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Activit y Description Duration Predecessor

The project aims to develop 30 working models of a handheld medical reference guide called Nightingale to demonstrate at the MedCON trade show on October 25. The initial schedule shows the project will likely miss the deadline. Options to shorten the schedule include crashing certain activities by paying overtime costs up to $100,000, and introducing lags between activities to allow for partial overlap. The assistant project manager must assess if meeting the deadline is possible and recommend schedule changes that consider the impact of crashing activities versus lags, showing the new schedule and critical path. Other implementation factors should also be evaluated.

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Janaka Wijeyesinghe
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571 views

Activit y Description Duration Predecessor

The project aims to develop 30 working models of a handheld medical reference guide called Nightingale to demonstrate at the MedCON trade show on October 25. The initial schedule shows the project will likely miss the deadline. Options to shorten the schedule include crashing certain activities by paying overtime costs up to $100,000, and introducing lags between activities to allow for partial overlap. The assistant project manager must assess if meeting the deadline is possible and recommend schedule changes that consider the impact of crashing activities versus lags, showing the new schedule and critical path. Other implementation factors should also be evaluated.

Uploaded by

Janaka Wijeyesinghe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment 1 Case Study MedCON project

You are the assistant project manager to Rassy Brown, who is in charge of the
Nightingale project. Nightingale was the code name given to the development of
a handheld electronic medical reference guide. Nightingale would be designed
for emergency medical technicians and paramedics who need a quick reference
guide to use in emergency situations.
Rassy and her project team were developing a project plan aimed at producing
30 working models in time for MedCON, the biggest medical equipment trade
show each year. Meeting the MedCON October 25 deadline was critical to
success. All the major medical equipment manufacturers demonstrated and took
orders for new products at MedCON. Rassy had also heard rumours that
competitors were considering developing a similar product, and she knew that
being first to market would have a significant sales advantage. Besides, top
management made funding contingent upon developing a workable plan for
meeting the MedCON deadline.
The project team spent the morning working on the schedule for Nightingale.
They started with the WBS and developed the information for a network, adding
activities when needed. Then the team added the time estimates they had
collected for each activity. Following is the preliminary information for activities
with duration time and predecessors:
Activit
y

Description

Duration

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Architectural decisions
Internal specifications
External specifications
Feature specifications
Voice recognition
Case
Screen
Speaker output jacks
Tape mechanism
Database
Microphone/soundcard
Pager
Barcode reader
Alarm clock
Computer I/O
Review design

17

Price components

18
19
20

15
35
20

21
22
23
24
25
26
27

Integration
Document design
Procure prototype
components
Assemble prototypes
Lab test prototypes
Field test prototypes
Adjust design
Order stock parts
Order custom parts
Assemble first production unit

10
20
20
20
15
2
10

20
21
19,22
23
24
24
25, FS+8 time units
26, FS+13 time units

28
29
30

Test unit
Produce 30 units
Train sales representatives

10
15
10

27
28
29

10
20
18
15
15
4
2
2
2
40
5
4
3
4
5
10
5

Predecessor
None
1
1
1
2,3
2,3
2,3
2,3
2,3
4
4
4
4
4
4
5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,1
4,15
5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,1
4,15
16,17
16
18

Using Microsoft Project 2013 develop the schedule for activities (see Case
Appendix for further instructions)noting late and early times, the critical path,
and estimated completion for the project.
PART A
You need to answer the following:
1 Will the project as planned meet the October 25th deadline?
2 What activities lie on the critical path?
3 How sensitive is this network?
Rassy and the team were concerned with the results of your analysis. They spent
the afternoon brainstorming alternative ways for shortening the project duration.
They rejected outsourcing activities because most of the work was
developmental in nature and could only be done in-house. They considered
altering the scope of the project by eliminating some of the proposed product
features. After much debate, they felt they could not compromise any of the core
features and be successful in the marketplace. They then turned their attention
to accelerating the completion of activities through overtime and adding
additional technical manpower. Rassy had built into her proposal a discretionary
fund of $200,000. She was willing to invest up to half of this fund to accelerate
the project, but wanted to hold onto at least $100,000 to deal with unexpected
problems. After a lengthy discussion, her team concluded that the following
activities could be reduced at the specified cost:

Development of voice recognition system could be reduced from 15 days


to 10 days at a cost of $15,000.
Creation of database could be reduced from 40 days to 35 days at a cost
of $35,000.
Document design could be reduced from 35 days to 30 days at a cost of
$25,000.
External specifications could be reduced from 18 days to 12 days at a cost
of $20,000.
Procure prototype components could be reduced from 20 days to 15 days
at a cost of $30,000.
Order stock parts could be reduced from 15 days to 10 days at a cost of
$20,000.
1
2
3 Ken Clark, a development engineer, pointed out that the network
contained only finish-to-start relationships and that it might be possible
to reduce project duration by creating start-to-start lags. For example,
he said that his people would not have to wait for all of the field tests
to be completed to begin making final adjustments in the design. They
could start making adjustments after the first 15 days of testing. The
project team spent the remainder of the day analyzing how they could
introduce lags into the network to hopefully shorten the project. They
concluded that the following finish-to-start relationships could be
converted into lags:
Document design could begin 5 days after the start of the review design.
Adjust design could begin 15 days after the start of field test prototypes.
Order stock parts could begin 5 days after the start of adjust design.
Order custom parts could begin 5 days after the start of adjust design.
Training sales representatives could begin 5 days after the start of test
unit and completed 5 days after the production of 30 units.

PART B
As the meeting adjourns, Rassy turns to you and tells you to assess the options
presented and try to develop a schedule that will meet the October 25th
deadline. You need to answer the following questions:
1

Is it possible to meet the deadline?

If so, how would you recommend changing the original schedule (Part A)
and why? Assess the relative impact of crashing activities versus
introducing lags to shorten project duration.

What would the new schedule look like?

What other factors should be considered before finalizing the schedule?

Prepare a short word document answering the questions in Part A and


Part B make sure you clearly differentiate the 2 sections. Include a
screen capture of the gantt chart for part A and for part B showing the
critical path each capture needs to be on a single page.
Include a screencast recording of the changes you make to the original
MSP file as you explain your answers to Part B, include yourself in the
recording in the bottom right corner. The Part B recording should be no
longer than 7 minutes and named Part B.mp4. You need to clearly
show the original schedule with duration and critical path. You then
need to show what changes you have made and the new schedule.
Submit your assignment as ONE single MS Word file. You need to insert
the video recording at the appropriate place (use Insert Object menu
item). Make sure your video is no bigger than 20-30 Mb. You may need
to submit the file via a cloud storage provider.
Keep your written answers concise and clear.

CASE APPENDIX: TECHNICAL DETAILS


Create your project schedule and assess your options based on the following
information:
1
2
3
4
5

The project will begin the first working day in January, 2010.
The following holidays are observed: January 1, Memorial Day (last
Monday in May), July 4, Labor Day (first Monday in September),
Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November), December 25 and 26.
If a holiday falls on a Saturday, then Friday will be given as an extra day
off; if it falls on a Sunday, then Monday will be given as a day off.
The project team works Monday through Friday.
If you choose to reduce the duration of any one of the activities
mentioned, then it must be for the specified time and cost (i.e., you
cannot choose to reduce database to 37 days at a reduced cost; you can
only reduce it to 35 days at a cost of $35,000).

You can only spend up to $100,000 to reduce project activities; lags do not
contain any additional costs.

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