ITPEC FE Morning April 2020 Question 52
A project with a development period of 10 months and the person−hours required for development as 200 person-months is planned. Which of the following is the number of staff members required during the peak time based on the distribution sheet shown below? Here, the number of staff members does not change from the start till the end of every process.
Explanation
22 staff members — the peak is the process with the most person-months per month, which is Design.
Staff in a process = its person-months ÷ its months, where person-months = 200 × its person-hours share and months = 10 × its time share:
- •Requirements definition: 200 × 0.16 = 32 person-months over 10 × 0.20 = 2 months, 32 ÷ 2 = 16
- •Design: 200 × 0.33 = 66 over 10 × 0.30 = 3 months, 66 ÷ 3 = 22
- •Development/Test: 200 × 0.42 = 84 over 10 × 0.40 = 4 months, 84 ÷ 4 = 21
- •System test: 200 × 0.09 = 18 over 10 × 0.10 = 1 month, 18 ÷ 1 = 18
The largest is 22, in Design.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) 18 — the System test staffing, the process with the smallest effort share but not the most staff
- •(b) 20 — the average over the whole project, 200 ÷ 10, which ignores that effort and time are distributed unevenly
- •(c) 21 — the Development/Test staffing; it has the largest effort share (42%), but spread over 4 months it needs fewer staff than Design
Key rule: Staffing is effort divided by duration, so the peak is where the effort share is largest relative to the time share, not simply where the effort share is largest.
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