UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
EXAMINATION FOR INTERNAL STUDENTS
MODULE CODE MSIN0068
ASSESSMENT MSIN0068A7PA
PATTERN
MODULE NAME Project Management
LEVEL: Postgraduate
DATE 23 April 2019
TIME 10:00
TIME ALLOWED 2 hrs
This paper is suitable for candidates who attended classes for this
module in the following academic year(s):
Year
Suitable for All Candidates
EXAMINATION PAPER CANNOT BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAM HALL. PLACE EXAM
PAPER AND ALL COMPLETED SCRIPTS INSIDE THE EXAMINATION ENVELOPE
Hall Instructions Case Study Handout to be given to candidates. Closed Book
Exam
Standard Calculators
Non-Standard
Calculators
TURN OVER
----------------IIDII-· ��-
MSIN0068 A7P: Project Management
Examination Paper
2018/2019
Examination length: TWO (2) hours.
There are THREE (3) sections to the examination paper.
Section A consists of FIVE (5) questions from which you must answer
THREE (3) questions. This section is worth THIRTY (30) marks.
Section B consists of ONE (1) compulsory question. This section is worth
TWENTY (20) marks.
Section C consists of THREE (3) questions. This section is worth FIFTY (50)
marks.
All the questions in Section C are based on the Eli Lilly: The Evista Project
Case Study which was issued to you prior to the examination. If you have
not been issued with a fresh copy of the case study at the start of the
examination, please request a copy from the invigilators.
Standard calculators are permitted in this examination.
You are advised to allocate your time as follows
Section A - answer THREE (3) questions
minutes
Section B - answer ONE (1) compulsory question
minutes
Section C - case study: answer all questions
minutes
Module Leader/Internal Examiner: Jane Britton
1
40
20
60
TURN OVER
MSIN0068 A7P : Project Management
Section A
This section consists of FIVE (5) questions from which you must answer
THREE (3) questions. If you answer more than THREE (3) questions, only the
first THREE (3) answers will be marked. This section is worth THIRTY (30)
marks.
A.1
a) For each of the following:
• 'Crashing'
• 'Smoothing'
Explain each technique and give an example of a situation where it is likely to
be used.
[8 marks]
b) State ONE (1) effect on the schedule that both techniques might have in
common.
[2 marks]
A.2
Explain FIVE (5) advantages of having a robust change control process on a
project.
[10 marks]
A.3
a) Briefly outline THREE (3) principal differences between a project and an
organisation's business as usual (BAU) activities.
[6 marks]
b) Give TWO (2) examples of activities that would be managed as business
as usual, and TWO (2) examples of activities that would be managed as a
project.
[4 marks]
CONTINUED
MSIN0068 A7P: 2018-19 1
MSIN0068 A7P : Project Management
A.4
The Probability / Impact matrix below illustrates the relative P/1 scores and
positions of identified risks (labelled A to K) on a project.
16 B
VHI
8 F E
Hi
4 J G
MED
2 I C A
LO
1 D K H
VLO
3 6 9 12 15
VLO LO MED HI VHI
PROBABILITY
a) List the top SIX (6) risks in priority order (highest to lowest).
[3 marks]
b) Identify two risk treatment strategies that might be appropriate to use
on a high priority risk and give an example of how they might be
applied.
[4 marks]
c) Briefly explain why the numerical scales on the above table are
different on each axis. Why isn't the same scale used for each axis?
[3 marks]
A.5
Briefly explain each of the following contract types. In each case, give an
example of their application to projects:
• Spot
• Standard contract
• Model contract
• Bespoke
[2.5 marks each. Total 10 marks]
TURN OVER
MSIN0068 A7P: 2018-19 2
MSIN0068 A7P : Project Management
SECTION B
This section consists of ONE (1) question. Candidates should attempt ALL
parts of the question. This section is worth TWENTY (20) marks.
8.1
A project is scheduled to take 8 months. Month 4 progress data (cumulative)
shows the following:
Task Total Budget Planned Actual Cost % Complete
Cost
A 5000 3000 3500 50%
B 7000 3500 3000 40%
C 2000 900 800 35%
D 850 50 100 20%
E 2250 1800 1200 60%
F 350 350 400 100%
G 6000 5000 4500 70%
H 2250 1000 1200 40%
(a) Calculate the earned value for the project. Show your workings.
(5 marks]
(b) Using either variances or indices, what does the data tell you about the
progress of the project? How does this compare to what was planned?
(6 marks]
(c) The task owners tell you that the pattern of performance so far is likely to
continue until the end of the project. Based on this information, what is
the:
I. Estimated cost at completion
11. Estimated completion time
(3 marks]
(3 marks]
(d) Briefly outline two pre-requisites for earned value to be useful as a
measure of project progress
(3 marks]
MSIN0068 A7P: 2018-19 3
CONTINUED
MSIN0068 A7P : Project Management
SECTION C
This section consists of THREE (3) questions. Candidates should attempt
ALL questions. This section is worth FIFTY (50) marks.
All the questions are based on the Eli Lilly: The Evista Project Case Study
which was issued to you prior to the examination. If you have not been
issued with a fresh copy of the case study at the start of the
examination, please request a copy from the invigilators.
C.1
Pages 2-3 and Exhibit 3 outline the product development process that has to
be followed by projects in Lilly.
Page 5 notes one of the causes of Lilly's product development problems was
that there were "no systems to ... measure progress except at the macro 1
level."
a) Explain how the use of milestone monitoring techniques, in particular,
might be useful to track and measure progress for the type of product
development projects undertaken by Lilly.
You do not need to draw any diagrams to illustrate your answer.
(6 marks]
b) Identify THREE [3] other project elements, in addition to milestones, that
you think Eli Lilly should focus on in their monitoring, explaining the
reason(s) for your view.
(6 marks]
1 Macro level means very high level/ broad progress.
MSIN0068 A7P: 2018-19 4
TURN OVER
MSIN0068 A7P : Project Management
C.2
The problems associated with the organisation's traditional lightweight (weak)
matrix2 project team structure, in its product development projects, are set out
in pages 5 and 6 of the case.
Given these problems, which were well known within the organisation, briefly
explain SIX (6) possible reasons why Lilly continued to use this project team
structure for as long as it did.
[12 marks]
C.3
Lilly adopted a heavyweight matrix approach for both the Evista and Zyprexa
projects, explicitly to speed up time to market and improve the product
development processes. The use of a pure project (task force) approach
could also have been used to achieve these outcomes.
(a) Briefly outline the principal structure of a:
I. Heavyweight matrix structure
11. Project (task force) structure
[3 marks]
[3 marks]
(b) Explain why a heavyweight approach was better for Eli Lilly than a project
(task force), comparing the two approaches in terms of impact (pros/cons).
You may consider perspectives of the project, project team members or
the organisation (Lilly) in your answer. You should make TEN (10) distinct
points.
[20 marks]
2 Lightweight matrix structures such as used by Lilly are sometimes known as 'Functional
matrix structure'. This is the same as the lightweight matrix we discussed in class
MSIN0068 A7P: 2018-19 5 END OF PAPER