Running head: ANALYSIS 1

Analysis
William Taylor Pittman
PJM330-1 Effective Project Scheduling and Control
Colorado State University Global Campus
Professor Steven Powelson
March 21, 2014








ANALYSIS 2

Analysis
When an effort is taken to reduce the overall completion time of a project, a variety of methods can
be used. One such method, crashing, is the allocation of more resources to certain tasks in order to
reduce their duration. When crashing activities, the amount of time saved is considered along with the
additional cost. A happy medium must be found between these two variables in order to maximize
efficiency while crashing.
Utilizing the cost duration table provided, thirty-six tasks are defined with durations ranging from
two to forty-five days. First, in analysis of the table, the remaining values of days decreased, cost
increase, and cost per day saved were calculated using simple excel formulas. With all values calculated
it can clearly be seen which tasks can be reduced in time for the least amount of added cost. Without
knowing any more information about how the tasks relate to one another and which lie on the critical
path, the clear choice for the most cost effective reduction in total project time would be to crash the
activities with the least amount of added cost. This will create a potential reduction in total duration at
the lowest additional cost.
When looking at the cost per day saved, one line item: localizing the Japanese dictionary, stands out
as a potential for crashing based on its lowest cost per day saved of one hundred dollars per day. With a
total added cost of five hundred dollars and a total of five days saved, localizing the Japanese dictionary
proves to be the most cost effective activity to crash.
Continuing to pursue the lowest total added cost while trying to reduce project duration by an
ambiguous amount of time leads us to view the localization of the French and German dictionary. These
two tasks represent the second lowest cost per day saved, and thus, the second best value. The
selection of these two tasks along with the localization of the Japanese dictionary would save an
estimated 9 days of work for a total cost increase of fifteen hundred dollars.
ANALYSIS 3

To provide a more detailed, further analysis of whish tasks to crash, more information would be
needed about the schedule of the project. Things to consider would be the possibility of certain tasks
having the ability to run in parallel with one another or the necessity to complete one task before a
successive task can follow. Other things to be considered in further analysis would be the budget and
time constraints. These both affect ones decision on whether or not to crash an activity. It must be
economically feasible as well as justifiably needed. The position of a task within the schedule also affects
its crash-ability. Crashing tasks is always best done when the lowest point on the total cost curve is hit.
Considering this may provide extra value for tasks previously considered not greatly beneficial to crash
In addition to crashing, fast tracking is another common method used to reduce schedule time. In
fast tracking, the idea is to carry out processes in parallel, essentially out of order. This causes extra risk
by performing tasks out of order, however adds value because of the time saved. One could infer fast
tracking could be performed on the three tasks also chosen to crash. More information would be
needed to justify this action than just the provided spreadsheet however.
Crashing adds risk by condensing work into a shorter period of time. In addition to added risk, cost is
also increased to accommodate time deficiency created. Although it has its associated costs, crashing
can prove valuable in time sensitive situations where a reduction in project duration is beneficial.