lecture 3 scheduling Flashcards
Why plan?
• Basis of time management
• Can be used as a communication tool – forecasting,
controlling, monitoring and benchmarking
• Allows for the considered adjustment of scarce
resources
• Contractual obligation
The project charter
High level statement of what is to be done and the
boundaries to a project
Scope management
the translation of the high level statement into detailed
documentation which becomes the project brief. Typically this will be in the form
of drawings, specification and a bill of quantities
what happens after project brief aquired
work breakdown structure-subdividing the scope of the work into
manageable packages
why WBS
for cost estimation and scheduling
different levels of wbs
Level 0 detail will produce a master programme
Level 1 detail will produce a tender or contract programme
Level 2 detail will produce a section, stage or short term programme
what does project control enable a project team to do?
Any project team should be able to ask as any
time:
• Where are we?
• How did we get there?
• Where do we want to be and how do we get there?
Requirements of an effective planning system:
- Sensible and realistic
- Content must be relevant
- Must be interrogative and interactive
- Must be flexible
- System should be dynamic
- Must communicate information clearly
The critical path – the series of activities that have zero float.
Activity float – a measure of an activities flexibility.
Free float – float an individual activity can use up without effecting the early start of the
next activity.
Total float – the float shared with other activities in a group [arm].
yes
Resource Unconstrained Schedule
• First iteration/initial attempt.
• No resource or timing constraints.
• Let relationships between activities drive the computation of project
completion date.
• Shows which activities are TRULY critical.
• Maximize use of FS relationships.
total float
start float
finish float
lf-es
ls-es
lf-ef
what is PERT
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.
(PDM)
Precedence Diagram Method
Some short comings of PDM:
• All goals are based on estimates, which contain uncertainties
• Estimates of activity times generally include a large safety margin
• ‘Student syndrome’ may operate: human nature for many of us means
activities are left to the last possible minute
• ‘Parkinson’s Law’ may prevail: an activity will expand to fill the time
available
• The way that progress is measured is in error – by the time the PM is
notified of a problem it is already too late to prevent it!
‘Parkinson’s Law’
an activity will expand to fill the time
available
