Learning project management was no easy task. Last couple of months I have started using Microsoft Project at work. Our department only consist of a small support team but using the skills I have acquired over the last couple of months I think it has helped me in many ways. I have already started planning server migration for Xmas holiday transition using Microsoft Project and without this I would be lost.
I would also like to thank my team for there support. I think we did really well and hope to continue sharing ideas in the near future.
Mark
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Chapter 7 - Exercise 1
Given the following information for a one year project, answer the following questions. Recall that PV is planned value, EV is the earned value, AC is the actual cost, and BAC is the budget at completion.
PV= $23,000 EV= $20,000 AC= $25,000 BAC= $120,000
a. What is the cost variance, schedule variance, cost performance index, and the schedule performance index for the project?
Cost Variance
CV = EV - AC
CV= $20,000 - $25,000 = -$5,000
Schedule Variance
SV = EV-PV
SV= $20,000 - $23,000 = -$3,000.0
Cost Performance Index
CPI = EV / AC
CPI= $20,000 / $25,000 = 80%
Schedule Performance Index
SPI = EV / PV
SPI= $20,000 - $23,000 = 87%
b. How is the project doing? Is it ahead of schedule or behind schedule? Is it under budget or over budget?
Based on above values, the Schedule Variance has a negative value which means that the project has taken longer than planned to perform the work. However, the CPI index which is 111% means the project is over budget. The project is also behind schedule based on the Schedule Performance Index which is 83%
c. Use the CPI to calculate the estimate at completion for this project. Is the project performing better or worst than planned?
As we know the budget at completion (BAC) is $120,000 and the cost performance index (CPI) is 80%.
Therefore EAC = BAC/CPI
EAC = ($120,000 / 80%) * 100 = $150,000
Therefore the project is over $30,000 which means the project is worse than planned.
d. Use the schedule performance index to estimate how long it will take to finish this project?
The time allocated for this project is 12 months and schedule performance index is 87 %. Therefore Estimated time to completed = Original Time Estimate/SPI
Estimated time to complete = 12 months / 87% = 13.80
The time to complete this project will take 13.80 months or 13 months and 26/27 days depending on the calender month.
e. Sketch the earned value chart based for this project, using figure 7-5 as a guide.
PV= $23,000 EV= $20,000 AC= $25,000 BAC= $120,000
a. What is the cost variance, schedule variance, cost performance index, and the schedule performance index for the project?
Cost Variance
CV = EV - AC
CV= $20,000 - $25,000 = -$5,000
Schedule Variance
SV = EV-PV
SV= $20,000 - $23,000 = -$3,000.0
Cost Performance Index
CPI = EV / AC
CPI= $20,000 / $25,000 = 80%
Schedule Performance Index
SPI = EV / PV
SPI= $20,000 - $23,000 = 87%
b. How is the project doing? Is it ahead of schedule or behind schedule? Is it under budget or over budget?
Based on above values, the Schedule Variance has a negative value which means that the project has taken longer than planned to perform the work. However, the CPI index which is 111% means the project is over budget. The project is also behind schedule based on the Schedule Performance Index which is 83%
c. Use the CPI to calculate the estimate at completion for this project. Is the project performing better or worst than planned?
As we know the budget at completion (BAC) is $120,000 and the cost performance index (CPI) is 80%.
Therefore EAC = BAC/CPI
EAC = ($120,000 / 80%) * 100 = $150,000
Therefore the project is over $30,000 which means the project is worse than planned.
d. Use the schedule performance index to estimate how long it will take to finish this project?
The time allocated for this project is 12 months and schedule performance index is 87 %. Therefore Estimated time to completed = Original Time Estimate/SPI
Estimated time to complete = 12 months / 87% = 13.80
The time to complete this project will take 13.80 months or 13 months and 26/27 days depending on the calender month.
e. Sketch the earned value chart based for this project, using figure 7-5 as a guide.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Chapter 10 - Exercise 2
How many different communication channels does a project team with six people have?
Equation used:
Number of communications channels = n(n-1)/2 where n is the number of people involvedNote: In excel formula looks like =n*(n-1)/2
Therefore for six employees:
6(6-1)/2 = 15 communications channel
How many more communications channels would there be if team grew to ten people?
(10(10-1)/2) – (6(6-1)/2) = 30
For an extra four employees there will be an additional 30 more channels. Making it a total of 45 channels for ten employees
Equation used:
Number of communications channels = n(n-1)/2 where n is the number of people involvedNote: In excel formula looks like =n*(n-1)/2
Therefore for six employees:
6(6-1)/2 = 15 communications channel
How many more communications channels would there be if team grew to ten people?
(10(10-1)/2) – (6(6-1)/2) = 30
For an extra four employees there will be an additional 30 more channels. Making it a total of 45 channels for ten employees
Chapter 9 - Excerise 1
Chapter 9 - Exercise 1
Your company is planning to launch an important new project starting January 1, which will last one year. You estimate that you will need one full-time project manager, two full-time business analysts for the first six months, two full-time senior programmers for the whole year, four full-time junior programmers for the month of July, August, and September, and one full-time technical writer for the last three months. Using Microsoft excel to create a stacked column chart showing a resource histogram for the project.
Answer below:
Your company is planning to launch an important new project starting January 1, which will last one year. You estimate that you will need one full-time project manager, two full-time business analysts for the first six months, two full-time senior programmers for the whole year, four full-time junior programmers for the month of July, August, and September, and one full-time technical writer for the last three months. Using Microsoft excel to create a stacked column chart showing a resource histogram for the project.
Answer below:
Chapter 8 - Exercise 2
Chapter 8 - Excercise 2
Create a Pareto diagram based on the information in the table below. First, create a spreadsheet in excel, using the data in the table below. List the most frequent customer problems first. Add a column called % of Total and another called Cumulative %. Then enter formulas to create those items. Create a Pareto diagram based on this data.
Chapter 6 - Exercise 2
Consider Table 6-3, Network diagram data for a small project. All duration estimates or estimated time are in days; and the network proceeds from Node 1 to Node 9.
2b. All the possible paths for Table 6-3
Path 1: A-B-E-H-K Length: 2+2+2+2+2 = 10 Days
Path 2: A-C-F-H-K Length: 2+3+3+2+2 = 12 Days
Path 3: A-C-F-I-J-K Length: 2+3+3+5+1+2 = 16 Days
Path 4: A-D-G-J-K Length: 2+4+6+1+2 = 15 Days
2c. Since the critical is the longest path, Path 3 A-C-F-I-J-K is the critical path which takes 16 days
2d. The shortest possible time to complete the project is Path 1 A-B-E-H-K which takes 10 days
2e.
Pert Introduction Activities:
Q1 Answer:
Path 1: A-B-C-E-I Length: 2+3+1+4+3 = 13 Days
Path 2: A-B-D-F-I Length: 2+3+3+3+3 = 14 Days
Path 3: A-G-H-I Length: 2+2+5+3 = 12 Days
Since the critical path is the longest path, Path 2 A-B-D-F-I is the critical path which takes 14 days
Q2 Answer:
What is the slack time for tasks, C, D and G?The slack time for task C is 1 day.
Answer explained below.
The node before task C splits off to another task which is task D. This means both tasks are being done at the same time. Task C = 1 + Task E = 4 = 5 days. Task D = 3 + Task F = 3 = 6 days. Therefore Task C or E can have an extra 1 day to finish.
Task D cannot have any slack or float time because it is part of the critical path as the path needs to run on time. The slack time for task G is 2 days because it requires Path B,D,F to be finish which takes total of 9 days where task G and H takes are total of 7 days.
Q3 Answer:
Task C would no impact on the completion date. Both Task C and E have a total of 1 slack day available. This means if Task C started a day late then task E would be able to start a day late also providing Task C has been completed.
Q4 Answer:
The critical path is still required to be completed. Hence having said this there isn’t any shortcut. The project manager would require allocating more resources or asking the project team to complete overtime work. This also depends on the nature of scope.
Q5 Answer:
Since both task D and F have been shorten by one day each making it a total of 2 days reduction then therefore it is not the critical path. Referring to Q1 answers, Path 1 A,B,C,E,I is the critical path because it takes 13 days whereas the old path takes 12 days to complete.
Gantt Introduction Activities:
Q1 Answer:
Task 7 is the first milestone for the project which is Sign Contracts.
Q2 Answer:
The alterations cannot commence before Monday 11th December therefore make its task 8 – Prepare site. This means there can two paths.
Path 1 – Task 8, 9, 11, 12 = 7 days
Path 2 – Task 8,9,10,12 = 6 days
There is 1 days difference between both tasks but because we didn’t include weekends Path 2 has 3 slacks days and Path 1 can have 2 slacks if they run into any problems.
Q3 Answer:
Due to the cabling being delayed from the 14th to the 18th the project will still be completed on time. The project final milestone requires to be finished by the 21st December. Installing cabling only takes 3 days. Having said the project manager could allow overtime still.
Q4 Answer:
The project manager would have to ask what options he/she have. This is purely common sense. Project Manager may ask the team to work longer hours, hire additional contractors or reducing the time for other task in the project.
2b. All the possible paths for Table 6-3
Path 1: A-B-E-H-K Length: 2+2+2+2+2 = 10 Days
Path 2: A-C-F-H-K Length: 2+3+3+2+2 = 12 Days
Path 3: A-C-F-I-J-K Length: 2+3+3+5+1+2 = 16 Days
Path 4: A-D-G-J-K Length: 2+4+6+1+2 = 15 Days
2c. Since the critical is the longest path, Path 3 A-C-F-I-J-K is the critical path which takes 16 days
2d. The shortest possible time to complete the project is Path 1 A-B-E-H-K which takes 10 days
2e.
Pert Introduction Activities:
Q1 Answer:
Path 1: A-B-C-E-I Length: 2+3+1+4+3 = 13 Days
Path 2: A-B-D-F-I Length: 2+3+3+3+3 = 14 Days
Path 3: A-G-H-I Length: 2+2+5+3 = 12 Days
Since the critical path is the longest path, Path 2 A-B-D-F-I is the critical path which takes 14 days
Q2 Answer:
What is the slack time for tasks, C, D and G?The slack time for task C is 1 day.
Answer explained below.
The node before task C splits off to another task which is task D. This means both tasks are being done at the same time. Task C = 1 + Task E = 4 = 5 days. Task D = 3 + Task F = 3 = 6 days. Therefore Task C or E can have an extra 1 day to finish.
Task D cannot have any slack or float time because it is part of the critical path as the path needs to run on time. The slack time for task G is 2 days because it requires Path B,D,F to be finish which takes total of 9 days where task G and H takes are total of 7 days.
Q3 Answer:
Task C would no impact on the completion date. Both Task C and E have a total of 1 slack day available. This means if Task C started a day late then task E would be able to start a day late also providing Task C has been completed.
Q4 Answer:
The critical path is still required to be completed. Hence having said this there isn’t any shortcut. The project manager would require allocating more resources or asking the project team to complete overtime work. This also depends on the nature of scope.
Q5 Answer:
Since both task D and F have been shorten by one day each making it a total of 2 days reduction then therefore it is not the critical path. Referring to Q1 answers, Path 1 A,B,C,E,I is the critical path because it takes 13 days whereas the old path takes 12 days to complete.
Gantt Introduction Activities:
Q1 Answer:
Task 7 is the first milestone for the project which is Sign Contracts.
Q2 Answer:
The alterations cannot commence before Monday 11th December therefore make its task 8 – Prepare site. This means there can two paths.
Path 1 – Task 8, 9, 11, 12 = 7 days
Path 2 – Task 8,9,10,12 = 6 days
There is 1 days difference between both tasks but because we didn’t include weekends Path 2 has 3 slacks days and Path 1 can have 2 slacks if they run into any problems.
Q3 Answer:
Due to the cabling being delayed from the 14th to the 18th the project will still be completed on time. The project final milestone requires to be finished by the 21st December. Installing cabling only takes 3 days. Having said the project manager could allow overtime still.
Q4 Answer:
The project manager would have to ask what options he/she have. This is purely common sense. Project Manager may ask the team to work longer hours, hire additional contractors or reducing the time for other task in the project.
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