I am new to excel and I was given this problem to practice, but dont know
where to begin. I have to create a spreadsheet and answer these questions:
A construction firm need to open 5 stores by Mar 20, 2011
Start of construction Mar 20, 2008
Construction slows down from Jan thru Apr months
Bldg need to open by Aug 2011
Am I able to open all 5 stores in 35 months
Crew works 6 days a week @ 48 hrs a day.

How do I create this?

I wouldn't know where to begin either.

First of all...............48 hours a day is hard to achieve<g

Second of all............there are so many unknowns in your parameters that
it would be impossible to estimate.

How large are the buildings?

How many persons to a crew?

I would think several thousand with all sub-trades covered could do it
faster than a pair of mokes like you and me.

Tell your instructor to provide you with much more detail if he really wants
you to do this problem.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:36:14 -0700, wd wrote:

I am new to excel and I was given this problem to practice, but dont know
where to begin. I have to create a spreadsheet and answer these questions:
A construction firm need to open 5 stores by Mar 20, 2011
Start of construction Mar 20, 2008
Construction slows down from Jan thru Apr months
Bldg need to open by Aug 2011
Am I able to open all 5 stores in 35 months
Crew works 6 days a week @ 48 hrs a day.

How do I create this?

My apologize let me explain further:
I am told to use the "What-if" function to calculate this:

Build 5 stores within 34 months.
Start bldg 3/2008, finish by 8/2011.
Construction slows down from Jan thru Apr months due to weather, crew only
works 4 days week at 6hrs day.
Crew works May thru Dec 6 days week @ 8hrs day.
Using the What-if function can the crew build 5 stores in 35 months.

I have been trying to figure it out and cannot come up with an answer, I
don't know how to use the what-if function to figure it out. I am trying to
learn this before my final exam in 4wks. Can you assist.
"Gord Dibben" wrote:

I wouldn't know where to begin either.

First of all...............48 hours a day is hard to achieve<g

Second of all............there are so many unknowns in your parameters that
it would be impossible to estimate.

How large are the buildings?

How many persons to a crew?

I would think several thousand with all sub-trades covered could do it
faster than a pair of mokes like you and me.

Tell your instructor to provide you with much more detail if he really wants
you to do this problem.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:36:14 -0700, wd wrote:

I am new to excel and I was given this problem to practice, but dont know
where to begin. I have to create a spreadsheet and answer these questions:
A construction firm need to open 5 stores by Mar 20, 2011
Start of construction Mar 20, 2008
Construction slows down from Jan thru Apr months
Bldg need to open by Aug 2011
Am I able to open all 5 stores in 35 months
Crew works 6 days a week @ 48 hrs a day.

How do I create this?

Hi
You still haven't given all the facts.
We don't know how many men there are in each crew.
We don't know how many hours it takes to construct a store.
Maybe these are two variables your tutor wants you to consider.

I'm not sure about the 35 months, 34 months periods you mention, as compared
with the time period 01 Mar 08 through till 31 Aug 2011 (which is 42
months).

Perhaps the following will give you a start.
In A1 enter 01 Mar2008
Grab the fill handle at the bottom right corner of cell A1, hold down your
right mouse button and drag down to cell A43.
As you release the mouse button select fill Months. You should have dates
going from 01 Mar 08 to 01 Sep 2011.

In B1 enter
=IF(MONTH(A1)<4,24,48)
which will give the number of Hours worked by 1 man for that month.
Again fill down.

In cell D1 enter
=SUM(B1:B43)
This gives the total hours for 1 man for the whole 42 months

In E1 enter a value as a guess as to the number of hours it takes to
construct a store - say 10,000
In E2:J2 enter the numbers 1 through 6 - the number of stores
In D3:D32 enter the number 1 through 30 - the number of men
In E3 enter the formula
=($E$1*E$2)/($D$1*$D3)
Copy across through F3:J3
Copy E3:J3 down through E4:E30

Looking at column I, (5 stores), you are looking for a value of 1 or under.
This occurs at I30, which reading back to column D, shows that it could be
achieved with 28 men.

As you alter the value in cell E1 - the total hours to build a store, then
you will see how many men you need to complete it within the 42 months from
Mar 08 till Aug 11.

At least this should give you something to start with.

--
Regards
Roger Govier

"wd" wrote in message
...
My apologize let me explain further:
I am told to use the "What-if" function to calculate this:

Build 5 stores within 34 months.
Start bldg 3/2008, finish by 8/2011.
Construction slows down from Jan thru Apr months due to weather, crew only
works 4 days week at 6hrs day.
Crew works May thru Dec 6 days week @ 8hrs day.
Using the What-if function can the crew build 5 stores in 35 months.

I have been trying to figure it out and cannot come up with an answer, I
don't know how to use the what-if function to figure it out. I am trying
to
learn this before my final exam in 4wks. Can you assist.
"Gord Dibben" wrote:

I wouldn't know where to begin either.

First of all...............48 hours a day is hard to achieve<g

Second of all............there are so many unknowns in your parameters
that
it would be impossible to estimate.

How large are the buildings?

How many persons to a crew?

I would think several thousand with all sub-trades covered could do it
faster than a pair of mokes like you and me.

Tell your instructor to provide you with much more detail if he really
wants
you to do this problem.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:36:14 -0700, wd
wrote:

I am new to excel and I was given this problem to practice, but dont
know
where to begin. I have to create a spreadsheet and answer these
questions:
A construction firm need to open 5 stores by Mar 20, 2011
Start of construction Mar 20, 2008
Construction slows down from Jan thru Apr months
Bldg need to open by Aug 2011
Am I able to open all 5 stores in 35 months
Crew works 6 days a week @ 48 hrs a day.

How do I create this?