Purpose of Project: to Provide You with a Personal Experience in the Team Investigation

TERM PROJECT

EGR 312

• Purpose of Project: To provide you with a personal experience in the team investigation of a project management problem. The "project" is “deconstruction” of the Ware building in preparation for a new building to house the math and computer science departments. (Note: “deconstruction” refers to the process of taking a building apart from the top down and extracting any reusable or recyclable materials prior to waste disposal.) You will have to develop timing charts, cost estimates, and expedited schedules. You will be required to respond to several situational problems that might arise during the project.
• The Project Team: A project team will be composed of two to four persons, with three members being the ideal (you will need to supply me with Team Info by November 11, 2014). I will team up those with no partners. The final product of the project team should reflect a team effort. The team together develops the appropriate timing schedules and cost estimates, and develops responses to the situational problems. Everyone in the team will receive the same grade, unless the group decides differently.
• The Project Problem:Mercer University has tendered a request for bid on the deconstruction of the Ware building. Each team will receive a copy of the bid spec. It is your (and the team's) responsibility to develop the following for the deconstruction project:
• Executive Summary - the project report should include a one-page executive summary describing the project you are addressing, the overall timing, the overall cost, and the timing and cost of an expedited project.
• WBS and Task List – develop a Work Breakdown Structure for the project. Based on this, describe each of the tasks required to achieve the project goal. Identify the resources required, the expected time to complete, and any precedence involved (that is, what task(s) need to be completed before this task can begin).
• Timing charts - although each team may have various experience in building construction and deconstruction, the timing charts should be realistic. The charts should include a clear/concise descriptive titlefor each task, task durations, task earliest start times, task precedence, and task latest finish times.
• Cost / Budget Estimates - do your best to make educated guesses on the cost of each task. To give you a guide, refer to to see a website for a company that claims to specialize in deconstruction, and to for a step by step guide for deconstructing a house (note that your project is different, but this might give you some starting points). Feel free to use other sources, as well, as long as you reference them in your report.
• Expedited Timing / Costs - develop a timing chart that reduces your overall time by 20%. Include new cost values for this new expedited project. Include notes justifying how you will be able to accomplish the new timing and why the cost may be impacted.
• Situational Responses - although not part of a typical project plan, each team is asked to respond to several situations that might arise during the course of a project. Prepare one-to-three paragraph responses to the Situational Questions handout.
• Project Grading and Due Dates: You will be turning in a project report, and you will also be making a 10 minute presentation (on December 2 or 4). Weights will be as follows:
• (70%) Project report
• (10%) Content-- writing style, grammar, spelling
• (10%) Organization--presentation, appearance
• (10%) Accuracy--realistic costs and timing
• (45%) Project Content
• Executive summary
• Timing charts, duration, precedence
• Budget estimates
• Expedited project with justification
• (25%) Responses to situational problems
• (15%) A 10 minute presentation. See presentation guidelines. The whole team will present. I will be looking at how well the teams defend their work. See Evaluation form. Generally, everyone in the group gets the same grade. The teams will briefly present their summary, timing charts and budget using PowerPoint. They will then be asked to respond to two or three of the situational questions (i.e. make slide responses to all the situational questions).
• (15%) Individual contribution (based on team assessment and, if necessary, individual interviews).

• More on the Final Report: This should be your best effort and be of top quality in appearance, organization, and content. You can follow the following outline for your report.

Project title page (project title, group name, group members, date)

Executive Summary (one page - summary of overall timing and costs, and summary of expedited project costs and timing) --> written for your “boss"

I. Tasks and Timing Charts

• Clear and concise task descriptions, including task duration and resource requirements
• Gantt charts indicating duration and precedence
• Network diagram indicating the critical path

II. Cost Estimates

• Cost summary
• Cost estimates by task

III. Expedited Project

• Gantt charts
• Cost summary
• Cost by task
• Notes indicating how timing can be condensed, and justification for new cost

IV. Situational Responses

• One to three paragraph responses describing how you would respond to various situations. Put yourself "in the shoes" of the project manager and discuss how best to respond to these various situations and why you chose a particular response.

References

Appendices (optional)

Reports should be prepared using word processing software and secured in a binder that can stand some abuse. Charts, graphs, and drawings should follow good engineering practice. Use headings to divide and organize report.

One final point--the earlier you get started the better the results.

Term Project Situational Questions

EGR 312

Background: During a typical project, no matter how detailed the planning, many unexpected situations may arise. These situations are a project manager’s greatest opportunity to demonstrate their decision making and leadership abilities. Some situations are good, such as completing a task early and under budget. But more often, the situations are problems that need quick and immediate resolution. Examples include natural disasters, lack of supplies, changes in requirements, poor performance of employees, etc. This section of the term project will present several situations that might have arisen during the Ware Halldeconstruction project.

Deliverable: You are to put yourself "in the shoes" of the project manager and discuss how you would respond/react to each of the situations. You may choose to have a firm response to some situations, while in other situations you may have multiple responses depending upon feedback from other "players" involved in the situation. Limit your responses to one to three paragraphs per question.

• Assume you had decided to contract out the removal of masonry and brickwork. Some time after the masonry crew first started, you realize they are starting to get behind schedule. What do you do? What are the implications for the project schedule and how will you ensure that you remain on schedule?
• Recognizing that older buildings can sometimes contain “surprises” in the form of old papers, coins, and sometimes even valuables that have fallen into ducts, between floor joists, etc., you have a standard clause in your contracts to the effect that “all contents of the building are the property of the Contractor” once the project begins. However, as you often do in these situations, you have offered in private to donate any documents or pictures you find that would be of historical significance to the University. While inspecting the worksite one day, you discover a candid picture of Albert Einstein and someone identified as a member of the Mercer faculty in 1938, along with a personal letter thanking the faculty member for his help on a sticky theoretical question. As a history buff, you recognize that the letter and picture could be quite valuable. What do you do with them?
• The day after all copper has been removed from the building, you notice that the stack is significantly smaller than it had been the day before. You know that the last group to leave the worksite was responsible for securing the copper. What do you do?
• You are over running your labor budget. A fraternity on campus has offered to supplement the workforce with this year’s pledge class on the condition that the fraternity is allowed to keep any of the building materials they remove. Should you take the fraternity up on its offer? When would this be OK and when would it not? Should you inform anyone if you take this option?
• You provided separate bins for mixed wood and treated wood. After shipping out a load of each type of wood to separate recycling centers, you learn that many of the crew did not notice that there was a difference in the bins. Although the mixed wood center specifically disallows treated wood, the treated wood recycler does not care. In addition, you are not sure that any treated wood actually made its way into the mixed wood bin. What should you do?
• Cleanup from recentstorms has increased the demand on the roll-off containers used to haul construction waste. Your supplier is telling you that roll-off containers will not be available until 30 days after the start date for the project. What do you do?

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