Project Management

Team Assignment 1: Project Management

PART 1: New Whole Foods Market…
WF wants to open a new store in your city. Brainstorm and come up with a work-breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. This WBS has to include the following:
• A list of activities that need to be done. You may want to start with high-level things that have to be done and then break each down into smaller components.
• For each high-level grouping of activities, identify other functions – finance, marketing, and management that you (operations) will have to work with and briefly (1-2 lines) describe what this interaction might be.
• Precedence relationships – immediate predecessors.
• Estimated time durations of various activities. Use reasonable estimates. You may have to do some guessing.
Based on your WBS, draw a project network. Find the critical path. Once the project is started, when will it finish?
PART 2: Whole Foods Expansion….
As it turns out, the Whole Foods in Boca Raton, Florida, is planning to renovate their deli department. They recently bid out the job and BGP Construction company was selected to oversee the project.
Greg and Harold Frommer are the BGP building contractors who specialize in renovations of large retail facilities, particularly supermarkets.
Typically, the Frommer Brothers submit competitive bids for the construction or renovation projects. Whenever their bids are accepted, various aspects of the construction (electrical wiring, plumbing, tiling, painting, and so forth) are subcontracted, as will be the case in the Whole Foods Boca Raton project. Greg and Harold, however, perform all carpentry work. In addition, they plan and schedule all construction operations, frequently arrange interim financing, and supervise all construction activities.
The philosophy under which the Frommer Brothers have always operated can be simply stated: ”Time is money.” Delays in construction increase the costs of interim financing and postpone the initiation of their building projects. Consequently, they deal with all bottlenecks promptly and avoid all delays whenever possible. To minimize the time consumed in a construction project, the Frommer Brothers would like to use critical path method (CPM).
All the construction activities and events are itemized. Then time estimates for each activity are made – the most likely times, the optimistic times and the pessimistic times.
Table 1 lists the following activities that constitute the Whole Foods expansion project. The table also provides the successive event for each activity and the optimistic (o), most likely (m), and pessimistic (p) time estimates.
TABLE 1: Frommer Brothers Construction Co.
ACTIVITY SUCCESSOR o m p
A. Arrange financing B 4 5 6
B. Identify subcontracts C, D 2 5 8
C. Demolish current deli area E 5 7 9
D. Update all Plumbing G 4 5 6
E. Framing F, G 2 4 6
F. Electrical wiring, ductwork and insulation H 7 8 9
G. Adding drywall, spackling H,I 5 6 10
H. Installation of build-in shelving and display cabinets J 4 6 8
I. Refinishing waiting and eating areas K 7 8 9
J. Painting K 5 6 7
K. Flooring END 2 3 4
You have been hired as a consultant to assist the Frommer Brothers. First, you must determine the expected time for completing each activity. Then you will need to calculate the critical (longest) path and the earliest times, latest times, and slack values for each activity. Greg and Harold would like to know how they should place their resources in the critical areas to minimize the time of completing the project. Finally, you will need to determine the likelihood that Harold and Greg complete the store by their promised date of September 30th. Beginning October 1st, Frommer Brothers will be incurring a financial penalty of $1000 for each day the store is not completed.
QUESTIONS
1. Draw the PERT/CPM project network (use the drawing toolbar in Word or Excel). Which activities are on the critical path? What is the time length of the critical path? What is the significance of the critical path?
2. Compute the amount of time that the completion of each event can be delayed without affecting the overall project – these calculations should use the expected length of time (mean) for each activity (you must calculate using formula in class notes). Where should Greg and Harold focus their resources? Why?
3. The project was begun on August 16.
a. What is the probability that this project can be completed by September 30? (Note: Scheduled completion time = 45 days.)
b. To be on the safe side, what is the probability that this project can be completed by September 28? (Note: Scheduled completion time = 43 days.)
Consider only the critical path. Although this provides a good approximation, why is the true probability probably lower?
4. Based on your analysis, what are your recommendations for the Construction Company.
Instructions
1. Do everything in Word and Excel.
2. Have a cover-sheet with your names, homework number and date.
3. Draw project networks using Word or Excel’s drawing features. If you use Excel, paste networks into your Word document.
5. All networks should have arrows; all activities should be labeled.
6. Submit on Canvas.
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