Based on all the bottom information and the last diagram at the end,

• Did creating the network diagram make it easier to track tasks and relationships? Why or why not?
• Does the methodology help you understand the concepts of slack and how understanding where slack exists can help you manage the schedule?
• What options might you consider if you wanted to speed up the project, and why?
• Does visualizing the schedule using critical path methodology help you decide how to assign staff resources? Why or why not?

Below you'll find several AAI tasks, their dependencies, and their durations. For simplicity, Ive combined some tasks, left out others, and Ive made all the dependencies finish to start. Also, when I estimated the time required to do each task, I used placeholder values and assumed that each task would have only one person assigned to that task. In real life, tasks would not be combined, dependencies would not be all finish-to-start, and project managers might assign more than one person to a task. Dont use this example table to conduct AAIs in real life!

Using Activity on Node (AON) methodology, construct a network and evaluate the critical path for this project. Show the earliest and latest start and finish times, and the critical path. Feel free to work with a small group of students to complete this portion if you prefer. Feel free to check your answers with an on-line tool if you wish. The intent is to help you familiarize yourself with the methodology, and for you to be able to use schedule visualizations to develop and manage project schedules. Post this portion by Wednesday night.

All Appropriate Inquiry Task table

Task ID	Task Description	Predecessor	Duration (weeks)	Deliverable (Y / N)
A	Obtain current and former owners / operators / occupants contact information	None	2	N
B	Conduct owner /operator/ occupant interviews	A	4	N
C	Document interview results	B	2	Y
D	Review and document historical insurance maps and aerial photos	None	3	N
E	Gain access and schedule site walk-throughs	A	2	N
F	Conduct site walk-throughs and document	C, I	2	Y
G	Identify governmental agencies potentially holding environmental records	None	2	N
H	Request access to and schedule review of governmental records	G	1	N
I	Review government records and document record findings	H	3	N
J	Senior staff review/approve historical info work	D	1	Y
K	Senior staff review/approve records review work	I	1	Y
L	Identify data gaps	C, F, J, K	1	N
M	Assess likely presence of contamination, recommend next steps, document	L	1	Y
N	Compile and edit final report, sign off. - Deliverable	M	1	Y

Imagine you work for a small environmental firm with only a few major clients. One of your clients, GreenTown, wishes to purchase some commercial properties and wants your firm to conduct the necessary All Appropriate Inquiry efforts necessary for environmental liability protection. At this stage, youll only be conducting the All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) component: later phases may be necessary to address any environmental issues discovered. Your firm hasnt done AAI work before. While you know that your firm could subcontract the work, the client has asked you to take it on, you want to maintain good relationships with this client, and you believe there will be significant future opportunities to do similar work, so your firm decides to do the work. You have read the EPA fact sheet for AAI (All Appropriate Inquiries Final RuleLinks to an external site.), and you know there is an ANSI standard (Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment ProcessLinks to an external site.), but you have not yet accessed the full standard.

This is my WBS for conducting an AAI on a commercial property, using the EPA fact sheet to guide you on what work components are necessary. Include the work components from the fact sheet and try to go at least three levels deep.

Keep in mind that environmental project managers regularly need to manage projects where theyre not experts in every component they must manage, so they need to develop mechanisms by which they can assure quality work by their technical experts. They also need to understand and plan for situations in which initial work reveals additional tasks or more detail to be addressed.

In your regular meeting with your internal team, you learn that Fernanda, the team member you have tasked with conducting historical records searches, is now two weeks behind schedule. You believe this is due to her meticulous nature. You could assign Sami to assist, as she would benefit from learning new skills, but Fernanda prefers to work alone because she is concerned about the quality of work done by others. You also learn that one of the property owners, Bespoke Urban, has not yet provided access for a site visit nor consented to an interview, even though your client has assured you that all the sellers have been told that they must participate in the AAI process before the sales can occur. The assigned team member explained that this property owner was argumentative when contacted. Just before this meeting, you had received a message from your client (GreenTown) asking to move the project due date earlier by three weeks, but you hadnt had time to contact the client before your regularly scheduled internal meeting.

Critical Path noted in red arrows. The tasks with slacks are as follows: E, D, K, J, H, G, I. I absolutely think this format is awesome and it makes it easier to the see where there is or isn't flexibility in the schedule.

Assuming I had three different employees to start tasks A, D, and G activities, I would reassign task E to an employee that is not currently responsible for a task that is part of the critical path and/or to an employee that has other activities with slack. I would also evaluate some of the non-critical tasks to determine if the step/task is absolutely required or is it a task that is 'nice to have' or do if time permits.

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline WBS \# & TASK DESCRIPTION & OWNER & DEPENDENCIES & & & \\ \hline A & Determine project scope, budget, and timetable with client & \begin{tabular}{l} Engagement \\ Partner \end{tabular} & & & & \\ \hline A.01 & Outline charter and scope & & & & & \\ \hline A.02 & Schedule (ensure time table w/in one year of purchase price) & & A.01 & & & \\ \hline A.03 & Outline budget & & A.01 & & & \\ \hline 1.0 & Conduct interviews with current and prior owners, operators, and occupants & Env. Professional & & & & \\ \hline 1.1 & Obtain contact information of interviewees through government records & & 2 & & & \\ \hline 1.2 & Create survey questions and/or prepare questionnaire & & & & & \\ \hline 1.3 & Conduct interviews & & & & & \\ \hline 2.0 & Review government records (federal, state, tribal, and local) & Research Dept. & & & & \\ \hline 2.1 & \begin{tabular}{l} Research government sites to determine type of records available (e.g., on-line, \\ paper files, etc.) \end{tabular} & & & & & \\ \hline 2.2 & Determine if prior site assessments have been conducted & & & & & \\ \hline 2.3 & If so, determine possible reliance and/or updates to prior assessments & & & & & \\ \hline 3.0 & Review historical sources of information & Research Dept. & & & & \\ \hline 4.0 & Search for environmental cleanup liens & Research Dept. & & & & \\ \hline 4.1 & Research count records / land title records & & & & & \\ \hline 4.2 & Determine if liens against property (Date \& Amount) & & & & & \\ \hline 4.3 & Summarize and determine next steps & & & & & \\ \hline 5.0 & Conduct on-site visual inspections & Env. Professional & & & & \\ \hline 5.1 & Conduct environmental site assessment of primary site/property & & & & & \\ \hline 5.2 & Conduct visual inspection of adjoining properties & & 2.0&3.0 & & & \\ \hline 5.3 & Summarize environmental conditions & & 5.1&5.3 & & & \\ \hline 6.0 & Review FMV of purchase price & Financial Analyst & & & & \\ \hline 6.1 & Hire appraiser to provide comparable bases on location, size, etc. & & & & & \\ \hline 6.2 & Compare purchase price to comps. provided (location, size, etc.) & & & & & \\ \hline 6.3 & Determine if price is reasonable, if not why? & & & & & \\ \hline 7.0 & Create Written Report & Env. Professional & & & & \\ \hline 7.1 & \begin{tabular}{l} Create tracking log of for each department to capture sources, records, and \\ resources utilized \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{l} Completion of 1.0 \\ 6.0 task \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{l} Completion of 1.0 \\ -6.0 task \end{tabular} & & & \\ \hline 7.2 & Draft Outline of Written Report & & & & & \\ \hline 7.3 & Finalize written report & & & & & \\ \hline \end{tabular} \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline WBS \# & TASK DESCRIPTION & OWNER & DEPENDENCIES & & & \\ \hline A & Determine project scope, budget, and timetable with client & \begin{tabular}{l} Engagement \\ Partner \end{tabular} & & & & \\ \hline A.01 & Outline charter and scope & & & & & \\ \hline A.02 & Schedule (ensure time table w/in one year of purchase price) & & A.01 & & & \\ \hline A.03 & Outline budget & & A.01 & & & \\ \hline 1.0 & Conduct interviews with current and prior owners, operators, and occupants & Env. Professional & & & & \\ \hline 1.1 & Obtain contact information of interviewees through government records & & 2 & & & \\ \hline 1.2 & Create survey questions and/or prepare questionnaire & & & & & \\ \hline 1.3 & Conduct interviews & & & & & \\ \hline 2.0 & Review government records (federal, state, tribal, and local) & Research Dept. & & & & \\ \hline 2.1 & \begin{tabular}{l} Research government sites to determine type of records available (e.g., on-line, \\ paper files, etc.) \end{tabular} & & & & & \\ \hline 2.2 & Determine if prior site assessments have been conducted & & & & & \\ \hline 2.3 & If so, determine possible reliance and/or updates to prior assessments & & & & & \\ \hline 3.0 & Review historical sources of information & Research Dept. & & & & \\ \hline 4.0 & Search for environmental cleanup liens & Research Dept. & & & & \\ \hline 4.1 & Research count records / land title records & & & & & \\ \hline 4.2 & Determine if liens against property (Date \& Amount) & & & & & \\ \hline 4.3 & Summarize and determine next steps & & & & & \\ \hline 5.0 & Conduct on-site visual inspections & Env. Professional & & & & \\ \hline 5.1 & Conduct environmental site assessment of primary site/property & & & & & \\ \hline 5.2 & Conduct visual inspection of adjoining properties & & 2.0&3.0 & & & \\ \hline 5.3 & Summarize environmental conditions & & 5.1&5.3 & & & \\ \hline 6.0 & Review FMV of purchase price & Financial Analyst & & & & \\ \hline 6.1 & Hire appraiser to provide comparable bases on location, size, etc. & & & & & \\ \hline 6.2 & Compare purchase price to comps. provided (location, size, etc.) & & & & & \\ \hline 6.3 & Determine if price is reasonable, if not why? & & & & & \\ \hline 7.0 & Create Written Report & Env. Professional & & & & \\ \hline 7.1 & \begin{tabular}{l} Create tracking log of for each department to capture sources, records, and \\ resources utilized \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{l} Completion of 1.0 \\ 6.0 task \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{l} Completion of 1.0 \\ -6.0 task \end{tabular} & & & \\ \hline 7.2 & Draft Outline of Written Report & & & & & \\ \hline 7.3 & Finalize written report & & & & & \\ \hline \end{tabular}