Week 5

Week 5 Project management processes

Chapter 9. Project Scheduling

Chapter 10. Resource Management

Chapter 11. Project Budget

Reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Respond to the following prompts: “What do I feel are the most important aspects of my learning in the chapters this week?” and “What about this learning was really worthy of my time and understanding?” Then explain how important it is in society or business.

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

1. Is it possible for a project team to achieve high efficiency without scheduling tasks and activities? Discuss.

2. Why is the impact of scheduling and resource allocation generally more significant in multiproject organizations? How do large fluctuations in demand affect the situation?

3. Assume that you are in charge of developing your state’s department of transportation budget. Write specific instructions for project managers in your department to facilitate a bottom-up budgeting process.

[Your initial post should be based upon the assigned reading for the week, so the textbook should be a source listed in your reference section and cited within the body of the text. Other sources are not required but feel free to use them if they aid in your discussion].

 [Your initial post should be at least 450+ words and in APA format (including Times New Roman with font size 12 and double spaced). Post the actual body of your paper in the discussion thread then attach a Word version of the paper for APA review]

Text Book - Heerkens, G. (2002). Project Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.

Activity 5

Activity 5

Activity I: Product Development. Consider the simplified set of activities in the Table below for the development of a consumer product from initiation through the market test phase. 

Activity	Symbol	Immediate predecessors	Time estimate (weeks)
Investigate demand	A		3
Develop pricing strategy	B		1
Design product	C		5
Conduct promotional cost analysis	D	A	1
Manufacture prototype models	E	C	6
Perform product cost analysis	F	E	1
Perform final pricing analysis	G	B,D,F	2
Conduct market test	H	G	8

a. Draw the AOA network for this project.

b. Calculate total slacks and free slacks, and interpret their meaning. .

c. Determine the critical path and interpret its meaning.

d. Construct a Gantt chart and mark the latest start times for each activity.

Activity II: A project has 11 activities that can be accomplished either by one person working alone or by several people working together. The activities, precedence constraints, and time estimates are given in Table below. Suppose that you have up to five people who can be assigned on any given day. A person must work full days on each activity, but the number of people working on an activity can vary from day to day.

Activity	Immediate predecessors	Person-days required
A		10
B	A	8
C	A	5
D	B	6
E	D	8
F	C	7
G	E,F	4
H	F	2
I	F	3
J	H,I	3
K	J,G	2

a. Prepare an AOA network diagram, and calculate the critical path, total slacks, and free slacks assuming that one person (independently) is working on each task.

b. Prepare an early-start Gantt chart.

c. Prepare a daily assignment sheet for personnel with the goal of finishing the project in the minimum amount of time.

d. Prepare a daily assignment sheet to “best” balance the workforce assigned to the project.

e. By how many days could the project be compressed if unlimited personnel resources were available?