Project to Install an Emergency Power Plant at a Tidal Barrier

October 23, 2018 0 Comment

Description:

Part A (25%) Team Presentation: Research & review a project type.

Working as a team (small group no more than 4 or 5) select a type of project from the list below. Carry out a literature research on this topic using a variety of methods to source your material. (The Library and Centre for Academic Success can help you with this). Aspects which you should investigate are:

Geographical background i.e. countries and locations
Historical background, current typical scale and cost.
Structure of project management, prime and sub-contracting.
Methods of project planning
Methods of project control
Financial, legal or international implications commented on
Elements of success or lack of it identified.
PESTLE (Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legal and Ethical) issues

Your team should choose a project type from the following list of ten. Each team must select a different project. Other types not listed may (exceptionally) be considered if agreed by your tutor.

Private property construction
Commercial property construction
Road building e.g. a new motorway
Rail projects e.g. a high-speed link
Airport construction
A major event, show, festival or exhibition
Stadium construction e.g. Wembley or Olympics
Prestige building e.g. Scottish Parliament, Millennium Dome
An IT System (private sector)
An IT System (public sector)

There should be a clear ‘division of labour’ within your team, agreed at the outset and evident in the way the review is presented. Periodic team meetings should be organised to exchangeand review your findings and, latterly to put together your joint presentation. Equal marks will be awarded to all team members provided there are no attendance issues.

The team presentation will be of 15 minutes duration during WEEK 7. Each team member must present a part of this, as agreed beforehand by the team members. Questions will have to be ‘defended’ after the 15 minutes. One paper copy of the slides should be handed in at the time of the presentation, clearly identifying the team members by name.

Part B – (75%) – Project to Install an Emergency Power Plant at a Tidal Barrier.

Given the information below you are asked to apply project management techniques to the Proposed Project to address both the Planning Phase and the Implementation Phase of the project. In your report you should include your understanding of what is meant by the meaning of “project” and provide examples of different types of projects, including research, administrative, process improvement etc. See also Table of data (below) giving an overview of the Project, a Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS), durations and cost-related information.

1) Construct a suitable network diagram which shows the precedence logic of each activity. You should use the activity-on-arrow or precedence method. This may be done manually on paper but a higher grade may be obtained with the help of software to draw the diagram. Use the diagram to calculate each activity Early Start Day number and hence determine the earliest likely overall completion time. Taking this day number as a target for completion, calculate the Latest Times for each activity or node. Finally calculate the floats and show the critical path.Higher marks awarded if done using apporpitae software and correct with no errors. (20%)

2) From your network information using an Excel spreadsheet to one day accuracy produce a Gantt chart based on Early Start times. Explain the limitations of the Gantt Chart on its own and how an activity network assisted by computer software could be used to monitor the actual progress in terms of timing throughout the project and what steps might be taken to improve the timing schedule if the project were required to be completed in two months. Higher marks are awarded for additional examples with calculations done in Mircosoft Project. (15%)

3) Using the given cost estimate information calculate total cost by Group and Overall, without and then with Contingency. Construct a budget (BCWS) spreadsheet with activities down the left hand side and a month by month calendar as the X-Axis. Apply a suitable method of allocating the cost of each activity evenly over each month of its duration. Allocate costs to months. The sheet should show sub-total costs for each activity group and overall per month. Construct a graph against time for the periodic spend and the same information on a cumulative basis. Higher marks are awarded for additional examples and clear explanation with illistrations. (20%)

4) Explain how the Earned Value System (EV) works and why it is more appropriate for projects than a simple Actual v Budget system as often applied in on-going business operations. Illustrate how the indices can reveal the true cost and time variances at intermediate stages in the project and help to predict the final position at project completion. Higher marks are awarded for additional examples. (15%)

Project to Design, Build & Install an Emergency Power Plant at a Tidal Barrier
The project is to build and install a bespoke emergency electricity generating system for a tidal barrier to prevent a major flooding disaster. In the event of a hurricane or terrorist attack, a secondary source of power is essential. It is also imperative that the project is completed in the earliest possible time and as far as posisble within budget. The power unit is to be erected on a small piece of land which is a rectangle 12 metres long area 96 sq metres. The following table shows a work breakdown schedulle (WBS) with timing and costs data, not necessarily in time sequence. Days are Calendar days i.e. 7 days per week: assume 8 hours per day. Month numbers can be set on basis of 30 days per month. Some tasks can be combined, some task con not complete piroy to others completing first. For example Task B can not be completed until Task A is complete.
			Active	Elapsed	Notice to	Cost information
Group	Activity		Time days	Time days	organise
A General	1	Plan put up for approval	1
	2	Board approval		7		Not costed to the project
	3	Notice to organise transport of gen’r to site			35
	4	Transport gen’r to site	2			150 miles at £20 per mile
	5	Hire of Crane. Lead time			21	Hire cost £300 per day
	6	Lift and place new gen’r on-site	2			Labour costs 4 men at £60 per day
	7	Connect to barrier and final test	2			2 staff at £100 per day
	8	Commission and sign-off with client	2
	9	Procurement of contractor	14			Consultancy fee at £1000

B Generator Design	10	Gen’r in-house design mods	28			2 design staff at £150 per day
& Manufacture	11	Delivery of outer steel casing		14		Casing costs £4000
	12	Spray paint outer casing	1			2 staff at £75 per day
	13	Manufacture of core generator	14			Overall cost to manufacture core £15000
	14	Assembly of core gen’r into casing	2			5 men at £50 per day
C Electronic Systems	15	Produce new systems spec’n	10			Hire of IT specialists fixed cost £10000
	16	Program coding	21			Hire of IT specialists fixed cost £5000
	17	Order hardware for electronics		35		H/ware cost £12000
	18	Embed and test new programs	2			3 staff at £100 per day

D On-site foundations	19	Complete purchase of land at barrier		42		land cost £50000
	20	Prepare site and fence off	5			3 security specialists at £200 per day
	21	Dig foundations	3			4 men at £8 per hour
	22	Form and reinforcement	4			5 men at £8 per hour
	23	Pour concrete for foundations	1			5 men at £8 per hour
	24	Concrete cure	14			1 man at £8 per hour, 2 hours per day
	25	Order steel security fencing		50
	26	Erect steel fence and secure		4		Fence contractors charge £50 per metre of fence

E Final assembly	27	Cabling and loom wiring	3			2 staff at £75 per day
	28	Gen’r mechanical test	2			3 staff at £75 per day
	29	Gen’r electrical tests	2			2staff at £75 per day
	30	Gen’r electronic systems test	3			2 staff at £75 per day
	31	In-house Qualty test prior to shipping	2			1 staff at £100 per day


		Total Project Cost
		Financial Contingency				10% of overall costs
		TOTAL COST INCL CONTINGENCY