University of Botswana
Department of Computer Science
CSI 641: Project and Change Management
Assignment 1
Due Date: 30th March 2022
Assignment Objective
The purpose of this assignment is to pull together most of the material which will be covered in
the project management part of the course and to allow the student to demonstrate that he/she
has achieved a level of understanding and mastery over both the theoretical and practical areas.
The Scenario
Choose an existing business and provide an overview of the background of the business. What
IS problem is the business facing? Explain why there needs to be a change. You have been
appointed as Project Manager, and you are to work on what you think will have been the
procedure in developing the new Information System (IS) that will provide the solution. It could
be accounting, finance, marketing, human resource, library, bank, hospital etc. It could be a
packaged implementation or development. It should however be a big project that will involve at
least 5 stakeholders and 20 people.
You are required to submit a report on your proposed IS, justifying your proposal, and to
demonstrate some aspects of its proposed functionality. It will be used throughout the project for
all aspects of managing project information, including planning, scheduling, monitoring and
controlling, plus reporting progress and financial information to senior managers and other
project stakeholders, both internal and external to the organisation.
In the first part of the project, your proposed IS will use Microsoft Project software package to
provide the central planning and scheduling information, and this should have the ability to
transfer data to other software programs such as a spreadsheet, word processing package or
perhaps a database package.
The Task
Prepare a report to:
Session Sample Assessment and Due Date
Sub-Topics Activities
Topic
Project The charter • Describe briefly the selected 18th Feb
initiation and Major assumptions and project environment.
the charter constraints •Justify your proposal for a IS
Project management indicating why it would improve
plan management in the organisation.
Influential stakeholders
Make sure there is a
clear understanding of
the work to be caried out.
1
Work Decomposition of scope Write a WBS. A sample work 25th Feb
breakdown Benefits of using WBS break down structure diagram
structure WBS structure and showing WBS codes to at least
(WBS) dictionary three levels (level 1 should
WBS formats: chart, represent the entire project).
tabular, and free formats
(mind map); graphical An activity listing showing WBS
vs. outline format codes, task description, early
Work packages start date, early finish date,
Design of WBS duration, and budget (this would
represent a baseline for your
project at the commencement of
the implementation stage). This
should be in the order of 40 to 60
activities.
Stakeholder Identify stakeholders Create the stakeholder list and 25th Feb
engagement Classification document their influence in a
Analysis: interest, project.
influence, and impact Create a communication matrix.
Stakeholder buy-in and Rehearsal role-play: provider:
engagement strategy rehearsal, which goes through
Manage stakeholder loops of work, lectured feedback,
peer feedback, work, etc.
expectations Customer
value proposition as a Identify stakeholder and do a
stakeholder-communication plan
stakeholder
(on term project).
Stakeholder mapping (power-
Interest matrix) (on term project)
Communication Communication model Write a communication plan (on 25th Feb
Communication skills term project):
Communication plan (a) Classroom: difficult meeting
Communications tools activity: set up mock
meeting, assign different
Matrix, RAM
roles to different people,
Types of reports meeting falls apart. Apply
Meetings (kickoff, team, methods to save meeting.
milestone, gate, status- (b) Online class: virtual
update, virtual) meeting management
Provide sample outputs.
Demonstrate the functionality of
your MIS by providing relevant
examples of its outputs at two
stages of the project (eg reports,
work breakdown structure
(WBS), schedules (as a Gantt
chart), network, budgets etc).
See below for further details on
submission requirements.
Scheduling Creating a network from Analyze sample network 4th March
a WBS Dependencies diagrams. Create a critical-path
(mandatory, network without software; focus
discretionary) on theory.
Forward and backward A network of the project drawn
pass by the project management
2
Slack and critical path software. This will require you to
Assigning resources identify the predecessors of each
Lags, leads, and loops activity (or the relationship
Creating a schedule between how the activities are
Optimizing a schedule carried out). This can either be a
complete network at a reduced
Milestones and
deliverables scale (presented on A3 paper),
or part of the network to
demonstrate the information
contained in the activity boxes.
This would be at baseline stage.
A bar-chart (Gantt chart) to
show task schedule
information at the
commencement of the
implementation phase - this
would be the baseline
schedule.
A 'tracking' bar-chart (Gantt
chart) at about half way
through the project to
illustrate the project progress
relative to the baseline
schedule. This should be
produced by your Microsoft
Project software package
quite easily by inserting actual
or hypothetical progress
information. Try to
demonstrate how a situation
where a project that is running
late would be easily identified
by such a chart.
Cost Cost elements (labor, Develop a Cost Estimate focus 11th March
material, variable cost) on theory
A resource histogram. If you
wish to insert resource data, you
can demonstrate a resource
histogram, and/or a bar chart
showing resource requirements.
An Earned Value (EV) analysis
for a point in time about half way
through the project.
Most software packages will
produce an EVA in a tabular
form to identify the BCWS,
ACWP, and BCWP, Cost
3
Variance, Schedule Variance
etc. This will require you to insert
actual or hypothetical data on
expenditure and progress for
each activity.
An Earned Value Chart - this will
require you to copy EVA data
from your software package to a
spreadsheet and produce a chart
that illustrates the BCWS, ACWP
and BCWP. This will show
graphically the cost and
schedule variance for the
project.
Risk and Uncertainty Perform a qualitative risk 18th March
opportunity Positive risks (beneficial) analysis for a project.
and negative (threats or Create a risk register (list,
detrimental) probability, impact); prioritize
Risk-management risks.
strategies
Risk analyses
Analytical techniques
Project contingencies
and reserves and
schedule buffers
Quality Quality planning Create a quality plan. 18th March
Metrics for quality Identify quality metrics to control
Quality-planning and quality.
control tools Construct a cause-and-effect Submit
Continuous improvement diagram. Draft of
* Quality standards Create a quality plan (for final report (18
project). th March )
Structure of the Report
Your report should be structured as follows in the order nominated. It is strongly
recommended to start each section on a new page for ease of comprehension.
• An 'Executive Summary' of about 200 to 300 words. This should explain why the report
was produced, what was done (briefly), what was found, and what recommendations are
included in the report. It does not act as an Introduction to the report. It is a completely
self-contained document and can be (and often is) removable from the report.
• A 'Table of Contents' listing the number of each section, description of each section, and
page number of each section. This should also include a List of Appendices listing each
appendix and its page number, a List of Figures (included in the report) and a List of
Tables (in the report).
• An 'Introduction' briefly explaining what is in the report.
• Provide a separate section for each of the items listed above under 'The Task'.
• 'Conclusions' indicating the major findings as a result of the report.
• 'Recommendations' for an improved implementation process
• 'List of references' for any citations in the report (there should be some in the section
justifying the development of a IS for the project).
• 'Appendices' containing most of the sample reports. Some of the reports may be
incorporated into the body of the text, but these should not exceed one page.
4
Timeline
➢ Submit 1and get topic approval by 21st of February2022
➢ Work on task taught in class each week
➢ Submit your first draft by 18th of March 2022
➢ Be ready to present your project to the class on the 28th March 2022
➢ Final Submission 30th of March 2022
