BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 1 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 BUS353e End-of-Course Assessment – July Semester 2017 Project Management __________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS: 1. This End-of-Course Assessment paper comprises FOURTEEN (14) pages (including the cover page). 2. You are to include the following particulars in your submission: Title, Your PI, Your Name, and Submission Date. 3. Late submission will be subjected to mark-deduction scheme by the University. IMPORTANT NOTE ECA Submission Deadline: 04 September 2017, 12noonBUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 2 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 ECA Submission Guidelines Please follow the submission instructions stated below: A - What Must Be Submitted You are required to submit the following THREE (3) items for marking and grading:  A Report (you should submit this item first as it carries the highest weightage).  A Video Presentation: o SUSS conducts Hands-on workshop on how to record ECA video presentation for SBIZ students every semester. Students will receive an invite to the workshop via Student Portal, Canvas as well as email, a month before the ECA cut-off date. o The ECA video recording and submission guides are also available as an external links/downloads in the invite.  The set of PowerPoint slides, converted to PDF, upon which the video presentation is based. Please verify your submissions after you have submitted the above THREE (3) items. B - Submission Deadline  The THREE (3) items of Report, Video and Presentation Summary are to be submitted by 12 noon on the submission deadline.  You are allowed multiple submissions till the cut-off date for each of the THREE (3) items.  Late submission of any of the THREE (3) items will be subjected to mark-deduction scheme by the University. Please refer to Section 5.2 Para 2.4 of the Student Handbook. C - How the (3) Items Should Be Submitted  The Report: submit online to Canvas via TurnItIn (for plagiarism detection)  The Video: submit online to Canvas (refer to workshop invite for the user guide)  The Presentation Summary: o submit online to Canvas via TurnItIn (PPT must be converted to PDF and submission is in PDF only) o The PPT must contain at least 20 words o Refer to workshop invite for the user guideBUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 3 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017  Avoid using a public WiFi connection for submitting large video files. If you are using public wireless (WiFi) connection (e.g. SG Wireless at public areas), you might encounter a break in the connection when sending large files. D - Additional guidelines on file formatting are given as follows: 1. Report  Please ensure that your Microsoft Word document is generated by Microsoft Word 2007 or higher.  The report must be saved in .docx format. 2. Video  Showing your PowerPoint projection in the background is NOT required.  Time Duration: a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 6 minutes There are two methods for ECA video assignment submission; either Record Media or Upload Media. For Record Media Video can be recorded via Canvas through desktop/laptop with builtin webcam and microphone or through Canvas mobile app. For Upload Media Video can be recorded using other recording devices and uploaded as a media file. Do ensure that your video file conforms to these requirements: a) File Format: .mp4 b) File Size: No more than 500MB Note: You will receive an invite to the ECA Hands-On workshop via Student Portal, Canvas as well as email, a month before the ECA cutoff date. The invite will allow you to register for the workshop as well as download a copy of the user guide. 3. Presentation Summary  Your PowerPoint presentation must contain at least 20 words.  Please ensure that your PowerPoint presentation is converted to PDF format before you submit.  The maximum number of slides is fifteen (15).  Please do NOT download and use PowerPoint slide design templates from the Internet.BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 4 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 E – Please be Aware of the Following: Submission in hardcopy or any other means not given in the above guidelines will not be accepted. You do not need to submit any other forms or cover sheets (e.g. form ET3) with your ECA. You are reminded that electronic transmission is not immediate. The network traffic may be particularly heavy on the date of submission deadline and connections to the system cannot be guaranteed. Hence, you are advised to submit your work early. Canvas will allow you to submit your work late but your work will be subjected to the mark-deduction scheme. You should therefore not jeopardise your course result by submitting your ECA at the last minute. It is your responsibility to check and ensure that your files are successfully submitted to Canvas. F - Plagiarism and Collusion Plagiarism and collusion are forms of cheating and are not acceptable in any form in a student’s work, including this ECA. Plagiarism and collusion are taking work done by others or work done together with others respectively and passing it off as your own. You can avoid plagiarism by giving appropriate references when you use other people’s ideas, words or pictures (including diagrams). Refer to the APA Manual if you need reminding about quoting and referencing. You can avoid collusion by ensuring that your submission is based on your own individual effort. The electronic submission of your ECA will be screened by plagiarism detection software. For more information about plagiarism and collusion, you should refer to the Student Handbook (Section 5.2.1.3). You are reminded that SUSS takes a tough stance against plagiarism or collusion. Serious cases will normally result in the student being referred to SUSS’s Student Disciplinary Group. For other cases, significant mark penalties or expulsion from the course will be imposed.BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 5 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 Important Note: Grading of TMA/GBA/ECA Submissions Marks awarded to your assignment are based on the following guidelines: 1. 80% of the marks are allocated to the content of your answers:  The marks awarded to what your answers cover depend on the extent to which they cover the key points that correctly and comprehensively address each question.  The key points should be supported by evidence drawn from course materials and, wherever relevant, from other credible sources. 2. 20% of the marks are allocated to the presentation of your answers: Wherever applicable, the marks awarded to how your answers are presented depend on the extent to which your answers:  form a sound reasoning by developing those key points in a clear, logical and succinct manner;  provide proper and adequate in-text citation and referencing to content drawn from course materials and other credible sources;  strictly follow APA formatting and style guidelines1, in particular for:  in-text citations and end-of-report references;  the identification of figures and tables;  use, wherever relevant, the specialised vocabulary and terminology commonly used in discussions about the topic(s) covered by each question;  provide a reference or bibliography at the end of the main report;  include less relevant details in an Appendix;  use sentence constructions that are grammatically and syntactically correct;  are free from spelling mistakes; present the workings, numerical formulation and results in a logical manner that follow the APA formatting and style guidelines;  design and present graphs, diagrams and plots that follow the APA formatting and style guidelines;  are highly original;  have proper formatting, which may:  include a properly formatted cover page;  respect the answer length/word count set in the assignment guidelines, if any is prescribed;  present answers in paragraphs with proper spacing and page margins; include page numbers and appendices, if necessary. 1 You can find a short tutorial on the APA formatting and style here: https://is.gd/mgEOnC . Additional details (pertaining to tables & figures) can also be found here: https://is.gd/O4vDdT .BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 6 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 Video Presentation Evaluation Criteria Note: Students will be assessed on the quality of the presentation and not the quality of the video recording. However, the recording is expected to have video and audio clarity. Showing your PowerPoint projection in the background is NOT required. Organisation of Presentation /8 • Logical flow of presentation Posture & Body Language /5 • Posture: Standing, straight back etc… • Body language: – Hand gestures supporting oral arguments, etc… Eye-Contact /5 • Looking at the video camera • No reading of slides or notes or cue cards Pace & Articulation /7 • Pace: Speaks neither too fast nor too slow • Articulation: Oral expression is clear and confident in the presentation. TOTAL /25 Presentation Summary Evaluation Criteria Format and Style of Slides /3 • Layout, clarity of text elements, colour blends, graphical enhancements Clarity and Coherence /4 • Proper flow - title page, introduction, body, results, recommendations / discussion points, conclusion/summary; quick to understand, free from grammatical errors Creativity /3 • Ability to use creative elements to value-add to the presentation so as to enhance understanding and clarity of difficult concepts TOTAL /10BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 7 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 SECTION A (Total 65 marks) This ECA case is designed to allow students to apply the materials learned from the course. Students are required to use Microsoft Project software for this assessment. Please note that the details of this project are fictitious. Any resemblance to real-life situations is purely coincidental. PROJECT CASE: STADIUM SOUND SYSTEM PROJECT Background National Sports Cluster (NSC) Pte Ltd manages the National Sports Cluster, a range of facilities situated at the West Coast of Singapore. The cluster comprises a stadium, several swimming pools and a retail mall. The Sports Cluster concept, introduced by the government in 2005, envisaged a Public-Private Partnership agreement between the government, represented by its agency, the Country Sports Council (CSC), and a business consortium to operate a sporting infrastructure that promotes an active lifestyle. NSC was formed by the winning consortium to design, build and operate the cluster. Part of the business model includes NSC renting the facilities to event organisers (called the “Hirers”, designated as NSC’s direct customers) such as soccer associations and concert organisers. Besides levying the rental fee, NSC will collect a fraction of Hirers’ revenues from the spectators (who are the end-customers). NSC’s vision is to develop the National Sports Cluster into a world-class lifestyle centre, featuring sports, entertainment and leisure events. NSC’s motto: “We Cluster Your Enjoyment at NSC!” aims to bring people of all ages to the cluster to enjoy a wide variety of sports and entertainment events. Stadiums’ sound systems are traditionally used for announcements during sports events. As more concert organisers stage their performances in stadiums to accommodate larger audience, the use of these non-optimal sound systems can hinder spectators’ enjoyment. (Ref: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/unfair-to-pin-all-blame-on-nationalstadium). Concert organisers are concerned that poor acoustics may tarnish the performers’ reputation. Nevertheless, with meticulous designs, large stadium such as London's Wembley Stadium (90,000 seats) and the Beijing National Stadium (100,000 seats) can deliver good sound quality. The latest stadium sound system technology is the High Precision Spatial Sound (HPSS) developed and patented by Thunder Lab (TLab) in USA. It consists of high powered surround sound amplifier with many speakers strategically placed around a stadium, each tuned with different parameters, customized to its location. Stadiums that intend to implement the system will have to purchase it from TLab, installed by one of its qualified partners, and certified by TLab before commissioning. In line with NSC’s vision to be a world-class lifestyle centre, its management aims to attract international superstars to perform here. One of the targeted singers is George Jackson, who will be touring Asia countries in November 2017. NSC has liaised with George’s manager andBUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 8 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 he demanded that the NSC Stadium be equipped with the HPSS System. He will audition at the NSC stadium on 5 October 2017 to decide whether to stage George’s performance there. In view of the potential earnings, the NSC management decides to implement the High Precision Spatial Sound (HPSS) System and calls it the HPSS Project. Section 1: Defining the Project Question 1 The NSC CEO, Carl Lim, has appointed the following staff to form a project team for the HPSS Project: 1. Yourself, a Communication Manager who is appointed as the Project Manager. You have managed a few projects successfully at NSC. The management trusts that your resourcefulness and tenacity will help in this important project. 2. Mr. Tan Hock Chye, a Senior Facilities Engineer: His daily duty is to supervise the stadium facilities’ Maintenance & Engineering (M&E) works that are normally carried out by workers of local contractors. As the HPSS System will be an important asset, NSC needs to have a highly qualified permanent staff to handle it. He needs to be involved in the system’s implementation and future operations. As there is no such staff in NSC, you are asked to recruit externally. It is preferred that the person has an audio engineering qualification. A job advertisement is published and it attracted many applicants. (a) Analyze three (3) personal attributes (excluding technical expertise) which you will use to assess the applicants in the recruitment exercise, and why they are critical to the success of the HPSS Project. (9 marks) After the recruitment exercise, Mr Kumar Chandra is employed to join NSC and the HSSP Project. NSC also contracted Quantum Corp from USA, a Thunder Lab partner, to design and install the HPSS System. Quantum will second one of its staff, Mr Mike Alkinson, for the project implementation. (b) There are four members on board now: Yourself, Tan, Kumar and Mike. As the team is new, categorize three (3) common vehicles to establish a strong team identity and how you can use the vehicles in the HPSS Project. (6 marks)BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 9 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 The CEO briefed you on the management’s expectations: the project shall start on 3 July 2017 and be commissioned by 4 October 2017, the working day before the audition by George’s manager. The sound performance must be optimized to pass Thunder Lab’s certification test. Exact budget has yet to be worked out. Finance is tight but management will try to accommodate essential expenses if properly justified. (c) Based on the CEO’s direction, you are to arrange the priority of the project by constructing a project priority matrix. (5 marks) Section 2: Scheduling Resources and Costs You conducted a pre-project discussion with your members. The team worked out the project activities and details as shown in Table 1 and the budget in Table 2. Table 1: Activities List for High Precision Spatial Sound (HPSS) Project Activity No. Task Name Dur ation - Prede cessors - Resource Names 1 High Precision Spatial Sound (HPSS) Project 2 Initial Meeting 1 PM, Kumar, Mike, Tan 3 Design by Quantum 7 2 Kumar, Mike 4 Purchase sound equipment 3 3 PM 5 Issue order to contractor 2 3 PM 6 Deliver sound equipment 26 4 TLab 7 Site preparation 3 3 Tan, Contractor 8 Construct speaker enclosures 15 5,7 Tan, Contractor 9 Construct trunkings 10 8 Tan, Contractor 10 Lay cables 8 9 Tan, Contractor 11 Install sound equipment 10 6,8 Kumar, Mike 12 Connect system to collect data 3 10,11 Kumar, Mike 13 Customise system for NSC 5 12 Kumar, Mike 14 Test HPSS System 3 13 Kumar, Mike 15 Certification by Thunder Lab 4 14 Kumar, Mike, TLab 16 Document project 2 14 Kumar 17 Commission HPSS System 1 15,16 PMBUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 10 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 Table 2 – Budgeted Cost Activity No. Task Name Estimated Cost S$ Cost Accrual 1 High Precision Spatial Sound (HPSS) Project Nil N.A 2 Initial Meeting 2,000 Prorated 3 Design by Quantum 20,000 Prorated 4 Purchase sound equipment * 150,000 Prorated 5 Issue order to contractor 500 Prorated 6 Deliver sound equipment 1,500 Prorated 7 Site preparation 500 Prorated 8 Construct speaker enclosures 30,000 Prorated 9 Construct trunkings 15,000 Prorated 10 Lay cables 10,000 Prorated 11 Install sound equipment 20,000 Prorated 12 Connect system to collect data 8,000 Prorated 13 Customise system for NSC 10,000 Prorated 14 Test HPSS System 6,000 Prorated 15 Certification by Thunder Lab 15,000 Prorated 16 Document project 500 Prorated 17 Commission HPSS System 1,000 Prorated * The sound equipment (Item 4) was quoted and to be paid in USD. The cost shown was after conversion to Singapore Dollar (SGD) with the exchange rate in April 2017, before the start of project. Note on using MS Project: You have to use MS Project to plan and track the HPSS Project in Question 2, 3 & 4. Take note of the following and carry out the steps. 1. The above schedule and costing are based on a 5-day work-week. Each day has 8 working hours. No work will be performed on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays unless stated otherwise. Do not change any durations, predecessor relationships or the resources assignments. 2. The Public Holidays which may fall within the project period and to be marked as NonWorking Day are: National Day on 9 Aug 2017, Hari Raya Haji on 1 Sep 2017, and Deepavali on 18 Oct 2017. If a Public Holiday falls on Sunday, the next day (Monday) will be a holiday-in-lieu. However, there will be no holiday-in-lieu for Public Holiday that falls on Saturday. To set Non-working day, click Project->Change Working Time. In the pop up window, enter the holiday into the table, click Details, and then click Nonworking.BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 11 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 3. Enter the Task Name, Duration, Predecessors and Resource Names into the respective columns in MS Project. Do not change the order of the activities (you are not required to list them according to WBS). Set Activity 1 as the Higher-Level Activity. Right indent all other activities below to second level. Click Project -> Project Information -> Set Start Date as the date dictated by the CEO. Then right click on Activity 1 to access its Information and set its Deadline under the Advance Tab as the date indictated by the CEO. 4. Enter the costs and accrual methods shown in Table 2 into Fixed Cost cells in the MS Project Cost Table (View-> Table -> Cost to access Cost Table). 5. Select all tasks, click Task -> Auto schedule. Then, to observe any initial resource conflicts, click Resource-> Clear Leveling. 6. Diagrams, charts, tables, graphs and relevant project outputs may be shown as images in answers to the questions. These must be appropriately cropped and presented so that they are legible and can be comfortably viewed. Students shall not refer the examiner to open and view contents of any inserted files. Such reports will appear unprofessional and deemed to have not answered with 0 mark awarded on the related questions. Question 2 (a) Prepare in a single diagram, the Gantt Chart view of MS Project with columns Information (i), Task Name, Duration, Start Date, Finish Date, Predecessors and Resource Names shown. Identify the project completion date and any resource conflicts observed. (6 marks) (b) Due to the specialised skills required, tight budget and project schedule, and full dedication of the team is required on this project, initial resource conflicts cannot be solved by transferring tasks to other people, multi-tasking nor add in more manpower. Hence, they can only be resolved through resource leveling. Operate resource levelling on MS Project by carrying out the following steps: Click Resource -> Leveling Option -> click Automatic and Level entire project, and then click Level All. Discuss the changes made and any effect due to this resource leveling operation. Evaluate any impact to the project completion date. (6 marks) The CEO approves the project schedule and cost. Set the Status Date (Project -> Status Date) as 4 July 2017. Save the updated MS Project as Baseline Plan (Project -> Save Baseline -> check Entire project), which will be used to evaluate the project performance at a later stage.BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 12 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 Section 3: Reducing Project Duration and Cost Question 3 During the project implementation, some unforeseen incidents happened. Thunder Lab has released its new HPSS specifications. Mike revised the design and found that the number of speaker enclosures have to be increased. The cost and duration for Activity 8 (Construct speaker enclosures) are affected. The duration must be increased by four (4) days. The contractor quoted the additional material cost as $3000; the labour cost is $1000 per Saturday or Sunday, and $500 per weekday. (a) Explain the problem encountered in the project scheduling to cater to this change. Discuss your approach to solve the problem. Choose the dates of the extra Saturday, Sunday and weekdays that are needed to carry out Activity 8 in a way that additional costs and disruptions are minimised. Determine the total additional costs. Add the costs and duration to Activity 8. Note: To set weekend as working day, we will modify the Project Calendar. Do this by: Click Project ->Change Working Time. In the pop-up window, enter the Saturday and/or Sunday into the table (one day in a row), click Details, and then click Working Times, click both the morning and afternoon. There may be tasks parallel to Activity 8 that will be affected by this change. To compensate, you must add additional days corresponding to the number of working weekend day(s) to their durations so that their ending dates remain unchanged. * Although you can change the individual resource’s (e.g. Tan’s) calendar, it may not work. Hence the above approach is taken. (8 marks) In addition, the cost of audio equipment (Activity 4) increased by S$15,000 (after conversion of the currency to SGD). You have also negotiated with Quantum Corp to have the design fee (Activity 3) decreased by 15%. (b) As an ISO9000 Certified company, NSC has a system to manage the Project Process and Documentation. Evaluate four (4) important accomplishments by examining what are the processes that need to be carried out and items affected in the HPSS Project due to the changes in the Thunder Lab’s HPSS Specifications. (8 marks)BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 13 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 Section 4: Monitoring a Project Progress and Closing Project Question 4 Several other issues occurred during the implementation period: 1. Due to appreciation of US Dollar, the total sound equipment cost in Purchase sound equipment (Activity 4) is increased by 5%. 2. The contractor faced a shortage of cable technicians. Lay cables (Activity 10) duration is increased by 2 days. There is no change in cost. 3. Due to the good design, customise system for NSC (Activity 13) is reduced by 2 days. There is no change in cost. Modify the MS file by updating the Duration and Fixed Cost cells to incorporate all the changes for Question 4. The project progressed till commissioned. Set the Status Date to the next working day after Commission date. Update the project (Project -> Update Project -> Entire Project). (a) Demonstrate in a single diagram the Tracking Gantt Chart view of MS Project with columns Information (i), Task Name, Duration, Start Date and Finish Date shown. State the completion date. (5 marks) (b) Analyse the final total project cost. Demonstrate the Cost Performance Index (CPI) formula, and compute the CPI. Demonstrate a MS Project cost report or table with CPI to verify the correctness of your calculation. Interpret the CPI. (6 marks) (c) Propose and discuss three (3) actions that could have been done earlier to prevent the HPSS Project issues from happening or minimise their impacts. (6 marks)BUS353e Copyright © 2017 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Page 14 of 14 ECA – July Semester 2017 SECTION B (Total 25 marks) The Senior Management of NSC asked for a presentation one week after the HPSS System was commissioned. Your presentation should address the following issues: 1. What are the objectives and priorities of the project, and are they met? 2. Were there changes in schedule and what are the contributing events? 3. Was there a cost overrun and what were the contributors for the cost overruns if any? 4. Lessons learnt and suggestions for future project. Prepare a video recording of the presentation of at least 3 minutes but not exceeding 6 minutes. There are two methods for ECA video assignment submission; either Record Media or Upload Media. For Upload Media, please note that your file size should be no more than 500MB and the format is in .mp4. (25 marks) SECTION C (Total 10 marks) Prepare a set of PowerPoint presentation upon which the video presentation is based. Please note that the PowerPoint must be converted to PDF before submission to SUSS (Canvas). (10 marks) ----- END OF ECA PAPER -----