SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

GBEPM 520 – PROJECT PLANNING AND CONTROL

SEMESTER TEST

1st October, 2020

TIME ALLOWED: 12 HOURS OPEN-BOOK TAKE-HOME TEST

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

1. Check that you have the correct test paper in front of you.

2. There are Two (2) Questions in this examination paper. Attempt ALL
Questions.

3. The marks for the questions are as indicated.

4. Begin each solution for a question (not sub-questions) on a new page.

5. Submit your Answers by uploading ONE file in either Word or PDF format.

6. Do not share your solutions with other students. All solutions shall be
checked with Turnitin for plagiarism.
QUESTION 1:

The MILLENNIUM CONSTRUCTION COMPANY (MCC) has just made the winning bid of
$5.4 million to construct a new plant for a major manufacturer in the Chambeshi Multi-
Facility Economic Zone (MFEZ) in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The manufacturer
needs the plant to go into operation within a year. Therefore, the contract includes the
following provisions:

• A penalty of $300,000 if MCC has not completed construction by the deadline 47

weeks from now.
• To provide additional incentive for speedy construction, a bonus of $150,000 will be
paid to MCC if the plant is completed within 40 weeks.

MMC is assigning its best project manager, Mr You, to this project to help ensure that it
stays on schedule. He looks forward to the challenge of bringing the project in on
schedule, and perhaps even finishing early. Mr You will need to arrange for a number of
crews to perform the various construction activities at different times. The table below
shows his list of the various activities. The third column provides important additional
information for coordinating the scheduling of the crews.

Activity ID Description Predecessor Estimated Time (Weeks)

A Excavate - 2
B Lay the foundation A 4
C Put up the rough wall B 10
D Put up the road C 6
E Install the exterior plumbing C 4
F Install the interior plumbing E 5
G Put up the exterior siding D 7
H Do the exterior painting E, G 9
I Do the electrical work C 7
J Put up the wallboard F, I 8
K Install the flooring J 4
L Do the interior painting J 5
M Install the exterior fixtures H 2
N Install the interior fixtures K, L 6

(a) Mr You is very much aware of the new stringent site working arrangements as a
response to Covid-19. Therefore, he is doubtful that it will be feasible to finish the
project within 40 weeks without incurring excessive costs. Consequently, he has
decided to focus his initial planning on meeting the deadline of 47 weeks.

1
 Display the project graphically to better visualize the flow of the activities, the total
time required to complete the project, when the individual activities need to start and
finish (at the latest) to meet this project completion time, and when the individual
activities start and finish (at the earliest) if no delays occur. Which are the bottleneck
activities?
[20 marks]

(b) Mr You knows that it is MCC’s policy to avoid penalties as much as possible since
these are detrimental to the company’s reputation, and take advantage of bonuses
where applicable. He knows it would be negligent on his part if he did not investigate
how much extra it would cost to reduce the expected project duration down to 40
weeks (the deadline for the company earning a bonus for early completion). To this
end, he has gathered the following costs shown in the table below. Should Mr You
proceed with expediting the project? Explain your answer.
[30 marks]

Time (weeks) Cost ($)

Activity ID
Normal Crash Normal Crash
A 2 1 180,000 280,000
B 4 2 320,000 420,000
C 10 7 620,000 860,000
D 6 4 260,000 340,000
E 4 3 410,000 570,000
F 5 3 180,000 260,000
G 7 4 900,000 1,020,000
H 9 6 200,000 380,000
I 7 5 210,000 270,000
J 8 6 430,000 490,000
K 4 3 160,000 200,000
L 5 3 250,000 350,000
M 2 1 100,000 200,000
N 6 3 330,000 510,000

2
QUESTION 2:

The Republic of Zambia has revised its energy policy to pave way for private sector
participation in a bid to mitigate the persistent power shortage due to insufficient installed
capacity. Imagine you are a project engineer at one of the companies that has decided to
take up the challenge to participate in the energy sector. One of the projects your
company has embarked on is to construct a Mini-Hydro power plant. Table Q2-1 shows
the work activities necessary to achieve this objective.

Table Q2-1: Power Plant Construction Activities

Activity Id Description Duration (months) Precedence
A Design Plant 12 -
B Select Site 8 A
C Select Vendor 4 A
D Select Personnel 3 A
E Prepare Site 12 B
F Manufacture Generator 18 C
G Prepare Operations Manual 5 C
H Install Generator 4 E, F
I Train Operators 9 D, G
J Obtain License 6 H, I

Using the information provided:

(a) Draw an appropriate network diagram to calculate the shortest time to complete the
project.
[12 marks]
(b) How much slack time is available in the path containing the operations-manual?
[3 marks]

(c) During the planning stage you have determined that by shifting three engineers
from writing the manual (activity G) to assisting with manufacturing (activity F), the
manufacture of the generator would be reduced by three months whereas the
writing of the manual would double. What would be the net effect of these changes
on the project schedule?
[10 marks]
3
Suppose that in order to incorporate a measure of uncertainty in your project schedule
you have sought the judgement of various knowledgeable engineers, works supervisors,
and vendors to develop the time estimates for each activity. Table Q2-2 shows the result
of this consultation.

Table 2: Power Plant Construction Activities’ Time Estimates

Activity Duration in months
Activity Id Description
Optimistic Most Likely Pessimistic
A Design Plant 10 12 16
B Select Site 2 8 36
C Select Vendor 1 4 5
D Select Personnel 2 3 4
E Prepare Site 8 12 20
F Manufacture Generator 15 18 30
G Prepare Operations Manual 3 5 8
H Install Generator 2 4 8
I Train Operators 6 9 12
J Obtain License 4 6 14

(d) What is the probability the project will be finished within four years?
[20 marks]
(e) What is the probability that it will take more than 55 months?
[5 marks]

END OF TEST PAPER