ASSIGNMENTS MBA II Semester PROJECT MANAGEMENT - MB0033 Set 1 (60 Marks) 1.

1. Define project management, resource, process and project cycle. Explain the
life-cycle of a project.

A project is a set of activities which are networked in and order and aimed towards achieving the goals of a project. Upon the completion of all the activities the goals of the project would have been achieved. A project is undertaken to achieve a purpose. Management is the technique of understanding the problems, needs and controlling the use of resources, such as cost, time, manpower, materials, etc. Project management is an art of controlling the cost, time, manpower, and hardware and software resources involved in a project. Resource refers to manpower, machinery, money and materials required in the project. A process is part of the project which consists of simple and routine instructions to achieve a desired result of any activity of the project. A process is responsible to bring about the changes in the input fed to the process and gives out desired outputs as results of the process. A project cycle basically consists of the various activities of operations, resources and the limitations imposed on them. The life cycle means the important phases that are required by any project from start to end of the project. Normally this process of project will go through the preparation which constitutes formulation and modeling, planning, control, execution, monitoring, completion and review. Understanding the project life cycle In the preparation stage, the project manager along with the associates and team members draft the outline of the project. They identify the various factors required to be taken care of in the project. Based on their discussion they formulate the plans and model the activities for execution. Budgets are prepared. Once the model is approved it is then recommended for implementation. During this stage roles and responsibilities of the various members involved in the project are listed out. Also the team works on the feasibility report to assess the project feasibility with respect to time, economics and technicalities. The factors which are arrived at based on risk analysis and uncertainties are used to establish the control factors to be exercised during the execution of the project. Various monitoring tools are set to monitor the project progress. The implementation stage involves the execution of the project as agreed, while carefully monitoring progress and managing changes. The completion stage involves the satisfactory delivery to the customer the products or services. This is followed by project review to look into the various issues which affected the project during the course of its execution. Any project is undertaken to deliver either a service or a product. Project deliverables could be a set of outputs that are expected during various stages of the project. It could be as simple as a new product or modification to an existing product.

A life cycle of a project consists of a) understanding the scope of the project, b) objectives of the project, c) formulation and planning various activities, d) project execution and e) project monitoring and control the project resources.

Input

Input Process

Process

Output

Project Management Process Traditionally, project management includes a number of elements: four to five process groups, and a control system. Regardless of the methodology or terminology used, the same basic project management processes will be used.

The project development stages Major process groups generally include: Initiation Planning or development Production or execution Monitoring and controlling Closing Initiation

The initiation processes determine the nature and scope of the project. If this stage is not performed well, it is unlikely that the project will be successful in meeting the business needs. The key project controls needed here are an understanding of the business environment and making sure that all necessary controls are incorporated into the project. Any deficiencies should be reported and a recommendation should be made to fix them. The initiation stage should include a plan that encompasses the following areas: Analyzing the business needs/requirements in measurable goals Reviewing of the current operations

Financial analysis of the costs and benefits including a budget Stakeholder analysis, including users, and support personnel for the project Project charter including costs, tasks, deliverables, and schedule

Planning and design

Planning Process Group Activities After the initiation stage, the project is planned to an appropriate level of detail. The main purpose is to plan time, cost and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project execution. As with the Initiation process group, a failure to adequately plan greatly reduces the project's chances of successfully accomplishing its goals. Project planning generally consists of determining how to plan (e.g. by level of detail or rolling wave); developing the scope statement; selecting the planning team; identifying deliverables and creating the work breakdown structure; identifying the activities needed to complete those deliverables and networking the activities in their logical sequence; Executing

Executing Process Group Processes Executing consists of the processes used to complete the work defined in the project management plan to accomplish the project's requirements. Execution process involves coordinating people and resources, as well as integrating and performing the activities of the project in accordance with the project management plan. The deliverables are produced as outputs from the processes performed as defined in the project management plan. Monitoring and controlling Monitoring and controlling consists of those processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the execution of the project. The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances from the project management plan.

Monitoring and Controlling includes: Measuring the ongoing project activities (where we are); Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be); Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again); Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented In multi-phase projects, the monitoring and controlling process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan. Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: Continuing support of end users Correction of errors Updates of the software over time

Monitoring and controlling cycle In this stage, auditors should pay attention to how effectively and quickly user problems are resolved. Over the course of any construction project, the work scope may change. Change is a normal and expected part of the construction process. Changes can be the result of necessary design modifications, differing site conditions, material availability, contractor-requested changes, value engineering and impacts from third parties, to name a few. Beyond executing the change in the field, the change normally needs to be documented to show what was actually constructed. This is referred to as Change Management. Hence, the owner usually requires a final record to show all changes or, more specifically, any change that modifies the tangible portions of the finished work. Closing

Closing includes the formal acceptance of the project and the ending thereof. Administrative activities include the archiving of the files and documenting lessons learned. This phase consists of: Project close: Finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally close the project or a project phase

Contract closure: Complete and settle each contract (including the resolution of any open items) and close each contract applicable to the project or project phase

Resources: In project management terminology, resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment, facilities, funding, or anything else capable of definition (usually other than labour) required for the completion of a project activity. The lack of a resource will therefore be a constraint on the completion of the project activity. Resources may be storable or non storable. Storable resources remain available unless depleted by usage, and may be replenished by project tasks which produce them. Non-storable resources must be renewed for each time period, even if not utilised in previous time periods.
2. What are the roles and responsibilities of a project manager?
Title Project Manager Role

The person responsible for developing, in conjunction with the Project Sponsor, a definition of the project. The Project Manager then ensures that the project is delivered on time, to budget and to the required quality standard (within agreed specifications). He/she ensures the project is effectively resourced and manages relationships with a wide range of groups (including all project contributors). The Project Manager is also responsible for managing the work of consultants, allocating and utilising resources in an efficient manner and maintaining a co-operative, motivated and successful team.

Responsibilities

Budgeting and cost control Scheduling tasks

Allocating resources Tracking project expenditures Ensuring technical quality Manage relations with the customer and company
Managing and leading the project team. Recruiting project staff and consultants. Managing co-ordination of the partners and working groups engaged in project work. Detailed project planning and control including: Developing and maintaining a detailed project plan. Managing project deliverables in line with the project plan.. Recording and managing project issues and escalating where necessary Resolving cross-functional issues at project level. Managing project scope and change control and escalating issues where necessary. Monitoring project progress and performance. Providing status reports to the project sponsor. Managing project training within the defined budget. Liaison with, and updates progress to, project steering board/senior management. Managing project evaluation and dissemination activities. Managing consultancy input within the defined budget. Final approval of the design specification. Working closely with users to ensure the project meets business needs. Definition and management of the User Acceptance Testing programme. Identifying user training needs and devising and managing user training programmes.

A project manager is a person who manages the project. The project manager is responsible to carry out all the tasks of a project. Responsibilities of the project manager include Life cycle of a project manager overlaps with the development life cycle in the middle. Duties of a project manager start before the development and continue after delivery of the product.
3. Explain the various steps in the identification process of a project. What are the tools used in project planning?

The main steps in the identification process of any project are : i. Identify initial requirements. ii. Validate them against the project objective. iii. Identify the criteria for assessing the success of both the final project product and the process used to create it. Ex: quality objectives, quantitative requirements for the project. iv. Identify the framework of the solution v. Prepare a template of the frame work of solution to illustrate the project feasibility. vi. Prepare relevant charts to demonstrate the techniques of executing the project and its different stages. vii. Prepare a proper project schema of achieving the defined business requirements for the project. viii. Identify training requirement ix. Make a list of the training program necessary for the personnel working on the project. x. Identify the training needs of the individuals working in various functions responsible in the project. xi. Prepare a training plan and a training calendar. xii. Assess the capabilities and skills of all those identified as part of the project organization
The tools that are used in project planning are

1. Project organization Process Initiation

Skills and activities Prepare an outline project justification, plan and project budget Selection and briefing of the project team, assigning roles and organization Feasibility study- risk and key success factors Project definition and project plan Communicate to the team Allocating and monitoring the work and cost

Planning Execution

Ensuring work and team cohesion Reporting progress Monitoring progress and managing changes Helping the team to solve project problems Satisfactory delivery Compiling lessons from project experience

Control

Close

2. Project structure Development plan, project tracking and oversight.

3. Project Key personnel Identify those business areas that are within the scope or directly interface with the scope boundary and list them in the Business area column of the project assignment worksheet Identify the key personnel for each area and list them in the Person column of the project assignment worksheet. 4. Project management team It is a senior management team, which will be accountable for the project.

Identify project sponsor, client representative and technical representative. Stage managers- who will plan and manage the project on a day-to-day basis for this stage Project coordinators- client coordinator and technical coordinator Clearly define these coordination, control activities and identify the brief suitable personnel to carry them out

5. Key stakeholders Identify management level personnel who are critical to the success of the project. Document the responsibilities of stakeholders 6. Stage teams Identify appropriate personnel required for the stage, define the team structure and appoint team leaders Document the time commitment and responsibilities to be performed by the team members. 7. Key resources Individuals assigned to a key resource role may work towards gathering Business key resources and Technical key resources. They are project coordinators and team invitees.

8. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The entire process of a project may be considered to be made up on number of sub process placed in different stage called the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A typical example of a work breakdown structure of a recruitment process is indicated below :

This is the technique to analyze the content of work and cost by breaking it down into its component parts. Project key stages form the highest level of the WBS, which is then used to show the details at the lower levels of the project. Each key stage comprises many tasks identified at the start of planning and later this list will have to be validated.

WBS is produced by Identifying the key elements, breaking each element down into component parts and continuing to breakdown until manageable work packages have been identified. These can then be allocated to the appropriate person.The WBS does not show dependencies other than a grouping under the key stages. It is not time based- there is no timescale o the drawing. 9. Task duration Identifying lead and lag times helps in working out task duration. Lead time: An amount of time, which a successor task can overlap with its predecessor task, i.e. the time before the completion of the predecessor at which the successor can start. Lag time: An amount of time, between a predecessor and a successor task, i.e. the time after the completion of the predecessor that the start of the successor is delayed
4. What is Risk Management? How can risks be prioritized?
Risk is the effect of uncertainty on objectives (whether positive or negative). Risks are those events or conditions that may occur and whose occurrence has a harmful or negative impact on a project. Risk management aims to identify the risks and then take actions to minimize their effect on the project. Risk management entails additional cost. Hence risk management can be considered cost-effective only if the cost of risk management is considerably less than the cost incurred if the risk materializes. Risk management can therefore be considered the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events[1] or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Risks can come from uncertainty in financial markets, project failures, legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attacks from an adversary.

There are four steps to manage a risk: 1. 2. 3. 4. Risk identification, Risk analysis, Risk management planning, and Risk review. Risk Identification To identify risks, we must first define risk. Risks are potential problems, ones that are not guaranteed to occur. When people begin performing risk identification they often start by listing known problems. Known problems are not risks. During risk identification, you might notice some known problems. If so, just move them to a problem list and concentrate on future potential problems.

Risk identification can be done using a brainstorming session. The brainstorm typically takes 1530 minutes. Be sure to invite anyone who can help you think of risks. Invite the project team, customer, people who have been on similar projects, and experts in the subject area of the project. Limit the group size to nine people. In the brainstorming session, people call out potential problems that they think could hurt the project. New ideas are generated based on the items on the brainstorm list. A project manager can also use the process to refer to a database of risk obtained from past. The information obtained from such databases can help the project manager to evaluate and assess the nature of the risk and its impact on the project. Also to a great extent the judgment of the project manager based upon his past experience comes very handy in dealing with

risks. Another important method is to generate alternative solution or methodology to deal with risk. Generate solution by means of group review meetings or a brainstorm session. During the brainstorm, consider the following items: Selection of weak areas in a project: Such as unknown technology being used or to be used. Things, that is critical or extremely important to the effort, such as the timely delivery of a vendors database software, creation of translators, or a user interface that meets the customers needs. Things that have caused problems in the past are loss of key staff, missed deadlines, or error-prone software. Example of risks is: We may not have the requirements right, The technology is untested, Key people might leave, The server wont restart in situation X, and People might resist the change. Any potential problem, or critical project feature, is a good candidate for the risk list. Once you have created a list, work with the group to clarity each item. Duplicate items can be removed. Risk Analysis The first step in risk analysis is to make each risk item more specific. Risks such as, Lack of Management buy-in, and people might leave, are a little ambiguous. In these cases the group might decide to split the risk into smaller specific risks, such as, manager Jane decides that the project is not beneficial, Database expert might leave, and Webmaster might get pulled off the project.

The next step is to set priorities and determine where to focus risk mitigation efforts. Some of the identified risks are unlikely to occur, and others might not be serious enough to worry about. During the analysis, discuss with the team members, each risk item to understand how devastating it would be if it did occur, and how likely it is to occur. For example, if you had a risk of a key person leaving, you might decide that it would have a large impact on the project, but that it is not very likely.

In the process below, we have the group agree on how likely it thinks each risk item is to occur, using a simple scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is very unlikely and 10 is very likely). The group then rates how serious the impact would be if the risk did occur, using a simple scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is little impact and 10 is very large). To use this numbering scheme, first pick out the items that rate 1 and 10, respectively. Then rate the other items relative to these boundaries. To determine the priority of each risk item, calculate the product of the two values, likelihood and impact. This priority scheme helps push the big risks to the top of the list, and the small risks to the bottom. It is a usual practice to analyze risk either by sensitivity analysis or by probabilistic analysis.

In sensitivity analysis a study is done to analyse the changes in the variable values because of a change in one or more of the decision criteria. In the probability analysis, the frequency of a particular event occurring is determined, based on which it average weighted average value is calculated.

Each outcome of an event resulting in a risk situation in a risk analysis process is expressed as a probability. Risk analysis can be performed by calculating the expected value of each alternative and selecting the best alternative.

Ex : Now that the group has assigned a priority to each risk, it is ready to select the items to mange. Some projects select a subset to take action upon, while others choose to work on all of the items. To get started, you might select the top 3 risks, or the top 20%, based on the priority calculation. Risk Management Planning There are two things one can do to manage risk. The first is to take action to reduce (or partially reduce) the likelihood of the risk occurring. For example, some project that work on process improvement make their deadlines earlier and increases their efforts to minimize the likelihood of team members being pulled off the project due to changing organizational priorities. In a software product, a critical feature might be developed first and tested early.

Second, we can take action to reduce the impact if the risk does occur. Sometimes this is an action taken prior to the crisis, such as the creation of a simulator to use for testing if the hardware is late. At other times, it is a simple backup plan, such as running a night shift to share hardware. For the potential loss of a key person, for example, we might do two things: Plan to reduce the impact by making sure other people become familiar with that persons work, or reduce the likelihood of attrition by giving the person a raise, or by providing day-care. Review Risks You want to review your risks periodically so you can check how well mitigation is progressing. You can also see if the risk priorities need to change, or if new risks have been discovered, you might decide to rerun the complete risk process if significant changes have occurred on the project. Significant changes might include the addition of new features, the changing of the target platform, or a change in project team members. Many people incorporate risk review into other regularly scheduled project reviews. In short , risk management is the planning to potential problems, and the management of actions taken related to those problems. Prioritization of risks: In ideal risk management, a prioritization process is followed whereby the risks with the greatest loss and the greatest probability of occurring are handled first, and risks with lower probability of occurrence and lower loss are handled in descending order. In practice the process can be very difficult, and balancing between risks with a high probability of occurrence but lower loss versus a risk with high loss but lower probability of occurrence can often be mishandled. Intangible risk management identifies a new type of a risk that has a 100% probability of occurring but is ignored by the organization due to a lack of identification ability. For example, when deficient knowledge is applied to a situation, a knowledge risk materializes. Relationship risk appears when ineffective collaboration occurs. Process-engagement risk may be an issue when ineffective operational procedures are applied. These risks directly reduce the productivity of knowledge workers, decrease cost effectiveness, profitability, service, quality, reputation, brand

value, and earnings quality. Intangible risk management allows risk management to create immediate value from the identification and reduction of risks that reduce productivity. Risk management also faces difficulties in allocating resources. This is the idea of opportunity cost. Resources spent on risk management could have been spent on more profitable activities. Again, ideal risk management minimizes spending and minimizes the negative effects of risks.
6. What is Project Management Knowledge Areas? Explain briefly PMIS.
It comprises of various techniques needed to manage projects, the practical methodologies adopted in formulating a project and managing the resources which would affect the project completion. PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT A subset of project management that includes the processes required to ensure that the various elements of the project are properly coordinated. It consists of: Project plan developmentintegrating and coordinating all project plans to create a consistent, coherent document. Project plan executioncarrying out the project plan by performing the activities included therein. Integrated change controlcoordinating changes across the entire project.

PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT A subset of project management that includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully. It consists of: Initiationauthorizing the project or phase. Scope planningdeveloping a written scope statement as the basis for future project decisions. Scope definitionsubdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components.

PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT A subset of project management that includes the processes required to ensure timely completion of the project. It consists of: Activity definitionidentifying the specific activities that must be performed to produce the various project deliverables. Activity sequencingidentifying and documenting interactivity dependencies. Activity duration estimatingestimating the number of work periods that will be needed to complete individual activities.

PROJECT COST MANAGEMENT A subset of project management that includes the processes required to ensure that the project is completed within the approved budget. It consists of: Resource planningdetermining what resources (people, equipment, materials) and what quantities of each should be used to perform project activities. Cost estimatingdeveloping an approximation (estimate) of the costs of the resources needed to complete project activities. Cost budgetingallocating the overall cost estimate to individual work activities.

PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT A subset of project management that includes the processes required to make the most effective use of the people involved with the project. It consists of:

Organizational planningidentifying, documenting, and assigning project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships. Staff acquisitiongetting the needed human resources assigned to and working on the project. Team developmentdeveloping individual and group skills to enhance project performance.

PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT Risk management is the systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risks. It includes maximizing the probability and consequences of positive events and minimizing the probability and consequences of adverse events to project objectives. It includes: Risk management planningdeciding how to approach and plan the risk management activities for a project. Risk identificationdetermining which risks might affect the project and document their characteristics. Qualitative risk analysisperforming a qualitative analysis of risks and conditions to prioritize their effects on project objectives. PROJECT PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT A subset of project management that includes the processes required to acquire goods and services to attain project scope from outside the performing organization. It consists of: Procurement planningdetermining what to procure and when. Solicitation planningdocumenting product requirements and identifying potential sources. Solicitationobtaining quotations, bids, offers, or proposals, as appropriate.

Project Management Information System (PMIS) is an information system consisting of the tools and techniques used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the outputs of project management processes. It is used to support all aspects of the project from initiating through closing, and can include both manual and automated systems. The project management information system (PMIS) is a Tool and Technique in Direct and Manage Project Execution of the Execution Process Group, part of the enterprise environmental factors, provides access to an automated tool, such as a scheduling software tool, a configuration management system, an information collection and distribution system, or web interfaces to other online automated systems used during the Direct and Manage Project Execution effort.
We all know that accurate, timely, and relevant information is essential to the decision-making process of a project and that relying on an inadequate information system puts a project at risk. We all know that information is a valuable resource for project managers. Despite the fact that we all know these things, project managers often fail to deliver the types of information needed to ensure project success. Implementing a project management information system (PMIS) is one way to address critical project information needs. One of my major clients, an international engineering firm, decided to break the cycle of miscommunication and derailed projects by ordering the development and implementation of a PMIS that is able to provide upper management with adequate information about all the projects in the organizations portfolio. Traditionally, engineers and project managers do not communicate project status adequately with upper management and functional departments. They believe that projects are their responsibility and they have the

authority to deliver them. Furthermore, functional departments are often reluctant or do not have time to provide information to project engineers. These circumstances often lead to late, over budget, and low quality projects.

6. List out the macro issues in project management and explaine each?

a) Evolving key success factors (KSF) upfront: In order to provide complete stability to fulfilment of goals, one needs to constantly evaluate from time to time, the consideration of what will constitute the success of completing a project and assessing its success before completion. The KSF should be evolved based on a basic consensus document (BCD). KSF will also provide an input to effective exit strategy (EES). Exit here does not mean exit from the project but from any of the drilled down elemental activities which may prove to be hurdles rather than contributors. b) Empowerment Title (ET): ET reflects the relative importance of members of the organisation at three levels. i) Team members empowered to work within limits of their respective allocated responsibilities the major change from bureaucratic systems is an expectation from theses members to innovate and contribute to tome and cost. ii) Group leaders are empowered additionally to act independently towards client expectation and are also vested with some limited financial powers. iii) Managers are empowered further to act independently but to maintain a scientific balance among time, cost, expectation and perception, apart from being a virtual advisor to the top management. c) Partnering Decision making (PDM): PDM is a substitute to monitoring and control a senior with better decision making process with work closely with the project managers as well as members to plan what based can be done to manage the future better from past experience. The key here is the active participation of members in the decision making process. The ownership is distributed among all irrespective of levels the term equally should be avoided here since ownership is not quantifiable. The right feeling of ownership is important. The PD process is made scientific through: i) ii) iii) iv) Earned Value management system (EVMS) Budgeted Cost of work scheduled (BCWS) Budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) Actual cost of work performed (ACWP)

d) Management by exception (MBE): No news is good news. If a member wants help he or she located a source and proposed to the manager only if such help is not accessible for free. Similarly a member should believe that a team leaders silence is a sign of approval should not provoke comments through excessive seeking of opinions. In short leave people alone and let situation perform the demanding act. The bond limit of MBE can be evolved depending on the sensitivity of the nature and size of the project.

MBA II SEM Financial Management - MB0033 Set 2

1. Providing adequate resources is key to productivity comment. Key elements of a Productivity Improvement Program:

1. Obtain Upper Management Support. Without top management support, experience shows a PIP likely will fail. The Chief Executive Officer should issue a clear, comprehensive policy statement. The statement should be communicated to everyone in the company. Top management also must be willing to allocate adequate resources to permit success. 2. Create New Organizational Components. A Steering Committee to oversee the PIP and Productivity Managers to implement it are essential. The Committee should be staffed by top departmental executives with the responsibilities of goal setting, guidance, advice, and general control. The Productivity Managers are responsible for the day-to-day activities of measurement and analysis. The responsibilities of all organizational components must be clear and well established. 3. Plan Systematically. Success doesn't just happen. Goals and objectives should be set, problems targeted and rank ordered, reporting and monitoring requirements developed, and feedback channels established. 4. Open Communications. Increasing productivity means changing the way things are done. Desired changes must be communicated. Communication should flow up and down the business organization. Through publications, meetings, and films, employees must be told what is going on and how they will benefit. 5. Involve Employees. This is a very broad element encompassing the quality of work life, worker motivation, training, worker attitudes, job enrichment, quality circles, incentive systems and much more. Studies show a characteristic of successful, growing businesses is that they develop a "corporate culture" where employees strongly identify with and are an important part of company life. This sense of belonging is not easy to engender. Through basic fairness, employee involvement, and equitable incentives, the corporate culture and productivity both can grow. 6. Measure and Analyze. This is the technical key to success for a PIP. Productivity must be defined, formulas and worksheets developed, sources of data identified, benchmark studies performed, and personnel assigned. Measuring productivity can be a highly complex task. The goal, however, is to keep it as simple as possible without distorting and depreciating the data. Measurement is so critical to success, a more detailed analysis is helpful.

2. Explain the relevance of work breakdown structure in determine responsibility area. Explain in detail GDM and its key features? The Global delivery model (GDM) is adopted by an industry or business such that it has a capability to plan design, deliver and serve to any customer or client worldwide with speed, Accuracy, Economy and reliability. The key features of GDM are:a) Standardization: Ingenious design and development of components and features which like to be accepted by 90% of worldwide customer. Global standard of design focusing on highly standardized method and processes of manufacture or development. Adopt block-and-socket concept with minimum adaptable or connection. b) Modularization: Product or solution split up into smallest possible individual identifiable entities, with limited individuals functioning capability but powerful and robust in combination with other modules. c) Minimum customization: Minimum changes or modifications to suit individual customers. d) Maximum micro structuring: splitting of the product modules further into much smaller entity identifiable more through characteristics rather than application features. Approach through standardization of these microbial entities even across multiple modules. Application of these microbial entities to rest within multiple projects or products or even as add-ons suit belated customer needs. 3. What do you understand by Resource Smoothing? What is the significance of reviewing ROI? Resource smoothing is part of the resource levelling process. In itself, resource smoothing is the process that, not withstanding any constraints imposed during the levelling process, attempts to determine a resource requirement that is "smooth" and where peaks and troughs are eliminated. For example, even if 7 units of a given resource are available at any one time, utilizing 5 of these units each week is preferable to 4

one week, 7 the next, 2 the next and so on. Even if there is no limit to the amount of any one resource available, it is still desirable that resource usage is as smooth as possible. Given that the resource requirements of those activities on the critical path are fixed, some order or priority needs to be established for selecting which activity and which particular resource associated with this activity should be given priority in the smoothing process. In determining which activity should be given priority, a subjective judgment should be made about the type of resource (or resources) associated with each activity; priority should be given to the activities whose resources are considered to be most important. Beyond this consideration, activities should be ranked in order of total work content and total float or slack available for that activity. A useful device for prioritizing is to consider the ratio of total work content/total float remaining and give priority to activities with the highest value of this ratio. Return on Investment (ROI) is the calculated benefit that an organization is projected to receive in return for investing money (resources) in a project. Within the context of the Review Process, the investment would be in an information system development or enhancement project. ROI information is used to assess the status of the business viability of the project at key checkpoints throughout the projects lifecycle. ROI may include the benefits associated with improved mission performance, reduced cost, increased quality, speed, or flexibility, and increased customer and employee satisfaction. ROI should reflect such risk factors as the projects technical complexity, the agencys management capacity, the likelihood of cost overruns, and the consequences of under or non performance. Where appropriate, ROI should reflect actual returns observed through pilot projects and prototypes.ROI should be quantified in terms of dollars and should include a calculation of the breakeven point (BEP), which is the date when the investment begins to generate a positive return. ROI should be recalculated at every major checkpoint of a project to se if the BEP is still on schedule, based on project spending and accomplishments to date. If the project is behind schedule or over budget, the BEP may move out in time If the project is ahead of schedule or under budget the BEP may occur earlier. In either case, the information is important for decision making based on the value of the investment throughout the project lifecycle. Any project that has developed a business case is expected to refresh the ROI at each key project decision point (i.e., stage exit) or at least yearly. If the detailed data collection, calculation of benefits and costs, and capitalization data from which Return on Investment (ROI) is derived was not required for a particular project, then it may not be realistic or practical to require the retrofit calculation of ROI once the project is added to the Review portfolio. In such a case, it is recommended that a memorandum of record be developed as a substitute for ROI. The memorandum should provide a brief history of the program, a description of the major benefits realized to date with as much Quantitative data as possible and a summary of the process used to identify and select system enhancements. Some of the major benefits experienced by sites that installed the information system that would be important to include in the memorandum are: a) Decommissioning of mainframe computers b) Reduction/redirection of labour c) Elimination of redundant systems d) Ability to more cost effectively upgrades all sites with one standard upgrade package. In each case above, identify the specific site, systems, and labour involved in determining the cited benefit. Identify any costs or dollar savings that are known or have been estimated. The memorandum will be used as tool for responding to any future audit inquiries on project ROI. For the Project Management Review; it is recommended that the project leader replace the text on the ROI document through (1) A note stating which stage of its cycle the project is in (2) A bulleted list of the most important points from the memorandum of record and (3) A copy of the memorandum of record for the Review repository. In subsequent Reviews of the information system, the ROI slide can be eliminated from the package. There is one notable exception to this guidance. Any internal use software project in the maintenance phase of its lifecycle that adds a new site or undertakes an enhancement or technology refresh that reaches the cost threshold established by Standard will need to satisfy capitalization requirements. It requires all agencies to capitalize items acquired or developed for internal use if the expected service life is two or more years and its cost meets or exceeds the agencys threshold for internal use software. The standard requires capitalization of direct and indirect costs, including employee salaries and benefits for both Federal and Contractor employees who materially participate in the Software project. Program managers are considered to be the source of cost information for internal use software projects. If capitalization data is collected for the project in the future, the project would be expected to calculate and track its ROI. 4. Explain the concept of concurrency in High Technology Development.

Always aim one step higher in performance usually; high technology development has a long gestation period. By the time the product is perfected, it might have become obsolete. This necessitates that the period be shortened. The other alternative is to make technology development futuristic i.e. keeps the aim or target one step beyond what is required. Combination of both will yield better results. Using principles of concurrent engineering, we can start building components as developed and assembling on ad hoc basis and testing them and making changes taking into consideration any new requirements. Every effort to make the product Contemporary will improve the competitive advantage. Build concurrency into every activity Building concurrency into every activity is essential to reduce the development cycle time and to counter the technology obsolescence. Many of the tasks that are normally done in a serial fashion can be done in parallel by synchronizing the flow of information. The practices of the concurrent engineering where the design of the product and all its associated processes are carried out simultaneously based on team work and participation. Would not only help in reducing the development cycle time, but also improves the product functionality with regard to requirements. Concurrency can be accomplished in many ways both for product development as well as technology transfer, user evaluation and production.

5. What are the main utilities of an ERP package? Integration is Key to ERP Systems Integration is an exceptionally significant ingredient to ERP systems. The integration between business processes helps develop communication and information distribution, leading to remarkable increase in productivity, speed and performance. The key objective of an ERP system is to integrate information and processes from all functional divisions of an organization and merge it for effortless access and structured workflow. The integration is typically accomplished by constructing a single database repository that communicates with multiple software applications providing different divisions of an organization with various business statistics and information.

The Ideal ERP System An ERP system would qualify as the best model for enterprise wide solution architecture, if it chains all the below organizational processes together with a central database repository and a fused computing platform. Manufacturing Engineering, resource & capacity planning, material planning, workflow management, shop floor management, quality control, bills of material, manufacturing process, etc. Financials Accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, general ledger, cash management, and billing (contract/service) Human Resource Recruitment, benefits, compensations, training, payroll, time and attendance, labour rules, people management Supply Chain Management Inventory management, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, claim processing, sales order administration, procurement planning, transportation and distribution Projects Costing, billing, activity management, time and expense

Customer Relationship Management Sales and marketing, service, commissions, customer contact and after sales support ERP Systems Improve Productivity, Speed and Performance Prior to evolution of the ERP model, each department in an enterprise had their own isolated software application which did not interface with any other system. Such isolated framework could not synchronize the inter-department processes and hence hampered the productivity, speed and performance of the overall organization. These led to issues such as incompatible exchange standards, lack of synchronization, incomplete understanding of the enterprise functioning, unproductive decisions and many more. For example: The financials could not coordinate with the procurement team to plan out purchases as per the availability of money. Implementation of an ERP System Implementing an ERP system in an organization is an extremely complex process. It takes lot of systematic planning, expert consultation and well structured approach. Due to its extensive scope it may even take years to implement in a large organization. Implementing an ERP system will eventually necessitate significant changes on staff and work processes.

Consulting Services - are responsible for the initial stages of ERP implementation where they help an organization go live with their new system, with product training, workflow, improve ERP's use in the specific organization, etc. Customization Services - work by extending the use of the new ERP system or changing its use by creating customized interfaces and/or underlying application code. While ERP systems are made for many core routines, there are still some needs that need to be built or customized for a particular organization.

The ERP implementation process goes through five major stages which are Structured Planning, Process Assessment, Data Compilation & Cleanup, Education & Testing and Usage & Evaluation. 1. Structured Planning: is the foremost and the most crucial stage where an capable project team is selected, present business processes are studied, information flow within and outside the organization is scrutinized, vital objectives are set and a comprehensive implementation plan is formulated. 2. Process Assessment: is the next important stage where the prospective software capabilities are examined, manual business processes are recognized and standard working procedures are constructed. 3. Data Compilation & Cleanup: helps in identifying data which is to be converted and the new information that would be needed. The compiled data is then analyzed for accuracy and completeness, throwing away the worthless/unwanted information. Advantages of ERP Systems There are many advantages of implementing an EPR system. A few of them are listed below:

A perfectly integrated system chaining all the functional areas together The capability to streamline different organizational processes and workflows The ability to effortlessly communicate information across various departments\ Improved efficiency, performance and productivity levels

Disadvantages of ERP Systems While advantages usually outweigh disadvantages for most organizations implementing an ERP system, here are some of the most common obstacles experienced:

The scope of customization is limited in several circumstances The present business processes have to be rethought to make them synchronize with the ERP ERP systems can be extremely expensive to implement

There could be lack of continuous technical support

Q6. Explain three levels of SCMo documentation. Explain PILIN. It is possible today to establish a system aligned with an organization supply chain. It can be an add-on to existing ERP systems. The main objectives are: i. ii. iii. Prevention of stock-out and over supply Early warnings, elimination of bull-whip effect Optimized allocation in bottleneck situations due to network-wide inventory and demand transparency.

The main principles behind is the integration of supply chain participants, exchange of demand and inventory information, transparency & visibility of inventories and demands for multi-level supply chain. It also eliminates time lags in the information flow and ensures synchronization of demand information. SCMo set up (initialisation): The main steps for the set are; a) Determination of the potentially critical part of the supply network criteria. b) Mapping of structures a) high shortage risk and effect, long lead and reaction times, high total inventory cost, frequent engineering changes. Main features- The main features of such systems are: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Releases and Interactions Planning- it is a simple way to create project plan. Dashboard- It is a quick project status reporting tool. To-Do lists_ Identify and list the integrated assignments Integrated QA_ Bug tracking, test cases management, user story-to-bugs traceability, QA stats and charts. Time Tracking- Create more accurate estimate of time.

A typical iteration plan methodology a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) Add release (iterations will be generated automatically) Add user stories Assign user stories on iterations (control team velocity) To plan next iteration just assign required user stories and control remaining velocity units. View assigned tasks and bugs Change bugs status Add spent time Spent time report could be added form To-do list. To simplify time calculation todays time shown in the form. Bugs status could be changes right from the To-do list as well. So developer spends less time on frequent actions.

PILLIN Growing realization that sustainable identifier infrastructure is required to deal with the vast amount of digital assets being produced and stored within universities. PILIN is a particular challenge for e-research communities where massive amount of data are being generated without any means of managing this date over any length of time. The broad objectives are to: Support adoption and use of persistent identifiers and shared persistent identifier management services by the project stakeholders. II. Plan for a sustainable, share identifier management infrastructure that enables persistence of identifiers and associated services over archival lengths of time. III. Deploying a worldwide site consolidated solution for exchange sever 2003 at Microsoft. IV. Pictures V. Using Microsoft exchange server 2003 to consolidate more than 70 messaging sites worldwide into seven physical locations. I.