1 Project Management Principles Coursework Assignment: Things to pay attention to, for the report and the oral presentation...

Question 1 A high level project plan including a description of objectives, membership of the groups/project board, work breakdown structure, quality assurance panel/strategies/procedures, risk analysis, communication strategies and some cost analysis at team and group level (Marking criteria: concise coverage of the objectives, planning and control structure, quality of analysis and group work) (15 marks) 2

Q1 – Points Added for... The project high level plan is well organised and provide suitable detail with regards to the plans and project strategies. The Group membership is clearly presented and task for each Group allocated - clearly showing a detailed work breakdown structure. Although, this should also have shown the relationships between the other Groups in the group. The risk assessment and strategies are clearly defined. The use of MS Project to produce the GANTT chart and a network diagram which indicates dependencies is useful. A more detailed discussion on the changes made in weeks 7 and 9 would have been useful. A good deal of work has gone into producing an informative network diagram. The choice of colour code could have been reviewed for accessibility and printability. Teams who do better would have referenced their work against best practice and other academic and textbook commentaries. 3

Question 2 Outline of the team tasks in the form of Work Breakdown Structure, resource loading, planning and control structure and communication methods at the team and group level (Marking criteria: Reasonableness, practicality and the level of detail). (15 marks) 4

Q2 – Points Added for... 5 Apart from breaking down the work load into practical chunks, teams who do well here would have given a textual description/ summary of how the Work Breakdown Structure was arrived at, highlighting the key components of a WBS and any challenges.

Question 3 [GANTT and a network diagram that describe each task addressed by the team and show the logical relationships among or sequencing of, project activities. (Marking criteria: Accuracy and value of task description; complexity, consistency. accuracy of dependencies) (20 marks) 6

Q3 – Points Added for... It is expected that each Group would produce a working version of the Gantt chart and explain what it is used for. Higher marks will be awarded where there is good evidence of accuracy and value of the task description, complexity, and consistency; showing all the relevant dependencies. 7

Question 4 An account of the risks to the team with an outline of contingency plans to deal with the identified risks. (Marking criteria: Comprehensiveness and analytical quality of risk classification and assessment; adequacy of contingency plans; account of use made of contingency plans) (10 marks) 8

Q4 – Points Added for... Groups that score highly would have recorded in their report submission a comprehensive analysis of risk classification and noting how it was actually monitored and managed in practice. Whilst some risks were identified, they could have been described with more details to compliment the contingency plans and added to the risk registers. 9

Question 5 Updates of plans at weeks 7 and 9 with a focus on progress and quality assurance (Marking criteria: Completeness of set, reasons for the updates, continuing consistency between Gantts, etc.) (10 marks) 10

Q5 – Points Added for... A fuller and more critical progress report, would link up various elements of project management, justifying the reason for any change and the direct impact on the Gantt chart and risk issues. 11

Question 6 Commentary on team and group work and the leadership style(s) used to manage the group (Marking criteria: Review of relevant concepts and theories, justification of views and relevance to actual facts and incidents) (10 marks) 12

Q6 – Points Added for... An excellent report would relate the theory and the practical experience gained in this project and highlighted what worked and what didn't. 13

14 Coursework Assignment: Things to pay attention to, more details...

Planning and Management Execution Report Document Presentation / Viva 15

Planning and Management (1) [+ MARKS] Techniques of project management have been applied appropriately - Gantt or network diagrams used, monitoring of progress and revision of the plan as necessary. [- MARKS] There is some evidence of project planning and management activity but it is limited in scope and has not affected the development of the project in any significant manner. 16

Planning and Management (2) [+ MARKS] Evidence of thorough planning of research and development activities. [- MARKS] There is minimal evidence that research and development activity was planned purposefully. 17

Planning and Management (3) [+ MARKS] Evidence of effective management through clear and complete records of a good number of purposeful meetings. [- MARKS] There is evidence that management meetings were held but these were largely ineffective OR they are inadequately documented 18

Execution (1) [+ MARKS] The team demonstrates a clear understanding of the principle of the information systems development life cycle. [- MARKS] Some allusion (=νύξη, αναφορά) has been made to the principle of the systems development life cycle but there is little evidence that it has been used effectively in the development of this project. 19

Execution (2) [+ MARKS] Good understanding of client’s requirements; addresses all issues. [- MARKS] Understanding of the client’s requirements is very limited in scope and/or lacking in depth. 20

Execution (3) [+ MARKS] Credible model or other description of proposed system, upon which the prototype application is based. [- MARKS] The model or description of the proposed system is incomplete and/or flawed. 21

Execution (4) [+ MARKS] Sound understanding of the principles of RDBMS in general. Prototype uses realistic linked tables of data and produces more than one report which is relevant to the client’s needs, each based upon a well-constructed database query. [- MARKS] Very weak understanding of the principles of RDBMS and of Access in particular. The prototype contains some tables and a query to produce a report but falls well short of the client’s requirements. 22

Execution (5) [+ MARKS] The application has an attractive user interface reflecting appreciation of the importance of effective human-computer interaction. [- MARKS] Some attempt has been made to produce a user interface though this is no more than the most basic provision. 23

Report Document (1) [+ MARKS] The document presents all of the features of a formal report and reflects near professional standards. [- MARKS] The document lacks some features of a formal report & does not reflect professional standards. 24

Report Document (2) [+ MARKS] Clear and grammatical English is used consistently throughout the report [- MARKS] Poor written English (e.g. lacks clarity, contains grammatical errors, inconsistent standards) 25

Report Document (3) [+ MARKS] Style and tone of the writing is appropriate to a near-professional document [- MARKS] The style and/or tone of the writing is inappropriate in some respects 26

Report Document (4) [+ MARKS] Standards of word processing, proof reading, printing, and binding are uniformly good. [- MARKS] Standards of word processing, proof reading, printing and binding are generally poor. 27

Report Document (5) [+ MARKS] Report demonstrates a clear logical structure; sections and paragraphs have explicit and appropriate headings & are clearly numbered. The argument presented is easy to follow, rational and complete. [- MARKS] The structure of the report is simplistic and the argument is not clear and logical. The use of paragraphs, headings, and numbering is sometimes confused and unhelpful. 28

Presentation / Viva (1) [+ MARKS] Arguments used are clear and logical. [- MARKS] Arguments are confused and ill- structured. 29

Presentation / Viva (2) [+ MARKS] …comprehensive in content. [- MARKS] Incomplete and/or shallow in content. 30

Presentation / Viva (3) [+ MARKS] …delivered with clarity and balance. [- MARKS] Poorly presented, weak individual delivery skills. 31

Presentation / Viva (4) [+ MARKS] …supported by high quality materials, when and where appropriate. [- MARKS] Support materials e.g. visual aids are inadequate and/or of poor quality. 32