Question

A senior manager has finished reviewing the latest draft of an upcoming project. the following table provides information about the project including the normal time for each activity, activity sequence and information about costs to shorten some of the activities and therefore the project duration. As he prepares ro review rhe proposal with the owners he is concerned about the project duration and expects the owners will want the project shortened.

Activity	Precedes	Normal Time. (week)	Crashing	Costs ($000)
			1st Week	2nd Week	3rd Week
Start	A,b	0	-	-	-
a	C	3	11	14	-
b	D	7	15	16	23
c	D	5	12	13	-
d	E,f	6	20	22	25
e	G	4	12	15	-
f	H	5	10	12	-
g	End	4	15	15	-
h	End	4	8	9	-

Suggest why the owners or the project manager may wish to shorten the project.

Draw the appropriate PERT Diagram and identify the critical path and project completion time assuming the project is not shortened.

The project manager thinks the owners may ask him to shorten the project by 4 weeks. Prepare the lowest cost crashing plant that will reduce the project duration by 4 weeks.

If the indirect costs for the project total $18,000 per week, how many weeks would you recommend to the owners that the project be shortened? And Why?

Answer 1

1) The owners may wish to shorten the project to meet deadline set by clients or to reduce the total cost of the project.

2) PERT diagram is following:

3) Shorten the project by 4 weeks

Total crash cost = $ 60,000

4) Minimum cost schedule, given indirect cost of $ 18000 per week, is determined below: