Project Management

This document provides answers to questions on project management, including PERT charts, critical path analysis, and project crashing. It also discusses the pros and cons of project crashing techniques. Find study material and solved assignments on project management at Desklib.

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Answer to Question 1
The two PERT charts are drawn and shown in the excel file attached.
Answer to Question 2
For determining start and end dates, minimum duration and critical part, the total duration
of the project is calculated from the table as follows.
WBS Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
0
Design of Cell Phone
for Motorola
33 wks Mon 5/20/19 Fri 1/3/20
P
Product
Specifications (P)
11 wks Mon 5/20/19 Fri 8/2/19
P1
Overall Product
Specifications
4 wks Mon 5/20/19 Fri 6/14/19
P2
Hardware
Specifications
5 wks Mon 6/17/19 Fri 7/19/19 2
P3
Software
Specifications
5 wks Mon 6/17/19 Fri 7/19/19 2
P4 Market Research 2 wks Mon 7/22/19 Fri 8/2/19 3,4

2PROJECT MANAGEMENT
S
Supplier
Specifications (S)
6 wks Mon 7/22/19 Fri 8/30/19
S1 Hardware 5 wks Mon 7/22/19 Fri 8/23/19 3
S3 Software 6 wks Mon 7/22/19 Fri 8/30/19 4
S2 Market Research 1 wk Mon 8/5/19 Fri 8/9/19 5
D Product Design (D) 11 wks Mon 8/12/19 Fri 10/25/19
D1 Circuits 3 wks Mon 10/7/19 Fri 10/25/19 7,17
D2 Battery 1 wk Mon 8/26/19 Fri 8/30/19 7
D3 Display 2 wks Mon 8/26/19 Fri 9/6/19 7
D4 Outer Cover 4 wks Mon 9/2/19 Fri 9/27/19 8
D5 User Interface 4 wks Mon 8/12/19 Fri 9/6/19 9
D6 Camera 1 wk Mon 9/2/19 Fri 9/6/19 7,8,9
D7 Functionality 4 wks Mon 9/9/19 Fri 10/4/19 15,16
I
Product Integration
(I)
11 wks Mon 10/7/19 Fri 12/20/19
I1 Hardware 3 wks
Mon
10/28/19
Fri 11/15/19 11,12,13,14,16

3PROJECT MANAGEMENT
I2 Software 5 wks Mon 10/7/19 Fri 11/8/19 17
I3 Prototype Testing 5 wks
Mon
11/18/19
Fri 12/20/19 19,20
V Subcontracting (V) 13 wks Mon 10/7/19 Fri 1/3/20
V1 Vendor Selection 10 wks Mon 10/7/19 Fri 12/13/19 17
V2 Contract Negotiation 2 wks
Mon
12/23/19
Fri 1/3/20 21,23
Considering the dependencies and predecessor links as specified in the case study, the
critical path is calculated and determined as follows.
From the duration table as well as the PERT diagram, it can be seen that there are two
different critical paths of the project:
i. P1-P2-P4-S2-D5-D7-D1-I1-I3-V2
ii. P1-P3-S3-D6-D7-D1-I1-I3-V2
Again, since no start date of the project is specified, the start date is estimated to 20/5/19
and from the critical path as well as considering non-working days, the end date for the project is
found to be 3/1/20. Also, the project will require a minimum of 33 weeks for completion
(determined using critical path).

4PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Answer to Question 3
The slack in the activities that are not on the critical path is shown in the following table.
Activity Total Slack
S1 1 wk
D2 8 wks
D3 7 wks
D4 4 wks
I2 1 wk
V1 1 wk
Answer to Question 4
Shortening of duration of a project is referred to as project crashing. In order to ‘crash’ a
project i.e. to reduce the total duration, a number of various techniques are used. Each of these
techniques has pros and cons that both can have significant impact on the project (Harrison &
Lock, 2017). The main advantage of crashing a project is that the duration of the project is
significantly reduced. However, the main disadvantage of crashing is that it increases the project
cost significantly and some small organisations cannot afford to bear such cost for crashing the
project. The pros and cons of project crashing are as follows.
Project Crashing

5PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Pros Cons
Less time is required to complete the project Cost of the project is increased
Resources are more effectively utilized Additional resource may be required
There is less chance for scope creep Quality of the project is compromised
In those project also, crashing can be performed to reduce the total duration of the
project. Some of the crashing techniques that can be utilized include appointment of more work
force, increasing work hours and others Heagney, 2016). However, while crashing, the
company needs to ensure too much additional costs do not affect the project in a negative way.
Based on the requirement of the company, the overall duration of the project using
crashing technique is reduced to 25 weeks. The detailed path is shown in the PERT chart in the
excel sheet.

6PROJECT MANAGEMENT
References
Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Heagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.