Project Schedule Management Week 10 PDF

Project Schedule Management WEEK 10 Dr. Bader Alshoumr Ass. Professor • Illustrate the importance that project schedules and good project • Discuss the process of planning schedule management Learning Objectives • Define activities as the basis for developing project schedules • Describe how p...

Project Schedule Management WEEK 10 Dr. Bader Alshoumr Ass. Professor • Illustrate the importance that project schedules and good project • Discuss the process of planning schedule management Learning Objectives • Define activities as the basis for developing project schedules • Describe how project managers use network diagrams and dependencies to assist in activity sequencing • Explain various tools and techniques help project managers perform activity duration estimates • Use a Gantt chart for planning and tracking schedule information, find the critical path for a project Project Schedule Management • Time is the variable that has the least amount of flexibility. Time passes no matter what happens on a project. • Project managers often cite the need to deliver projects on time as one of their biggest challenges and the main cause of conflict. Perhaps part of the reason that schedule problems are so common is that time is easily measured and remembered • Once a project schedule is set, people remember the projected completion date, and anyone can easily estimate schedule performance by subtracting the original time estimate from how long it really took to complete the project. People usually do this kind of comparison without taking into account the changes happened in the project. • Individual work styles and cultural differences may also cause schedule conflicts 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 3 • Project schedule management involves the processes required to ensure timely completion of a project. What is the Project Schedule Management? 11/2/2023 • There are main processes involved in the project time management: i. Planning schedule management ii. Defining activities iii. Sequencing activities iv. Estimating activity resources v. Estimating activity durations vi. Developing the schedule vii. Controlling the schedule Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 4 Project Time Management Summary 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 5 Planning Schedule Management • This process aims to plan how the schedule will be managed throughout the life of the project • The schedule management plan can be informal and broad or formal and detailed based on the need of the project • Project schedules inputs are the basic documents that are initiate a project such as the project charter, the project management plan, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets • The tools and techniques used for this process are expert judgment, analytical techniques, and meetings • The output of this process is the schedule management plan 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 6 Defining Activities • Defining activities involves identifying the specific actions that will produce the project deliverables in enough detail to determine resource and schedule estimates • Activities are elements of work performed during the course of a project; they have expected durations, costs, and resource requirements. • The goal of defining activities is to ensure that the project team completely understands all the work it must do as part of the project scope so they can start scheduling the work • Inputs = The project team reviews the schedule management plan, scope baseline, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets to begin defining activities • Outputs of this process include an activity list, activity attributes, a milestone list, and project management plan updates • A milestone on a project is a significant event that normally has no duration. • It often takes several activities and a lot of work to complete a milestone, but the milestone itself is a marker to help in identifying necessary activities • Milestones are also useful tools for setting schedule goals and monitoring progress 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 7 Sequencing Activities • The sequencing process involves evaluating the reasons for dependencies and the different types of dependencies • A dependency = relationship = pertain to the sequencing of project activities or tasks • Network Diagrams = technique = showing activity sequencing • Inputs to the activity sequencing process include the schedule management plan, activity list and attributes, project scope statement, milestone list, and organizational process assets. 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 8 Estimating Activity Resources • Before you can estimate the duration for each activity, you must have a good idea of the quantity and type of resources (people, equipment, and materials) that will be assigned to each activity • Expert judgment, an analysis of alternatives, estimating data, and project management software are tools that can assist in resource estimating. • The people who help determine what resources are necessary must have experience and expertise in similar projects and with the organization performing the project • Important inputs needed to estimate activity resources are a project’s schedule management plan, activity list, activity attributes, resource calendars, risk register, activity cost estimates, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets • The main outputs of the resource estimating process include a list of activity resource requirements, a resource breakdown structure, and project documents updates 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 9 Estimating Activity Resources 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 10 Estimating Activity Duration • It is important to note that duration includes the actual amount of time worked on an activity plus elapsed time • Do not confuse duration with effort, which is the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task. A duration estimate of one day could be based on eight hours of work or 80 hours of work, assuming that multiple people are working on a task that day • Of course, duration and effort are related, so project team members must document their assumptions when creating duration estimates because their performances will be evaluated based on their ability to meet the estimate. Project team members must also update the estimates as the project progresses. • There are several inputs to activity duration estimates, including the schedule management plan, activity list, activity attributes, activity resource requirements, resource calendars, project scope statement, risk register, resource breakdown structure, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets • One of the most important considerations in making activity duration estimates is the availability of resources, especially human resources (e.g. skills, level of skills, number of skilled people) • The outputs of activity duration estimates include the estimates themselves and project documents updates 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 11 Developing The Schedule • Schedule development uses the results of all the preceding project time management processes to determine the start and end dates of the project and its activities. • The ultimate goal of developing a realistic project schedule is to provide a basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the project. • The main outputs of this process are the project schedule, a schedule baseline, schedule data, project calendars, project management plan updates, and project documents updates. • Some project teams create a computerized model to quickly generate alternative schedule • to create a network diagram, to enter resource requirements and availability by time period, and to adjust other information • Several tools and techniques assist in schedule development i. ii. iii. iv. 11/2/2023 A Grant chart = displaying project schedule information Critical path analysis = for developing and controlling project schedule Critical chain scheduling = focuses on limited resources when creating a project schedule. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) analysis = considering schedule risk on projects Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 12 Gantt Charts • Gantt provide a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in calendar form • Milestone is created by entering tasks with zero duration • SMART criteria for creating meaningful milestones: • Specific • Measurable • Assignable • Realistic • Time-framed 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 13 Critical Path Model • Normally, several tasks are done in parallel on projects, and most projects have multiple paths through a network diagram • A critical path for a project is the series of activities that determine the earliest time by which the project can be completed • The critical path method is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration. This important technique combating project schedule overruns • The longest path or the path that contains the critical tasks is what drives the completion date for the project. You are not finished with the project until you have finished all the tasks • The longest path = is the critical path = it represents the shortest time required to complete a project 11/2/2023 Dr. Bader Alshoumr - Health Informatics - UoH 14