CAT 1996 | Question: 156

Question

Month	Stage	Cost(Rs. '000 per man-month)
$1-2$	Specification	$40$
$3-4$	Design	$20$
$5-8$	Coding	$10$
$9-10$	Testing	$15$
$11-15$	Maintenance	$10$

The number of people employed in each month is:

Month	$1$	$2$	$3$	$4$	$5$	$6$	$7$	$8$	$9$	$10$	$11$	$12$	$13$	$14$	$15$
No. of people employed	$2$	$3$	$4$	$3$	$4$	$5$	$5$	$4$	$4$	$1$	$3$	$3$	$1$	$1$	$1$

 

Due to an overrun, the Design stage took three months, i.e. months $3, 4$ and $5$. The number of people working on Design in the fifth month was $5$. Calculate the percentage change in the cost incurred in the fifth month. (due to improvement in “Coding” technique, the stage was completed in months $6-8$ only).

• A. $225$%
• B. $150$%
• C. $275$%
• D. $240$%

Answer 1

If the coding stage was performed in the $5^{th}$ month, then the cost will be $10,000 $ per man-month which is $10,000 \times 4 = 40,000$ because the coding stage was supposed to perform by $4$ people.

But,

now the design stage is performed in the $5^{th}$ month & $5$ people are working on that stage and for performing or doing the design stage the cost is $20,000$ per man-month, & the total cost will be  $20,000 \times 5 = 1,00,000$ in the $5^{th}$ month.

In the $5^{th}$ month, the cost was supposed to be $40,000$

& now the cost incurred = $1,00,000$

Percentage change in the cost incurred in the $5^{th}$ month = $\dfrac{(1,00,000-40,000)}{40,000} \times 100\% \\ = \dfrac{60,000}{40,000} \times 100\% \\ = \dfrac{6}{4} \times 100\% \\ = \dfrac{3}{2} \times 100\% \\ = 150\%$