NorthEastern Univ PJM 6025 – Project Scheduling & Cost Planning
PJM 6025 - Project Scheduling & Cost Planning Instructions Assignment No. 3: Duration vs. Resources Page 1 of 2 Instructions Assignment No. 3: Duration vs Resources Individual students will complete the following steps to show an understanding of the concepts covered in the text, lectures and discussion board for this week. You will submit your XLS File with the answers to the questions on each “spreadsheet” of the “Excel workbook”. Due by End of Day (EOD) Sunday of week three. Turn in your Excel file with your name at the end of the shortened file name. Use file: “PJM6025 Assign 3 Duration vs Resources.XLS” which you can download from the Assignments Folder. Example submitted file name: “No 3 Assignment – J.Branden”. General Instructions: 1. There are three Steps on three tabs in this Excel workbook; Step #1 = 2 points, Steps #2 & #3 each = 3 points for a total of 8 points. 2. Each tab has specific directions for the changes you will make. You can only enter information in the yellow cells. The rest of them are protected to avoid inadvertent changes to formulas, format, etc. 3. The whole file is also protected. I know you can “crack the password”. I also know that some versions of Excel (particularly those sold in counties other than the U.S.A.) often either void the password or corrupt it. As long as I can read your results I will not count off for unprotected submittals. 4. If I cannot open or read a file, I will send you a new blank file and you may try again. The penalty for trying again is one point deduction per day, starting on the day I return it and counting the day you resubmit. That means if you return it on the same day, the penalty is a minimum of two points. I do this to encourage you to be sure you are submitting “acceptable deliverables”. Submitting assignments to an instructor is no different than submitting deliverables to a Sponsor. Your work is judged on the quality metrics established before you begin to execute the project (or execute the assignment). 5. Each step begins with the same scenario. You will make changes to demonstrate the effects of the dynamic interaction of the variables that affect the duration of a project; namely the number of resources assigned to tasks and the amount of contingency / reserve associated with the work package / hammock. 6. When you look at the first tab you will see a section of a project plan that looks very much like MS Project. I’ve used Excel because it is much more flexible in formatting and demonstrating the learning objectives for the assignment. PJM 6025 - Project Scheduling & Cost Planning Instructions Assignment No. 3: Duration vs. Resources Page 2 of 2 7. This small piece of a project shows a “waterfall” series of tasks in a single hammock to produce a sub-deliverable. Notice how the predecessors and successors flow from one hammock to the next (both at the top and bottom of Hammock Y). 8. Next notice the column: “Resource Names (Team leaders + team members)”. The number after the plus sign “+” is the number of persons the team leader may ask to participate on this project. The instructions will tell you how many to use in each of the three scenarios. 9. The “Effort Hours” are given as a fixed estimate and you cannot change them. That is one of the reasons we have row 14 “Murphy’s and Parkinson’s Contingency”. While your team leaders gave you their “best estimates”, you as the PM may want to add your own contingency to deal with Murphy’s Law and Parkinson’s Law! 10. As always, if you have any questions about the instructions or the assignment, please post them on the “Ask the Prof” DB. Step #1 Adding a contingency to a hammock. On this sheet we will see what changes as we add a contingency as an “undesignated block of time” and then as “shared” by several people. Step #2 Same changes for contingency; change number of resources to half the team plus team leader (round down for odd numbers of team members). Ex #1: Jan + 9 team members = 1 (for Jan) + 4 (team of 9/2=4.5 ? round down to 4) = 5 total. Ex #2: Bev + 10 team members = 1 (for Bev) + 5 (team of 10/2=5) = 6 total in Column D. Step #3 Same changes for contingency and use all available resources for each task!