Tenth Example – Planning for Piping Repair & Improvement Project

If the Project Manager has a costed project schedule and wants to know options for minimising the project duration, what advice should the Project Planner provide? Read on to see how all key information can be provided through the #TimeCostCurves program.

Figure 1: Costed project schedule setup for producing the TimeCostCurve.

Setup assumptions for TimeCostCurve program:

Assumptions: Assumed Value: Remarks:
  1. Overheads:

$450 / day
  1. Worker wage

$50/hr
  1. Manager overtime

$120/hr
  1. Ignore sunk costs:

$0 Relevant costs for decision-making are the changes in costs due to changes in task durations.

Figure 2: Normal conditions schedule.

Figure 3: TimeCostCurve with Task ID data points

Advice based on TimeCostCurve program:

Schedule: Duration (days): Cost ($): Remarks:
Normal schedule 18 days $ 8,100 NB. Sunk costs ignored.
Least-cost schedule 17 days $ 8,050
Least-time schedule 16 days $ 8,480
Fully-crashed schedule 16 days $ 8,480 There is no added cost compared to the least-time schedule (which would be of no benefit since the critical path cannot be further shortened).

Figure 4: Schedule filtered for expedited activities with reasons.

Figure 5: Least-time schedule