Project Management
involves three phases:
(1)
Planning
- includes goal setting, defining the project, and team organization
(2)
Scheduling
- relates people, money, and supplies to specific activities and relates activities to each other
(3)
Controlling
- monitors resources,
Project
a series of tasks directed towards a major output
- a temporary and often customized initiative that consists of many smaller tasks and activities that must be coordinate and completed to finish the entire initiative on time and within budget
(1) Project planning
Project organization
- developed to make sure existing programs continue to run smoothly on a day-to-day basis while new projects are successfully completed
- temporary organization structure designed to achieve results by using specialists from throughou
Project Manager - project planning
- coordinates activities with other departments and reports directly to top management.
Responsible for making sure:
(1) all necessary activities are finished in proper sequence and on time
(2) the project comes in within budget
(3) the project meets its
work breakdown structure (WBS) - project planning
a hierarchical description of a project into more and more detailed components
Ex:
Level
1. Project
2. Major tasks in the project
3. Subtasks in major tasks
4. Activities (or "work packages") to be completed
Project scheduling
involves sequencing and allotting time to all project activities
- managers decide how long each activity will take and compute the resources needed at each stage of production
Techniques for project scheduling:
(1) Gantt Chart
(2) PERT
(3) CPM
Serves 4 m
Gantt chart - project scheduling
- a bar chart showing both the amount of time involved and the sequence in which activities can be completed
- low-cost means of helping managers make sure that:
(1) activities are planned
(2) order of performance is documented
(3) activity time estimates
Project controlling
- involves close monitoring of resources, costs, quality, and budgets
- means using a feedback loop to revise the project plan and having the ability to shift resources to where they are needed most
PERT (Program of evaluation and review technique)
CPM (Critical Path method)
- designed to help managers schedule, monitor, and control large and complex projects
Both follow six basic steps:
(1) define the project and prepare the work breakdown structure
(2) develop the relationship among the activities. Decide which activities m
Critical path
- the longest time path through the network of activities
- activities on this path represent tasks that will delay the entire project if they are not completed on time
First step of PERT and CPM
- divide the entire project into significant activities in accordance with the work breakdown structure
Two main approaches:
AOA - activity on arrow (nodes represent start and finish time of activities)
AON - activity on node (nodes represent activities)
Project network
a diagram of all the activities and the precedence relationships that exist between these activities in a project
if two activities represent as start of an activity make sure to include dummy start in project network
Project Schedule
- identifies the planned starting and ending time for each activity
- consists of a forward pass (Solve for ES and EF) and a backward pass (Solve for LS and LF)
backward pass begins with the last activity in the project and allows us to determine the crit
Earliest start (ES)
earliest time at which an activity can start, assuming all predecessors have been completed
Rule:
before an activity can start, all its immediate predecessors must be finished:
- if an activity has only a single immediate predecessor, its ES equals the EF
Earliest finish (EF)
earliest time at which an activity can be finished
EF = ES + Activity Time
Latest start (LS)
Latest time at which an activity can start so as to not delay the completion time of the entire project
LS = LF - Activity Time
Latest finish (LF)
latest time by which an activity has to finish so as to not delay the completion time of the entire project
Rule:
- if an activity is an immediate predecessor for just a single activity, its LF equals the LS of the activity that immediately follows it
- i
Slack time
the amount of time an activity can be delated without delaying the entire project
ST = LS - ES OR ST = LF - EF
activities with zero slack are called critical activities and are said to be on the critical path
PERT (three time estimates)
Optimistic time (a)
pessimistic time (b)
Most likely time (realistic) (m)
optimistic time - a (PERT)
time an activity will take if everything goes as planned
- small probability that activity time will be < a
pessimistic time - b (PERT)
time an activity will take assuming very unfavorable conditions
- small probability that the activity time will be > b
most likely time (realistic) - m (PERT)
most realistic estimate of the time required to complete an activity
expected activity time
0
Variance of activity completion time
#REF!
Project Duration
SUM of expected times [(a+4m+b)/6] of activities on path
Project Variance
SUM of the variances of activities on the critical path
Project standard deviation
square root of the project variance
Z
- the probability that a given path will be completed in a specified length of time
= (Due date - Expected completion) / Proj. St. deviation
Determining if the project can be completed before a certain week Ex
Julia ann williams would like to find the probability that her project will be finished on or before the 16-week earth day deadline
(1) apply standard normal equation
Z = (Due date - Expected completion) / Proj. St. deviation
Z = (16 weeks - 15 weeks) / 1
Computing the duration of a project considering a 99% completion rate
julie ann williams wants to find the due date that gives her company's project a 99% chance of on-time completion
(1)
Find the Z value corresponding with a .99 probability
Z = 2.33
(2)
Plug into equation
Z = (due date - expected completion) / Project st.
Project Crashing
the process by which we shorten the duration of a project in the cheapest manner possible
Factors to consider when crashing a project:
(1) The amount by which an activity is crashed, is in fact, permissible
(2) Take together, the shortened activity durati
Crash time - Project Crashing
the shortest duration required to complete an activity
The amount an activity can be shortened is the difference between its normal time and crash time
Crash cost - Project crashing
the cost of shortening the activity to its crash time
Advantages of PERT and CPM
(1) useful when scheduling and controlling large projects
(2) Straightforward concept; not mathematically complex
(3) Graphical networks help highlight relationships among project activities
(4) Critical path and slack time analyses help pinpoint activiti
Limitations of PERT and CPM
(1) project activities have to be clearly defined, independent, and stable in their relationships
(2) precedence relationships must be specified and networked together
(3) Time estimates tend to be subjective and are subject to fudging by managers who fea
Project risk
occurrence of events that have undesirable consequences
- delays
- increased costs
- inability to meet specifications
- project termination
Risk management
Four main steps:
(1) Identify potential risks
(2) Analyze and assess risks
(3) Work to minimize occurrence of risk
(4) Establish contingency plans