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Time and Cost Estimating Techniques Essay

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Time and Cost Estimating Techniques

Estimating work times provides several benefits for the project manager. It gives an idea of the level of effort required to complete a project. This information then enables the project manager to produce a realistic plan based upon that effort. Estimating also helps the project manager anticipate the budget for the project.

There are many formal techniques available to estimate time and cost for activities. Please refer to the Project Management Reference
Section for more details on these techniques. Anyone reviewing these estimates should understand that they are approximations, not accuracies. Although the formal techniques are very specific, most of them have the following tasks in …show more content…

The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a technique used to predict project duration by analyzing which sequence of activities (which path) has the least amount of scheduling flexibility (the least amount of float). The critical path identifies the activities in the project plan which have the most potential to delay the project end date.

Gantt charts produced in this form are:

* graphical;
* easy to read;
* easy to update.

There are no widely accepted standards for Gantt charts. Automated tools are available which produce Gantt charts directly from activity networks or from a full definition of the tasks.

Automated tools have features which assist the planning function including: * display of original and latest time for task;
* display of person(s) allocated to tasks;
* integration with other planning techniques (i.e. networks and milestones).

Task Analysis Methods: Observational Techniques
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Overview
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Observational techniques are a general class of techniques whose objectives are to obtain data by directly observing the activity or behaviour under study. A wide range of observational techniques are commonly used and combined according to the particular requirements of a study. Observations may be direct observations, where the investigator is actually present during the task (visual observations, remote observations via closed-circuit television), or

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