Module 10
Chapters 8 and 9 deal with allocating two resources, one resource is time, and one resource is everything else. For both chapters, you need to work through the examples by hand, to enhance your understanding. You will then need to integrate that with Microsoft Project 2013, which has some useful computer methods.
Up to Section 9.5, Chapter 9 is fairly logical and flows from the scheduling notions you learned in Chapter 8. If you want to shorten the duration of a project, you must shorten the duration of tasks that are on the critical path. Of course as you shorten some tasks, the critical path may change. In Chapter 9 you simply tie the costs of "shortening" or "crashing" the tasks to what effect it has on the critical path and try to optimize - decreasing the job duration at the lowest cost. Presumably you know how much you lose each day the job is late so that you can balance the costs of late completion versus the costs of crashing. As long as the only resources you are concerned about are time and money, the analysis is fairly straight forward. You precede by trial and error, crashing tasks and analyzing the effect of each incremental crash on the duration and cost. You use the CPM scheduling of MS Project to reanalyze the schedule after each increment. MS Project does not, however, optimizing crashing. It is a great help with trial and error solutions, but does not do it for you.
If the resource you are concerned about is not money, but people, machines or similar resource, MS Project will do some of this for you. It can rearrange your schedule to "level" the resources. For example if you apply people resources to tasks, and have one type of person, say TIG welders, that you only have a finite amount of, and you assign these to the tasks, MS Project can alter the schedule so these are only used for the amount of time per week they are available. It can do the same with multiple resources, but can only optimize for one, the other resources might be working less than a full week. It does allow you to examine this and helps make decisions about how many TIG welders to hire.
Section 9.5 tries to explain to you the logic your subconscious used in the trial and error process or the algorithm some programs use to optimize resource allocation. Section 9.6 tries to take this to multiple projects. We will not spend much time on these for three reasons: First, there is no one right way to proceed. Second, the subject matter is better suited to Operations Research or similar courses that deal with mathematical theory. Third, although more complex situations certainty exist, most problems of this sort are easily handled by trial and error.
Here is a definition of the word heuristic . (A word I use less often the "pedagogy.") Note "rule-of-thumb" is often a synonym of heuristic, but not always.
You should read section 9.6, but "it will not be on the final."
Whenever possible do these in Project. The second best common program is Excel, and Word is far and away the worst. But, in Excel, pay careful attention to labeling.
From here out you often need to send me several documents in the homework. Please package the problems and label them according to the below.
Chapter 9
You will send in one Excel spread sheet. Label it HW10_Lastname.xls, (use your last name) and several Project files, labeled as described below.
Chapter 9, Problem 3. Send a Project file labeled HW10_3NORM_Lastname.mpp for part "a.". Just before you save, be sure it is in the "schedule" table view and the Gantt chart. For part b, use Excel and label the sheet (at the bottom, the tab that now says "sheet 1") 9-3. For these problems you have to "play" with the numbers in Excel and the schedule in Project. Set up the numbers problem in Excel on the left in columns "normal" and "crash", then get the "crash cost per day (or week)" then set up a schedule column labeled"adjust." In this column, put the scheduled days you are testing and next their cost. Then go to Project and eyeball the Gantt chart. You start by putting all the crash durations into Project, then "uncrashing" all the non-critical events, but don't make them longer than their original (normal) duration. You can do this by using your cursor directly on the bars in the Gantt chart view. Then back to Excel, change the "adjust" column, look at the new cost. Several iterations and a little logic and you come to the minimum cost. When you think you are there, you take the Project file, insert the "adjust" durations, and make sure you have the correct project duration. Label this HW10_3FINAL_Lastname.mpp.
Chapter 9, Problem 7. Similar to 9-3. Send in a Project file labeled HW10_7_Lastname.mpp and the spreadsheet with 9-7 sheet label. The Project file will have only the final schedule with the adjusted durations.
Chapter 9, Problem 10. Save your Project file, but do not send it. Put your work into the Excel sheet labeled 9-10.
End of Module