Project Management A Managerial Approach Chapter 8 Scheduling

Scheduling A schedule is the conversion of a project action plan into an operating timetable It serves as the basis for monitoring and controlling project activity Taken together with the plan and budget, it is probably the major tool for the management of projects

Scheduling In a project environment, the scheduling function is more important than it would be in an ongoing operation Projects lack the continuity of day-to-day operations and often present much more complex problems of coordination

Scheduling The basic approach of all scheduling techniques is to form a network of activity and event relationships This network should graphically portray the sequential relations between the tasks in a project Tasks that must precede or follow other tasks are then clearly identified, in time as well as function

Scheduling Such networks are a powerful tool for planning and controlling a project and have the following benefits: It is a consistent framework for planning, scheduling, monitoring, and controlling the project It illustrates the interdependence of all tasks, work packages, and work elements It denotes the times when specific individuals must be available for work on a given task

Scheduling Network benefits (cont.): It aids in ensuring that the proper communications take place between departments and functions It determines an expected project completion date It identifies so-called critical activities that, if delayed, will delay the project completion time It identifies activities with slack that can be delayed for specific periods without penalty

Scheduling Network benefits (cont.): It determines the dates on which tasks may be started - or must be started if the project is to stay on schedule It illustrates which tasks must be coordinated to avoid resource timing conflicts It illustrates which tasks may run, or must be run, in parallel to achieve the predetermined project completion date It relieves some interpersonal conflict by clearly showing task dependencies

Network Techniques: PERT and CPM With the exception of Gantt charts, the most common approach to scheduling is the use of network techniques such as PERT and CPM The Program Evaluation and Review Technique was developed by the U.S. Navy in 1958 The Critical Path Method was developed by DuPont, Inc during the same time period

Network Techniques: PERT and CPM PERT has been primarily used for research and development projects CPM was designed for construction projects and has been generally embraced by the construction industry The two methods are quite similar and are often combined for educational presentation

Terminology Activity - A specific task or set of tasks that are required by the project, use up resources, and take time to complete Event - The result of completing one or more activities. An identifiable end state occurring at a particular time. Events use no resources. Network - The combination of all activities and events define the project and the activity precedence relationships

Terminology Path - The series of connected activities (or intermediate events) between any two events in a network Critical - Activities, events, or paths which, if delayed, will delay the completion of the project. A project’s critical path is understood to mean that sequence of critical activities that connect the project’s start event to its finish event

Terminology An activity can be in any of these conditions: It may have a successor(s) but no predecessor(s) - starts a network It may have a predecessor(s) but no successor(s) - ends a network It may have both predecessor(s) and successor(s) - in the middle of a network The interconnections depend on the technological relationships described in the action plan

Drawing Networks Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) networks use arrows to represent activities while nodes stand for events Activity-on-Node (AON) networks use nodes to represent activities with arrows to show precedence relationships The choice between AOA and AON representation is largely a matter of personal preference

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Gantt Charts The Gantt chart shows planned and actual progress for a number of tasks displayed against a horizontal time scale It is an effective and easy-to-read method of indicating the actual current status for each set of tasks compared to the planned progress for each item of the set It can be helpful in expediting, sequencing, and reallocating resources among tasks Gantt charts usually do not show technical dependencies

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Gantt Charts There are several advantages to the use of Gantt charts: Even though they may contain a great deal of information, they are easily understood While they may require frequent updating, they are easy to maintain Gantt charts provide a clear picture of the current state of a project They are easy to construct

Summary Scheduling is particularly important to projects because of the complex coordination problems The network approach to scheduling offers a number of specific advantages of special value for projects Critical project tasks typically constitute fewer than 10 percent of all the project tasks

Summary Although research indicates technological performance is not significantly affected by the use of PERT/CPM, there did seem to be a significantly lower probability of cost and schedule overruns Network techniques can adopt either an activity-on-node or activity-on-arc framework without significantly altering the analysis

Summary Networks are usually constructed from left to right, indicating activity precedence and event times as the network is constructed Gantt charts are closely related to network diagrams, but are more easily understood and provide a clearer picture of the current state of the project

Scheduling Questions?

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Scheduling Table Files

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