Introduction

One final case for you to crack! A small apparel producer, Steel City Gear, needs help, and fast! Their operations expert quit recently to join a rock band, and they were in the middle of two important tasks: a manufacturing floor reorganization project and deciding how to allocate their advertising budget between TV, radio, and online advertisements. The departed operations specialist left some spreadsheets on the office computer relating to the project, but they are unsure how to make best use of the information.

Steel City has provided you with as much information as they have, and it is up to you to determine the best quantitative approach to answering their questions. Steel City has also made it clear that it is crucial that you explain what you are doing in a way such that a group of people unfamiliar with quantitative analysis can understand what you are doing and feel comfortable with the results. If you just provide a numerical answer to their questions, while still helpful, this will not meet their expectations for the project. Be sure to include all calculations, either in the report or as a supplemental Excel file.

Deliverable

Steel City has requested that you answer their questions in the form of a business report in MS Word format (hint: there are several canned report formats in MS word to spice things up a bit). Simply typing in answers to their questions below will be construed as a lack of professionalism. The writing must be free of errors and easy to understand. The exact design of the report is up to you, as long as the report format is used correctly and professionally, and all issues are addressed in an organized and coherent manner. As is your policy, you are to include any equations, calculations, and Excel files that you have used to be completely transparent. Any graphs or diagrams should be included in the body of the report and labeled properly.

THE CASE

The operations manager left the following files on the computer:

Activity	Immediate Predecessors	Optimistic (weeks)	Most Likely (weeks)	Pessimistic (Weeks)
A	---	4	7	11
B	--	5	9	16
C	A	6	10	15
D	A,B	8	11	14
E	C	8	12	20
F	C	12	16	20
G	D, F	3	5	7
H	E	5	9	10
I	H	6	8	12
J	G, I	1	2	3
Marketing Cost/Effectiveness Report from Ad Agency
Type of Advertisement	Exposure Level	New Customers per Ad	Cost per Ad
TV	2	8,000	20,000
TV1	1	3,000	20,000
Radio	2	4,000	6,000
Radio2	1	2,400	6,000
Online	2	2,000	2,000
Online3	1	1,600	2,000
Notes:
1. TV ads lose effective over time, exposure level drop from 2 to 1 after a maximum of 10 ads
2. Radio ads lose effectiveness over time, exposure level drops from 2 to 1 after a maximum of 15 ads
3. Online ads lose effectiveness over time, exposure level drops from 2 to 1 after a maximum of 20 ads

The owner of Steel City has hired you to get these two tasks back on track after the abrupt departure of the manager in charge.Specifically, the owner has two requests:

1. Develop some metrics surrounding the reorganization project. They want to visualize the project map, and better understand the timeline of the project. In particular, the owner is very concerned about the finish date of the project and wants to know the expected completion time and probability the project will be completed in less than 52 weeks (assuming project finish times follow a normal distribution). Be sure to document ALL STEPS needed to reach this probability calculation.
2. The owner wants to maximize total exposure across all types of advertisements (TV, Radio, and Online). How many of each type of ad should be purchased? How many potential customers will be reached? What is the effect of decreasing the advertising budget by 20%?You must document each step you take to solve the problem! The following guidelines must be followed when selecting the type of ads:
   1. The total advertising budget is $558,000
   2. Total exposure must be at least 200,000 customers
   3. Radio ads must be more numerous than TV ads. Use at least twice as many radio as TV ads
   4. TV ads are limited. Use no more 20 TV ads.
   5. The amount spent on TV ads should be at least $280,000
   6. The amount spent on radio ads should be less than $198,000
   7. The amount spent on online ads should be at least $60,000

Introduction

One final case for you to crack! A small apparel producer, Steel City Gear, needs help, and fast! Their operations expert quit recently to join a rock band, and they were in the middle of two important tasks: a manufacturing floor reorganization project and deciding how to allocate their advertising budget between TV, radio, and online advertisements. The departed operations specialist left some spreadsheets on the office computer relating to the project, but they are unsure how to make best use of the information.

Steel City has provided you with as much information as they have, and it is up to you to determine the best quantitative approach to answering their questions. Steel City has also made it clear that it is crucial that you explain what you are doing in a way such that a group of people unfamiliar with quantitative analysis can understand what you are doing and feel comfortable with the results. If you just provide a numerical answer to their questions, while still helpful, this will not meet their expectations for the project. Be sure to include all calculations, either in the report or as a supplemental Excel file.

Deliverable

Steel City has requested that you answer their questions in the form of a business report in MS Word format (hint: there are several canned report formats in MS word to spice things up a bit). Simply typing in answers to their questions below will be construed as a lack of professionalism. The writing must be free of errors and easy to understand. The exact design of the report is up to you, as long as the report format is used correctly and professionally, and all issues are addressed in an organized and coherent manner. As is your policy, you are to include any equations, calculations, and Excel files that you have used to be completely transparent. Any graphs or diagrams should be included in the body of the report and labeled properly.

THE CASE

The operations manager left the following files on the computer:

Activity	Immediate Predecessors	Optimistic (weeks)	Most Likely (weeks)	Pessimistic (Weeks)
A	---	4	7	11
B	--	5	9	16
C	A	6	10	15
D	A,B	8	11	14
E	C	8	12	20
F	C	12	16	20
G	D, F	3	5	7
H	E	5	9	10
I	H	6	8	12
J	G, I	1	2	3
Marketing Cost/Effectiveness Report from Ad Agency
Type of Advertisement	Exposure Level	New Customers per Ad	Cost per Ad
TV	2	8,000	20,000
TV1	1	3,000	20,000
Radio	2	4,000	6,000
Radio2	1	2,400	6,000
Online	2	2,000	2,000
Online3	1	1,600	2,000
Notes:
1. TV ads lose effective over time, exposure level drop from 2 to 1 after a maximum of 10 ads
2. Radio ads lose effectiveness over time, exposure level drops from 2 to 1 after a maximum of 15 ads
3. Online ads lose effectiveness over time, exposure level drops from 2 to 1 after a maximum of 20 ads

The owner of Steel City has hired you to get these two tasks back on track after the abrupt departure of the manager in charge.Specifically, the owner has two requests:

1. Develop some metrics surrounding the reorganization project. They want to visualize the project map, and better understand the timeline of the project. In particular, the owner is very concerned about the finish date of the project and wants to know the expected completion time and probability the project will be completed in less than 52 weeks (assuming project finish times follow a normal distribution). Be sure to document ALL STEPS needed to reach this probability calculation.
2. The owner wants to maximize total exposure across all types of advertisements (TV, Radio, and Online). How many of each type of ad should be purchased? How many potential customers will be reached? What is the effect of decreasing the advertising budget by 20%?You must document each step you take to solve the problem! The following guidelines must be followed when selecting the type of ads:
   1. The total advertising budget is $558,000
   2. Total exposure must be at least 200,000 customers
   3. Radio ads must be more numerous than TV ads. Use at least twice as many radio as TV ads
   4. TV ads are limited. Use no more 20 TV ads.
   5. The amount spent on TV ads should be at least $280,000
   6. The amount spent on radio ads should be less than $198,000
   7. The amount spent on online ads should be at least $60,000

This is all the data you need