Schedule Management

Question 1

Process “Plan Schedule Management”

Answer 1

• Goal: establish policies, procedures and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the schedule
• Inputs: Project charter, PMPlan (scope mgmt plan, dev approach), EEFs, OPAs
• Tools+Techniques: Expert judgment, alt. analysis, meetings
• Outputs: schedule mgmt plan

Question 2

Process “Define Activities”

Answer 2

• Goal: identify and document the specific actions to be performed to produce project deliverables
• Inputs: PMPlan (schedule mgmt plan, scope baseline), EEFs, OPAs
• Tools+Techniques: Expert judgment, Decomposition, Rolling wave planning, meetings
• Outputs: activity list, activity attributes, milestone list, CRs, PMPlan updates (schedule mgmt plan, scope baseline)

Question 3

Process “Sequence Activities”

Answer 3

• Goal: Identify and document relationships among the project activities
• Inputs:PMPlan (schedule mgmt plan, scope baseline), Project documents (activity attributes and list, assumpt. log, milestone list), EEFs, OPAs
• Tools+Techniques: Precedence diagramming method, dependency determination and integration, leads and lags, PMIS
• Outputs: Project schedule network diagrams, Project documents updates (same as inputs

Question 4

Process “Estimate Activity Duration”

Answer 4

• Goal: Estimate the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources
• Inputs: Schedule mgmt plan, scope baseline, project documents (activity list and attributes, assumpt log, lessons learned reg, milestone list, project team assignments, resource breakdown structure, resource calendars, resource req, risk reg), EEFs, OPAs
• Tools+Techniques: Expert judgement, Estimating Techniques (Analogous, Parametric, Three Point, Bottom-Up); Data Analysis (Alt. and Reserve); Decision Making; Meetings
• Outputs: Duration Estimates, Basis of Estimates, Project Document Updates (Activity Attributes, Assumption Log, Lessons Learned Register)

Question 5

Process “Develop Schedule”

Answer 5

• Goal: analyze activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create a schedule model for project execution as well as monitoring and controlling
• Inputs: schedule mgmt plan, scope baseline, project documents (activity list and attributes, assumpt log, duration estimates, basis of estimates, project schedule network diagrams, lessons learned reg, milestone list, project team assignments, resource calendars, resource req, risk reg), Agreements, EEFs, OPAs
• Tools+Techniques: Schedule network analysis, critical path method, resource optimizat., data analysis (what if scenario analysis, simulation), leads and lags, schedule compression, PMIS, agile release planning
• Outputs: schedule baseline, project schedule, schedule data, project calendars, CRs, PMPlan updates (Schedule mgmt plan & cost baseline), Project document updates (activity attributes, assumpt log, duration estimates, lessons learned reg, resource req, risk reg)

Question 6

Process “Control Schedule”

Answer 6

• Goal: process of monitoring the status of the project to update the project schedule and managing changes to the schedule baseline
• Inputs: PMPlan (schedule mgmt plan; schedule, scope and performance measurement baseline), Project documents (lessons learned reg., project calendars, project schedule, resource calendars, schedule data), Work performance data, OPAs
• Tools+Techniques: Data Analysis (EVA, iteration burndown chart, performance reviews, trend analysis, var. analysis, what-if scenario analysis), critical path method, PMIS, resource optimization, leads and lags, schedule compression
• Outputs: Work performance info, schedule forecasts, CRs, PMPlan updates (same as inputs), Project documents updates (assumpt. log, basis of estimates, lessons learned reg, project schedule, resource calendars, risk reg, schedule data)

Question 7

Schedule Mgmt Plan

Answer 7

• establishes activities and criteria for developing, monitoring and controlling the schedule
• formal or informal, highly detailed or broadly framed
• includes schedule model development (methodology and tool) and maintenance, release and iteration length, level of accuracy, units of measurement, control thresholds, rules of performance measurement as well as reporting formats

Question 8

Milestone

Answer 8

=significant point or event in a project (no work activities and have no duration)

Question 9

Leads and Lags

Answer 9

• lead is the amount of time a successor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity
• lag is the amount of time a successor activity will be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity (=waiting time inserted)

Question 10

Precedence diagramming method (PDM)

Answer 10

used for constructing a schedule model in which activities are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more logical relationships to show the sequence in which activities are performed
-> tool is only used in ‘Sequence Activities’

Question 11

PDM dependencies

Answer 11

• Finish to start (FS) - most common
• Finish to finish (FF)
• Start to start (SS)
• Start to finish (SF): activity cannot finish until next activity has started - rarely used

Question 12

Dependency determination and integration

Answer 12

• mandatory (hard logic): dependency is inherit, e.g. you must design before you construct or contractual requirement
• discretionary (preferred, soft logic): can be changed if required e.g. to fast track the project
• external: based on the needs on a party outside the project (e.g. suppliers or government)
• internal: based on the needs the project, may be sth the team can control (e.g. test a program after it has been written)

Question 13

Path convergence and divergence

Answer 13

• path convergence: activities that have multiple predecessor activities
• path divergence: activities that have multiple successor activities

Question 14

Network diagram

Answer 14

• a (project schedule) network diagram is an image depicting the flow of project activities in the logical order in which they are performed.
• in its pure form it just shows dependencies/logical relationships
• if activity duration estimates and leads/lags are added later, it can also show the critical path
• if plotted against time it becomes a time-scaled schedule network diagram
• in the past, ADM (arrow diagramming method) and GERT method were commonly used -> today usually PDM

Question 15

Three point estimates

Answer 15

• Triangular distribution/simple average: (P+M+O)/3

- Beta distribution/weighted average/PERT: (P+4M+O)/3; SD=(P-O)/6

Question 16

Schedule Network Analysis

Answer 16

• used to create the schedule model and to finalize the project schedule
• techniques: critical path method, schedule compression, what-if/Monte Carlo analysis, resource optimization, agile release planning

Question 17

Critical path method

Answer 17

• used to estimate the min. project duration and determine the amount of schedule flexibility on the logical network paths within the schedule model
• it calculates the early start, early finish, late start and late finish dates for all activities without regard for any resource limitations by performing a forward and backward pass analysis through the schedule network (forward -> early start and finish; backward -> late start and finish)
• only used in ‘Develop Schedule’ and ‘Control Schedule’

Question 18

Float

Answer 18

• Total float: the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project end date or milestones (while adhering to constraints)
• Free float: the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of its successor (while adhering to constraints)
• Project float: the amount of time the project can be delayed without delaying the externally imposed project completion date required by the customer or mgmt, or the date previously committed to (=positive total float)
• formula: Late start - early start OR Late finish - Early finish

Question 19

Resource optimization

Answer 19

• Resource leveling: Start and finish dates are adjusted to balance the demand for resources with the available supply. Used when shared or critical resources are available only at certain times or in limited quantities, or are over-allocated.
• Resource smoothing: Adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the allocated resources do not exceed certain pre-defined resource limits. As opposed to resource leveling, the project’s critical path is not changed (leveling only within the limits of the float)

Question 20

Schedule compression

Answer 20

• techniques like crashing or fast tracking used to shorten or accelerate the schedule duration without reducing scope in order to meet schedule constraints or objectives
• fast tracking: taking critical path activities and doing them in parallel instead of consecutively
• crashing: shortening the schedule duration for the least incremental cost by adding resources (trades time for money)

Question 21

Agile release planning

Answer 21

• high-level summary timeline of the release schedule (typically 3 to 6 months)
• also determines the number of iteration or sprints in the release

Question 22

Iteration burndown chart

Answer 22

• chart that tracks the work that remains to be completed in the iteration backlog
• used to analyze the variance with respect to an ideal burndown based on the work committed from iteration planning
• data analysis technique only used in ‘Control Schedule’

Question 23

What-if-scenario analysis

Answer 23

• data analysis technique used in ‘Develop Schedule’ and ‘Control Schedule’
• employs different qualitative assumptions (associated with probable events) to paint different scenarios, and tries to come up with the most optimal responses under the circumstances.