Edinburgh Tram System Scenario: This scenario requires you to undertake some programming

activity and present various completed critical path network analysis, barcharts, costings and a time/
cost optimisation. Please note that the scenario described below is wholly hypothetical! As part of
an extension to the Edinburgh Tram system, Edinburgh Council have commissioned the construction
of a new Tram Planning Office. This will be a relatively straightforward steel framed office building, 3
storeys in height. The design of the building has been completed and the land has been acquired.
AsProjectManager,youareresponsibleforplanningtheconstructionphaseoftheproject andfor
overseeing it’s completion. At this stage, one of the planners in your team has already completed a
Project Logic Evaluation for all of the tasks that have been identified for the construction of the
building. This Project Logic Evaluation has now been passed to you for your attention (refer
toAppendix 1). Additionally, another plannerin yourteam has completed estimations of task
durations based on the normal working practices. The planner has adopted a PERT strategy and
therefore has reported anOptimistic,Most Likely andPessimistic duration for each of the tasks. These
durations, together with the daily costs for the normal methods of operation are included in
Appendix 2. The planner has also reported ‘crash’ durations which could be achieved for some of the
tasks in the project if additionalresources are deployed on those tasks.These ‘crash’durations,
together with the total additional costs of the resources necessary to achieve them are also reported
in Appendix 2. Materials costs are not included since these are expected to remain the same
regardless of how the project is executed. Youare nowrequired to perform theplanning and
scheduling tasks that are described below : Scenario Questions (i) Complete the network analysis for
the tram planning office project using the project logic diagram that is provided in Appendix 1, based
on the ‘Expected Durations’ for each task, which can be determined from the task data that is
forwarded in Appendix 2. (ii) Producea Linked Bar-chart
thatpresentsasummaryofthe‘normal’projectprogramme. (iii) Tothe nearest whole day calculate the
target duration for the construction of the tram planning office building, allowing for a 95%
probability of on time completion. This is the duration that will be agreed with the client for project
handover, and will therefore become the contractual obligation that must bemet. (iv) The tasks
‘Install Drainage’ and ‘Install Piled Foundations’ both require the use of 2 Excavators. Upon
completing the initial planning phase it has been determined that the Subcontractor responsible for
delivering these two tasks has only priced for,and only has access to just 2 excavators for the
duration of their involvement with the project. Youmust now check the initial plan to determine
whether this resource constraint will cause a problem, and if it does, you are required to re-plan the
project logic and complete a revised network analysis and linked bar chart that accommodates the
resource constraint. If appropriate, be sure to to report the consequence that this resource
constraint has upon the overall duration of the project and upon the target duration previously
determined. (v) The project is now underway. However, some technical problems have been
encountered with the installation of the Drainage and the Piled Foundations. As a consequence, the
installation of the drainage took 2 days longer than was planned and the installation of the
PiledFoundations tookanextra3days.Thedirect costsassociated withthesetasksdidnot increase. The
construction of the steel frame has now been completed. This went very smoothly and actually took
the subcontractor 1 day less than what was originally planned. Again, the direct costs for this task
were unchanged. The client has been assured of a specific entry date and this was based on the
target duration determined inpart (iii). The issues that havebeenencountered so farthreaten the
accomplishment of this entry date. For each day the project is late the contract stipulates that there
will be £20,000 of penalty costs. As Project Manager, you have the responsibility to make sure the
remainder of the project is completed optimally. Using the crash data that is presented in Appendix
2, re-plan the remaining tasks in the
project,sothatthemostoptimumsolutionfortheremainderoftheprojectisachieved.
When‘crashing’tasks to determine the optimum solution, you are to assume that it is an‘all or
nothing’scenario;in other words,incremental‘crashing’is not a possibility. Appendix 1 Activity Normal
Duration (Optimistic) (Days) Normal Duration (Most Likely) (Days) Normal Duration (Pessimistic)
(Days) Normal Cost £ per day Expected Crash Duration (Days) Total Additional Cost for crashing to
minimum duration (£) Clear Site 8 10 12 5000 7 5730 Install Drainage 7 10 19 1500 8 16500 Install
Piled Foundations 8 15 22 7000 10 19000 Construct Steel Frame 8 12 22 5000 7 25500 Place Precast
Concrete Floor Slabs 8 9 16 6000 - - Install Roof Finishes 6 10 20 3500 8 9000 Attach External
Cladding Panels 6 8 10 3500 5 19500 Install Internal Partitions 8 10 12 3500 7 6750 Install Electricity
Services 12 15 24 5000 11 12000 Install Drainage and Water Services 8 12 22 3500 10 9000 Install
Raised Floors 8 20 26 3500 - - Install Suspended Ceilings 10 14 24 2500 - - Commission, Clean &
Handover 8 10 12 2000 7 3750 Indirect Costs accumulate at a rate of £4,500 per day. Appendix 2