subject:  Strategic Decision Making /Subject: Initiating the Project

Section: 1 /400 words APA format / subject: Initiating the Project

Chapter 7: Scope Planning.

This chapter shows how to determine how large a project will be by defining scope and creating the work breakdown structure (WBS). After completing this chapter, each student should be able to perform the following:

Core Objectives:

1. Describe the planning of      scope management, collecting requirements, and defining scope processes.


2. Create a requirements      traceability matrix, project scope statement, and change request form.


3. Describe a work breakdown      structure (WBS) and its importance to project planning and control.


4. Compare different methods of      developing a WBS.

Chapter 8: Scheduling Projects.

This chapter demonstrates how to construct project schedules. After completing this chapter, each student should be able to perform the following:

Core Objectives:

1. Describe five ways in which a      project’s schedule is limited and how to deal with each.


2. Use the activity on node      (AON) method to develop a project schedule.


3. Identify the critical path      using both the two-pass and enumeration methods, and identify all      float.


4. Depict a project schedule on      a Gantt chart by hand, showing the critical path and all float.

Technical Objectives:

1. Describe how to adjust a      project’s sequence logic using leads, lags, and      alternative dependencies.


2. Build and display the logical      network diagram showing critical path and all float with MS Project 2016.


3. Depict a project schedule on      a Gantt chart using MS Project 2016.

Behavioral Objectives:

1. Describe potential problems      estimating time accurately and how to overcome them. 


2. Resolve potential scheduling      conflicts.

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Section:2/ APA format 300 words /Subject: Initiating the Project

Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 4

Reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Identify what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding. 

Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:

1. The sponsor for a project you      have been managing sends you an email that he would like to make a small      change to the project.  What is your response and why? 


2. A potential client wants you      to be project manager for the construction of a new house, but she is      vague about the details.  List a few questions you could ask her to      gain a better understanding of the scope of the project.


3. Many factors can impact the      accuracy of activity duration estimates. Describe four of the problems      associated with estimating activity durations accurately, and the      techniques you could use as a project manager to overcome them.

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Section:500 words/ APA format /Subject: Initiating the Project

Instructions: Continuing to use the Week 2 Business Case project the exercise this week will require you to complete a scope statement similar to Exhibit 7.4 on page 219 of the textbook. Do not mimic the items provided in the Exhibit; you must identify those specific to your project.

Copy and paste the Business Case you completed on Week 2 into the section below.

Draft a two or three sentence scope description for this project.

Provide six (6) key deliverables that are required to consider the project to have been completed successfully. Then state what the Acceptance Criteria entails to consider these Key Deliverables completed. Deliverables and Acceptance Criteria need to follow SMART criteria. That means that these need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. This exercise only needs to identify six (6) of the potential Deliverables needed in the project. It does not mean to identify six (6) deliverables to complete the whole project. These Deliverables will be utilized to create a future WBS with Activity List. So again, be specific and utilize SMART criteria. 

As an example, if your Project was to build a wooden fence around a field then one of your Key Deliverables would be: Install Fence Posts. The Acceptance Criteria could be: Five-foot fence posts have been installed every eight feet around the field. Posts are properly secured in concrete and plumb. (This could be more specific but this is sufficient for the exercise).

The final step of this section will to be to define and identify Exclusions, Constraints and Assumptions. First, briefly define what these concepts are utilizing material from the weekly reading (textbook) in support of creating your definition. Then identify these items within the scope of your project and explain why these elements have been identified.

Business Case (copy and paste): 

Note:

Title Project Article #2: High Speed Train

City: California

News source (APA reference): Gourney, A. (2018, July 30). A $100 billion train: The future of California or a boondoggle? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/us/california-high-speed-rail.html

Web address: https://hsr.ca.gov/

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Section:4 / 600 words minimum / subject:  Strategic Decision Making 

Reflection and Discussion Week 4

Reflect on what you have read in the textbook in Week 3 and then type a one to two page paper concerning the topics that you believed where worth your reading and understanding.  What was the most valuable thing that you learned and why?

Note : chapters :3-- "The Internal Assessment.(Strategic Management Concepts: A Competitive Advantage Approach, 

Describe the nature and purpose of an external assessment in formulating strategies.

3.2 Identify and discuss 10 external forces that must be examined in formulating strategies: economic, social, cultural, demographic, environmental, political, governmental, legal, technological, and competitive.

3.3 Explain Porter’s Five Forces Model and its relevance in formulating strategies.

)" / 

chapters :4--- The External Assessment" (

Describe the nature and role of an internal assessment in formulating strategies.

4.2 Discuss why organizational culture is so important in formulating strategies.

4.3 Identify the basic functions (activities) that make up management and their relevance in formulating strategies.

4.4 Identify the basic functions of marketing and their relevance in formulating strategies.

4.5 Discuss the nature and role of finance and accounting in formulating strategies.)