Project Management Case Studies, 7th Edition

Part 8PROJECT SCHEDULING

Once project planning is completed, the next step is to schedule the project according to some timeline. Doing this requires knowledge of the activities, the necessary depth of the activities, the dependencies between the activities, and the duration of the activities.

Crosby Manufacturing Corporation

“I've called this meeting to resolve a major problem with our management cost and control system [MCCS],” remarked Wilfred Livingston, president of Crosby Manufacturing Corporation. “We're having one hell of a time trying to meet competition with our antiquated MCCS reporting procedures. Last year we were considered nonresponsive to three large government contracts because we could not adhere to the customer's financial reporting requirements. The government has recently shown a renewed interest in Crosby Manufacturing. If we can computerize our project financial reporting procedure, we'll be in great shape to meet the competition head on. The customer might even waive the financial reporting requirements if we show our immediate intent to convert.”

Crosby Manufacturing was a $250‐million‐a‐year electronics component manufacturing firm in 2005, at which time Wilfred “Willy” Livingston became president. His first major act was to reorganize the 700 employees into a modified matrix structure. This reorganization was the first step in Livingston's long‐range plan to obtain large government contracts. The matrix provided the customer focal point policy that ...