Student’s name:

Professor:

Subject:

Date:

D. U. Singer Hospital Products Corp

An activity-on-node (PERT) network

Question one: Construct the nine elements of the plan identified above

Statement of Objectives

Work Breakdown Structure.

Cash flow requirements

Critical path(s)

Schedule

Period labor requirements table

Activity list

Question two: Analyze the plan for potential problems

The above plan represents the stages that D.U. Singer Hospital would follow to develop a new product. The plan seems sufficient to come up with the perfect product as per the objectives of the organization, but it contains some problems that might hinder timely development of the product. Firstly, the plan only has the objective of developing a product, but lack rationale for coming up with the idea. The rationale would have been provided before the work breakdown structure in order to provide the main reason for conducting the project. On the other hand, different groups are used in product development depending on their expertise. The labor requirements for each group should be analyzed separately in order to determine areas where the company needs to increase labor and areas that require less concentration. The cumulative labor requirement should be on individual basis and not done as a group. Finally, the plan lacks appropriate work schedule and budget for the project. The work schedule offered only concentrates on labor leaving vital issues such as marketing o new product, duration of product development, and time taken to write a report.

Question three: Analyze the plan for opportunities

Despite the fact that the above plan has some weaknesses, it also bears some opportunities. Firstly, the use of graphs to determine cash flow requirements makes the firm account for every cost of operations minimizing losses at the end of the project. Secondly, the plan starts by giving a statement of objectives that makes attracts the attention of the committee even before engaging on other plans. The objectives of the plan give the company an opportunity for having a plan approved without going deep into other activities within the plan. Finally, the use of critical path and duration along the path to determine the amount of time taken to develop a new product offers greater opportunities to the hospital. Critical path will help in analyzing and addressing any potential failures and give mitigations. Using the above process helps project coordinators and implementers detect problems within the development line before they occur.

Question four: Should the executive committee approve the plan? Why or why not?

The executive committees should not approve the plan because it contains many loopholes that give chances for failure of project development. Looking at the way the project team plans for different operations questions the credibility of this plan bearing in mind that the company aims at developing a product for commercial purposes. The plan lacks a feasibility that shows the rate of acceptance of the product to the society and its possible impacts. Additionally, people developing the product lacked sufficient knowledge about the prevailing market because they claimed to encounter the issue of packaging. The committee should send the project team back to the drawing table to ensure they develop a plan containing actual dates of completion and values representing the estimated cost of all materials and services needed to develop the new product.

Question five: What alternatives might the executive committee suggest for analysis?

In order to ensure effective analysis of the product, the executive committee could recommend more consultation be done about related product development plans conducted by other companies. The team given the role of carrying out the research should come up with results showing strategies used to develop that product, the type of labor employed, amount of time taken, and the cost of the overall project. Results obtained will be used to create gaps to the present research and improvise new methods of ensuring successful production of the new product. Additionally, the team should conduct a test with a dummy product to determine its acceptability to the society before engaging in developing the actual product.