PRM520
Module 1 Discussion
The Situation: You have been hired as the project manager to
construct a custom home. The owners have decided to add an in-ground pool and
convert a walk-in closet near the proposed pool to a bathroom and shower. The
key members in your project team are the architect, pool subcontractor, and
plumbing subcontractor. You also have to reduce the scope of work for the
closet shelving subcontractor. You don’t want the final closing of the house to
be delayed so you can claim the revenue in the April-June Quarter.
The Assignment: Refer to Section 4.5 of the PMBOK®Guide,and
prepare a response consisting of a minimum of 500 words. Describe how you would
perform integrated change control to incorporate the described changes to your
project. You can format your response around Tool 10.2 from the Project
Scheduling and Cost Control text. Include at least three credible references in
addition to the PMBOK®Guide,with at least one of these being a peer-reviewed
journal article. Properly cite your response.
Module 2 Discussion
The Situation: You have been hired as the project manager to
construct a custom home. The owners have asked for some “minor changes” such as
relocating two electrical outlets, adding a refrigerated wine cabinet that will
require an electrical connection, and adding gutters to the outside of the
house. The owners have seen the price list for these changes and are agreeable.
The owners also requested that an internal wall be relocated. Unfortunately,
the wall is load bearing which means that the architect and structural engineer
must modify the plans and the local building department must approve the
modified plans. The key members in your project team are the architect,
structural engineer, and framing subcontractor. The redesign by the architect
and engineer will take about two weeks. The building department needs two weeks
after you submit the revised plans. You don’t have a price for the relocated
wall.
The Assignment: Refer
to Section 5.6 of the PMBOK® Guide,5th ed. Prepare a response consisting of a
minimum of 500 words. Describe how you would perform control scope and prepare
change requests for the Perform Integrated Change Control process. Include at
least three credible references in addition to the PMBOK® Guide with at least
one of these being a peer-reviewed journal article. Properly cite your
response.
Module 3 Discussion
The Situation: You are the project manager for constructing
a custom house. Your company wants you to complete the construction one month
earlier so that your company can recognize the revenue in this fiscal year. You
know your current project schedule is based on many previous projects and minimizes
costs and negative risks. You have crashed activities and fast tracked multiple
activities in the past to shorten the schedule.
The Assignment: Using generic ideas of crashing and fast
tracking, identify and explain some potential additional costs and risks (both
opportunities and threats) that could occur because you are reducing the
schedule by one month. Your response should consist of a minimum of 500 words
and include at least three credible references in addition to the PMBOK® Guide
with at least one of these being a peer-reviewed journal article. Properly cite
your response.
Module 4 Discussion
The Situation: You are the project manager for constructing
a custom house. Your company requires an evaluation of the estimate at
completion (EAC). Since the pool change order described in Week 1 has not been
executed, you don’t have to change your baseline budget. Everything is going
well; even the irrigation well and pump are in early. The EAC should be based
on the planned and earned values in WBS PV EV July 1 spreadsheet.
The Assignment: Calculate EAC using the four different
formulas. You know that Tropical Storm will impact your cost, so in the
“Bottom-up ETC” you add $5,000 to the estimated cost for storm cleanup in WBS
item 3.4; thus your Bottom-up ETC will be $5,000 higher than the ETC = EAC-AC
(i.e. ETC =EAC-AC +$5,000). Explain the differences between the four
forecasting formulas. Which one would you consider has the most validity?
Include at least three credible references in addition to the PMBOK® Guide with
at least one of these being a peer-reviewed journal article. Properly cite your
response.
Module 5 Discussion
The Situation: You are the project manager for constructing
a custom house. On one of your Monday morning inspections of the progress, you
notice a spot of flaking paint on the outside of the house. The outside was
painted on Friday. On closer inspection, you see that the entire north side of
the house has issues with the paint peeling and flaking. The other sides of the
house appear fine.
The Assignment: Select one or more of the 7QC tools to
investigate this problem. What else would you do? Your response should consist
of a minimum of 500 words and include at least three credible references in
addition to the PMBOK®Guide with at least one of these being a peer-reviewed
journal article. Properly cite your response.
Module 6 Discussion
The Situation: You are the project manager for a project
that involves two departments in your company. The larger department is paying
for 80% of your project. The smaller department is paying 20%. The department
manager of the smaller department is requesting modifications nearly every
week. Your stakeholder management plan was based on your company’s standard
template. You have been following the approved stakeholder management plan. You
look at the issues log and see that there are four open issues. These open
issues and possibly future requests for modifications could impact the
completion date.
The Assignment: Obviously something must be changed to
better control this situation. What tools and techniques would you choose to
control this stakeholder’s engagement? What process outputs do you expect to
create? What else, if anything, would you do? Prepare a response consisting of
a minimum of 500 words. Include at least three credible references in addition
to the PMBOK®Guide with at least one of these being a peer-reviewed journal
article. Properly cite your response.
Module 7 Discussion
The Situation: In your past, you have probably monitored
risks in your personal life, on your job, or both. Select one that you were
monitoring, either formally or informally, that actually happened and was a
surprise. Remember, risks are both opportunities and threats.
The Assignment: With 20-20 hindsight, identify what you
missed that could have better predicted the risk occurring. Also, with 20-20
hindsight, identify what threat mitigation, threat avoidance, or opportunity
exploitation you would have initiated. What else, if anything, could you add to
your lessons learned database to improve your future performance? Include at
least three credible references in addition to the PMBOK® Guide with at least
one of these being a peer-reviewed journal article. Properly cite your
response.
Module 8 Discussion
The Situation: Most relationships between different business
entities are based on negotiated agreements, also called contracts. These are
legal documents that bind each party to perform in accordance with the
agreement. You are the project manager of an organization. You are responsible
for closing a vendor’s agreement and administrative closure of the procurement.
The Assignment: Develop a procedure to close a procurement
both contractually and administratively. Your response should be a minimum of
500 words, and portions can be in bulleted/outline format. Include at least
three credible references in addition to the PMBOK® Guide with at least one of
these being a peer-reviewed journal article. Properly cite your response.
