VIVA ROMA!

Robert Curtis had just been hired into his first academic job as an assistant professor in the Classics Department at Topeka State University. One day in September 2008, not long after Robert had started, the department head came to talk to him. “Bob, I know it’s a little sudden and we usually don’t ask new assistant professors to handle such a task, but I’d like you to put together our summer study abroad program in Rome. Professor Worst has done it for the past 10 years, but he won’t be able to this year. Plan on about 15 to 20 students. The program usually lasts about a month, going from mid-June to mid-July, but the college is usually flexible on the exact dates. So what do you think?” Even though he was new, Robert thought it would be a great opportunity, and sitting down at his desk, he started to think about what he should do next. He had never put together such a trip before, so it made sense to start by listing all the different activities that had to take place to get the trip planned in time. Robert wanted to post the complete information packet by March 31, 2008, which would give

prospective students plenty of time to plan for the trip and meet the May 15 registration deadline. The first thing Robert had to do was negotiate the exact starting and ending dates with the college, as well as make a rough estimate of the per-student costs. Specifically, Robert needed to know when the students would leave and when they would be expected to return to the United States. Robert felt he could do all this within 1 week. Once Robert had these date and cost targets, he would then need to develop a daily schedule of the sites to visit, including any trips outside of the Rome area (such as to Florence or Naples). Robert knew this would take a little time—museums and historical sites in Italy do not keep typical business hours, and some sites might even be closed for repair. Robert felt that this would take at least 3 weeks. With a detailed schedule in hand, Robert would then have to make air transportation arrangements (1 week), and local transportation arrangements (about 1 week) and select the accommodations to stay in during the trip (3 weeks). Because Robert knew a lot of the time would be spent playing “telephone tag” with various people, all three of these activities could go on simultaneously. Finally, Robert thought he would need to give himself a few weeks to finalize any loose ends. For example, he might learn that there were no rooms available during the time he wanted to schedule a side trip to Herculaneum, resulting in the need to adjust the schedule and other arrangements. With the finalized plans and costs in place, Robert would then need to develop and post the online information packet for students (1 week).

QUESTIONS

1. What are the important time milestones for this project?

2. Given these time milestones, when should Robert start on the project? Draw a network diagram and determine the earliest and latest starting and finishing times for all activities. From a scheduling perspective, which activities are critical?

3. Comment on the time estimates for the various activities: Should Robert give himself more time? What are the pros and cons of doing so? Are there any pitfalls to starting too early? Where might he get good estimates of these times?