Assignment 2: Task 2

Chapter 8: Question no. 2Create a Pareto diagram based on the information in the table below. First, create a spreadsheet in Excel, using the data in the table below. List the most frequent customer problems first. Add a column called “% of Total’ and another one called “Cumulative %”. Then enter formulas to calculate those items. Next, use the Excel Chart Wizard to create a Pareto diagram based on this data. Use the Line – Column on 2 Axis custom type chart so your resulting chart looks similar to the one in Figure 8-1.
Answer:


Chapter 9: Question no. 1
Your company is planning to launch an important new project starting January 1, which will last one year. Your estimate that you will need one full-time project manager, two fulltime business analysts for the first six months, two full-time senior programmers for the whole year, four full-time junior programmers for the months of July, August, and September, and one full-time technical writer for the last three months. Use Microsoft Excel to create a stacked column chart showing a resource histogram for this project, similar to the one shown in Figure 9-6. Be sure to include a legend to label the types of resources needed. Use appropriate titles and axis labels.
Answer:

Chapter 10, Exercises, Question no. 3

How many different communications channels does a project team with six people have? How many more communications channels would there be if the team grew to ten people?

Solution:
We know by the formula,
Number of communications channels = n (n-1)/2

Given, for a project team with six people,
Number of communications channels = 6(6-1)/2
=30/2
=15

Now, if the team grew to ten people, then,
Number of communications channels = 10(10-1)/2
=90/2
=45

Therefore, number of communications channels for 6 and 10 people are 15 and 45 respectively. So, (45-15)=30 more communications channels would be there if the team grew to ten people.

Chapter 11: Question 4
Suppose your organization is deciding which of four projects to bid on. Information on each is in the table below. Assume that all up-front investments are not recovered, so they are shown as negative profits. Draw a diagram and calculate the EMV for each project. Write a few paragraphs explaining which projects you would bid on. Be sure to use the EMV information and your personal risk tolerance to justify your answer.

Answer:

Now, EMV for above project are listed as:
Project 1: $60,000 - $25,000 = $35,000
Project 2: $30,000 + $20,000 - $18,000 = $32,000
Project 3: $14,000 + $1,500 = $12,500
Project 4: $12,000 + $9,000 + $4,000- $10,000 = $15,000
From here we can conclude that Project 1 has the highest EMV. So, I would bid on Project 1.

Chapter 12, Question no. 3

Suppose your company is trying to decide whether it should buy special equipment to prepare some of its high-quality publications itself or lease the shipment from another company. Suppose leasing the shipment costs $240 per day. If you decide to purchase the equipment, the initial investment is $6,800, and operations will cost $70 per day. After how many days will the lease cost be the same as the purchase cost for the equipment? Assume your company would only use this equipment for 30 days. Should your company buy the equipment or lease it?


Solution:

If the company leases the shipment for 30 days at the rate of $240 per day,

The total cost would be $240 * 30, i.e. $7,200.

And, if it decides to buy the equipment,
The total cost would be $6,800 + $70 * 30
=$6,800 + $2,100
=$8,900

Now, for calculations of number of days after which the lease cost be the same as the purchase cost for the equipment,

Number of days = ($8900/$240)
= 37.08 days

Therefore, the lease cost will be the same as the purchase cost of the equipment after approximately 37 days.
Hence, from the above calculations, we can say that it would be beneficial for the company to lease the equipment, as it is $1,700 cheaper to lease the equipment than to buy it.