Engineering and Mathematics Project

 

FACULTY:                     Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences

DEPARTMENT:            Engineering and Mathematics MODULE TITLE:         Project and Quality Management

MODULE LEADER:     Dong Zhang

TIME ALLOWED:        2 hours (plus 10 minutes reading time)

EXAMINATION CONDUCT:

 

1.            The Examination Conduct Policy outlines the behavioural expectations of candidates attending any examination.

 

2.            It is a fundamental principle that students are assessed fairly and equitably. The University Academic Conduct Regulation defines unfair behaviour relating to an examination to be 'cheating'. The University will investigate and may sanction any acts or behaviours which breach the Code of Academic Conduct.

 

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

 

1.            Please do NOT start writing until told to do so by the invigilator.

 

2.            Candidates must NOT use red ink on the script answer book.

 

3.            Candidates will bring their own advanced calculator or standard calculator. Calculators must display either an approved advanced calculator sticker (blue) or an approved standard calculator sticker (red).

 

4.            Answer question 1 in Section A and two questions from Section B (THREE in total). No mark will be awarded for attempting further questions.

 

5.            This is a CLOSED BOOK exam. NO material may be taken into the exam.

 

6.            This examination paper MAY be taken from the venue by the candidates.

 

7.            For question 1 show the full working process for all calculations.

 

STATIONERY REQUIREMENTS PER CANDIDATE:

 

·         1 x 16 Page Answer Booklet(s)

 

 

 

THIS PAPER CONTAINS 4 PAGES INCLUDING THIS SHEET                 Page 1 of 4

 

Section A

 

1.        Consider a project with the information in Table 1.

 

Table 1

The project is budgeted with a fixed daily labour cost of £500 per day. There is no materials cost. For each activity there is an overhead of £500.

 

a).                      Construct the project network diagram using Activity-on- Node methodology, showing ESTs, LSTs, and total floats for each of the activity under normal time. Identify the project duration and the critical path under normal time.

(9 marks)

 

b).                     Develop a full crashing schedule table for the project. Clearly show the action, the step cost, and the critical path after each crash.

(12 marks)

 

c).                      Identify the overall project cost when the project is fully crashed.

(4 marks)

 

d).                     A performance review 2 days after the project started finds that activity A has been completed on time; activity B has also been completed, ahead of schedule; activities C, D and E are about to start. Calculate the probability that activity C being completed within the normal project duration.

 

*See next page for the z-table.

(5 marks)

 

e).                      Based on the progress found in the performance review, calculate the Schedule Performance Index using the percentage rule.

(6 marks)

 

f).                       It is estimated that all activities in the project will benefit from a learning rate of 0.894427. Using the normal time in Table 1 as the starting point, calculate at which repetition the normal time of the project will be reduced by 2 days.

(4 marks)

 

 

 

Total

(40 marks)

Z-table showing the areas under the standardised normal curve for z ≥ 0

Section B (answer two questions in this section)

 

1.           Critically evaluate the importance for organisations to develop coherence in managing and delivering projects.

 

(30 marks)

 

2.           Discuss whether it is possible or not to eliminate risks through careful project planning.

 

(30 marks)

 

3.           Discuss why it is difficult to implement a perfect project control system.

 

(30 marks)

 

4.           Evaluate the role of project review in the process of continuous improvement for organisations.

 

(30 marks)

 

 

END