(i) Complete the network analysis for the Rail Operations Centre for Scotland project, using the project logic diagram that is provided in Appendix I, based on the Expected Durations' for each task, which can be determined from the task data that is forwarded in Appendix.

(ii) Produce a Linked Barchart that presents a summary of the 'normal' project programme. 

(iii) To the nearest whole day calculate the target duration for the construction of the Rail Operations Centre for Scotland building, allowing for a 95% probability of on time completion. This is the duration that will be agreed with the client for project handover, and will therefore become the contractual obligation that must be met. 

(iv) The tasks 'Install Drainage' and 'Install Piled Foundations' each require the use of 2 Excavators. Upon completing the initial planning phase it has been determined that the Subcontractor responsible for delivering these two tasks has only priced for, and only has access to 2 excavators (in total) for the entire period of their involvement with the project. You must now check the initial plan to determine whether this resource constraint will cause a problem, and if it does, you are required to re-plan the project logic and complete a revised network analysis and linked bar chart that accommodates the resource constraint. You should fully explain the process you follow and if appropriate, be sure to to report the consequence that this resource constraint has upon the overall duration of the project and upon the target duration previously determined. 

(v) Assume that the project is now underway. Some technical problems have been encountered with the installation of the Drainage and the Piled Foundations. As a consequence, the installation of the drainage took 2 days longer than was originally planned and the installation of the Piled Foundations took a 3 days longer to complete than was originally planned. However, despite these delays, the direct costs associated with these tasks did not increase. The construction of the steel frame has now been completed. This went very smoothly and actually took the subcontractor one day less than what was originally planned. Again, the direct costs for this task were unchanged. Transport for Scotland and ScotRail staff have been assured of a specific entry date and this was based on the target duration you determined in part 

(i). The issues that have been encountered so far threaten the accomplishment of this entry date. For each day the project is late the contract stipulates that there will be £20,000 of penalty costs. As Project Manager, you have the responsibility to make sure the remainder of the project is completed optimally. Using the crash data that is presented in Appendix 2, re-plan the remaining tasks in the project, so that the most optimum solution for the remainder of the project is achieved. When 'crashing' tasks to determine the optimum solution, you must assume that it is an

 

Coursework Scenario This coursework requires you to undertake some programming activity and present various completed critical path network analysis, barcharts, costings and a time/ cost optimisation. Please note that the scenario described below is wholly hypothetical! As part of an improvement project for rail transport in Scotland, Transport Scotland and ScotRail have jointly commissioned the construction of a new Rail Operations Centre for Scotland. This will be a relatively straightforward steel framed office building, 3 storeys in height. The design of the building has been completed and the land has been acquired. As Project Manager, you are now responsible for planning the construction phase of the project and for overseeing it's completion (The design phase of the project has been planned separately). At this stage, one of the planners in your team has already completed a Project Logic Evaluation for all of the tasks that have been identified for the construction of the building. This Project Logic Evaluation has now been passed to you for your attention (refer to Appendix I). Additionally, another planner in your team has completed estimations of task durations based on the normal working practices. Unusually, the planner has adopted a PERT strategy and therefore has reported an Optimistic, Most Likely and Pessimistic duration for each of the tasks. These durations, together with the daily costs for the normal methods of operation are included in Appendix 2. The planner has also reported 'crash' durations which could be achieved for some of the tasks in the project if additional resources are deployed on those tasks. These 'crash' durations, together with the total additional costs of the resources necessary to achieve them are also reported in Appendix 2. Materials costs are not included since these are expected to remain the same regardless of how the project is executed. You are now required to perform the planning and scheduling tasks that are described below in Section 3.