You are presented with the following problem that involves the design and launch of an engineered product by a company in

NSW$,$ Australia.

Table $1$:

Activity

ID Activity Description Duration Predecessors Resources

$1$ Customer requirements $30$ days $-$ PRDT

$2$ Define design goals $10$ days $1$ DSGN$[2],$ PRDT$,$ QUAL $,$MANU

$3$ Preliminary product design $20$ days $2$ DSGN$[2],$ QUAL, MANU, ENGA$[2],$ PRDT

$4$ Preliminary process design $15$ days $3$ QUAL, DSGN$,$ ENGA, PROC

$5$ Develop engineering drawings $15$ days $2$ DSGN$[2],$ ENGA$[3],$ QUAL

$6$ Develop material specifications $10$ days $5$ DSGN$[2],$ ENGA$[2]$

$7$ Find suppliers $15$ days $6$ DSGN$,$ SUPL, ENGA

$8$ Order prototype material $5$ days $7$ SUPL, ENGA$[2]$

$9$ Receive prototype material $40$ days $8$

$10$ Assembly line fixtures $20$ days $4$ MANU, PROC, DSGN$,$ ENGA$[2]$

$11$ Preliminary product cost $5$ days $7$ FINA

$12$ Set up assembly line $15$ days $10$ MANU, PROC, ENGA$[2]$

$13$ Set up test equipment $15$ days $12$FF ENGA$[2],$ QUAL

$14$ Build prototype $10$ days $9,12,13$ DSGN$,$ ENGA$[3],$ MANU, SUPL

$15$ Test Prototype $40$ days $14$ QUAL, DSGN$[2],$ ENGA$[2]$

$16$ Update engineering drawings $10$ days $15$ DSGN$,$ ENGA$[2]$

$17$ Update process design $10$ days $15$ PROC, DSGN$[2],$ ENGA$[2]$

$18$ Order production material $5$ days $16$ SUPL, MANU, DSGN

$19$ Receive production material $40$ days $18$

$20$ Develop quality system $5$ days $19$FF QUAL

$21$ Develop packing specifications $5$ days $16$ DSGN$[2],$ ENGA$[2],$ QUAL

$22$ Conduct production trial run $5$ days $17,19,21$ QUAL, MANU, PROC, DSGN$,$ ENGA$[2]$

$23$ Conduct product validation test $40$ days $22$ DSGN$[2],$ ENGA$[2],$ MANU

$24$ Finalise engineering drawings $10$ days $23$ DSGN$[2],$ ENGA$[2]$

$25$ Finalise process design $10$ days $22$ PROC, DSGN$,$ ENGA

$26$ Production build $5$ days $24,25$ DSGN$,$ QUAL, PROC, ENGA$[2]$

$27$ Ship parts for customer validation $5$ days $26$ SUPL, PROC

Table $2$:

Resource $($staff$)$ Abbreviation Availability Rate$/$Hour

Product Management PRDT $1$ $$150$

Design Engineering DSGN $2$ $$100$

Quality Engineering QUAL $1$ $$90$

Process Engineering PROC $1$ $$80$

Supply Chain Management SUPL $1$ $$80$

Manufacturing MANU $1$ $$90$

Finance FINA $1$ $$100$

Engineering Assistant ENGA $3$ $$80$

Project Infrastructure $($Overhead Costs$)$ OH $$10$

# Consider overtime penalty rate as $50\%$

Section A: Instructions for Completing the MS Project Tasks and Interpretation of Results:

$1.$ Create a new file and enter the project title. Ensure the author's name and student number are entered in the appropriate field to

be displayed in all printouts and reports. Ensure all text within charts is reasonably legible.

$2.$ Fix the start of the project to your birth date next year. Include this in your assumptions list.

$3.$ Set the environment to a $40-$hour week, $5$ working days per week, and the working day starts at $8$ am$.$ Account for any nonworking times and public holidays, as applicable to NSW$.$ Include a graphic in the report to show that you have entered all the

holidays in the project calendar.

$4.$ Create the resources sheet with the appropriate resource type, maximum availability and pay rates, as applicable.

$5.$ Enter the tasks, durations and dependencies.

$6.$ Enter the resources. Produce a Gantt chart to include in your report.

$7.$ View the Resource Graph and note any over$-$allocations. Generate a report for each of the resources concerned, to clearly show

over$-$allocations. If a particular resource is not showing any over$-$allocations, make sure to identify them in the report as such.

$8.$ Investigate appropriate $$levelling options$$ within MS Project for the following scenarios and keep a record of the options

applied in each scenario. Note the effect on project duration and cost in each scenario. Produce Gantt charts and project statistics#

for each scenario to include in your report.

I. Resource$-$constrained: completing the project within the shortest possible time without adding more resources $($i$.$e$.$

explore levelling options within MS project$)$

II$.$ Time$-$constrained: completing the project by the initial completion date $($as in step $6)$ at the lowest possible cost.

a$)$ by bringing in the minimal required amount of additional resources

b$)$ by allowing relevant resources to work overtime

$9.$ Produce a cost report for this project, showing the costs at activity, resource and project levels to include in the report. Only

include elements of the report that convey useful information to the reader.

Section B: Assessment Report $$ You are required to submit a PDF copy of your report, along with MS Project files

The report shall be a focused discussion of the issues involved, solutions proposed, and lessons learnt in completing the exercise,

and must demonstrate an understanding of the use of MS Project as well as its limitations$,$ as you experienced. The report should

follow the format of a typical technical report $($using a structure with appropriate headings and a table of contents; include the

word count on the title page$).$ An introduction, problem definition, the solution approach followed and a discussion of t