Question

Mary County Bank

Mary County Bank operates three branches in the southeast. Jesus is the Vice President of Information Technology at the bank, has recently been charged by the bank’s president to develop a Website to promote bank services, to provide access to customer account information, and to allow individuals to apply online for loans and credit cards.

Jesus decided to assign this project to Miriam, one of two directors in the information technology group. Since Mary County Bank did not currently have a presence on the Web, Jesus and Miriam agreed that an appropriate starting point for the project would be for the project team to benchmark existing Websites in order to gain a better understanding of the state-of-the-art in this area. At the conclusion of their first meeting, Jesusasked Miriam to prepare a rough estimate of how long this project would take and how much it would cost if it were pursued at a normal pace. Noting that the president appeared particularly anxious to launch the Website, Jesus also requested that Miriam prepare a time and budget estimate related to launching the Website as quickly as possible.

During the first project team meeting, the team identified seven major tasks associated with the project. The first task was to benchmark existing Websites. The team estimated that completing this task at normal pace would likely require 10 days at a cost of $15,000. However, the team estimated that this task could be completed in as few as seven days at a cost of $18,750 if the maximum allowable amount of overtime was used.

Once the benchmark study was completed, a project plan and project definition document would need to be prepared for top management approval. The team estimated that this task could be completed in five days at a cost of $3,750 working at a normal pace or in three days at a cost of $4,500.

When the project received the approval of top management, the Website design could begin. The team estimated that Website design would require 15 days at a cost of $45,000 using no overtime or 10 days at a cost of $58,500 using all allowable overtime.

After the Website design was complete, three tasks could be carried out simultaneously: (1) developing the Website’s database, (2) developing and coding the actual Web pages, and (3) developing and coding the Website’s forms. The team estimated that database development would require 10 days and cost $9,000 using no overtime, but could be completed in seven days at a cost of $11,250 using overtime. Likewise, the team estimated that developing and coding the Web pages would require 10 days and cost $15,000 using no overtime or could be reduced by two days at a total cost of $19,500. Developing the forms was to be subcontracted out and would take seven days at a cost of $8,400. The organization that was to be used to create the forms does not provide an option for paying more for rush jobs.

Finally, once the database was developed, the Web pages coded, and the forms created, the entire Website would need to be tested and debugged. The team estimated that this would require three days at a cost of $4,500. Using overtime, the team estimated that the testing and debugging task could be reduced by a day at a total cost of $6,750.

Draw a Network Diagram for this project.

Answer 1

The question involves drawing a Network Diagram for a project described with seven major tasks. As a text-based response does not allow for graphical content, a description of the sequential and concurrent task relations was provided instead, explaining how to structure the network from the initial benchmarking task to the final testing and debugging stage.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student asked about drawing a Network Diagram for a project at Mary County Bank involving the development of a new website. To construct the Network Diagram, we need to consider the sequence of tasks and their dependencies. This diagram is crucial in project management as it helps visualize the order of tasks and can be used to estimate the total project duration, including identifying the critical path.

Unfortunately, as a text-based platform, we cannot provide a visual diagram. However, to create the diagram, one should start with the first task, benchmarking existing websites, and proceed sequentially through the tasks, connecting them with arrows based on task dependency. Concurrency is indicated by tasks that branch out from a single node. The final step, testing and debugging, would be the last node in the network, receiving inputs from the development of the database, web pages, and forms.

For example, after the benchmarking task is completed, the next task, project plan and project definition document preparation, would be the subsequent node. Following approval, the website's design would be the next sequential node, after which database development, web page coding, and form development tasks would branch out concurrently from the completion of the design. These would reconvene before the final step, testing and debugging.