UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

SECOND SEMESTER/YEARLY EXAMINATIONS

MAY 2011

PROGRAMME MSc Enterprise System Development and Management

MSc Software Engineering Projects and Management

MODULE NAME Software Project Management

DATE Friday MODULE CODE CSE 6209

06 May 2011

TIME 09:30 – 12:30 Hrs DURATION 3 hours

NO. OF 5 NO. OF QUESTIONS 4

QUESTIONS SET TO BE ATTEMPTED

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

There are 2 Sections in this paper: Section A and Section B.

Section A is Compulsory.

Section B consists of Four (4) questions. Answer any Three (3) questions from Section
B.

Always start a new question on a fresh page.

Total Marks: 100

 SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT – CSE 6209

SECTION A [COMPULSORY]
Question 1 [COMPULSORY]

Case study – ARNET

Read it carefully and then answer the short structured questions that follow:

ARNET is the system that NW Airlines (NWA) uses to keep track of client
reservations and has proven to be a vital part of the airline’s customer relations.
Although it may now seem “outdated”, this legacy system gets the job done the right
way at a reasonable price. Its friendly user interface allows for greater productivity
for the company’s employees, which is necessary because customers expect fast
results when making reservations over the phone.

Background

Lee Chen, a technical specialist, had worked in the Information System (IS)
Department at NW Airlines since 1981. One of the project ideas he and his colleagues
had kicked around for several years was improving the system interface for the sales
agents in the call centers. Changes in the business were making the call center jobs
more complicated, and sales agents were complaining about the old Passenger
Airline Reservation System (PARS). The government had just deregulated the airline
industry, and new marketing initiatives such as frequent flier programs complicated
matters. The average length of calls in the call centers was increasing due to the
complexity of the job and the inflexibility of the information system being used.
There was only one window with no help or menus to assist sales agents in the
reservation process. Sales agents attended special training classes to learn all of the
codes and procedures for using the PARS reservation system. The IS Department did
some research on improving the interface of the reservation system, but no
improvements were ever implemented. At times, the call center job would get very
demanding as more and more people called to obtain flight information, and the
PARS information system provided little flexibility in helping sales agents meet
potential customers’ needs. In 2002, Mary Cooper became the Vice President of
Reservations at NW Airlines. She knew the call centers were losing money, and she
knew their focus on improving service was not working. Mary realized that a major
change was needed in the information systems used by the sales agents. They
needed a system that would help them quickly to give potential customers complete
and accurate information and allow them to book flights directly with NWA. Mary
also knew that several competing airlines had successfully implemented new
reservation systems.

Jon Smith was a marketing manager at NWA in 2003. He knew the company was
having financial problems, and he had heard about Mary’s vision of turning around
the call centers. Jon met with Mary to exchange ideas, and they both decided that Jon
could meet the challenges of being the ARNET Project Manager. To succeed, Jon
knew that he needed strong support from the IS Department. Jon had discussed the
project with the director of Information Services, and she agreed to have her

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department support the project. In May 2003, Jon met with Lee Chen, the senior
member of the IS Department. Lee had a great reputation in the company, and Jon
wanted to solicit his ideas and support for developing the new reservation system.
Lee’s first meeting with Jon was quite an experience. Jon exuded energy as he
explained his overall strategy. He wanted to have a beta version of the new
reservation system (ARNET) done in less than fifteen months—by early August,
2004. A rough estimate for creating a beta version of the system was about $500,000.
Jon asked Lee to take the lead on developing a project plan for the beta system, and
he wanted the plan done in one week.

Lee would be in charge of all of the information services people supporting the
ARNET Beta project, focusing primarily on the hardware, networking and software
integration efforts. His title would be the ARNET IS development team leader. Lee
would also work with Kathy Christenson, a former marketing analyst and the new
ARNET application enhancement team leader, to customize the ARNET software to
meet the sales agents’ needs. ARNET would use off-the-shelf software as much as
possible, but NWA staff would have to do some customization, system software
development and new application development to have the new system work within
their company’s business environment. After completing a prototype system that
would prove the potential benefits of ARNET, Jon would have to convince upper
management to invest over $30 million in a new system involving over 3,000
personal computers. To get initial and continued funding, Jon knew they needed to
prepare convincing documentation for the project, especially since the airline was
not in good financial health. Creating a way to measure the benefits of ARNET was a
key part of his strategy from the start.

Although the budget plans for all 2003 projects were due in September, Jon knew he
could not sit around and wait for formal approval before he got people working on
ARNET. By the time any official funds were approved in December of 2003, Jon had
about twenty people working on the project in various capacities. Several
Information Services staff were redirected from other, lower-priority projects, to help
support ARNET. Other NWA staff in the call centers and other departments
supported the project part-time while maintaining their normal duties. These people
worked on developing the plan for the beta test, researching various software and
hardware options, documenting the work flow of the current reservation process at
that time, recruiting people to work on the project and so on. After funds were
approved and the ARNET Beta project was formally recognized in December of
2003, several people were officially assigned to the project.

Recall that every project is unique and has a definite beginning and a definite end.
Many large information technology projects are also broken down into smaller
projects. ARNET was really a series of three distinct projects—the ARNET Beta or
Prototype project, ARNET 1995, and ARNET 1996. Each project had specific scope,
time, and cost goals. Jon Smith was the project manager for all three ARNET
projects, with Lee Chen as the IS development team leader and Kathy Christenson as
the application enhancement team leader. The ARNET Beta project or prototype
started in May of 2003 and ended in August of 2004. The Beta project involved

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customizing and testing new reservation software and hardware using sixteen
personal computers. The project also involved developing a method for measuring
the true benefits of ARNET before making major financial investments in new
reservations systems. This project cost about $500,000. The ARNET Phase I project,
also called ARNET 2005, was approved by NWA’s finance committee in November
of 2004. This project involved installing personal computers in the call centers in
Baltimore and Tampa and the international portion of the Minneapolis/St. Paul
reservations offices, all found in the USA. It also involved developing ARNET
software for Reservations Sales and Support, the new Iron Range Reservations
Center, and the Sales Action Center. The price of this 2005 project was about $8.3
million in capital costs: computer equipment, facilities, and purchased software. The
total cost estimate for the ARNET 2005 project was about $13 million.

The ARNET Phase II project, also called ARNET 2006, completed the installation of
the new reservations system at six other call centers and provided additional
software development. This project cost another $10.7 million in capital and $20
million total. The total cost of all three ARNET projects was approximately $33.5
million.

ARNET and its upgraded versions have proven to be an essential part of NWA’s
overall IT infrastructure. The system was installed in a total of nine NWA offices
around the globe and is now the primary interface used to access information for
customer reservation services, although upgrades to the software are continuously
made. NWA now refers to the system as ARNET Plus because it utilizes more up-to-
date technology and is even easier to use than before. With the addition of online
reservation requests, the system must be able to store huge amounts of information
and the company must also supply a substantial number of employees. These
employees are needed for processing reservations and keeping track of any other
necessary information. With up to date technology, it is important to keep the sales
agents up to speed as well.

Referring to the case study,

(a) Discuss critically why many projects of this magnitude are unsuccessful in
meeting their deadline.
(b) What was Mary’s role in initiating ARNET? Why did she succeed when other
NWA employees in the IS Department, who had similar ideas years earlier,
did not?
(c) What role did Jon and Lee have in initiating ARNET? Did they make good
decisions? Explain your answer.

(d) Discuss the major differences between the three ARNET projects. What was
the emphasis for each project? How might each be managed differently?

(e) Discuss briefly the project management techniques that can be used to try to
ensure that the project is completed successfully.
[5 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 marks]

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 SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT – CSE 6209

SECTION B

Answer ANY Three (3) questions from this Section.

Question 2

Effective management of the software development process requires effective

measurement of that process and metrics strongly support software project
management activities.

(a) What are software metrics? Critically evaluate how the use of metrics can
affect the quality of a software development project.

(b) Discuss thoroughly on any measurement mechanism which provides

feedback and evaluation, and supports project planning at large. Your answer
must include an example where such mechanism is applied.
[7 + 13 marks]

Question 3

(a) Discuss critically why many IT project cost estimates are inaccurate.

(b) Parametric modelling is one technique for cost estimation. Clearly explain this
technique and critically evaluate its effectiveness.

(c) Depending upon the nature of a software project, list three parametric models
which can be used to estimate the cost involve. Provide short notes for each
one.
[5 + 6 + 9 marks]

Question 4

(a) What is the role of international standards in the implementation of quality in

an IT project? Give examples of relevant international standards and critically
evaluate their use in a medium sized project.

(b) Conflicts between the project team staff often arise during a project. What
techniques can the project manager adopt for dealing with these conflicts if
they threaten the success of the project?

(c) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Wilson Learning Styles Profile
are two methods for determining personality preferences in teams. Critically
evaluate ONE of these methods in detail as a basis for team selection.

[8 + 7 + 5 marks]

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Question 5

Consider the major IT project of implementing a new software system for a national
Department of Education to enable a number of centres located around the country
to enter data into a central database using a secure web site.

(a) What are the processes involved in project procurement management in this
case? Assume that the goods and services for the implementation of the
project are to be sourced from outside the organisation.

(b) Discuss the project risk management processes that can be considered to
minimize the risk of a project of this nature.

(c) Clearly explain the difference between the risks posed by "known unknowns"
and "unknown unknowns" to an IT project.
[9 + 8 + 3 marks]

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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