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SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
SNS COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
(An Autonomous institution)
COIMBATORE - 35
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (UG & PG)
Final Year Computer Science and Engineering, 7th Semester
QUESTION BANK - UNIVERSITY QUESTIONS
Subject Code & Name: IT415/ Software Project Management
Staff Name: S.Gomathi, AP/CSE
UNIT-I
PART – B
1.
Explain the Stepwise project planning activities in detail with a suitable flowchart.
(Nov/Dec 2012)
(12)
Introduction to Step wise project planning
‘Step Wise’ - an overview
0.Select
project
1. Identify
project objectives
2. Identify project
infrastructure
3. Analyse
project
characteristics
Review
Lower
level
detail
4. Identify products
and activities
5. Estimate effort
for activity
6. Identify activity
risks
10. Lower level
planning
9. Execute plan
For each
activity
7. Allocate
resources
8. Review/ publicize
plan
i) Establish project scope and objectives
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SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
ii) Establish project infrastructure
iii) Analysis of project characteristics
iv) Identify project products and activities
v) Estimate effort for each activity
vi) Identify activity risks
vii) Allocate resources
viii) Review/publicise plan
2.
Who are called as “Stakeholders” in a software project? What is their role? (Nov/Dec
2012)
(4)
Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by the project actives
Stakeholders include
i. The project sponsor and project team
ii. Support staff
iii. Customers
iv. Users
v. Suppliers
vi. Opponents to the project
3.
Give a brief account of the various activities covered by Software Project Management.
(Nov/Dec 2012)

The Feasibility study

Planning

Project execution

Requirement analysis starts with requirements elicitation

Architecture design

Detailed design

Code and test

Integration

Qualification testing

Installation

Acceptance Support
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SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
4.
Explain the different Steps involved in Analyzing Project Characteristics. (Nov/Dec
2012)
•
(4)
Distinguish the project as either objective or product-based.
– Is there more than one way of achieving success?
•
Analyse other project characteristics (including quality based ones)
What is different about this project?
•
Identify high level project risks
– ‘What could go wrong?’
– ‘What can we do to stop it?’
•
Take into account user requirements concerning implementation
•
Select general life cycle approach
– Waterfall? Increments? Prototypes?
•
Review overall resource estimates
‘Does all this increase the cost?’
5.
Why do you think clearly defined project goals are important for any project? Explain.
(May/June 2013)
(8)
Objectives focus on the desired outcomes of the project rather than the tasks within it
there are the post conditions of the project.
•
Answering the question ‘What do we have to do to have a success?’
•
Need for a project authority
– Sets the project scope
– Allocates/approves costs
•
Could be one person - or a group
– Project Board
– Project Management Board
– Steering committee
S–
Specific, that is, concrete and well-defined
M–
Measurable, that is, satisfaction of the objective can be objectively judged
A–
Achievable, that is, it is within the power of the individual or group concerned to meet
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the target
R–
Relevant, the objective must relevant to the true purpose of the project
T–
Time constrained: there is defined point in time by which the objective should be
achieved
6.
How will you fill the management gap and operational gap in effective project
management? Explain. (May/June 2013)
(8)
Data – the raw details
e.g. ‘6,000 documents processed at location X’
Information – the data is processed to produce something that is meaningful and useful
e.g. ‘productivity is 100 documents a day’
Comparison with objectives/goals
e.g. we will not meet target of processing all documents by 31st March
Modelling – working out the probable outcomes of various decisions
e.g. if we employ two more staff at location X how quickly can we get the documents
processed?
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Implementation – carrying out the remedial actions that have been decided upon
7.
Discuss the issues faced by the SPM team with respect to handling a project under
waterfall SDLC as well as Agile SDLC. (May/June 2013)
(16)
Waterfall model: has a well-defined, linear stage of systems development and support
Waterfall Model
Requirement
Analysis
System
Design
Coding
Testing
Maintenance
•
classical
•
one-shot approach
•
effective control
•
limited scope of iteration
•
long cycle time
•
not suitable for system of high uncertainty
UNIT-II
PART – B
1. Explain the use of decision trees in modeling and analyzing the problems with an
example. (Nov/Dec 2012)
(8)
Risk Evaluation
Risk identification and ranking
Risk and net present value
Cost benefit analysis
Risk profile analysis
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Using decision trees
D-Extend
Replace
Expansion
No Expansion
2. Discuss the importance of Net Present Value (NPV) in evaluating the projects. (Nov/Dec
2012)
(8)
 Net Present Value is the sum of the present values (aka discounted cash flows)
 As can be seen on the next slide, the profit figures can differ significantly using Net PV
instead of Net Profit
 The payback period may also be effected
Year
Project AAA
Discount
Rate
Discount
Factor
Discounted
Cash Flow
0
-100000
1
10000
2
10000
3
10000
4
20000
0.03
0.03
0.03
0.03
0.03
1.000
0.971
0.943
0.915
0.888
5 Net Profit
100000
50000
0.03
0.863 NPV
-100000 9708.738 9425.959 9151.417 17769.74 86260.88 32316.733
3. Explain the key features of the Prototyping model and discuss its advantages
disadvantages. (Nov/Dec 2012)
•
(8)
Goals
– meet users’ requirements in early stage
– reduce risk and uncertainty
•
Throw-away
– After users agree the requirements of the system, the prototype will be discarded.
•
Evolutionary
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– Modifications are based on the existing prototype.
•
Incremental
– Functions will be arranged and built accordingly.
Prototyping Model
Build prototype
User
satisfaction
YES
NO
User feedback
•
Learning by doing
•
Improved communication
•
Improved user involvement
•
Clarification of partially-known requirements
•
Requirements gathering
•
Quick design
•
Prototype construction
•
Customer evaluation
•
Refinement
•
Loop back to quick design for fine tuning
•
Product engineering
4. Explain the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) method and its use. (Nov/Dec 2012)
(8)
5. Distinguish: Strategic Assessment and Technical Assessment in SPM. (May/June 2013)
(8)
Strategic Assessment:
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- Description of evaluation
- Strategic assessment of a proposed system consists of evaluating the whole
environment.
Technical Assessment:
- Technical assessment of a proposed system consists of evaluating the required
functionality against the hardware and software available
- Organizational policy aimed at the provision of a uniform and consistent
hardware/software infrastructure is likely to place limitations on the nature of
technical solutions that might consider.
6. Discuss the stages in risk evaluation. (May/June 2013)
-
(8)
Risk identification and Ranking
Risk and Net Profit value
Cost benefit Analysis
Risk Profile Analysis
Using Decision Trees
7. Explain cash flow forecasting with a suitable example. (May/June 2013)
(8)
 Can the organisation afford the –ve cash flow required for the development of the project
 e.g. Project BBB requires an initial outlay of £1000,000
 We need to spend money during the development of a product
 We hope to get it back once the product is finished
 Therefore projects will have a –ve cash flow during their development
 This should become +ve once the project is complete
Cash Flow Diagram
b
Income
Time
a
c
Cotterell and Hughes page 43
8. Discuss the significance of cost-benefit analysis techniques in handling a software project
effectively. (May/June 2013)
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SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
 Compare the costs of carrying out a project with the estimated benefits
 Identify all costs
 Development Costs
 Running Costs – annual costs
 Include all direct benefits of the project
 Will normally accrue on completion – but not always
 May be annual benefits/savings
 Express costs and benefits in a common unit
 £, €, $ etc
UNIT-III
PART – A
PART – B
1. Explain the steps involved in carrying out the Forward Pass and Backward Pass of
Activity Planning with a suitable example. (Nov/Dec 2012) (10)
A detailed plan for the project,must also include a schedule with start and completion
times for each activity
Ensure that the appropriate resources will be available precisely when required
Avoid different activities competing for the same resources at the same time

Produce a detailed schedule showing which staffs carry out each activity

Produce a detailed plan against which actual achievement may be measured

Produce a timed cash flow forecast

Replan the project during its life to correct drift from the target

Feasibility Assessment

Resource Allocation:

Detailed Costing

Motivation
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
Co-ordination
2. Explain the Bottom Up approach for effort estimation and reason out why it is preferred
over Top Down approach in general. (Nov/Dec 2012)
(6)
Bottom Up Approach Vs Top Down Approach:
-
Top Up Approach – estimates from start of the activity
-
Subdivides components from higher level to lower level
-
Bottom Up Approach – estimates from end product
-
Proceeds with lower level to higher level
 Estimates are made on resource costs etc. for low level tasks (WBS)
 These are aggregated to provide direct costs for the project
 PM adds indirect costs – admin, etc. and reserve (and profit figures)
 Senior management then cut the budget!
3. What are called “Activity on Arrow networks”? Explain the various rules and
conventions used in drawing the Activity on Arrow networks. (Nov/Dec 2012)
i)
A project n/w may have only one start node.
ii)
A project N/w may have only one end node
iii)
A link has duration
iv)
Nodes have no duration
v)
Time move from left to right
vi)
Nodes are numbered sequentially
vii)
A N/w may not contain loop
viii)
Activity labelling
(8)
4. Explain the importance of work breakdown structure and Scheduling of tasks in a project.
Also explain how Scheduling is carried out. (Nov/Dec 2012)
(8)
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):
- This involves identifying the main tasks required to complete a project and
then breaking each of these down into set of lower-level tasks. The five levels
are Project, deliverables, components, work-packages, and tasks.
Scheduling:
- Creating a project schedule comprises four main stages. They are:
 Activity planning
 Activity risk analysis
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 Resource allocation
 Schedule production
The project schedule is a calendar that links the tasks to be done with the resources that
will do them.
Before a project schedule can be created, the project manager must have a work
breakdown structure (WBS) and estimates.
The schedule is part of the project plan.

Split project into tasks and estimate time and resources required to complete task

Organize tasks concurrently to make optimal use of workforce

Minimize
task
dependencies
to
avoid
delays
caused by one task waiting for another to complete

Dependent on project managers intuition and experience
5. Discuss the problems of over and under estimation of software efforts. (Nov/Dec
2012)(4)
Over-Estimate Project is given more Consideration.
Under- Estimate Project is not completed on Time.
6. Consider a software project with 5 tasks T1 – T5. Duration of the five tasks in weeks is
3,2,3,5, and 2 respectively. T2 and T4 can start when T1 is complete. T3 can start when
T2 is complete. T5 can start when both T# and T4 are complete. Draw the CPM network
representation of the project. When is the latest start date of the task T3? What is the total
float time of the task T4? Which tasks are on the critical path? (May/June 2013)
(12)
7. Draw up an activity network for the activities below, identifying the critical path. Draw
up a resource table showing the number of each type of resource needed on each day of
the project and assuming that there is only one systems designer. Identify the best way of
revising the plan to remove resource clashes.
Activity
Duration (days)
Depends on
Resource type
A
2
B
10
A
SD
C
2
A
SD
SA
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D
2
C
SC
E
3
C
SC
F
2
C
SC
G
4
B,C,E,F
SA
SA = System Analyst SD = System Designer
(May/June 2013)
SC = Software Coder
8. Explain in detail about Network Planning Models. How will you formulate a Network
Model? (May/June 2013)



CPM (Critical Path Method) and PERT (Program Evaluation Review Technique)
Both of these techniques used an activity-on-arrow approach to visualizing the project
as a network where activities are drawn as arrows joining circles, or nodes, which
represent the possible start and/or completion of an activity or set of activities
Rules for constructing networks with diagram
 A project network should have only one start node
 A project network should have only one end node
 A node has duration
 Links normally have no duration
 Precedents are the immediate preceding activities
 A network may not contain loops
(16)
UNIT-IV
PART – A
PART – B
1. Explain in detail, how the Risks involved in a project are identified, analyzed and
managed. (Nov/Dec 2012)
(16)
 Project risks
 Nature of risks
 Risk identification
 Risk estimation
 Risk evaluation
 Risk management
 Risk reduction strategies
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2. Explain briefly the Earned Value analysis and its use in monitoring the project costs.
(Nov/Dec 2012)
(8)
The Total Value Credited to a project at any point is Known as the Earned value (EV) or
budgeted cost of work performed.
Common Methods in Software projects are:
 The 0/100 Technique
 The 50/50 Technique
 The Milestone Technique
The Baseline Budget
Monitored Earned Value
Schedule Variance (SV)
Cost Variance (CV)
3. Explain the use of resource histograms in scheduling the resources. (Nov/Dec 2012)(8)
The Amanda’s Bar Chart have to be Constructed for Scheduling the Resources.
The Prioritizing Activities is given as Follows:
Total Float Priority
Ordered list Priority
1. Shortest Critical Activity
2. Critical activities
3. Shortest Non-Critical Activity
4. Non Critical Activity with Least Float
5. Non- Critical Activities


Effort represents the work required to perform a task.
 Effort is measured in person-hours (or person-days, person-weeks, etc.)
 It represents the total number of hours that each person spent working on
the task.
Duration is amount of time that elapses between the time the task is started and the time
it is completed.
 Duration is measured in hours (or days, weeks, etc.)
 It does not take into account the number of people performing the task
4. Discuss the framework for dealing with risk. (May/June 2013)
-
(12)
Responsibility
Assessing progress
Setting checkpoints
Taking snapshots
5. Categorize and prioritize the actions for risk elimination. (May/June 2013)
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Actors
Structure
Technology
Tasks
High , significant moderate ,low
6. Illustrate the use of PERT to evaluate the effects of project risk uncertainty.
(May/June 2013)
(12)

Program Evaluation Review Techniques

US Navy, 1957

Systematic method of estimating project length

Based on a systematic serialization algorithm based on:


Dependencies

Resource availability
Adds administrative oversight to critical paths

Critical path: Sequence of tasks such that if any task on the CP is
delayed, so is the whole project 22
Activity network - PERT
15 days
14/7/99
M1
8 days
T9
T1
25/7/99
4/7/99
start
15 days
T3
5 days
4/8/99
25/8/99
T6
M4
M6
M3
7 days
2 0 days
15 days
T7
T2
25/7/99
10 days
M2
T4
T11
1 0 days
M7
T5
5/9/99
11/8/99
15 days
T1 0
1 8/7/99
M8
10 days
T12
M5
25 days
T8
Finish
19/9/99
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UNIT-V
PART – A
PART – B
1. What are the six quality characteristics identified by ISO 9126? Explain them in detail.
(Nov/Dec 2012)
-
(6)
ISO 9126 standard was first introduced in 1991 to tackle the question of the definition
of software quality.
Quality in use is a type of quality for which the following elements are identified:
Effectiveness
Productivity
Safety
Satisfaction
ISO 9126 identifies six major external software quality characteristics:
Functionality
Reliability
Usability
Efficiency
Maintainability
Portability
2. Name and briefly explain the various levels of the CMMI process model and the Key
Process Areas required for each level. (Nov/Dec 2012)
(10)
3. Write short notes on the following:
(i)
ISO 9001 Quality Management System.
(8)
(ii)
PRINCE2. (Nov/Dec 2012)
(8)
-
Components of PRINCE2
PRINCE planning technique
PRINCE2 project organization
Project Stages
Project procedures
Directing a project
Starting up a project
Initiating the project
Controlling a Stage
Managing product delivery
Managing Stage boundaries
Closing the project
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4. Describe the external standards for defining software quality. (May/June 2013)
(16)
 Correctness
 Maintainability
 Usability
 Integrity
5. Write short notes on project management software of your choice. (May/June 2013)(16)



Open Project
Launch pad
Dot Project
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