BSC302C Project Planning, Management and Costing

Task:

Task 1:

In your allocated team, for a project of your choice, you are required to produce a project schedule (both Gantt chart and network diagram) using the software tool Projectlibre (or Microsoft Project).

The project should be work related, involving equipment, other people, and also one where failure would have serious consequences.

For your project identify the activities along with their associated durations and resource allocations. Using screen shots, you must:

1. Identify the critical path 

2. Include the latest start and latest finish columns 

3. Include the early start and early finish columns

4. Show the work breakdown structure, i.e. how activities may be expanded and collapsed 

5. Include columns for resource allocation (labour cost and materials).

As a team, demonstrate how your work would be used to convince management of the viability of your project. To do this, the team leader, on behalf of the group, must submit a PowerPoint presentation of your work via a webinar recording. 

The link MUST be provided in your submitted work. Only the team leader needs to submit this part of the assessment, but the leader should identify the team members.

Note: It is assumed that all team members participated fully and hence the mark awarded for the team effort will be allocated to each individual team member.

Task 2:

In your allocated team, for a project of your choice (usually you would use the project in Task 1) , you are required to estimate a project budget using ONE of the different budget estimation methods (1, 2 or 3 below). The project should be work related, involving equipment, other people, and also one where failure would have serious consequences.

1. Bottom- up approach

2. Top-down approach

3. Conventional budgeting

As a team, demonstrate how your work would be used to convince management of the viability of your budget. To do this, the team leader, on behalf of the group, must submit a PowerPoint presentation of your work via a webinar recording.

The link MUST be provided in your submitted work. Only the team leader needs to submit this part of the assessment, but the leader should identify the team members. Note: It is assumed that all team members participated fully and hence the mark awarded for the team effort will be allocated to each individual team member.

Part B - Individual Work

Task 3:

Each person working individually must perform a PERT analysis. For all high-level activities in

this project, calculate the following:

1. Optimistic time 

2. Most likely time 

3. Pessimistic time 

4. Expected activity time

5. Standard deviation

6. Variance 

7. For one date ahead of most likely completion date, calculate Z and hence the probability of completion by that date. 

8. For one date behind the most likely completion date, calculate Z and hence the probability of completion by that date.

Task 4:

Each person working individually must write a paper (approx 2 pages) looking at HOW the above aspects in Task 3 will assist in terms of limiting and controlling the cost of the project. There may also be a ‘spill over’ into looking at more practical aspects as opposed to just the statistical information. Please be imaginative in your answer