3. 3
Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to provide a complete evaluation plan on the IS project which requires a high
tech to design and develop a Serious Game Based Learning incorporating Augmented Reality and user-
experience analytics that allows multi player interaction. The project requires the high-tech company to
develop a gaming platform that should enable users to have access to an enhanced environment for
users to train in industrial safety training for hazard environments. Multi player capabilities and AR
technologies should allow users to have a realistic experience within the hazardous environment using
material explosions and fire dynamics. The project development is to be planned, designed and
implemented over the course of 24 months.
The project software development lifecycle is critically analysed and evaluated using various key tools
and methods to help users understand the financial elements and resources utilised within the project,
which allows project managers to manage time effectively as well as ensure the project is a success,
delivering quality level of standard. These tools and methods include work break-down structure,
resource calendar, crashing, network diagram, what-if scenario, risk assessment and mitigation. The
findings from the WBS dictionary identified that without the crashing method it was impossible to
reduce the total duration of the entire project to the 24months required by the client.
The resource calendar assesses the total investment cost of the project, project duration and the impact
it has on the quality and success. The analysis drawn from the implementation of the resource calendar
establishes an increase in the individual task duration which signifies an impact on the total project cost
and total project duration.
Within the network diagram, the key findings were that all activities were critical thus no activities on
the critical path must be delayed in order to complete the project within the project duration outlined by
the client, ensuring there are no disruptions to the critical path. The crashing method analysis found that
the activities can be crashed to reduce the duration of the entire project to 24 months; however, all
activities were then placed on to the critical path except for activities G, H and I. Once these activities
were crashed down to 23 months, all activities were then instantly showing on the critical path and
could not be further delayed as it was essential for activities to be completed on time.
The what-if scenarios identify and evaluate possible risks and issues that are associated with each work
package within the project development lifecycle. One of the main issues each phase faces is
communication. This is a vital skill that is needed between both developers and clients as a slight
miscommunication from either one of these parties can lead to errors developing within the lifecycle
and client requirements not met, which will then lead to an increase in project cost and consume more
time, resulting in project failure. Risk assessment and mitigation is closely linked to what-if scenarios
as they both identify possible risks that can cause danger to a project such as human error. The more
human errors made will result in an increase in financial cost and will result in a delay in reaching
project deadline.
All of the above findings are crucial to take in to account when developing a system within a project
as they determine the successfulness,quality, cost and scope of the overall project.
4. 4
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to present the work breakdown structure, resource calendar, network
diagram, crashing, what-if scenario and risk assessment for the project Serious Game Based Learning
in order to critically analyse the project planning and produce an evaluation. The evaluation will be
produced following the requirements outlined in the project brief which is done using Microsoft project.
The analysis and findings will be drawn from the requirements. The report is broken down in to six
topics which are also the requirements.
The six topics in this report discuss:
WBS
Resource calendar
Network diagram
Crashing
What-if scenarios
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
The section on WBS outlines tasks, durations, predecessor,successors,resources and the cost of each
task over the course of 24 months. The section on Resource Calendar defines all working and non-
working days to carefully manage inactive or active resources. The section on NetworkDiagram shows
stakeholders how activities are linked to each other with nodes and lines that show the critical path of
the project. The section on Crashing demonstrates how to crash the project to reduce the time and cost
and the affect it has on the critical path which is then shown in another network diagram. What if
scenarios show the impact it will have the on critical path if tasks are done later than scheduled. The
last topic in this report Risk Assessment and Mitigation outlines potential risks within the project and
how to plan for and overcome these risks.
The report draws analysis from all six topics to thoroughly evaluate the planning of the project and will
provide recommendations.
Requirements 1
Project Scenario
Description:
The company have been directed to design a Serious Game Based Learning (GBL), with multi-player
capabilities using Augmented/Mixed Reality (AR/MR), and user-experience analytic enablers training
for hazardous environments. Therefore, the overall objective of this project is to have a solution to
design and develop a Serious Game Based Learning (GBL) solution. This project will provide AR and
MR and enhanced environment by improving immersive experience through the interaction among the
players using AR. This will create a realistic hazard environment situation and experience; for example,
material, explosions and fire dynamics. What is more, this project will provide a Network Diagram and
perform analysis using the Critical Path Method, Crashing Method, and What-If Scenario to perform a
risk assessment and to perform the work breakdown structure activities. This will provide a graphical
view whilst displaying different activities within a project and interdependencies between these
activities. This helps to build an accurate view of the project while displaying the entire feasible
schedule. The project duration is 24 months and the tasks for the project will be assigned to the
appropriate duration and will be divided into 6 work packages.
WBS Dictionary.
Description:
A WBS dictionary allows members working on a project to know which task must be completed by a
5. 5
specified period of time and by which member(s) of a team. Agood WBS dictionary will clearly display
which task is the predecessor and successor without ambiguity. Other crucial information that must be
included in a WBS dictionary are:
WBS code relating activities to milestones
Duration of activities and milestone
Resources assigned to activities
Start and end date for each activity
Activity title
Cost of activity
A WBS dictionary was created,using the above listed criteria.
Analysis:
Readercangather different information based on the WBS dictionary provided in the image above. The
“assigned to” column shows which individual(s) is responsible for the activities. The cost column
shows the cost of an activity and the overall cost of the project which is £166,000.00. The WBS code
column shows which activities belong to specific milestones due to the face that each code is unique.
So, for exam, all the code under building will have a prefix of “AR/MX-3”, if any activities are created
under “Avatar Type” the prefix will be “AR/MX-3.1”. One of the key information from this WBS
Dictionary is the amount of duration each activity takes, and the overall project takes 29 months.
Whatever did not meet the requirement set from coursework 4, the project will be crashed to meet this
requirement. More details can be found on the crashing section.
Evaluation:
In the WBS dictionary above we came to the conclusion that original activities duration provided from
coursework 4 (without crashing) cannot be fitted into a 24-month duration. Most projects that are IT
related and involve development of product can be split into percentages based on “Phase Distribution
of Software Development Effort” journal [1]. The specification and designing phase should be
allocated 25% of project duration, while the building and testing phase should be allocated 50%. The
remaining 25% should be allocated to training and transition phase. We used this as a guideline when
allocating duration to each activity in this project.
6. 6
The project can be fitted into 24 months, if User API, User Manual, Online Help, Integrating
Component and Testing & Validation start time are not dependant on the project “coding Phase” or
“core building phase” (Avatars Type, AR Content Creation, Emulated Hazard Condition in Gaming,
Multiplayer capability and MMORG Analytics). This approach will not be logical because if the
integrating component startsatthe exacttime of ARContent Creation, the main question which requires
answers is “what technology are we integrating at this period?” The Integrating component activity
lasts only 4 months whilst most building activity last more. Does this mean we integrate the entire
technology component before each component is completed?
Resources Calendar
A Resource Calendar is used to specify all public holidays and working hours and individual time of
work. It usually only specifies working and nonworking times for individual resources such as team
members and project tasks.
Resource calendar is used to keep track of all scheduled activities and dates that are needed to keep
trackof tasks during the lifecycle of a project. Resource calendar provides time management for project
management teams. Using the resource calendar allows project management teams to view all working
and non-working days to decide or determine exact dates that resources are in use or not in use. Having
this information allows project management teams to allocate resources according to availability.
Companies can also create shared resource calendars which allow them to easily assign team members
or equipment to tasks in a project. Using this shared resource calendar, companies are able to see
resource information, resource names, units and costs related to each resource as well as the calendar
being used for each resource.
Resource calendars can benefit larger organisations that may have different regions. The calendar will
specify all public holidays and can be grouped for each region such as a set calendar for the UK and a
different set calendar for the US. Having a resource calendar ultimately saves time for companies in
the project planning phase.
Using a resource calendar will play a part in the project success as the resource will reduce cost and
time for projects as it is easy to allocate tasks to available resources. If a team member is off on leave,
project management teams can allocate tasks accordingly thus saving time and money.
7. 7
Resource Calendar Design
Working and non-working days: The resource calendar is created using the change working time
function on Microsoft Project. To define all working days and non-working days a new calendar has
been created called ‘Working days’ which includes the five working days Monday – Friday and
excludes weekends which is noted down as non-working days. The working day calendar excluded all
public holidays as exceptions and is noted down as non-working days on the calendar. All defined
working days start at 8am to 5pm making it an 8-hour shift per day.
.
Assigning resources to calendar: The function resource sheet has allkey information on the resources
needed for the Serious Game Based Learning project. Resource names, standard rate per hour, type,
ID, Units, cost and calendar are all listed. ID 1-15 are tasks needed to complete the project and ID 16
– 19 are the team members that are going to be assigned to the tasks. In order to have all resources
working under the same calendar which defines all working and non-working days, the base calendar
has been changed to the ‘working days’ calendar for all resources, so they all share the same calendar
that defines public holidays, working days and weekends which are non-working days. There is no
standard rate for the team members as they will be assigned to tasks and will be paid the standard rate
of each task multiplied by the number of hours they work on each task.
8. 8
Assigning team members to tasks: Once all resources are all working under the same working days
calendar, tasks have to be assigned to team members. The Gantt chart has information on cost and
duration of the tasks start and finish date as well as who is assigned to these tasks. The Gantt chart
allows project management teams to plan, coordinate and track tasks. Left clicking each cell row and
then assign resources allows team members to be assigned to tasks. Assigning team members to tasks
changes the duration of each task as it is working under the working days calendar. Some tasks have
more than one teammember assigned to the task; this can increase the costof those tasksand the project
as a whole as the standard task rate is paid per person. The cost is calculated by applying the hours
worked per day which is 8 hours multiplied by the duration of each task which gives the total hours
worked for that specific task, which is then multiplied by the standard rate of the task. If more than one
person is working on that specific task, the cost of one person working on that task is multiplied by two
giving a total cost of that task.
9. 9
Leveling Gantt View: Using the resource calendar and the assigned tasks, microsoft project is able to
produce a leveling gantt view that shows the entire project lifecycle over the course of 29 months and
77 days which will be later crashed in order to reduce the project duration to fit the 24 months required
by the company. The leveling gantt is a graphical view that displays all tasks and what the schedule
looks like. The tasks team members working on the tasks are colour coordinated by work package. For
example, technoeconomic analysis of the proposed solution and system architecture are tasks under the
same work package ‘designing’ thus both tasksare colour coordinated in the same colour. The schedule
is shown in months. Within the leveling Gantt, project managers are able to easily enter in task delays
in the defualt table which will enable them to see a clear view of the schedule before and after leveling
delays. This vital tool allows organisations to have better control and monitoring of all tasks which will
ultimlatey allow them to prevent any extra expensesfrom occuring and enable betterusage of resources.
Team Schedule: The team planner function in Microsoft Project allows project managers to view all
team member schedules which provide information on the tasks assigned to each individual team
member as well as the number of tasks assigned to them. The schedule shows the duration of each task
which is displayed on the timeline that must be completed within the time period given so individual
team members can then follow on to the next task. Additional information is also available for project
managers to acknowledge all necessary information in relation to the specific task chosen. This is done
by hovering on to the desired task to have access to information which includes task mode, start date,
finish date, duration and work percentage completed. Project managers are also able to view the
standard rate ofeachindividual task being allocated to the members and individual duration time needed
to be completed.
All this information is important for a project manager as it gives an overview of which resources are
active and inactive.
10. 10
Total cost ofproject/project investment: This excelsheet shows all tasks and the cost related to each
individual task. To be able to calculate the total cost of the entire project, the standard cost per hour of
each task must be multiplied by the duration spent per hour on each task, which will calculate the total
task cost. However,some tasks have been allocated to one or more team member which will then mean
the total cost of that specific task must be multiplied by two or more depending on the number of team
members working on this specified task. Each total task cost is then summed up which then calculates
the final total cost of project i.e. the total investment put in to the project.
Initially the total cost of the project was calculating up to £166,032.28 and the entire project duration
was 29 months. However, after completing the resource calendar and taking into consideration the
number of team members being assigned to each task, the cost of the project has increased relatively
and duration has increased by 77days as a result of public holidays being defined and entered into the
resource calendar.To be able to decrease the project duration and investment the crashing method needs
to be performed to meet client requirements.
Requirements 2
Network Diagram.
Description:
A network diagram shows how activities in project are connected. It is a very important tool as it
enables stakeholders to understand which task must be completed and the order that it has to be in. The
network diagram was automatically generated from the Gantt chart created in MS (Microsoft) project.
There are two types of network diagram (PERT and CPM), the one that is used in this report is CPM
(Critical Path Method). The image of the CPM generated from the Gantt chart for this project can be
seen below:
11. 11
Analysis:
The critical path in the network diagram can be easily identified and it is automatically calculated by
the MS Project software. The only major issue is that the edges in the diagram sometimes overlap each
other when activities have one to many or many to many links. The ES, EF, LS and LF are manually
entered in the WBS dictionary section table. Since we believe the network diagram above could be
quite confusing due to the edges, we decided to create a well layout one using an alternative illustrator
tool. While keeping the logic created from MS Project network diagram the same, the new network
diagram we created can be see below:
The first thing that we noticed is that all the activities which are critical have TF (total float) of 0. To
calculate total float ES must be subtracted from LS or EF from LF. This means that all the activities
that are on critical path must not be delayed in starting and must be completed on time. Any delay to
one of these activities on critical path will affect the overall duration of the project. To reduce the
project duration, activities on the critical path could be reduced, doing this could change the critical
path of the overall project, and reduction of activities comes with a cost. This is further explored under
crashing section.
12. 12
Crashing
Description:
The main goals of crashing is to reduce the duration that project takes and reduces the cost of overall
project. These two goals may not be achieved in some occasion, if the cost of crashing is higher than
the amount saved from crashing a project. Since the project that is being used in this report is higher
than the duration provided in the requirement, we crashed the project from 29 months to 24 month.
During the process of crashing we actually manage to reduce the cost to £2,200.00. To demonstrate
how we crash the project, the table below shows what activities is in the project is being crashed in a
specified run and the effect of crashed activity on critical path on network diagram will be display in
images below per run. One of the main factor that affect our decision on deciding which activity to be
crash is the crash cost,the cheapest crash cost was chosen throughout the crashing process over a
higher crash cost. In order to save as much as possible for the project.
Analysis:
The first column in the table below shows the list of all activities in alphabets and the overall cost of
each activity. This information will be used to calculate how much each activity cost monthly, since
the activity will be crashed per month. The second column shows the initial state of each activity in
the network diagram and the columns that follows show how each activity total float, duration and
critical path changes base on the activities that are being crashed in a specific run. Each duration
columns with red numbers shows which activity has been identify as critical path at different run.
In the initial stage, the project cost was £166,000 and project duration is 29 months. The crash was not
included because we have not crashed the project which means no savings has been made. Moving on
the run 1, activity O was reduced by a month because it is in the critical path and it as the one of the
cheapest crash cost with activity N and B £1000. To calculate the amount saved by crashing this
activity, the activity cost is divided by activity normal duration which is (£14,000/4 = £3500). Which
basically means since we get rid of a month in the activity, £3,500 doesn’t have to be spent in that
period. To calculate the project cost after crashing, the project cost from previous column (£166,000)
will be subtracted from savings minus crash cost. That will mean (£3,500 - £1,000 = £2,500) then
(£166,000 - £2,500 = £163,500) and the overall project duration reduce to 28 months. The TF and
critical path didn’t change after completing the first run.
13. 13
For run 2, the activity that was crashed was N by 1 month, after this activity was crashed the critical
path for the network diagram changed. As it can be seen on run 2 image, the TF for most of the
network diagram change as it can be seen on the crash table above.
For run 3, the activity that was crashed was F by 1 month. After this activity was crashed the critical
path for the network diagram changed. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, L, M N and O and the project cost
reduce by £250 (£163,500.00 to £163,250.00).
For run 4, the activities crashed was M and N by 2 months each. This run didn’t affect the critical path
from the previous run but the project cost increased from £163,250.00 to £163,850.00. This is due to
the fact that crash cost is higher than the amount saved for this run.
14. 14
Evaluation:
The crashing process reduced the proposed duration of the project from 29 to 24 months with only 3
activities not part of critical path (I, J, K). The project can be reduced further to 23 months but all the
activities in the network diagram will be critical path because the total float for I, J and K is 1 and no
reduction can be made in project duration by crashing single activities from I, J or K. Due to the way
they are connected in the network diagram.
What-If Scenario
These are a set of scenarios that are carefully analysed and evaluated by looking at the key input
elements that form the basis of these. This method also allows a business to prepare for any
uncertainties or problems that may cause an effect or hinder the progress of achieving a business goal
or product. An organisations system development life cycle, describes the complete process of creating
a product that consists of different phases within an information system.
Each phase of the system development life cycle can have uncertainties that may arise which then need
to be further evaluated to see the likelihood of these occurring and the methods needed to avoid these
from happening.
Specifying - Effective communication is an essential and vital tool and skill that is needed both by a
client and a developer to ensure that both parties understand fully the requirements and specifications
requestedin order to produce the desired product. Slight miscommunication cancause misaligned goals
which will lead to a defect or problem in the progress of desired product, as well as causing an increase
in costs and a delay in reaching project deadlines.
Designing - Infrastructural security issues; the value of the system and information assets of the
enterprise are not protected and this valuable data can easily be attacked by third party or hackers. What
if all requirements are not met? If all client requirements are not met, then client will not be satisfied
and may withdraw contract which will incur a sufficient amount of loss to the organisation and loss of
time, inevitably the system will fail.
Building - Late request of features to be added in to product; this will disrupt the whole project plan as
it will cause anincrease in total costs,due to any extra materials which may be required for the specified
feature,as well as cause the project deadline to move forward,with other tasks also being disrupted and
being moved forward, therefore triggering misaligned goals.
15. 15
Testing & Implementation - Random failures occurring; this could be a problem as random failures
signify glitches and malfunctions within the system that is being tested. If the problem is not identified
sooner, it could result in a delay in meeting project deadline.
- Containing lots of bugs within coding: Bugs within a code may result in difficulty in
identifying and tracking the source of the problem which may then make it difficult to
resolve the problem and will be time consuming.
- Time being underestimated during testing phase: If this happens then this will cause a
project setback and the implementation and deliverable phase will be affected by this. The
project deadline will need to be extended to ensure that all necessary testing is complete at
a quality level and all applications within the software product are compatible to the
appliances and user specification.
- Implementation planning not performed: This will be a major problem as planning for
implementation needs to be conducted by developers before they reach this phase as this is
a complex phase within the lifecycle of the product and consists of many areas that need to
be considered for the preparation of this phase.
Training/Skills - Management/leadership/communication problems; ultimately, this will cause project
failure as the desired product will not be createdandtestedincluding the specified requirements, project
deadline will not be met and project costs will increase due to extra time, materials and resources that
may be needed. If the right training has not been provided to the user of the system, the user will be
unable to adapt to the system and be able to efficiently and effectively utilise it, therefore the system
not being fit for use or purpose for users.
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
Risk assessment and mitigation is the process of identifying, assessing, evaluating and reducing risks
that can have a significant impact on the quality, cost and scope of a project. Risks can either be project
opportunities or threats which are specified a certain level of probability score based on the incidence
occurrence and effect of impact on project. To be able to monitor and control these risks, a response
plan needs to be developed and produced during the duration of entire project, this useful indicator
allows a project to be successful and minimise possible risks from occurring.
Specifying - Augmented Reality Technologies: This new form of technology is an integration of
digital information such as sound, audio, video or graphics with a user’s physical real-environment.
One of the main risks could include lack of knowledge due to new technology continuously emerging
and evolving, therefore,it is crucially important to always be updated with all the new information and
knowledge in relation to these, otherwise this will ultimately result in project failure. When capturing
the client requirements and specifications, it is important to graspall the key information that is required
by the client and ensure that there is an excellent flow of communication betweenboth parties. A simple
misunderstanding and miscommunication can lead to many small errors developing which can lead to
project failure, capital loss and missed deadlines.
Designing – Technoeconomic analysis ofproposed solution/System Architecture: It is essential to
apply Technoeconomic modelling to a proposed solution given through carefulanalysis; this modelling
approach ensures to reduce avoidable costs, completion time of project and investment risks that may
occur within a project. If this analysis is not provided, it will prove to be a great risk in relation to
capital costs and investment put in to the entire project. System Architecture is one of the key vital
elements that represents the basis and structure of the system. Some risks can occur due to
mismanaging, mishandling and lack of understanding of system architecture, which could cause many
errors within the system created and would evidently consume more project time, cause an increase in
material costs and also result in the inability to meet client needs.
16. 16
Building – Avatars Type/AR Content Creation/ Emulated Hazard Condition in Gaming/Multi-
Player Capability/MMORG Analytics/User API/ User Manual/Online Help: During the building
and development of the different software in the product, many risks can be associated with the tasks
that can evidently cause the developer financial and time loss. Some of the risks and threats can include
hardware failures, user errors and even natural disasters. All these can cause a great effect to the
performance and quality of the overall project which would lead to project failure. This can also
automatically effect the time it would take to complete the whole project as well as needing extra
materials to eradicate errors and ensure that each software performance level is of a high standard; this
process will then automatically cause an increase in the total financial investment put in.
Testing and Implementation – Integrating Components/Testing and Validation: Performance
failure of software is a major risk that can be identified in the testing phase. If the software frequently
fails to work it will cause great financial damage to the company and become a time-consuming phase
which will mean that project deadlines will not be met and will furtherresult in an increase in investment
risk. If some key functions desired by the client are not functioning or missing, it can also result in
software performance failure and consequentially result in project failure as client needs and
requirements will not have been met at all.
Training – Health Safety Training Requirement/Learning & Gaming: Correct and regular training
needs to also be provided to ensure that users are able to effectively and efficiently use the system
throughout and after completion, which will automatically result in project success and an increase in
profit margins.
Risk Assessment Matrix
Work Package
1. Specifying
Work Package
2
Designing
Work Package 3
Building
Work Package 4
Testing &
Implementation
Work Package 5
Training
Task 1.1 Task 2.1 Task 3.1 Task 4.1 Task 5.1
Task 2.2 Task 3.2 Task 4.2 Task 5.2
Task 3.3
Task 3.4
Task 3.5
Task 3.6
Task 3.7
Task 3.8
Very Likely Likely Possible Unlikely
Risk Assessment Matrix is a valuable tool and process that is used to define, analyse and evaluate each
task with the level of probability and severity of impact that is expected to occur. This matrix allows
an organisation to rank tasks in order and in level of importance in relation to severity and be able to
evaluate the highlighted ones easily. Lowering the probability will result in a lower severity (Green)
EXTREME HIGH MODERATE LOW
17. 17
impact of a risk which will require no action; therefore, higher the probability will result in extreme
severity (Red) impact of a risk which will indicate immediate action to bring the control levels down.
Understanding this tool will allow a smooth performance of the overall project and enable users to plan
ahead and be able to find the solution as soon as risks are identified which will help to limit costs and
time spent on the process.
Conclusion
When planning a successfulproject, many factors are needed to be identified and considered, these
include of: Project Scenario, WBS Dictionary, Resource Calendar, Network Diagram, Crashing,
What-If Scenario, Risk Assessment & Mitigation; with the help and support of these factors only then
can an effective project be delivered by successfully meeting business requirements and client needs.
The project scenario looks in depth in to the project requirements which consist of finding a solution
for designing and developing a Serious Game Based Learning through the integration of Augmented
Reality and Mixed Reality by creating a realistic experience and environment for the players.
The WBS Dictionary identifies and recognises the milestones that are required; for this project the
milestones cannot be fitted in to the required 24 months. Whether,the testing milestone is a TDD
(Test Driven Development) or not a TDD, each product component cannot be integrated before the
development of milestone is completed. This results in the original required 24 months an
unreasonable timescale given.
The Resource Calendar plays a crucial part in project success as it is a cost-effective tool and effective
in time management with an ease of allocation of tasks to available resources.
The Network Diagram provides a visual image of how each activity derived from each milestone are
linked including the time of duration of each activity provided. This allows the crashing process to be
easily completed and be able to easily identify the effect of each activities crashed on project duration
and budget cost.
The Crashing process is responsible for reducing the duration of the entire project as well as the cost
of the overall project, the crash cost plays a major factor in deciding which activity should be crashed
or not.
The What-If Scenarios carefully analyse and evaluate sets of scenarios that are created from key input
elements. This process allows a business to prepare for any uncertainties, problems or risks that could
occur, resulting in an effect on the overall progress of the project.
The Risk Assessment and mitigation is the process of identifying, assessing and reducing possible
risks that can cause a significant impact on the quality, cost and scope of a project. A response plan
needs to be developed in order to minimise any possible risks from occurring,
Without any of these crucial factors and indicators a successfulproject cannot be achieved, therefore,
it is vital to include all the mentioned factors in the complete planning, managing and evaluation of a
project to ensure that the customer requirements, needs and project goal are met to a quality standard.
19. 19
Log-Book
Lukmon Mayegun Log-book
IS ProjectComplete Planning Evaluation (Individual-Report)
Date: 05/12/2016
Student Name: Lukmon Mayegun
Student Number: 3307213
Tutor Name: Phillip Burrell.
Table of Content:
1. Introduction.
2. Outline of contributions.
a. WBS dictionary
b. Network Diagram
c. Crashing
3. Conclusion.
Introduction.
In this paper, I describe and reflect on my contributions toward a team project, relating to project
planning process. In the project assignment, each member in my team was assigned a task (or tasks) to
perform in order to design and evaluate a proposed project plan. The project was split into two
requirements. Requirement 1 includes 3 tasks involves designing project scenario, WBS dictionary
and resource calendar document. Requirement 2 tasks involves designing Network Diagram,
Crashing, What-if Scenarios and Risk Assessment & Mitigation documents. One of the key
requirement in this assignment is that most document should be design using MS project.
The first decision that we have to make as a team is how to split the task. I already have my mind set
on choosing three tasks that was thought in lectures that I missed. I believed doing so will allow me to
spend more time and effort in understanding this topic further. The task I chosen were designing WBS
dictionary, Network Diagram and crashing the network diagram. Fortunately, all the member in my
team agreed and allowed me to work on these tasks.
Since WBS dictionary was in requirement 1 and most be created before Network Diagram and
performing CPM. I created the WBS using MS project. While I was creating the WBS dictionary,
reflect a lot on how I categorize a task into milestone from a previous assignment (assignment 4) that
related to this team project. I realized that some of my logic in the way I categorize task to milestone
in assignment 4 are not right and make changes to the categorization of tasks in milestone in the WBS
dictionary. One the main key lesson I learnt while I was creating the WBS dictionary in MS project is
that, it helpful to create place an alphabet letter as a prefix for each task title. So, for example if a task
name is research,it should be type in as “A – Research” because it saves me a lot of time and effort in
try to remember which order or task that the Network Diagram I Generated from the is referring to.
The second step was creating the network diagram, since the network diagram was automatically
generated by MS project this step was relatively straightforward. The only problem issue I identify
with the diagram generated by MS project was that it not well layout if too much tasks are link
together. The software provide option to change the links line but this was not very helpful. The
Network Diagram that was generated didn’t include any ES (early start time), EF (early finish time),
LS (late start time) and LF (late finish time). I really need to know this information in other to
perform a CPM on the Network Diagram. To solve this problem, I added a custom column in the
20. 20
WBS dictionary for ES, EF, LS and LF. I then insert the correct data in the cell for each column. I
edited the information that should be display in the Network Diagram to all the relevant details that
would be needed to perform a CPM. One key lesson I learnt performing this activity is that Network
Diagram in MS project is customisable if the user know is way around MS project. Most of my peers
find customising Network Diagram difficult.
The final task I performed was crashing the Network Diagram from 29 months to 24 months.
Describing task is being crashed and how it affects other activities and critical path, is one of the
hardest thing illustrate in the team report. Luckily, I found a YouTube video, which make use of a
table that shows how each activities TF (total float), EF, ES, LF and LS changes. The table shows the
cost of each crashed duration of activities and that amount saved per run. The crashing is not done
using MS project and I did not found any free software to implement the crashing, so this was done
manually. Which takes a lot of attention to details, making sure that in every single run all affected
activities are updated with correct data.
After completing all these three tasks,I believe I have a better understanding of how to create a decent
WBS dictionary document. I now understood how crashing is done using network diagram, this is
important to me because I missed the class when CPM was thought by my lecturer.
Timothy Adrian Log-Book
Student Name: Timothy Adrian
Student Number: 3215402
As a team, we decided to use WhatsApp as a communication to discuss the coursework and divide the
tasks up from Requirement 1 and Requirement 2:
Requirement 1
o Project Scenario
o Define a WBS Dictionary
o Define a Resource Calendar
Requirement 2
o Network Diagram
o Crashing
o What-if Scenario
o Risk Assessment and Migration
My Contribution to the Coursework 5: IS Project Complete Planning Evaluation (Group-based) was
to communicate with the group and decide what task to do and agree on the task my task chosen was
to write a description and evaluate the following: Project Scenario
21. 21
Aysha Mirza Log-Book
Student Name: Aysha Mirza
Student Number: 3014936
My contribution towards this Information Systems Project Management coursework 5 was the
completion of the following tasks and sections:
- Executive Summary: this section focusses on what was found in the report, giving brief
description on the analysis and findings of each requirement
- What-If Scenario: this section focusses on the possible uncertainties that can arise in a project
and the planning in place to be able to resolve these
- Risk Assessment and Mitigation: this section focuses on reducing possible risks that may
arise and cause an impact on the quality of project
- Conclusion: this section focuses on the overall summary of each requirement and the
evaluation based on all of these
While completing these tasks, a thorough research and investigation was undertaken, in being able to
understand the complete requirements for each section. The team members were great help in
enabling to understand the assignment requirements and what is needed to be able to complete each
tasks/sections set.
Effective communication is a vital tool and this was one of the great assets for working in this chosen
team, team meeting had been held on time, with all necessary and important information discussed in
relation to the work, deadlines were met effectively due to the time management skills and the
determination of each member within this group. A WhatsApp group was created and a shared file on
Google Drive was created in which all team members communicated and worked together on both
communication platforms.
This assignment was very interesting with the sections and tasks that had to be completed, new
knowledge and skills were also obtained and further enhanced,at times it was slightly challengeable,
but with the help of team members the challenges were overcome and the deadlines were met.
Maisha Miah Log-Book
Student Name: Maisha Miah
Student Number: 3314601
My contribution towards coursework 5 for IS project Management was of the following sections:
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Resource Calendar
As a team, we decided to split the work. We communicated using WhatsApp and Google Drive which
I found was an effective way of communicating and sharing documents with each other. I decided
that I wanted to contribute to the report itself by writing the introduction and the executive summary. I
also chose to complete one of the requirements which was the resource calendar.
In the executive summary, I chose to focus on what was found in the report giving a brief description
on what the analysis found from each requirement. This gives an overview of the entire report
outlining the major findings of the project planning and evaluation.
In the introduction, I chose to keep it short and simple explaining what topics will be discussed and in
what order and what the topics will consist of giving the reader a structure of the report.
22. 22
In order for me to complete requirement 1 resource calendar it was vital that I understood exactly
what is needed to be done and how it should be done. With the help of online resources and the WBS
created by my team member Lukmon I was able to use Microsoft Project to create a resource calendar
with all the public holidays and generate a timeline of all the activities carried out over the project
lifecycle. I was able to showcase my work in the report effectively as I know exactly how I have
created the resource calendar and what affect it has on the entire project lifecycle which is mirrored in
the WBS and resource timeline.
Using Microsoft Project to complete the resource calendar enabled me to develop my skills further on
MS project as I am able to now create Gantt charts, timelines, resource calendars for individual
resources as well as shared calendars. I am able to define working and non-working days on the
calendar and I am also able to work with complex functions on MS project which has enhanced by
skills on MS project and on the topic resource calendar itself.
I have met all deadlines defined by team members and have helped assist some team members on
areas that were not clear thus allowing all team members to understand topic areas better and
complete the work on time.
23. 23
References
Estimating of testing effort as a percentage of development time (2017) Available at:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1595346/estimating-of-testing-effort-as-a-percentage-of-
development-time [Accessed:4 January 2017].
30, +, Systems, D.,80, K., Str, D. and Piraeus (2036) Postgraduate Programme ‘Techno-economic
management of telecommunication systems’.Available at:
http://www.ds.unipi.gr/technoeconomic/en/information-technology-governance-and-project-
management/ [Accessed:4 January 2017].
Work breakdown structure dictionary (2017) Available at: http://project-management-
knowledge.com/definitions/w/work-breakdown-structure-dictionary/ [Accessed:4 January 2017].
(No Date) Available at: http://csse.usc.edu/TECHRPTS/2008/usc-csse-2008-836/usc-csse-2008-
836.pdf [Accessed:4 January 2017].
Yang, Y., Hei, M. and Boehm, B. (2008) ‘Phase Distribution of Software Development
Effort’, Phase Distribution of Software Development Effort,.
Risk management and risk mitigation - project management, (2015), Available at:
http://industrialaudit.com/risk-mitigation/, [Last Accessed on:01st
January 2017]
Risk management and risk mitigation - project management, (2015), Available at:
http://industrialaudit.com/risk-mitigation/, [Last Accessed on:01st
January 2017]
Techno-Economic modelling – MATRIC, (no date), Available at:
http://www.matricinnovates.com/technical-engineering/techn-economic-modeling/, [Last Accessed
on: 02nd
January 2017]
Peterson,G., Hope, P. and Lavenhar, S., (2005), Architectural risk analysis, Available at:
https://www.us-cert.gov/bsi/articles/best-practices/architectural-risk-analysis/architectural-risk-
analysis, [Last Accessed on: 02nd
January 2017]
ISTQB exam certification, What is Product risk in software testing?, (no date), Available at:
http://istqbexamcertification.com/what-is-product-risk-in-software-testing/, [Last Accessed on: 02nd
January 2017]
Maanu (2010) Gantt chart & levelling gantt. Available at: https://www.office-
forums.com/threads/gantt-chart-levelling-gantt.455754/ [Accessed:3 January 2017]. In-line
Citation:[Maanu, 2010]
Software,U. (2014) Resource calendar. Available at:
http://uplandsoftware.com/tenrox/glossary/resource-calendar/ [Accessed:3 January 2017]. In-line
Citation:[Software, 2014]
(No Date) Available at: http://project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/r/resource-calendar/
[Accessed:3 January 2017]. In-line Citation:([CSL STYLE ERROR:reference with no printed
form.])
