ASSESSMENT 1 PART A: Client Brief A Setting Up and Planning Project LUNAR ROVER UPGRADE

Please use MS Project to resolve the problem presented below. BACKGROUND

International and commercial partnerships are a critical component of NASAs long-term plans on and around the Moon under the Artemis program. The agency recently signed a new agreement with the Australian Space Agency that will further support human and robotic lunar operations for both countries. As part of the agreement, a consortium of Australian businesses and research organizations will develop a small rover that can operate on the lunar surface. The rover would have the ability to pick up and transfer lunar regolith (broken rock and dust) to a NASA-operated in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) system on a commercial lunar lander. Such a rover could fly to the Moon as early as 2023.

The Lunar Rover requires a software update that enables the current Rover hardware to target its sample gathering more accurately. This upgrade will enable the Rover to target its meteorological sampling head to within <5 millimetres anywhere on the lunar surface. The upgrade will also improve the energy efficiency of the Rover unit. The project will produce a new system to replace those currently in the field. The new system is critical to 60% of future mission activities as not only does it improve the efficiency and reduce costs of future missions - it is also easier to update with future technologies. The project must be completed and fully tested before SPACEX's currently unannounced and confidential SN20 unmanned shuttle mission.

Assume the following:

• The project start date is the first working day in January 2023.
• The Australian business that is part of the Artemis program consortium is located in Queensland, Australia, and the project will be run out of their base of Australian operations in the Brisbane CBD.
• The project team works eight hours daily, Monday through to Friday
• All government gazetted public holidays are observed.
• All tasks are set as Fixed Duration

The WBS activities for the project can be nested as follows.

Software development
	Develop software specs
	Software design and coding
	Software documentation
Hardware
	Order circuit boards
	Assemble preproduction models
	Hardware driver updates
Operating System
	Update kernel specs
	Kernel re-design and coding
	Disk Drivers
	Update shell specs
	Implement shell changes
System integration
	Kernel-shell integration testing and approval
	Software-OS integration testing and approval
	Finalise project documentation

Table . 1

The project activity durations and precedences are as follows:

ID	NA ME	DURATION (Days)	PREDECESSORS
1	Develop software specs	50
2	Software design and coding	60	1
3	Software documentation	70	2
4	Order Circuit boards	5
5	Assemble Preproduction Models	30	4FS+50days
6	Hardware driver updates	42	2, 8
7	Update kernel specs	20
8	Kernel re-design and coding	55	7
9	Disk Drivers	100	7
10	Update shell specs	27	7
11	Implement shell changes	50	10
12	Kernel-shell integration testing and approval	50	8, 11
13	Software-OS integration testing and approval	45	2, 6, 12
14	Finalise project documentation	50	12, 13

Table . 2

The personnel who have been assigned full time to the Lunar Rover Upgrade project are as follows.

Resource Type	Number of Resources	Rate $/hr
Design Engineer	1	100
Development Engineer	2	70
Documentation Specialist	1	60
Test Specialist	1	70
OS Specialist	1	180
Purchasing Officer	1	40

Table . 3

The resource assignments are as follows.

Task Name	Resource Names
Develop software specs	Design Engineer [100%],Development Engineer[100%]
Software design and coding	Design Engineer [100%],Development Engineer[100%]
Software documentation	Documentation [100%], Design Engineer [100%]
Order Circuit Boards	Purchasing Officer [100%]
Assemble preproduction models	Test Specialist [100%], Development Engineer [100%]
Hardware driver updates	Development Engineer[100%]
Update kernel specs	Design Engineer[100%],OS Specialist[100%]
Kernel re-design and coding	Development Engineer[100%],OS Specialist[100%]
Disk Drivers	Test Specialist [100%], Development Engineer [100%], OS Specialist[100%]
Update shell specs	OS Specialist[100%]
Implement shell changes	Development Engineer[100%]
Kernel-shell integration testing and approval	OS Specialist[100%],Test Specialist[100%]
Software-OS integration testing and approval	Design Engineer[100%],Test Specialist[100%]
Finalise project documentation	Development Engineer[100%],Test Specialist[100%]

Table . 4

PART A: Initial Project Planning - Scheduling, Resource Allocation & Levelling

In this assignment you will be simulating preparing for your first meeting with the project sponsors. To do this, answer the questions that follow and submit your answers as a separate section to your memo.

Begin by entering the tasks, durations and resource details and construct a schedule for this project. Ensure that the tasks are nested appropriately and that the WBS is codified. Ensure that auto levelling is turned off at the start of this exercise.

1 Without attempting to level resources at this point identify the project start, estimated project completion date, the

project duration, the overall project cost and the critical path (expressed using Activity Names)? Note that it is not

sufficient to just show these on the Gantt chart you must provide written answers in your submission (3 marks)

2 Investigate if any of the resources are over-allocated, identify who they are, when they are over-allocated (be specific

provide dates) and explain why they are overallocated (be specific provide tasks and hours that cause the overallocation)? (10 marks)

3 To report this overallocation to the project sponsors you must choose a way to demonstrate the overallocation

effectively. Generate a report or chart to demonstrate which resource is overallocated, by how much it is overallocated and when the overallocation occurs. There are several ways in which this can be done. Select a chart which most effectively and efficiently communicates the required information (5 marks for the most suitable choice)

4 Assume that the project is time constrained and try to resolve the problem by levelling within slack. (6 marks)

1. What happens to the completion date, duration, and resource overallocation and what happens to the sensitivity of the network?
2. Explain why the outcomes achieved in part a above occur?

5 Assume that the project is resource constrained and no additional personnel are available. In addition, assume that no

manual task splitting is allowed. How long will the project take given the resources assigned (ie identify the duration and completion date)? (HINT: undo any prior levelling performed before answering this question). (2 marks)

6 Produce and print a Gantt chart which effectively consolidates all the key information associated with your resource

constrained solution and which shows the critical path for this project. Include it as an attachment to your report. You will also need to upload the MS Project file for this solution to Moodle along with your report (5 marks for those that

follow all format and nesting requirements)

7 Create a memo for the project sponsors summarising the outcomes of your findings and offering them your

recommendations as the project manager. Make sure that you compare the time constrained and the resource constrained schedules and discuss what this tells you about the impact that resources can have on a schedule. Ensure that you refer to each of the charts that you generate previously in the memo to support your recommendation and that you follow the memo structure requirements provided in the memo template. (5 marks)

GRADING GUIDELINE Note: The weight for each question is identified above. If students fail to follow the formatting requirements, then 1 mark will be deducted for each failure in compliance, regardless of the accuracy of the response. If charts fail to comply with any technical requirements (eg all the information required in a valid Gantt chart is present) then 1 mark will be deducted for each failure in compliance.