Question: 1. Assume that you are part of
1. Assume that you are part of the management staff whose task is to develop this sketch plan. Using Microsoft Project, develop the PERT network as outlined above, identify the critical path, and determine the expected time to reach basic operational status at the new facility.
2. The board of directors has said that it would like to try to move on a Sunday to minimize interference with weekday traffic. If there are Sundays that fall 46, 53, 60, 67, and 74 days from now, determine the probability (using a normal distribution) of reaching basic operational status at the new location on the two Sundays that are closest to the expected time you calculated previously.
3. Briefly assess the potential problems you see in applying critical path analysis to the sketch plan for moving Whittier County Hospital.
Whittier County Hospital
After 50 years at its present location, Whittier County Hospital is preparing to move into a new building sometime in the near future, when construction and outfitting are completed. The hospital’s board of directors has appointed a special management committee to control the entire procedure, including coordination with outside agencies as well as internal departments. As a first step in its mission, the committee wishes to develop a base of information that will be used to (1) establish an initial sketch plan for proceeding through the detailed planning and moving phases and (2) provide a fundamental management and scheduling tool for day-to-day operations during the transition period.
The management staff believes that a PERT analysis of a sketch plan would be very helpful to the committee’s under- standing of the moving process, so it begins to develop a network of activities and duration estimates for the task. After consultation with the general contractor at the building site, it is estimated that completion of construction and checking the newly installed equipment likely will take 50 more days, with 40 and 60 days being the optimistic and pessimistic estimates, respectively. At this point the structure will be vacated by the contractor and turned over to the board.
Before this occurs, however, a detailed plan of action for each hospital department must be drawn up for approval by the Move Committee (as it is formally known). The staff esti- mates this will take at least 10 days, perhaps as many as 20 days, and most likely 15 days to develop and secure approval.
Once the detailed plan has received an initial go-ahead, the staff will have a number of activities to perform before a trial run and subsequent evaluation of the plan are made:
1. Develop and distribute an information newsletter to all hospital employees outlining the general procedures, with specific procedures attached for each department; it is estimated that this will take at least 3, probably 4, and at most, 7 days.
2. Develop information and generate media coverage for the upcoming events; this is estimated to take at least (and probably) 2 days, and 3 days at most.
3. Negotiate with local EMS and private ambulance services for transferring the patients; this is estimated to take at least 10, probably 14, and at most, 20 days.
4. Negotiate with professional moving companies for transfer-ring equipment, records, and supplies; this is estimated to take at least 4, probably 5, and at most, 8 days.
5. Coordinate the procedures with, and determine the responsibilities of, the local police and fire departments; this is estimated to take at least 3, probably 5, and at most, 10 days.
6. Coordinate the admissions and exchange procedures during the transition period with other hospitals in the sur-rounding area; this is estimated to take at least 2, probably 3, and at most, 5 days.
Once the construction and equipment checkouts are completed, the new facility must be cleaned thoroughly by hospital staff before the actual move so that it will conform to the required levels for such institutions. Also, after the contractor vacates the premises, the employees can be oriented to the layout and workings of the new building. Because this orientation process is very important, the management staff wants to ensure that it begins after the newsletter is distributed and that it is completed before the trial run of the move. The staff estimates that cleaning and orientation can occur at the same time without problems. Cleaning will take at least 2, probably 3, and at most, 5 days; the employee orientation will take at least 4, probably 5, and at most, 7 days.
Although the actual trial run will take only 1 day, the entire activity, including evaluation, is estimated to need at least (and most likely) 3 days, with 5 days at most if serious problems are encountered. Once this step is finished, coordination of final plans and schedules with the patient and equipment carriers, local agencies, and area hospitals should take 2 days (3 at most). Finally, the completed schedules and procedures will be discussed in each department throughout the hospital on the day before moving day, and this discussion is expected to run the entire day because of the normal work schedules and tasks that all employees will be maintaining.
For the moving day, the staff has broken the entire process into seven different activities for the sketch plan:
The staff members feel confident that basic operations will be fully under way at the new location once the first six activities are complete, and this is the critical goal established by the hospital’s board of directors. The new location, of course, will not be fully operational until the remaining, noncritical equipment and supplies are moved.
Transcribed Image Text:
Activity Administration, accounting, and business office Library and medical/personnel records Laboratory and purchasing/stores Housekeeping and food services Other equipment and supplies that must move same day as patients Move patients Noncritical equipment and supplies moved after patients Activity Duration, Days Most Likely 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.75 1.0 1.0 2.0 Optimistic 0.25 0.25 0.3 0.5 0.8 0.4 1.0 Pessimistic 1.0 0.75 1.0 1.3 1.2 1.0 2.5
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> How is a service level determined for most inventory items?
> How valid are the assumptions for the simple EOQ model?
