Dr. John Watage, deputy director of the family planning Research Center in Niger
ID: 451615 • Letter: D
Question
Dr. John Watage, deputy director of the family planning Research Center in Nigeria’s Over-The-River Providence, was assigned the task of organizing and training five teams of field workers to perform educational and outreach activities as part of a large project to demonstrate acceptance of a new method of birth control. These workers already had training in family planning education but must receive specific training regarding the new method of contraception. Two types of materials must also be prepared: (1) those for use in training the workers and (2) those for distribution in the field. Training faculty must be brought in and arrangements made for transportation and accommodations for the participants. Dr. Watage first called a meeting of his office staff. Together they identified the activities that must be carried out, their necessary sequences, and the time that they would require. Their results are displayed in Table 1. Louis Odaga, the chief clerk, noted that their project had to be completed in 29 days. Whipping out his solar-powered calculator, he added up the time needed. “no,” Dr. Watage replied, “some of these tasks can go forward in parallel.” “Be careful, though,” warned Mr. Oglagadu, the chief nurse, “there aren’t that many of us to go around. There are only 12 of us in this office.” “I can check whether we have enough heads and hands once I have tentatively scheduled the activities,” Dr. Watage responded. “If the schedule is too tight, I have permission from the Pathminder Fund to spend some funds to speed it up, just so long as I can prove that it can be done at the least cost necessary. Can you help me prove that? Here are the costs for the activities with the elapsed time that we planned and the costs and times if we shorten them to an absolute minimum.” Those data are given Table 2.
Table 1 Family Planning Research Center Activities
Activity
Immediate
Predecessor
Time
(Days)
Staffing
Needed
A. Identify faculty and their schedules
---
6
2
B. Arrange transport to base
---
8
3
C. Identify and collect training materials
---
4
4
D. Arrange accommodations
A
3
2
E. Identify team
A
7
5
F. Bring in team
B, E
5
2
G. Transport faculty to base
A, B
3
3
H. Print program material
C
6
7
I. Have program materials delivered
H
7
3
J. Conduct training program
D, F, G, I
10
0
K. Perform fieldwork training
J
10
0
Table 2 Family Planning Research Center Costs
Activity
Normal
Time (days)
Crash
Time (days)
Cost per day
to crash ($)
A
6
3
3,000
B
8
4
4,000
C
4
2
3,000
D
3
1
2,000
E
7
3
6,000
F
5
1
2,000
G
3
1
3,500
H
6
4
10,000
I
7
1
7,000
J
10
9
5,500
K
10
5
4,500
Discussion Questions
Some of the tasks in this project can be done in parallel. Prepare a diagram showing the required network of tasks and define the critical path. What is the length of the project without crashing?
At this point (Normal Time), can the project be done given the personnel constraints of 12 persons?
If the critical path is longer than 29 days, what is the least additional amounting that Dr. Watage can spend and still achieve this schedule objective (29 days)?
Activity
Immediate
Predecessor
Time
(Days)
Staffing
Needed
A. Identify faculty and their schedules
---
6
2
B. Arrange transport to base
---
8
3
C. Identify and collect training materials
---
4
4
D. Arrange accommodations
A
3
2
E. Identify team
A
7
5
F. Bring in team
B, E
5
2
G. Transport faculty to base
A, B
3
3
H. Print program material
C
6
7
I. Have program materials delivered
H
7
3
J. Conduct training program
D, F, G, I
10
0
K. Perform fieldwork training
J
10
0
Explanation / Answer
Based on the relationships between the activities, the paths and the critical path is as follows:
Critical path A--E--F--J--K duration 38 days other paths are A--G--J--K, A--D--J--K, B--F--J--K, B--G--J--K, and C--H--I--J--K
Resource requirements as per earliest start of all activities is as follows:
In order to reduce the project completion time from 38 days to 29 days, firstly choose the critical activities and then compare crashing cost and select the one having minimum cost of crashing and repeat the process.
First choice is crash F by one day at additional cost of $2000. Now with project duration 37 days have C--H--I--J--K also critical path, therefore further reduction needs to be done cosidering both the critical paths. Now the best choice is K so crash it by 5 days at cost $22,500(4500*5). Project duration is reduced to 32 days with no change in the critical paths.Now we need to crash both C&F at cost of $5,000/day for two days. Next choice is J, crash it by one day at additional cost of $5,500 and project duration is 29 days.
Therefore total cost of crashing is $40,000 ( C by two days $6000, F by 3days $6000, J by 1day $5,500 and K by 5days $22,500)
.
Activity Predecessor Normal Time Staff Crash Time Crash cost/day ES EF LS LF Slack A. --- 6 2 3 3,000 0 6 0 6 0 B. --- 8 3 4 4,000 0 8 5 13 5 C. --- 4 4 2 3,000 0 4 1 5 1 D. A 3 2 1 2,000 6 9 15 18 9 E. A 7 5 3 6,000 6 13 6 13 0 F. B, E 5 2 1 2,000 13 18 13 18 0 G. A, B 3 3 1 3,500 8 11 15 18 7 H. C 6 7 4 10,000 4 10 5 11 1 I. H 7 3 1 7,000 10 17 11 18 1 J. D, F, G, I 10 0 9 5,500 18 28 18 28 0 K. J 10 0 5 4,500 28 38 28 38 0Related Questions
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