Class: CMP Analysis, Modeling, and Design

Week 3 Assignment

Q 3. List and describe the common skills and activities of a project

manager. Which skill do you think is most important? Why?
Answer:
Leadership, management, risk and change management, team management,
conflict management,
Technical problem solving, customer relations
Leadership - influencing team to the attainment of a common goal through the use
of intelligence, personality, and abilities.
Skill: communication liaison between management, users, and developers;
assigning activities and monitoring progress.
Management - Getting projects completed through the effective utilization of
resources. Skill: defining and sequencing activities; communicating expectations;
assigning resources to activities; monitoring outcomes.

Customer relations - Working closely with customers to ensure project

deliverables meet expectations. Skills: Interpreting system requests and
specifications; site preparation and user training; contact point for customers.

Technical problem solving - Designing and sequencing activities to attain project

goals.
Skill: Interpreting system requests and specifications as well as designing solutions
to problems.
Conflict management - Managing conflict within a project team to assure that
conflict is not too high or too low. Skills: problem solving; smoothing out personality
differences; compromising; goal setting

Team management - Managing the project team for effective team performance.
Skills: communication within and between teams; peer evaluations; conflict
resolution; team building; self-management

Risk and change management - Identifying, assessing, and managing the risks
and day-to-day changes that occur during a project. Skills: Environmental
scanning; risk and opportunity identification and assessment; forecasting; resource
redeployment.

The skill I consider to be much important is communication skills. This is a skill very
much required by a project manager because he/she would be undertaking series of
presentations with stakeholders and the various teams. The project could come to a
halt without effective communication skills.

Q4. Describe the activities performed by the project manager during

project initiation
Answer:
Project initiation has five major activities: (1) establishing the project initiation
team; (2) establishing a
relationship with the customer; (3) establishing a project initiation plan; (4)
establishing management
procedures; and (5) establishing the project management environment and project
workbook.
(6) Developing the project charter.
(1)Establishing the project initiation team organizes an initial core of project
team members to assist in accomplishing the project initiation activities.
(2)Establishing a relationship with the customer builds a cooperative and
trusting partnership with the customer.
(3)Establishing a project initiation plan defines the necessary activities
required to organize the initiation team while they are working to define the
scope of the project.
(4)Establishing management procedures focuses on developing team
communication and reporting procedures, job assignments and roles, project
change procedures, and determining how project funding and billing will be
handled.

(5)Establishing the project management environment and project workbook

creates the repository for all project correspondence, inputs, outputs,
deliverables, procedures, and standards of the project team.
(6) Developing the project charter consist of a short (typically one page), highlevel document prepared for the customer that describes what the project will
deliver and outlines many of the key elements of the project. Items in a project
charter may include
Project title and date of authorization
Project manager name and contact information
Customer name and contact information
Projected start and completion dates
Key stakeholders, project role, and responsibilities
Project objectives and description
Key assumptions or approach
Signature section for key stakeholders
5. Describe the activities performed by the project manager during project
planning
Answer:
The activities performed by the project manager during project planning include:
(1) describing project scope, alternatives, and feasibility; (2) dividing the project
into manageable tasks;
(3) estimating resources and creating a resource plan; (4) developing a preliminary
schedule;
(5) developing a communication plan; (6) determining project standards and
procedures;
(7) identifying and assessing risk; (8) creating a preliminary budget;
(9) developing a Statement of Work; and (10) setting a Baseline Project Plan.

Describing project scope, alternatives, and feasibility develops an

understanding of the content and complexity of the project by gaining answers
to an agreement on the following types of questions:
What problem or opportunity does the project address?
What are the quantifiable results to be achieved?
What needs to be done?

How will success be measured?

How will we know when we are finished?
After defining the scope of the project, the next objective is to identify and
document general solutions for the current business problem or opportunity and
assess each solution for feasibility so that a choice can be made as to which to
consider during subsequent SDLC phases.

Dividing the project into manageable tasks identifies specific tasks and then
logically orders them to ensure a smooth evolution between tasks.
Estimating resources and creating a resource plan approximates resource
requirements for each project activity and uses this information to create a
project resource plan.
Developing a preliminary schedule uses information regarding tasks and
resource availability to assign time estimates to each activity in the work
breakdown structure. This assignment will allow for the creation of target
starting and ending dates for the project.
Developing a communication plan outlines the communication procedures
between management, project team members, and the customer.
Determining project standards and procedures specifies how various
deliverables are produced and tested.
Identifying and assessing risk examines sources of project risk and estimates
the consequences of those risks. Risks might arise from the use of new
technology, resistance to change, availability of critical resources, competitive
and regulatory actions, and team member inexperience with technology or the
business area.
Creating a preliminary budget means outlining the planned expenses and
revenues associated with the project.
Developing a Statement of Work is to create a document that outlines all work
that will be done and makes clear what the project will deliver.
Setting a Baseline Project Plan is to develop an initial plan that reflects the best
estimate of the projects tasks and resource requirements and is used to guide
the next project phase, execution.

Problems and Exercises # 6 (Complete the last column of the table)

ACTIVITY
A

ET
7

B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J

9
3
5
6
5
4
4
5
6.8333

Also define: Feasibility Study, Critical Path, PERT.

Feasibility Study is a study that determines if the proposed information system

makes sense for the organization from an economic and operational standpoint.
Critical Path is the shortest time in which a project can be completed.
PERT - Program Evaluation Review Technique is a technique that uses optimistic, pessimistic, and
realistic time estimates to calculate the expected time for a particular task.

ET=(o+4r+p)/6