What are the key traits and differences of Project and Review Technique (PERT)/Critical Path Method (CPM)?

This is the Final Assignment, carrying the weight of 60% towards your overall grade. If you miss the deadline then UNICAF rules on late submission/non-submission come into effect. The exercises of this exam are worth up to total of 100 points.

Instructions:

· Please download the assignment brief, create a word document for all answers and submit it using the corresponding submission link.

·  Write the answer for each exercise on a separate page and indicate the number of the question on the top of the page. 

·  You should read the instructions of each question carefully. 

· You must indicate all steps of the calculations and not only provide the answers of the calculations. 

Part A-Short Questions 

Part A consists of five (5) short questions. Each exercise weights five (5) marks.  

Requested: 

1)      When and why should a utility approach be applied?

2)      Explain how the utility could be used in a decision where performance is not measured by monetary value.

3)      What are the key traits and differences of Project and Review Technique (PERT)/Critical Path Method (CPM)?

4)      Why perform sensitivity analysis?

5)      Explain how and why all predecessor activities must be considered when finding the earliest start time. 

Part B- Problems

Follow the instructions illustrated in the beginning of the assignment. Each exercise in Part B weights seven point five (7.5) marks. 

1)      Lucy is in charge of planning and coordinating a project. Following is the activity information for this project. 

 Requested: 

(a)    Construct a precedence diagram.

(b)    Identify the Critical Path(s) and the expected completion time.

(c)    What is the probability that the training program can be completed in 26 weeks?

2)      Following is a table listing the project activities, sequencing requirements, and other relevant information:

 Requested: 

(a)    Construct a network including the Early and Late Start and Finish times.

(b)    Identify the normal Critical Path(s) and the normal expected completion time

(c)      Can the project be crashed to last 18 days? Which activities should be crashed and at what additional cost? 

3)      Amelia Ltd. makes a plastic tricycle that is composed of three major components: a handlebar-front wheel-pedal assembly, a seat and frame unit, and rear wheels. The company has orders for 48,000 of these trikes. Current schedules yield the following information 

The company obviously does not have the resources available to manufacture everything needed for the completion of 24000 tricycles so has gathered purchase information for each component. 

Requested: 

Develop a linear programming model to tell the company how many of each component should be manufactured and how many should be purchased in order to provide 24000 fully completed tricycles at the minimum cost. 

4)      A paint supply company makes three styles of Paint Rollers, regular, deluxe and heavy. All of the types of brushes must pass through 3 machines. The different types of brushes have the following contributions to profit per case and require the following times (in hours) at each machine per case:

 The company has 56 hours available for machine 1, 80 hours for machine 2 and 120 hours for machine 3.

 Requested:

 Assuming that the company is interested in maximizing the total profit contribution, write the linear programming model for this problem.

  5)    A payoff table is given as

 a.            What choice should be made by the optimistic decision maker?

b.           What choice should be made by the conservative decision maker?

c.            What decision should be made under minimal regret?

d.           If the probabilities of d1, d2, and d3 are .2, .5, and .3, respectively, then what choice should be made under expected value?

 6)      For the payoff table below, the decision maker will use P(s1) = .15, P(s2) = .5, and P(s3) =35

a.      What alternative would be chosen according to expected value?

b.      For a lottery having a payoff of 40,000 with probability p and

-15,000 with probability (1-p), the decision maker expressed the following indifference probabilities. 

 Let U(40,000) = 10 and U(-15,000) = 0 and find the utility value for each payoff.

c.   What alternative would be chosen according to expected utility?