PM - 10

Provide responses to the following questions

1. You are providing a review of contractor bids for a component of your upcoming project.  What can be done to determine whether or not a vendor’s bid is reasonable?

Ans: To estimate whether the contractor’s bid is reasonable or not:

· The bid must affirm to all terms and conditions of the contract

· The bid must have a time period associated with it

· The bid must adhere to the legal formatting

· The bid must be fair and transparent

· The contractor is eligible to bid for the contract

2. Describe the conditions for which parametric, analogous and bottom up estimation techniques work best, and provide 2 examples in support of each method.

Ans: The conditions for which parametric, analogous and bottom up estimation techniques work best are:

· Analogous comparison is based on the past performance of the company and works on the history data.

1. A project needs to be undertaken where a similar project has been done in the past

2. A project which requires a high amount of reliance on the past performance of the company

· Parametric technique incorporates both historic as well as mathematical data.

1. From past experience, you know that the system takes 4 days to complete. You employ 3 more servers. So the project completion time reduces to its 25%

2. The project in which the mathematical analysis needs to be conducted on the past data

· Bottom up estimation: Also known as WBS approach, requires breaking a comple problem into simpler units

1. When the project scope is vast and so braking up the process is essential

2. Project requiring the highest level of accuracy

3. Why is a cost management plan important?  How does the plan benefit the project manager?

Ans: Cost management plan is important for keeping a track on the project budget and check for deviations. A project manager can use the cost management plan to address any kind of risks percolating in the project. The expenses of the project can be easily tracked with the help of the cost management plan.

http://www.cvc.nic.in/sites/default/files/3%20Tender%20Stage.pdf

https://4pm.com/2018/02/21/project-estimating-technique-use

Part 2 Budget Estimating (30 points)

Using the same scenario from the previous unit on scheduling, create a time-phased budget for the following project.  Prepare a figure like Exhibit 10.9, CPT 4e, that illustrates the daily and cumulative costs for the resource-leveled project.  

Assume the following hourly rates:

Alcides $45 / hr.

Joan $50 / hr.

 

Activity ID	Activity	Immediate Predecessor	Duration in days	Resource	Work Hours per Day
A	Evaluate freezers		2	Alcides	6
B	Chart temperatures		6	Joan	4
C	Review service record		2	Alcides
D	Consult with HVAC engineer	A, B, C	3	Alcides
E	Develop construction plan	D	10	Joan
F	Complete IC assignment	E	2	Alcides
G	Complete ROI analysis	E	5	Joan
H	Conduct regulatory review	E	4	Joan
I	Obtain construction approval	F, G, H	2	Alcides

Ans: Below is the answer enlarge the image and do the answer in the excel sheet and also make sure you add tables to the table.

3: You are the project manager for a process improvement project for Company XYZ.    Prepare a figure like Exhibit 10.9 that illustrates the weekly and cumulative costs for the resource-leveled project. 

Hint: To accomplish this exercise, you’ll need to create a project schedule in MS Excel (or by hand), create resource assignments, assign costs to each resource, and assign the resources to each task.  Some resource leveling will be required. 

In this project, you have 3 employees: Ann, Becky and Clive.  Each person is limited to the amount of time allocated to your project.  Ann and Becky are available 30 hours/week; Clive is available 20 hours/week.  There hourly rates are: Ann: $60/hour; Becky: $35/hour; and Clive: $50/hour.

 

WBS	Activity	Immediate Predecessor	Estimated Duration in weeks	Resource
1	Process Improvement Project
1.1	Operational definition
1.1.1	Research literature		3	Becky
1.1.2	Identify and define terms	1.1.1	1	Ann
1.1.3	Obtain approval of definition	1.1.2	2	Clive
1.2	Target Selection
1.2.1	Solicit partners for pilot		2	Ann
1.2.2	Hold brainstorming meeting	1.2.1	2	Becky
1.2.3	Identify characteristics of targets	1.2.2, 1.3.1	1	Ann
1.2.4	Obtain approval of partners	1.2.3, 1.1.2, 1.3.4	1	Clive
1.3	Question set
1.3.1	Identify process group members		2	Clive
1.3.2	Develop question set	1.2.3	4	Ann
1.3.3	Prototype and validate question set	1.3.2	3	Becky
1.3.4	Add partners	1.3.1, 1.2.1	3	Becky
1.4	Pilot process
1.4.1	Schedule with target audience	1.2.4	2	Becky
1.4.2	Conduct beta test	1.3.4, 1.2.4	2	Clive
1.4.3	Process feedback from target audience	1.4.2	2	Ann
1.4.4	Conduct pilot	1.4.3	2	Clive
1.4.5	Analyze results	1.4.4	2	Clive

 

Mechanics (10 points)

Part 1 responses should be presented in a question-response format.  Use Arial font with 11 point. There is no word limit.

Your Instructor will use Turn-it-in to ensure your paper is authentic work.  To avoid plagiarism, see the course home page for more information and use the Purdue Online Writing Lab to learn how to paraphrase, summarize and cite the references you use in all academic writing assignments.

Parts 2 and 3 Use MS Excel (MS Project is not acceptable) to create the budget estimate and present it similar to Exhibit 10.9.  Show intermediate steps (schedule, resource schedule assignments, resource-leveled schedule and any other elements needed to create the time-phased budget estimate.

Ans :

WBS	Activity	Immediate Predecessor	Estimated Duration in weeks	Duration In Days	Resource	hours	week hours	Price	StartDate	EndDate	weekly Cost	Cumulatuve Cost
1.1.1	Research literature		3	21	Becky	30	90	35	Sep	22-Sep	3150	3,150
1.1.2	Identify and define terms	1.1.1	1	7	Ann	30	30	60	Sep	29-Sep	1800	4,950
1.1.3	Obtain approval of definition	1.1.2	2	14	Clive	20	40	50	Sep	13-Oct	2000	6,950
1.2.1	Solicit partners for pilot		2	14	Ann	30	60	60	Sep	15-Sep	3600	10,550
1.2.2	Hold brainstorming meeting	1.2.1	2	14	Becky	30	60	35	Sep	29-Sep	2100	12,650
1.2.3	Identify characteristics of targets	1.2.2, 1.3.1	1	7	Ann	30	30	60	Sep	6-Oct	1800	14,450
1.2.4	Obtain approval of partners	1.2.3, 1.1.2, 1.3.4	1	7	Clive	20	20	50	Oct	20-Oct	1000	15,450
1.3.1	Identify process group members		2	14	Clive	20	40	50	Sep	15-Sep	2000	17,450
1.3.2	Develop question set	1.2.3	4	28	Ann	30	120	60	Oct	3-Nov	7200	24,650
1.3.3	Prototype and validate question set	1.3.2	3	21	Becky	30	90	35	Nov	24-Nov	3150	27,800
1.3.4	Add partners	1.3.1, 1.2.1	3	21	Becky	30	90	35	Sep	6-Oct	3150	30,950
1.4.1	Schedule with target audience	1.2.4	2	14	Becky	30	60	35	Oct	3-Nov	2100	33,050
1.4.2	Conduct beta test	1.3.4, 1.2.4	2	14	Clive	20	40	50	Oct	3-Nov	2000	35,050
1.4.3	Process feedback from target audience	1.4.2	2	14	Ann	30	60	60	Nov	17-Nov	3600	38,650
1.4.4	Conduct pilot	1.4.3	2	14	Clive	20	40	50	Nov	1-Dec	2000	40,650
1.4.5	Analyze results	1.4.4	2	14	Clive	20	40	50	Ded	15-Dec	2000	42,650