Ass 3 Qu3.3

How do you calculate the hours for these guys. I assumed they would be hired when there was work. Whichever way you slice it, I cannot come up with the figure of 65 for Sam.
Help please if it is not too late?

work from left to right on diagram, remember that mary (PM) will do the CP and that the checking she does alone.

Hope this help.

I tried that but I don't come with 65 for any route I take. Can someone perhaps give me the route? I know it's late in the day to ask.

Hi Jo,

The target values are as follows:

Mary: 75 + 2 (Overhead) = 77
Sam: 62
Peter: 37
Rose: 35

Now, looking at the diagram, we make Mary take the critical path. In the example this evaluates to:

Critical Path (Mary):

Design Mod B + Check Designs + Code Mod B + Integrate Mod A and B + Test Integrated Mod A and B + Integrate All Mods

=

[12] + [3] + [20] + [15] + [10] + [15] = 75 Days + 2 Overhead = 77 Days

Sams Path:

Design Mod A + Code Mod A + Integrate Mod A and B + Test Integrated Mod A and B + Integrate All Mods

=

[8] + [14] + [15] + [10] + [15] = 62 Days

Peters Path:

Design Mod C + Code Mod C + Test Mod C + Integrate All Mods

=

[9] + [10] + [3] + [15] = 37 Days

Roses Path:

Design Mod D + Code Mod D + Test Mod D + Integrate All Mods

=

[9] + [8] + [3] + [15] = 35 Days

Hope that helps,

Kyle

Thank you for taking the time out to answer at this late stage.

You've got Mary and Sam testing integrated mod A & Mod B. That's the bit I don't get.

The best way to look at it is by following the paths.

Mary is the PM and is completing the entire critical path. This is not to say that she completes the path alone.

The question states that she only completes the checking of the designs alone. This means that Sam follows the path with her on the converging tasks later on. There is no rule that says 1 person must complete 1 task. So for instance, "Integrate Mod A and B" is 15 hours - 15 hours that both Mary and Sam complete.

Ok. That makes sense. I'm glad I bothered to clear this up. You never know what's coming.
Thank you very much.

Is there a rule somewhere that states the Project Leader needs to take the critical path? And also what is forcing/stating that 2 or more developers are required for the integration stages?
I never went over my answers but now that I am (yes a little late but hey..) I dont see where it states these rules?

The question only states: "As project leader she would prefer to check all the designs herself"

Below is my answer:

Quote

(There is no indication as to what the first 5 days are needed for so they are ignored)
Using the above Resource Histogram we can determine there are a total of 142 (140 + 2) days of work, of which
Mary has to do a minimum of 22 days (Design Mod D (9), Check Designs (3), Code Mod D (8), Extra Days(2)). The rest
of the activities can be carried out by the other developers (120 days)
Total Costs = 22*500 + (142-22)*300 + (80 – 5)*300
= R 695 000

As Cost saving and to allow the project leader to have more of a over seeing role, I gave her the least amount of work to do. In real life, the Project Leader wants to do as little as possible, so that if anything crops up he or she can deal with it, rather than be busy coding.
If a single person does each task, the total is 139 (I added up wrong in my answer )
Mod D had the least total time, so was best suited for Mary since we trying to save costs.

Anyways, just want to know if those "rules" are valid and mentioned somewhere, if we have to just assume that the Project Leader must always be involved, and that when 2 tasks merge, both developers need to be involved.

Cheers

Well, the rule for the project leader was in the question:

All activities can be carried out by ‘standard’ system developers. Mary, the project leader, is also a system developer. She does have Peter, Sam and Rose available to work on this project. As project leader she would prefer to check all the designs herself.

Now, as being a systems developer and the project leader (note, not manager), she would want the most responsibility thrown her way, as if the project fails its her neck. As with the scheduling of time, it follows the path of the diagram unless otherwise stated, thats all. I recommend going through it in TUT203.