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Master of Business Administration - MBA Semester 2 MB0049 Project Management (4 credits)

(Book ID: B1138) ASSIGNMENT- Set 1

Submitted By: Sanjeev Kumar (MBA 1ST Sem) Roll No.511230048

Q1. Define project management. Discuss the need for project management Answer :- There are certain fundamental concepts and tasks which one needs to know to fully understand the marketing function. These concepts provide foundation for a marketing orientation and to manage the marketing function. 1. Needs and Wants The marketers task lies in satisfying human needs and wants through the exchange process. It is alleged that marketing creates needs and makes people buy things they do not actually need. In reality, marketing or marketers do not create needs, but they create wants. Some needs are the basic human requirements of food, clothing, shelter, water and air. There are other needs such as social needs, esteem needs etc. When we desire certain specific objects or items to fulfill these needs, they are called wants. This difference between wants and needs is not the same as understood in the subject matter of economics. The marketer identifies the need which may lie unexpressed by the customer. 2. Demand Human wants are unlimited, but their resources are limited. When a want for an object is backed or supported by buying ability, willingness to spend and desire to acquire a product / service, it becomes a potential demand. The task of assessing or estimating demand is very crucial for a marketer. He should understand the relationship of the demand for his product with its price. Demand forecasting is essential for allocation of resources in a company. This is the reason why marketers segment consumers on the basis of their earning capacity. The income of the consumer indicates the potential to buy. 3. Product and Services Product is a generic term used to describe what is being offered by a seller or marketer. It may be a good, a service or idea, which can be marketed by offering a set of benefits it offers to customers to satisfy their needs. A product can be defined as anything that can be offered to market to satisfy a need or want. Today, many types of entities such as goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places and ideas are being marketed. 4. Target Market Very few products can satisfy everyone in the market. Therefore, marketers divide the market into distinct groups of buyers who have similar preferences. These groups are called segments with their own specific demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics. The marketer decides as to which of these segment or segments offer highest opportunity for his
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company. For each of these target markets, the firm develops a product / service suited to their needs. TATA group has recently designed an economy car called NANO which is priced around Rs. 1 Lakh. The target market for this car is all aspirants who dream of owning a car but cannot afford cars, which are currently available for minimum Rs. 2.5 Lakh. A Target Market is the group of people at whom a marketer targets his marketing efforts to sell his goods and services. 5. Marketing Management Marketing Management which is also the title of this course refers to all the activities which the marketing managers, executives and personnel have to undertake to carry out the marketing function of the firm. It involves (i) analyzing the market opportunities by undertaking consumer needs and changes taking place in the marketing environment, (ii) planning the marketing activities, and (iii) implementing marketing plans and settings control mechanism to ensure smooth and successful accomplishment of the organizations goals. Marketing Management is a critical function, especially in highly competitive markets. It provides competitive edge to an organization through strategic analysis and planning. 6. Values and Satisfaction Value is primarily a function of quality, service and cost. Value increases with increase in quality and service and decreases with increase in cost. Value is an important marketing concept and the task of marketing is to identify, create, communicate, deliver and monitor customer value. Customers generally experience satisfaction when the performance level meets minimum performance expectations of a product or service. When the performance as perceived exceeds the expected performance level, the customer will be not just satisfied, but delighted. Thus customer satisfaction or delight with respect to a product or service encourages customers to come back and repurchase the product or service in future. Satisfied customers can be an asset to the marketing company over a period of time, as they will spread favorable word-of-mouth information or opinions.

Q2. What is meant by risk management? Explain the components of risk management Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks (defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on objectives, whether positive or negative) followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events[1] or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Risks can come from uncertainty in financial markets, project failures (at any phase in design, development, production, or sustainment life-cycles), legal liabilities, credit
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risk, accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attack from an adversary, or events of uncertain or unpredictable root-cause. Several risk management standards have been developed including the Project Management Institute, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, actuarial societies, and ISO standards.[2][3] Methods, definitions and goals vary widely according to whether the risk management method is in the context of project management, security, engineering, industrial processes, financial portfolios, actuarial assessments, or public health and safety. The strategies to manage risk typically include transferring the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect or probability of the risk, or even accepting some or all of the potential or actual consequences of a particular risk. Certain aspects of many of the risk management standards have come under criticism for having no measurable improvement on risk, whether the confidence in estimates and decisions seem to increase.[1] Risk management should:

create value resources expended to mitigate risk should be less than the consequence of inaction, or (as in value engineering), the gain should exceed the pain be an integral part of organizational processes be part of decision making explicitly address uncertainty and assumptions be systematic and structured be based on the best available information be tailorable take into account human factors be transparent and inclusive be dynamic, iterative and responsive to change be capable of continual improvement and enhancement be continually or periodically re-assess

Q3. Discuss the various steps in project monitoring and control. Ans:
Conduct team status review- Conduct a status meeting with the project team. Items for discussion are achievements this period planned activities that are incomplete or overdue, activities for the next period, new issues identified this period, issues closed this period, summary of results of quality reviews , summary of schedule and cost status, suggested revisions to the plan. Create status report The status report provides a record of current achievement and immediate expectations of the project. The status has to be effectively communicated to all interested parties. Create Flash report - summarize the accomplishments for the month, schedule status, upcoming tasks for the month and any major issues. Distribute to the project team and project management team 4

5 Project Status Reports - As discussed earlier, the status report provides are cord of current achievements and immediate expectations of the project.-A weekly status report includes:Accomplishments during the period-Items not completed during the period-Proposed activities for the next period-Any predicted slippage to the stage schedule, along with cause and corrective action.-Any predicted cost overrun along with cause and corrective action. Approvals Project stage reviews and the decisions taken and actions planned need to be approved by the top management. The goals of such review are to improve quality by finding defects and to improve productivity by finding defects in a cost effective manner. The group review process includes several stages like planning, preparation and overview a group review meeting and rework recommendations and follow-up. Change Control Controlling the changes in the project is possible through a proper change management process and using necessary tools for controlling the change. Change control is necessary to control the increase of work at various stages of project and to manage effectively the disruptions in the stages, if any. Thesefactors may affect the progress of the project, resulting in deviations from the stage chedules, project and stage cost and project scope.Changing Project Management Process The processes involved in bringing about a change are the following: i. Request for a change- Identify need for a change based on which a formalrequest from either a member of the project team or a client or a coordinator or Key stakeholder to make a change is to be made. Identify Alternate Solutions Evaluate the change request and identify severalalternative solutions. Assess the alternatives with respect to the functional scope,schedule, effort and cost. Decide on the Actions for the change Present the change request,alternative solutions and recommendation to the project management team. Theproject management team is required to accept the recommendation, choose analternative solution, or request further investigation. Implement change make appropriate schedule and other project planadjustments to accommodate the change, communicate these to team members,monitor progress and execute quality control on the changes.

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Tools for Changing a process There are various tools which can be used to bring about a change in a process. All such tools can be mainly classified into the following two types-a) Change Management System (CMS) It is a methodology which requires collection of all formal documented procedures, defining how project performance will be monitored and evaluated, how project plans could be updated, how various measures can be implemented to control the change process. These procedures may be unique to an organization based on their project needs. It also includes procedures to handle the changes that may be approved without prior review, so that the evolution of baseline can bedocumented.b) Configuration Management (CM) Identify the configuration items and define the naming and numbering scheme, structure the changes, define a backup procedure, and follow the methods for tracking the status of configuration items. Identify and define the responsibility and authority of the CMS.To Understand The Post Closure Activities Along With The Way Of Reporting And Documentation Project Closure Any project that is planned properly and executed as per the plan will also close successfully. For successful completion of a project every aspect of the project should be monitored and controlled. Completion of all activities and benefits

6 The closure of a project may result in the following benefits 1.It implies that on successful completion of a project, it has not drifted from its intended course and plans. Otherwise it would have resulted in a change and may also kick start another project affecting the main project.2.The project member are acknowledged for the completion of the project, motivating them to take up more projects wherein the members would beagle to confidently handle and take care of all the problems based upon their learning from earlier project.3.It results in setting up of processes for continued development and improvement of the final product of any project forthcoming.4.It results in setting up of improved standard process and estimating models for this type of future projects.5.It enables resource redeployment. The deliverable at the end of each stage could be

A set of specified outputs for each stage of the project New products or modified existing product
Items that may be less easy to distinguish like parameter setup data transfer, staff training etc. Post Implementation Review After every stage of a project is implemented, it may so happen that there could be a minor change or modification which has to be reviewed. A review may by in the following form a) Final product review The product obtained after every stage must meet the requirements of that stage. If it completely meets the stated objectives then focus on the issues of maintenance of the processes and product performance. If the final product does not completely meet the objectives then identify the variations in the product and analyze the variation. Study the factors responsible for the change and evaluate each one separately) Outstanding project work review many a times it is found that there may become item of the project which is still not in its stage finished form. It may be insignificant as it may be a byproduct of that stage not required immediately for the next stage. Then the items that are open should be resolved and necessary steps be taken to close such open items) Project Review- Every aspect of a project from start to end has to be reviewed. The objectives, performance criteria, financial criteria, resource utilization, slips and gains of time, adherence to the project definition and plans have to be reviewed. All such review details and reports have to be well documented for future use.

d) Process review Every process is important in any project. One may review the process to see if any changes can be made to improve its performance

Q4. What is Project Management Information System (PMIS)? What are the major aspects of PMIS? Project Management Information System (PMIS) An information system is mainly aimed at providing the management at different levels with information related to the system of the organization. It helps in maintaining discipline in the system. An information system dealing with project management tasks is the project management information system. It helps in decision making in arriving at optimum allocation of resources. The information system is based on a database of the organization. A project
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management information system also holds schedule, scope changes, risk assessment and actual results. The information is communicated to managers at different levels of the organization depending upon the need. Let us find how a project management information system is used by different stakeholders. The four major aspects of a PMIS are a. Providing information to the major stakeholders. b. Assisting the team members, stakeholders, managers with necessary information and summary of the information shared to the higher level managers. c. Assisting the managers in doing what if analyses about project staffing, proposed staffing changes and total allocation of resources. d. Helping organizational learning by helping the members of the organization learn about project management. Usually, the team members, and not the systems administrators of the company, develop a goodPMIS. Organizations tend to allocate such responsibility by rotation among members with a well designed and structured data entry and analytical format. Q5. What is PERT chart? What are the advantages of PERT chart? Ans A PERT chart is a graphic representation of a projects schedule, showing the sequence of tasks, which tasks can be performed simultaneously, and the critical path of tasks that must be completed on time in order for the project to meet its completion deadline. The chart can be constructed with a variety of attributes, such as earliest and latest start dates for each task, earliest and latest finish dates for each task, and slack time between tasks. A PERT chart can document an entire project or a key phase of a project. The chart allows a team to avoid unrealistic timetables and schedule expectations, to help identify and shorten tasks that are bottlenecks, and to focus attention on most critical tasks. When to use it: Because it is primarily a project-management tools, a PERT chart is most useful for planning and tracking entire projects or for scheduling and tracking the implementation phase of a planning or improvement effort. How to use it: Identify all tasks or project components. Make sure the team includes people with firsthand knowledge of the project so that during the brainstorming session all component tasks needed to complete the project are captured. Document the tasks on small note cards.
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Identify the first task that must be completed. Place the appropriate card at the extreme left of the working surface. Identify any other tasks that can be started simultaneously with task #1. Align these tasks either above or below task #1 on the working surface. Identify the next task that must be completed. Select a task that must wait to begin until task #1(or a task that starts simultaneously with task #1) is completed. Place the appropriate card to the right of the card showing the preceding task. Identify any other tasks that can be started simultaneously with task #2. Align these tasks either above or below task #2 on the working surface. Continue this process until all component tasks are sequenced.

Advantages of PERT Chart. Advantage: Large Project Planning

A PERT chart makes planning large projects easier, according to the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences. It answers three key questions about each activity that help managers identify relationships between tasks and task dependencies. These questions involve how long it will take to complete an activity, and which other activities must occur immediately before and immediately after this activity for effective project completion. PERT is a good way of making these relationships visible in a diagram.

Advantage: Visible Critical Path

The critical path includes all activities that cannot be delayed without affecting the project completion date. PERT makes the critical path visible, as explained by the University of Virginia. All tasks not on the critical path can have some slack time without affecting project completion time. When the project manager must delay one task to allocate more time to another, the critical path makes clear which tasks cannot be delayed. Expected project completion time. Probability of completion before a specified date. The critical path activities that directly impact the completion time. The activities that have slack time and that can lend resources to critical path activities. Activity start and end dates.

Q6. Write brief notes on the following: (i) Re-engineering and (ii) Re-structuring Ans. : (i) Re-engineering Early in 1993, an epochal event took place in the US. For the first time in history, "white-collar" unemployment exceeded "blue-collar" unemployment. In the experience of older generations, a college education entitles one to a job with an excellent earning potential, long-term job security and opportunity to climb a career ladder. If there was an economic downturn, unemployment was something that happened to others. Large-scale white collar unemployment should not have come as a surprise. Since 1979, the US. information workforce has kept climbing and in 1993 stood at 54% of total employment. Forty million new information workers had appeared since 1960. What do these people do? They are very busy and end up as either as corporate or social overhead if they work in the public sector. They are lawyers, consultants, coordinators, clerks, administrators, managers, executives and experts of all sorts. The expansion in computerrelated occupations greatly increased the amount of information that these people could process and therefore demand from others. It is the characteristics of information work that it breeds additional information work at a faster rate than number of people added to the information payroll. Computers turned out to be greater multipliers of work than any other machine ever invented. However, the greatest growth has been in government which now employs more people than the manufacturing sector. Government workers predominantly are engaged in passing information and redistributing money which requires compliance with complex regulations. Who pays for this growth in overhead? Everybody does either in higher prices or as increased taxes. As long as US. firms could raise prices, there was always room for more overhead. When international economic competition started cutting into market share starting in the 1980s corporations had to reduce staff costs. Blue collar labor essential to manufacture goods was either outsourced to foreign lands, or automated, using proven industrial engineering methods to substitute capital for labor. By the mid 1980s major cost cuts could come only from reductions in overhead. Restructuring Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons for restructuring include a change of ownership or ownership structure, demerger, or a response to a crisis or major
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change in the business such as bankruptcy, repositioning, or buyout. Restructuring may also be described as corporate restructuring, debt restructuring and financial restructuring. Executives involved in restructuring often hire financial and legal advisors to assist in the transaction details and negotiation. It may also be done by a new CEO hired specifically to make the difficult and controversial decisions required to save or reposition the company. It generally involves financing debt, selling portions of the company to investors, and reorganizing or reducing operations. The basic nature of restructuring is a zero sum game. Strategic restructuring reduces financial losses, simultaneously reducing tensions between debt and equity holders to facilitate a prompt resolution of a distressed situation.

Corporate debt restructuring is the reorganization of companies outstanding liabilities. It generally a mechanism used by companies which are facing difficulties in repaying their debts. In the process of restructuring, the credit obligations are spread out over longer duration with smaller payments. This allows companys ability to meet debt obligations. Also, as part of process, some creditors may agree to exchange debt for some portion of equity. It is based on the principle that restructuring facilities available to companies in a timely and transparent matter goes a long way in ensuring their viability which is sometimes threatened by internal and external factors. This process tries to resolve the difficulties faced by the corporate sector and enables them to become viable again. Steps:

ensure the company has enough liquidity to operate during implementation of a complete restructuring produce accurate working capital forecasts provide open and clear lines of communication with creditors who mostly control the company's ability to raise financing update detailed business plan and considerations

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Master of Business Administration - MBA Semester 2 MB0049 Project Management(4 credits)

(Book ID: B1138) ASSIGNMENT- Set 2

Submitted By: Sanjeev Kumar (MBA 1ST Sem) Roll No.511230048

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Q1. What are the various phases of project management life cycle? Explain A: The various phases in project management life cycle are: Analysis and Evaluation Phase: It starts with receiving a request to analyse the problem from the customer. The project manager conducts the analysis of the problem and submits a detailed report to the top management. The report should consist of what the problem is, ways of solving the problem, the objectives to be achieved, and the success rate of achieving the goal. Marketing Phase: A project proposal is prepared by a group of people including the project manager. This proposal has to contain the strategies adopted to market the product to the customers. Design Phase: Based on the inputs received in the form of project feasibility study, preliminary project evaluation, project proposal and customer interviews, following outputs are produced: System design specification Program functional specification Program design specification Project plan Inspecting, Testing and Delivery Phase: During this phase, the project team works under the guidance of the project manager. The project manager has to ensure that the team working under him implements the project designs accurately. The project has to be tracked or monitored through its cost, manpower and schedule. The tasks involved in these phases are: Managing the customer Marketing the future work Performing quality control work Post Completion Analysis Phase: After delivery or completion of the project, the staff performance has to be evaluated. The tasks involved in this phase are: Documenting the lessons learnt from the project Analyzing project feedback Preparing project execution report Analyzing the problems encountered during the project
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Q2. Write brief note on project planning and scoping. A: The purpose of project planning and scoping is to first identify the areas of the project work and the forces affecting the project and then to define the boundaries of the project. In addition, the scoping has to be explicitly stated on the line of the project objectives. It also has to implicitly provide directions to the project. The planning and scoping should be such that the project manager is able to assess every stage of the project and also enabling the assessment of the quality of the deliverable of the project at every stage. First, let us list the steps involved in project scoping. These steps include: Identifying the various parametric forces relevant to the project and its stages Enabling the team members to work on tools to keep track of the stages and thereby proceed in the planned manner Avoiding areas of problems which may affect the progress of the project Eliminating the factors responsible for inducing the problems Analysing the financial implications and cost factor at various stages of the project Understanding and developing the various designs required at various stages of the project Identifying the key areas to be included in the scope through various meetings, discussion, and interviews with the clients Providing a base and track to enable alignment of project with the organisation and its business objectives Finding out the dimensions applicable to the project and also the ones not applicable to the project Listing out all the limitations, boundary values and constraints in the project Understanding the assumptions made in defining the scope

After completing the project scoping, you can start your project plan. Project planning involves three processes as shown as under: The identification process: The main steps in the identification process of any project are: Identifying initial requirements
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Validating them against the project objective Identifying the criteria such as quality objectives and quantitative requirements for assessing the success of both the final product and the process used to create it Identifying the framework of the solution Preparing a template of the frame work of solution to illustrate the project feasibility Preparing relevant charts to demonstrate the techniques of executing the project and its different stages Preparing a proper project schema of achieving the defined business requirements for the project Identifying training requirement Making a list of the training program necessary for the personnel working on the project Identifying the training needs of the individuals working in various functions responsible in the project Preparing a training plan and a training calendar Assessing the capabilities and skills of all those identified as part of the project organisation

The review Process: The main steps in the review process of any project are: Establishing a training plan to acquaint the project team members with the methodologies, technologies and business areas under study Updating the project schedule to accommodate scheduled training activities Identifying the needs for review and reviewing the project scope Reviewing a project with respect to its stages and progress by preparing a plan for the review, fixing an agenda to review the project progress and keeping the reports ready for discussion about stage performance Reviewing the project scope, the objective statement, the non conformances in the project stages and identifying the need to use the project plan Preparing a proper project plan indicating all the requirements from start to finish of the project and also at every stage of the project Preparing a checklist of items to be monitored and controlled during the course of execution of the project

The analysis process:

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The main steps in the analysis process of any project are: Comparing the actual details with that in the plan with reference to project stages. Measuring various components of the project and its stages frequently to control the project from deviating and also monitor the performance. Deciding how the task, the effort and the defects are to be tracked, what tools to be used, what reporting structure and frequency will be followed at various stages. Identifying the preventive and corrective steps to be taken in case of any variance Performing root cause analysis for all problems encountered.

If all the above steps are performed, scoping and planning become effective and the ideal outcome are achieved.

Q3. What is Return on Investment (ROI)? Explain its importance A: Return on Investment (ROI) is the calculated benefit that an organisation is projected to receive in return for investing money, time and resources in a project. Within the context of the review process, the investment would be in an information system development or enhancement project. ROI information is used to assess the status of the business viability of the project at key checkpoints throughout the projects life-cycle. ROI may include the benefits associated with improved mission performance, reduced cost, increased quality, speed, or flexibility, and increased customer and employee satisfaction. ROI should reflect such risk factors as the projects technical complexity, the agencys management capacity, the likelihood of cost overruns, and the consequences of under or nonperformance. Where appropriate, ROI should reflect actual returns observed through pilot projects and prototypes. ROI should be quantified in terms of money and should include a calculation of the break-even point (BEP), which is the time (point in time) when the investment begins to generate a positive return. ROI should be re-calculated at every major checkpoint of a project to see if the BEP is still on schedule, based on project spending and accomplishments to date. If the project is behind schedule or over budget, the BEP may move out in time; if the project is ahead of schedule or under budget the BEP may occur earlier. In either case, the
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information is important for decision-making based on the value of the investment throughout the project life-cycle. Any project that has developed a business case is expected to refresh the ROI at each key project decision point (that is, stage exit) or at least yearly.

Q4. Discuss the role of effective data management in the success of project management. A: Data management consists of conducting activities which facilitate acquiring data, processing it and distributing it. Acquisition of data is the primary function. To be useful, data should have three important characteristics timeliness, sufficiency and relevancy (as shown in figure 9.3). Management of acquisition lies in ensuring that these are satisfied before they are stored for processing and decisions taken on the analysis. There should be data about customers, suppliers, market conditions, new technology, opportunities, human resources, economic activities, government regulations, political upheavals, all of which affect the way you function. Most of the data go on changing because the aforesaid sources have uncertainty inherent in them. So updating data is a very important aspect of their management. Storing what is relevant in a form that is available to concerned persons is also important. When a project is underway dataflow from all members of the team will be flowing with the progress of activities. The data may be about some shortfalls for which the member is seeking instructions. A project manager will have to analyse them, discover further data from other sources and see how he can use them and take decisions. Many times he will have to inform and seek sanction from top management. The management will have to study the impact on the overall organisational goals and strategies and convey their decisions to the manager for implementation. For example, Bill of Materials is a very important document in Project Management. It contains details about all materials that go into the project at various stages and has to be continuously updated as all members of the project depend upon it for providing materials for their apportioned areas of execution. Since information is shared by all members, there is an opportunity for utilising some of them when others do not need them. To ascertain availability at some future point of time, information about orders placed, backlogs, lead times are important for all the members. A proper MIS will take care of all these aspects. ERP packages too help in integrating data from all sources and present them to individual members in the way they require. When all these are done efficiently the project will have no hold ups an assure success.
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Q5. What is Project risk management? Explain its significance. A: Project Risk Management The principles of project risk management can be stated very simply. Any project organisation is subject to risks. One which finds itself in a state of perpetual crisis, is failing to manage risks properly. Failure to manage risks is characterised by inability to decide what to do, when to do it, and whether enough has been done. Risk Management is a facet of Quality, using basic techniques of analysis and measurement to ensure that risks are properly identified, classified, and managed. In order to manage risks we have to understand what a risk is. The official definition provided to me by Professor James Garven, University of Texas at Austin is from the American Risk and Insurance Association: Risk management is the systematic process of managing an organization's risk exposures to achieve its objectives in a manner consistent with public interest, human safety, environmental factors, and the law. It consists of the planning, organizing, leading, coordinating, and controlling activities undertaken with the intent of providing an efficient pre-loss plan that minimizes the adverse impact of risk on the organization's resources, earnings, and cash flows. In my view the most helpful definition is that given by Larry Krantz, Chief Executive of Euro Log Ltd here in the UK. Larry says that 'A risk is a combination of constraint and uncertainty'. We all face constraints in our projects, and also uncertainty. So we can minimise the risk in the project either by eliminating constraints (a nice conceit) or by finding and reducing uncertainty.

There are two stages in the process of Project Risk Management, Risk Assessment and Risk Control. Risk Assessment can take place at any time during the project, though the sooner the better. However, Risk Control cannot be effective without a previous Risk Assessment. Similarly, most people tend to think that having performed a Risk Assessment, they have done all that is needed. Far too many projects spend a great deal of effort on Risk Assessment and then ignore Risk control completely. Risk Assessment has three elements:

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Identify Uncertainties Explore the entire project plans and look for areas of uncertainty. Analyse Risks Specify how those areas of uncertainty can impact the performance of the project, either in duration, cost or meeting the users' requirements. Prioritise Risks Establish which of those Risks should be eliminated completely, because of potential extreme impact, which should have regular management attention, and which are sufficiently minor to avoid detailed management attention. In the same way, Risk Control has three elements, as follows: Mitigate Risks. Take whatever actions are possible in advance to reduce the effect of Risk. It is better to spend money on mitigation than to include contingency in the plan. Plan for Emergencies. For all those Risks which are deemed to be significant, have an emergency plan in place before it happens. Measure and Control. Track the effects of the risks identified and manage them to a successful conclusion.

Q6. Write brief note on project management application software. A:The Microsoft Project family of products offers tools to work on a project from management point of view. Microsoft Project is designed for people who manage projects independently and dont require the capability to manage resources from a central repository. Microsoft has a
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team project management solution that enables project managers and their teams to collaborate on projects. After creating a fairly complete final project plan it is a good idea to create a baseline version to compare the original project plan with actual events and achievements. The following is the typical process followed for project management through this software as shown as under:

Review Baseline

Creating Reports

Tracking Progress

Monitoring Variances

Balancing Workload

Reviewing the Baseline: The Baseline created can be used to compare the original project plan with actual events and achievements. This will display the days required for each task and project phase. For actual operating instructions please refer the Microsoft Project User Handbook.

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Tracking Progress: After creating a baseline, if the project has begun, it is necessary to enter actual dates for the tasks that are being completed and the resource utilization used to complete them. Again review different views and the cost and summary tables before proceeding to the next section. Return to the Entry view of the Gantt chart before proceeding. Balancing Workloads: At times people and equipment may be assigned more work than they can complete in normal working hours. This is called over allocation. Project can test for this condition and reschedule (or level) their workload to accommodate completing tasks during a normal day.

Monitoring Variances: After a baseline has been established and the project has begun, it is desirable to determine if tasks are being accomplished on time and /or if cost over runs are occurring. We also need to keep monitoring the performance to detect early deviations. Creating Reports: Project has many different built-in reports and has the capability building custom reports and exporting data to other MS Office applications for integration into other reporting venues. These are often intelligent reports.

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