Question

Do your best to answer each question thoroughly and provide examples for full credit. (Most of the answers are in the links provided & change control lecture in D2L)

Q1. Illustrate how can we control 'change requests' coming from different directions during a project? (follow the six Steps in the Change Control Process)

Q2.
a. What are the sources of change?
b. Discuss- If a change is agreed upon, what may be the impacts of this change to the project plan (triple constraints)?

Q3.
a. Why many project managers believe that scheduling is worthless if we do not develop a Critical Path Management (CPM) diagram?
b. Explain how CPM effects project management and give examples?

Q4. Work quality is hard to measure/ track & most likely will be sacrificed when deadlines are tight. As a project manager, how will you control that?

Q5. What are the steps for the Software Testing Life Cycle STLC? Briefly explain each step.

Q6. As a project manager there are 3 steps that you need to take to ensure success after going-live. Discuss each step.

Answer 1

Answering First Five Questions as the time is less

Q1:

The Six Steps of change control process are

Change Request Identification, Change Request Assessment, Change Request Analysis, Change Request Approval, Change Request Implementation.

Along with these five steps, the sixth step is “Reject or Defer Change Request” which generally results of any of these three steps “Change Request Analysis, or Change Request Approval”

Step1: Change Request Identification-Identification of the need for a change and fill the project change request form which contains details such as benefits of change, time and estimated cost, authorization details, etc.

Step2: Change Request Assessment-Quickly asses the Information provided in the change request form in line with the resource requirement and identify the potential impact and update the form. Reject of deferring changes if they are invalid.

Step3: Change Request Analysis-Assign the change request to authorize person, this step also analyze deferred changes

Step4: Change Request Approval-Determine change risk and complexity, impact level of change and request the authorized person for approval

Step5: Change Request Implementation- Implement the change request by updating management plans, Informing team members, monitoring the progress of implementation, completing and closing the request at the end.

Q2:a,b

A change can come from any of these sources

· Customer

· Project team

· Preventive Actions

· Corrective Actions

· Stakeholders Need

· Defect repairs

The main factors determine the change request generation from the source include

1.Value Addition opportunities

2. External Environment Events such as industry competition or Govt. Regulations

3. Errors or Omissions in the project management plan

4. Response to the Risk Factors

Triple constraints in a project Involve the Time, Scope, and Cost Constraints.

The triple constraint methodology is about achieving the balance of these three to reach a successful conclusion.

Any of the changes in the project directly affects the triple constraints.

For example, a budget cut will impact the time constraint since cheaper resources need to explore to achieve the budget target. It might also impact the project scope

In another example a customer asks you to forward the launch date of the product in response to a launch event by a competitor, so it will have an impact on the schedule, the PM can decide to remove some features to fast forward the launch.

Balancing these three constraints is the recipe for success.

Q3:a,b

Critical Path Method is an essential element of developing a schedule for a project.

Critical path development offers insights such as relative importance of tasks to be accomplished; time required to complete individual tasks, Identify critical activities, clarification of dependencies in the project,

and tracks the actual performance with the plan.

These factors enable the success of the project and are necessary for a project manager to deeply understand.

The Critical path method benefits the project by the means of improved planning, scheduling, controlling, minimizing disputes, time and cost savings, and more control over risks and uncertainties.

Examples of CPM In Projects include building a house in which all the activities starting from drawing to the project completion are mapped.

It also uses Gantt chart for time and activity tracking of the project which in turn provides necessary escalations for corrections.

Q4:

As a project manager, the following tips will help in handling tight deadlines while ensuring the quality is not sacrificed

1. Never Commit to the Deadlines which the PM cannot meet- Instead of overpromising and under-delivering it is better to communicate honestly and negotiating reasonable deadlines

2. Always meet the deadline once committed.- This tip is necessary to ensure your personal and organizational reputation not suffer. It has a kind of a domino effect since if you don’t meet your deadline then others will be negatively affected by it and as a result, the project might get derailed.

3. Planning and Time management-Breaking of large tasks into smaller ones and making sure to attach milestones to each one will eventually ensure meeting the final deadline. Creating a plan B in case something goes wrong is key to ensuring success.

4. Concentration for Meeting Deadlines and Delivering Good work- Simply concentrate on the tasks at hand and silence non-essential activities. Do not let distractions interrupt your thought process and making you less productive.

Q5:

Steps Of software testing cycle

• Requirement Analysis
• Test Planning
• Test case development
• Test Environment setup
• Test Execution
• Test Cycle closure

Requirement Analysis-First Step which involves understanding of what is to be tested. QA team coordinates with various stack holders to have the detail knowledge of their requirements.

Test Planning-This step involves the preparation and finalization of the testing plan. The testing team also calculates the estimated efforts and cost for the project.

Test Case Development-In this step testing team notes down the detailed test cases and prepare the required data for the testing. Necessary test data reviews and reworks are also done in this stage itself.

Test Environment setup-It is one of the most vital steps of testing and deals with deciding the conditions in which software is tested. This activity can be done in parallel with test case development and typically involves developer or customer.

Test Execution-In this phase the test team will carry out testing based on the prepared test cases and test plan.

Test Cycle closure- After the testing is completed the testing team regroups and analyzes the testing process, taking lessons from the current test cycles and preparing strategies to be incorporated in future testing.