Project Management Scheduling

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.

Professor Silver ask his students to select a project and interview various people who are directly or supposed to be directly involved in the project to determine the reason for increase in project expense and the inability to finish timely. Most of the students responded with reports that stated many projects have overruns because the project team is given unrealistic schedules, unreliable vendors, and lack of trained personnel. Professor Silver claims that the reason for overruns is task time estimates. He uses probability distribution graph to explain that uncertainties are important to consider when determining the probability of finishing a project. He states that a project should add safety or otherwise known as slop to increase the length of time for the project’s completion assuring that the project will be completed on time. Adding safety or slop to a project will ensure that there is more than enough time to complete a task and encourages multitasking.

The paper is divided into three sections, the first of which will establish a timeline of events. This project background will serve as a case study for the analysis in the following section that will be structured such that each of the previously mentioned facets will be independently analyzed and contrasted with project management principles. Finally the paper will conclude with a summary of the analysis and recommendations based on

Larson, E., & Gray, C. (2010). Project management, the managerial process. (5th ed., p. 158).

Critical chain is a modified or refined technique about critical path; it involves the deterministic and probabilistic approaches to analyze the project schedule, which is more realistic and practical than critical path.

Resources used will be primarily the project team members. To reduce risk all members need to be aware of the project schedule so that the right team members are available at the right times. Adequate computer resources, physical space and other support staff need to be ensured so that the project does not fall behind schedule.

In almost every business, project management is critically important. The critical path method (CPM) will provide a timeline for the project manager for when tasks should be completed. In addition, providing a deadline and the negative effects it will have on the following successors if not completed on time. These many task are interdepended. Therefore, the CPM provides the start and finishes times of the tasks, and identifies the few tasks on the critical path that the project manager should observe to determine which task needs the most attention. Already discovering and incorporating the details the task or assignments may require, CPM calculates all task times, which can be measured in hours, days, weeks, and months. For any unintended manually input errors, a warning message will be provided. Including an automatic successor generator, task numbering comment, and data validation, makes it easier on the project manager.

This paper was prepared for Fundamentals of Project Management, Module 2 Check Your Understanding taught by Dr. Levern Eady.

First, one must integrate project scheduling, calendarization, throughout the project life cycle. Calendarization of the project allows the manager to see where bottlenecks are and adjust each projects cycle so that no one project's bottleneck overlaps. Furthermore, this master plan provides for time optimization through finding feasible optimal solutions to a projects bottleneck. Second, the manager must manage up, IE the process of utilizing technology and strong relationships with their boss to report timely, accurate information and allow for any changes that may occur. A successful project manager must always keep their superior informed about their activity. Last, managing down allows for the work to be evenly distributed and tracked. Furthermore, it allows the calendarization to keep on track as the project manager keeps tabs on both internal and external sources. Thus, a successful strategy is based on successful planning, execution, and fostering strong relationships.

The key to providing a project within the schedule and allocated budget are essential issues for a project 's success. The project manager must continually monitor and regulate project objectives to stay inside the budget and on time. The manager has to identify early indicators that could potentially risk or derail the project and take the required counteractive action keeping the assignment under control. The first obstacle to figure out is the schedule. Since the project 's sponsor mandated that the project must be delivered on time and within budget. However, the project has run into some hindrances creating delays; mainly the delivery of defective computer terminal

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.

While projects can be similar in some instances, no two projects are ever the same. For this reason, management of projects requires the application of tools and techniques to meet the goals of the temporary endeavor. Project managers apply these tools and techniques to determine what is required for project delivery such as the list of activities to completed, the time required to complete the activities, resources needed and the various risks associated with the deliverable and efforts. A multitude of tools and techniques are employed by the project manager based on the need of the effort to organize, identify and communicate the various aspects of the project. While in contrast, the repetitive nature of operations activities

Project scheduling can be performed in many ways. Some of the more common and popular methods of project scheduling are network analysis and the critical path method of scheduling (CPM). Although companies do not always use these methods in there exact form, most do tend to use a modified version of one or both of these methods. I discovered that Craft does not use network analysis or CPM, but they do have a scheduling method that works for them and is quite similar to CPM.

The type of schedule used for a project normally depends on the cost and complexity of the project. A bar chart is usually used for smaller projects and for larger projects a critical path method (CPM) schedule is established.

A key activity in project management is assessing project constraints. A project has three limitations: scope, budget and schedule. These limitations are project constraints because they are sensitive to change and have an impact on project risk. Risk is exposure to uncertain outcomes. Project constraints are mutually exclusive. If one constraint changes it affects the others and adjustments may be required to compensate and manage risks. For example, a delay in the schedule can increase the risk that the project will not finish on time. Time is money and delays have a negative impact on the budget. To