Charter Financial Bank operates three branches in a south-eastern city. Ray Copper, VicePresident of Information Technology at the bank, has recently been charged by the bank's president to develop a mobile app that can be used on smartphones and tablet computers to promote bank services, to provide access to customer account information, and to allow individuals to apply online for loans and credit cards.
Ray decided to assign this project to Rachel Smith, one of two directors in the information technology group. Since this would be Charter Financial's first mobile app, Ray and Rachel agreed that an appropriate starting point for the project would be for the project team to benchmark existing apps in order to gain a better understanding of the state of the art in this area. At the conclusion of their first meeting, Ray asked Rachel to prepare a rough estimate of how long this project would take and how much it would cost if it were pursued at a normal pace. Nothing that the president appeared particularly anxious to develop the app, Ray also requested that Rachel prepare a time and budget estimate related to developing the app as quickly as possible.
During the first project team meeting, the team identified seven major tasks associated with the project. The first task was to benchmark existing apps. The team estimated that completing this task at normal pace would likely require 10 days at a cost of $15,000. However, the team estimated that this task could be completed in as few as 7 days at a cost of $18,750 if the maximum allowable amount of overtime was used.
Once the benchmark study was completed, a project plan and project definition document would need to be prepared for top management approval. The team estimated that this task could be completed in 5 days at a cost of $3,750 working at a normal pace or in 3 days at a cost of $4,500.
After the project received the approval of top management, the app design could begin. The team estimated that app design would require 15 days at a cost of $45,000 using no overtime or 10 days at a cost of $58,500 using all allowable overtime.
After the app design was complete, three tasks could be carried out simultaneously: (1) developing the server code to support the app, (2) developing and coding the actual app, and (3) developing and coding the app's user interface. The team estimated that developing the server code would require 10 days and cost $9,000 using no overtime, but could be completed in 7 days at a cost of $11,250 using overtime. Likewise, the team estimated that developing and coding the app would require 10 days and cost $15,000 using no overtime or could be reduced by 2 days at a total cost of $19,500. Developing the user interface was to be subcontracted out and would take 7 days at a cost of $8,400. The organization that was to be used to create the user interface does not provide an option for paying more for rush jobs.
Finally, once the code for the server, the code for the app, and the user interface were completed, the entire app would need to be tested and debugged. The team estimated that this would require 3 days at a cost of $4,500. Using overtime, the team estimated that the testing and debugging task could be reduced by a day at a total cost of $6,750.

1-What is the cost of completing this project if no overtime is used?

2- How long will it take to complete the project?

3-What is the shortest amount of time in which the project can be completed?

4-What is the crashing cost of completing the project in the shortest amount of time?

5-Suppose that the benchmarking study actually required 13 days as opposed to the 10 days originally estimated. In other words, this task can no longer be crashed. To keep a normal schedule presented in question 2, what actions would you take to keep the project on a normal schedule at a minimal cost?

6-Suppose the President wanted the website launched in 35 days. What is the crashing cost for achieving the target?