Time Management

Project Time Management: processes required to ensure timely completion of the project 1. Activity Definition (Planning): identifying the specific schedule activities that need to be performed to produce the various project deliverables. 2. Activity Sequencing (Planning): identifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities. 3. Activity Resource Estimating (Planning): estimating the type and quantities of resources required to perform each schedule activity. 4. Activity Duration Estimating (Planning): estimating the number of work periods that will be needed to complete individual schedule activities. 5. Schedule Development (Planning): analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule. 6. Schedule Control (Controlling): controlling changes to the project schedule. Schedule Management Plan: how the project schedule will be managed and controlled, subsidiary of project management plan, formal or informal, highly detailed or broadly framed Control Account. A management control point can be placed at selected management points (specific components at selected levels) of the work breakdown structure above the work package level. These control points are used as a basis for planning when associated work packages have not yet been planned. All work and effort performed within a control account is documented in a control account plan. Planning Package: A planning package is a WBS component below the control account, but above the work package, this component is used for planning known work content that does not have detailed schedule activities. Control account Planning package Work packages Activity List: comprehensive list including all schedule activities that are planned to be performed on the project Activity Attributes: contain Activity identifier, activity Code, Activity Description, Predecessor Activities, Successor activities, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, imposed dates, constraints and assumptions. Milestone: can be mandatory or optional, can be a component of project management plan, scope statement, WBS dictionary and schedule model. Project manager can impose additional milestones. Predecessor (before) Successor (after) Dependency: Mandatory (Hard logic), Discretionary (soft logic, preferred logic, best practices), External Finish-to-Start (FS), Finish-to-Finish (FF), Start-to-Start (SS), Start-to-Finish (SF) Lead: allows an acceleration of the successor activity Lag: direct a delay in Successor activity. Path Convergence: Multiple predecessors and successors Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) / Activity on Node (AON): use 4 dependencies types, boxes or rectangles, referred to as nodes, to represent activities and connects them with arrows that show the dependencies Arrow Diagram Method (ADM) / Activity-On-Arrow (AOA): use only FS dependency, arrows to represent activities and connects them at nodes to show their dependencies, use dummy activities (0 duration) Project calendar vs. resource Calendar & Resource availability Activity Resource Requirements: includes the type, quantity, availability, capabilities, and skills of human resources. The type, quantity, availability, and capability of equipment and materiel resources, for each schedule activity in a work package RBS (Resource Breakdown Structure): hierarchical structure of identified resources by category & type. Reserve Analysis: incorporate additional time referred to as contingency reserves, time reserves or buffers, into the overall project schedule as recognition of schedule risk Elapsed time: calendar duration for a task including non-working days Imposed dates: restricted date (hard coded): - Must start on/ must finish on - Start no earlier than (SNET) - Finish no earlier than (FNET) - Start no later than (SNLT) - Finish no later than (FNLT) - As soon as possible (ASAP) (Calculated using forward pass) - As late as possible (ALAP) (Calculated using backwards pass)

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Duration estimation methods: 1. Analogous (top-down): historical information, expert judgment, same previous project (less accurate) 2. Parametric (mathematical model) Estimating: quantitative, number of drawings * labor hours per drawing, 3. One time estimate: (padding) 4. Three-Point Estimates: Most likely: realistic expectations, Optimistic: best-case scenario, Pessimistic: worst-case scenario (O+ 4* M + P) / 6 5. PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique): estimate should be in range, confidence factor to project estimates Expected value (weighted average) = (O+ 4* M + P) / 6 Standard deviation of activity= (P - O)/6 Variance of activity = ((P - O)/6) ^ 2 Work will finish within 3 standard deviations 99.73 percent of the time Work will finish within 2 standard deviations 95.44 percent of the time Work will finish within 1 standard deviation 68.26 percent of the time Higher SD means higher risk, lower SD means lower risks Activity Duration Estimates: quantitative assessments, should include some indication of the range of possible results. 2 weeks 2 days, 15% probability of exceeding three weeks Schedule Network Analysis (for Schedule Development) 1. Critical Path Method (CPM): assumption of unlimited resources 2. Schedule Compression: crashing (additional resources) and fast tracking (parallel) 3. What if analysis: conditional analysis 4. Resource Leveling: applied after CPM, keep resource usage at constant level 5. Critical Chain Method: uses limited resource availability, adds duration buffers that are non-work schedule activities, focuses on managing the buffer activity durations. 6. Monte Carlo Analysis: calculating multiple project durations with different sets of activity assumptions Critical Path Method: Early Start (ES), Early Finish (EF), Late Start (LS), Late Finish (LF), Lead, Lag, forward pass, backward pass, critical path length and Float= LF-EF. Critical path can have 0 or negative total float. We can have more than one critical path, it can change, control cost with flexible schedule, one estimate per task PERT: emphasis on schedule with flexible cost, three (3) estimates per task, can be used for time or cost estimates Total float (slack): the amount of time the activity can be delayed without delaying the project end date, schedule flexibility, positive, negative, or zero, objective to generate ND with positive or zero total float Free Float: after total float, the amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of any immediate successor activity within the network path Project float: the amount of time a project can be delayed without delaying externally imposed project completion date Schedule Compression (duration compression method): shortens the project schedule without changing the project scope Crashing: cost and schedule tradeoffs, determine the greatest amount of compression for the least incremental cost Fast tracking: for the tasks on critical path, change dependency from sequence to parallel or semi parallel using lead, can result in rework or increased risk. Resource constrained schedule: (resource limited schedule) 1. Resource based method scheduling: allocating scarce resources to critical path activities first, reallocation from noncritical to critical, maximum resource utilization 2. Reverse resource allocation scheduling: scheduling in reverse from the project end date due to critical project resources Project Schedule: calendar-based schedule Project network diagrams: Project network diagrams are schematic displays of the projects activities and the logical relationships (dependencies) among them. Bar (Gantt) chart: a graphic display of schedule-related information using bars Milestone chart: summary level schedule which identifies the major milestones. Hammock Activity: an aggregate or summary activity Schedule Model Data: supporting data or project schedule Schedule base line: accepted and approved by the project management team, provides the basis for measuring and reporting schedule performance as part of the performance measurement baseline and EVM (SV and SPI) Schedule control (portion of integrated change control): 1. Determining the current status of the project schedule 2. Influencing the factors that create schedule changes 3. Determining that the project schedule has changed

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4. Managing the actual changes as they occur. Progress reporting: Rules 50/50, 20/80, 0/100 Heuristics: rules of thumb GERT (Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique): A network diagram drawing method that allows loops between tasks Schedule Development: cannot be performed until all of the following processes of project Planning are completed: Scope Planning, Scope Definition, Create WBS, Risk Identification, Risk Response Planning, Plan Purchases and Acquisitions, Activity Resource Estimating, Activity Definition, Activity Sequencing, and Activity Duration Estimating. Make sure that you can: - Name the purpose of the Activity Resource Estimating process - Name the tools and techniques of Activity Duration Estimating - Define the difference between analogous estimating and bottom-up estimating - Calculate the critical path - Define a critical path task - Describe and calculate PERT duration estimates - Name the duration compression techniques. The duration compression techniques

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