THE PROJECT SCENARIO:
Suppose you have been assigned as the project manager for a project which your company has recently own through a competitive bidding. The winning bid amount was AUD 5.4 million. The client wants to build a manufacturing plant.
The contract includes the following provisions:
X = 0.5*(first digit of your group number + second digit of your group number + 4), rounded down to the nearest integer
Y = 0.5 *(first digit of your group number + second digit of your group number + 2) rounded up to the nearest integer.
A penalty of AUD 300,000 is applicable if your company fails to meet the deadline.
To provide additional incentive for speedy construction, a bonus of $150,000 will be paid to your company if the project is completed within 40 +X*Y weeks.THE PROJECT TASK RELATIONSHIPS:
After analyzing the project activities and discussing with various supervisors, you have been able to identify the following task relationships:
The project starts with the excavation for the foundations.
The foundation for the building can only be laid once the foundation excavation has been finished.
The rough wall can be placed only after the foundation has been laid.
The placement of roof requires the completion of rough wall works.
The start of the exterior plumbing work is dependent on the completion of rough wall work.
Interior plumbing cannot start until the exterior plumbing is complete.
Exterior siding cannot start until the roof is in place.
The start of exterior painting requires the completion of the exterior siding and the exterior plumbing works.
The electrical work can start once the rough wall is in place.
Wall board can be placed only after the interior plumbing and electrical works are complete.
Flooring and interior painting cannot start until the wallboard work is complete.
Exterior fixtures can be installed only after the completion of the exterior painting work.
Interior fixtures cannot be placed until flooring and interior painting are complete.
Installation of interior fixture makes the project ready for handover.ACTIVITY DURATION AND RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS:
From a more detailed analysis of the project activates, you have been able to estimate the duration, costs and resource requirements associated with various activities related to the project. The information obtained from the detailed analyses is given in Table 1 below:
TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM DETAILED ANALYSIS
Normal conditionCrash condition
IDActivity Description
Duration
CostResource/Duration
week
Cost (AUD)
(Weeks)
(AUD)
(Weeks)
(units)
AExcavate2+X
180, XXXXXXXXXXX280,000
BLay the foundation4 +X
320, XXXXXXXXXXX420,000
CPut up the rough wall10 +X
620, XXXXXXXXXXX860,000
DPut up the roof6 +X
260, XXXXXXXXXXX340,000
EInstall the exterior plumbing4 +X
410, XXXXXXXXXXX570,000
FInstall the interior plumbing5 + X
180, XXXXXXXXXXX260,000
GPut up the exterior siding7 + X
900, XXXXXXXXXXX1020,000
HDo the exterior painting9 + X
200, XXXXXXXXXXX380,000
IDo the electrical work7 + X
210, XXXXXXXXXXX270,000
JPut up the wallboard8 + X
430, XXXXXXXXXXX490,000
KInstall the flooring4 + X
160, XXXXXXXXXXX200,000
LDo the interior painting5 + X
250, XXXXXXXXXXX350,000
MInstall the exterior fixtures2 + X
100, XXXXXXXXXXX200,000
NInstall the interior fixtures6 + X
330, XXXXXXXXXXX510,000
PROJECT TASKS:
Based on the information presented, complete TASKS 1 to TASK 8.
SUBTASKSMARKS
Summarize the task relationships in tabular format2
Draw an Activity-On-Node (AON) Network diagram based on the activity2
relationships
TASK 2 – ANALYSIS OF NETWORK BY CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM) AT NORMAL DURATION OF THE ACTIVITES (8 MARKS)SUBTASKSMARKS
 Identify the various paths through the project network and determine the2
duration of each of the paths through the network
 Determine the Earliest Start (ES) and Earliest Finish (EF) for each of the activities2
 Determine the Latest Start (LS) and Latest Finish (LF) for each of the activities2
 Determine the slack for each of the activities1
 Identify the critical path1
TASK 3 – ANALYSIS OF NETWORK BY CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM) AT FULLY CRASHED DURATION OF THE ACTIVITES (8 MARKS)SUBTASKSMARKS
 Identify the various paths through the project network and determine the2
duration of each of the paths through the network
 Determine the Earliest Start (ES) and Earliest Finish (EF) for each of the activities2
 Determine the Latest Start (LS) and Latest Finish (LF) for each of the activities2
 Determine the slack for each of the activities1
 Identify the critical path1
TASK 4 - CRASHHING OF THE PROJECT (10 MARKS)
SUBTASKSMARKS
 Determine the cost associated with various durations of the project. You6
need to calculate the project cost associated with every week of
reduction from normal condition up to the fully crashed condition.
 Summarize the information in tabular format.2
 Present the analysis output in a cost vs. duration graph.2
TASK 4 -DECISION ON PROJECT DURATION (3 MARKS)
SUBTASKSMARKS
 Analyze and explain whether it would be a sound business decision to try to3
avail the bonus by completing the project within 40 + X*Y weeks.
TASK 6 - RESOURCE ANALYSIS (16 MARKS)
SUBTASKSMARKS
 Prepare resource histogram for the earliest start of all the activities under2
normal condition
 Prepare resource histogram for the latest start of all the activities under2
normal condition
 Level the resources to improve resource utilization and demonstrate the12
improvement by comparing Resource Utilization Factor (RUF) values.
TASK 7 - PROJECT BUDGETING AT NORMAL DURATION OF ACTIVITIES (16 MARKS)
SUBTASKSMARKS
 Prepare a time-phased weekly budget for the project for the earliest start2
of all the activities at normal duration of activities.
 Prepare a time-phased weekly budget for the project for latest start of all the2
activities at normal duration of activities.
 Prepare a time-phased weekly budget for the project for the earliest start2
of all the activities at fully crashed duration of activities.
 Prepare a time-phased weekly budget for all the project activities at the2
latest start of all the activities at fully crashed duration of activities.
 Prepare a time-phased weekly budget for the project under the resource2
levelled condition at normal duration of activities.
 Draw the cumulative project cost vs. time graphs on a single plot under the6
following conditions:
•Earliest start of each of the activities under normal condition
•Latest start of each of the activities under normal condition
•Resource levelled condition under normal condition
•Earliest start of each of the activities under fully crashed condition
TASK 8 – ANALYSIS OF THE PROJECT USING MS PROJECT (10 MARKS)
SUBTASKSMARKS
 Analyze the project both under normal condition and fully crashed condition2
using MS Project and draw project Gantt-Charts highlighting the critical
activities.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PROJECT REPORT
You must prepare a professional quality report based on the completed tasks. In the report, include the following elements:
Signed cover page – every member of the group needs to sign the cover page
Executive summary – an executive summary is a short section that summarizes a longer report in such a way that busy management executives can quickly get a very good level or understanding of the content of the report without having to read the complete report.
Table of content
Introduction – introduce the content of the report. Remember that after reading the introduction section, the reader will develop a clear idea and expectation about the full content of the report.
The problem statement – discuss the project scenario in your own words. Discuss the problem you are solving by completing this project.
After reading this section, the reader will have a clear idea about the issues you are addressing. After the reader finishes reading the report, the reader will verify whether he/she got the solutions to the issues discussed in the problem statement section.
Analyses – discuss the tasks you have completed and present the inputs and outputs for each of the tasks in appropriate format. Create sub-sections based on the tasks.
Conclusions and recommendations – draw meaningful conclusions based on the tasks you have completed. While writing the conclusion and recommendation section, you need to keep in mind that your conclusions and recommendations are going to be used by the management of your company in deciding about the further course of actions. Conclusions are main findings of your analyses and your recommendations should be strongly supported by the conclusions you have drawn.
In the report, you are required to number the pages, figures and tables, and prepare a table of content.OVERALL MARK DISTRIBUTION:
Marks on various allocated to various parts of the report are given in Table 4.
My group number is 75.