Task This assessment item consists of two parts. Both parts must be completed in order to complete this assessment item. Part 1 (40 marks) Part 1 Task Your task for this part of the assessment item is to answer the following two questions. Each question will carry equal (20 marks) and your answer for each question should be around 1000 words: 1. Identify five common project risk strategies employed to address threats that your project may face. Give an example of each. 2. Projects are often completed late. Describe the techniques you would use as a project manager to improve the accuracy and reliability of your project schedule. In responding to the above points, be sure to: · Critique project theory based on your experience and understanding. This is important –don't just "regurgitate" the theory · Provide examples, data or other relevant information to support your discussion. Examples can be from work experience, research, study group experience, for example. They should demonstrate the theoretical points you are asserting in the questions. Part 2 (60 marks) Background As a consultant you have been asked by the Global Retail Solution s Group (GRS) to develop an implementable project plan for a point of sale and stock control system for a proposed chain (DSE) of retail outlets across Australia. You have been supplied the following information, information not available maybe assumed, this will be a competitive bid targeting the dual goals of quick implementation and low cost.  DSE is an aggressive player in the growing DIY electronics market with a plan to open a chain of retail outlets to further their growth in the market. Outlets will be located in major cities in seven states. The larger cities will have more than one store. Critical to sales is monitoring sales and stock turn to ensure adequate stock is available when demanded. Each store will be responsible for day-to-day operations, however, there is a strong central management structure at the national level. The services provided by the organization include volume buying to gain discounts, pricing, merchandising strategies, and consolidation of performance reporting for the corporate management. The Information Systems Department at DSE's corporate office has been given the assignment to develop a transaction processing system that will apply modern RFID code scanning at the point of sale and provide automatic inventory control. The system will also relieve the store personnel of the tedious task of generating sales and performance reports as required by the head office.  An earlier project has successfully defined the store level hardware that will be used at the points of transaction plus the communications network that will connect the stores with the state offices. This hardware consists of standard PCs plus the scanning equipment and any other specialized interface hardware needed. The communications facility consists of a polled network and will be based on dial-up lines ...

1. Task
This assessment item consists of two parts. Both parts must be
completed in order to complete this assessment item.
Part 1 (40 marks)
Part 1 Task
Your task for this part of the assessment item is to answer the
following two questions. Each question will carry equal (20
marks) and your answer for each question should be around
1000 words:
1. Identify five common project risk strategies employed to
address threats that your project may face. Give an example of
each.
2. Projects are often completed late. Describe the techniques
you would use as a project manager to improve the accuracy and
reliability of your project schedule.
In responding to the above points, be sure to:
· Critique project theory based on your experience and
understanding. This is important –don't just "regurgitate" the
theory
· Provide examples, data or other relevant information to
support your discussion. Examples can be from work
experience, research, study group experience, for example. They
should demonstrate the theoretical points you are asserting in
the questions.
Part 2 (60 marks)
Background
As a consultant you have been asked by the Global Retail
Solution

2. s Group (GRS) to develop an implementable project plan for a
point of sale and stock control system for a proposed chain
(DSE) of retail outlets across Australia. You have been supplied
the following information, information not available maybe
assumed, this will be a competitive bid targeting the dual goals
of quick implementation and low cost.
DSE is an aggressive player in the growing DIY electronics
market with a plan to open a chain of retail outlets to further
their growth in the market. Outlets will be located in major
cities in seven states. The larger cities will have more than one
store. Critical to sales is monitoring sales and stock turn to
ensure adequate stock is available when demanded. Each store
will be responsible for day-to-day operations, however, there is
a strong central management structure at the national level. The
services provided by the organization include volume buying to
gain discounts, pricing, merchandising strategies, and
consolidation of performance reporting for the corporate
management.
The Information Systems Department at DSE's corporate office
has been given the assignment to develop a transaction
processing system that will apply modern RFID code scanning
at the point of sale and provide automatic inventory control.
The system will also relieve the store personnel of the tedious

3. task of generating sales and performance reports as required by
the head office.
An earlier project has successfully defined the store level
hardware that will be used at the points of transaction plus the
communications network that will connect the stores with the
state offices. This hardware consists of standard PCs plus the
scanning equipment and any other specialized interface
hardware needed. The communications facility consists of a
polled network and will be based on dial-up lines from the head
office to the individual stores. The stores have no requirement
to communicate with each other.
At this point in time, consider yourself a consultant who has to
bid for the software development piece of the project upon
which this system is based. You will have access to several DSE
employees to execute the various tasks that your project
proposal will guide to a successful conclusion.
You have selected Microsoft Project as a software tool to assist
in the development of your proposal.
Five major activities have been defined, each of which contains
a number of tasks. The tasks have been defined such that each
task requires only one resource. Since there is a limit to the
number of resources available to the project, a resource will
probably be assigned several tasks throughout the duration of
the project. However, for best efficiency the team has decided

4. that it is best to schedule the completion of one task before the
next task is started by the same resource. Your project design
has divided the work into sufficiently small increments that this
strategy can be successfully applied.
Since the software development is being done on standard
platforms with standard operating environments and well-known
development tools, there are no restrictions on the assignment
of resources to tasks. This means that you can reassign tasks
among your resource pool as required to make the most efficient
schedule.
From the information supplied by DSE (below) you have to
develop a design for the project. Your next task is to transfer
the entire design to Microsoft Project so that you can clearly
establish a timeline for the project based on detailed planning
and costs associated with your preferred choice including
resource utilisation. A concise business proposal including
outputs from Microsoft Project will be required to make your
case.
The project is due to begin on 01 September 2014.
Transaction processor
· User Interface - Driver code to display individual transaction

5. data, including item name and price to both the customer and
the operator. Richard - 3 days
· Peripheral Interface - Driver code to accept input data from
the UPC scanner, scale and keyboard. Richard - 2 days
· Price Look-up - Inter-process communication to send item
identification to the database and retrieve price information.
Elizabeth - 3 days
· Order Control - Application code to accumulate item totals,
accepting multiple quantities and calculating total price. This
module also assigns items by tax category and maintains a total
for each tax rate. Elizabeth - 10 days
· Payment Resolution - Application code to accept cash and
debit transfers as payment for the order total. Note: Requires
communications facilities with banking network. Harry - 4
days Transaction Resolution - Application code to update
inventory, accumulate sales amounts, account for taxes
collected by category. Harry - 5 days
· Receipt Printing - Application and driver code to print
itemized receipt for cash sales and authorization form for debit
transactions. Richard - 4 days
Price and inventory file
· Database Design - Schema design to include full description
of each item and associated data to support price look-up and
inventory management functions. Also includes tax rate by

6. category and application of specific state tax rules. Sam - 5
days
· Database Access Library - Library applications that accept
queries from the transaction processor and return data requested
by the transaction. Includes inventory adjustment based on sale
quantities. Jenny - 12 days
· Database Maintenance Library - Library applications that
accept and apply price updates, add new items, change tax
categories and update inventory status with new receipts. Ellie -
12 days
· Database Report Generation - Library applications that
support database search for specific input criteria for product
movement studies etc. Sam - 10 days
Inventory management
· Daily Status Report - Application code to search the database
for all items that have been flagged as low stock status, sorted
by supplier and displayed on a PC in the store manager's office.
Elizabeth - 5 days
· Item History Report - An interactive query transaction to
display on the manager's terminal the sales pattern for a
selected item over the last two months. Jenny - 4 days
· Order Generation - Application code that accepts as input a
specific item and returns the economic lot quantity and other
pertinent vendor data. Also allow the manager to select and

7. process an order to replenish stock. Harry - 7 days
· Order Communication - Application code that collects the
decisions made in the Order Generation process and prepares an
order for transmission to the head office. Harry - 3 days
· Receipt Processor - Application code that accepts input from
the receiving dock via either scanner or keyboard to signal the
receipt of stock. Richard - 3 days
· Inventory Update - Application code access the database
library to update quantities in stock after receipt of shipments.
Richard - 5 days
Communications
· Banking Network Interface - Driver code to initiate connection
to local transaction switch and submit account and charge
amount. Includes confirmation transaction and error recovery.
Elizabeth - 7 days
· State Network Interface - Driver code to control incoming
calls from the head office on the dial-up network. Handles
automatic answer, message transfer in block mode and error
recovery. Harry - 12 days
· Communications Command Interpreter - Application code to
recognize incoming requests from the head office for various
store performance reports. Jenny - 5 days
· Report Generator - Applications code to respond to a request
from the communications interface to generate specific reports

8. and return data as a file for sending to the state office in block
mode. Each report is saved at the store and may be sent during
the same communications session as the request or in a later
session. Ellie - 10 days
Documentation
· Help for Transaction Processor - Richard - 5 days,
· Help for Price and Inventory Modules - Jenny - 5 days
· Help for Inventory Management - Harry - 5 days
· Help for Communications - Ellie - 5 days
Alpha test
· This test is conducted by a resource obtained from the head
office. The objective is to verify that all of the functions are
operational and that the results of each transaction are accurate
and reliable. Barry - 20 days
· Developer support is provided as follows: Richard - 5 days,
Jenny - 7 days, Harry - 6 days, and Ellie - 5 days
Beta test
· This test is to be conducted by actual users in several of the
retail outlets. No development resources are allocated to this
test. The duration of the test is 60 days.
Start roll-out
· This milestone marks the completion of the project. The rate

9. at which the product is actually installed and delivered to
operating personnel depends on the availability of resources and
plans from the individual stores. Each of these is the possible
subject of a project plan.
Resource costs
$/hour
$/hour
Richard
200
Elizabeth
100
Jenny
100
Ellie
90
Harry
100
Outside Contractors - Sam
200
Barry
100
Transfer pricing - other internal resources
120

10. Part 2 Task
You are required to present your project plan to the project
sponsor that shows how you propose to implement this project.
As a minimum you should provide your plan as a business
report including typical plan components such as objectives and
goals, risk assessment and other elements you feel are important
to support this project, and required to obtain approval from the
project sponsor.
You must also incorporate, as a minimum, the following
specific project software outputs:
· project summary
· gantt chart
· cash flow/budget
· network diagram
· resource sheet, and
· any other content you feel is appropriate.
The assignment will be marked on the basis of the sponsor's
understanding of how you plan to complete this project in the
most effective manner. This means value for money, timeframe,
presentation, understanding of your approach and consistency
and accuracy of the plan.
As you prepare your report, don't forget to format the software

11. so that reports (eg. Gantt chart) are easy to read and can be
handled (ideally on 1 page) as part of a meaningful project
plan.
You are presenting your plan to the project sponsor who needs
to understand your project plan, have confidence in you as the
project manager and have the appropriate supporting
documentation to back up your approach.
Rationale
This assessment task covers topics 1 to 9 and has been designed
to ensure that you are engaging with the subject content on a
regular basis. More specifically it seeks to assess your ability
to:
· demonstrate how a practicing project manager actually applies
project management skills, methods, techniques and tools ;
· use an industry standard project management software tool
(Microsoft Project);
· apply project management skills, methods, techniques and
tools to a real world problem typical of a project manager;
Marking criteria
Marks given will be dependent on the quality of the answers
and the suitability and correctness of the proposed project as
represented in Microsoft Office Project. This is a project

12. management plan project NOT an IT project.
CRITERIA
STANDARDS
HD
DI
CR
PS
FL
Part 1. Q1. Identify five common project risk strategies
employed to address threats that your project may face. Give an
example of each.
Marks: 20
1. Comprehensive explanation of five common project risk
strategies employed to address threats with suitable examples
from workplace experience.
(Value: 75%)
2. Referenced a wide range of sources for different antenna
types and their characteristics.
Referencing style correctly used.
(Value: 15%)
3. Fluent writing style appropriate to the assignment with
accurate grammar and spelling.
(Value: 10%)

13. 1. Mostly comprehensive explanation of five common project
risk strategies employed to address threats with suitable
examples.
(Value: 75%)
2. Clear evidence of research relevant to different antenna types
and their characteristics.
Referencing style correctly used. (Value: 15%)
3. Mostly Fluent writing style appropriate to assignment with
accurate grammar and spelling. (Value: 10%)
1. Mostly comprehensive explanation of four common project
risk strategies employed to address threats with examples. Some
omissions.
(Value: 75%)
2. Clear evidence of research relevant to different antenna types
and their characteristics.
Referencing style correctly used. Minor omissions only.
(Value: 15%)
3. Mostly fluent writing style appropriate to the assignment
with mostly accurate grammar and spelling. Minor omissions
only.
(Value: 10%)
1. Reasonable explanation of three common project risk
strategies employed to address threats with examples. Some

14. omissions.
(Value: 75%)
2. Some evidence of research.
Some mistake in referencing style.
(Value: 15%)
3. Writing style not always fluent or well-organised and
grammar and spelling contain errors.
(Value: 10%)
1. Major omissions in the explanation.
(Value: 75%)
2. Either no evidence of literature being consulted or cited
references irrelevant to the assignment set.
(Value: 15%)
3. Writing style not fluent or well-organised, and many
grammatical and spelling mistakes.
(Value: 10%)
Part 1. Q2. Projects are often completed late. Describe the
techniques you would use as a project manager to improve the
accuracy and reliability of your project schedule.
Marks: 20
1. Demonstrates breadth and depth of understanding and has
insights and awareness of deeper more subtle aspects of

15. common causes of delay in projects; good imaginative approach
to improve the accuracy and reliability of project schedule
(Value: 75%)
2. Referenced a wide range of sources for different antenna
types and their characteristics.
Referencing style correctly used.
(Value: 15%)
3. Fluent writing style appropriate to the assignment with
accurate grammar and spelling.
(Value: 10%)
1. Demonstrates breadth and depth of understanding and has
insights and awareness of many of the deeper more subtle
aspects of common causes of delay in projects; imaginative
approach to improve the accuracy and reliability of project
schedule
(Value: 75%)
2. Clear evidence of research relevant to different antenna types
and their characteristics.
Referencing style correctly used. (Value: 15%)
3. Mostly Fluent writing style appropriate to assignment with
accurate grammar and spelling. (Value: 10%)
1. Demonstrates thorough understanding of main causes of
delay in projects using the materials presented in core texts and
readings; better approach to improve the accuracy and
reliability of project schedule

16. (Value: 75%)
2. Clear evidence of research relevant to different antenna types
and their characteristics.
Referencing style correctly used. Minor omissions only.
(Value: 15%)
3. Mostly fluent writing style appropriate to the assignment
with mostly accurate grammar and spelling. Minor omissions
only.
(Value: 10%)
1. Demonstrates evidence of having read about project schedule
using material presented in core texts and readings. However
adopted approach to improve the accuracy and reliability of
project schedule is not presented very well. Some omissions.
(Value: 75%)
2. Some evidence of research.
Some mistake in referencing style.
(Value: 15%)
3. Writing style not always fluent or well organised and
grammar and spelling contain errors.
(Value: 10%)
1. Major omissions in the explanation.
(Value: 75%)
2. Either no evidence of literature being consulted or cited
references irrelevant to the assignment set.
(Value: 15%)

17. 3. Writing style not fluent or well-organised, and many
grammatical and spelling mistakes.
(Value: 10%)
Part 2
1. Provide a plan as a business report including typical plan
components such as objectives and goals, risk assessment and
other elements you feel are important to support this project,
and required to obtain approval from the project sponsor.
Marks: 15
Comprehensive business report includes clear objectives and
goals as well as consideration of risk factors and other
important elements; includes clear description of all
perspectives.
Mostly comprehensive business report includes clear objectives
and goals as well as consideration of risk factors and other
important elements; includes clear description of all
perspectives.
Mostly comprehensive business report includes clear objectives
and goals as well as some consideration of risk factors and other
important elements; includes clear description of all
perspectives; includes clear description of most of perspectives.
Some omissions.
Reasonable business report includes clear objectives and goals
as well as some consideration of risk factors and other

18. important elements; includes clear description some of the
perspectives.
Some omissions.
Major omissions in the answer.
Part 2
2. Suitability and correctness of the proposed project as
represented in Microsoft Office Project. Project outputs: project
summary
gantt chart cash flow/budget network diagram resource sheet,
and any other content you feel is appropriate.
Marks: 25
All values of project outputs are accurate and consistent such as
project summary
gantt chart
cash flow/budget
network diagram
resource sheet, and
any other content you feel is appropriate.
Most of the values of project outputs are accurate and consistent
such as project summary
gantt chart
cash flow/budget
network diagram

19. resource sheet, and
any other content you feel is appropriate.
Most of the values of project outputs are accurate and consistent
such as project summary
gantt chart
cash flow/budget
network diagram
resource sheet, and
any other content you feel is appropriate.
Some omissions.
Some values of project outputs are accurate and consistent such
as project summary
gantt chart
cash flow/budget
network diagram
resource sheet, and
any other content you feel is appropriate.
Major omissions in the answer.
Part 2
3. Presentation and clarity (accuracy, spelling, grammar,
punctuation) of assignment
Marks: 10

20. Shows a polished and imaginative approach to complete the
assignment.
Very well fluent writing style appropriate to assignment with
accurate grammar and spelling
Carefully and logically organised approach to complete the
assignment.
Fluent writing style appropriate to assignment with accurate
grammar and spelling
Shows organisation and coherence approach to complete the
assignment.
Mostly fluent writing style appropriate to assignment with
accurate grammar and spelling
Shows some attempt to organise approach in a logical manner to
complete the assignment.
Writing style not always fluent or well organised, and grammar
and spelling contain errors
Disorganised/incoherent assignment.
Writing style not fluent or well-organised, and grammar and
spelling contain lots of errors

21. Part 2
4. Referencing and Citation
Marks: 10
Referencing is consistently accurate and according to the APA
standard. All references are cited in the text
Referencing is mainly accurate and according to the APA
standard. Most of the references are cited in the text
Some attempt at referencing and not according to the APA
standard. Few references are cited in the text
Some attempt at referencing but not cited in the text
Referencing is absent/unsystematic
Total marks for part 1: 40, part 2: 60
Requirements
Students are required to submit the range of documents
describing their proposed project solution for the above tasks..
All referencing in the project material must be in accordance
with the APA style guide. A guide to the APA style of
referencing (the style now used by the Faculty of Business) is
available at: http://student.csu.edu.au/study/referencing-at-csu