05) Time Management Flashcards
What is the process of time management?
- Plan Schedule Management
- Define Activities
- Sequence Activities
- Estimate Activity Resources
- Estimate Activity Durations
- Develop Schedule
- Control Schedule
What is the key output of the Plan Schedule Management process?
Schedule management plan
What are the key outputs of the Define Activities process?
- Activity list
- Activity attributes
- Milestone list
What are the key outputs of the Sequence Activities process?
- Network diagrams
- Updates to project documents
What are some of the key outputs of the Estimate Activity Resources process?
- Activity resource requirements
- Resource breakdown structure
What are the key outputs of the Estimate Activity Durations process?
- Activity duration estimates
- Updates to project documents
What does the Develop Schedule process involve?
Creating a project schedule that is bought into, approved, realistic, and formal
What are some of the Develop Schedule process key outputs?
- Project schedule
- Schedule baseline
- Updates to the project management plan and project documents
What are the key outputs of the Control Schedule process?
- Work performance information
- Schedule forecasts
- Change requests
What are the four types of logical relationships between activities in the precedence diagramming method?
- Finish-to-start (FS): An activity must finish before the successor can start
- Start-to-start (SS): An activity must start before the successor can start
- Finish-to-finish (FF): An activity must finish before the successor can finish
- Start-to-finish (SF): An activity must start before the successor can finish
What are mandatory dependencies?
Mandatory: The order in which activities MUST be done, due to the inherrent nature of the work; also called “hard logic”
What are discretionary dependencies?
Discretionary: The order in which the organization has CHOSEN that activities be performed; also called “preferred,” “preferential,” or “soft logic”
What are external dependencies?
External: Dependencies based on the needs of a party OUTSIDE the project
What are internal dependencies?
Internal: Dependencies based on the needs of the project; may be under the control of the project team
What is a lag?
Lag: Waiting time inserted between activities
What is a lead?
Lead: How soon an activity can start before it’s predecessor activity is completed
What is a resource breakdown structure?
An organizational chart or table showing identified resources, organized by category and type
How does a schedule model differ from a schedule?
- The schedule model consists of all the project data that will be used to calculate the schedule, such as the activities, dependencies, leads and lags, etc.
- The project schedule is the output of the schedule model - this refers to the final, printed dates that make up the schedule that becomes the baseline and part of the project management plan
What is the critical path?
Critical: The longest path through the network diagram
What is the near-critical path?
Near-critical: The path closest in length to the critical path
How does the critical path help us manage the project?
- It shows the project manager the shortest time in which the project can be completed
- It shows the project manager where to focus his or her time
- It is used in compressing or adjusting the schedule
Define total float, free float, and project float.
- Total float: The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project end date or an intermediary milestone
- Free float: The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of its successor(s)
- Project float: The amount of time the prject can be delayed without affecting the project’s required end date
What are the two formulas for calculating float?
- Late start - Early start
OR
- Late finish - Early finish
What are the methods that can be used to compress a schedule?
- Crashing
- Fast tracking
What is crashing?
Adding or adjusting resources in order to compress the schedule while maintaining the original project scope
What is fast tracking?
Compressing the schedule by doing more critical path activities in parallel.
What is the critical chain method?
A schedule network analysis tool that builds in buffers at critical milestones
What is reestimating?
Estimating the project again after planning to make sure you can still meet the end date, budget, or other objectives, and adjusting the project if you cannot
What is resource optimization?
Finding ways to adjust the use of resources
What is resource leveling?
A resource optimization technique that keeps the amount of resources used for each time period constant, resulting in a more stable level of resources and a longer project duration
What is resource smoothing?
A modified form of resource leveling, where resources are leveled only within the limits of the float of their activities, so the completion dates of activities are not delayed
What is the schedule baseline?
The approved version of the schedule model, along with any approved changes, used to measure project schedule performance
What are the main presentation formats for a schedule?
- Network diagrams
- Bar charts
- Milestone charts
What do network diagrams show?
- Dependencies (logical relationships) between activities
- How project activities will flow from beginning to end
- Network diagrams may also be used to determine the critical path
What do simple bar charts show?
Project schedule or project status
What do milestone charts show?
High-level project status
What is Monte Carlo analysis?
- A schedule network analysis technique used to simulate the project to determine the likelihood that the project will be completed by a specific date or for a specific cost
- Also used in Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis to determine the overall level of risk on the project
