Evaluating Information Flashcards
Who invented Gantt charts?
Gantt charts were invented by Henry Gantt, a writer for classical school of management in the early 20th Century
A Gantt chart is a…
Stacked bar chart displaying the different activities invoked in a project and how long they will take.
As each activity is completed, the bars are coloured in which makes it easier for a firm to track progress
Advantages of a Gantt chats and why we use them are…x5
Due to the visual element a wide audience can understand them which means there should be no confusion about what needs to be done.
Allows task delegation to different people and align team resources without overloading staff. This means staff are less stressed and a project is more likely to be completed on time.
Allows an overview of where the project is at any point in time which means managers know what still needs to be done and they can pick up anything falling behind schedule
Allow you to use your resources effectively as you get to see the project’s timeline where you can easily see how and where resources are being utilised
You can easily see which tasks are dependent on each other and schedule them in a way that they do not influence the overall progress in any way and team members share equal responsibility.
Steps to creating a Gantt chart are…x8
- Identify each different activity that needs to be done to implement the strategy
- Decide how much time each activity will take
- Decide the order in which the activities must be done
- Create a table or spreadsheet
- Key in days, weeks or months as appropriate across the top
- Write each activity that will need to be done down the left hand side
- For each activity, draw a rectangular box from the start time to the end time
- Check that every activity appears on the chart.
Advantages to Gantt charts are…x5 (detailed)
Members of project can see when their tasks need to be done and future tasks that depend on them. This means others can also see that, which motivates staff to work harder. Increased responsibility will satisfy employees and will make them feel valued. This reduces staff turnover.
Building a Gantt chart as a team helps improve communication and collaboration in org. This allows for uniformity and synchronicity of worker performance and effort.
Clear communication if everyone see the chart can also reduce confusion and improve decisions made. This improves competitiveness of org.
Helps managers to see which depend on other tasks to be completed first. This improves efficiency of the order of tasks completed.
Updates to charts when tasks are completed can help spot delays and mistakes which keeps the project on track to meet deadlines. Less mistakes are made, meaning the org is using resources efficiently, reducing costs.
Disadvantages to Gantt charts are…x4
Can become cluttered and complex where there are many tasks, subtasks and team members in a project which can cause confusion among employees and the business will struggle to have a clear overview of org.
Is a static program which makes updating chart a time consuming process. This makes it less suitable for projects needing completed quickly.
Technological barrier as access to software is needed as without it, it’s impossible to update chart, assign and track chart
Requires efforts for managing and creating chart
How does Gantt chart help decision making? X5
Identifies the various activities so that decisions as to what resources are required can be made
Visually sharing a project on chart which marks progress with a today line making it easier to track and meet deadlines
Helps to show how long each activity is scheduled to last so that efficient timetabling of resources, inventory and deliveries can be carried out
Identifies where activities overlap one another and by how much so that a manager can plan how to divide firms resources which means delays can be avoided
Identifies the critical path which will allow the manager to work out the most efficient timescale of the project
Critical path analysis is widely…
Used in project management to help managers to handle complex and time-sensitive operations
Essential techniques of CPA are…x5
Identifying each of the activities needed to complete a project
Calculate the time that will be taken by each activity
Working out which activities can be done simultaneously
Identifying which activities cannot start until the other ones are completed
Putting the activities in order
EST is the…
Earliest start time
LFT is the…
Latest finish time
Features of CPA are…x4
Node-
activity number (left side of circle)
EST on top of right
LFT bottom of right
Activity
Duration
Why are CPA’s used…x3
Determines critical activities and total float which can be delayed without making an impact
Earliest and latest each activity can start and finish
Shows the longest path of planned activities
Advantages of CPA are…x4
Helps reduce the risk and cost of complex projects which improves chance of success
Provides managers with a useful overview of a complex project which helps to track progress
Encourages careful assessment of the requirements of each activity in a project which reduces chance mistakes or errors from being made
Helps spot which activities have some slack or float and could lead to reallocation or better allocation of resources.
Force field diagrams are…
Used to summarise the results of force field analysis
