You work for a company that makes cell phones and have been made project manager for the design of a new cell phone. Your supervisors have already scoped the project, so you have a list showing the work breakdown structure, and this includes major project activities. You must plan the project schedule and calculate project duration. Your boss wants the schedule on his desk tomorrow morning!

You have been given the information in Exhibit 4.13. It includes all the activities required in the project and the duration of each activity. Also, dependencies between the activities have been identified. Remember that the preceding activity must be fully completed before work on the following activity can be started.

Your project is divided into five major subprojects. Subproject "P" involves developing specifications for the new cell phone. Here, decisions related to such things as battery life, size of the phone, and features need to be made. These details are based on how a customer uses the cell phone. These user specifications are redefined in terms that have meaning to the subcontractors that will actually make the new cell phone in subproject "S" supplier specifications. These involve engineering details for how the product will perform.

The individual components that make up the product are the focus of subproject "D." Subproject "I" brings all the components together, and a working prototype is built and tested.

Finally, in subproject "V," suppliers are selected and contracts are negotiated.

Exhibit 4.13: Work Breakdown Structure and Activities for the Cell Phone Design Project

Major Subproject Activity Activity identification Dependency Duration

Product Specifications (P)

Market researchP1__1

Overall product specificationsP2P13

Hardware P3P23

Software P4P33

Supplier specifications (S)

HardwareS1P4 3

SoftwareS2P4 5

Product design (D)

BatteryD1S1 1

DisplayD2S1 1

CameraD3S1 1

Outer CoverD4D1, D2, D33

Product integration (I)

HardwareI1D44

User interfaceI2D23

Software CodingI3I23

Prototype Testing I4I1, I33

Product integration (I)

Supplier SelectionV1S1,S212

Contact negotiationV2I4, V12

Identify slack in the activities not on the project critical path.(Leave no cells blank - be certain to enter "0" wherever required.)

Activity ID Slack

P1

P2

P3

P4

S1

S2

D1

D2

D3

D4

11

12

13

14

V1

V2