A software company is creating a scheduling plan for a nine-month project,. The company has 30 of its own full-time employees and can assign them to the project. For any shortage of personnel, the company will hire short-term contract employees. Company employees earn $5,500 per month, while short-term contract employees make $8,000/month. Contract employees can be assigned to the project beginning in any month, and their contract period is two months. The number of workers required for the project by month is shown below:

Month	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Required	17	35	62	65	75	78	61	42	28

a) Determine the optimal staffing plan for the project. (25 pts)

b) The project manager is evaluating options to complete the project early so that the company can earn a bonus. He has determined that the project schedule can be compressed into a seven-month schedule, with the same total number of worker-months. In that case, the staffing requirements are as shown below.

	1	2	3	4	5
Required	38	52	135	115	100

Develop an optimal staffing plan for the project under the accelerated schedule. (10 pts)

c) Suppose the bonus for completing the project two months early is $225,000. What would be the net bonus to the company, after adjusting for any difference in personnel costs under the accelerated schedule? (5 pts)

I am not very familiar with staff optimization. So please elaborate as much as possible. A step by step from excel would be greatly appreciated.