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H7063

THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

ENGINEERING & DESIGN

BEng, MEng and BSc Year 2 Examinations 2012

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS

Tuesday 12thJune 2012 9.30am 11.30am

Candidates should answer THREE questions out of FOUR.

Time allowed: 2 hours.

Where a question indicates the division of marks between differentparts, this information is for guidance only; the examiners reserve

the right to make small adjustments to the division.

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H7063 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS______________________________________________________________

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1 Given the following information regarding a project concerning an initialpublic offering (IPO) (i.e. the first sale of stock by a private company tothe public):

Activity Duration

(weeks)

Preceding activities

A: Check feasibility 3 None

B: Determine funding 1 None

C: Find possible banks 3 A

D: Select two possible banks 4 A

E: Interview two banks 4 B

F: Analyse funding costs 5 B

G: What chance of success? 2 C, E

H: Sign Contract 3 F

a) Draw the network diagram, showing Early Start (ES), Early Finish(EF), Late Start (LS) and Late Finish (LF) dates (weeks) for eachactivity. The first week of the project is considered as week zero.

[6 marks]

b) What is the critical path?[6 marks]

c) When will the offering be available (completion of the project)?[2 marks]

d) What is the effect on the project if activity E (approvals wheninterviewing two banks) takes:- An extra week?

[2 marks]- Two extra weeks?

[2 marks]- Three extra weeks?

[2 marks]

2 Facebook has recently introduced a Timeline feature which involvesseveral new marketing applications. Users can opt-in to use features,offered by companies such as Spotify, Warner Bros and TheWashington Post. For example, if a user signs up for Spotify, all of thesongs he or she listens to on the service automatically become part of apersons Facebook profile.

However, users do not have the option of opting out of their activitybeing used for paid advertising by these companies. Consumer groupsargue that this is an infringement of privacy, particularly given how muchpersonal information people share on social networking sites. Yet

industry analysts say that this is not a big issue as people care moreabout getting free media than they do about their privacy.

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H7063 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS______________________________________________________________

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Describe the ethical issues around the Facebook feature, using twoofthe following concepts:- Engineering as social experimentation- Privacy and inappropriate access

- Appropriate technology[20 marks]

3 The status of a project consisting of five tasks A, B, C, D, and E isshown below. The project is at the end of its day 7 (seven).

Task

Budget

(1,000 ) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

100%

A 600

100%

B 300

40%

C 800

25%

D 400

0%

E 400 Task A, with a budgeted cost of 600,000, is 100% complete and

has actually cost 680,000

Task B, with a budgeted cost of 300,000, is 100% complete andhas actually cost 270,000

Task C, with a budgeted cost of 800,000, is 40% complete (butshould be 80% complete) and has actually cost 350,000 so far (bythe end of day 7)

Task D, with a budgeted cost of 400,000, is 25% complete (butshould be 50% complete), and has actually cost 75,000 so far (bythe end of day 7)

Task E, with a budgeted cost of 400,000, has not started yet.

Considering the earned value analysis at the end of day 7 (seven), andassuming the time proportionality rule when necessary, calculate:

a) Planned Value (PV)b) Actual Cost (AC)

[2 marks][2 marks]

c) Earned Value (EV) [2 marks]d) Cost Variance (CV) [1 mark]e) Schedule Variance (SV) [1 mark]f) Cost Performance Index (CPI) [1 mark]

g) Schedule Performance Index (SPI) [1 mark]h) Budget at Completion (BAC) [1 mark]

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H7063 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS______________________________________________________________

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i) Estimate at Completion (EAC) [1 mark]j) Estimate-to-Complete (ETC) [1 mark]k) Percentage Complete (PC) [1 mark]l) Is the project on time and on budget?

Justify your answers using the

appropriate indicators above.

[6 marks]

Project status (Earned Value) formulae:CV = EVACSV = EVPVEV = PC x BACEAC = AC/EV x BACETC = EACACCPI = EV/ACSPI = EV/PV

4 Jenny works as a structural engineer for a large firm that has beencontracted to construct some of the buildings for the London 2012Olympic Games. In the past two months she has become concernedabout the safety of the project, and suspects that her managers havebeen cutting corners in order to save time. Several key safety checkshave been missed. The company have also switched to a supplier whowill supply them more quickly, although with low quality materials. In theworst case scenario, Jenny suspects that parts of the buildings willcollapse when they are at full capacity, causing extensive injury.

Jenny has raised some of these issues with her colleagues who agreewith her concerns. However, they are all aware that the constructionmust be finished by the time the Games start in July if not, the firm willbe heavily penalized and would find it difficult to gain work afterwards.Jenny is also worried that if she raises these issues with her managers,she will be fired or taken off the project.

Discuss the ethical issues in this case using two of the followingconcepts:- Acceptable Risk

- Safe Exits- Power and Organisations[20 marks]

End of Paper