Personal Trainer, Inc. owns and operates fitness centers in a dozen Midwestern cities. The centers have done well, and the company is planning an international expansion by opening a new “supercenter” in the Toronto area. Personal Trainer’s president, Cassia Umi, hired an IT consultant, Susan Park, to help develop an information system for the new facility. During the project, Susan will work closely with Gray Lewis, who will manage the new operation.

Background

You are enjoying your job as a student intern at Personal Trainer. Last week, Susan asked you to help her plan the new information system project. Susan knows that you have completed several information systems courses at the local college, and that you have studied project management tools and techniques.

Specifically, she wants you to get ready for the next set of systems development tasks, which will be requirements modeling for the new system. Yesterday, Susan called you into her office to discuss the specific tasks she wants you to perform. After meeting with Susan, you sit down and review your notes. She wants you to treat the set of tasks as a project, and to use project management skills to plan the tasks.

Here is what she suggested to you as a work breakdown structure, including the duration she estimated for each task:

• First, you need to meet with fitness center managers at other Personal Trainer locations (10 days). 

• After these meetings, you can conduct a series of interviews (8 days).

• When the interviews are complete, two tasks can begin at the same time: You can review company records (2 days) and observe business operations (7 days).

• When you have reviewed the records and observed business operations, you can analyze the BumbleBee accounting software (3 days) and study a sample of sales and billing transactions (1 day). You are excited about the opportunity to practice your skills, and you start to work on the following list.

Assignments

1. Create a table listing all tasks separately, with their duration.

2. Identify all dependent tasks, and indicate what predecessor tasks are required.

3. Construct a PERT/CPM chart; If you have access to Microsoft Project or other project management software, you can use it to help you create the chart.

4. Determine the overall duration of the project, and identify the critical path.

Figure 3-27

 

TRANSFORMING A TASK LIST: STEP 2 Assign Tasks Programming Program Test System Test D:4 Start: Day 106 ID: 9 Start Day 76 Finish: Day 105 Dur: 30 Start: Day 2 ID: 2 Start: Day 6 ID: 6 Finish: Day 5 Dur: 4 Finish: Day 75 Dur: 70 Finish: Day 130 Dur: 25 Develop Plan User Test Start Day 1 ID: 1 Start: Day 131 ID: 11 Write User Manual Finish: Day 1 Dur: 1 Finish: Day 165 Dur: 26 Start: Day 29 Anish: Day 53 Dur: 25 ID: 7 Obtain Hardware Install Hardware User Training Start: Day 2 ID: 3 Start: Day 19 ID:5 Start: Day 54 ID: 10 Finish: Day 18 Dur: 17 Finish: Day 28 Dur: 10 Convert Fles Finish: Day 73 Dur: 20 Start: Day ID: 8 CRITICAL PATH:1-2-4-6-9-11 Finish: Day 48 Dur: 20