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NAME________ Project Information and Communication Management The exam has 11 questions and you have 24 hours to complete and submit into Assignments

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NAME________ Project Information and Communication Management The exam has 11 questions and you have 24 hours to complete and submit into Assignments. No late submissions will be accepted. This is an INDIVIDUAL assignment and no collaboration with others is allowed. Please be concise in your responses: 1. In creating organizational wide key messages, what are 4 questions you would anticipate stakeholders outside the project team asking about your project? Describe the 5 steps to create and approve the message process. How do you know you are giving the right message to the right audiences? (10 points) 1. 4 questions: Why are we doing this? What’s changing and what’s not? When will it happen? What are the benefits? 2. 5 steps: o o o o o 3. 2. Identify communication need: ensure communication need is valid and timely Project team member drafts message: develop content and draft message. Obtain approval of project manager and sponsor Oversight and approval: corporate communication team must review and give approval. Steering committee may review and give approval Message coordination: message delivery must be coordinated. Agree on overall content, vehicle and timing Message Delivery: Distribute message to targeted group How: Confirm that we have a specific target audience, determine what criteria we intend to use to determine the consumers we most want to reach, determine what our customers and prospects want from us, and determine the best channels to communicate with those audiences. Within the Project Control process, name and describe 3 project control tools used in this phase. Can you give one specific examples of techniques used in each of your 3 project control tools? (10 points) Project control tools: 1. Workplan & issues log: When managers track a project, issue logging is a simple and effective way to help managers track problems in a project and prioritize responses. 2. Budget & financial measures: When managing a project, managers need to carry out budget management in order to achieve the expected project goals. The goal of this tool is to control the project cost within the approved budget range and achieve the project goals in an efficient and low-risk way. 3. Scope & quality (six sigma): In a project, managers can leverage Six Sigma to better understand changing customer requirements, improve quality and delivery, reduce costs, develop strong products and processes, continuously improve, and enhance competitive positions. 3. Why do we discuss ‘Power’ in relation to effective communications? Describe 3 SOURCES of ‘Power’ and describe an example of each in use. (10 points) 1 NAME________ 4. 1. Why: Power is the potential ability to influence behavior to get people to do things they would not otherwise do. 2. 3 Sources of power: • Resources: In a project/team, It enables people to acquire or influence followers from followers, and thus represents an important aspect of the organizational and project environment. • Access to information: For example, knowing price information can give a person information power in a negotiation. Within an organization, a person's social network can either disengage them from the power of information or help them create it • Formal authority: for example, in a restaurant, the manager has authority over the salespeople and cooks. How would communication to project teams differ under a ‘Waterfall’ versus ‘Agile’ project environment? What are similarities? (10 points) Agile versus Waterfall: 1. A matter of scope a. Fixed scope – waterfall b. Flexible rolling scope – agile c. Agile is delivery of small, incremental releases, through monthly development cycles and multiple iterations 2. Agile is easy a. New requests jump the line b. Product owner determines priorities c. Each request or story contains a story points estimate d. Each sprint can contain only X story points 3. Waterfall a. Fixed scope to complete by a certain date b. Backbone of change management is PM triangle 5. A pharmaceutical client has lost the patent to a drug that drives 20% of its annual revenues. The company is currently very ‘siloed’ and there is a lack of collaboration and knowledge sharing among various Research and Development (R&D) and sales teams. Company leadership wants to promote greater collaboration as workers and resources are in constant demand. Two managers each need a new team member for their own project. However there is only one person available so not enough workers for both projects. Name and describe your use of 4 solutions and specific actions to resolve this issue and have the 2 managers collaborate and work together, not against each other. (10 points) 1. 4 solutions and specific actions: a. Select the appropriate communication channel: two teams need to share thoughts and opinions through face-to-face meeting. Ask for feedback, answer questions, and make sure everyone participate in the meeting. b. Set common goals: Two managers should listen carefully to each other and adjust to their common goals. They can work together to accomplish their projects and final goals. 2 NAME________ c. d. 6. Identify the problem: All team members should participate in the discussion to work out a mutually satisfactory solution. then two manager representatives jointly negotiate the final solution Resolve conflicts before reaching a consensus: Acknowledge the problem and develop a clear project charter before the project begins. This will set goals, deadlines, and responsibilities for team members to ensure that there is no recourse to deviate from project progress without approval and consent. Describe 4 ways to GATHER REQUIREMENTS that will be used in a Work Breakdown Structure. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method? Why do we need to document a WBS? (10 points): 1. 4 ways to gather requirements: SWOT Analysis: it is an important technology because it takes into account the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the project • Advantages: Successful businesses tend to build on their strengths and protect themselves from internal weaknesses and external threats by correcting their weaknesses. They can also keep a close eye on the overall business environment and discover new opportunities faster than their competitors. • Disadvantages: lack of hierarchy leads to problems. Too many structures lead to poor decision making. Focus Groups: this way typically includes the project management team and customers or end users of the product or service • Advantages: measure customer reaction in an easier way. It can save more time. • Disadvantages: Expense and moderator bias Brainstorming: A form of gathering information through a group of members. • Advantages: inexpensive, quick way of gathering ideas, encourage creative thinking “out of the box” • Disadvantages: not all team members contribute, too many voices are coming, Delphi technique: This approach is similar to brainstorming, except that the members are anonymous. • Advantages: focus more on ideas rather than individuals, allows for identification of priorities, have opportunities for group number of people to participate • Disadvantages: time will take longer 2. 7. Why: A well-managed WBS can help plan, estimate costs, and identify risks in a project. It could help eliminate unnecessary work to reach the desired results. This is a simple and methodical way of organizing project scope into smaller, manageable components. Within a RACI chart, what are some potential issues if there are too many ‘A’s found in a particular role? Why is the RACI document important? How would you ensure key stakeholder agree and align on a RACI chart? (10 points) 1. 2. Lots of A’s, it could mean should this role have ultimate responsibility for so many tasks or steps The RACI document important because it can be created quickly and easily, and it is a powerful tool for maintaining expectations, organizing roles, and simplifying the process from project start to project finish. All of this is in a straightforward diagram 3 NAME________ 3. 8. To ensure key stakeholder agree and align on a RACI chart, at least one stakeholder should be responsible for each task. Another point is that no more than one stakeholder should be responsible for any task. Resolve any conflict when there are multiple conflicts for a particular task. Share, discuss, and agree on the RACI model with the stakeholders at the beginning of the project. How does corporate culture influence communication? Describe an example in detail of 1) how corporate can help your communication goals and 2) how culture can hinder your communications (10 points) 1. 2. Corporate culture can influence communication: a. Determines the length and format b. Influences the language and channel c. Determination o source of communication d. Factors into the development process and governance Example a. In a team, corporate can help everyone connect together to share their goals, purpose, and become relatable. Effective communication is one of the most important part to help a team even a company to reach their final goal b. In a project or group, when people from different cultures work together or discuss, there is often a lot of conflict because of cultural differences. Misunderstandings will also grow deeper. Also, different past experiences and perceptions can greatly influence how people communicate with each other. 9. Company XYZ has been aware that their production of widgets will not continue to satisfy clients' demands. They have seen an increase of 10% year after year for widgets over the last 5 years with no end in sight for the increase in demand. The CEO had asked an internal team to review current manufacturing processes and propose changes to the processes, along with upgrades to equipment to meet the demands for the future. When the team's proposal was submitted to the CEO, it recommended an upgrade to manufacturing equipment and a redesign of the production line processes. Please list and describe the key specific steps you would take from concept to closure to ensure communication promotes coordination, mitigates project risk, and fosters adoption of the new equipment and processes. State at least 2 specific actions from EACH STAGE of the project management lifecycle (EACH STAGE FROM CONCEPT TO CLOSURE) (10 points) 1. 2. 3. 4. Designing project plan a. Establish a systematic project plan considering time constraints, cost constraints, resource and technical requirements. b. The plan also identifies the need for increased production by the business, the impact and consequences on the relevant sectors, other operational activities and the profits of the organization. Analysis of new project plan a. The decision to increase production will affect the purchasing department as more materials are required throughout the production process, which may increase costs. b. Storing more materials will also require larger warehouses and reduced capacity. Involvement of stakeholders in new manufacturing process a. Develop detailed plans based on stakeholder views on new manufacturing processes. b. Their suggestions and ideas can be gathered by asking them various questions related to the overall business, the current situation and the future prospects of this new manufacturing project. Development of plans and strategies for mitigating risks a. Check to see if there are appropriate people in charge and on the board to manage periods of uncertainty b. Communicate the change to people within the organization and make them aware of the consequences. 4 NAME________ 5. Formal communication to all the internal stakeholders a. All members of the organization must know about change and should know the purpose of change. b. This will increase employees' participation in the organization, and they will achieve their goals by increasing their productivity standards. 10. Why is the purpose of the Project Closing Process? Give an example of the information typically collected as part of Lessons Learned. (3 points) 1. 2. 3. 4. This is performed once all defined project objectives have been met and the customer has accepted the project’s solution a. Redistribute project resources b. Close any financial issues c. Collect, complete, and archive project records d. Document the success and the issues of the project e. Conduct lessons learned f. Celebrate the project’s completion Project closure comprises those activities needed to formally conclude a project and to ensure no tasks remain outstanding The closure process provides for a. Acceptance of the project by the project sponsor b. Completion of various project records c. Final revision and issue of documentation and the retention of essential project documentation Additional there is tremendous value is assessing a. Whether actual benefits met planned benefits b. The entire project life cycle process for this project c. Opportunities for future improvements 11. Please select 2 tools or techniques below related to the project communication management process and explain: 1) the purpose and value each tool provides 2) detailed considerations for how to best create or use the tool/technique. ? Stakeholder Register ? Project Communication Management Plan ? Communications Requirements Analysis ? Meetings 7) points) Stakeholder Register: The purpose of the stakeholder register is to record who is affected by the project and to record relevant information about their interests, participation and impact on the success of the project. To create an effective stakeholder register, several things need to be considered: 1. stakeholder identification: name, title, contact information, and role in the project 2. stakeholder assessment: requirements, communication needs, expectations, and so on. 3. stakeholder classification: assign attributes to stakeholders, such as internal, external, etc. 4. stakeholder analysis and management: Classify stakeholders, use model such as influence/impact grid Project communication management Plan: 5 NAME________ The project management communication plan identifies the importance of communicating information to stakeholders throughout the project. It also determines who will receive the information, how these people will receive it, when they will receive it, and how often they expect to receive it. 1. 2. 3. 4. Create deliverables that require tasks, time and effort Details documented in the WBS Tasks and activities inserted in the project workplan Reviewed regularly throughout the project lifecycle 6