- Question / Requirement
Assessment Instructions:
Question 1 (LO3) (30 Marks Total)
Based on the success of your recent interview with Roger Coleman, the Research & Development Executive Officer for the Sorensen Group:
a) Provide any four (4) recommendations to overcome barriers identified in the case study on Sorensen Group. Your recommendations must assist the group improving its performance and include what resources the Sorensen Group needs to access to overcome the barriers you identified.
4 x 4 Marks= 16 marks)
b) Based on the resources identified in Q 1 (a), evaluate their usefulness for Sorensen Group to overcome the barriers. Your discussion must be based on the following types of resources including ways to access them and their sources.
Financial Resources
Material Resources
Technological Resources
Human Resources
(4 x 3 Marks= 12 marks and 2 marks for usefulness)
Case Study 1 – The Sorensen Group
The Sorensen Group is a privately owned company based in Wellington and employs around 450 staff. Sorensen comprises of four main divisions; management of livestock, contract manufacturing, fuels and security. Sorensen was founded in the 1940’s when Michael Sorensen produced his first electric animal fence. The company has developed into one of the world’s leading supplier of electric fencing systems.
Sorensen has had to evolve to remain successful and competitive. Historically it was reliant on the NZ market for their livestock management product range. Sorensen began to export livestock management products in the late 1970’s. A significant shift in New Zealand agriculture sector caused by the removal of subsidies in the 1980’s resulted in Sorensen needing to focus more offshore to explore new markets for their products. Sorensen also found an early opportunity to explore IT to extend their core products into a vastly different market, security systems. This product diversification is partially attributable to the acquisitions made by the Sorensen group for example the acquisition of ODB’s swipex security access system. By the early 2000’s Sorensen products were being distributed to over 105 countries with its product range rapidly diversifying but ultimately being underpinned by its core products associated with its livestock handling systems. The agricultural sector continues to provide approximately fourty five percent of the group’s annual revenue although the product range has changed to include weighing and electronic tagging systems.
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The group has grown to a scale now achieving revenues in the order of $160 million per annum. Sorensen has become a truly global company with regional offices around the world to provide product support. Sorensen is renowned for their innovation and has won many awards over the years. Michael Sorensen won his first innovation award in the mid 1970’s. More recent awards include winner of the New Zealand Engineering Innovators of the Year Award 2008, Sustained Innovation Excellence Award 2011 and the Gold Award from the Design Institute of New Zealand 2013. The Sorensen range of innovative products in the livestock management sector includes the ‘j-series electric fencing system’ released in 2008 the ‘cow auto drafter’ released in 2010 and the ‘electronic identification tagger’ released in 2009. The group describes itself as ‘constant innovators’. Private ownership of the company enables Sorensen takes a long term approach to R&D. The company has over 115 worldwide patents.
You recently had the good fortune to meet with Roger Coleman, the Research & Development Executive Officer for the Sorensen Group and interview him to learn more about how the group views innovation. What follows is a summary of your findings from your interview:
He described the group’s recent innovation as being stagnant of late. He said they are not delivering as much cutting edge disruptive innovation as he would like. Most innovation is largely incremental.
He described new product development is not R&D to them but business as usual. R&D has a big role to play although needs close collaboration with the business side. Innovation is about a business model. Sorensen is more active in the development space than the research space and any research that is conducted is applied.
He described the innovation model for Sorensen as closed collaboration with universities and R&D on specific projects where they don’t have the internal capability. They sometimes collaborate with other organisations.
He said Sorensen has been using the same innovation model for the last 50 years. Collaboration has increased over time. Sorensen has done some explorative sessions with scientists but these haven’t led to any big changes. They don’t do fundamental research and are unlikely to. They develop product technology roadmaps, doing forward planning on a timeframe of two product generations. Some products last 25 years, others shorter.
He stated that innovation sets Sorensen apart from its competitors. Brand identification is also a main driver. Innovation is part of Sorensen’s organisational culture. Other drivers include regulatory standards as an element of competitive pressure.
Sorensen has different business units each responsible for innovation and each business unit has its own market product team. They develop road maps based on the overall business strategy. The board see innovation as important and part of the core business.
Sorensen has different product category teams. Process innovation is around continuous improvement. Marketing innovation looks at communications and web design. Product management groups are formed around product categories and are led by product managers. People involved in R&D go across different groups to ensure cross pollination and avoiding any duplication of work.
Steering committees are responsible for the innovation governance within Sorensen. Roger and senior executives of the other business units oversee execution and approve projects. They meet monthly and don’t use the likes of a science advisory board.
The key sources of innovative ideas for Sorensen are several competitor analysis market insights, market research, customer feedback and internal sources, sales and distribution channels.
80% of your Sorensen’s annual revenue is invested into R&D and Innovation. It varies by business unit. There is more in security than livestock management. The percentage has increased over recent years used to be about 8%. Growth in investment has been faster than growth in revenue.
Roger stated that he wanted the Sorensen Group to innovate faster. They are trying to improve.
He stated that there are various barriers preventing a faster rate of innovation. They include:
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Time to market needs to improve. This being the time between when they say go with an idea and its commercial release.
Platform strategy. Sorensen Group needs fewer platforms and needs to reuse its IP more. Historically they have not been good at identifying project risks and this has led to loop backs and re-workings. Now they focus on gathering as much knowledge together as possible before pursuing a project. This has resulted in less loop backs and saves time.
He stated that recent improved innovation processes has helped enable a faster rate of innovation at Sorensen. Other areas that they are working on are improving the work environment communication channels and raising the visibility of projects.
One example of how innovation has helped Sorensen to become more competitive is the fencing animal management business. It involves a lot of low tech high volume products like fence posts. There is a lot of price pressure as companies often trying to undercut with imports from China. Therefore they’ve had to focus on how to differentiate ring top posts. Customer research through farm visits indicated that there were issues with traditional pig tail posts such as tangling when weight and break down of insulation leading to electrical shorts. New ring top posts tangle less as the top is now made of nylon reinforced plastic. It doesn’t break down and weighs much less. Sorensen’s share of product segment increased from 10% to 50% in this product range.
He said they do not do enough of taking advantage of innovations developed outside of their sector. Though they are moving into a new space which involves more collaboration with outside organisations, they sometimes have the need to license technology.
He said that the future of innovation for Sorensen is towards a much broader view beyond the typical product centric perspective.
Market research at Sorensen focuses around specific products. They do not use any formal idea generation system. Staff are comfortable with sharing ideas although the process is not formalised.
Roger said, with regards to manufacturing there is a lot happening around additive manufacturing. 55% of Sorensen’s business is in the livestock management space. This has become a more innovative. In particular there is value around data collection. This is driving innovation. Technology trends including the use of the cloud and new data collection systems are also driving innovation in security fencing. Security has a high adoption of technology as there is a need for improved security.
Sorensen has worked with its suppliers to ensure newly developed technology processes have been adopted by both of them.
He said the main barriers to the adoption of innovation within Sorensen is cost effectiveness. They have worked with outside organisations when they have been lacking in capability with the specific purpose of building internal capability.
Finally he said in the agricultural sector traditional practices have not changed much over time. This leads to slow uptake. As younger more educated people move into the industry they want to measure productivity and have an interest in precision agriculture. This group uptake new technology but there is a smaller number of them. Corporate farms want to increase productivity and reduce costs whilst looking after staff. These tend to be the early adopters.
Adapted from:
(2017). /www.kellogg.org.nz. Retrieved 8 July 2017, from http://www.kellogg.org.nz/fileadmin/kellogg/Documents/Course_1/Black_M_Are_there_opportunities_for_faster_innovation_in_the_kiwifruit_industry__Final_.pdf
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Section 2 (LO4) In – class (40 Marks Total)
This section is designed to provide learners with practical experience in applying project management concepts. Specifically, the objectives of this question are:
To apply what content taught in DBN609 to prepare a simple project plan with access to resources.
Simulate managing a case study project to ensure resources are managed effectively to minimise waste and improve performance.
In order to complete the Question 2 activities, you will need access to Microsoft Project 2016.
Note that students are to attach screenshots of all activities completed in MS Project 2016 with their report and submit MS Project 2016 file to the instructor along with the hard copy of assessment.
File Saving and Backup Requirements
You are strongly recommended to regularly save and back up your work when working on this question. It is also strongly recommended that you keep separate backup files on separate media storage options. Loss of files cannot be used as an excuse for not handing in work for assessment on the due date and time. It is a student’s responsibility that they complete all activities in a timely, accurate and complete manner. Any issues caused by hardware failure, malware, viruses or theft etc cannot be used as an excuse for not handing in work for assessment on the due date and time.
Save your work for Questions 2a to 2i inclusive using the Save As command under the File menu. Ensure that you have selected the appropriate drive in the drives box on the Save As screen. In the File Name box, use the following format studentid_dbn609_t42018_q2?
Examples:
tiz00001aa_dbn609_t42018_2b is student tiz00001aa studying DBN609 in T4/2018 and answering question 2b.
tiz00008bb_dbn609_t12019_2d is student tiz00008bb studying DBN609 in T1/2019 and answering question 2d.
Project Background
Crystal Corp Ltd are working on a new system rollout. The system is currently called the System XYZ rollout for reasons of confidentiality. They expect the project to take around 3-4 months to complete, where they will be in a position to present the new system and processes to the project sponsor. The current system is used only by a few departments. With a steep increase in sales over the last six months other departments at Crystal Corp Ltd are getting overwhelmed with the increased administration burden. Therefore, there is a requirement to add new functions and processes to a system to help them manage effectively to minimise waste and improve their overall performance. The project will be starting on the 4th Mar 2019 and must be completed by Quarter 2 of 2019. The manager for this project is Matthew Mercia. The working week for Crystal Corp Ltd are Mon-Fri 08:00am to Midday and 1:00pm to 5:00pm. They are also closed on weekends.
You will simulate simply managing some aspects of this case study project for Crystal Corp Ltd to ensure its resources are managed effectively to minimise waste and improve its overall performance. You will report your findings from completing the tasks to your course tutor for assessment.
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Pre Activity Tasks
Please ensure that you complete the following two (2) pre-activity tasks before completing Questions 2a to 2i inclusive. Without them none of the activities Question 2a to 2i inclusive will provide you with correct answers. Please note no marks are awarded for these two pre-activity tasks, as you are being provided with explicit step-by-step instructions on what specifically to undertake:
1) Ensure the project start date is set to 4th March 2019. To ensure this is the case, do the following:
i) Select Project from the Microsoft Project 2016 Taskbar.
ii) Click the Project Information icon once.
iii) In the Start date: textbox enter the date 4/03/2019. Ensure the day is Monday.
iv) Click OK.
If you have any questions on this pre-activity task please ask your course tutor for assistance.
2) Ensure the standard calendar is selected and the workweek for the project is Mon-Fri 08:00am to Midday and 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Closed on weekends. To ensure this is the case, do the following:
i) Select Project from the Microsoft Project 2016 Taskbar.
ii) Click the Change Working Time icon once.
iii) In the For calendar: option box ensure the Standard (Project Calendar) is selected.
iv) Check that the working times for Mon 4th March 2019 to Fri 8th March 2019 show 08:00am to Midday and 1:00pm to 5:00pm. If not then change them by clicking the Options button once and ensure the following settings are entered:
Week start on: Monday
Fiscal years starts in: January
Default start time: 08:00am
Default end time: 5:00pm
Hours per day: 8
Hours per week: 40
Days per month: 20
v) Click OK.
vi) Click OK.
If you have any questions on this pre-activity task please ask your course tutor for assistance.
Microsoft Project 2016 is now configured. From this point forward you are in a position to simulate simply managing some aspects of the case study project for Crystal Corp Ltd to ensure its resources are managed effectively to minimise waste and improve its overall performance. You will report also your findings from completing the tasks to your course tutor for assessment.
Instructions:
a) Using Microsoft Project 2016, create a blank new project. Save your project for Q2a using the following format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2a. Enter the following resource list (Figure 1) on the Resource Sheet of yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2a project file.
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Resource Name
Type
Initials
Group
Max
Std. Rate
Base
Matthew Mercia
Work
MM
Management
50%
$80.00/hr
Standard
Henley Finley
Work
HF
Project Team
75%
$65.00/hr
Standard
Chad Lester
Work
CL
Project Team
75%
$65.00/hr
Standard
Paddy Perry
Work
PP
Project Team
75%
$65.00/hr
Standard
Daanyaal Hoffman
Work
DH
Researcher
100%
$50.00/hr
Standard
Madihah Buchanan
Work
MB
Researcher
100%
$50.00/hr
Standard
Jayce Shepherd
Work
JS
Analyst
75%
$60.00/hr
Standard
Roisin Vickers
Work
RV
Analyst
75%
$55.00/hr
Standard
Sukhmani Vinson
Work
SV
Analyst
75%
$55.00/hr
Standard
Cory Arroyo
Work
CA
Developer
100%
$70.00/hr
Standard
Devin Gibson
Work
DG
Developer
75%
$60.00/hr
Standard
Ruby-May Ewing
Work
RM
Developer
60%
$60.00/hr
Standard
Figure 1 – Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout – Resource List
Provide your answer for Q2a to your course tutor by the assessment due date and time. Ensure that your file uses the following naming format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2a. Failure to follow this file naming format will result in your work not being assessed by your course tutor. Your course tutor will inform you of their preferred method for receiving softcopy of your answer to Q2a. This may be email, uploading to Moodle, uploading to a cloud link (For eg: Dropbox) or some other delivery platform configured for receiving electronic submission of student assessment files.
(2 marks)
b) Using Microsoft Project 2016, load the project file that you created for Q2a. Save your project for Q2b using the following format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2b. Enter the following project task list (Figures 2i & 2ii) on the Gantt Chart Task Sheet of yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2b project file.
Task Name .
Duration
Start Mon 04/03/2019
Finish
Predecessors
Crystal Corp Ltd XYZ System Rollout
Mon 04/03/19
Develop High Level Plan
7 days Mon 04/03/19 Tue 12/03/19
Present High Level Plan To Sponsor
3 days Wed 13/03/19 Fri 15/03/19
2
Identify Project Team Members
3 days Wed 13/03/19 Fri 15/03/19
2
Train Project Team Members
5 days Mon 18/03/19 Fri 22/03/19
3,4
Develop Detailed Project Plan
5 days Mon 25/03/19 Fri 29/03/19
5
Conduct Preliminary Research
14 days Mon 01/04/19 Thu 18/04/19
6
Identify Key Best Practices
5 days Fri 19/04/19 Thu 25/04/19
7
Identify Benchmark Partners
5 days Fri 19/04/19 Thu 25/04/19
7
Collect Public Data
14 days Fri 26/04/19 Wed 15/05/19
8,9
Analyse Public Data
14 days Fri Wed
8,9
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26/04/19 15/05/19
Develop Benchmark Lines Of Enquiry
7 days Thu 16/05/19 Fri 24/05/19
10,11
Visit Benchmark Partners
14 days Mon 27/05/19 Thu 13/06/19
12
Develop New Processes
26.25 days Fri 14/06/19 Mon 22/07/19
13
Present New System And Processes To Sponsor
3 days Mon 22/07/19 Thu 25/07/19
14
Figure 2i – Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout – Task List
Figure 2ii – Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout – Task List
You must ensure that all the project tasks are indented as subtasks under the main Crystal Corp XYZ System Rollout task. Failure to do this will mean that none of the activities Q2b to 2i inclusive will provide you with correct answers. Provide your answer for Q2b to your course tutor by the assessment due date and time. Ensure that your file uses the following naming format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2b. Failure to follow this file naming format will result in your work not being assessed by your course tutor. Your course tutor will inform you of their preferred method for receiving softcopy of your answer to Q2b. This may be email, uploading to Moodle, uploading to a cloud link (For eg: Dropbox) or some other delivery platform configured for receiving electronic submission of student assessment files.
(1 mark)
c) Using Microsoft Project 2016, load the project file that you created for Q2b. Save your project for Q2c using the following format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2c. Answer the following questions using your yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2c project file.
(5 marks Total)
i) What is the duration of the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project in days? Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2c(i) is placed under section Q2c(i) of your report.
(1 mark)
ii) When is the exact finish date the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2c(ii) is placed under section Q2c(ii) of your report.
(1mark)
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iii) Which tasks are over allocated in the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of which tasks are over allocated in the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2c(iii) is placed under section Q2c(iii) of your report.
(1 mark)
iv) Which people are over allocated in the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of which people are over allocated in the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2c(iv) is placed under section Q2c(iv) of your report.
(1 mark)
v) Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of the start and finish date for each staff member and how much work has been allocated them to in the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2c(v) is placed under section Q2c(v) of your report.
(1 mark)
d) (6 marks Total)
i) Using Microsoft Project 2016, load the project file that you created for Q2c. Save your project for Q2d using the following format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2d. Perform the following tasks on your yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2d project file:
1) Select Resource from the Microsoft Project 2016 Taskbar.
2) Click the Level All icon once.
3) Click the Skip button for any over allocation that cannot be resolved.
Provide your resource levelled project file for Q2d to your course tutor by the assessment due date and time. Ensure that your file uses the following naming format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2d. Failure to follow this file naming format will result in your work not being assessed by your course tutor. Your course tutor will inform you of their preferred method for receiving softcopy of your answer to Q2d. This may be email, uploading to Moodle, uploading to a cloud link (For eg: Dropbox) or some other delivery platform configured for receiving electronic submission of student assessment files.
(1 mark)
Answer the following questions using your yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2d project file.
ii) What is the revised duration of the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project in days? Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2d(ii) is placed under section Q2d(ii) of your report.
(1 mark)
iii) When is the exact revised finish date the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2d(iii) is placed under section Q2d(iii) of your report.
(1 mark)
iv) Which tasks are over allocated in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of which tasks are over allocated in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer
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and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2d(iv) is placed under section Q2c(iv) of your report.
(1 mark)
v) Which people are over allocated in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of which people are over allocated in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2d(v) is placed under section Q2d(v) of your report.
(1 mark)
vi) Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of the start and finish date for each staff member and how much work has been allocated them to in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2d(vi) is placed under section Q2d(vii) of your report.
(1 mark)
e) Using the evidence you have gathered from Tasks 2c (i) to (v) inclusive and 2d (ii) to (vi) inclusive, critically evaluate which of your two project plans yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2b or yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2d would allow Crystal Corp Ltd to ensure its resources are managed effectively to minimise waste and improve its overall performance in the System XYZ Rollout project.
Your evaluation must include analysis based on project duration, project end dates, over-allocated tasks and over-allocated people.
(7 marks)
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Crystal Corp Ltd have been progressing with the System XYZ Rollout project. It is now time to update the project plan and also simulate managing simply some further aspects of the case study project to help them ensure their resources are managed effectively and to minimise any waste and improve their overall performance. You will also report your findings from completing the tasks to your course tutor for assessment.
f) (3 marks total)
i) Using Microsoft Project 2016, load the project file that you created for Q2d. Save your project for Q2f using the following format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2f. Enter the following project task percentage completions (Figure 3) on the Gantt Chart Task Sheet of yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2f project file.
Figure 3 – Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout – Percentage Task Completion
(1 mark)
ii) Using Microsoft Project 2016, continue using the same project file that you created for Q2f(i). The two researchers Daanyaal Hoffman and Madihah Buchanan can only work for 80% of the time from this point forward on the Systems XYZ rollout project. This is because they have been asked to use the remaining 20% of their working week, to assist Crystal Corp Ltd with another unrelated project. Update the resource list (Figure 4) on the Resource Sheet of yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2f project file.
Resource Name
Type
Initials
Group
Max
Std. Rate
Base
Matthew Mercia
Work
MM
Management
50%
$80.00/hr
Standard
Henley Finley
Work
HF
Project Team
75%
$65.00/hr
Standard
Chad Lester
Work
CL
Project Team
75%
$65.00/hr
Standard
Paddy Perry
Work
PP
Project Team
75%
$65.00/hr
Standard
Daanyaal Hoffman
Work
DH
Researcher
80%
$50.00/hr
Standard
Madihah Buchanan
Work
MB
Researcher
80%
$50.00/hr
Standard
Jayce Shepherd
Work
JS
Analyst
75%
$60.00/hr
Standard
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Roisin Vickers
Work
RV
Analyst
75%
$55.00/hr
Standard
Sukhmani Vinson
Work
SV
Analyst
75%
$55.00/hr
Standard
Cory Arroyo
Work
CA
Developer
100%
$70.00/hr
Standard
Devin Gibson
Work
DG
Developer
75%
$60.00/hr
Standard
Ruby-May Ewing
Work
RM
Developer
60%
$60.00/hr
Standard
Figure 4 – Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout – Updated Resource List
(1 mark)
iii) Using Microsoft Project 2016, continue using the same project file that you created for Q2f(ii). Perform the following tasks on your yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2f project file:
1) Select Resource from the Microsoft Project 2016 Taskbar.
2) Click the Level All icon once.
3) Click the Skip button for any over allocation that cannot be resolved.
Provide your resource levelled project file for Q2f(iii) to your course tutor by the assessment due date and time. Ensure that your file uses the following naming format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2f. Failure to follow this file naming format will result in your work not being assessed by your course tutor. Your course tutor will inform you of their preferred method for receiving softcopy of your answer to Q2f. This may be email, uploading to Moodle, uploading to a cloud link (For eg: Dropbox) or some other delivery platform configured for receiving electronic submission of student assessment files.
(1 mark)
g) (5 marks total)
i) Using Microsoft Project 2016, load the project file that you created for Q2f. Save your project for Q2g using the following format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2g. Using the reporting function in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a Task Burn Down graph of the projects progress. Add your Task Burn Down graph to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2g(i) is placed under section Q2g(i) of your report.
(1 mark)
ii) Which tasks are over allocated in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of which tasks are over allocated in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2g(ii) is placed under section Q2g(ii) of your report.
(1 mark)
iii) Which people are over allocated in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of which people are over allocated in the revised Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2g(iii) is placed under section Q2g(iii) of your report.
(1 mark)
iv) Using Microsoft Project 2016, continue using the same project file that you created for Q2g. Using the reporting function in Microsoft Project 2016, produce the following two graphs:
1) Resource Stats (which shows the work status for all work resources).
2) Work Status (which shows the percentage work done by work resources).
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Add your Resource Stats and Work Status graph to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2g(iv) is placed under section Q2g(iv) of your report.
(2 mark)
The project manager, Matthew Mercia realises that the project could run the risk of not being successfully completed on time and on budget. The senior management of Crystal Corp Ltd have told Mercia that no other resources can be made available for the System XYZ Rollout project. They have told him that to complete the project, any resources must come from the existing ones allocated to the project and that it is up to him to successfully manage this. After consultation with the rest of the project team it was decided to add two of the developers, Cory Arroyo and Devin Gibson, to the Collect Public Data task in the hope of completing the project on time and on budget. It is now time once again to update the project plan with the above changes. This will simulate managing simply some further aspects of the case study project to help them ensure their resources are managed effectively and to minimise any waste and improve their overall performance. You will also report your findings from completing the tasks to your course tutor for assessment.
h) (5 marks total)
i. Using Microsoft Project 2016, load the project file that you created for Q2g. Save your project for Q2hi using the following format yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2h. Enter the following project task list (Figure 5) on the Gantt Chart Task Sheet of yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q5h project file.
Figure 5 – Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout – Task List
Using Microsoft Project 2016, continue using the same project file that you created for Q2h(i). Perform the following tasks on your yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2h project file:
1) Select Resource from the Microsoft Project 2016 Taskbar.
2) Click the Level All icon once.
3) Click the Skip button for any over allocation that cannot be resolved.
Provide your resource levelled project file for Q2h(i) to your course tutor by the assessment due date and time. Ensure that your file uses the following naming format
©Aspire2 International – DBN609 Assessment 2– 2018 Page 15 of 15
yourstudentid_dbn609_t42018_q2h. Failure to follow this file naming format will result in your work not being assessed by your course tutor. Your course tutor will inform you of their preferred method for receiving softcopy of your answer to Q2h(i). This may be email, uploading to Moodle, uploading to a cloud link (For eg: Dropbox) or some other delivery platform configured for receiving electronic submission of student assessment files.
(1 mark)
ii. What is the revised duration of the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project in days? Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2h(ii) is placed under section Q2h(ii) of your report.
(1 mark)
iii. When is the exact revised finish date the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project? Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2h(iii) is placed under section Q2h(iii) of your report.
(1 mark)
iv. Using any of the reporting functions in Microsoft Project 2016, produce a screenshot image (Alt + Print Screen) to show evidence of the start and finish date for each staff member and how much work remaining work they have to do in the Crystal Corp Ltd System XYZ Rollout project. Type up your answer and add it to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2h(iv) is placed under section Q2h(iv) of your report.
(1 mark)
v. Using Microsoft Project 2016, continue using the same project file that you created for Q2h. Using the reporting function in Microsoft Project 2016, produce the following graph:
Cost Status (which shows the cost status for all work resources).
Add your Cost Status graph to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2h(v) is placed under section Q2h(v) of your report.
(1 mark)
The project manager, Matthew Mercia and project team still realise that the project could run the risk of not being successfully completed on time and on budget. The problem area is that the Develop New Process task has over allocated resources. The senior management of Crystal Corp Ltd have reminded Mercia that no other resources can be made available for the System XYZ Rollout project. They have also reminded him that him to successfully manage this.
i)
Imagine that you are Matthew Mercia, the project manager for the System XYZ rollout at Crystal Corp Ltd. Appraise what options you have available to successfully manage the problem area of over allocated resources in Develop New Process task. This will demonstrate than you can simulate managing simply some aspects of the case study project to help Crystal Corp Ltd ensure their resources are managed effectively and minimise any wastage and improving their overall performance. Add your appraisal to your report. Ensure that your answer to Q2i placed under section Q2i of your report.
(6 mark)