Unit 4. Chapter 25. Project management Flashcards
Def. Project
A specific and temporary activity with a starting and ending date, clear goals, defined responsibilities and a budget.
Def. Project management
Using modern management techniques to carry out and complete a project from start to finish in order to achieve pre-set targets of quality, time and cost.
Why do projects fail? (7) + example
• Customers were not involved in the planning and development process
• Lack of adequate resources for completion
• Lack of senior management involvement
• Continuous changes in project specification
• Poor planning
• Project’s scope became outdated due to changes in business environment
• The project team of technically incompetent
e.g. French IT company Bull reports that IT projects in the finance industry often failed due to poor planning, management and communication.
Def. CPA
Critical path analysis: A planning technique that identifies all tasks in a project, puts them in the correct sequence and allows for the identification of the critical path.
Def. Network diagram
The diagram used in critical path analysis that shows logical sequence of activities and the logical dependencies between them - and the critical path can be identified
Def. Critical path
The sequence of activities that must b completed on time for the whole project to be completed by the agreed date.
Main elements of a network diagram (3)
- Arrows which indicate activities and dummy activities (above the arrow)
- Time and resources needed for the activity (below the arrow)
- Nodes (circles) indicating end of activities
Meanings of number in nodes (3)
- Node no. (on the left)
- EST = Earliest start time (top right)
- LFT = Latest finish time (bottom right)
Total float
Total float: The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the whole project duration
Total float = LFT (from next node) - duration (of activity) - EST (of previous node)
e.g. Total float for F = LFT (node 4) - duration of F - EST (node 3)
Free float
Free float: The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the start of the next activity
Free float: EST (of next activity) - duration - EST (of this activity)
Dummy activities
Shown by a dotted line
• Does not consume either time or resources
• Shows logical dependency between other activities that must be included
e.g. The eggs and bacon would both have to be completed in order to serve (but eggs and bacon and not prepared in the same process together)
Benefits of critical path analysis
- Calculating total project duration allows businesses to give accurate delivery times
- LFTs can allows manager to see if the project is on schedule
- By knowing the critical path, operations manager can see which activities have to be sped up and which can be delayed
- Forces managers to carefully plan, hence less risks
- Allows tasks to be taken simultaneously to better efficiency in the fast changing markets
