SECTION A

$[40$ MARKS$]$

Read the article below and answer the questions that follow.

Acme Corporation

Acme Corporation embarked upon an optimistic project to develop a new product for the marketplace. Acme's scientific community made a technical break through and now the project appears to be in the development stage, more than being pure or applied research. The product is considered to be high tech. If the product can be launched within the next four months, Acme expects to dominate the market for at least a year or so until the competition catches up$.$ Marketing has stated that the product must sell for not more than $$150$ to $$160$ per unit to be the cost$-$focused market leader. Acme uses a project management methodology for all multifunctional projects. The methodology has six life cycle phases:

Preliminary planning

Detailed planning

Execution$/$design selection

Prototyping

$.$ Testing$/$buyoff

Production

At the end of each life cycle phase a gate$/$phase review meeting is held with the project sponsor and other appropriate stakeholders. Gate review meetings are Acme Corporation formal meetings. The company has demonstrated success following this methodology for managing projects. At the end of the second life cycle stage of this project, detailed planning, a meeting is held with just the project manager and the project sponsor. The purpose of the meeting is to review the detailed plan and identify any future problem areas that will require involvement by the project sponsor.

The Meeting

Sponsor: "I simply do not understand this document you sent me entitled 'Risk Management Plan.$\text{'}$ All I see is a work breakdown structure with work packages at level $5$ of the WBS accompanied by almost $100$ risk events. Why am I looking at more than $100$ risk events? Furthermore, they're not categorized in any manner. Doesn't our project management methodology provide any guidance on how to do this?"

PM: "All of these risk events can and will impact the design of the final product. We must be sure we select the right design at the lowest risk. Unfortunately, our project management methodology does not include any provisions or guidance on how to develop a risk management plan. Perhaps it should."

Sponsor: "I see no reason for an in$-$depth analysis of $100$ or so risk events. That's too many. Where are the probabilities and expected outcomes or damages?"

PM: $"$My team will not be assigning probabilities or damages until we get closer to prototype development. Some of these risk events may go away altogether."

Sponsor: "Why spend all of this time and money on risk identification if the risks can go away next month? You've spent too much money doing this. If you spend the same amount of money on all of the risk management steps, then we'll be way over budget."

PM: $"$We haven't looked at the other risk management steps yet, but I believe all of the remaining steps will require less than $10$ percent of the budget we used for risk identification. We'll stay on budget.

Answer ALL the questions in this section.

QUESTION $1$

$(20$ Marks$)$

$1\mathrm{.}1$ With reference to the case study, identify who the key stakeholders are?

$(2$ Marks$)$

$1\mathrm{.}2$ For the project sponsor to be at the same level as the project manager, there seems to be a need to

$(4$ Marks$)$ understand what a risk is$.$ Provide a clear definition of what a risk is$,$ and include the TWO $(2)$ primary components of a risk in the definition.

$1\mathrm{.}3$ Risk management is a key component that will ensure a project is executed with minimal disturbance.

$(4$ Marks$)$

What is risk management and what does it entail?

$1\mathrm{.}4$ Identify TWO $(2)$ modes of communication that can be used by the two stakeholders in a project and

$(10$ Marks$)$

provide examples.

QUESTION $2$

$2\mathrm{.}1$ The case study focuses on stakeholders without being explicit on whether stakeholders are internal or not. Is it true or false that stakeholders are only internal to the organisation? Substantiate your answer with examples.

$2\mathrm{.}2$ The project team can easily affect project progress if effective communication is not done properly with

$(5$ Marks$)$

all stakeholders. Why is it important that project managers always maintain effective and continuous relationship management throughout the project life cycle?

$2\mathrm{.}3$ Having identified the stakeholders in the case study, there are TWO $(2)$ principles that are more ethical

$(10$ Marks$)$

in the stakeholder classification. Analyse these principles.

$(20$ Marks$)$

$(5$ Marks$)$

MARKS$]$

QUESTION $3$

$(20$ Marks$)$

$3\mathrm{.}1$ Clearly outline processes, policies and proceedings that are developed during the initiating and planning $(10$ Marks$)$ stage or phase of the project. Provide examples.

$3\mathrm{.}2$ Identify FIVE $(5)$ project documents that can be considered as inputs in the Plan Stakeholder

$(10$ Marks$)$ Engagement and explain the use of each document.

QUESTION $4$

$4\mathrm{.}1$ Discuss ALL FIVE $(5)$ various categories upon which stakeholders may be grouped in order to enable use of the Stakeholder Assessme