Describe The Main Processes Involved In Project Time Managem ✓ Solved

Describe the main processes involved in project time managem

Describe the main processes involved in project time management in language understandable by high school students, including examples or simple illustrations.

Complete earned value calculations for Project X after 1 month and explain budget and schedule status. Given: PV=8000 SR, AC=20000 SR, RP=50%, duration=1 month.

Describe testing tasks in the software development life cycle (unit, integration, system, user acceptance).

Draw a Gantt chart for a software development project starting 12/06/2019 using these tasks and predecessors: 1 Establish project (4 days); 2 Establish customer requirements (predecessor:1); 3 Produce software specification documents (predecessor:2); 4 Write test plans (predecessor:3); 5 Write code (predecessor:4); 6 Developer testing (predecessor:5); 7 System testing (predecessor:6); 8 Write customer documentation (predecessor:5).

Write a short research project proposal (up to 1500 words) including Abstract (

Paper For Above Instructions

Abstract

This paper explains simple project time-management processes for high-school students, completes earned-value calculations for Project X, describes SDLC testing tasks, presents a Gantt chart for a sample project starting 12/06/2019, and proposes a concise research project plan. Practical examples and clear steps are provided. (47 words)

Introduction

Project management can be made simple. This document translates core time-management processes into plain language, applies earned value analysis to a sample Project X, outlines common software testing tasks, and provides a practical Gantt chart. Finally, a short research proposal shows how to study an educational project-management intervention.

1. Project Time Management Processes (Simple Explanations)

Explain the processes like steps in planning a school event (e.g., a science fair):

• Define Activities: List the important tasks you must do (book hall, design posters, test exhibits). Think of it as writing a shopping list for the event (Sommerville, 2011).
• Sequence Activities: Put tasks in order. Some tasks depend on others (you must book the hall before arranging chairs). Draw arrows between tasks to show order (PMI, 2017).
• Estimate Resources: Decide who and what you need (number of students, teachers, materials). This tells you how many people or tools each task needs (Kerzner, 2013).
• Estimate Durations: Guess how long each task will take (e.g., poster takes 2 days). Use past experience; be realistic and add a little extra time.
• Develop the Schedule: Combine order, durations, and people to create a timeline (a calendar of who does what and when). A Gantt chart is a simple way to show this (Schwalbe, 2015).
• Control the Schedule: Monitor progress and adjust if tasks run late. If the poster team is behind, shift responsibilities or extend time to keep the event on track.

Simple visual: draw boxes for tasks on paper, connect dependent boxes with arrows, and write days above each box. This small “map” helps teams see next steps and avoid waiting.

2. Earned Value Calculations for Project X

Given: Planned Value (PV) = 8,000 SR, Actual Cost (AC) = 20,000 SR, Rate of Performance (RP) = 50% (0.5), Duration = 1 month.

• Earned Value (EV) = PV × RP = 8,000 × 0.5 = 4,000 SR (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016).
• Cost Variance (CV) = EV − AC = 4,000 − 20,000 = −16,000 SR (negative means over budget).
• Schedule Variance (SV) = EV − PV = 4,000 − 8,000 = −4,000 SR (negative means behind schedule).
• Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV / AC = 4,000 / 20,000 = 0.20 (or 20%).
• Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV / PV = 4,000 / 8,000 = 0.50 (or 50%).

Interpretation: The project is both behind schedule (SPI 0.50) and significantly over budget (CPI 0.20). If the budget at completion (BAC) were 16,000 SR, an estimate at completion (EAC) using BAC/CPI gives 16,000 / 0.20 = 80,000 SR, indicating large cost overruns (PMI, 2017). The team should identify causes (inefficient work, scope creep, errors) and take corrective actions: reduce scope, reassign resources, or increase funding (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016).

3. Testing Tasks in the Software Development Life Cycle

Testing is done at multiple stages to find defects early (Myers, 2011):

• Unit Testing: Test small pieces (individual functions or classes). Think of checking one recipe step before cooking the whole dish.
• Integration Testing: After units work, test combined groups (modules talking to each other). This ensures parts work together.
• System Testing: Test the whole product as a single system under expected conditions to ensure the big picture works (Pressman, 2014).
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT): End users verify the software fits their needs before accepting it. This checks business readiness rather than only technical correctness (Sommerville, 2011).

Simple guidance for students: write small tests as you build code, then run combined tests, and finally ask a potential user to try the system and give feedback.

4. Gantt Chart for the Software Development Project (Start 12/06/2019)

Assumed durations (days) are given to produce a clear timeline. Dates use day/month/year.

Note: Tasks 6 and 8 run after code (5) completes; system testing (7) follows developer testing (6). A visual Gantt can be created from this table in spreadsheet software for classroom use.

5. Short Research Project Proposal

Title

Improving High-School Student Outcomes in Small Team IT Projects Through Simple Time-Management Training

Hypothesis

Providing a short, practical time-management training and a simple Gantt-charting exercise will improve on-time delivery and code quality in student IT projects.

Literature Review (brief)

Project management fundamentals and earned-value techniques are established for monitoring progress (PMI, 2017; Kerzner, 2013). Educational interventions that teach planning and simple tools can improve student teamwork and outcomes (Schwalbe, 2015; Wysocki, 2013).

Methods

Design: quasi-experimental classroom study. Two groups of student teams (control and intervention). Intervention: one 90-minute workshop on the six time-management processes and how to build a 1-page Gantt chart. Measures: on-time completion, defect counts in submitted code, and a short teamwork survey. Data collected over one semester and analyzed with t-tests and basic EVM metrics to compare performance (Creswell, 2014).

Expected Findings and Contribution

We expect the intervention group to show higher SPI/CPI proxies (based on planned vs. actual milestones) and fewer defects. This study would contribute practical evidence that simple, hands-on planning skills improve student project outcomes, offering curriculum recommendations for computing courses (Pressman, 2014).

Conclusions and Recommendations

Teach the six time-management steps using concrete school-project examples, apply simple earned-value checks early, perform layered testing during development, and use a small Gantt chart to keep teams aligned. For Project X, corrective action is urgent: investigate root causes, rebalance tasks or resources, and reforecast costs (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016).

References

1. Project Management Institute. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 6th ed. PMI. (PMI, 2017)
2. Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016). Earned Value Project Management, 4th ed. Project Management Institute. (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016)
3. Kerzner, H. (2013). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 11th ed. Wiley. (Kerzner, 2013)
4. Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information Technology Project Management, 8th ed. Cengage Learning. (Schwalbe, 2015)
5. Sommerville, I. (2011). Software Engineering, 9th ed. Pearson. (Sommerville, 2011)
6. Pressman, R. S., & Maxim, B. R. (2014). Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach, 8th ed. McGraw-Hill. (Pressman, 2014)
7. Myers, G. J., Sandler, C., & Badgett, T. (2011). The Art of Software Testing, 3rd ed. Wiley. (Myers et al., 2011)
8. Wysocki, R. K. (2013). Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme, 7th ed. Wiley. (Wysocki, 2013)
9. Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 4th ed. SAGE. (Creswell, 2014)
10. Beck, K., et al. (2001). Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Agile Alliance. (Beck et al., 2001)