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Case study of Microsoft Project for tracking project progress and reports

Last reviewed: December 3, 2012 ~4 min read
Abstract

The NutroBalance company produces a line of weight loss supplements and nutritional snacks. Ultra, a weight loss supplement which is geared primarily towards men who lift weights and do cardiovascular exercises, have been a big success. Therefore the company wishes to replicate this success by formulating the Ultra pills to target other segments of the workout population. UltraMAX, a new product, is geared toward women who also lift weights and do cardiovascular exercises. Because the core of the product has already been produced, the project to introduce UltraMAX to the workout world really boils down to seeing whether UltraMAX produces results in women as good as those that Ultra does in men.

Nutro Balance Project Management

Dear Alex,

The project as it is currently scheduled will take 138 working days to complete and its expected completion is April 25th, 2012. The critical tasks in this project are task IDs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, & 13. These are:

Identify Target Consumers

Recruit Test Subjects

Screen Test Results

Finalize Test Subjects

Prepare Product

Test the Subject

Input Actual Data into Database

Analyze Actual Data

Prepare Findings Report

The NutroBalance company produces a line of weight loss supplements and nutritional snacks. Ultra, a weight loss supplement which is geared primarily towards men who lift weights and do cardiovascular exercises, have been a big success. Therefore the company wishes to replicate this success by formulating the Ultra pills to target other segments of the workout population. UltraMAX, a new product, is geared toward women who also lift weights and do cardiovascular exercises. Because the core of the product has already been produced, the project to introduce UltraMAX to the workout world really boils down to seeing whether UltraMAX produces results in women as good as those that Ultra does in men.

There are four professionals that will be working in the project to test the UltraMax effects in women. These resources include Sarah, Robert, Tony, and Lisa. There are many options that can be pursued based on these resources standard rate and the way that they are scheduled. For example, Sarah is the highest paid member of the team and her base rate is fifty dollars per hour and her overtime rate is seventy five dollars per hour. However, Lisa is only paid a base rate of twenty dollars an hour and an overtime rate of thirty dollars per hour. Therefore, it would make more financial sense to schedule Sarah an allotted forty hours per week and pay Lisa's overtime rate to make up any slack if necessary. The team together with the proposed schedule will comprise of a total salary budget of just under forty two thousand dollars.

Resource Name

Work

Sarah

680 hrs

Identify Target Consumers

24 hrs

Recruit Test Subjects

80 hrs

Screen Test Results

160 hrs

Finalize Test Subjects

40 hrs

Develop Hypothetical Test Data

16 hrs

Robert

728 hrs

Prepare Product

80 hrs

Prepare Placebo

16 hrs

Test the Subject

520 hrs

Tony

136 hrs

Develop Data Analysis Database

96 hrs

Test Database Using Hypothetical Test Data

40 hrs

Lisa

200 hrs

Input Actual Data into Database

56 hrs

Analyze Actual Data

64 hrs

Prepare Findings Report

80 hrs

Section Three

Task Name

Duration

Baseline Duration

Actual Cost

Baseline Cost

Identify Target Consumers

3 days

2 days

$1,200.00

$800.00

Recruit Test Subjects

10 days

10 days

$4,000.00

$4,000.00

Screen Test Results

30 days

20 days

$12,000.00

$18,000.00

Unfortunately the project has experienced some major setbacks during the first few project activities. Although the first activity, identify target consumers, finished faster than scheduled and under budget the project is still nine days over schedule and over five thousand dollars over budget. The test results were more difficult to screen than previously believed and as a result the activity took an extra ten days than was previously budgeted for. This was due to a mix up in the screening process and some of the test subjects had to be brought back in so the original data can be verified.

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PaperDue. (2012). Case study of Microsoft Project for tracking project progress and reports. PaperDue. https://www.paperdue.com/essay/nutro-balance-project-management-dear-alex-83423

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