Reference no: EM132455953

Red Rocket Racer Project

The Beach Basher Bicycle Company specializes in developing and selling a wide range of high-quality comfortable bicycles. Marketing surveyss how that there is a growing demand for commuter bicycles. Beach Basher Bicycle Company's president, Lance Armstrong, is excited about the possibilities and predicts that as the price of gasoline continues to rise, there will be a higher demand by commuters, who will be looking for high quality bikes with character. Beach Basher Bicycleis a small company and uses a strong matrix to optimally utilize limited manpower.

Part I

You are the project manager assigned to develop the new Beach Basher commuter bicycle code named "Red Rocket Racer." Tables 1, 2 and 3 contain the information necessary to create a project schedule. Use the MS Word file "Setting up the Beach Basher Bicycle Project Part 1"instruction sheet located on the Lesson One assignment page to get started.For the purpose of this case assume the following:

1. The project begins January 1, 2016
2. The following holidays are observed on an annual basis: New Years Day, January 1; Memorial Day (last Monday in May);Independence Day, July 4^th; Labor Day (first Monday in September); Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday and Friday in November);Winter Holiday (December 24- 25).
3. If a holiday falls on a Saturday then Friday will be given as an extra day off, and ifit falls on a Sunday, then Monday will be given as a day off.
4. The project team works eight-hour days, Monday through Friday.

The following data concerning personnel and material resources has been assigned or identified to be available for the Red Rocket Racer project team:

Table 1 Resource Pool

Number Available	Resources	Max Units	$/hour
1	Project Manager	100%	$80
4	Marketing Specialists	400%	$60
4	Equipment Engineers	400%	$90
4	PrototypeEngineers	400%	$80
4	ManufacturingEngineers	400%	$70
1	Purchasing Agent	100%	$50
1	Machine Time	100%	$100

Table 2 Production Material

Material	Unit	Unit Price
Tubing	Foot	$20
Tires	Pair	$40
Components	Set	$80
Cables	Foot	$1
Paint	Gallon	$25

Use the datacontained in Tables 1 and2 to assign resources to the project schedule through the resource sheet view.

Your first requirement is to develop a schedule for this project.Enter the project start date, all of the holidays, and ensure that the task type is set to fixed units. Use the resource sheet view to enter the various resources' data to include percent of total units (one person equals 100%). Construct anactivity list, by populating the task names and then assign the resources to each task. Enter the durations andpredecessors last. Don't forget to include a summary task. Do not include any constraints against the individual tasks such as forcing the activity start or finish dates. If an icon shows in the very left hand column, you have a hard constraint, and it must be removed.

Document using MS Word, solutions that answer the following questions in the form of a project journal:

1. How long will the project take to complete in days?On what date is the project estimated to be completed?
2. Discuss why the critical path for the project ended up as it did, and what this means.
3. Identify two sensible places where activities could be inserted as milestones and explain your choices. Then go into your MS Project file Part 1 and insert those milestones.
4. Compare the advantages/disadvantages of displaying the schedule as a network diagram versus a Gantt chart.
5. How much is the project estimated to cost to complete?
6. What single activity is estimated to cost the most to complete, and what is that cost?
7. What single resource commands the greatest total cost?
8. During which month of the project are the highest and lowest costs expected to occur? What are those costs?
9. From your business management classes; what likely types of costs can you think of that are not contained within this project's budget?
10. List several risks that may be encountered, and what steps you would take to mitigate these risks.
    1. Such as: Availability of Raw Materials; Regulatory Specifications; Resource Availability