Project Scheduling and Cost Management Analysis for BNV6047 Project

This project management assignment solution analyzes project scheduling and cost management for an early-stage residential construction project. It includes a network diagram to identify the critical path and calculate early and late start/finish dates. The solution also presents a Gantt chart based on early start times and discusses strategies to reduce project duration by focusing on critical path activities. Furthermore, the assignment provides a detailed cost breakdown, including subtotal, contingency, and overall project costs, along with monthly and cumulative cost distribution calculations. The analysis incorporates references to relevant project management literature and provides a comprehensive overview of project planning and financial control.

BNV6047 Project Management
Academic Year 2018
CWRK001 – Project Scheduling and Cost Management
Name of the University
Name of Student
ID of Student
Dated: April 26, 2018
Total Word count =

Solution 1:
a) The Network Diagram
Figure: Network Diagram
Source: developed by author
b) Overall Duration
i. Critical Path:
The activities which cannot be delayed by any unit, as it can cause the delay of
overall project duration are called the critical path activities (Yang & Chen, 2000)
(Stelth & Roy, 2009).
The critical path of the project is A B C E F G H
ii. & iii.
Task Name Early Start Late Start Early Finish Late Finish
Total
Slack
(Sireesha
&
Shankar,
2010)
Free Slack
Early stage
residential
construction project
Mon 02-04-18 Mon 02-04-18 Mon 06-08-18 Mon 06-08-18 0 days 0 days
A - Lay access road Mon 02-04-18 Mon 02-04-18 Wed 18-04-18 Wed 18-04-18 0 days 0 days
B - Erect fence Thu 19-04-18 Thu 19-04-18 Mon 30-04-18 Mon 30-04-18 0 days 0 days
C - Demolition of
existing structure Tue 01-05-18 Tue 01-05-18 Thu 17-05-18 Thu 17-05-18 0 days 0 days
D - Disposal of
demolished material,
off site
Fri 18-05-18 Wed 01-08-18 Wed 23-05-18 Mon 06-08-18 64 days 64 days
E - Top soil removal Fri 18-05-18 Fri 18-05-18 Thu 07-06-18 Thu 07-06-18 0 days 0 days
F - Hardcore filling
and compacting Fri 08-06-18 Fri 08-06-18 Mon 25-06-18 Mon 25-06-18 0 days 0 days
G - Erect site
accommodation Tue 26-06-18 Tue 26-06-18 Thu 12-07-18 Thu 12-07-18 0 days 0 days

H - Fit out Fri 13-07-18 Fri 13-07-18 Mon 06-08-18 Mon 06-08-18 0 days 0 days
I - Electrical services Fri 18-05-18 Fri 06-07-18 Thu 24-05-18 Thu 12-07-18 42 days 42 days
J - Temporary drain
connection Fri 18-05-18 Tue 26-06-18 Mon 04-06-18 Thu 12-07-18 33 days 33 days
K - Excavate and lay
water service Fri 18-05-18 Mon 02-07-18 Tue 29-05-18 Thu 12-07-18 38 days 38 days
L - Fit gates Fri 13-07-18 Mon 30-07-18 Fri 20-07-18 Mon 06-08-18 14 days 14 days
By calculating the duration in forward path, the early dates are obtained & by
calculating the backward path, late dates are obtained (Ökmen & Öztaş, 2014).
c) The revised network diagram:
Figure: Comparison of Networks
Source: developed by author
As we can observe from the above drawn network diagram, that even after increasing
the duration of activity electrical services due to unavailability of electrical material
from 6 days to 18 days it is not affecting the overall project schedule because from the
above table it can be observed that the activity is having 42 days of positive
float, which way is that the activity can be delayed for 42 days without affecting the
overall project schedule. It's by increasing the duration of the activity electrical
services I did not impacted the overall project schedule oddly it short duration has
increased from 6 days to 18 days.

Solution 2:
a) Gantt chart based on Early Start time (Geraldi & Lechter, 2012):
b) The overall maximum duration for the project is 109 days, and if the management is
willing to reduce the overall duration by 40 days the first activity would be to select
the critical path because the duration of the overall project can be reduced only by
reducing the duration of critical path health by reducing other activities duration it
will not impact the overall schedule duration. as we do that the critical path activities
are A B C D E F G and H. The near critical item the activity which is not so critical
but it has positive floor with very less duration is the activity L which has the total
slack off 14 days so, if we reduce the overall duration of the project by 14 days the
critical path will get changed to A B C D E F G H and L.
This overall duration of the project can be reduced by implementing more resources
to each critical activity show that the activities can be reduced as accumulative of 14
days. To reduce the duration, activity A the access road should be laid faster by
adding more resources, the electrical fences are also required to be erected faster by
adding more resources, similarly all the critical path activities like the demolition of
existing structure, topsoil removal, the hardcore filing and compaction, fit out job and
the erection of site accommodation shall be reduced by total of 14 days.

Solution 3:
The total cost with and without contingency:
Task Name Cost
A - Lay access road $110,600.00
B - Erect fence $53,250.00
C - Demolition of existing structure $65,125.00
D - Disposal of demolished material, off site $38,800.00
E - Top soil removal $110,600.00
F - Hardcore filling and compacting $75,825.00
G - Erect site accommodation $8,170.00
H - Fit out $17,230.00
I - Electrical services $14,650.00
J - Temporary drain connection $21,450.00
K - Excavate and lay water service $41,775.00
L - Fit gates $5,250.00
Sub Total cost (without contingency) $562,725.00
Contingency of 10% on Sub-Total $56,272.50
Overall cost (with contingency) $618,997.50
Monthly cost distribution calculation:
Task Name
Cost
Sub
total
Month
Apr May Jun Jul Aug
A - Lay access road 11060
0 110600 0 0 0 0
B - Erect fence 53250 53250 0 0 0 0
C - Demolition of existing structure 65125 0 65125 0 0 0
D - Disposal of demolished material, off
site 38800 0 38800 0 0 0
E - Top soil removal 11060
0 0
73733.3
3 36866.67 0 0
F - Hardcore filling and compacting 75825 0 0 75825 0 0
G - Erect site accommodation 8170 0 0 2723.33 5446.67 0
H - Fit out 17230 0 0 0 13127.62 4102.38
I - Electrical services 14650 0 9766.67 4883.33 0 0
J - Temporary drain connection 21450 0 17160 4290 0 0
K - Excavate and lay water service 41775 0 41775 0 0 0
L - Fit gates 5250 0 0 0 5250 0
Project Cost (Monthly) 163850 246360
124588.
3
23824.2
9
4102.3
8
Project Cost (Cumulative) 163850 410210
534798.
3
558622.
6 562725

The cost curve developed based on above developed monthly and cumulative distribution:
References
Geraldi, J. & Lechter, T., 2012. Gantt charts revisited: A critical analysis of its roots and
implications to the management of projects today. International Journal of Managing
Projects in Business, 5(4), pp. 578-594.
Ökmen, Ö. & Öztaş, A., 2014. A CPM-based scheduling method for construction projects
with fuzzy sets and fuzzy operations. Journal of the South African Institution of Civil
Engineering, 56(2).
Sireesha, V. & Shankar, R. N., 2010. A New Approach to find Total Float time and Critical
Path in a fuzzy Project Network. International Journal of Engineering Science and
Technology, 2(4), pp. 600-609.
Stelth, P. & Roy, G. L., 2009. Projects’ Analysis through CPM (Critical Path Method).
School of Doctoral Studies (European Union) Journal, Volume 1, pp. 10-51.
Yang, H.-H. & Chen, Y.-L., 2000. Finding the critical path in an activity network with time-
switch constraints. European Journal of Operational Research, Volume 120, pp. 603-613.