Questions and Answers of Project Management Processes Methodologies And Economics

11 For the project described in Exercise 10:a. Generate the time–cost chart.b. What is the shortest completion time for the project, and what bottleneck activities prevent further time reduction?
10 Consider the project information given in Table 17.TABLE 17 Immediate Expected time Normal Expediting cost Minimum time Activity predecessors (weeks) cost ($) per week ($/week) (weeks)A — 3
8 Develop a mathematical programming formulation for the problem of minimizing the total cost of completing the project discussed in Exercise 7. Use a commercial optimization package to find the
7 Consider the time–cost estimates for the product development project in Exercise 19 as given in Table 15. Indirect costs are made up of two components: a fixed cost of $5,000 and a variable cost
6 Given the data shown in Table 14 for the direct costs of the normal and crash durations, find the different minimum cost schedules between the normal and crash points for the project defined in
5 For the project data given in Table 13, assuming an overhead of $350 per period, find the minimum cost schedule.What are the critical activities? How much total slack and free slack exist for the
4 Assume that a continuous time–cost tradeoff exists for each activity, as shown in Fig. 3.Write out the corresponding linear program for minimizing the total project cost, defining all notation
2 Using the data in Exercise 1, assume that the activities can be crashed as shown in Table 12:TABLE 12 Activity Normal time Crash time Cost of crashing per day A 3 2 $1,000 B 4 2 $500 C 3 2 $500 D 2
1 Develop a budget for the project described in Table 11 assuming that the cost of each activity is linearly distributed over its duration.a. Assume an early-start schedule.b. Assume a late-start
14. Discuss the pros and cons of the critical chain and explain under what conditions it might be a good approach to scheduling resources.
13. Read the article by Herroelen and Leus (2001) on the merits and pitfalls of critical chain scheduling. Explain the relationship between the critical chain and the critical path and the
12. When a project leader tries to perform slack management, what difficulties might he or she encounter?
11. Most computer codes that have been developed to solve the crashing problem assume a linear relationship between the time and the cost for an activity. This leads to a linear program. What does
10. Assume that you have crashed a project as much as possible but that the length of the critical path is still not acceptable.What other options are available?
9. Identify two projects for which the top-down budgeting approach would be most appropriate.What advantages does it provide?
8. Develop a flowchart for a computerized project budgeting program. Explain the input and output of each element and the data processing required.
7. Give a detailed example of an activity that can be performed in several modes. Describe each mode, the technology required, and the associated cost.
6. Give an example of a project in which a late-start schedule is used because of budgeting and cash flow considerations.
5. What kind of logic is used in the budgeting process of the federal government?
4. 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
3. Develop a budget for the project “getting an undergraduate degree.” Explain your assumptions and your analysis.
2. Develop a budgeting procedure for a contractor who works on small housing projects.
1. Develop a budgeting procedure for a university. Explain the role of each management level together with its input and output.
13 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
12 Table 7 below gives the results of a critical path analysis; Table 8 lists worker requirements for each of the project’s activities.a. Draw the precedence graph for the project.b. Draw the Gantt
11 Suppose that in Exercise 9.16 personnel requirements are specified for the various activities in projects (a) and (b) as shown in Table 6.a. Draw the early-start Gantt chart for projects (a) and
10 The following data concern an activity that has to be performed as part of a project:Expected duration (days) 10 Standard deviation of the duration 2 Expected labor-days 30 Standard deviation of
9 A second project, identical to the one described in Exercise 5, is planned to start 1 week after the first.That is, the company intends to work on the two projects at the same time.a. Generate the
8 A trapezoid profile is a common shape used to describe labor requirements over time.Assuming that the permanent crew size is equal to the peak requirement, develop a model to calculate the crew
7 T he required labor profile for Exercise 5 is not of constant rate but resembles a symmetric trapezoid, with the peak lasting 1 week. As an example, consider activity G. Because a crew of six must
6 a . Referring to Exercise 5, assume that 10 people are assigned to work on the project until it is finished. In light of the following assumptions, schedule the project and calculate labor
5 The precedence relations and crew size required to complete a project are given in Table 5.For example, activity E, which comes after activity C, requires 10 weeks for its completion by a crew of
4 D evelop a resource plan and a schedule for the project “cleaning and resupplying a passenger plane between flight legs.”Which resource is the bottleneck?
3 Each activity in a project can be performed by two different resource combinations(Table 4). Assume that the usage rate of each resource is constant throughout the duration of each activity. Now
2 Assume that daily resource availability is 2 hours less than the daily resource requirement indicated by the schedule derived in Exercise 1.a. Use two different priority rules to allocate the
1 The following project is performed with a single type of resource (labor), which is assumed to be available in unlimited quantities.The resource usage rate is constant throughout the duration of
12. What difficulties do you foresee in assigning technical personnel such as software engineers to multiple projects?
11. Why is the impact of scheduling and resource allocation generally more significant in multiproject organizations? How do large fluctuations in demand affect the situation?
10. How much does a project manager need to know about a scheduling or resource leveling computer program to use the output intelligently?
9. What are the difficulties involved in leveling a schedule, particularly when the activities consume multiple resources?
8. In the fall of 2002, a coalition force under the auspices of the United States moved massive amounts of equipment, matériel, and troops into the Persian Gulf area in a prelude to the war with
7. Give an example of a bottleneck resource in a project. Under what conditions should this constraint be removed?
6. Modify the flow diagram developed in Question 5 so that it can handle resource allocation problems.
5. Develop a flow diagram for a resource leveling procedure that can be translated into a computer program.What are your objectives, and what are the input, output, and data processing requirements?
4. Select a classification scheme and classify the resource “information” required by a technologically advanced country that is trying to develop a manned space program.
3. Discuss the importance of information as a resource in a technological project. Give an example in which availability of information is a major constraint.
2. Discuss an example of a project that is not subject to resource constraints. Is this project subject to other constraints?
1. Consider a project with which you are familiar and describe it briefly.For each classification scheme discussed in Section 2, classify each resource used in the project.
28 There is uncertainty regarding the duration of activities D and E in the project described in Exercise 27 expressed by the following data:Time (weeks)Activity Optimistic Most likely Pessimistic D
27 Consider the precedence relations given in Table 21.a. Draw an early-start Gantt chart.b. Draw the AON network for this project.c. Draw the AOA network.d. Generate all possible paths for the AOA
26 The project manager did not accept the approach that you proposed in Exercise 25 and suggested the use of a parametric equation to estimate the machine’s capacity.a. Give an example of the type
25 As part of an R&D project, it is required to produce 60 circuit boards using a specific piece of equipment. According to the equipment specification, its design capacity is 0.4 board per hour.
24 Use Eqs. (14) and (15) to recalculate and and answer the same questions as in Exercise 23. Compare the results.
23 A more careful analysis of time estimates for the space module assembly of the preceding exercise is given in Table 20. Note that the “most likely estimates” are identical to the“time
22 Space Module Assembly. An aerospace company has received a contract from NASA for the final assembly of a space module for an upcoming mission.A team of engineers has determined the activities,
21 Criticism of the traditional PERT equations in Section 2.1 for estimating the means and standard deviations of activities has led to the development of alternative formulas by Perry and Greig
20 For the product development project in Exercise 19, consider the detailed time estimates given in Table 18. Note that the time estimates in Exercise 19 are equivalent to modal time estimates in
19 Product Development. Consider the simplified set of activities in Table 17 for the development of a consumer product from initiation through the market test phase.a. Draw the AOA network for this
18 In Exercise 16, suppose that the estimates (a, b,m) are given in Table 16 and that activity times follow a beta distribution. Use the data in the table to calculate the expected activity times,
16 Determine the critical path(s) for projects (a) and (b) in the AOA networks in Fig. 43.
15 For Exercise 14, compute the total slacks and free slacks, and summarize the critical path calculations using the format in Table 5.
14 Thomas Cruise wants to buy a new motorboat and has summarized the associated activities in Table 15. Draw the AOA network model and carry out the critical path computations for him.
13 Caryn Johnson is in charge of relocating (“reconductoring”) 1,700 ft of 13.8-kilovolt overhead primary line as a result of the widening of the road section in which the line is presently
12 Suppose that the project mentioned in Exercise 11 must be finished 2 months before the early finish time. How would you solve this scheduling conflict?
11 Develop a high-level AOA model for the project “designing and building a new house.”
10 Develop a linear program that generates the schedule for the project in Exercise 6.
9 Develop an AON network model for the project in Exercise 6.
8 Develop the AOA network for the project in Exercise 6. Calculate the early time and the late time of each event and the early start, early finish, late start, and late finish of each activity.
7 Develop an early-start and a late-start schedule for the project in Exercise 6 using a Gantt chart. Identify the critical path, and calculate the slack of noncritical activities.
6 Develop a list of activities for the project “designing a new house.” Estimate the duration of each activity, and define the precedence relations among them. How much uncertainty exists in each
5 Develop a linear regression model to estimate the dependent variable “time to type a paper” as a function of two or more independent variables.
4 Use the benchmark job technique to estimate the time required to type a 50-page paper and prepare figures using a computer graphics package.
3 Use the modular technique to estimate the time required to prepare a proposal or business plan for manufacturing a new medical device that analyzes blood enzymes.
2 Estimate the time that it will take you to learn a new computer software package that combines a spreadsheet with statistical analysis. Explain how the estimate was made and what accuracy you think
1 A project is defined by the list of activities in Table 13.TABLE 13 Immediate Duration Activity predecessors (days)A – 3 B – 4 C – 3 D C 2 E B 1 F A 5 G B 2 H B 3 I C 11 J D, E 3 K F,G 1 L K
12. “To maximize the net present value of a project, all cash-generating activities should begin on their early start, whereas all cost-generating activities should begin on their late
11. “To excel in time-based competition, the early-start schedule should always be implemented.”Discuss.
10. Is it possible for a project team to achieve high efficiency without scheduling tasks and activities?Discuss.
9. Compare and list the relative advantages of (a) the Gantt chart, (b) CPM analysis, and(c) the basic PERT approach to scheduling.
8. Discuss a project in which scheduling is not important. Explain why this project is not sensitive to scheduling decisions.
7. How can the LP model in Section 9 be expanded to include resource constraints that might arise as a result of, say, the limited availability of equipment or technical personnel?
6. Identify some projects in which PERT and CPM are inappropriate. Explain.
5. The “finish to start” precedence relation is the most common found in projects. Give some examples in which “start to start,”“end to end,” and “start to finish” precedence
4. What are the major characteristics that must be present in a project to use network techniques?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the five project activity-duration estimation techniques presented in Section 2?
2. If a project, by definition, is something that is not performed on a regular basis, then how can activity times be estimated?
1. What objectives, variables, and constraints should be considered in developing a project schedule?
17 List the pros and cons of concurrent engineering.
16 Explain why configuration management is needed when concurrent engineering is used.
15 Explain the relationship among time-based competition, cost-based competition, and CE.
14 List the major risks of a military operation such as the United States’ effort to oust Saadam Hussein from power in Iraq in 2003. Outline a risk management plan for such projects.
13 Use QFD to analyze the project “developing a new course in project management.”
12 How would the reward system developed in Exercise 11 be different for (a) matrix organization and (b) project organization?
11 Develop a reward system for motivating IPT members to do their jobs more conscientiously and to take on more responsibility.
10 Do the same as in Exercise 9 for the chairman of an academic department.
9 Quality principles are only now being adopted by universities. Develop a plan for the administration in your college for implementing Juran’s approach.
8 Do the same as in Exercise 7 for Crosby’s 14 points.
7 Assume that you are an instructor in either an engineering or a business college. Interpret the meaning of and indicate how you would apply each of Deming’s 14 points to a typical class that you
6 Develop a flow diagram for the data handling and data processing required for CM, including i. definition of files ii. sources of data iii. data processing requirement iv. required output
5 Write a job description for the configuration manager of a project.

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