Read the Analytics Exercise: Product Design Project presented in Ch$.4.$

Use techniques and tools related to project management including project network analysis, time estimates, and earned value analysis discussed in Ch$.4$ of the text.

Analyze the project and the proposed project changes.

Prepare a presentation to management on the project and include:

The impact of the changes

Recommendations for moving forward with the project

Analytics Exercise: Product Design Project

You work for a company that maken cell phones and have been made project manager for the design of a new cell phone. Your

supervisors have already scoped the project, so you have a list showing the work breakdown structure, and this includes major project

activities. You must plan the project schedule and calculate project duration. Your boss wants the schedule tomorrow morning!

You haw been given the information in $[$ Exhibit $4\mathrm{.}13.$ It includes all the activities required in the project and the duration of each

activity. Also, dependencies between the activities have been identifled. Remember that the paeceding activity must be fully completed

befoce work on the following activity can be started.

Exhlart $493$ Work Breskdown Strueture and Activiles for the Cel Phone Design Project

Your project is divided into the major subprojects. Subproject $\text{'}$P$"$ insolves developing speciftcations for the new oell phone. Here,

decisions related to such things as battery life, size of the phone, and features need to be made. These details are based on how a

customer uses the cell phone. These uver specifications are redeffed in terms that have meaning to the suboontractors that will actually

make the new cell phone in subproject $""$ supplier specifications. These involve engineering details for how the product will perform.

The individual components that make up the product are the focus of subproject $\text{'}D."$ Subproject $\text{'}T\text{'}$ brings all the components

together, and a working prototype is built and tested.

Finally, in subproject $"$V$,"$ suppliers are selected and contracts are aegotiated.

Draw: a project natwork that includes all the activities.

Calculate the start and fnish times for each activity and determine the minimum number of weeks for completing the project. Find

the activities that are on the critical path for completing the project in the shortest time.

Identify slack in the activities not on the project critical path.

You have been ashed to study the impact of making two changes to how the project is organized. The frat change involves using

dedicated teams that would work strictly in parallel on the activities in each subproject. For example, in subproject $P($product

specifications$)$ the team would wodk on P$1,$ P$2,$ P$3,$ and P$4$ all in parallel. In other words, there would be no precedence relationships

within a subproject$-$all takks within a subproject would be worked on at the same time and each would take the same amount of time

as originally specifed. With this new design, all the subprojects would be done sequeatially with P done first, then S$,$ D$,$ I, and finally

V$.$ What would be the expected impact on how long it would take to complete the project if this change were made?

The second change to consider would be to select the suppliess during subproject $P$ and have them work directly with the dedicated

teams as described in step $4.$ This would imolve adding an additional activity to subproject $P$ called supplier selection and contract

negotiation $($P$5)$ with a duration of $12$ wells. This new activity would be done in parallel with P$1,$ P$2,$ P$3,$ and P$4.$ Subprojects S and

V would be eliminated from the project. What would be the expected impact on how long it would take to complete the project if this

additional change were made?

Evaluate the impact of making these changes using criteria ocher than just the time to complete the project. Do you think it would be

best to try to mabe these changes in how the frrm runs this and future cell phone design projects?