Chapter 7 – Scheduling Resources and Budgets
7.19. Learning Activities and Exercises for Students/Teachers
The learning activities can be completed by the Students on their own as a learning opportunity to integrate the materials from the textbook for assignments or tests/exams. Or, they may be used by the Teachers as learning activities in class, or for short answer questions on tests/exams.
Learning Activities for Students/Teachers
- Work with a small group. Design a Work Breakdown Structure to bake pizza.
- In a small group, each person thinks about and identify an example (in your own life) of a time when you were dealing with a 1. Time-constraint 2. Resource-constraint . Share the examples with the group.
- Form a small group. (Activity 3,4,5 can be used separately or as a 3-part activity) Design a budget for a trip with a total cost of $5000.00 for you and one other person. Include direct costs, indirect costs, overhead costs, and administrative costs. Continue with Activity 4.
- Open an excel sheet. Design a Gantt Chart for the trip you costed out with another person for $5000.00. What did you learn from completing this activity? Continue with Activity 5.
- Design a Work Breakdown Structure for your trip with another person. Use sub-deliverables to Level 3.
These exercises can be completed by the Students to integrate learning materials for assignments/tests. Or they can be used by the Teachers in class to integrate learning or used on tests/exams.
Exercises for Students/Teachers
- Define a Gantt Chart. What makes them valuable to the Project Manager?
- What is the difference between time-constrained resources and resource-constrained?
- List the benefits of scheduling people, materials, and equipment?
- What is the benefit of using a Work Breakdown Structure in project planning?
- What is the rationale for the use of coding in Work Breakdown Structures?
- What is the difference between a deliverable and a work package?
- Give an example of a project you might use for top-down estimating. Give an example of a project you might use for bottom-up estimating. Which approach would you use for projects? Explain.
- What are some examples where Human Resources could be involved in scheduling? Do you think it is a good idea for Human Resources to be involved in scheduling? Why? Why not?
- Why is it important for costs to be monitored and maintained in a project?
- Is it realistic to estimate costs in the early stages of the project planning? Why? Why not?
- List the 5 steps of a simple budget.
- Do you believe companies should utilize contingency funds? Explain your answer.
- Work in a group of 3. Design a Work Breakdown Structure to build a bicycle. First, identify all the major components (3 levels.) Then, build the WBS (pencil/paper or in an excel sheet).
- Gantt Charts are a reliable and simple recording mechanism to show progress on a project. Work in a small group. In what type of Human Resources’ projects would you need a Gantt Chart? What would the benefits be to using the Gantt Chart?
