Project management techniques
At Viral Pharma, your boss says that he can estimate the total project time based on his personal experience. You are trying to convince him that he should use project management techniques to handle a complex project. To prove your point, you decide to use a simple example of a R&D process with eight steps. You create a hypothetical work breakdown structure, as follows:
Prepare the laboratory space (3 days), and then set up the laboratory station equipment framework (3 days).
Equip the laboratory stations (5 days), and then connect the utilities (e.g. power, network, water) (3 days).
When the utilities are connected, start two tasks at once: finish the laboratory interior work (5 days) and set up an appointment for the final FDA laboratory inspection (15 days).
When the laboratory interior work is done, start two more tasks at once: stocking chemical storeroom (7 days) and loading dock expansion (3 days).
When the storeroom and loading dock are done, do the laboratory deep cleansing (2 days).
Finally, when the deep cleansing is done and the final FDA laboratory inspection has occurred,
arrange the laboratory opening ceremony (2 days).
Now you ask your boss to review the tasks, estimate the total time, and write the answer on a piece of paper. You look at the paper and see that his guess is wrong.
Questions: (you can use Microsoft Project or any other project management tools to answer the following questions. DePaul provides access to Microsoft Project to students for free: https://offices.depaul.edu/information-services/services/Software/Pages/Software-for-Personal- Computers.aspx)
1. What is the correct total time?
2. What is the critical path?
3. Create a Gantt chart that shows the WBS.
4. Create a PERT/CPM chart.