Activity 7.

6 – Module Problems

Complete the following problems and submit the results in either a Microsoft Word
document or a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. If you choose to use an Excel
spreadsheet, place each problem on a separate sheet and label the tab with problem
number. Save your document with a descriptive file name, including the assignment
and your name.

Chapter 11:

7-1 Jean Walker is making plans for spring break at the beaches in Florida. In applying
techniques she learned in her quantitative methods class, she has identified the activities that are
necessary to prepare for her trip. The following table lists the activities and the immediate
predecessors. Draw the network for this project.

Activity Immediate Predecessors

A
B A
C A
D B
E C,D
F A
G E,F

The following are the activity times for Jean Walkers activities. Find the earliest, latest, and
slack times for each activity. Then find the critical path.

Activity Time (in days)

A 3
B 7
C 6
D 2
E 5
F 8
G 4

7-2 Tom Schriber, a director of personnel of Management Resources, Inc., is in the process of
designing a program that its customers can use in the job-finding process. Some of the activities
include preparing resumés, writing letters, making appointments to see prospective employers,
researching companies and industries, and so on. Some of the information on the activities is
shown in the following table:

Days

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 Activity a m b Immediate Predecessors
A 8 10 12
B 8 10 14
C 3 3 4
D 9 20 34 A
E 6 8 11 C
F 9 10 14 B,D,E
G 7 10 14 B,D,E
H 14 15 18 F
I 10 11 13 F
J 6 8 11 G,H
K 4 7 8 I,J
L 2 4 8 G,H

a. Construct a network for this problem.

b. Determine the expected time and variance for each activity.
c. Determine ES, EF, LS, LF, and slack for each activity.
d. Determine the critical path and project completion time.
e. Determine the probability that the project will be finished in 70 days or less.
f. Determine the probability that the project will be finished in 80 days or less.
g. Determine the probability that the project will be finished in 90 days or less.

7-3 The air pollution project discussed in the chapter has progressed over the past several
weeks, and it is now the end of week 8. Lester Harky would like to know the value of the work
completed, the amount of any cost overruns or underruns for the project, and the extent to which
the project is ahead of or behind schedule by developing a table like Table 11.8. The revised
cost figures are shown in the following table:

Activity Percent of Completion Actual Cost ($)

A 100 20,000
B 100 36,000
C 100 26,000
D 100 44,000
E 50 25,000
F 60 15,000
G 10 5,000
H 10 1,000

7-4 The Scott Corey accounting firm is installing a new computer system. Several things
must be done to make sure the system works properly before all the accounts are put into the new
system. The following table provides information about this project. How long will it take to
install the system? What is the critical path?

Immediate
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 Activity Predecessor(s) Time (weeks)
A 3
B 4
C A 6
D B 3
E A 5
F C 2
G D,E 5
H F,G 5

The managing partner of the Scott Corey accounting firm has decided that the system must be up
and running in 16 weeks. Consequently, information about crashing the project was put together
and is shown in the following table:

Normal Crash
Immediate Time Time Normal Crash
Activity Predecessor(s (weeks) (weeks) Cost ($) Cost ($)
)
A 3 2 8,000 9,300
B 4 3 9,000 10,000
C A 6 4 12,000 15,000
D B 3 1 15,000 15,500
E A 5 3 5,000 8,700
F C 2 1 7,500 9,000
G D,E 5 3 9,000 11,400
H F,G 5 3 5,000 8,000

a. If the project is to be finished in 16 weeks, which activity or activities should be crashed

to do this at the least additional cost? What is the total cost of this?
b. List all the paths in this network. After the crashing in part (a) has been done, what is the
time required for each path? If the project completion time must be reduced another
week so that the total time is 15 weeks, which activity or activities should be crashed?
Solve this by inspection. Note that it is sometimes better to crash an activity that is not the
least cost for crashing if it is on several paths rather than to crash several activities on
separate paths when there is more than one critical path.

You may submit just the answers or you may submit the answers and the QM worksheets you
used to arrive at the answer. Choosing the latter will afford instructors the opportunity to review
your work and determine if you understand the concept but have made some minor
computational error, therefore allowing them to assign some credit based on your understanding.
Submitting just the answers does not provide for any partial credit.

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