Unit-4

Unit-4 Project scheduling and Control

1) What Is Project Scheduling?

Project scheduling is a mechanism to communicate what tasks need to get done and which organizational resources will be allocated to complete those tasks in what timeframe. A project schedule is a document collecting all the work needed to deliver the project on time

The following are the steps needed to schedule a project:

Define Activities

What are the activities that you have to do in the project? By using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and a deliverables diagram, you can begin to take these activities and organize them by mapping out the tasks necessary to complete them in an order than makes sense.

Do Estimates

Now that you have the activities defined and broken down into tasks, you next have to determine the time and effort it will take to complete them. This is an essential piece of the equation in order to calculate the correct schedule.

Determine Dependencies

Tasks are not an island, and often one cannot be started until the other is completed. That’s called a task dependency, and your schedule is going to have to reflect these linked tasks. One way to do this is by putting a bit of slack in your schedule to accommodate these related tasks.

Assign Resources

The last step to finalizing your planned schedule is to decide on what resources you are going to need to get those tasks done on time. You’re going to have to assemble a team, and their time will need to be scheduled just like the tasks.

2) Project controls and importance

       Project Controls are the data gathering, data management and analytical processes used to predict, understand and constructively influence the time and cost outcomes of a project or programme; through the communication of information in formats that assist effective management and decision making."

the basis the component elements of Project Controls are to do with measuring and monitoring controlling variables, these are principally time and cost aspects:

1.                    Planning and Scheduling
2.                   Risk Management (includes identification &                               assessment)
3.                    Cost estimating and management
4.                    Scope and Change Management
5.                     Earned Value Management
6.                      Document Control
7.                      Supplier Performance
8.                       Maintaining the project baseline
9.                      Reporting

Controlling is essentially tracking and managing the core project management elements of scope, quality, time and cost. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) identifies the core controlling processes as:

• Integration change control
• Scope change control and scope verification
• Schedule control
• Risk monitoring and control
• Quality control • Cost control and
• Project progression and performance reporting.

Network techniques of Project Management: Gantt chart, CPM, PERT

1) Gantt chart

              A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart developed as a production control tool in 1917 by Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and social scientist. Frequently used in project management, a Gantt chart provides a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project. 
Gantt charts may be simple versions created on graph paper or more complex automated versions created using project management applications such as Microsoft Project or Excel.

           Gantt charts may be simple versions created on graph paper or more complex automated versions created using project management applications such as Microsoft Project or Excel

Gantt charts give a clear illustration of project status

A Gantt chart is constructed with a horizontal axis representing the total time span of the project

2) CPM: what are the roots?

           The method was developed by one of the American companies in 1957. Its employees planned to close, repair and restart chemical plants. The tasks in this project were numerous and complex, that’s why they required such a method. After that, Critical Path Method was quickly spread to agricultural and construction projects where people wanted to learn how to avoid routine tasks. Today, this method of identifying critical tasks is widely used in many industries, including software development.

Critical path analysis is required in order to predict the timing of project’s completion.

Here are 6 main advantages of CPM:

• The method visualizes projects in a clear graphical form.
• It defines the most important tasks.
• Saves time and helps in the management of deadlines.
• Helps to compare the planned with the real status.
• Identifies all critical activities that need attention.
• Makes dependencies clear and transparent.

What are the limitations of Critical Path Method?

·         It is believed that the methodology was developed for routine and complex projects with the possibility of a minimum change in the completion time of tasks. CPM loses its usefulness in more chaotic projects.

·         There are alternatives, for example, PERT-diagrams, which allow changing the duration of each activity.

·         A critical path imitates events and activities in a project, presenting them in an interconnected network. Activities are rendered as “nodes,” and the beginning and end of the activities look like arches and lines between nodes.

The example of CPM using

1.   Choose a location.

2.   Clean the area from trash.

3.   Buy paint for marking.

4.   Measure the pad for a certain number of cars.

5.   Mark and paint all the parking elements.

6.   Install the gate. 

3) PERT chart (Program Evaluation Review Technique)

          A PERT chart is a project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project. PERT stands for Program Evaluation Review Technique, a methodology developed by the U.S. Navy in the 1950s to manage the Polaris submarine missile program. A similar methodology, the Critical Path Method (CPM) was developed for project management in the private sector at about the same time.

             A PERT chart presents a graphic illustration of a project as a network diagram consisting of numbered nodes (either circles or rectangles) representing events, or milestones in the project linked by labelled vectors (directional lines) representing tasks in the project. The direction of the arrows on the lines indicates the sequence of tasks. In the diagram, for example, the tasks between nodes 1, 2, 4, 8, and 10 must be completed in sequence. These are called dependent or serial tasks. The tasks between nodes 1 and 2, and nodes 1 and 3 are not dependent on the completion of one to start the other and can be undertaken simultaneously. These tasks are called  parallel or concurrent tasks. Tasks that must be completed in sequence but that don't require resources or completion time are considered to have event dependency. These are represented by dotted lines with arrows and are called dummy activities. For example, the dashed arrow linking nodes 6 and 9 indicates that the system files must be converted before the user test can take place, but that the resources and time required to prepare for the user test (writing the user manual and user training) are on another path. Numbers on the opposite sides of the vectors indicate the time allotted for the task.