Judging the impact of plan changes on project completion

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. A change to the plan pushes the finish date from 12 June to 26 June. Which statement best describes its impact?

A A two-week delay to completion

B No impact, because the project still finished

2. Which is an example of a change affecting the scope of a data solution?

A Changing the font colour of a chart title

B Dropping the dashboard slicer because time ran out

3. A student spends 6 extra hours fixing broken formulas after a data source changed. What kind of impact is this?

A Extra effort

B Features dropped

4. Which judgement about a plan change is better written?

A The change delayed completion by 3 days and removed one chart, so the solution was less effective.

B The change was bad and caused problems.

5. Which question helps you judge the impact of a change on completion?

A How many people liked the new plan layout?

B How far did the finish date move from the original?

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1Finish: planned 12 Sep -> actual 19 Sep		AThe subtraction is the wrong way round. It gives a negative number when the project finishes late.
2Scope: 5 charts planned -> 4 delivered		BThis is a vague judgement with no evidence. It does not mention the delay, dropped features or extra effort.
3A change can add extra effort even if the finish date stays the same, so effort is part of its impact		CEffort: planned 10 h -> actual 16 h (+6 h)
4An effectiveness judgement states the impact and backs it with evidence about delay and dropped features		DChange caused a 3 day delay and dropped the map chart, so the solution was less effective.
5Impact: the change was fine.		EOne feature was dropped, so the scope of the finished solution was reduced.
6Delay = planned finish - actual finish		FThe change caused a 7 day delay to completion, because the finish date moved later.

Definitions

Impact of a change

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

delay = actualFinish _ plannedFinish

=__(D2>C2,"Delayed","On time")

=_______(B2:B9,"Dropped")

=SUM(C2:C9)-___(B2:B9)

IF delay > 5 ____ OUTPUT "High impact on finish date" ENDIF

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A planned, actual = 20, 26

B delay = planned - actual

C print('Delay:', delay)

Question 2

A planned = 20

B actual = 26

C if actual < planned:

D print('Late')

Question 3

A planned = 10

B built = 8

C dropped = planned - built

D pct = dropped / built * 100

E print(pct, '% dropped')

Question 4

A plan_hrs, used_hrs = 40, 55

B extra = used_hrs + plan_hrs

C print('Extra hours:', extra)

Question 5

A delay = 3

B dropped = 0

C if delay < 5 and dropped == 0:

D print('High impact')

Answer Key

Judging the impact of plan changes on project completion

Section A: Quick Questions

A — A two-week delay to completion

B — Dropping the dashboard slicer because time ran out

A — Extra effort

A — The change delayed completion by 3 days and removed one chart, so the solution was less effective.

B — How far did the finish date move from the original?

Section B: Match the Pairs

Finish: planned 12 Sep -> actual 19 Sep → The change caused a 7 day delay to completion, because the finish date moved later.

Scope: 5 charts planned -> 4 delivered → One feature was dropped, so the scope of the finished solution was reduced.

A change can add extra effort even if the finish date stays the same, so effort is part of its impact → Effort: planned 10 h -> actual 16 h (+6 h)

An effectiveness judgement states the impact and backs it with evidence about delay and dropped features → Change caused a 3 day delay and dropped the map chart, so the solution was less effective.

Impact: the change was fine. → This is a vague judgement with no evidence. It does not mention the delay, dropped features or extra effort.

Delay = planned finish - actual finish → The subtraction is the wrong way round. It gives a negative number when the project finishes late.

Section C: Definitions

Impact of a change — How much a change affected the finish date, the scope and the quality of the finished solution, such as delay, dropped features and extra effort.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

delay = actualFinish - plannedFinish

=IF(D2>C2,"Delayed","On time")

=COUNTIF(B2:B9,"Dropped")

=SUM(C2:C9)-SUM(B2:B9)

IF delay > 5 THEN
  OUTPUT "High impact on finish date"
ENDIF

Section E: Spot the Error

B — Delay to completion is the actual finish minus the planned finish. Subtracting the other way round gives a negative number for a late project. It should be delay = actual - planned.

C — A project is late when the actual finish is greater than the planned finish. Using < would report 'Late' for projects that finished early. It should be if actual > planned:.

D — The share of features dropped is measured against the original plan (the planned scope), not against what was built. It should be pct = dropped / planned * 100.

B — Extra effort is the hours actually used minus the hours planned. Adding them gives a meaningless total. It should be extra = used_hrs - plan_hrs.

D — A short delay and no dropped features means the change had a low impact on completion. The judgement should say 'Low impact', not 'High impact'.