ZED ZUMA PROJECT

PART 1

1. When is the project estimated to be completed? How long will the project take?

The project estimated to be completed on Friday 09/01/2016. It will take 260 days to complete

2. What is the critical path for the project?

This critical path of Red Zuma Project is the task highlighted in red on the Network Diagram
below. This would be the path: 1.1 Market Analysis, 1.2 Product Design, 1.4 Product Design
Selection, 1.7 Detailed Product Design, 1.8 Build Prototype, 1.10 Field Test Prototype, 1.11
Finalize Product Design, 1.12 Final Manufacturing Process, 1.14 Order Production Equipment,
1.15 Install Production Equipment, 1.16 Celebrate

3. Which activity has the greatest amount of slack?

Task 1.5 Detailed Marketing Plan has the greatest amount of slack (179 days)
4. How sensitive is this network?

This project is not sensitive. The project only has one critical path, so it is unlikely that the path
would change once the project begins

5. Identify two sensible milestones and explain your choice

Two sensible milestones to this project would be Task 1.4 Product Design Selection and Task
1.11 Finalize Product Design. Both of these tasks play a major role in the project moving
forward. No other tasks can be completed until the product design is selected. Once you can
move past that task and you get to the finalized product design, the remainder of the project
cannot be completed until the design is finalized

 A Gantt chart.
 A network diagram highlighting the critical path.

 A schedule table reporting ES, LS, EF, LF, and slack for each activity.
PART 2

 Part A
1. Which if any of the resources are overallocated?

The resources that are overallocated in this project are the following: Marketing Specialists,
Design Engineers, and Industrial Engineers.

2. Assume that the project is time constrained and try to resolve any overallocation problems
by leveling within slack. What happens?

It reduced the number of slack days on the Manufacturing Study by 10 days to 0 day. It also
reduced the 179 days of slack on the Details Marketing Plan to 134 days. The Manufacturing
Process went from 55 days to 0 days and the Lab Test Prototypes went from 5 to 0 day. The
Order Components task didn’t change and stayed at 27 days of slack

Before resolve any overallocation problems by leveling within slack

 After resolve any overallocation problems by leveling within slack

3. What is the impact of leveling within slack on the sensitivity of the network? Include a
Gantt chart with the schedule table after leveling within slack.
The Red Zuma Project schedule changed with the leveling because it added in multiple paths as
well as reducing the overall slack days. So the network was becoming more sensitive.

4. Assume that the project is resource constrained and no additional personnel are available.
How long will the project take given the resources assigned? (Hint: Undo leveling
performed in Part A before answering this question.
Assume that the project is resource constrained and no additional personnel are available then
the project time frame will need to be extended to 310 days with the revised completion date of
23/03/2026
5. How does the new duration compare with the estimated completion date generated from
Part 1? What does this tell you about the impact resources can have on a schedule?

The new date is 2 months past the original completion date and added 50 work day to the schedule.
Having the required resources is critical to completing each step of a project on schedule. Major
delays will happen if they are not allocated properly at the start of the project
 Part B
1. What was the impact of introducing Start-to-Start lags to the schedule and budget?

Overall project duration was reduced from 310 days to 290 days and the new completion date is on
4th February 2026. The lag reduces the project duration at no addition cost, hence it doesn’t impact
the project budget. This is due to no changes in the estimated duration of 2 activities; Building
Prototypes and Final Manufacturing Process

2. Which, if any additional personnel assignments, would you choose to complete the project
before the January 17th deadline? Explain your choices as well as the rea- sons for not
choosing other options.
- Overallocated Resources: Design Engineer and Industrial Engineer
- I would like to request for additional industrial engineer since this addition will get the project
to be completed by 15th December 2025 which is before the January 17th deadline while
maintaining cost
- I’m not choosing additional Design Engineer because this addition will get the project to be
completed by 02/03/2026, it doesn’t meet the deadline in January 17th
- Choosing additional Design engineer and Industrial engineer will get the project to be completed
by 15/12/2025 but it is not optimal so I’m not choosing
3. How have these changes affected the sensitivity of the network and the critical path?

These changes help reduce the overal duration of the project from 310 days to 255 days. The
sensitivity of the project’s network increases, and the project has 2 critical paths based on the
current resource sheet. The total and free slack of the project’s tasks that are not on the critical paths
(4 non-critiacal tasks) also have a reduced number of available slack.
PART 3

1. How much will the project cost? What is the most expensive activity?
- The project will cost $903,699.04
- The most expensive activity being Detailed Product Design, costing $190,168.27
2. What does the cash flow statement tell you about how costs are distributed over the life
span of the project
- The trend line is linearly proportional from January 2025 until August 2025. This show that the
project will be labor intensive during the first eight months
PART 4

 Part A
1. How is the project progressing in terms of cost and schedule?

Initially, the project took 255 days (ended on 15/12/2025) to complete and cost needed to
complete is $903,699.04. Now, the project takes 271 days which ends on 15/01/2026 and costs
$939,208.65 to complete.

2. What activities have gone well? What activities have not gone well?

Initially there was no overallocation but after the changes, Detailed Marketing Plan and
Manufacturing Process are overallocated. 5 activities gone well are Market Analysis, Product
Design, Manufacturing Study, Product Design Selection and Detailed Product Design.
3. How much of the project has been accomplished (PCIB)?

Question 3 and 4 will be answered according to the Earned Value Table:

EV 433.281.73
42% of the project has been accomplished: PCIB = = ≈ 0.480
BAC 903.699 .04

4. What is the forecasted cost at completion (EACf)?

The forecasted cost at completion is 977,761.72

5. What is the estimated completion date?

The estimated completion date is on 15/01/2026
6. How is the project doing in terms of priorities (see Part 1)?
 The main priority of the project is time but this schedule cannot be met. The time has increased
from the original estimate of 260 days to 271 days. Therefore, the project is not performing well in
terms of time.
 Part B
1. What is the impact of the revised estimates for Finalized Product Design and Install
Production Equipment on the project schedule and cost?

The completion date is 26/12/2025 while previous completion date is 15/01/2026. The EAC
increase from $977,761.72 to $997,184.13.

Before

2. Would you recommend authorizing the expenditure of $50,000? Explain

No. As the project is getting completed before estimated time, it is not needed to authorize the
expenditure of $50,000.

3. What, if any other recommendations, would you make so that the project can achieve
Robin’s deadline? Justify your recommendations.

No recommendations since the project is getting completed before estimated time.