IT Project Management Chapter 6

Importance of Project Schedules and Time Management

• Understanding project schedules and good project time management is crucial for project success.
• Project schedules are developed through a series of processes, including:
  • Identify activities: Breaking down the project into smaller tasks and activities.
  • Estimating resources: Determining the resources required for each activity.
  • Scheduling: Creating a timeline for the project.
  • Tracking: Monitoring progress and controlling the project schedule.

Understanding Activities

• Activities are the building blocks of a project schedule.
• Activity attributes include:
  • Activity name
  • Duration
  • Resource requirements
  • Dependencies

Estimating Resources

• Estimating resources involves determining the quantity and type of resources required for each activity.
• Considerations for estimating resources include:
  • How difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project?
  • What is the organization's history in doing similar activities?
  • Are the required resources available?

Estimating Activity Durations

• Estimating activity durations involves determining the amount of time required to complete each activity.
• Techniques for estimating activity durations include:
  • Analogous estimating: Using historical data from similar projects.
  • Parametric estimating: Using a mathematical model to estimate activity durations.
  • Bottom-up estimating: Breaking down activities into smaller tasks and estimating the duration of each task.
  • Three-point estimating: Using three approximate estimations (optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic) to estimate activity durations.

Creating a Project Schedule

• A project schedule is a timeline that outlines the start and end dates for each activity.
• The project schedule is created by:
  • Determining the start and end dates for each activity.
  • Identifying dependencies between activities.
  • Using network diagrams and dependencies to assist in activity sequencing.

Network Diagrams

• Network diagrams are used to visualize the project schedule and dependencies between activities.
• A network diagram consists of:
  • Activities represented by boxes.
  • Arrows showing relationships between activities.
  • Dependencies between activities.

Gantt Charts

• Gantt charts are a type of bar chart that shows the project schedule.
• Gantt charts provide a standard format for displaying project schedule information.
• Symbols used in Gantt charts include:
  • Black diamonds: Milestones.
  • Thick black bars: Summary tasks.
  • Lighter horizontal bars: Durations of tasks.
  • Arrows: Dependencies between tasks.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

• CPM is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration.
• The critical path is the series of activities that determines the earliest time by which the project can be completed.
• The critical path has the least amount of slack or float.

Critical Chain Scheduling

• Critical chain scheduling is a method of scheduling that considers limited resources when creating a project schedule.
• Critical chain scheduling suggests:
  • Delaying one task until the equipment is available (sequential).
  • Finding another piece of equipment to meet the schedule (parallel).

PERT Analysis

• PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) is a network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the individual activity duration estimates.
• PERT uses probabilistic time estimates, including:
  • Optimistic time.
  • Most likely time.
  • Pessimistic time.

Controlling the Project Schedule

• Goals of controlling the project schedule include:
  • Knowing the status of the schedule.
  • Influencing factors that cause schedule changes.
  • Determining that the schedule has changed.
  • Managing changes when they occur.
• Tools and techniques used in controlling the project schedule include:
  • Progress reports.
  • Schedule change control systems.
  • Project management software.
  • Variance analysis.