INFS6071: Individual Assignment 1, S1-2025

Background

(Assesses: LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4)

Task

Part A: Critical Path Analysis

Description of Requirements: You are employed as a Project Manager at Comarda and have been awarded a contract to develop a new website for Assum Pullum Express, a new fast-food chicken chain opening several stores across New South Wales. The project's scope and work breakdown structure have already been decided upon. Tasks and their contents, durations (unique durations of tasks will be provided to each student in an email), and resource requirements are shown in Table 1. Predecessors of tasks imply which tasks must be conducted before the current task can be started.

a.   Create a network diagram using the activity on node (AON) notation

representing the project, as presented in the unit.                             (3 marks)

•    Identify the Critical Path: Use the table to determine the task sequence that forms the critical path.

•    Calculate Start and Finish Times: For each task, calculate the

earliest start (ES), earliest finish (EF), latest start (LS), and latest finish (LF) times.

•    Calculate Free Slack Time: Determine the slack time for each task.

•    You may use PowerPoint to draw and copy the diagram into your assignment document.

These results will be entered into an 6online quiz’ in Canvas to allow for automated individual marking.

You should not use Microsoft Project or any other project management software for this part ofthe assignment.

b.   In the context of the above project with Assum Pullum Express, explain

possible key challenges in managing projects using its critical path. Please use appropriate references to support your explanation. (2 marks)

Part B: Project Analysis

“The top reason for project failure is the project itself. Wrong

projects are ones that defy conventional business rationale,

creating outputs that either few people want, that add little to no

real value, or that undershoot the desired benefits because they

are so difficult to achieve. In short, they fail in rationale and

objective reasoning. They are sometimes called 6white elephants. 9”

(Wu & Misra, 2023)

Project management is a critical discipline in business. It aims to ensure that projects are within scope, completed on time, within budget, and to the desired quality standards. However, not all projects succeed. Understanding why projects fail is essential for future project managers to learn from past mistakes and improve their skills. This assessment aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and challenges in project management by analysing real-world examples of failed or questionable projects.

Importance of Analysing Failed Projects

•    Learning from Mistakes: Analysing failed projects helps identify common pitfalls and mistakes, providing valuable lessons for future projects.

•    Risk Management: Understanding the risks that led to project failures can improve risk management strategies.

•    Improving Processes: Insights from failed projects can improve project management processes and methodologies.

•    Stakeholder Communication: Failed projects often highlight stakeholder

communication and management issues, offering better lessons on handling these aspects.

•    Innovation and Adaptation: Learning from failures encourages innovation   and adaptation, helping project managers to be more flexible and responsive to changes.

You are to conduct independent research into one of the following projects:

•    Ant Group’s IPO Suspension

•    Apple Lisa

•    Australian Inland Rail Project

•    Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)

•    Boeing 737 Max

•    Google Glass

•    Queensland Health Payroll System

•    Snowy 2.0

•    Sydney Light Rail

•    WeWork IPO

To accomplish this,

1.   Students must select a recent failed project from the list, above, and conduct a detailed analysis; presenting their findings in a report. The report should cover the following aspects:

•    Project Overview: Brief description of the context (country, industry,

markets, company, products/services), the project, its objectives, timeline and key stakeholders.

•    Potential Reasons for Failure: Detailed analysis of the key factors that potentially led to the project's failure. There could be contradictory indicators or varied ideas presented in the literature. These reasons should be linked to the Project Management Performance Domains and Project Principles.

•    Impact: Examination of the impact of the failure on the organisation/government and stakeholders.

•    Lessons Learned and Recommendations: Key lessons can be learned from the project failure. Suggestions for how the project could have been  managed differently to avoid failure.

Notes

1.   Have a proposed project management case study to present to your tutor in your week 6 tutorial.

2.  All requirements about the case under investigation should be addressed

(Support your argument using appropriate references –e.g. news, trade press and academic) – with a maximum of 10 references (referencing is to be in APA7 format).

3.  You may investigate a problem that occurred anywhere in the world, but all

references, including the incident's source of information, must be available in English.

The Deliverable

Total written report: 2,000 ±10% words (excluding in-text references and reference list).

Part A: Critical Path Analysis ≈ 300 words

Part B: Case Study Analysis ≈ 1,700 words

Note: Please prepare a concise response using tables, diagrams,

and charts.

Submission Requirements

Submit your report (Individual Assignment 1) by the due date shown on Canvas. You will find the link to submit the report in the Assignment section of Canvas.

The report should be formatted using A4 paper size, 1.5 line spacing, 2.5cm margins, and a sans-serif font size of at least 12pt (e.g., Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, Aptos) .

Late submissions will be penalised in accordance with the University and Business School Policy as set out in the UoS outline.