xemba translations projects - risk analysis, metrics and reporting

Risks, Metrics, Problem Solving & Reporting

Xemba Translations Project

April Drake, Project Manager

April 21st, 2015

Table of Contents

Glossary and Definitions of Terms............................................................................................................................................................................................3

Part A: Risk Addendum ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................3

Risk 1: Security Threats .......................................................................................................................................................................................................3

Risk 2: Staffing & Personnel Threats .....................................................................................................................................................................................5

Risk 3: Accessibility & Reliability of ISP Connection Threats ...................................................................................................................................................6

Risk 4: Mobile Device Threats ..............................................................................................................................................................................................7

Risk 5: Design and Compatibility Threats ..............................................................................................................................................................................8

Risk 6: Catastrophic Failure Threats......................................................................................................................................................................................9

Risk 7: Labor Restriction and Resource Over-Allocation Threaten Quality and Schedule ........................................................................................................ 10

Risk 8: Natural Disaster or Severe Weather Threats ............................................................................................................................................................ 11

Risk 9: Client Acceptance Threats....................................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Risk 10: Procurement Planning Threats .............................................................................................................................................................................. 12

Risk 11: Quality Control ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Risk 12: Ability to Procure 47 Computers on time ............................................................................................................................................................... 14

April Drake April 21, 2015

2 | P a g e Xemba Translations Project

Risk 13: Meeting Budget.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Part B: Metrics...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Percentage Complete........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 16

Critical Path ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Earned Value Method (EVM): ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 16

Planned and Earned Value ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 16

Schedule and Cost Variance ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Cost Performance Index and Schedule Performance Index............................................................................................................................................... 18

Estimate At Close (EAC) ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18

Quality Metrics ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18

Part B1: Justify why these metrics would be appropriate to use for this project........................................................................................................................ 19

Part B2: Discuss the project’s current status based on these metrics. ...................................................................................................................................... 19

Percentage Complete........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 19

Tasks Work Table .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20

Earned Value Method (EVM): ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 21

Planned Value (Labor).................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Earned Value (Labor) ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Project Efficiency with Cost Performance Measurements ................................................................................................................................................ 23

Project Effectiveness with Schedule Performance Measurements .................................................................................................................................... 24

Estimate At Close (EAC) ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 25

Part B3. Analyze three problems that currently exist based on these metrics .......................................................................................................................... 27

Critical Path resource load balancing.................................................................................................................................................................................. 27

FTP Tasks ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Firewall Tasks ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 28

Deliverable Quality and Team Efficiency ............................................................................................................................................................................. 29

User Adoption .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 29

Procurements Management .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 30



Budget adjustments .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30

Part C: Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30

Summary:......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30

Details:............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 30

Cost Performance.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31

Schedule Performance................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33

Scope ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 34

Next Steps ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 34

Glossary and Definitions of Terms

The following definitions are excerpts or summaries of data from Project Management Institute, 2013, Wikipedia

• Project risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives su ch as scope,

schedule, cost, and quality.

• Individual project risks are different from overall project risk. Overall project risk represents the effect of uncertainty on the project as a whole. It

represents the exposure of stakeholders to the implications of variations in project outcome, both positive and negative.

• Known risks are those that have been identified and analyzed, making it possible to plan responses for those risks.

• Known risks that cannot be managed proactively, should be assigned a contingency reserve.

• Unknown risks cannot be managed proactively and therefore may be assigned a management reserve.

• A negative project risk that has occurred is considered an issue.

• Project metrics allow you to measure the performance of your project team in terms of quality, budget, and schedule

• The difference between metrics and risks is that risks are about guessing what may or may not happen, while metrics measure what’s actually

happened. Metrics can also be used to project future performance, but even then, future performance is estimated based on measured past performance

Part A: Risk Addendum

Create an addendum to the risk assessment matrix that documents five current risks to the project

Risk 1: Security Threats

• Description of risk



Due to security holes that may be present in the technologies selected for system, it may be prone to attack by hackers.

• Impact

Compromised Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Data, System functionality impairment, or both. Hackers could steal system resources or data, apply malicious malware or viruses into the system which could impact just one user or the entire network and every device that interfaces with it.

• Likelihood of occurrence

Low

• Degree of impact High

• Initial action to take if event occurs Contact technical support. If a security thread has been detected by monitoring system via software or manual methods, or by being alerted of suspicious activity or behavior by a project staff member, the system affected should immediately be quarantined, anti-malware or anti-virus tools applied as appropriate, as well as any manual forensics necessary to determine the cause, effect and resolution of the issue.

• Team member responsible Malinda

• Strategies for prevention and mitigation

A thorough analysis of the web-tools used in the solution should be applied, in order to determine compliance with company, local and federal government

standards of information security. This should include NIST compliance due to the presence of PII data in the system.

During the QA portion of the Implementation WBS items for the system, a Security section should be added that addresses all concerns and validation steps and required compliance (ISO compliance for QA)

A section on “Handling Security Threats” should be added as a training topic for the telecommuters by the training staff, so they understand how to recognize

and report security breaches, including urgency and compliance expectations. All telecommuting staff should be required to go through this training at least

yearly.

During Project QA, should only use fake PII data in order to ensure all compliance with security requirements prior to implementation.



Increase Firewall quality – possibly move expense for firewall into the IT budget and outside of the Project budget.

Risk 2: Staffing & Personnel Threats

• Description of risk Project staff may not be adequately assigned or equipped to handle their responsibilities and tasks.

• Impact

This may impact project staff’s ability to meet expectations and project commitments, delaying the project work due to dependencies, having negative schedule, quality and cost impacts across the board.

• Likelihood of occurrence Medium


• Initial action to take if event occurs If it is observed through analysis of regular work performance data that this risk has become an issue, then these actions should be considered:

o Training or equipping of the staff member to better support their ability to meet requirements o Assistance to the staff member by other team members o Replacement of the staff member for one, more or all tasks by other team members

• Team member responsible

Project Manager

• Strategies for prevention and mitigation Prior to staffing assignments (where possible), the candidates should be thoroughly reviewed and screened for qualifications necessary to perform the work, including computing and connectivity requirements, as well as for soft-skills like ability to effectively work in a team environment and with the individual members of the project already assigned.



Where not possible (staff is already assigned), the staff should be closely monitored that are deemed ‘at risk’ due to review ing their work performance data. Any individuals experiencing difficulties should be promptly dealt with as per above plan, because there is very little if any give to the project schedule, cost or resources, due to the current WBS and given project constraints.

Risk 3: Accessibility & Reliability of ISP Connection Threats

• Description of risk Internet service of some project staff or telecommuters may not be fast nor reliable enough to support them on the new system so that they could maintain or increase their effectiveness and efficiency over current standards

• Impact During implementation and rollout phase this could have significant impact to the project schedule and resources. Telecommuters may not understand bandwidth requirements and home use best-practices that are necessary to ensure high efficiency and performance in file transfer operations. This could result in cost increases during pilot and implementation phases, as well as in maintenance mode, in order to troubleshoot and support these telecommuters.


• Degree of impact Medium

• Initial action to take if event occurs Contact Technical Support (Hugh) and request assistance. Reference the FAQ which should include information on bandwidth requ irements for telecommuting, and optimization tips for home use. Make sure to reference all ISPs in region and what bandwidth and packages they offer for all known and anticipated telecommuter locations.


Hugh and Elizabeth




Project members internet connectivity should be reviewed to ensure compliance with the requirements wherever staff will be accessing the network externally in order to complete project work, and upgraded to a better ISP and/or package if necessary. Also they should be made aware o f the tips and best practices that will end up in the FAQ for all telecommuters on negotiating the appropriate package for system compatibility. During implementation, the trainers should have a section on Technical Support that delivers the information on Internet Service Provider bandwidth requirements so that telecommuters understand the limitations and don’t switch their plans/setup plans that won’t work . Hugh can troubleshoot any system network connectivity issues and possibly suggest options to mitigate, like switching plans, providers, or conducting file transfers at off-peak times, as well as possible resource utilization optimizations, like not using XBOX Live or Media Streaming on the same network during file tran sfer operations.

Risk 4: Mobile Device Threats


Mobile device access hasn’t been called out specifically for research and implementation in the project plan, and this may mean a loss of substantial opportunity

for work and collaboration opportunity. It also allows for the potential of hackers to enter the system through wireless or Bluetooth connections and

compromise the system or data.

• Impact If planning for mobile scenarios are not implemented in tandem with desktop support, it could increase risk of security threats to the system specific to the mobile platform, or loss of business due to competitors that offer a more accessible solution.



• Initial action to take if event occurs Contact Technical Support

• Team member responsible Lianne




Need to assess the Mobile platform scenarios which the system will need to support in-line with the desktop support, based on inventories and requirements of the telecommuters. Periodically review mobile usage and determine if new risks or threats exist. QA should address mobile scenarios in the QA support and security planning during project execution. Technical Support should be aware of the condition that mobile connectivity offers different support requirements and conditions than desktop, and be prepared to support mobile user scenarios.

Risk 5: Design and Compatibility Threats


Possible incompatibilities in software and hardware components across the network and system could cause re-work and loss of time to integrate, as well as budget to rectify. This risk is increased because there are so many different owners for the system components.

• Impact High



• Initial action to take if event occurs

If, during integration testing of system components, it is discovered that an incompatibility exists, the owners/leads of the components must produce a root cause analysis document detailing the cause, impact and what is necessary to resolve the incompatibility. Based on this, change requests to the project may need to be made.

• Team member responsible Jackson

• Strategies for prevention and mitigation Assure that the Technical Requirements Documentation include all software and hardware requirements for compatibility, and any new software or hardware procured must be listed in the requirements along with incompatibility information for any future procurement planning and acquisition action reference.



Overall System Architecture diagram should be produced, and include a virtual “map” to all TRDs, for reference. There should be an overall system design review meeting with each lead in order to go over the system requirements and ensure everyone is on the same page. Any software or hardware changes from this baseline should be sent to the leadership for review and approval with their own compatibilities in mind, prior to procurement. It may also be prudent to consolidate some of the IT roles and eliminate some resources in order to reduce this threat.

Risk 6: Catastrophic Failure Threats

• Description of risk Home systems may experience catastrophic failures like loss of a hard-drive that prevent them from meeting project deadlines.

• Impact This could result in significant loss of project data and time wasted. If this happens during the project itself, and due to the compressed schedule with no room for error, this could impact the project significantly.



• Initial action to take if event occurs Contact technical support.


Hugh

• Strategies for prevention and mitigation The trainers should have a section on Technical Support that delivers the information on what to do for Telecommuting Technical Support for their computers. This section should include requirements and tips for ensuring backups are up-to-date, and restore actions can be performed easily if necessary. Ensure all project staff are adequately equipped especially where accessing the system from externally to complete project work. Project members and tel ecommuters



should be instructed on how to contact Technical Support and request assistance. They should be able to easily reference the FAQ which should include information on what to do in case of catastrophic system failures for telecommuting, including machine backup and restore tips for home use. Larger scoped mitigation plan: move of data storage to the cloud (Azure, AWS, etc.) who have solutions for these and other technical challenges as a matter of course.

Risk 7: Labor Restriction and Resource Over-Allocation Threaten Quality and Schedule

• Description of risk Resource over-allocation and labor restrictions could cause milestones to be missed, or otherwise adversely impact quality of deliverables in order to meet milestone dates due to communication problems.

• Impact Stakeholders don’t accept project deliverables to do lack of sufficient quality or scope, or the project costs run over due to the time impact of the labor restrictions.

• Likelihood of occurrence High


• Initial action to take if event occurs Alert Project Manager who will rework schedule to assess impacts.


Project Manager, Stakeholders

• Strategies for prevention and mitigation A Quality Management and Cost Management plan should be prepared to strictly monitor and control these variables. Reporting should built into the plan and considerable effort spent analyzing the work performance data, because there is little give in the schedule and WBS concerning tasks for meeting project objectives.



Risk 8: Natural Disaster or Severe Weather Threats

• Description of risk Project could be negatively impacted by natural disasters or severe weather phenomena, as with the fire at Notebooks and Computer Supplies, which set behind the procurement date eta of April 11th by 2 weeks to April 25th eta for 47 of the new computers needed for the telecommuters, as well as the power outages experienced which impacted internet connectivity testing.

• Impact The schedule is already overly compromised, any compromises to WBS items will further impact the ability to meet the project objectives of implementation by 3rd quarter.

• Likelihood of occurrence Low


• Initial action to take if event occurs Alert Project Manager at once who will work with stakeholders to formulate a plan to address and raise to leadership


Project Manager, Stakeholders

• Strategies for prevention and mitigation Have emergency plan in place which addresses processes to follow for natural disasters. Make sure to have backups selected fo r any vendors in case the vendor is affected and cannot meet deadlines or other deliverable criteria. Mitigation includes assessing impact of any long term weather forecasts and alerts to ensure to the best of ability that connectivity testing/requirements will not be impact foreseen weather patterns that may impact power in the regions. Possibly have backup regions where no weather issues are forecast designated.

Risk 9: Client Acceptance Threats




Clients may not want to adapt their service to the new telecommuting scenarios. Central Greater Hospital has expressed concerns over the changed business model and costs they will incur after the toll-free line is implemented, and R. E. & C. Law Partners has expressed their requirement to have translators on-site in order to perform much needed emergency translation services.

• Impact Loss of the clients.



• Initial action to take if event occurs Contact Project Management.


Project Manager

• Strategies for prevention and mitigation Work with the clients proactively to ensure they are comfortable with the new business model and planning, so that they are b rought in to acceptance criteria (for instance, never fully getting rid of on-site support, and making sure that prices aren’t raised for the service once the toll-free line is in place).

Risk 10: Procurement Planning Threats

• Description of risk No Procurement Plan nor milestones/work package defined can make it hard to plan for unforeseen procurement problems.

• Impact



Procurement issues causing significant delays or cost overruns or otherwise impacting the project adversely, as with what happened with the fire causing a delay in one of the vendors’ ability to meet a delivery commitment by 2 weeks.



• Initial action to take if event occurs Alert Project Management.

Risk 11: Quality Control

• Description of risk Ideally the QC engineers should not be involved with the implementation of the project in order to maintain objectivity. Some resources are allocated to both implementation as well as QC tasks.

• Impact Quality assessment could be negatively impacted.

• Likelihood of occurrence Low







Risk 12: Ability to Procure 47 Computers on time


There was a fire from the computer supplier’s warehouse and their estimate to deliver the computers was pushed out 2 weeks. It is unknown whether we can find another supplier to deliver the computers in time with the budget constraints.

• Impact This could affect ability to deliver the project in time and on budget.



• Initial action to take if event occurs Alert Project Manager.


Project Manager

• Strategies for prevention and mitigation New suppliers need to be identified immediately, and contacted for bids on rush orders. The original supplier should be contacted to see if any alternatives exist

to meet the original estimate on time.

Risk 13: Meeting Budget




There is a constraint on the project of approximately $173K, and there are reasons to believe this will no longer be possible to achieve unless scope or quality is

cut. One reason is that the impact of the severe weather caused a substantial cost overrun for testing and evaluating web-=based meetings with the pilot group.

The baseline was for 100 hours, and the weather caused this to take 260 hours, an overrun of 160 hours of labor time. Another example of unforeseen expense is that 12 additional computers are needed in order to support the telecommuters than planned.

• Impact These events could affect ability to deliver the project on budget.




Scope and Schedule re-assessment.


Project Manager


One possibility would be to remove the firewall expenses from the project, as was already eluded to being possibly by the CEO , and moving the firewall expenses

into the IT budget for the year. Another would be to increase the budget to cover the additional costs. Scope could be reassessed to see if any cuts could be

made to accommodate a tighter budget. Finally, resources could be reviewed for cost efficiency and reassigned based on skills and availability where savings

could be experienced without affecting quality or schedule.

Part B: Metrics

Explain the metrics you would use to measure the project’s performance.

In order to ensure the project is meeting objectives, the following tools and techniques will be employed, and reported against at milestone monthly reports to

leadership and primary stakeholders, according to the Earned Value Management method. Project leads will supply the data for the analysis, at their monthly

reporting milestones.



Percentage Complete

Status reporting from each lead will include a tracking Gantt chart that depicts the performance of their area to date, including percentage complete of each task.

Critical Path

Critical Path will be reassessed in order to determine if any other risks are associated with the schedule given current project status, and network diagram

updated, to expose task completion and any changes to critical path status based on latest data.

Earned Value Method (EVM):

As per Wikipedia on Earned Value Management (Wikipedia, 2015): “In a single integrated system, Earned Value Management is able to provide accurate forecasts of project performance problems, which is an important contribution for project management.”

The Earned Value (EV) will be calculated according to the following method, and compared with Planned Work values (PV) from the Baseline cost report data, as well as Actual Costs to date, in order to assess project performance and forecast potential problems.

These measurements and charts will be prepared every month through project end, starting at day 72 (Week 14, April 16th) onward.

Planned and Earned Value

The most accurate calculation for EV is the sum of all completed WBS work packages costs from the start of the project through the reporting period.

(Wikipedia, 2015)

EV can also be assessed by using the formula “EV = % complete x Budget” (Litten, 2011)

Using the two methods will allow us to check our data for possible error and assess accuracy of our measurements.

The EV measurements will be tallied incrementally for each week of the project lifecycle, and the cumulative values used i n our calculations of Cost and Schedule Variances (CV and SV respectively).

Schedule and Cost Variance

Schedule and Cost Variance and extrapolated performance indices allow us to assess project performance and spot any problems using trendline analysis. Calculations are as follows (using cumulative approach to echo EV data):



Cost Variance (CV) = EV – AC

Schedule Variance (SV) = EV – PV

Any values that are positive are favorable, and any negative are unfavorable.

Charts: Examples of Cost and Schedule Variance using EVM technique (Wikipedia, 2015)



Cost Performance Index and Schedule Performance Index

Starting from the aforementioned measurements, we can extrapolate both Cost and Schedule Performance Indices (CPI and SPI, respectively), which are charted to spot trends in project efficiency (CPI) and effectiveness (SPI).

The calculations are:

CPI = EV / AC

SPI = EV / PV

Any measurement greater or equal to 1 is a favorable condition (the project will come in ahead of schedule and/or under budget), any measurement less than 1 is considered unfavorable (the project is likely to come in over budget or behind schedule).

We learn from Wikipedia that any measurement very high, e.g. ‘1.2’ or higher, is an indication of poor planning, because a high ratio indicates the resources

were improperly allocated and reserved for the project that weren’t really necessary.

Estimate At Close (EAC)

From the CPI and SPI measurements, we can extrapolate the final project end metrics (cost and dates) according to the formulas below, and depending on the

status of the project.

Final Cost

o Method 1: Assumes the CPI is abnormal

Estimate At Completion (EAC) = AC + (BAC – EV)

o Method 2: Asks team for completion estimates

EAC = Bottom up ETC

o Method 3: Assumes the project must meet the deadline Estimate At Completion (EAC) = AC + (BAC – EV) /(CPI*SPI)

Quality Metrics

The following quality metrics will also be reported:

Change Requests made per Lead during project

Test coverage per System Area during pilot

Defects Found per System Area during pilot

Percent downtime for telecommuting system pilot compared with in-house system

Client Satisfaction Survey results for telecommuting system pilot compared with in-house system

Pareto analysis and Histogram charts will be prepared to best represent and analyze the data for possible change request or other other quality measures.



Part B1: Justify why these metrics would be appropriate to use for this project.

This project has well defined constraints on schedule, costs and resources, so keeping these metrics up to date and visible w ill ensure leadership understands any issues that may impact the constraints. Measurements have been taken every week.

These relatively simple metrics are appropriate for small projects to ensure they are on track. More complicated formulas or analysis is not advisable as will

waste time and resources for marginal gain.

The Quality Metrics are vital to the project success, as meeting client’s acceptance criteria, as well as the benchmarks of pre-implementation quality and timeliness of delivery is essential for stakeholders to accept the deliverables. Security is particularly important as there is a fair amount of PII data at stake.

The EAC has several different ways to estimate. The most accurate, which is bottom’s up estimation, will be the method chosen when the data is provided,

however it is time consuming to have these estimates derived, so it is recommended to only have this done at the mid-way point to check against the

estimations derived using the other methods and re-level the project if or as necessary.

Part B2: Discuss the project’s current status based on these metrics.

The project start date was adjusted to 1/1/15 due to 1/2/15 falling on a weekend, then 123 workdays added to this date for a project end date of 6/26/2015 as the baseline.

The status date of the partial status report provided, is 76 days into the project, which falls on Tuesday April 21st. The measurements below provide insight into

the project performance up to and including 76 days in, at week 14 at April 16th, where data was collected from the project leadership reports and metrics extrapolated herein.

Percentage Complete

The table below shows the roll-up data from the lead reports for their respective areas as per the partial status report produced for analysis. As shown, the

project shows a completed 69% (which is the % of Work completed plus hours remaining) of total work to date.

Task # Task Work % Completed Hours Remaining

1 Computer Inventory and Reqs 375.95 100 0

7 Technical Support 197.33 81 37 11 Computing Support 258 74 66

15 Document Servers 356 68 114 21 Shared Drives 351.2 65 122

27 FTP Sites 321.67 37 391

47 Firewalls 417.6 23 320 52 Web-based meetings 430 60 170



Totals All 2707.75 69% 1220

To check this for accuracy, the leads reports were entered into a table and the totals compared.

Tasks Work Table

Task # Task Name Critical? Work

Completed

Remaining

Work Total Work

Baseline

Finish

Actual

Finish Completed?

2 Inventory computers in use by new telecommuters yes 151.60 0.00 151.60 29-Jan 29-Jan yes

3 Determine requirements to use current computers yes 72.00 0.00 72.00 19-Feb 19-Feb yes

4 Identify computers for upgrade yes 72.00 0.00 72.00 26-Feb 5-Mar

yes

5 Determine requirements for technology yes 48.80 0.00 48.80 5-Mar 12-Mar yes

6 Report outcomes for inventory and requirements yes 31.55 0.00 31.55 12-Mar 12-Mar yes

8 Determine technical support needed no 104.00 0.00 104.00 9-Apr 2-Apr yes

9 Identify staff requirements tech support no 53.33 0.00 53.33 9-Apr 9-Apr yes

10 Report technical support needs and staff reqs no 3.33 36.67 40.00 30-Apr NA no

12 Identify required computer support relative to inventory no 152.00 0.00 152.00 5-Mar 2-Apr yes

13 Identify staff requirements no 40.00 26.00 66.00 30-Apr NA no

14 Report of computer support needs and staff reqs no 0.00 40.00 40.00 30-Apr NA no

16 Determine server management requirements no 114.00 0.00 114.00 9-Apr 26-Mar yes

17 Determine server requirements and locations no 48.00 0.00 48.00 16-Apr 2-Apr yes

18 Install document servers no 80.00 14.00 94.00 30-Apr NA no

19 Test document server connections no 0.00 60.00 60.00 7-May NA no

20 Implement document servers no 0.00 40.00 40.00 14-May NA no

22 Determine shared drive management requirements no 48.00 0.00 48.00 5-Mar 19-Mar yes

23 Determine shared drive requirements and locations no 67.20 0.00 67.20 2-Apr 2-Apr yes

24 Install shared drives no 96.00 0.00 96.00 9-Apr 9-Apr yes

25 Test shared drive connections no 17.60 82.40 100.00 7-May NA no

26 Implement shared drives no 0.00 40.00 40.00 14-May NA no

28 Determine location of FTP Services yes 68.00 0.00 68.00 5-Mar 26-Mar yes

29 Disable Anonymous Access yes 44.00 0.00 44.00 2-Apr 9-Apr yes

30 Enable Logging yes 47.00 0.00 47.00 9-Apr 9-Apr yes

32 Set permissions no 14.67 0.00 14.67 30-Apr 9-Apr yes

33 Set log-on time restrictions no 8.00 12.00 20.00 11-Jun NA no

34 Limit log-on attempts no 0.00 20.00 20.00 4-Jun NA no



35 Enable account lockout no 0.00 20.00 20.00 18-Jun NA no

36 Limit IP address range access no 0.00 20.00 20.00 18-Jun NA no

37 Audit log-on attempts no 0.00 20.00 20.00 11-Jun NA no

38 Set strong password requirement no 0.00 12.00 12.00 14-May NA no

40 Determine settings for each user yes 18.00 18.00 36.00 16-Apr NA no

41 Configure settings for each user yes 0.00 60.00 60.00 30-Apr NA no

43 Identify quotas for each disk no 31.20 4.80 36.00 16-Apr NA no

44 Identify quotas for each user no 0.00 36.00 36.00 30-Apr NA no

45 Test connections yes 0.00 128.00 128.00 14-May NA no

46 Implement FTP sites yes 0.00 40.00 40.00 21-May NA no

48 Determine protocols no 73.60 0.00 73.60 9-Apr 9-Apr yes

49 Implement selected protocols no 24.00 0.00 24.00 9-Apr 9-Apr yes

50 Test vulnerabilities yes 0.00 160.00 160.00 28-May NA no

51 Finalize filters and monitoring systems yes 0.00 160.00 160.00 25-Jun NA no

53 Test and evaluate web-based meetings with pilot group no

260.00 0.00 260.00 19-Mar 9-Apr

yes

54 Develop software updates for computers no 0.00 0.00 0.00 30-Apr NA No

55 Test web-based meetings with larger group no 0.00 160.00 160.00 7-May NA No

The result is a difference of 10 hours of work incorrectly reported. The corrected percentage complete for the project is 59% completed based on the leads data.

Earned Value Method (EVM):

Planned Value (Labor)

Planned value follows for each week through the project end date of 6/26/15.

Week Date PV Cumulative PV

1 8-Jan $0.00 $0.00

2 15-Jan $0.00 $0.00

3 22-Jan $0.00 $0.00

4 29-Jan $10,150.00 $10,150.00

5 5-Feb $0.00 $10,150.00

6 12-Feb $0.00 $10,150.00

7 19-Feb $4,500.00 $14,650.00



8 26-Feb $3,000.00 $17,650.00

9 5-Mar $18,290.00 $35,940.00

10 12-Mar $2,971.43 $38,911.43

11 19-Mar $5,400.00 $44,311.43

12 26-Mar $0.00 $44,311.43

13 2-Apr $4,680.00 $48,991.43

14 9-Apr $30,554.00 $79,545.43

15 16-Apr $7,600.00 $87,145.43

16 23-Apr $0.00 $87,145.43

17 30-Apr $25,764.00 $112,909.43

18 7-May $11,420.00 $124,329.43

19 14-May $15,200.00 $139,529.43

20 21-May $2,800.00 $142,329.43

21 28-May $12,000.00 $154,329.43

22 4-Jun $1,400.00 $155,729.43

23 11-Jun $2,800.00 $158,529.43

24 18-Jun $2,800.00 $161,329.43

25 25-Jun $12,000.00 $173,329.43

26 30-Jun $0.00 $173,329.43

$173,329 plus the budget for systems of $73,671 give approximate Cumulative PV of $247K

Earned Value (Labor)

Calculated using two separate methods in order to assess accuracy.

Method 1: Sum of Completed PV EV = Sum of all completed PV (table below in the Cost Performance Measurements chart following) = $83,505.43

Method 2: Percentage Complete x Budget

EV = 59% x EAC = approx. $103,374.94, or $19,870 more than method 1. A possible reason is the partial credit that is given to incomplete work packages in Method 2, over Method 1.

An average of the 2 methods give Cumulative EV of $93,440.



Project Efficiency with Cost Performance Measurements

The following chart shows cost performance using CV, extrapolated CPI and associated trend-line. The data exposes a risk that the project will come in over-budget, as CV is growing over time and is currently approximately $17K. Also the CPI is very low at .83 and shows a significant trend-line downward.

Further, the data exposes that approximate $10K of CV is added to the deficit during week 4/9, when the severe weather impacted web-based testing.



Project Effectiveness with Schedule Performance Measurements

SV suggests the effectiveness started on track, declined significantly February through March, and recently experienced improvement. EV is currently above PV value, indicating we are behind schedule. SPI has also improved in April, however still trending downward., indicating the project could come in behind schedule.



Estimate At Close (EAC)

From the CPI and SPI measurements, we can extrapolate the final project end metrics (cost and dates) according to the method 2, which asks the team for

estimates to complete (bottom’s up). The following tables show the baseline, actual and remaining costs and work associated w ith the project, as well as if it is completed or not, variance, and critical path (in red text).

Tasks Costs Table

The following table shows completed labor costs to date, ordered by Task number.

Task # Task Name Total Cost Baseline Cost Actual Cost Remaining Cost Variance Completed?

2 Inventory computers in use by new telecommuters

$10,962.00 $10,150.00 $10,962.00 $0.00 $812.00 Yes

3 Determine requirements to use current computers

$5,400.00 $4,500.00 $5,400.00 $0.00 $900.00 yes

4 Identify computers for upgrade $5,400.00 $3,000.00 $5,400.00 $0.00 $2,400.00

yes

5 Determine requirements for technology

$3,616.00 $4,400.00 $3,616.00 $0.00 ($784.00) yes

6 Report outcomes for inventory and requirements

$2,337.16 $2,971.43 $2,337.16 $0.00 ($634.27) yes

8 Determine technical support needed $6,180.00 $6,900.00 $6,180.00 $0.00 ($720.00) yes

9 Identify staff requirements tech support

$2,900.00 $2,300.00 $2,900.00 $0.00 $600.00 yes

10 Report technical support needs and staff reqs

$2,300.00 $2,300.00 $233.33 $2,066.67 ($2,066.67) no

12 Identify required computer support relative to inventory

$8,040.00 $6,450.00 $8,040.00 $0.00 $1,590.00 yes

13 Identify staff requirements $3,300.00 $2,700.00 $2,325.00 $975.00 ($375.00) no

14 Report of computer support needs and staff reqs

$2,160.00 $2,160.00 $0.00 $2,160.00 ($2,160.00) no

16 Determine server management requirements

$6,132.00 $6,540.00 $6,132.00 $0.00 ($408.00) yes

17 Determine server requirements and locations

$3,072.00 $2,560.00 $3,072.00 $0.00 $512.00 yes

18 Install document servers $5,084.00 $4,004.00 $4,454.00 $630.00 $450.00 no

19 Test document server connections $3,000.00 $3,000.00 $0.00 $3,000.00 ($3,000.00) no

20 Implement document servers $2,860.00 $2,860.00 $0.00 $2,860.00 ($2,860.00) no



22 Determine shared drive management requirements

$252.00 $3,240.00 $252.00 $0.00 ($2,988.00) yes

23 Determine shared drive requirements and locations

$3,628.00 $2,160.00 $3,628.00 $0.00 $1,468.00 yes

24 Install shared drives $5,424.00 $3,864.00 $5,424.00 $0.00 $1,560.00 yes

25 Test shared drive connections $5,719.60 $5,720.00 $1,088.00 $4,631.60 ($4,632.00) no

26 Implement shared drives $2,860.00 $2,860.00 $0.00 $2,860.00 ($2,860.00) no

28 Determine location of FTP Services $1,720.00 $4,200.00 $1,720.00 $0.00 ($2,480.00) yes

29 Disable Anonymous Access $3,040.00 $2,520.00 $3,040.00 $0.00 $520.00 yes

30 Enable Logging $3,280.00 $3,150.00 $3,280.00 $0.00 $130.00 yes

32 Set permissions $1,053.33 $1,400.00 $1,053.33 $0.00 ($346.67) yes

33 Set log-on time restrictions $1,400.00 $1,400.00 $620.00 $780.00 ($780.00) no

34 Limit log-on attempts $1,400.00 $1,400.00 $0.00 $1,400.00 ($1,400.00) no

35 Enable account lockout $1,400.00 $1,400.00 $0.00 $1,400.00 ($1,400.00) no

36 Limit IP address range access $1,400.00 $1,400.00 $0.00 $1,400.00 ($1,400.00) no

37 Audit log-on attempts $1,400.00 $1,400.00 $0.00 $1,400.00 ($1,400.00) no

38 Set strong password requirement $840.00 $840.00 $0.00 $840.00 ($840.00) no

40 Determine settings for each user $2,520.00 $2,520.00 $1,260.00 $1,260.00 ($1,260.00) no

41 Configure settings for each user $4,200.00 $4,200.00 $0.00 $4,200.00 ($4,200.00) no

43 Identify quotas for each disk $2,520.00 $2,520.00 $2,208.00 $312.00 ($312.00) no

44 Identify quotas for each user $2,520.00 $2,520.00 $0.00 $2,520.00 ($2,520.00) no

45 Test connections $8,640.00 $8,640.00 $0.00 $8,640.00 ($8,640.00) no

46 Implement FTP sites $2,800.00 $2,800.00 $0.00 $2,800.00 ($2,800.00) no

48 Determine protocols $5,520.00 $6,000.00 $5,520.00 $0.00 ($480.00) yes

49 Implement selected protocols $1,800.00 $1,800.00 $1,800.00 $0.00 $0.00 yes

50 Test vulnerabilities $12,000.00 $12,000.00 $0.00 $12,000.00 ($12,000.00) no

51 Finalize filters and monitoring systems

$12,000.00 $12,000.00 $0.00 $12,000.00 ($12,000.00) no

53

Test and evaluate web-based meetings with pilot group

$15,300.00 $5,400.00 $15,300.00 $0.00 $9,900.00 yes

54 Develop software updates for computers

$6,480.00 $6,480.00 $0.00 $6,480.00 ($6,480.00) no

55 Test web-based meetings with larger group

$2,700.00 $2,700.00 $0.00 $2,700.00 ($2,700.00) no



Summarizing this data and adding in systems budget we find a cost overrun of at minimum $24,6301 (if desktops are ordered) or $27,431 (for laptops).

-----------------------------

BAC EAC ETC

Labor Costs $173,329.43 $186,560.09 $13,230.66

Systems Costs $73,670.57 $85,070.57 desktops $11,400.00

$87,870.57 laptops $14,200.00

Additional funds needed to close: -$24,630.66 desktops

-$27,430.66 Laptops

Part B3. Analyze three problems that currently exist based on these metrics

Discuss how three problems could affect project implementation and post-project success and how you would mitigate or eliminate each one.

Critical Path resource load balancing

FTP Tasks

Critical path could be positively impacted by 6 days given the approach of load balancing the remaining FTP work using Kendrick (who has availability now that

his tasks are completed). Calculations show anticipated 6 days of CP savings. Since Kendrick is also a relatively inexpensive resource this will also save money in labor costs.

Current metrics from above summary across FTP Tasks:

Resource Cost per hour

Work completed

Cost completed

Work remaining

Cost remaining

Total Labor Cost

Zeke $65.00 153 $9,945.00 245 $15,925.00 $25,870.00

Kendrick $60.00 86 $5,160.00 0 $0.00 $5,160.00

Clemencia $75.00 104 $7,800.00 114 $8,550.00 $16,350.00

Summary $63.23 1788 $111,392.00 1220 $76,516.00 $187,908.00

Hypothetical case to load balance resources across FTP tasks:



Resource Cost per hour

Work completed

Cost completed

Work remaining

Cost remaining

Total Labor Cost

Zeke $65.00 153 $9,945.00 120 $7,800.00 $17,745.00

Kendrick $60.00 86 $5,160.00 120 $7,200.00 $12,360.00

Clemencia $75.00 104 $7,800.00 119 $8,925.00 $16,725.00

Summary $63.23 1788 $111,392.00 1220 $75,966.00 $187,358.00

Method 1 to estimate CP savings of FTP tasks:

CP savings calculated using long-pole estimate of 23 days remaining duration for these tasks, and calculating based on the start date of 4/10 from the status

report, for a savings of 6 days off of current CP estimation.

Method 2 to estimate CP savings of FTP tasks:

Critical path task 40 started 4/10 and is slated to finish by 4/12 as per the most recent status report of 4/21. This could i ndicate the report is out of date, or could

indicate that the deadline was missed, since it also reports as only 50% completed at the time of reporting. The original sch edule for this task was 3/26 to 3/29,

which should take the 2 resources assigned to it 2.25 days to complete, respecting an 8 hour workday (36 hours).

Examination of the next CP task, 41, we find that it hasn’t reported as started, yet should start on 4/17. So we can make an educated guess that the reporting

data is current only through 4/16 at most. Since this falls evenly on a week reporting schedule, this guess is logical. Task 34 reports as not having started as of 4/16, and task 43 reports as being 87% done as of 4/13, both which corroborate that 4/16 is the correct date of reporting.

Assuming therefore that the task met the deadline of 4/12, and that task 41 was able to start on 4/17 as planned, and assuming Kendall assists with the 60 hour

task, the task could finish in 2.5 days, or on 4/22. CP Task 45 can therefore be pulled in to 4/23, and assisted also by Kend rick would pull the 128 hour task in to a

completion date of 5.33 days, rounding up to 6 added to 4/23 gives a completion date of 5/1. This is a 6 day savings over currently planned finish date for task 45

of 5/7. The same applies to task 46, the 40 hour task divided by 3 team members and rounding up, takes 2 days, assuming begins on 5/8 this gives a total overall

end date for FTP tasks of Friday May 10th.

This corroborates method 1 estimation nicely.

Firewall Tasks

For the Firewall CP tasks 50 and 51, starting from May 13th instead of the anticipated 5/21, and adding the duration for these tasks of 160 hours (or 20 days) as a

long-pole estimate, we end June 11th as opposed to June 18th.

It should further be mentioned that this will bring in the free slack of the remaining tasks that were to end on or before CP deadline of 6/18 to a new deadline of June 11th. So for task 55 in Web-based meetings, the late start of 6/14 should be brought in 5 days from June 11th, so to June 4th.



Deliverable Quality and Team Efficiency

Jackson, Marcel and Valene are resource-levelled across tasks within the same time-periods. It is called out that resource leveling accounts for the unusually long

durations of these tasks. If there are problems experienced during any one of these, then other tasks could suffer slip in schedule or loss of quality due to the

increased time to complete. Also, spreading resources across tasks in this manner is disruptive to the teams focused on the tasks, decreasing efficiency,

increasing the communication channels, and ultimately lead to decreased team performance and quality of deliverables.

The recommendation is to have Phoebe, Jackson and focus work on document server tasks, and Ben, Kendrick and Jackson to focus on shared drives, instead of

having the resources spread across all tasks. Valene would still need to work on task 25 since this is her area of specialty . She could reasonably be removed from task 24 however, and this would further mitigate the issue where she would have been testing the system she herself installed (a quality assurance problem).

Marcel can be moved to being supportive with any task in either area as necessary. This will streamline communications, elimi nate unnecessary dependencies,

and simplify the team dynamics. This will all lead to improving the efficiency in delivery of the overall work packages and hopefully improve overall deliverab le quality as a result.

User Adoption

The project charter and scope document fail to mention Acceptance Criteria for web-based meetings that are called out as concerns among the stakeholders.

Firstly, the CFO mentions his greatest concern is to use a web-based tool that charges a per-minute fee, or requires a particular type of phone.

Second, the firewall security concerns noted by the CEO should be called out explicitly in the Acceptance Criteria. There is a current disconnect where the

Charter mentions in the Project Boundaries section that the system shouldn’t be so complex as to be a deterrent for use by th e telecommuters. The CEO clearly

states however the importance of the firewall to be very powerful in order to safeguard the internal systems from attack. The CEO mentions the costs associated

with an insecure firewall cannot be known because the loss of business due to web-presence cannot be assessed but can be assumed to be non-zero. This

criterial around firewall implementation should be re-evaluated and as he mentioned, if the costs put the project objectives and financial budget at risk, possibly moved to the IT budget.

Lastly, Xemba clients have mentioned a concern over the costs and quality of service associated with the change of business model. Specifically one client is concerned about fees changing, and another with loss of ability to have a readily accessible on-site person to perform translations at a moment’s notice.

These are not called out as Acceptance Criteria, however there is a project constraint that says Customer Satisfaction is required, as well that the quality of the

service should offer the same or better service as was completed by in-office translators.

In order to marry the requirements to the Acceptance Criteria of the deliverables, a Business Analyst should perform a comprehensive Business Requirements

Document and lists and prioritizes all of the requirements that our clients have for the service, in order for the adoption of the service post-implementation to be successful. The Acceptance Criteria should be adjusted to account for the reconciliation and signoff on the BRD prior to roll-out of the system.



Procurements Management

The project does not account for the Procurements management, other than stating that the purchases will be done outside the project team. This means that if

anything goes wrong with procurement it will be hard to quickly assess downstream implications from dependent tasks (as happened when the computer

vendor experienced a fire and pushed out their delivery estimate 2 weeks). Also it is harder to monitor and control the risks associated with the process of

procuring equipment and software without having a plan. A detailed Procurement plan should be created and maintained throughout the rest of the project, as

well as added into the schedule when procurements are ordered and procured, when, and what costs are associated with them. Only in this way can the budget for the procurements be tracked and managed properly.

Budget adjustments

As mentioned by the CEO, the Firewall expenses could be removed from the project budget and moved to the IT budget. This woul d get the project back on

track budget-wise and still within the same quality standards. This could save $20,000 in the budget and put the costs back in-line with reasonable project budget range.

Part C: Executive Summary

Prepare an executive summary (suggested length of 2 pages) for the project sponsor that communicates your analysis and recommendations from parts A and B.

Summary:

According to the analysis, the project will come in on or around schedule completion of before July 1st 2015, despite setbacks, but will require resource re-allocation, an additional set of funding of between $4,631 or $7431, and require the Firewall expenses of 20K to move out of the project budget. Additionally, a Business Requirements process as well as Procurements Management plan will need to be completed in order to meet schedule and scope requirements. All of these measures will ensure that Scope and Schedule restrictions are met and that the budget doesn’t continue to experience se t-backs.

Details:

The project experienced major budget issues which adversely impacted the projected BAC. One of these issues was a severe weather pattern that caused the web-based testing to take longer than anticipated due to energy lines being interrupted intermittently during the testing period (approximately 10K). Another was an unforeseen expense for 12 additional computers needed to be upgraded on top of the 35 already allocated for in another budget, which needed to be absorbed in the system budget to accommodate (approximately $12K).



Analyzing the current project data it is projected to take additional funds of $13,230 in labor, and either $11,400 or $14,200 in systems in order to successfully meet the project scope. The total costs including labor and systems are either $24,631 (if desktops are ordered), or $27,431 (if laptops are ordered) on top of original budget. Because the CEO has already said he would support moving the $20,000 in firewall expenses to the IT budget, it is recommended to do this in order to get the project back in-line with reason. This would mean an overrun of just $4,631 (desktops) or $7431 (laptops).

Cost Performance

The project efficiency is decreasing over time as shown by the CPI trend-line in the downward projection.

Completed? Actual Cost Remaining Cost Total Cost Work Completed Remaining Work Total Work

no $12,188.33 $79,315.27 $91,503.60 198.13 1,209.87 1,408.00

yes $95,056.49 $0.00 $95,056.49 1,589.75 0.00 1,589.75

Grand Total $107,244.82 $79,315.27 $186,560.09 1,787.88 1,209.87 2,997.75



Final Project Costs

% complete 59.64%

BAC $173,329.43

EAC $186,560.09

ETC (EAC - BAC) $13,230.66

EV = % complete x BAC $103,374.94



Schedule Performance

The project effectiveness was relatively stable at the start of the project, began to increase at about 2 months in, and has been on the decline. The SPI trend-line indicates effectiveness will continue to slip.

To mitigate this risk, it is advisable to spread the remaining FTP workload across another low-cost resource that has availability (Kendrick is recommended). This will increase the effectiveness of completing the FTP Critical Tasks on time, and actually enable a 6 day time savings.

It is estimated that the project will complete on or before Tuesday, June 18th.



This is at risk however due to not knowing when the 47 computers on order will actually come in. This is due to a fire at the vendor location which has delayed

their ability to ship by 2 weeks. This risk is being mitigated currently by getting bids from other vendors and working with the current vendor on any possible way

to rush the order.

Scope

In order to ensure our customers will accept our revised business model, it is advised to conduct a business requirements gathering process to validate that the

scope and acceptance criteria are sufficient for their needs. There have been concerns expressed about both cost increase as w ell as service decrease that must be mitigated appropriately in order to mitigate the potential loss of business.

Several resources are being reassigned in order to increase effectiveness of team deliverables management and ensure that the project meets deadlines.

Next Steps

The project is currently at 59% completion. The following is a table of incomplete tasks, including if they are critical, how much work remains and the estimated

completion date. It is recommended to not have the project team focus on bottom’s up estimation activities going forward, as this robs them of time spent on

actual project tasks. Moving forward estimations will be made using past and current performance measurements and using trend-line analysis.

Task # Task Name Critical?

Work

Completed

Remaining

Work Total Work Finish

40 Determine settings for each user yes 18.00 18.00 36.00 16-Apr

43 Identify quotas for each disk no 31.20 4.80 36.00 16-Apr

10 Report technical support needs and staff reqs no 3.33 36.67 40.00 30-Apr

13 Identify staff requirements no 40.00 26.00 66.00 30-Apr

14 Report of computer support needs and staff reqs no 0.00 40.00 40.00 30-Apr

18 Install document servers no 80.00 14.00 94.00 30-Apr

41 Configure settings for each user yes 0.00 60.00 60.00 30-Apr

44 Identify quotas for each user no 0.00 36.00 36.00 30-Apr

54 Develop software updates for computers no 0.00 0.00 0.00 30-Apr

19 Test document server connections no 0.00 60.00 60.00 7-May

25 Test shared drive connections no 17.60 82.40 100.00 7-May

55 Test web-based meetings with larger group no 0.00 160.00 160.00 7-May

20 Implement document servers no 0.00 40.00 40.00 14-May

26 Implement shared drives no 0.00 40.00 40.00 14-May

38 Set strong password requirement no 0.00 12.00 12.00 14-May

45 Test connections yes 0.00 128.00 128.00 14-May

46 Implement FTP sites yes 0.00 40.00 40.00 21-May



50 Test vulnerabilities yes 0.00 160.00 160.00 28-May

34 Limit log-on attempts no 0.00 20.00 20.00 4-Jun

33 Set log-on time restrictions no 8.00 12.00 20.00 11-Jun

37 Audit log-on attempts no 0.00 20.00 20.00 11-Jun

35 Enable account lockout no 0.00 20.00 20.00 18-Jun

36 Limit IP address range access no 0.00 20.00 20.00 18-Jun

51 Finalize filters and monitoring systems yes 0.00 160.00 160.00 18-Jun

xemba translations projects - risk analysis, metrics and reporting

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