Southwestern University (a) Case Analysis

Critical path analysis identifies the most efficient and cost effective way of completing a complex project. The various activities which together will make up the project are identified, and the order of these activities are identified. Then, the duration of each activity is estimated and these factors are then arranged as a network or graph, showing the whole project from start to finish, and showing which tasks can happen at the same time. The sequence of tasks which have to be done one after another with no gaps in between is called the Critical Path.

Remember the old saying, "A project plan is not a schedule until resources are committed." This exercise illustrates this subtle, but very important, difference.

3. What is (are) the critical path(s) in the project? What is the level of risk in completing tasks on the critical path(s)? Explain.

It is more on the not efficient side since it is lower than 1.0, but it is close enough to 1.0 that it is not very inefficient.

(F) at the end of the semester, if the requirements (i.e., submitting the assignment) are not satisfied.

(b) Which activities should be crashed to meet a project deadline of 12 days at minimum cost?

Southwestern University: F The recent success of Southwestern University’s football program is causing SWU’s president, Joel Wisner, more problems than he faced during the team’s losing era in the early 1990s. For one thing, increasing game-day attendance is squeezing the town of Stephenville, Texas and the campus. Complaints are arising over parking, seating, concession prices, and even a shortage of programs at some games. Dr. Wisner, once again, turns to his stadium manager, Hank Maddux. This time, he needs a guaranteed revenue stream to help fuel the stadium expansion. One source of income could easily be the high-profit game programs. Selling for $6 each, programs are a tricky business. Under substantial pressure from

Critical Path: The sequence of activities that represents the longest path through a project, which determines the shortest possible duration.

Set an ambitious but not overly optimistic target completion date, according to resources invested and management’s targets. In case of delays, readjust target completion date.

Problem 12 (page 82) Table 2.5 on page 82 contains information about an environmental clean-up project. Shorten the project three weeks by finding the minimum-cost schedule. Assume that project indirect costs and penalty consts are negligible. Identify activities to crash while minimizing the additional crash costs. Solution: AON Diagram for the environmental project:

Deal with a single party only. Since this project have to complete in a short period, it could be more efficient if only one party involve in this project. The project that only involves a single party can avoid communication problems between parties and the overruns of the project.

Before deciding which activities should be crashed, Bjorn and his team first need to have a clear understanding of the project's priorities. To do this the team has first defined the project's scope and decided to develop a project priority matrix.

Initial projections show that the current schedule will take 50 weeks to finish with a final budget estimate of $3.152 million. Although the project estimate comes in under budget, the time frame for completion extends beyond the acceptable 45 weeks. Before deciding which activities should be crashed, Bjorn and his team first need to have a clear understanding of the project’s priorities. To do this the team has first defined the project’s scope and decided to develop a project priority matrix. Defining the project scope sets the stage for developing a plan and its primary purpose is to define as clearly as possible the deliverables and to focus project plans (Gray & Larson, 2005).

From Figure 1, we know that the critical path is Activity 1-2-5-7-10-13-15. It is because if there is any change of time in the Activities on the critical path, the whole progress time of the project will change. Therefore, we choose to crash the activities on the critical path with the lowest crash cost in order to lower the time used with minimum additional cost. Activity 7 has the lowest crash cost within the Activities on the critical path. So, we choose to crash Activity 7 first.

Having 3 days of delay in electrical can affect the whole project. Therefore, the negotiation of 15 working days would exceed up to 18 days, which could cause the penalty of $300 ($100 per extra day). In order to minimise a project’s critical path, sequencing of tasks should be changed. On the off chance that one can do a project’s tasks in alternate grouping to that initially proposed, one might have the capacity to shorten the critical path. A level of intricacy by striving for shortening the critical path, which is primarily hazardous, is unavoidably acquainted with the task. (Aydar, 2014) With a specific end goal to convey this shorter timescale, the critical path should be controlled