Area 3: Project Schedule

or
Time Management
Mapping process group Knowledge Area
 Learning Objective

 The importance project schedules and good project

schedule management
 Understand the process of planning schedule management
 Define activities as the basis for developing project
schedules
 Describe how project managers use network diagrams and
dependencies to assist in activity sequencing
 Explain how various tools and techniques help project
managers perform activity duration estimates
 Learning Objective
 Use a Gantt chart for planning and tracking schedule
information
 Find the critical path for a project
 Describe how critical chain scheduling and the Program
Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) affect schedule
development
 Discuss how reality checks and discipline are involved in
controlling and managing changes to the project schedule
 Time/Schedule Management
 This part of the project management is concerned with
the project schedule
 Managing the project schedule can be quite formidable
parts of project management.
 If not managed effectively, this can damage client
relationship severely.
 Time management is essential to attaining successful
projects.
 Time Management
 It includes
 Defining the project activities,
 Ordering the activities in their logical sequence,
 Estimating the effort and duration of each activity, and
 Building an overall project schedule.
 It also includes managing the schedules once the
project is underway.
 Time/Schedule Management

This area has 6 processes:

1.Plan Schedule Management: This involves the creation of a
Schedule Management Plan, as well as the overall management of
the schedule.
2.Define Activities: In this step, the activities required to complete
the project are defined and itemized. This is different from WBS
where in the activities are more precise.
3.Sequence Activities: Here the dependencies between the activities
are determined. It involves identifying leads and lags
 Time Management
4. Estimate Activity Duration: Here the required time for
each activity is estimated.
Next estimate the required resources which include tools,
equipment, contractors, or anything else necessary to
perform the work on time.
5. Develop Schedule: This involves using methods such as the
critical path method to determine the overall completion date
of the project. Float times for each activity are also important
6. Control Schedule: Involves the most effective way to
control the project schedule
 1: Plan Schedule Management
 The first step in project schedule management is planning how
the schedule will be made and managed throughout the life of
the project.
 The project charter often mentions planned project start and
end dates, which serve as the starting points for a more
detailed schedule.
 Inputs for this process is the project management plan, project
charter, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational
process assets,
 The project team uses tools/techniques such as expert
judgment, analytical techniques, and meetings to develop the
schedule management plan.
 2: Defining Activities
 This process involves the identification of specific activities
that must be performed in order to produce deliverables of
the WBS work packages.
 Each of the WBS work packages is then broken down into
smaller components called activities
 Note that decomposition is the tool and technique used to
create WBS as well as activities.
Work Package Vs Activity
Defining Activities
 Activity Attributes
 Activity attributes describe the characteristics of each
activity planned withing the work package.
 It typically include
 descriptions,
 predecessor & successor task and
 any other assumptions that may have been made
 Process 3: Sequence Activities
 The four processes of Sequence Activities, Estimate
Activity Resources, Estimate Activity Durations and
Develop Schedule are so closely linked that some projects
combine the four processes into single effort to come up
with project schedule.
 Sequence Activities process involves organizing project
tasks in the order they must be performed.
 This is accomplished by using predecessor(s) and
successor(s) for each task.
 Sequence Activities
 In addition, following must also be considered
 mandatory dependencies (hard logic),
 discretionary dependencies (preferred or soft logic),
 external and internal dependencies, and
 milestones
 Network Diagramming
 Project Schedule network diagrams are an important
output of the Sequence Activities process.
 The main technique used is the precedence diagram
methods (PDM). It is also called as activity-on-node
(AON).
 PDM is used for critical path determination.
 There are 4 types of dependencies
 Finish to Start (FS)—The predecessor ends before the successor can begin.
 Start to Start (SS)—The predecessor begins before the successor can begin.
 Finish to Finish (FF)—The predecessor ends before the successor can end.
 Start to Finish (SF)—The predecessor begins before the successor can end.
 Network Diagramming
 ADM (Arrow Diagramming Method) is the same as AOA
(Activity On Arrow)
 ADM requires the use of a dummy activity to reflect
relationships between events. In PDM you don't have a
dummy.
 In ADM, an activity is represented by an arrow, and
events are represented by a point.

18. Project Management – How to construct Network Diagram?

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 The Network Diagram (cont’d)

 Path
 Sequence of activities that leads from the starting
node to the finishing node
 Critical path
 The longest path; determines expected project
duration
 Critical activities
 Activities on the critical path
 Slack
 Allowable slippage for path; the difference the
length of path and the length of critical path
 Network Conventions
AOA AON

A B C A B C

Activities must be completed in sequence. First A, then B and then C

A
A

C C
B
B

Both activities A and B should be completed before start of activity C

 Network Conventions
AOA AON

B B
A A

C
C

Activity A must be completed before B or C can start.

A C A C

B D
B D

Both activities A and B should be completed before C and D can start

 Network Conventions
AOA Use of Dummy Activities to clarify relationships AON
A C
No dummy required

To separate two activities that have the same starting and ending nodes

A C

No dummy required

B D

Activity C is proceeded by activity A and B

Matrix for a Activity Node in Network Diagram

E.S Activity Duration E.F

Activity Name /Code

L.S Float/Slack L.F

ES Early Start (Earliest an activity can start

EF Early Finish (Earliest an activity can finish)

LS Late Start (Latest an activity can start)

LF Late Finish (Latest an activity can finish without delaying the project)
Hints for constructing Network Diagram
 In constructing networks, these observations can be useful
 Activities with no precedence are at the beginning (left side) of the
network
 Activities with multiple predecessors are located at path
intersections
 Complete the diagram in sections. Go down the activity list in order
to avoid overlooking any activity
 Additional Hints
 Use Pencil
 Start and end with a single node
 Avoid having paths cross each other
 Have activities go from left to right
 Use only one arrow between any pair of nodes.
 Critical Path and Project Duration
 After constructing a network diagram next task is to identify
critical path and project duration
 Compute ES and EF or LS and LF for each activity
 Compute floats for each activity by using following formula
FLOAT = ES-LS or EF-LF
 All activities with Zero (0) floats are critical activity
 A path formed by critical activities is called as the critical path
 Project duration is the duration taken to complete all the
activities in on the critical path.

19. Project Scheduling - PERT/CPM | Finding Critical Path (AON)

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 Lags and Leads
 Lags and Leads are used for different purposes
 A lag is used when there is a waiting period between two
dependent activities.
 Leads are typically used when some acceleration is
needed on the project schedule.
 Estimate Activity Resource Process
 Once the project schedule network diagram is available,
resources are assigned
 Resources come in several forms: people, equipment,
supplies, materials and money
 One of the key components of determining an accurate
schedule for any project is the ability to determining
accurately the type of resources needed to perform work
activities.
 The resources then can be used to estimate project costs
 Estimate Activity Resource Process
 PMBOK breaks down estimating into two steps
1. The first is estimating resources from a skill and
availability standpoint; this occurs in the estimate
resource activity process.
2. The second is estimating the duration of each work
package based on the decisions made during estimate
activity resource process
 Process 4: Estimate Activity Duration
 This process takes place once the project tasks are
organized in the order that they are to be performed and
the resources have been identified
 This is the process of defining number of work periods
that will be needed to complete the individual activities.
 Historical information will be very useful in carrying out
this process
 Estimate Activity Duration Process
 The project team must decide if the types of estimates to
be
 Deterministic (if a single estimate is used) or
 Probabilistic ( a three-point estimate is used if the duration
is uncertain)
 Estimate Tools and Techniques
 Following are some of the estimation techniques used in this
process
 Expert Judgement: Involves using one or two subject matter
experts (SMEs) as source of obtaining estimates.
 Analogous estimation Obtained by comparing the current
project activities to previous project activities (top-down estimating):
 Parametric estimation The quantities of the units of work are
multiplied by a productivity rate to obtain an estimated activity
duration. (quantitative based estimating):
Note: These estimates are based on historical information that has been
documented in a database.
 Estimate Tools and Techniques

 Three-point estimation (PERT) : This is a technique to

reflect risk in the estimates that are provided for both time
and cost. This is also called as Beta/PERT weighted average
estimates.
Here three estimates for each activities are made: Optimistic (A),
Pessimistic (B) and most likely estimates (C)
 Mean Activity Time T = (A + B + 4B)/6 (which follows beta
distribution)
 Activity Standard Deviation σ= (A - B )/6
 Process 5: Developing Schedule
Schedule development uses the results of all the preceding
schedule management processes to determine the start and
end dates of the project and its activities.
Project schedule management processes often go through
several iterations before a project schedule is finalized.
The goal of developing a realistic project schedule is to
provide a basis for monitoring project progress for the time
dimension of the project.
 Developing Schedule
 The main outputs of this process are
 Schedule baseline,
 Schedule data,
 Project calendars,
 Change requests,
 Project management plan updates, and
 Project documents updates.
 Developing Schedule
 A few of the tools and techniques for schedule development
include the following:
1. A Gantt chart is a common tool for displaying project schedule
information.
2. Critical path analysis is a very important tool for developing and
controlling project schedules.
3. Critical chain scheduling is a technique that focuses on limited
resources when creating a project schedule.
4. PERT analysis is a means for considering schedule risk on
projects.
 Gantt Charts
 Once the network diagram is completed and the schedule
activity relationships are known, a Gantt Chart can be
developed.
 Gantt Charts are generally used to monitor the progress of the
project.
 It is one of the most popular and useful ways of showing
activities (tasks or events) displayed against time.
 On the left of the chart is a list of the activities and along the
top is a suitable time scale.
 Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and length
of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the
activity.
 Gantt Charts
 This allows you to see at a glance:
 What the various activities are

 When each activity begins and ends

 How long each activity is scheduled to last

 Where activities overlap with other activities, and by how

much
 The start and end date of the whole project

 To summarize, a Gantt chart shows you what has to be done (the

activities) and when (the schedule).
 Gantt Charts
Gantt Chart MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Locate new
facilities

Interview staff

Hire and train staff

Select and order

furniture

Remodel and install

phones

Move in/startup

20 What is a Gantt Chart How to make a Gantt Chart using Excel

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 History of Gantt Charts
 The first Gantt chart was devised in the mid 1890s by Karol
Adamiecki, a Polish engineer who ran a steelworks in southern
Poland and had become interested in management ideas and
techniques.
 Some 15 years after Adamiecki, Henry Gantt, an American
engineer and project management consultant, devised his own
version of the chart
 It was this that became widely known and popular in western
countries.
 Consequently, it was Henry Gantt whose name was to become
associated with charts of this type.
 Adding Milestones to Gantt Charts
 Milestones can be a particularly important part of schedules,
especially for large projects.
 Many people like to focus on meeting milestones, so you can
create them to emphasize important events or
accomplishments on projects.
 Normally, you create milestones by entering tasks with zero
duration.
 To make milestones meaningful, some people use the
SMART criteria to help define them.
 Resource Levelling
 It’s a technique performed after the critical path is
determined
 The objective is to address specific delivery dates and to
take into account resource availability or to keep resource
usage at a constant level during a specified time period of
the project.
 The resulting schedule often has an altered critical path and
could result in the project taking longer to complete.
 This technique reviews the project schedule for either over
or under allocation of resources.
 Resource Smoothing
 Resource smoothing differs from resource levelling.
 It attempts to adjust activities within the existing free and
total float, thereby minimizing the potential for affecting the
critical path.

Resource Leveling versus Resource Smoothing

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 Illustration

Activity Duration Predecessor

(Months)
A 8 -
B 12 -
C 2 A
D 23 C
E 4 B
F 7 D,E

Critical Path is A-C-D-F

The diagram shows a project with 6 activities. Assume
that each box in the Gantt chart represents a time period
of 1 month on the horizontal axis.
 Illustration
 Constraints
 The project cannot have more than 5 resources at any point
(predefined resource limit).
 Only 4 resources are available to work on Activity D at any
point (scarce resources).
 Illustration
1. Apply Critical Path Method
 In the first step, the schedule is analyzed with the Critical Path Method
(CPM). A-C-D-F is determined to be the Critical Path of the project.
 Activities B and E have some float, which is represented in gray.
 Activity D is utilizing more than 4 resources in some months (violating
constraint 2).
 Illustration
2. Apply Resource Leveling
 In the second step, Resource Leveling is performed.
 Since only 4 resources are available to work on Activity D,
which is on the Critical Path, we need to extend the activity
duration to reduce resource usage each month, which
further results in increase in the Critical Path duration by 1
month.
Applying Resource Levelling
 Illustration
3. Apply Resource Smoothing
 In the third step, Resource Smoothing is performed to meet
the predefined resource limit of 5 resources at any point
during the project.
 Finally, we end up with a resource optimized schedule that
meets both the resource constraints.
Apply Resource Smoothing
 6. Controlling the Schedule
 The final process in project schedule management is
controlling the schedule.
 Like scope control, schedule control is a portion of the
integrated change control process in project integration
management.
 The goal of schedule control is
 to know the status of the schedule,
 influence the factors that cause schedule changes,

 determine if the schedule has changed, and

 manage changes when they occur.

 Control Schedule
 The main inputs to schedule control are
 The project management plan,
 Project documents (like the lessons-learned register, project
calendars, project schedule, resource calendars, and
schedule data),
 Work performance data, and

 Organizational process assets.

 Control Schedule

 Some of the tools and techniques include the following:

 Data analysis
 Critical path method

 Project management information systems

 Resource optimization, such as resource leveling,

 Project Resource Management

 Leads and lags, described earlier

 Schedule compression, such as crashing and fast tracking

 Conclusion
 Project time management directly impacts the quality, scope,
and cost of a project, making it one of the most
important project management knowledge areas.
 Managing time helps to secure project completion time and
budget.
 It also clarifies how much time a project requires, what
stakeholders (internal and external) to involve, and at what
point to include their expertise.
 This process provides a framework for developing a sequence
of activities, activity durations, resource estimations and how
these fit into the overall project management plan.
Discussion and Clarifications