| Course | PJM-5100 Project Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Written assignment 4: resource management |
| Length | About 851 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Master of Science in Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PJM 5100 Module 4
One Engineer, Two Projects and a Week Behind: Resource Management at Week Fourteen
Student Name
Master of Science in Management, Thomas Edison State University
PJM-5100: Project Management
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
One Engineer, Two Projects and a Week Behind: Resource Management at Week Fourteen
Introduction
A schedule calculated without regard to resources assumes that people and equipment are available whenever activities need them. Gido et al. (2018) explain that real projects must then be checked against resource limits, budgeted by work package and monitored by comparing planned, earned and actual cost. This assignment applies those steps to Prairie Hills Credit Union's branch project at the end of week 14, using the network from the third assignment.
Resolving a Resource Conflict
The credit union has one network engineer. The schedule places network and core system design, activity D, in weeks 0 to 4, but the same engineer is committed to a core system upgrade for the existing branches in weeks 0 to 6. Resource-constrained scheduling resolves the conflict by delaying the less critical work. Activity D has 20 weeks of total slack, so moving it to weeks 6 to 10 removes the overload without affecting the opening date; the installation it feeds, activity E, does not begin until week 24. Delaying an activity on the critical path would instead have moved the finish, which is why the leveling decision starts with slack.
The Budget by Work Package
The base budget of $2.59 million is allocated to the work packages that will incur the costs, so spending can be tracked where it happens. Construction is $1.94 million, paid monthly against the contractor's schedule of values; technology and equipment $380,000; furnishings and signage $120,000; and staffing, training and marketing $150,000. The contingency of about $260,000 is held by the sponsor, not allocated. The textbook's cumulative budgeted cost curve, which adds planned spending week by week, rises slowly in the first weeks, steeply during construction and then flattens.
Status at Week Fourteen
At the end of week 14, the project manager compared three cumulative figures for the work packages active so far.
| Work package | Cumulative budgeted cost | Cumulative earned value | Cumulative actual cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $1,058,182 | $970,000 | $997,000 |
| Technology and equipment | $190,000 | $190,000 | $230,000 |
| Staffing | $32,000 | $45,000 | $35,000 |
| Total | $1,280,182 | $1,205,000 | $1,262,000 |
Earned value measures completed work at the price the plan assigned to it. Construction is 50 percent complete by the contractor's schedule of values, so it has earned half of $1.94 million, $970,000, against a planned $1.058 million at this point, or about 11 of the 12 weeks of work planned. Equipment orders were placed on time, but the ATM and vault vendor raised prices by $40,000. Staffing is ahead of plan because the branch manager was hired early.
For the project as a whole, the cost performance index, the ratio of earned value to actual cost, is 1,205,000 / 1,262,000 = 0.95, and the cost variance is -$57,000. The schedule performance index, earned value divided by budgeted cost, is 0.94, and the schedule variance is about -$75,000. At the current cost performance, the forecasted cost at completion is the $2.59 million budget divided by 0.955, about $2.71 million, roughly $122,000 above the base budget and within the $260,000 contingency. Fleming and Koppelman (2010) and Anbari (2003) caution that such forecasts assume past efficiency continues, so the figure should be updated each reporting period rather than treated as final.
Interpreting the Results
The cost overrun is explainable and contained: $40,000 from the equipment price increase and a $27,000 approved change order for a wider drive-up canopy, both charged to the credit union. The schedule problem is more serious. Construction is on the critical path and about one week behind, which consumes the roughly one week of buffer the third assignment found between week 29 and the September 30 deadline. Any further delay would push the opening past the target.
Corrective Action
The project manager should ask Cedar Ridge for a recovery plan to regain the week, such as Saturday shifts for interior finishes; under the fixed-price contract, recovery costs fall on the contractor unless the credit union caused the delay. The credit union should also prepare a fallback, moving staff training into the new building's last week rather than after installation, and confirm that the equipment vendor's delivery date holds. Contingency use should be reported to the sponsor with each status report.
Reporting to the Sponsor
The week 14 report to the sponsor should fit on two pages: a traffic-light summary showing cost as yellow and schedule as red, the earned value table, the reasons for each variance, the corrective actions with owners and dates, and the contingency balance after the equipment increase and canopy change. The sponsor's decision needed is approval of the fallback plan for training, which costs nothing now but must be ready if construction recovery falls short. Presenting the forecast as a range, about $2.68 million to $2.74 million depending on whether equipment costs rise further, would reflect the uncertainty honestly.
Conclusion
Using slack to level the network engineer's work avoided a conflict without changing the schedule. Earned value analysis at week 14 shows a manageable cost overrun within contingency but a critical path delay that has used up the schedule buffer, which makes construction recovery the project manager's first priority.
References
Anbari, F. T. (2003). Earned value project management method and extensions. Project Management Journal, 34(4), 12-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/875697280303400403
Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2010). Earned value project management (4th ed.). Project Management Institute.
Gido, J., Clements, J. P., & Baker, R. (2018). Successful project management (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.
PJM 5100 Module 4 instructions, in plain terms
The fourth PJM-5100 written assignment applies Module 4 on resource management: resource-constrained scheduling, cost planning and performance measurement. Check your schedule against resource limits and resolve any conflict, ideally with slack, explaining the effect on the finish date. Allocate the budget to work packages and describe the cumulative budgeted cost. Then report status at a chosen date with cumulative budgeted cost, earned value and actual cost, compute the cost and schedule performance indexes and variances, forecast the cost at completion and interpret the results, especially for critical path work. Recommend corrective action and show your figures in a table. Explain how percent complete was measured for each work package, since earned value depends on it.
Inside the PJM 5100 Module 4 example
The paper handles three tasks in order: leveling, budgeting and status. The leveling decision uses slack from the earlier schedule, which shows how the assignments connect. The budget is allocated by work package with the contingency held separately. A status table gives the three cumulative measures by work package, and the text explains how earned value was determined and what each index means. The interpretation separates a contained cost overrun from a serious schedule problem on the critical path, and the corrective actions follow from that distinction. A research source cautions against treating a forecast as certain. Read it for how one status date produces specific, owned actions.
Reading the PJM 5100 Module 4 grading rubric
Mentors grade the fourth assignment on the course rubric out of 100. They check resource leveling logic, budget allocation, and the earned value calculations, including the indexes, variances and forecast at completion. Interpretation matters as much as arithmetic: a strong paper explains what the numbers mean for the objective, especially for activities on the critical path, and proposes specific corrective action. Consistency with the earlier assignments, readable tables and accurate references also count. Papers that compute indexes without explaining them, or that ignore where a variance occurs, lose points on analysis. Separating cost problems from schedule problems, and naming where each sits, earns particular credit with mentors. Clarity counts.
Common PJM 5100 Module 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Common mistakes include leveling resources by delaying critical activities, reporting earned value as money spent, and forecasting cost at completion without saying what it assumes. Our writers can prepare PJM 5100 resource management assignments for the project you are developing. List resource needs by week and look for overloads; move activities with slack first. Allocate the budget to work packages. At the status date, determine earned value from percent complete, compare it with budgeted and actual cost, compute the indexes, and ask whether problems sit on the critical path before recommending action. Finally, update the forecast each reporting period and report contingency use to the sponsor. Keep the tables consistent.
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PJM 5100 Module 4 questions, answered
Where can I find a free PJM 5100 Module 4 sample paper?
The fourth Project Management written assignment is shown above, with resource leveling, a budget by work package and an earned value status report for a composite credit union branch.
How should a resource conflict be resolved?
First by moving activities that have slack, which removes the overload without delaying the project finish.
What is earned value?
The planned cost of whatever work is truly finished by a status date, which is then set against the plan and against what was spent.
What does a cost performance index of 0.95 mean?
Each dollar spent has bought about 95 cents of budgeted work, a modest overrun.
Why does it matter whether a delay is on the critical path?
Delays on critical activities move the project finish date, while delays on activities with slack may not.