Xyzzy is a medium sized company that develops and manufactures industrial controllers. You are an employee of Xyzzy and work as project manager in the product development department. The company has been approached to develop a new industrial controller for a local manufacturer (ABC). You have been developed the following WBS and estimates for the durations of the tasks after consultation with the members of your project team.
Note that the following abbreviations are used in the table:
• Analyst/Designer (AD)
• Software Engineer (SE)
• Production Engineer (PE)
• Purchase Officer (PO)
• Technical Writer (TW)
1.0 new industrial controller ABC
1.1 hardware
1.1.1 hardware specifications 9 person-weeks of PE and AD1.3.1
1.1.2 hardware design 4 person-weeks of PE and AD 1.1.1
1.1.3 approvals 2 weeks to wait for approval 1.1.2
1.1.4 order hardware components 1 person-day of PO 1.1.3
1.1.5 delivery of components 8 wks to wait for delivery 1.1.4
1.1.6 assemble prototype 3 person-weeks of PE 1.1.5
1.1.7 assemble final system 3 person-weeks of PE 1.3.3
1.2 software
1.2.1 operating system
1.2.1.1 kernel specifications 6 person-weeks of AD 1.3.1
1.2.1.2 drivers 15 person-weeks of SE 1.2.1.1
1.2.1.3 memory management 15 person-weeks of SE 1.2.1.1
1.2.1.4 network interface 10 person-weeks of SE 1.3.3
1.2.1.5 documentation 4 person-weeks of TW 1.2.1.1
1.2.2 utilities
1.2.2.1 utilities specifications 4 person-weeks of AD 1.3.1
1.2.2.2 routine utilities 12 person-weeks of SE 1.2.2.1
1.2.2.3 complex utilities 12 person-weeks of SE 1.2.2.1
1.2.2.4 shell 12 person-weeks of SE 1.3.3
1.2.2.5 documentation 4 person-weeks of TW 1.2.2.1
1.3 system integration
1.3.1 architectural design decisions 8 person-weeks of AD
1.3.2 integration first phase 10 person-weeks of SE and
PE 1.2.1.2,1.2.1.3,1.2.2.2,1.2.2.3
1.3.3 system hard/software test 5 person-weeks of SE and PE 1.1.6,1.2.1.2,1.3.2
1.3.4 integration acceptance testing 10 person-weeks of SE and
PE
1.2.1.4,1.2.2.4,1.1.7,1.2.2.5,
1.2.1.5,1.3.3
System Ready (milestone) 1.3.4 General Information
In addition to the work breakdown structure you have collected the following information.
• Assume that at the architectural design decisions task commences on 14/7/2014.
• The company has a general summer holiday period between 26/12/14 to 9/1/15. For the purposes of the assignment, assume that there are no other holidays.
• The normal working time is 5 days per week (Mon-Fri), 8 hours per day.
Available Resources
The maximum full time resources available for your project are:
Resource $/hour Number Available
Analyst/Designer $140.00 1
Software Engineer $100.00 3
Purchasing Officer $100.00 1
Technical writer $80.00 1
Production Engineer $70.00 1
As stated above, any assumptions must also be listed at the beginning of the Word document.1. You have been asked to use Microsoft Project to develop the project schedule. Based on the information in the case study description above, use Microsoft Project 2010 to produce a "Part A1" schedule. Make sure that you: a) Use automatic scheduling.b) Include the resource allocation details on the schedule.c) Have the project name (new industrial controller ABC) as the top of the task list and have all other tasks indented below this heading. d) Make sure that the holidays described in the "general information" are not included in the available working days for your project. e) Use the Microsoft Project software to make sure that the critical path(s) are automatically highlighted in the Gantt chart view of you schedule. At this point there may be resource over allocation issues. Do not attempt to resolve these before answering question 2. Save this version of your schedule in XyzzyControllersPartA1.mpp. You will be required to submit this file as part of your assignment submission. (7 marks) 2. List the tasks that are on the critical path(s) of the project in part A1. (1 mark) 3. What is the duration and end date of the project as shown in the part A1 .mpp file? (1 mark) 4. Create a copy of XyzzyControllersPartA1.mpp in another file called XyzzyControllersPartA2.mpp. If there were any resource over-allocation issues resolve these in this new XyzzyControllersPartA2.mpp. file. Note that at this stage you must resolve any resource over-allocation issues without the addition of any additional resources. Save the "modified" version of XyzzyControllersPartA2.mpp. You will also be required to submit this file as part of your assignment submission. a) How did you/would you resolve any resource over-allocation issues without adding additional resources? Explain in detail what you had to do and how you used the Microsoft Project functions to help. (2 marks) b) In your Word document, list the tasks that are now displayed as "critical". (1 mark) c) What impact did the resource constraints have on your schedule? (Hint: Have the duration and end date changed and if so, by how much? Has the network sensitivity changed?) (1 mark) d) Explain why the resolution of the resource over-allocation has or has not impacted on your schedule duration and/or network sensitivity. (1 marks) 5. According to your schedule, on what date can the technical writer start work on the documentation? (1 mark)a) the expected completion date of the project, assuming it commences on 14/7/14 and no additional resources are made available. b) the total duration of the project; c) an explanation of the main factors that cause the project to require that length of time; d) the estimated direct labour cost of the project. Present the costs in a table showing the costs for the following:
- hardware
- Software
- System Integration
- Total
Assume that you will send the project schedule as an attachment to the memo. (4 marks) 7. Describe what the project manager needs to do to ensure there is a high standard of ethical behaviour among the team members. (2 marks) 8. a) Create a copy of XyzzyControllersPartA2.mpp in another file called XyzzyControllersPartA3.mpp. By reducing the duration of one or more tasks reduce the overall duration of the project in XyzzyControllersPartA3project by at least 2 weeks. (1 mark) b) What tasks did you change and why did you select those tasks? (2 marks) c) If you were required to reduce the duration of the tasks you have targeted, what are specific things that you could you do to reduce their duration in practice? (1 mark) 9. It is important that there is a good change management process in place at the start of the project. Describe an appropriate change management process and explain why it is important to have such a system in place at the start of the project. (4 marks) 10. a) Is conflict necessarily a bad thing on a project? Explain your answer. (1 mark) b) What can the project manager do to help facilitate the process of project team building? (Describe at least three things.) (1 mark) 11. Are there any other project related supporting activities, plans, events or tasks that you might have overlooked? If they were overlooked describe how this could impact on the project. (Aim to identify and discuss at least two.) (4 marks) Assumptions You are free to make any assumptions necessary to complete the assignment. However, each assumption must be justified and stated clearly in your assessment Word document. Marks will be deducted for any unreasonable assumption or for stating an assumption and then ignoring it in your assignment. Submission of Assessment The assignment is to be emailed to the course coordinator as a zip file attachment. The four files to be included in the zip file are: 1. The Word document with the assumptions and solutions to the questions. 2. The partA1, partA2 and partA3 Microsoft project files . Please ensure that the Microsoft Project files are named according to the instructions in the assignment specification(XyzzyControllersPartA1.mpp, XyzzyControllersPartA2.mpp andXyzzyControllersPartA3.mpp).