Project Management

Critical path analysis identifies the most efficient and cost effective way of completing a complex project. The various activities which together will make up the project are identified, and the order of these activities are identified. Then, the duration of each activity is estimated and these factors are then arranged as a network or graph, showing the whole project from start to finish, and showing which tasks can happen at the same time. The sequence of tasks which have to be done one after another with no gaps in between is called the Critical Path.

It needs a good procurement policy to find the best and most realistic cost for each of the task.

Resource constraint: If a resource is shared by many projects or activities, it would be used in order of priority, thus leading to delay of activity or project with lower priority.

2) In a resource constrained project, the work must be finished by a certain time, or date, as efficiently as possible.

One of the main concerns during the meeting was the impact of cost and time constraints on networking techniques and project schedules. Under the ideal situation, the project start and end dates are fixed. Adding resources is not usually feasible as it increases cost. There should be a balance between time and cost constraints as it avoids wasting of resources. Also most people are willing to accept that costs could exceed expectations, and might even take a perverse delight in recounting past examples, the same is not true for time constraints. This is probably due to the fact that cost over runs are resolved in-house, while schedule issues are open and visible to the customer. A company has a lot of useful, desirable work that could be done, but has limited and finite resources available with which to do that work. Choices have to be made about which work to do and how to allocate resources. This leads to constraints especially, the time constraint and the cost constraint. Time, in project management, is analyzed down to its smallest detail. Each and every component of the project is analyzed with respect to the time required for completion. After completion of this analysis these components are broken down even further into the time required to do each task.

2) In a resource constrained project, the work must be finished by a certain time, or date, as efficiently as possible.

Constraints are usually a list in which provides the limitations and restrictions that the project team may encounter.

A constraint is a limitation or a restriction. This is anything which can delay the project. In order to figure out how to avoid constraints, it is important to first establish

1. Critical Path Method and Critical Chain Project ManagementProject schedule plan is the main plan included in any Project Management Plan. Project schedule isresponsible for bringing project time, cost and quality under control. Project schedule links resources,tasks and time line together. Once a Project Manager has list of resources, work breakdown structure(WBS) and effort estimates, he is good to go for planning project schedule. Schedule networkanalysis helps Project Manager to prevent undesirable risks involved in the project. Critical PathMethod (CPM) and Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) are key elements of schedule networkanalysis. In the following sections we will

Resource Scheduling is a process of selecting goal completion dates for sub-system programs based on not exceeding the mandate for resources in a pre-arranged style for an overall delivered solution. Project managers use this tool to properly arrange goals based on time constraints given in a set of demands. There are numerous methods to determine resource scheduling, benefits and challenges to using (or not using) resource scheduling, and provided will be an example of how resource scheduling was used by my college research team to develop and select an expansion of business in the role of project manager with the use of resource scheduling.

Fondahl, John W., “Non-Computer Approach to the Critical Path Method for the Construction Industry”, Report #9, Stanford University, 1961 Fondahl, John W. “The History of Modern Project Management – Precedence Diagramming Methods: Origins and Early Development”. Project Management Journal. Volume XVIII. No. 2. June 1987. Hendrickson, Chris & Au, Tung, Project Management for Construction, Prentice Hall, 1989 Weber, Sandra C., Scheduling Construction

Some projects can be more urgent which get priority than the project less urgent. In many situation, it is difficult to determine the degree of urgency because of the lack of an objective. (chandra, 2006)

NETWORK DIAGRAMS ARE SCHEMATIC DISPLAYS OF PROJECT SCHEDULE ACTIVITIES AND THE INTERDEPENDENCIES BETWEEN THESE ACTIVITIES. WHEN DEVELOPED PROPERLY, THIS GRAPHICAL VIEW OF A PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES CONVEYS CRITICAL SCHEDULE CHARACTERISTICS REQUIRED TO EFFECTIVELY ANALYZE AND ADJUST SCHEDULES – THUS RESULTING IN ACCURATE AND FEASIBLE SCHEDULES. THIS DOCUMENT ADDRESSES WHAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NETWORK DIAGRAM, HOW NETWORK DIAGRAMS ARE CREATED, AND HOW THEY MAY BE ANALYZED TO IDENTIFY NECESSARY CORRECTIVE ACTIONS AND ENSURE OPTIMAL SCHEDULE DEFINITION.

The scheduling in project management is the discipline for stating how to complete a project within a certain timeframe, usually with defined stage, and with designated resources. The project schedule reflects all of the work associated with delivering the project on time. It shows how the work will progress over a period of time and takes into account factors such as limited resources and estimating uncertainty. Without a full and complete schedule, the project manager will be unable to communicate the complete effort, in terms of cost and resources, necessary to deliver the project.

NETWORK DIAGRAMS ARE SCHEMATIC DISPLAYS OF PROJECT SCHEDULE ACTIVITIES AND THE INTERDEPENDENCIES BETWEEN THESE ACTIVITIES. WHEN DEVELOPED PROPERLY, THIS GRAPHICAL VIEW OF A PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES CONVEYS CRITICAL SCHEDULE CHARACTERISTICS REQUIRED TO EFFECTIVELY ANALYZE AND ADJUST SCHEDULES – THUS RESULTING IN ACCURATE AND FEASIBLE SCHEDULES. THIS DOCUMENT ADDRESSES WHAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NETWORK DIAGRAM, HOW NETWORK DIAGRAMS ARE CREATED, AND HOW THEY MAY BE ANALYZED TO IDENTIFY NECESSARY CORRECTIVE ACTIONS AND ENSURE OPTIMAL SCHEDULE DEFINITION.