UOP CMGT410 All Weeks Supporting Activity Discussions

CMGT410 Project Planning and Implementation

Week 1 Supporting Activity Discussion

DQ1 a)   What is the definition of a project?

b)   What is project management? 

c)   What are the advantages of following a methodology when developing an

        information system?

d)   What is the purpose of a project charter?

e)   Describe how the project’s MOV supports the development of the project’s

       scope, schedule, and budget.

f)    Why should a project be divided into phases?

DQ2 a)  What is a scope statement?  What purpose does it serve?

b)  Why is it important to define the project's scope accurately and completely?

c)  Briefly describe scope creep.

d)  What is a statement of work? What purpose does it serve?

e)  What is a deliverable? What is the relationship between phases and deliverables?

f)   What is project kick-off meeting? What purpose does it serve?

 

CMGT410 Project Planning and Implementation

Week 2 Supporting Activity Discussion

DQ1 a) What is a WBS? What purpose does the WBS serve?

b) What makes estimating an IT project challenging?

c) What can lead to inaccurate estimates? How can an organization improve the accuracy of estimating IT projects?

d) What is the impact of consistently estimating too low? Too high?

e) Why is counting lines of code (LOC) a popular method for estimating and tracking programmer productivity?  What are some problems associated with this method?

 

 DQ2 a) What are phase exits, stage gates, and kill points? What purpose do they serve?

b) What is a business case? Why should an organization develop a business case?

c) Describe technical feasibility.

d) Describe the criteria that should be used to make a project selection decision.

e) Describe the balanced scorecard approach.

 

CMGT410 Project Planning and Implementation

Week 3 Supporting Activity Discussion

DQ1 1. What are the processes and key outputs of cost management?

2. Within cost estimating, what are the different estimating types?

3. What are some approaches used when budgeting?

4. What is the difference between cost/benefit analysis and break-even analysis?

 DQ2 1. What is the difference between crashing and fast tracking a project’s schedule?

2. Why should the project manager ensure that the project resources are leveled?

3. Why should assumptions used in estimating be documented?

4. What is a baseline plan?

5. Define predecessor, successor and parallel activities.

DQ3 1. Why should a project manager be concerned with monitoring a project’s progress?

2. What is the purpose of a project communication plan? What kinds of things should this plan address?

3. What is quality?

4. What is the relationship between standards and metrics?

5. What is the purpose of change control?

6. How can a company protect data on corporate laptops? Why do more organizations choose not to protect such data? Do you expect this to become a legal requirement in the future? Explain why you think so.

 

CMGT410 Project Planning and Implementation

Week 4 Supporting Activity Discussion

DQ1 1.    What is the purpose of a contract?

2.    What is outsourcing? How does it relate to Project Procurement Management?

3.    What is offshoring or offshore outsourcing?

4.    Why is writing a good contract important for an outsourcing relationship?

5.    What are some hidden costs of outsourcing? Why is it important to consider these costs?

DQ2 1.    What qualities are required for a good project manager?

2.    Describe the five practices for exemplary leadership.

3.    What is emotional intelligence?

4.    What is the definition of ethics?

5.    Define culture.

6.    How can a project manager change, maintain or create culture?

 

CMGT410 Project Planning and Implementation

Week 5 Supporting Activity Discussion

DQ1 1. What leads to uncertainty in an IT project?

2. What is project risk management?

3. What are the seven IT project risk management processes?

4. What is risk monitoring and control? 

DQ2 1. You are asked to make a copy of a magazine article and include it in new software you are writing.  You see that the article has a copyright notice.  What is the best thing to do?

2. Your company is in competition to win a major project for the government of country X.  You are told that you must make a large payment to the foreign minister in order to be considered for the project.  What is the best thing to do?

3. You provide a project estimate for the project to the project sponsor.  The project sponsor is unhappy with the estimate, because the project sponsor thinks the price should be lower.  The project sponsor asks you to cut 15% off the project estimate.  What should you do?

4. What is wrong with the idea of just expecting people to adapt to a new system by compliance?

5. What are some best practices for measuring project success?