Reference no: EM132220172 , Length: word count:600

ASSIGNMENT - Project Resourcing

In Part 1 you are asked to examine project timings and dependencies for the prototype build phase of a Drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) as well as resourcing requirements. Part 2 addresses project costing per Work Package. Part 3 concerns innovation and Product Development and the commercial aspects.

Address the following:

Part 1 - Activity timings and resourcing

The activities for the Prototype Build Phase of the Drone development project are:

Prototype Build Phase Activity	Follows	Staff Level*	Optimistic time (ta)	Most likely time (tm)	Pessimistic time (tb)
A: Drone Frame	-	1	5	8	13
B: Electronics assembly	A	2	6	11	15
C: Motor testing	A	1	7	10	13
D: Mounting the motors	C	2	2	3	6
E: ESS Elec speed control	B, D	1	4	7	12
F: Flight controller	C	2	4	6	9
G: Integration with GPS	E, F	1	3	5	7
H: Hovering algorithms	E, F	1	5	8	14
I: Intelligence gathering paths	E,F	2	4	7	11
J: Ready for field trails	G, H, I	-	-	-	-

*Note: Materials are half of labour costs; equipment costs a quarter and transport an eigth.

Examine the tables with project path/ activity data provided below. You are asked to review a 'sub-project' that comprises three paths Path A, Path B and Path C where A, B and C are the last 3 digits (non-zero, non-repeating) of your student id:

Path Routings
Path 1	Path 2	Path 3	Path 4	Path 5
A-B-E-G-J	A-C-D-E-G-J	A-C-F-G-J	A-B-E-H-J	A-C-D-E-H-J
Path 6	Path 7	Path 8	Path 9
A-C-F-H-J	A-B-E-I-J	A-C-D-E-I-J	A-C-F-I-J

a) Demonstrate that you can establish priorities and plan projects using PERT charts and Gantt charts - examine the activity timings (in days) and dependencies of your sub-project using the project planning technique of CPM.

b) Assess how likely it is that the sub-project will be completed in 32 days?

Part 2 - Project costings

a) Examine (tabulate and discuss) the costing implications of activity time variance -consider Work Package costings and the overall Prototype Build Phase budget given a labour rate of E150/day.

b) Discuss briefly your ideas on organising the project (its resources etc..).

Part 3 - Project financials

a) Given that the workshop to support this business activity will incur Fixed Costs of £1.25 Million which is a negative Cash Flow in Year 0 - calculate the yearly Cash Flows during Years 1 - 5 (preferably tabulated) given that yearly net incomes (after deducting costs) will be £4MN,000 annually (where MN are the last two digits of your student id).

b) Examine the cash flow profile for the project and calculate the Payback Period and ROI (Return on Investment). Comment on these results and demonstrate how the forecast might be revised to make it more acceptable.

c) How worthwhile is this project if you take into account the 'Time Effect of Money' (10% discount factor)?

Note - Just need part 2 - 500 words for b and around a 100 - 200 for a, as it's just commenting on the results.

Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar