Bill Edstrom, managing partner at a biomedical consulting firm, has requested your expert advice in devising the best schedule for the following consulting projects, starting at the beginning of the day on February $2.$

DESCRIPTION OF CONSULTATION

CALL RECEIVED

TASK LENGTH COMPANY DATE TIME DUE DATE $($CLOSE

OF BUSINESS$)$

I $3$ days Novartis Corp. February $19$ A$.$M$.$ February $5$

II $1$ day Reardon Biotech Corp. February $110$ A$.$M$.$ February $6$

III $2$ days Vertex Pharmaceuticals February $111$ A$.$M$.$ February $8$

IV $4$ days OSI Pharmaceuticals February $11$ P$.$M$.$ February $7$

The consulting firm charges a flat rate of $$4,000$ per day. All four firms impose fines for lateness. Reardon Biotech charges a $$500-$per$-$day fine for each day that the completion of the consulting work is past the due date; Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, and OSI Pharmaceuticals all charge a fine of $$1,500$ per day for each day late.

Prepare alternative schedules based on the following priority rules: SOT, FCFS$,$ EDD, STR$,$ and another rule$$longest processing time $($LPT$),$ which orders jobs according to longest assigned first, second longest assigned second, and so on$.$ For the sake of simplicity, assume that consulting work is performed seven days a week.

a$.$ Calculate the total costs $($sum of the late fines$)$ for each rule.