SECTION A

Read the article below and answer all the questions in this section.

WATERFALL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Robert Adam, the project manager of Renegade, just received a notification that his project was in an idle stage for four hours due to a specification conflict. The conflict came from the disagreement of how to accomplish one of the project tasks. Dangerously, the disagreement was built around specification deviations, thus delay of the project was likely inevitable. Robert was well aware that his project would make no progress until this issue was resolved. Consequently, if the project did not meet the specifications during the review, it would not progress at all until a correction had been made or modification to the specification document had been approved and recorded. This irritated Robert. So, he called for an emergency meeting with the involved parties.

RENEGADE

Renegade is a health insurance provider in the southeast region. The company has employed the "waterfall" methodology for their software development projects. The waterfall methodology is based on the assumption that projects can be managed better when segmented into a hierarchy of phases, stages, activities, tasks, or steps. The waterfall methodology therefore directs a software development project to progress in an orderly sequence of development steps. This also means concurrent development steps of a project are prohibited.

Renegade has experienced a rapid growth over the years. In just a short five - year span, the numbers of subscribers has increased from two hundred thousand to more than one million subscribers. Management predicts even more growth. This number is only the subscribers, and their dependents are not included in this number. Therefore, the rapid growth of subscribers means extensive data to manage for Renegade. The company has been using Microsoft Access as their data management system. Renegade realizes the limitations of MS Access in managing large amounts of data, now that they have to deal with their aggressive demands. Therefore, an upgrade to more sophisticated data management systems is a must.

After some research, top business managers decided to convert the database management system to Oracle, which should have been able to provide flexibility, ability to manage huge amounts of data, expandability, and referential integrity. To respond to this need, Renegade initiated a project whose purpose was to implement:

Oracle database with proper connectivity to the existing system, and

Safe data transfer from MS Access to Oracle

Project Budget: R 200, 000

Project Duration: 10 weeks

The pharmacy department (PD) was responsible for the project and its cost. The PD selected Robert Adam as the project manager and Leila Rakoba as the business analyst, both of whom were very experienced individuals. Robert was the main person in charge of any problem/issue/concern regarding the project. He was responsible for all aspects of the project, including project schedule, development matrix, budgeting, and issue escalations. Leila was the major point of contact for the user. She was responsible for collecting all the requirements from the users and documenting them in the business requirement document.

QUESTION 1 (40 Marks)

1.1 Robert Adam, the project manager of Renegade is fully aware of the various challenges that can affect the success of his project and thus he is determined to get everything done right. He has therefore requested you as a project management expert to advise him on what project constraints relate to his project and if it is possible to eliminate these? (20 marks)

1.2 With reference to the case study provided, advise Robert Adams on the key factors that he needs to be aware of, which can negatively affect the Waterfall Software Development project. Your response should make reference to relevant examples. (20 marks) SECTION B [60 MARKS] Answer ALL questions in this section

QUESTION 2 (20 Marks)

One of the key issues affecting organisations such as Renegade relates to identifying which projects should be selected. Leila Rakoba a business analyst responsible for project analysis is expected to submit a report to project managers highlighting the factors that need to be considered when selecting projects. In your view critically discuss some of the factors that she should include in her report.

QUESTION 3 (20 Marks)

Using relevant examples, advise a project manager such as Robert Adams on the benefits associated to project risk management.

QUESTION 4 (20 Marks)

The risk management process is a framework for the actions that need to be taken when managing risks, it involves a collective of different steps. A team of project managers have requested you to advise them on which step you consider to be essential in the risk management process. How would you respond to them? You need to provide a justification for your position.

END OF PAPER