Helping the Moore’s

2-2 Case Study: Helping the Moore’s

QSO 600: Operations Management

15TW5 Q5618

Southern New Hampshire University, College of Continuing Education

Professor Constant Craig

Steve Isle

July 22, 2015

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Purpose:

Mary and Sandy Moore, the president and vice president of Moore Housing Contractors are in negotiations with Countryside Realtors to construct six homes in a newly formed development.  Mary and Sandy are concerned about the demanded completed construction timeline of 45 days from Countryside.  This document will help outline whether it is realistic for construction to occur within the time allocated, or if Moore Housing Contractors would run the risk of pushing the limits and leaving themselves open to potential fines for tardiness.

Background:

        Countryside Realtors desires the construction to begin in the later part of winter or early spring, this would leave the summer and early fall months to get the project completed.  As for many realty companies, temperate summer months bring out potential buyers, and history suggests it would be easier to sell all six new homes as soon as they are completed.  The general footprint and interior layout of all of these homes are similar, only the exterior siding and features are dissimilar. Because Countryside is so adamant about the 45 day timeline, it is requiring a project management network complement Moore’s bid with an estimated completion date of the six homes.  This is where excellent project planning will need to occur.   The general management process is focused on the planning, organization, and control of an ongoing process like the fabrication of merchandise or provision of a service.  Project management is different in that it necessitates a guarantee of people and resources to a significant task that is not redundant and encompasses a fairly short timeframe, after which the management effort is disbanded.  A project has a unique purpose, it is temporary, and it draws resources from various areas in the organization; as a result, it is subject to more uncertainty than the normal management process (WileyPlus, 2015).  Unfortunately, if the 45 day window is not achieved by the contractor, Countryside will fine the builder accordingly, this is something the Moore’s want to avoid.  Data will need to be examined thoroughly by the contractor to determine if they will be able to complete the task within the allotted time or if they need to adjust their bid accordingly as to avoid unwanted fees from Countryside.  The original bid by the Moore’s was very conservative, but will be analyzed in this document to determine how close it is or if adjustment s should be made.

Project Management:

Moore Housing Contractors will need a dependable project manager to analyze and drive this entire process.  If these 8 key steps are followed, it will help ensure this projects overall success (Ponce, 2009).  

• Definition of the project.  From the owners down to the construction personnel, there needs to be total buy-in and cooperation.  Roles and responsibilities need to be outlined.  Standards, policies, control measures, and audits will all need to be outlined.
• Evaluation and determination of when investments or changes need to be made to achieve the goal.
• The right resources are on the job.  The best of the best will need to be placed on this project to hit the timelines desired.
• Understanding the goals and objectives of this project.  45 days is critical if it is deemed obtainable.
• Control of the scope and the budget.
• Continuous monitoring of progress.
• Measuring how and if the goals are being met.
• Implement improvements along the way.  Invest in people/resources/technology.

Project Analysis and Data:

Data is key in helping to determine if a project will get completed on time and needs to be analyzed thoroughly by the project manager to determine if the bid and timeframe is realistic.  Previous history results can help take a look at jobs that will occur in the future and establish some assumptions.  Critical Path Methods (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review techniques (PERT) can be used to help guide the project manager to a timeline.  The benefit of CPM/PERT over a Gantt chart is in the use of a network to describe the precedence relationships amongst activities which Gantt chart does not clearly demonstrate.  CPMs and PERTs are more efficient and direct means of displaying precedence relationships. In other words, in a network it is visually easier to see the precedence relationships, which makes CPM/PERT popular with managers and other users, especially for large projects with many activities (WileyPlus, 2015).

Based on the information that was given from the conservative bid some generalizations can be derived.  The below information is the basic activity chart and estimated days for completion of each activity in terms of optimistic (a), likely (b), and pessimistic (b).

Chart 1