type of Relationship | Lag (Days) | Duration (Days) | Equipment/day (numbers) | Skilled Worker / day (numbers) | Unskilled Worker / day (numbers) | |
| + | – | ||||||||||
|
P R O J E C T X Project Start date 01/10/2020 P R O J E C T X Project Start date 01/10/2020 | Project Start | – | – | – | FS | – | – | 0 | – | – | – |
| Activity A | A1 | – | Project Start | FS | – | – | 10 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
| A2 | – | A1 | FS | – | – | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||
| A3 | – | A2 | FS | – | 3 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| A4 | A4a | A3 | FS | – | 8 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
| A4b | A4a | FS | 1 | – | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||
| A5 | A5a | A4b | FS | – | – | 24 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||
| A5b | A5a | FS | – | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| A6 | A6a | A5b | FS | – | – | 15 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ||
| A6b | A6a | FS | 5 | – | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |||
| A7 | A7a | A6b | FS | – | – | 20 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ||
| A7b | A7a | FS | 3 | – | 17 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
|
Activity B Activity B | B1 | B1a | B1b | FS | 6 | – | 17 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| B1b | A7b | FS | – | – | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| B1c | B4a | FS | – | – | 23 | 2 | – | 2 | |||
| B4b | FS | – | – | ||||||||
| B2 |
B2a | B2b | FS | – | – | 28 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||
| B1a | FS | – | 4 | ||||||||
| B2b | B1b | FS | – | – | 21 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| B2c | B1c | FS | – | – | 16 | 3 | – | 3 | |||
| B3 | B3a | B3b | FS | – | – | 12 | 3 | 4 | 1 | ||
| B2a | FS | 2 | – | ||||||||
| B3b | B2b | FS | – | – | 13 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||
| B3c | B2c | FS | 2 | – | 19 | 3 | – | 3 | |||
| B4 | B4a | B4b | FS | – | – | 37 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||
| B3a | FS | – | – | ||||||||
| B4b | B3b | FS | – | – | 12 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||
| B4c | B3c | FS | – | – | 15 | 3 | – | 3 | |||
| Project Completion | – | – | B4c | FS | 6 |
| 0 | – | – | – |
Learning Outcome
Knowledge
& Understanding
–
Systematically acquire a comprehensive and critical understanding of
project management principles, project models and planning.
–
Interpret knowledge of current planning practice and demonstrate
originality in the knowledge together within visualisation
understanding of how planning techniques are used to interpret the
engineering projects.
Cognitive
& Intellectual Skills
–
Evaluate commercial risks through understanding of the basis of
planning risk including multi constraint techniques.
–
Integrate and synthesise the theory and practice to resolve the
planning conflicts in engineering projects.
– Make logical
and argued conclusions on 4D visualisation and project costs.
Practical
& Professional Skills
–
Synthesise complex customer and user needs and ensure fitness for
purpose by demonstrating technical calculation skills on engineering
project cost, logical visualisation and propose collective
suggestion.
Feedback Form
School of Computing, Engineering & Digital Technologies
Assessment Feedback Sheet
| STUDENT | |||
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| HIGH QUALITY INDICATORS | GRADE/CLASSIFICATION | POOR QUALITY INDICATORS | ||
| A Excellent 1st | B Very Good 2i | C Good 2ii | D Satisfactory 3rd | F Fail |
| Structure: Clearly structured report with appropriate use of tables, graphs, diagrams and subsections. | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | Poorly structured report with inappropriate or missing tables, graphs, diagrams. |
| Literature Review: Comprehensive review of literature relevant to study with a detailed knowledge of subject area demonstrated. | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | Little or no evidence of literature review, may be irrelevant to the study and limited knowledge of subject area demonstrated. |
| Methodology: Correct justification of methodology demonstrating an understanding of values and limitations of the method. | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | Poor justification of methodology with no understanding of values and limitations of the method. |
| Technical Design: Detailed design combined with appropriate technical analysis. | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | Limited detail in design and an inappropriate technical analysis. |
| Discussion/Conclusions: Clear discussion of findings with logical conclusions based on evidence and a competent critical analysis. | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | Discussion of findings is poor or missing, conclusions are not supported by the evidence and no critical analysis. |
| Presentation: Excellent layout, conforms to all technical specifications with clear expression of ideas and appropriately presented. | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | Poor layout, does not conform to technical specifications with no clear expression of ideas and inappropriately presented. |
A = 100-70%, B = 69-60%, C = 59-50%, D = 49-40%, F = 39-0%
| ENGLISH AND PRESENTATION (the following areas need care and attention) | |||||
| Grammar | ☐ | Paragraphing | ☐ | Citation | ☐ |
| Spelling | ☐ | Figures and Tables | ☐ | References | ☐ |
| Further Comments | |||
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| Final Mark |
| Marked by: |
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| Date: | Click here to enter a date. |
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