AIST3610 TechPrac02 Specs

1. 50 pts - System A&D Quiz 2

   Visit this course in D2L and complete quiz SADCh02 by the due date / time for this assignment. This quiz takes its questions from Chapter 2 System Analysis & Design and will be a subset of questions in Chapter 2 Quiz Study Guide.

2. 25 pts - A simple project plan

   Ref: (Video) A simple project plan (an oldie of mine but still provides the basics)

   1. Use Microsoft Project to create a project plan named DMDv1.mpp using the tasks, durations and dependencies from the System A&D Chapter 2 example project following these guidelines:

      1. Use auto-schedule to have Project develop the project plan (i.e., you enter only task durations and precedence structure, not start & stop times).
      2. Update the dates throughout by assigning a project start date of your birthday this year.
      3. Adopt the two-level indented outline structure from the project example (e.g., JAD session, Informal benchmarking, Prioritize requirements, and Define version 1 scope are sub-tasks to Identify High-Level Requirements)

   2. Save the original project plan as DMDv2.mpp and include the following revisions:

      1. Add a column for resource names and add them as indicated in the example project (ignore any warnings about over/under allocated resources).
      2. Add a column which shows the Free Slack for any tasks as planned.
      3. Use Report | In Progress | Critical Tasks to display critical tasks (i.e., on the critical path) as part of the Project file.

   Attach both Microsoft project files to this assignment in D2L.

3. 25 pts - Project Personnel Recommendation

   Develop an answer to Mini-Case 2 from SAD Chapter 2 as memorandum (in a Word document named HireRec.docx) to Marcus Weber outlining your recommendation on which candidate to hire. There really is no 'correct' answer to this but your memo should be in a standard memorandum format, apply good business English style and grammar, and not only identify and support the strengths of the candidate you recommend but also identify the weaknesses or shortcomings of your recommended choice and how Markus might prepare to address them after the hire.

   One single-spaced page (well-written) should suffice. Attach the finished document to this assignment in D2L.

4. 25 pts - Project Justification

   Ref: (Video) Brief review of Justifying a Project - Project Selection Matrix

   Review "Exercise 2.1: Justifying a Project - Project Selection Matrix" from PMP Chapter 2 Exercises. Complete the 'Testing Your Knowledge' section of this exercise as follows:

   1. Create an Excel spreadsheet named BICProject.xlsx which contains an implementation of Table 2.6 referenced in the exercise. Insert a column labeled "Weight" next to the Criteria column where the relevant weights for each criteria are entered. This spreadsheet should include the labels shown in the example, have appropriate values entered into cells from the scenario, and automatically calculate the Total Score for each project (hint: use the SUMPRODUCT function with absolute reference to the weights column) as well as each project's rank (hint: use the RANK.EQ function with absolute reference to the Total Score).
   2. Create a Word document named BICProject.docx which embeds the BICProject.xlsx spreadsheet and provides answers to questions 2 thru 6 of the exercise.

   Attach the spreadsheet and document to this exercise in D2L.