Engineering management

1) Requirements Capture
Assume you are a Project Manager and you are due to meet with a new customer organisation, to discuss a possible project for which no information is available yet. Suggest your 7 highest

priority questions to ask the new customer organisation about the proposed project.
2) Activity-on-Arrow and Activity-on-Node Networks
Assuming that Activity A is the first work activity in a project and Activity Z is the final activity in the same project, sketch both Activity-on-Arrow and Activity-on-Node networks for the

following activity dependencies. (Note: since activity durations are not supplied, the usual duration, start, end and float values should be blank, but standard diagram formats should be used.

Also, for Activity-on-Arrow event numbering, adopt the standard that event numbers should increase, from the start to the finish of each arrow, though not necessarily sequentially).
a) BandCdependonA;DdependsonB;EdependsonBandC;FandGdependonD and E; H depends on F and G; I depends on G; Z depends on H and I.
b) MandNdependonA;OdependsonM;PdependsonNandO;QdependsonO;R depends on P and Q; S depends on P; Z depends on R and S.
c) B,CandDdependonA;EdependsonB;FdependsonD;GdependsonCandE;H depends on C and F; Z depends on G and H.
d) M,NandOdependonA;PdependsonM;QdependsonO;RdependsonNandP;S depends on N; T depends on N and Q; Z depends on R, S and T.
e) K1, K2 and K3 depend on A; K4 depends on K1; K5 depends on K2; K6 depends on K3 and K5; K7 depends on K4; K8 depends on K4 and K5; K9 depends on K6; K10 depends on K7; K11 depends on

K8 and K9; Z depends on K10 and K11.
f) T1, T2 and T3 depend on A; T4 depends on T1; T5 depends on T2; T6 depends on T1 and T5; T7 depends on T3; T8 depends on T1, T5 and T7; T9 depends on T6; T10 depends on T8; T11 depends on

T4 and T9; Z depends on T10 and T11.
3) Project Planning
You have been appointed project manager and are tasked with planning the design, machine programming, manufacture, assembly, test and demonstration of two prototype products derived

from three components. You will be looking to complete the project in a timely, low cost fashion. The activities and their estimated durations have been identified below. Note: they are not

necessarily in the order that they would be completed.

? Tasks identified by (*) are more complex and must be completed by the Senior Engineer.
? The project will make use of a Machine Shop. This results in a hire cost of ?500/day on the project. This Machine Shop is a ?materials? cost, which starts as soon as access is required to the

machines to begin programming and continues until the end of the project.
? Product 1 is an assembly of Component 1 and Component 2, whilst Product 2 is an assembly of Component 1, Component 2 and Component 3.
? For each component, the same engineer should be allocated to the design, program and manufacture activities.
? The design of all three components must be completed, before programming of the manufacturing machines is started.
? Manufacture of each component can begin as soon as the associated machine has been programmed. The engineer acts as the operator of a machine during manufacturing.
? Demonstration of both prototype products is required to happen on the same day and can utilise a separate customer demonstration area.
a) Introduce the project and generate a WBS and Activity List for the project. Explain your particular choice of WBS.
b) Generate a precedence table for the project, showing dependencies between the activities. List any assumptions made.
c) Assign resources to the activities and present via a responsibilities table. List the assumptions you are making.
d) Update the precedence table, to include any additional dependencies resulting from the allocation of responsibilities. (This aims to avoid resource overloading, by ensuring an activity cannot

start until a previous activity has been completed, if both activities require the same resource).
e) Complete an Activity-on-Node network analysis for the project and present both the network and the associated worksheet. Indicate the critical path and the estimated project duration.
f) Generate a Gantt Chart, which clearly shows the order and timing of project activities. Plot the associated resource utilisation graphs and any assumptions made.
g) Produce a Project Cost Table and discuss the estimated costs on the project.
h) Assume the original requirement, which dictated that for each component the same
engineer should be allocated to the design-program-manufacture chain of activities, can now be relaxed. How can you exploit this to reduce project cost and/or duration? Support your

approach using updated versions of the precedence table, the AoN network, AoN worksheet, Gannt chart, resource graphs and project cost table.
i) Discuss any key risks associated with the project, the potential impact and any proposed mitigation plans.