Overview
Delivering a construction project on schedule is typically one of the main objectives of the project team. When a project falls behind schedule there may be a need to accelerate the project in order to meet the required deadline. Acceleration, compression, and crashing are all terms used to describe the task of shortening the original project schedule depending on the severity of the variance between the desired end date and calculated end date. The purpose of this assignment is to understand the different ways a schedule can be accelerated and how costs are impacted the more a project is accelerated or compressed. Additionally, the assignment will allow you to see the time-cost trade-off that often occurs when crashing a project to its shortest possible duration. You will utilize the readings from Unit 8 to successfully complete this assignment.
Instructions
For the Unit 8 Assignment, you will identify the different accelerating techniques utilized in construction scheduling. You will then perform CPM calculations for a given schedule to determine its overall duration and critical path. Finally, you will crash the schedule to find the least cost and crash durations and explain the time-cost trade-off given the results of the crashed schedule.
Part I: Schedule Acceleration
Imagine you are working for a contractor getting ready to start a new construction project. The project is still in the design phase and the owner has mentioned wanting to complete the project as quickly as possible. Your boss has asked you to come up with suggestions on how to propose accelerating the project to the owner. Using the techniques discussed in the Unit 8 reading, write a report to your boss with at least five different ways to accelerate the project. Discuss the pros and cons of each method and provide a ranking for all your proposed solutions.
Part 2: schedule duration and critical path
A.)Given the activities, predecessor list, and durations provided in Table 1 below, draw the Node Diagram using proper node drawing techniques and the node format presented in the learning activity for Unit 4. Make sure to include start and finish milestones. You may draw the diagram by hand or use a spreadsheet software similar to Excel or Google Sheets
B.)Perform the following CPM Calculations: Forward Pass, Backward Pass, Total Float, Free Float.
C.)Highlight the critical path and identify the project duration.
Part III: Crashing a Project Schedule
Your boss has challenged you to try and save either time or money on your next project. They have asked you to determine what is the absolute shortest schedule possible for the project and how much it will cost to achieve the crashed schedule. Your boss also wants to see if there is a way to shorten the schedule but also reduce costs. You have already pulled together the data in Table 2 below.
A.)Determine all possible paths from start to finish for the project and the duration for each of those paths.
B.)Create a time-cost trade-off calculation table. See the examples in the textbook for assistance. Complete the table by calculating the change in days, change in cost, and change in cost per change in days. Create five columns for the days shortened per cycle.
C.)Perform the steps to crash the schedule to its shortest possible duration and determine the normal cost, least-cost, and crash cost along with the corresponding durations for each cost. The indirect costs are $105 per day.
D.)Write a report to your boss summarizing the results of your work and provide a recommendation for the project. Make sure to explain how the different types of costs are affected by the crashing of the schedule.