Exam Materials:

Please download the case study from the HBR course pack $"$ Project Management Analysis in the Internet Forecasting Industry.Links to an external site."

Supplemental Materials:

Excel data fileDownload Excel data file

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Format: The exam spans a case study of a project related to developing a cloud computing application by a software firm. You will develop a project schedule and develop contingency plans for potential scenarios. You will also conduct a project monitoring analysis to ensure the project stays on course.

Exam Questions:

SHOW ALL YOUR WORK

Question $1$: Using the critical path analysis, answer the following questions: $20$pts

$(1$a$)$ Based on the "expected" tasks' duration, what is the estimated completion time for this project?

$(1$b$)$ What is the likelihood $($probability$)$ that the project will be completed in $40$ weeks?

Question $2$: What is the additional cost of reducing the project completion time to $35$ weeks? Which specific tasks do you recommend crashing to achieve this target completion time? $10$pts

Question $3$: What is the impact on project completion time if the market assessment $($Task B$)$ takes five weeks longer than expected? Justify your answer. $10$pts

Question $4$: Just the night before the meeting, Philip was informed by the Director of Quality that due to the complexity of the project, quality assurance work $($Task H$)$ is very likely to need seven weeks $($the most pessimistic time$)$ to complete. Answer the following questions: $20$pts

$(4$a$)$ How does this news impact the project completion time?

$(4$b$)$ Does the project now have a new critical path? If so$,$ what is it$?$

Question $5$: Construct a weekly schedule $($or GANTT chart$)$ for the project. You may use the template provided in the attached Excel data file. $10$pts

Note: Use the original project data $($i$.$e$.,$ ignore scenarios listed in previous questions$).$

Hint: For scheduling purposes, plan to start a task as early as possible.

Question $6$: Phillip started the project as per the weekly schedule $($from Q$5).$ He decided to conduct an earned value analysis $($EVA$)$ at the end of week $30$ to assess the project's progress. Using the task status reported in the attached Excel data file:

$(6$a$)$ Compute the project$$s cost variance $($CV$)$ and schedule variance $($SV$)$ at the end of week $30.10$ pts

$(6$b$)$ Using the schedule performance index $($SPI$)$ and cost performance index $($CPI$),$ is the project ahead or behind budget and schedule? $10$ pts

$(6$c$)$ Using the EVA analysis, estimate the extra budget Phillip would need to complete the project at its current pace. $10$ pts

Submission: You can submit your responses as part of the Excel data file provided with the case study. Please add a new tab to provide written responses to each exam question.