1. Planning is an important and essential activity in many complex jobs in today’s modern world. As complexity increases, the needs of a systematic planning is much more important. You have been...

1.    Planning is an important and essential activity in many complex jobs in today’s modern world. As complexity increases, the needs of a systematic planning is much more important.


You have been awarded a contract to create a customer database for the Fierce Lions football club. You will receive a bonus of £110 a day for completing the project earlier than project deadline estimated from critical path. The contract also contains a penalty clause in which you will lose £80 for each day the project takes longer than estimated deadline. The activity time estimates and their dependencies are shown below in the table:


ID    Description    Predecessor    Duration (days)
FL01    System Design    None    2
FL02    Subsystem A design    FL1    4
FL03    Subsystem B design    FL1    5
FL04    Subsystem C design    FL1    4
FL05    Program A    FL2    3
FL06    Program B    FL3    5
FL07    Program C    FL4    7
FL08    Subsystem A test    FL5    4
FL09    Subsystem B test    FL6    8
FL10    Subsystem C test    FL7    4
FL11    Integration    FL08,FL09,FL10    2
FL12    Integration Test    FL11    1


a)    Construct a network diagram identifying the following: [700 words/Equivalent]    LO1
i.    Earliest Start (ES) – 5 marks
ii.    Earliest Finish (EF) – 5 marks
iii.    Latest Start  (LS) – 5 marks
iv.    Latest Finish (LF) – 5 marks
v.    Slack/Float on each activities – 7 marks

vi.    Critical Path for the project    - 8 marks
vii.    Do you expect to receive a bonus of penalty on this project -5 marks                                (40 marks)




b)    Assume that there is a delay of 3 days in completing activity FL06.  Critically evaluate different possible actions that the Project Manager could take to avoid exceeding the current length of the critical path. [500 words]                    (30 marks)
LO2
2. Critically discuss five factors that can make your