Q1. What are the various phases of project management life cycle?

Explain The various phases in project management life cycle are Analysis and evaluation

Marketing Design Inspecting, testing and delivery Post completion analysis

Analysis and Evaluation Phase It starts with receiving a request to analyse the problem from the customer. The project manager conducts the analysis of the problem and submits a detailed report to the top management. The report should consist of what the problem is, ways of solving the problem, the objectives to be achieved, and the success rate of achieving the goal. Marketing Phase A project proposal is prepared by a group of people including the project manager. This proposal has to contain the strategies adopted to market the product to the customers. Design Phase Based on the inputs received in the form of project feasibility study, preliminary project evaluation, project proposal and customer interviews, following outputs are produced: System design specification

Program functional specification Program design specification Project plan

Inspecting, Testing and Delivery Phase During this phase, the project team works under the guidance of the project manager. The project manager has to ensure that the team working under him implements the project designs accurately. The project has to be tracked or monitored through its cost, manpower and schedule. The tasks involved in these phases are: Managing the customer

Marketing the future work Performing quality control work

Post Completion Analysis Phase After delivery or completion of the project, the staff performance has to be evaluated. The tasks involved in this phase are: Documenting the lessons learnt from the project

Analysing project feedback Preparing project execution report Analysing the problems encountered during the project

Q2. Write brief note on project planning and scoping. Before you create a project plan, you need to define the project scope. A project scope provides the information that you need to complete the project plan. The purpose of project planning and scoping is to first identify the areas of the project work and the forces affecting the project and then to define the boundaries of the project. In addition, the scoping has to be explicitly stated on the line of the project objectives. It also has to implicitly provide directions to the project. The planning and scoping should be such that the project manager is able to assess every stage of the project and also enabling the assessment of the quality of the deliverable of the project at every stage. Fist, let us list the steps involved in project scoping. These steps include: i) Identifying the various parametric forces relevant to the project and its stages ii) Enabling the team members to work on tools to keep track of the stages and thereby proceed in the planned manner iii) Avoiding areas of problems which may affect the progress of the project iv) Eliminating the factors responsible for inducing the problems v) Analysing the financial implications and cost factor at various stages of the project vi) Understanding and developing the various designs required at various stages of the project vii) Identifying the key areas to be included in the scope through various meetings, discussion, and interviews with the clients viii) Providing a base and track to enable alignment of project with the organisation and its business objectives ix) Finding out the dimensions applicable to the project and also the ones not applicable to the project x) Listing out all the limitations, boundary values and constraints in the project xi) Understanding the assumptions made in defining the scope After completing the project scoping, you can start your project plan. Project planning involves three processes as shown in the figure

Let us now list the steps involved in each process of project planning. a) The identification process The main steps in the identification process of any project are: i) Identifying initial requirements ii) Validating them against the project objective iii) Identifying the criteria such as quality objectives and quantitative requirements for assessing the success of both the final product and the process used to create it iv) Identifying the framework of the solution v) Preparing a template of the frame work of solution to illustrate the project feasibility vi) Preparing relevant charts to demonstrate the techniques of executing the project and its different stages vii) Preparing a proper project schema of achieving the defined business requirements for the

project viii) Identifying training requirement ix) Making a list of the training program necessary for the personnel working on the project x) Identifying the training needs of the individuals working in various functions responsible in the project xi) Preparing a training plan and a training calendar xii) Assessing the capabilities and skills of all those identified as part of the project organisation b) The review Process The main steps in the review process of any project are: i) Establishing a training plan to acquaint the project team members with the methodologies, technologies and business areas under study ii) Updating the project schedule to accommodate scheduled training activities iii) Identifying the needs for review and reviewing the project scope iv) Reviewing a project with respect to its stages and progress by preparing a plan for the review, fixing an agenda to review the project progress and keeping the reports ready for discussion about stage performance v) Reviewing the project scope, the objective statement, the non conformances in the project stages and identifying the need to use the project plan vi) Preparing a proper project plan indicating all the requirements from start to finish of the project and also at every stage of the project vii) Preparing a checklist of items to be monitored and controlled during the course of execution of the project c) The analysis process The main steps in the analysis process of any project are: i) Comparing the actual details with that in the plan with reference to project stages. ii) Measuring various components of the project and its stages frequently to control the project from deviating and also monitor the performance. iii) Deciding how the task, the effort and the defects are to be tracked, what tools to be used, what reporting structure and frequency will be followed at various stages. iv) Identifying the preventive and corrective steps to be taken in case of any variance v) Performing root cause analysis for all problems encountered. If all the above steps are performed, scoping and planning become effective and the ideal outcome are achieved. Q3. What is Return on Investment (ROI)? Explain its importance A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio. The return on investment formula:

In the above formula "gains from investment", refers to the proceeds obtained from selling the investment of interest. Return on investment is a very popular metric because of its versatility and simplicity. That is, if an investment does not have a positive ROI, or if there are other opportunities with a higher ROI, then the investment should be not be undertaken.

Keep in mind that the calculation for return on investment and, therefore the definition, can be modified to suit the situation -it all depends on what you include as returns and costs. The definition of the term in the broadest sense just attempts to measure the profitability of an investment and, as such, there is no one "right" calculation. For example, a marketer may compare two different products by dividing the gross profit that each product has generated by its respective marketing expenses. A financial analyst, however, may compare the same two products using an entirely different ROI calculation, perhaps by dividing the net income of an investment by the total value of all resources that have been employed to make and sell the product. This flexibility has a downside, as ROI calculations can be easily manipulated to suit the user's purposes, and the result can be expressed in many different ways. When using this metric, make sure you understand what inputs are being used.
Return on Investment (ROI) is the glue that binds project investments to business results. Organizations that systematically predict, measure, and manage the business return of their projects gain competitive advantage in an increasingly challenging business landscape. Few organizations that implement good processes for ROI alignment do so as a matter of principle or strategy. Many have experienced the results of poor alignment through depleted budgets and ineffective (and/or uncompleted) projects. C.C Pace has been working with companies for over 20 years to maximize the business value of their technology investments. This paper describes a flexible framework that can be used to develop and implement ROI analyses for your companys projects. The framework emphasizes the following techniques: Using lessons learned from past projects. Weighing corporate priorities. Evaluating problems with current processes. Identifying new initiatives. Evaluating alternatives. Identifying comprehensive initiatives. Planning Implementation. We have included a high-level overview of the framework as well as step-by-step process descriptions and guidelines. Q4. Discuss the role of effective data management in the success of project management.

Data management consists of conducting activities which facilitate acquiring data, processing it and distributing it. Acquisition of data is the primary function. To be useful, data should have three important characteristics timeliness, sufficiency and relevancy . Management of acquisition lies in ensuring that these are satisfied before they are stored for processing and decisions taken on the analysis. There should be data about customers, suppliers, market conditions, new technology, opportunities, human resources, economic activities, government regulations, political upheavals, all of which affect the way you function. Most of the data go on changing because the aforesaid sources have uncertainty inherent in them. So updating data is a very important aspect of their management. Storing what is relevant in a form that is available to concerned persons is also important. When a project is underway dataflow from all members of the team will be flowing with the progress of activities. The data may be about some shortfalls for which the member is seeking instructions. A project manager will have to analyse them, discover further data from other sources and see how he can use them and take decisions. Many times he will have to inform and seek sanction from top management. The management will have to study the impact on the overall organisational goals and strategies and convey their decisions to the manager for implementation. For example, Bill of Materials is a very important document in Project Management. It contains details about all materials that go into

the project at various stages and has to be continuously updated as all members of the project depend upon it for providing materials for their apportioned areas of execution. Since information is shared by all members, there is an opportunity for utilising some of them when others do not need them. To ascertain availability at some future point of time, information about orders placed, backlogs, lead times are important for all the members. A proper MIS will take care of all these aspects. ERP packages too help in integrating data from all sources and present them to individual members in the way they require. When all these are done efficiently the project will have no hold ups an assure success.

Q5. What is Project risk management? Explain its significance. Risk is an inherent part of any project. You cannot neglect the potential impact of risk in the project. Risks can be at any stage of the project life cycle and create impact based on it. In simple words, project risk can be defined as the possibility that something may go wrong, or at least not turn out as planned. Risks are different for each project, and risks change as a project progresses. In any project, it is difficult to assess the quantum of risks involved. Therefore careful planning will result in minimising the risk in a project. The formulation of a project is based on the estimates of the past data available with the project management team. The data may have been from the recorded information about past projects executed successfully or from the experience of the project management team members. There will be lots of uncertainties and surprises in a project during its execution. It is necessary to analyse and estimate the project in all respects in order to enable the manager take proper decision on the project. Project-specific risks could include but are not limited to following examples: Mismanagement of resources Loss of key employees Questionable vendor availability and skills Insufficient time Incorrect estimation of scope Inadequate project budgets Funding issues Cost overruns Legal liabilities Credit risks Accidents and natural disasters Project risk management is all about the systematic process of identifying, analysing,

prioritising and responding to risk by applying risk management principles and controlling the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events at the project level. It attempts to maximise the probability and consequences of positive events and to minimise the probability and consequences of adverse events. The goal is to prevent or reduce risk in a cost-effective manner without compromising quality or harming the mission or timeline. The benefits of proper risk management in projects are huge. Organisations can generate a lot of profit if they deal with uncertain project events in a proactive manner. The result will be that they minimise the impact of project threats and seize the opportunities that exists. Proper risk management enables you to deliver the project on time, on budget and with the quality results ones project sponsor/client demands. In addition to this, other project team members can be also happy and motivated enough to perform better and better. All this would essentially boil down to increase in the productivity of team members and in the efficiency and effectiveness of the resources. In this unit you will learn more about project risk management. Q6. Write brief note on project management application software. The Microsoft Project family of products offers tools to work on a project from management point of view. Microsoft Project is designed for people who manage projects independently and dont require the capability to manage resources from a central repository. Microsoft has a team project management solution that enables project managers and their teams to collaborate on projects. After creating a fairly complete final project plan it is a good idea to create a baseline version to compare the original project plan with actual events and achievements. The following is the typical process followed for project management through this software as shown in figure

Reviewing the Baseline The Baseline created can be used to compare the original project plan with actual events and achievements. This will display the days required for each task and project phase. For actual operating instructions please refer the Microsoft Project User Handbook. Tracking Progress After creating a baseline, if the project has begun, it is necessary to enter actual dates for the tasks

that are being completed and the resource utilisation used to complete them. Again review different views and the cost and summary tables before proceeding to the next section. Return to the Entry view of the Gantt chart before proceeding. Balancing Workloads At times people and equipment may be assigned more work than they can complete in normal working hours. This is called over allocation. Project can test for this condition and reschedule (or level) their workload to accommodate completing tasks during a normal day. Monitoring Variances After a baseline has been established and the project has begun, it is desirable to determine if tasks are being accomplished on time and /or if cost over runs are occurring. We also need to keep monitoring the performance to detect early deviations. Creating Reports Project has many different built-in reports and has the capability building custom reports and exporting data to other MS Office applications for integration into other reporting venues. These are often intelligent reports.