Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka

Transcription

1 Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) Managerial Level Pilot Paper - Suggested Answer Scheme ) A 2) C ) C 4) D 5) B Question One Managing Projects A large super market chain in Sri Lanka is planning to expand its business into Northern Province. They have already bought an abandoned warehouse building in Jaffna city. They are planning to convert this building into its provincial head office. They want to have a retail outlet also in the same premises. Assume that you are involved in this project as the project manager. a) Describe the purpose of a project charter in managing this project? Project charter refers to a statement of objectives in a project. This statement also sets out detailed project goals, roles and responsibilities, identifies the main stakeholders, and the level of authority of a project manager. Full marks will be awarded only if the given project is related to the answer. Generic explanation is awarded marks. (5 Marks) b) Explain the importance of developing Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in project management. The main purpose of a WBS is to reduce complicated activities to a collection of tasks. This is important for the project manager because she can oversee the tasks more effectively than the complex activities. Tasks must be measurable and independent, with clearly defined limits. All the project work must be included in one of the tasks and the tasks must not include any nonproject work. Because the WBS tasks are measurable, the project management can assign specific costs to each task. The WBS lets project managers distribute the project budget into defined packages linked to the tasks and check to make sure that the task costs in total don't exceed the total project cost. (5 Marks) c) Identify four risks that may have an impact on the above mentioned project. Candidates are expected to identify relevant risks such as bad weather, lack of labour etc. mark x 4 risks = 4 marks (4 Marks) Managerial Level Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) -Pilot Paper Answer Scheme

2 d) Describe three of the four approaches of dealing with risk threats. Any three of the following Avoid Eliminate the threat immediately Transfer This approach remove the project contractor from the danger of threat. Mitigate Softening of the danger of the threat, either through reducing the likelihood it will occur, or through reducing its impact if it does occur Accept The risk is accepted, either because no other response is available or responses are deemed too costly relative to the risk threat. 2 marks x approaches = 6 marks (6 Marks) Question Two A project manager has identified activities to be performed introducing a new product to the market and has drawn the following network diagram for this project. A Further, he has estimated the following time durations for each of the activity. Activity (,2) (2,) (2,4) (,4) (,5) (,) (4,5) (4,6) (5,6) (5,) (6,) Duration (in weeks) Optimistic Most likely Pessimistic a) Find the Earliest Start Time, Latest Start Time, Earliest Finish Time and Latest Finish Time and Slack for each activity. Managerial Level Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) -Pilot Paper Answer Scheme 2

3 Activity Expected time (,2) (2,) 4 (2,4) 5 (,4) (,5) (,) 9 (4,5) 6 (4,6) 5 (5,6) (5,) (6,) 6 EST LST EFT LFT SLACK marks for expected time by using formula (a + 4m + b)/6 mark each for EST, LST, EFT, LFT 2 marks for Slack ( Marks) b) Find the Critical Path for this project by using the figures calculated in Part I above Identification of critical path by selecting activities with zero slack 4 marks c) What is the project completion time? 22 weeks (4 Marks) ( Marks) d) Explain the difference between Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). The main difference between the CPM and the PERT is CPM is a deterministic model and the PERT is probabilistic model. In CPM it is assumed a fixed time for activity duration and in PERT time durations (optimistic time, most likely time and pessimistic time). No crashing is involved in CPM. (5 Marks) (Total 2 Marks) Managerial Level Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) -Pilot Paper Answer Scheme

4 Part I Information Systems ) A 2) C ) C 4) D 5) D Part II Question. a) Explain how information technology enhances business processes. Increasing efficiency of existing processes Automating steps that were manual Enabling entirely new processes that are capable of transforming the businesses Change flow of information Replace sequential steps with parallel steps Eliminate delays in decision making It can even transform the way the business works and drive new business models (e.g. ordering a book online from amazon.com) (Explanation of points x 2 Marks = 6 Marks) b) Describe the benefits of having an enterprise resource planning system in an organization. Speedy communication of information throughout company Coordination of daily activities Efficient response to customer orders (production, inventory) Valuable information for improving management decision making Up-to-the-minute data on sales, inventory, and production, & uses this information to create more accurate sales & production forecasts (Description of points x 2 Marks = 6 Marks) c) Explain the challenge of big data for organizations. Up until about five years ago, most data collected by organizations consisted of transaction data that could easily fit into rows and columns of relational database management systems. Since then, there has been an explosion of data from Web traffic, messages, and social media content (tweets, status messages), as well as machine-generated data from sensors (used in smart meters, manufacturing sensors, and electrical meters) or from electronic trading systems. 4 Managerial Level Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) -Pilot Paper Answer Scheme

5 These data may be unstructured or semi-structured and thus not suitable for relational database products that organize data in the form of columns and rows. The term big data is used to describe these datasets with volumes so huge that they are beyond the ability of typical DBMS to capture, store, and analyze. Question 2 ( Marks for a description containing the above facts and arguments) a) Explain why text mining is important for today s organizations and how they utilize it for better decision making. Why? Unstructured data, most in the form of text files, is believed to account for over percent of useful organizational information and is one of the major sources of big data that firms want to analyze. , memos, call center transcripts, survey responses, legal cases, patent descriptions, and service reports are all valuable for finding patterns and trends that will help employees make better business decisions. ( Marks) How? Text mining tools are now available to help businesses analyze these data. These tools are able to extract key elements from unstructured big data sets, discover patterns and relationships, and summarize the information. For example, businesses might turn to text mining to analyze transcripts of calls to customer service centers to identify major service and repair issues or to measure customer sentiment about their company. ( Marks) b) Describe four security threats related to wireless network. Radio frequency bands easy to scan Even the wireless network in your home is vulnerable because radio frequency bands are easy to scan. Both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks are susceptible to hacking by eavesdroppers. Local area networks (LANs) using the 2. standard can be easily penetrated by outsiders armed with laptops, wireless cards, external antennae, and hacking software. Use of SSIDs (service set identifiers) The service set identifiers (SSIDs) identifying the access points in a Wi-Fi network are broadcast multiple times and can be picked up fairly easily by intruders sniffer programs Managerial Level Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) -Pilot Paper Answer Scheme 5

6 War driving Wireless networks in many locations do not have basic protections against war driving, in which eavesdroppers drive by buildings or park outside and try to intercept wireless network traffic. A hacker can employ an 2. analysis tool to identify the SSID. An intruder that has associated with an access point by using the correct SSID is capable of accessing other resources on the network, including the details of users and the data they maintain. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) The initial security standard developed for Wi-Fi, called Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), is not very effective. The basic WEP specification calls for an access point and all of its users to share the same 4-bit encrypted password, which can be easily decrypted by hackers from a small amount of traffic. ( Mark each for naming a threat: x 4 = 4 Marks) ( Mark each for describing a threat: x 4 = 4 Marks) c) Explain the importance of risk assessment when establishing a framework for security and control. Before your company commits resources to security and information systems controls, it must know which assets require protection and the extent to which these assets are vulnerable. A risk assessment helps answer these questions and determine the most costeffective set of controls for protecting assets. A risk assessment determines the level of risk to the firm if a specific activity or process is not properly controlled. Not all risks can be anticipated and measured, but most businesses will be able to acquire some understanding of the risks they face. Business managers working with information systems specialists should try to determine the value of information assets, points of vulnerability, the likely frequency of a problem, and the potential for damage. (6 Marks for an explanation containing the above facts and arguments) Question. a) Information technology can promote various degrees of organizational change, ranging from incremental to far-reaching. Describe the different types of change enabled by information technology, and discuss why organizations are sometimes reluctant to bring in these far-reaching changes. Managerial Level Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) -Pilot Paper Answer Scheme 6

7 Four types of changes: Automation: The most common form of IT-enabled organizational change. The first applications of information technology involved assisting employees with performing their tasks more efficiently and effectively. Examples: Calculating paychecks and payroll registers, giving bank tellers instant access to customer deposit records Rationalization of procedures: A deeper form of organizational change one that follows quickly from early automation. Automation frequently reveals new bottlenecks in production and makes the existing arrangement of procedures and structures painfully cumbersome. Rationalization of procedures is the streamlining of standard operating procedures. For example, Money Gram's system for handling global money transfers is effective not only because it uses computer technology but also because the company simplified its business processes for back-office operations. Business process reengineering: A more powerful type of organizational change, in which business processes are analyzed, simplified, and redesigned. Business process redesign reorganizes workflows, combining steps to cut waste and eliminate repetitive, paper-intensive tasks. It is much more ambitious than rationalization of procedures, requiring a new vision of how the process is to be organized. E.g. Ford Motor Company s invoiceless processing, which reduced headcount in Ford s North American Accounts Payable organization of 5 people by 5 percent. Paradigm shift: Rationalizing procedures and redesigning business processes are limited to specific business parts of a business New information systems can ultimately affect the design of the entire organization by transforming how the organization carries out its business or even the nature of the business This more radical form of business change is called paradigm shift A paradigm shift involves rethinking the nature of business, defining a new business model, and often changing the very nature of the organization E.g. When organizations merge, one or both undergo a paradigm shift. New policies blending each corporation's philosophies can be formed, allowing everyone to develop a new paradigm together. (2 Marks each for describing one change: 2 x 4 = Marks) Managerial Level Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) -Pilot Paper Answer Scheme

8 Why organizations are sometimes reluctant to bring in these far-reaching changes: Paradigm shifts and reengineering often fail because extensive organizational change is so difficult to orchestrate. Cost of failure of trying to implement such far-reaching changes is very high for organizations. Hence, organizations are reluctant to pursue such changes even though the expected benefits of such changes are very high. (2 Marks for this explanation) b) An organization is planning to develop a website for its users. They are assessing the use of two alternative systems development methods, namely prototyping and end-user development to develop their website. You are required to propose the most suitable method for the organization and justify it. The most suitable methodology for developing a website is prototyping. Prototyping is most useful when there is some uncertainty about requirements or design solutions. When it comes to development of a website, the best features of a website like performance, user friendliness, attractiveness etc. may not be determined beforehand easily. Once a preliminary website is developed, it has to be evaluated by different categories of users and then improve it with the comments and feedback of those users. This evaluation and improvement process should continue until all users are satisfied with the website. This process is in line with the methodology of prototyping. (4 marks) c) Many e-commerce marketing firms use behavioral targeting techniques to increase the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. Explain what behavioral targeting is and why organizations prefer it. Behavioral targeting Behavioral targeting refers to tracking the click-streams (history of clicking behavior) of individuals on thousands of Web sites for the purpose of understanding their interests and intentions, and exposing them to advertisements that are uniquely suited to their behavior. (4 Marks) Why organizations prefer it: Because behavioral targeting can increase the effectiveness of banner, rich media, and video ads. (2 Marks) End of Answer Scheme Managerial Level Managing Projects & Information Systems (MPI / ML ) -Pilot Paper Answer Scheme