BUSOBA 3230: Project Management

BOOK

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Project

A series of related jobs usually directed toward some major output and requiring a significant period of time to perform.

Project Management

Planning, directing, and controlling resources (people, equipment, material) to meet the technical, cost, and time constraints of a project.

Activities

• Pieces of work within a project that consume time. The completion of all the activities of a project marks the end of the project.
• Don't require the expenditure of effort by people, although they often do. Ex. Waiting for paint to dry.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

• Network planning models. Developed in the 1950s.
• Was developed for scheduling maintenance shutdowns.
• Based on the assumption that project activity times can be estimated accurately and that they do not vary.

Critical Path

• The sequence(s) of activities in a project that form the longest chain in terms of their time to complete.
• This path contains zero slack time.
• It is possible for there to be multiple critical paths in a project.
• Techniques used to find the critical path are called CPM, or critical path method, techniques.
• If one activity is delayed, then the entire project is delayed.

Major Goal of CPM Techniques

• Determining scheduling information about each activity in the project.
• Additionally, the techniques calculate when an activity must start and end, together with whether the activity is part of the critical path.

Immediate Predecessor

Activities that need to be completed immediately before another activity.

Slack Time

The time that an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project; the difference between the late and early start times of an activity.

Crashing/Minimum Cost Scheduling

Refers to the compression or shortening of the time to complete the project.

Activity Direct Costs

• The cost associated with expediting activities.
• Add to the project direct cost.
• Some may be worker related (hiring more workers), others are resource related (buying or leasing additional equipment)

Project Indirect Cost

The cost associated with sustaining the project: costs overhead, facilities, and resource opportunities, and, under certain contractual situations, penalty cost or lost incentive payments.

Early Start Schedule

• A project schedule that lists all activities by their early start times.
• Completes the project and all its activities as soon as possible.

Late Start Schedule

• A project schedule that lists all activities by their late start times.

- This schedule may create savings by postponing purchases of material and other costs associated with the project.

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Project Management

A unique, temporary, endeavor with a specific objective to be met within a prescribed time, budget, and resource limitations, made up of an interrelated set of activities that have a definite starting and ending point.

Project management involves meeting each of the three goals:

• Scope (objectives)
• Cost of resources
• Time schedule

Product Process Matrix

• Customization (Vertical and up)
• Volume (Horizontal and right)
• Project, job, batch, line, and flow (goes down)

Scope Creep

Scope tends to increase throughout the project, without increasing time and budget.

Group norms (cultural conditions) determine

how well teams perform and matter more than who is on the team.

Other Info. From Importance of Teamwork Slide

• Believe their work matters
• Feel the work is personally meaningful
• Have clear goals and defined roles
• Know they can depend on one another
• Enjoy "psychological safety"

Psychological Safety

• People take turns in conversation.
• Use active/ostentatious listening.

Project Aristotle Video

About the difference between an all start team and a championship team.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

an algorithm for scheduling activities within a project for the fastest and most efficient execution.

Elements of CPM

• Work breakdown
• Network diagram
• Critical path
• Activity slack

Work Breakdown (Structure)

A list of activities and sub activities and their "precedence relationships" activity duration.

Critical Path

• Is the longest path of the network.
• Determines project length.
• Activities on the path have 0 slack.

Activity Slack/Buffer Time

of days that activity can be delayed without affecting project length.

How to solve CPM questions?

• Draw the network diagram
• Determine critical path and project duration
• Calculate the slack for each activity

2 Passes

Forward pass and backward pass.

Forward Pass

• Earliest start, earliest finish.
• To the right.

Forward Pass MY OWN

Just add large #.

Backward Pass

• Latest start, latest finish.
• To the left.

Backward Pass MY OWN

Just subtract smallest #.

Slack

• Latest start - earliest start.
• Latest finish - earliest finish.

Crashing: Minimum Cost Schedule

Shortening (or expediting) project completion time and/or cost.

How to solve crashing questions? Step 1

Create Network Diagram

How to solve crashing questions? Step 2

Determine the paths and identify the critical path

How to solve crashing questions? Step 3

• Calculate the crashing cost (cost to speed up) per unit (day or week) for each activity
• When crashing starts, do this.

How to solve crashing questions? Step 4

Calculate the total project costs (direct (activity cost), indirect (overhead cost) & penalty (for being late))

How to solve crashing questions? Step 5

Shorten the activity on the critical path at the least cost until Cost > Savings.

When cost > savings,

stop.