H7063

THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

ENGINEERING & DESIGN

BEng, MEng and BSc Year 2 Examinations 2012

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS

Tuesday 12th June 2012

9.30am 11.30am

Candidates should answer THREE questions out of FOUR.

Time allowed: 2 hours.

Where a question indicates the division of marks between different parts, this information is for guidance only; the examiners reserve the right to make small adjustments to the division.

1 Turn Over/

H7063 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS ______________________________________________________________ 1 Given the following information regarding a project concerning an initial public offering (IPO) (i.e. the first sale of stock by a private company to the public): Activity A: Check feasibility B: Determine funding C: Find possible banks D: Select two possible banks E: Interview two banks F: Analyse funding costs G: What chance of success? H: Sign Contract a) Duration (weeks) 3 1 3 4 4 5 2 3 Preceding activities None None A A B B C, E F

Draw the network diagram, showing Early Start (ES), Early Finish (EF), Late Start (LS) and Late Finish (LF) dates (weeks) for each activity. The first week of the project is considered as week zero. [6 marks] What is the critical path? [6 marks]

b)

c)

When will the offering be available (completion of the project)? [2 marks] What is the effect on the project if activity E (approvals when interviewing two banks) takes: An extra week? [2 marks] Two extra weeks? [2 marks] Three extra weeks? [2 marks]

d)

Facebook has recently introduced a Timeline feature which involves several new marketing applications. Users can opt-in to use features, offered by companies such as Spotify, Warner Bros and The Washington Post. For example, if a user signs up for Spotify, all of the songs he or she listens to on the service automatically become part of a persons Facebook profile. However, users do not have the option of opting out of their activity being used for paid advertising by these companies. Consumer groups argue that this is an infringement of privacy, particularly given how much personal information people share on social networking sites. Yet industry analysts say that this is not a big issue as p eople care more about getting free media than they do about their privacy. 2

H7063 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS ______________________________________________________________ Describe the ethical issues around the Facebook feature, using two of the following concepts: Engineering as social experimentation Privacy and inappropriate access Appropriate technology [20 marks] The status of a project consisting of five tasks A, B, C, D, and E is shown below. The project is at the end of its day 7 (seven).
Task Budget (1,000 ) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 100% Day 5 Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

600
100%

300
40%

800
25%

400
0%

400

Task A, with a budgeted cost of 600,000, is 100% complete and has actually cost 680,000 Task B, with a budgeted cost of 300,000, is 100% complete and has actually cost 270,000 Task C, with a budgeted cost of 800,000, is 40% complete (but should be 80% complete) and has actually cost 350,000 so far (by the end of day 7) Task D, with a budgeted cost of 400,000, is 25% complete (but should be 50% complete), and has actually cost 75,000 so far (by the end of day 7) Task E, with a budgeted cost of 400,000, has not started yet.

Considering the earned value analysis at the end of day 7 (seven), and assuming the time proportionality rule when necessary, calculate: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) Planned Value (PV) Actual Cost (AC) Earned Value (EV) Cost Variance (CV) Schedule Variance (SV) Cost Performance Index (CPI) Schedule Performance Index (SPI) Budget at Completion (BAC) 3 Turn Over/ [2 marks] [2 marks] [2 marks] [1 mark] [1 mark] [1 mark] [1 mark] [1 mark]

H7063 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS ______________________________________________________________ i) j) k) l) Estimate at Completion (EAC) Estimate-to-Complete (ETC) Percentage Complete (PC) Is the project on time and on budget? Justify your answers using the appropriate indicators above. Project status (Earned Value) formulae: CV = EV AC SV = EV PV EV = PC x BAC EAC = AC/EV x BAC ETC = EAC AC CPI = EV/AC SPI = EV/PV [1 mark] [1 mark] [1 mark] [6 marks]

Jenny works as a structural engineer for a large firm that has been contracted to construct some of the buildings for the London 2012 Olympic Games. In the past two months she has become concerned about the safety of the project, and suspects that her managers have been cutting corners in order to save time. Several key safety checks have been missed. The company have also switched to a supplier who will supply them more quickly, although with low quality materials. In the worst case scenario, Jenny suspects that parts of the buildings will collapse when they are at full capacity, causing extensive injury. Jenny has raised some of these issues with her colleagues who agree with her concerns. However, they are all aware that the construction must be finished by the time the Games start in July if not, the firm will be heavily penalized and would find it difficult to gain work afterwards. Jenny is also worried that if she raises these issues with her managers, she will be fired or taken off the project. Discuss the ethical issues in this case using two of the following concepts: Acceptable Risk Safe Exits Power and Organisations [20 marks]

End of Paper