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Project Management - Review and Discussion Questions | MGT 329, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Production and Operations Management

Idaho State University (ISU)Production and Operations Management

Material Type: Project; Class: OPERATNS AND PRODUCTION MGT; Subject: Management; University: Idaho State University; Term: Unknown 1989;

Typology: Study Guides, Projects, Research

Pre 2010

Uploaded on 09/02/2009

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CHAPTER 3
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Review and Discussion Questions
1. What was the strangest project that you have been involved in? Give examples of the
following as they pertain to the project: the work breakdown structure, tasks, subtasks, and
work package. Were you on the critical path? Did it have a good project manager?
Obviously, the answer will vary. Remember that the project could be in a non-profit environment
as well. School plays, fund-raisers, and social events could all be examples of projects.
2. What are some reasons project scheduling is not done well?
Several problems with project scheduling are discussed at the end of the chapter. The
uncertainties inherent in the activities comprising the network of any project make it necessary to
update the schedule on a regular basis. Maintaining accurate time and cost estimates is often
difficult and frustrating. Managing this evolving process requires a discipline that is not always
available.
3. Discuss the graphic presentations in Exhibit 3.3. Are there any other graphic outputs you
would like to see if you were project manager?
The various graphs and charts presented are typical of the graphical techniques for presenting the
necessary data. Most are adaptable to computer programming. The major requirements in the
graphics package include planned activities related to time, a milestone chart to show major
achievements, a breakdown to show how funds were spent plus a plot of actual completion versus
planned.
4. Which characteristics must a project have for critical path scheduling to be applicable? What
types of projects have been subjected to critical path analysis?
Project characteristics necessary for critical path scheduling to be applicable are:
a. Well-defined jobs whose completion marks the end of the project.
b. The jobs of tasks are independent in that they may be started, stopped, and conducted
separately within a given sequence.
c. The jobs or tasks are ordered in that they must follow each other in a given sequence.
d. An activity once started is allowed to continue without interruption until it is
completed.
A wide variety of projects have used critical path analysis. Some industries that more commonly
use this approach include aerospace, construction, and computer software.
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Review and Discussion Questions

  1. What was the strangest project that you have been involved in? Give examples of the following as they pertain to the project: the work breakdown structure, tasks, subtasks, and work package. Were you on the critical path? Did it have a good project manager? Obviously, the answer will vary. Remember that the project could be in a non-profit environment as well. School plays, fund-raisers, and social events could all be examples of projects.
  2. What are some reasons project scheduling is not done well? Several problems with project scheduling are discussed at the end of the chapter. The uncertainties inherent in the activities comprising the network of any project make it necessary to update the schedule on a regular basis. Maintaining accurate time and cost estimates is often difficult and frustrating. Managing this evolving process requires a discipline that is not always available.
  3. Discuss the graphic presentations in Exhibit 3.3. Are there any other graphic outputs you would like to see if you were project manager? The various graphs and charts presented are typical of the graphical techniques for presenting the necessary data. Most are adaptable to computer programming. The major requirements in the graphics package include planned activities related to time, a milestone chart to show major achievements, a breakdown to show how funds were spent plus a plot of actual completion versus planned.
  4. Which characteristics must a project have for critical path scheduling to be applicable? What types of projects have been subjected to critical path analysis? Project characteristics necessary for critical path scheduling to be applicable are: a. Well-defined jobs whose completion marks the end of the project. b. The jobs of tasks are independent in that they may be started, stopped, and conducted separately within a given sequence. c. The jobs or tasks are ordered in that they must follow each other in a given sequence. d. An activity once started is allowed to continue without interruption until it is completed. A wide variety of projects have used critical path analysis. Some industries that more commonly use this approach include aerospace, construction, and computer software.
  1. What are the underlying assumptions of minimum-cost scheduling? Are they equally realistic? The underlying assumptions of minimum cost scheduling are that it costs money to expedite a project activity and it costs money to sustain or lengthen the completion time of the project. While both assumptions are generally realistic, it often happens that there are little or no out-of- pocket costs associated with sustaining a project. Personnel are often shifted between projects, and in the short run there may be no incentive to compete a project in “normal time.”
  2. “Project control should always focus on the critical path.” Comment. In many project situations, it is not the activities on the critical path which cause problems, but rather noncritical activities, which, for various reasons, become critical. In the context of PERT, it may turn out that the activities on the critical path have small variances associated with them and can be treated as near certain. At the same time, activities off the critical path may have extremely large variances and, in fact, if not closely monitored, may delay the project. Thus, while project control must keep track of critical path activities, it may be more useful to focus on those activities which are not on the critical path but, for one reason or another, have a high degree of uncertainty associated with them. Along these lines, some authors have suggested that the critical path approach should be replaced by a critical activity approach in which simulation is used to estimate which activities are likely to become sources of project delay. These activities, rather than critical path, would become the focus of managerial control. Additionally, the critical path focuses on the time or schedule aspects of the projects. Certain activities could be "critical" because of cost or quality considerations.
  3. Why would subcontractors for a government project want their activities on the critical path? Under what conditions would they try to avoid being on the critical path? A subcontractor might want his activities on the critical path in situations where cost incentives are provided for early project completion. Since the critical path ultimately determines project length, it stands to reason that activities on the path would be the ones that would draw additional funds to expedite completion. A subcontractor might want his activities off the critical path because of some error on his part or because he doesn’t want to be bothered by the close monitoring of progress which often goes with critical path activities.

C ( 8 ) G ( 4 ) F ( 4 ) E ( 7 ) D ( 6 ) B ( 10 ) 5 15 5 13 15 21 13 20 21 13 17 25 21 21 25 17 21 15 21 6 14 5 15 14 A ( 5 ) 0 5 0 5 a. A-B-D-G, 25 weeks, 5+10+6+4. b. Activity Normal Time (NT) Normal Cost (NC) Crash Time (CT) Crash Cost (CC) NT-CT Cost/week to expedite A 5 $7,000 3 $13,000 2 $3, B 10 12,000 7 18,000 3 2, C 8 5,000 7 7,000 1 2, D 6 4,000 5 5,000 1 1, E 7 3,000 6 6,000 1 3, F 4 6,000 3 7,000 1 1, G 4 7,000 3 9,000 1 2, First, reduce D (lowest cost activity on the critical path) by one week. This adds an additional critical path with activities C and E in it. Second, crash activity G by one week. Critical paths remain the same. Third, crash activity A by one week at a cost of $3,000, which is the least expensive.

Project Management Summary of activities crashed: Step Activity Cost to crash Weeks reduced 1 D $1,000 1 2 G 2,000 1 3 A 3,000 1 Total cost $6,

C ( 4 ) G ( 5 ) F ( 4 ) E ( 2 ) D ( 5 ) B ( 2 ) 7 9 7 11 11 16 16 18 20 16 20 25 20 20 25 16 20 11 16 7 11 9 11 18 A ( 7 ) 0 7 0 7 a. A-C-D-F-G. b. 25 weeks, 7+4+5+4+5. c. B, 2weeks; E, 2 weeks. Activity Normal Time (NT) Crash Time (CT) Normal Cost (NC) Crash Cost (CC) NT-CT Cost/week to expedite A 7 6 $7,000 $8,000 1 1, B 2 1 5,000 7,000 1 2, C 4 3 9,000 10,200 1 1, D 5 4 3,000 4,500 1 1, E 2 1 2,000 3,000 1 1, F 4 2 4,000 7,000 2 1, G 5 4 5,000 8,000 1 3,