MGT 611 – Project Analytics
Assignment 2
Question 1
A project is made of 6 activities:
| Activity | A | B | C | D | E | F |
| Duration (in days) | 14 | 9 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 5 |
| Predecessors | — | A | A | B | C,D | D |
Use Solver to find the project duration.
Question 2
Bob is a manager for a company that is considering four projects for possible adoption. Bob has estimated the cost per year for each project and the value of each project using a project score; these cost estimates and scores are presented in the table below.
Bob wants to select a project portfolio that maximizes the total score (the sum of project scores of all selected projects), subject to the budget constraints.
| Project | Year
1 |
Year
2 |
Year
3 |
Year
4 |
Year
5 |
Project score |
| Project A | $ 40 | $ 10 | $ 20 | $ 20 | — | 0.741 |
| Project B | $ 65 | $ 36 | $ 35 | $ 25 | $ 30 | 0.845 |
| Project C | $ 50 | $ 18 | $ 10 | — | — | 0.353 |
| Project D | $ 20 | $ 10 | $ 20 | $ 20 | — | 0.507 |
| Project E | $ 10 | $ 25 | $ 25 | $ 25 | — | 0.715 |
| Project F | $ 50 | $ 25 | $ 25 | $ 25 | — | 0.755 |
| Project G | $ 5 | $ 10 | $ 10 | $ 10 | — | 0.258 |
| Available funds | $120 | $ 60 | $ 50 | $ 55 | $ 60 |
- Given the above constraints, using Solver, which projects should Bob recommend for funding?
- Assume that Bob has the choice of delaying some of the projects as long as all selected projects would be completed within the five year timeframe. For example, the company can decide to start Project A in Year 2 (instead of Year 1) so it would end in Year 5 (instead of Year 4).
Also, once a project starts, it cannot be further delayed ‘midstream’ (for example, if Project C is delayed to start in Year 2, it will be finished in Year 4).
Remember that you cannot execute any of the projects more than once.
Which projects should be selected now and should Bob recommend that any project(s) be delayed; and if so, which one(s)? You must use (only) one Solver run to find the answer.