BUS152 – Business Information Systems – Winter 2014
Lab Assignment EIGHT
Project Management – II
Last week you used MS Project to organize information about a small project and create a simple work breakdown structure (WBS) in the form of a table. A WBS is acore element of a professionally managed project. It summarizessuch things as what work needs to be down, how long it will take and who has been assigned to do it.
The work breakdown structure, in itself, is a useful tool. By keeping it up to date during the execution of a project, and by making changes as necessary, a project leader can use it as a checklist, a status report and as a record of the work and responsibilities of each member of a project team. It is also the first step in pulling together the information needed to create GANTT Charts or Network Diagrams.
Like an up-to-date work breakdown structure, these additional project management tools are useful for understanding the status of a project. As visual aids, they are especially helpful in allowing managers to ‘see’ the interdependences between project elements. Interdependencies that may be hard for people to appreciate when they are presented as text in a table.
When you created your work breakdown chart last week, MS Project automatically created a GANTT chart.
Today, let’s consider the GANTT chart in a bit more detail.
1 – Sign on to a computer in the lab. Search your text, the lecture slides or the web for the answers to the following questions:
a) What is a GANTT chart?
b) In the context of project management, what is meant by the ‘Critical Path’?
c) What is ‘Slack’ time?
2–Load the application program MS Project.
3 – Create a work breakdown structure, and a GANTT chart, for a new projectusingthe following data in the following exhibit:
Client: Kipling Avenue Bridal Salon
Project: On-line Catalogue – ‘Mother of the Bride Dresses’ Summer 2014
Who? (Resource) Activity What?
(Task) How Long?
(Duration in days) What has to be done first?
(Predecessors)
1 Start 0
Fergus 2 Prepare drawings and storyboards 5 Activity 1
Sandra 3 Hire three models 7 Activity 1
Fergus 4 Obtain Client Approval 2 Activity 2
Sandra 5 Source Fabric 8 Activity 4
Fergus 6 Prepare patterns 3 Activities 4 and 5
Gavin 7 Cut fabric 4 Activity 6
Parker 8 Sew and Assemble Dresses 5 Activity 7
Sandra 9 Hire Photographer and Makeup Artist 5 Activity 1
Fergus and Parker 10 First Fittings 2 Activity 3 and 8
Sandra 11 Write catalogue text 5 Activity 8
Parker and Parker 12 First Adjustments 3 Activity 10
Fergus 13 Final Fittings 1 Activity 12
Parker 14 Final Adjustments 2 Activity 13
Sandra, Fergus, Photographer and Crew, Makeup Artist and Assistant 15 Photo shoot for catalogue 3 Activities 3, 9, 11, and 14
Sandra 16 Assemble and Publish on-line catalogue 10 Activity 15
15 End 0 Activity 16
Notes: Cost of Labour
Project Team:
Fergus $80 an hour; Sandra $50 an hour; Gavin $35 an hour; Parker $50 an hour
Assume normal work day = 7 hours
External Resources:
Photographer and Crew = $1,500 / day;
Make-up Artist an assistant = $250 / day
3 Models @$250 / day (each)
4 – Review the GANTT Chart you produced using MS Project and answer the following questions:
d) How long will it take to complete the project? If you started on March 12th when would the catalogue be published?
e) Which of the activities are on the critical path?
f) If activity 11 was completed one day early, would the overall project be completed any faster?
g) If activity 8 was delayed by two days what effect would that have on the overall project completion date? What if is was delayed three days?
h) Optional Challenge: Considering only the cost of labour, how much will this project cost? If activity 15 was completed one day early and there was only one fitting instead of two, how much would be saved in terms of the cost of labour?
5 – Please submit the answers to the questions in (1) and the questions is (4) in the assignment section of Blackboard.
For more information on MS Project … you may want to check out some on-line resources in Google or Youtube. There is one video recommended in the slide deck for this week’s lecture … here is another tutorial you might find of some use:
http://www.ese.upenn.edu/seniordesign/resources/MS_Project_Tutorial.pdf
Notes:
This assignment is worth TWO marks.
Due date: Before next week’s class.
PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT 🙂