Companies usually estimate work based upon man-months. If the work must be estimated in man-weeks, the man-month is then converted to man-weeks. The problem is in the determination of how many man-hours per month are actually available for actual direct labor work.
Your company has received a request for proposal (RFP) from one of your customers and management has decided to submit a bid. Only one department in your company will be required to perform the work and the department manager estimates that 3000 hours of direct labor will be required.
Your first step is to calculate the number of hours available in a typical man-month. The Human Resources Department provides you with the following yearly history for the average employee in the company:
● Vacation (3 weeks)
● Sick days (4 days)
● Paid holidays (10 days)
● Jury duty (1 day)
a. How many direct labor hours are available per month per person?
b. If only one employee can be assigned to the project, what will be the duration of the effort, in months?
c. If the customer wants the job completed within one year, how many employees should be assigned?