Chapter 6

Project Implementation and Tools

Tools for Project Scheduling

The project manager uses a planning and scheduling process because most projects are complex, of long duration, require visualization of their parts and the resources needed. A planning and scheduling process:

• Identifies project activities (tasks/steps) • Identifies the sequence and duration of project activities • Organizes project resources (labor, equipment, materials, technology, facilities) • Enables monitoring of project progress

In any project:

π There will be many tasks to accomplish. π Tasks have to go through a sequence π Some tasks cannot start until others are finished (task dependency) π Some tasks are unconstrained. π Some are “critical tasks” π Some task will have flexibility in time, cost, resources π Some tasks will have uncertainty

Project scheduling involves determination of precedence relationship between work elements(activities) determining extent of interdependency and developing the flow path of the activities to reach the objectivities of the project.

Steps in Project Scheduling

1. Develop Work Breakdown Structure(WBS) to establish work elements constituting the project 2. Determine Interdependency among various work elements or activities/tasks and accordingly define logical sequence of the activities 3. Quantify each work element in terms of time/other resources requirements 4. Find out constraints, if any, external(e.g., Government policies, law and order problem, inadequacies of infrastructure etc.). and internal(e.g., poor choice of site, inadequacies in agreement with other stakeholders such as consultants etc.) 5. Review the work elements, their inter dependencies and quantification in light of the identified constraints 6. Develop a flow path of activities satisfying the logic of interdependency and constraints 7. Develop a time schedule of activities satisfying the logic of the flow path and time duration of the activities.

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) ò First step toward a work plan ò Helps to identify the tasks in a project ò The concept of the WBS is simple: in order to manage a whole project, one must manage and control each of its parts

What is a Work Breakdown Structure? ◙ The WBS is a graphical display of the project. ◙ WBS is a hierarchical listing of the sub-components of a project ◙ What is the purpose of the WBS? The purpose of the WBS is to divide the total project into small pieces, sometimes called work packages. Dividing the project into work packages makes it possible to prepare project schedules and cost estimates and to assign management and task responsibility

WBS components ∑ Tasks ∑ Dependencies ∑ Start date ∑ Duration ∑ Resources ∑ Milestones ∑ Deliverables ∑ The WBS should be divided into tangible deliverable items (hardware items, software packages, interim reports in R & D, etc.).

WBS levels? Typically 6 or fewer 1 Total project 2 Sub-project 3 Combination of tasks 4 Task 5 Sub-task 6 Individual processes or actions

At what level do you stop? • Stop when you reach a point at which you can estimate required resources to the desired degree of accuracy • Or when the work will take an amount of time equal to the smallest units you want to schedule days, weeks, months, etc. • Or stop when the element is .5 to 2.0% of the project. • Or stop once you’ve identified a “work package”

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A WBS planning key!! REMEMBER the rule that the people who must do the work should participate in planning it. • Different levels may be done by different groups – Top management may do the first level or two and pass it on down to the operating levels for further amplification – Software can help

A is a horizontal bar chart developed as a production control tool in 1917 by Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and social scientist. Frequently used in , a Gantt chart provides a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project. It is a simple and widely used method of working out and displaying the knotty problem of who does what and when. Typically it is used in a project where a number of people are working on interlinked tasks.

How does it work?

The basic principle of the Gantt Chart is to show time in a number of columns and to draw bars across those columns in order to show the usage of time. Each bar represents a task being carried out by one or more people. The bars can be summed downwards into simple histograms to show whether individuals are double-booked or have spare time on their hands.

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Additional symbols and colours may be added to the chart to show events and features such as milestones (zero-length tasks), critical paths (which, if extended, will slip the completion date of the project) and float (where tasks can be slipped without jeopardizing the completion date).

Characteristics of Gantt/Bar Chart

Æ Popular tool for project scheduling Æ Graph with bar representing time for each task Æ Provides visual display of project schedule Æ Doesn’t show priorities Æ Gantt charts may be simple versions created on graph paper or more complex automated versions created using project management applications such as Microsoft Project or Excel.

How do you do it?

1. Break down the task into units that can be clearly allocated and tracked. In a typical project this might be tasks of one week or less, allocated to one person each (although this can vary widely with the type of project).

2. Identify skills and resources required by each task and allocate the task to a person or group, along with appropriate resources. Be careful when allocating scarce resources, such as subject specialists or expensive equipment; a person with less skill who can perform the task, albeit over a longer period, can free up the expert for working on more critical activities.

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3. Revise the time estimate for each task in the light of the skills of the people on the task. Beware of optimistic estimation. It can be helpful later if a 'safety factor' of anything from 10% to 100% is added to allow for slippages. It is usually more acceptable to complete a project ahead of schedule than have to continually move out the completion date.

4. Identify dependencies between tasks and other prioritisation that will allow you to put the tasks into the correct order. For example, it is better to do high-risk tasks as early as possible, to give you time to react to unexpected difficulties.

5. Draw up a blank Gantt Chart with enough lines on for all identified tasks and with columns spanning the range of times and/or dates to be displayed. Make the period between each column in the same range as the average task length, for example if most tasks are from one to five weeks, make each column one week (provided there is space on the paper).

6. Write the tasks into the chart and add bars to indicate the start time and duration of each tasks. This is where the real skill in scheduling is found as you need to position tasks carefully to ensure that dependencies (where one task must follow another task) are preserved and that people and other resources are optimally used.

Drawing a Bar Chart and Network

For the following problem, we can draw a Bar chart and Network

Activity Designation Immediate Duration Predecessor A (1-2) None 2 B (2-3) A 5 C (2-4) A 7 D (2-5) A 3 E (3-5) B 1 F (5-6) D,E 6 G (4-6) C 3 H (6-7) F,G 3

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Bar Chart for the above Example

Activity/ 5 10 15 20 Duration(Weeks) A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H 17Weaks

Total duration of the project is 17 weeks as seen from the bar chart

Network technique used in project management

Network technique involves breaking down the project into work elements, which can be quantified in term of time and other resources required to perform these. Once the entire project has been broken down into such work elements or tasks/ activities, adequate enough to establish their logical sequence and their inter dependencies, we try to develop, what a network diagram A network for a hypothetical small project is shown below. 1 to 7 are nodes or events, as they are called, and arrow or arcs, connecting the nodes, viz. A to H, are the activities. T he diagrams shows the logical sequence in which the activities are to be performed, and their inter- dependencies. Whereas activities occupy time, nodes/ events are points in time, which mark the start/ finish of the activities. Activity time in weeks is shown below each arrow in parentheses ( ):

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Fig: for the above hypothetical project

3 E B (1) (5) A D F H 5 6 7 1 (2) 2 (3) (6) (3) C G (7) (3) 4

We may note from the network (Fig ), the event (1) marks the start of the project and ‘A’ is the first activity to be performed, since there is no activity terminating at (1), i.e., there is no predecessor to activity ‘A’ has been completed. Event (2), thus, marks the end of activity ‘A’ and start of activities ‘B’, ‘C’ & ‘D’. Similarly, activity ‘F’ cannot start unless activities ‘D’ & ‘E’ have been completed, which is marked by event (5), and so on. Event (7) marks the end of the project, ‘H’ being the last activity to be performed, since no activity emanates from (7), i.e., there is no successor to activity ‘H’.

The network is based on the following table of activities and their logical sequence, as determined by immediate predecessors of the respective activities indicated in Table 1:

ACTIVITY ON ARC/NODE

The above-mentioned way of representing activities in a network as shown in Fig, is called activity on arrow/arc

There is an alternative way of drawing a network, in which we have activities on node, instead of on arrow/arc in the alternative representation, the network look as show below in Fig. The arrow connection the various activities, A to H, depict their interrelationship, or precedence

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Fig: Network of Activities of the Project Showing Activities on Node

B E

A C F H

C C

The former way of representation of network is also referred to as Arrow Diagram and the latter, Precedence Diagram

In order to illustrate the bar chart further when each of the work packages have their tasks, such an example is worked out below.

Bar chart - Example

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Work Packages Tasks Work Package 1 Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Work Package 2 Task 1 Task 2 Task 3

Work Package 3 Task 1 Task 2

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It is necessary that the officers who are deployed in project Management need to undergo training and equip themselves with the skills to apply the tools such as Bar/Gant charts, CPM and PERT.

CPM -

DuPont developed a Critical Path Method (CPM) designed to address the challenge of shutting down chemical plants for maintenance and then restarting the plants once the maintenance had been completed. Complex project, like the above example, require a series of activities, some of which must be performed sequentially and others that can be performed in parallel with other activities. This collection of series and parallel tasks can be modeled as a network. CPM models the activities and events of a project as a network. Activities are shown as nodes on the network and events that signify the beginning or ending of activities are shown as arcs or lines between the nodes.

As a Planning and Scheduling Tool:

ò It is a formal, graphic means of determining the relationship between the activities (tasks) in a project. ò It enables systematic isolation of activities comprising the critical elements that set the duration of a project. ò It helps the project manager analyze a project before, during, and after operations. ò The greatest asset of CPM is its portrayal of critical activities, giving the project manager forewarning of where he or she might expect schedule problems . ò The core of CPM is a network diagram that represents the manager's best effort at efficient planning and scheduling of project activities. ò The network diagram consists of arrows (activities) and circles (events). Activities represent work and consume resources and time; events do not, rather they mark points in time when activities begin or finish. The length of an arrow has no relevance.

Eight Steps to Using CPM to Manage a Project

ò Identify the activities (tasks) in the project and their durations. ò Determine for each activity the logic that governs when it can occur, i.e., what must precede the activity, what can occur at the same time, and what must follow (precedence, concurrence, succession). ò Draw a network diagram that reflects the best progression of the project (i.e., order activities in a logical sequence that minimizes project duration). For each activity, place the name of the activity above the arrow and the duration of the activity below the arrow. ò Determine the earliest event times (EETs) and latest event times (LETs) for each event in the network diagram.

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ò Compute EETs – The EET for Event 1 is 0 (representing the end of day 0 or the beginning of day 1). – Trace each activity and add that activity's duration to the preceding EET. The sum will be the EET for the next event, unless two or more activities enter that event. IF two or more activities enter an event, the EET for that event will be the largest of the computed

ò EETs, SINCE activities leaving that event cannot begin until all activities entering the event are complete. Place the EET in a box symbol adjacent to the event symbol. ò Continue the procedure from left to right until reaching the end of the diagram. The EET for the last event is the earliest possible time the entire project can be completed, given the network as drawn and the activity durations assigned.

ò Determine and highlight the critical path (those critical activities that define the duration of the project). Activities are critical if:

– The EET and LET at the tail of the activity are equal. – The EET and LET at the head of the activity are equal. – The difference between the EET (or LET) at the head and the EET (or LET) at the tail equals the activity duration. – There will be at least one critical path extending from the beginning to the end of the project. Tabulate activity times (early start, early finish, late start, late finish, total float, and free float) that can help you schedule resources and identify schedule flexibility.

° Early Start (ES) = The EET (entered in the box symbol) at the tail of the activity arrow ° Early Finish (EF) = ES + Activity Duration ° Late Start (LS) = LF - Activity Duration ° Late Finish (LF) = The LET (entered in the triangle symbol) at the head of the activity arrow ° Total Float (TF) = LS - ES = LF – EF ° Free Float (FF) = EET (at the head) – EF

Interfering float (that which delays a subsequent activity, but not the total project) equals TF - FF; for a given activity, it is also equal to the difference between the LET and EET at the head of that activity's arrow. Schedule activities and allocate resources to maximize efficiencies and minimize project time. During the project, measure progress; taking action where necessary and modifying the network diagram as needed.

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For example, the Early start, early finish, late start and late finish times and the slack or the float or the free time available for the activity to commence are worked out for the above project as given in the table below.

Duration in weeks Activity Duration ES EF LS LF S A* 2 0 2 0 2 0 B* 5 2 7 2 7 0 C 7 2 9 4 11 2 D 3 2 5 5 8 3 E* 1 7 8 7 8 0 F* 6 8 14 8 14 0 G 3 9 12 11 14 2 H* 3 14 17 14 17 0

CPM Diagram

Activity

Excavation Foundation Event Event Event 2 4 1 2 3

Duration ( Weeks )

The event circles bounding an activity are numbered, the number of the tail event is that activity's 1 designation; the number of the head event is that activity's "2" designation. By convention, 2 are numerically higher than 1, portraying left to right movement through the network diagram. The 2 designation of a preceding activity is the 1 designation of the succeeding activity.

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Steps in CPM

1. Specify the individual activities. 2. Determine the sequence of those activities. 3. Draw a network diagram. 4. Estimate the completion time for each activity. 5. Identify the critical path (longest path through the network) 6. Update the CPM diagram as the project progresses.

1. Specify the individual activities

All the activities in the project are listed. This list can be used as the basis for adding sequence and duration information in later steps.

2. Determine the sequence of the activities

Some activities are dependent on the completion of other activities. A list of the immediate predecessors of each activity is useful for constructing the CPM network diagram.

3. Draw the Network Diagram

Once the activities and their sequences have been defined, the CPM diagram can be drawn. CPM originally was developed as an activity on node network.

4. Estimate activity completion time

The time required to complete each activity can be estimated using past experience. CPM does not take into account variation in the completion time.

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5. Identify the Critical Path

The critical path is the longest-duration path through the network. The significance of the critical path is that the activities that lie on it cannot be delayed without delaying the project. Because of its impact on the entire project, critical path analysis is an important aspect of project planning. The critical path can be identified by determining the following four parameters for each activity:

• ES - earliest start time: the earliest time at which the activity can start given that its precedent activities must be completed first.

• EF - earliest finish time, equal to the earliest start time for the activity plus the time required to complete the activity. • LF - latest finish time: the latest time at which the activity can be completed without delaying the project. • LS - latest start time, equal to the latest finish time minus the time required to complete the activity.

The slack time for an activity is the time between its earliest and latest start time, or between its arliest and latest finish time. Slack is the amount of time that an activity can be delayed past its earliest start or earliest finish without delaying the project.

The critical path is the path through the project network in which none of the activities have slack, that is, the path for which ES=LS and EF=LF for all activities in the path. A delay in the critical path delays the project. Similarly, to accelerate the project it is necessary to reduce the total time required for the activities in the critical path.

6. Update CPM diagram

As the project progresses, the actual task completion times will be known and the network diagram can be updated to include this information. A new critical path may emerge, and structural changes may be made in the network if project requirements change.

CPM Benefits

• Provides a graphical view of the project. • Predicts the time required to complete the project. • Shows which activities are critical to maintaining the schedule and which are not.

Concept of critical path Method (CPM), Tradeoff between Cost & Time, Activity Crashing

In this method of network analysis, it is assumed that activity durations are deterministic, i.e. known with certainty. Such projects are of repetitive and non- complex in nature, e.g. stereotyped construction project. This can be successfully applied for projects employing fairly stable technology, with well-established database, which are relatively time, though deterministic, is not fixed, and varies according to changes in resources assignment to the

177 respective activity. By analyzing the network and utilizing the quantified time-cost relationship, we try to determine the project schedule, which minimizes or rather optimizes the total cost. We know that any reduction in the duration of the critical activities (called crashing of the activities), suitably, would result in reduction of the project duration. Main focus in CPM is tradeoff between cost and time of project completion. Such activity crashing would , in most cases, involve deployment of increased resources, e.g. manpower, construction plant “& equipment, materials, etc., with attendant increase in the direct cost of the activity on the other hand, reduction on project duration would simultaneously result in decrease in indirect cost of the project (overhead items, viz. project establishment cost and other preoperative expenses which have direct relationship with the project duration) Trade off tries to minimize total cost or project duration or to adjust the duration to match the project cost with budget/ funds and/ or other resource constraints.

CPM Limitations

While CPM is easy to understand and use, it does not consider the time variations that can have a great impact on the completion time of a complex project. CPM was developed for complex but fairly routine projects with minimum uncertainty in the project completion times. For less routine projects there is more uncertainty in the completion times, and this uncertainty limits its usefulness.

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a network model that allows for randomness in activity completion times. PERT was developed in the late 1950's for the Navy's Polaris project having thousands of contractors. It has the potential to reduce both the time and cost required to complete a project.

The Network Diagram

In a project, an activity is a task that must be performed and an event is a milestone marking the completion of one or more activities. Before an activity can begin, all of its predecessor activities must be completed. Project network models represent activities and milestones by arcs and nodes. PERT is typically represented as an activity on arc network, in which the activities are presented on the lines and milestones on the nodes.

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PERT Chart

The milestones generally are numbered so that the ending node of an activity has a higher umber than the beginning node. Incrementing the numbers by 10 allows for new ones to be inserted without modifying the numbering of the entire diagram. The activities in the above diagram are labeled with letters along with the expected time required to complete the activity.

Steps in the PERT Planning Process

PERT planning involves the following steps:

1. Identify the specific activities and milestones. 2. Determine the proper sequence of the activities. 3. Construct a network diagram. 4. Estimate the time required for each activity. 5. Determine the critical path . 6. Update the PERT chart as the project progresses .

1. Identify activities and milestones

The activities are the tasks required to complete the project. The milestones are the events marking the beginning and end of one or more activities.

2. Determine activity sequence

This step may be combined with the activity identification step since the activity sequence is known for some tasks. Other tasks may require more analysis to determine the exact order in which they must be performed.

3. Construct the Network Diagram

Using the activity sequence information, a network diagram can be drawn showing the sequence of the serial and parallel activities.

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4. Estimate activity times

Weeks are a commonly used unit of time for activity completion, but any consistent unit of time can be used.

A distinguishing feature of PERT is its ability to deal with uncertainty in activity completion times. For each activity, the model usually includes three time estimates:

• Optimistic time (OT) - generally the shortest time in which the activity can be completed. (This is what an inexperienced manager believes!)

• Most likely time (MT) - the completion time having the highest probability. This is different from expected time. Seasoned managers have an amazing way of estimating very close to actual data from prior estimation errors.

• Pessimistic time (PT) - the longest time that an activity might require. The expected time for each activity can be approximated using the following weighted average:

Expected time = (OT + 4 x MT+ PT) / 6 This expected time might be displayed on the network diagram. Variance for each activity is given by: [(PT - OT) / 6]2

5. Determine the Critical Path

The critical path is determined by adding the times for the activities in each sequence and determining the longest path in the project. The critical path determines the total time required for the project. If activities outside the critical path speed up or slow down (within limits), the total project time does not change. The amount of time that a non-critical path activity can be delayed without delaying the project is referred to as slack time .

If the critical path is not immediately obvious, it may be helpful to determine the following four quantities for each activity:

• ES - Earliest Start time • EF - Earliest Finish time • LS - Latest Start time • LF - Latest Finish time

These times are calculated using the expected time for the relevant activities. The ES and EF of each activity are determined by working forward through the network and determining the earliest time at which an activity can start and finish considering its predecessor activities. The latest start and finish times are the latest times that an activity can start and finish without delaying the project. LS and LF are found by working backward through the network. The difference in the latest and earliest finish of each activity is that activity's slack. The critical path

180 then is the path through the network in which none of the activities have slack. The variance in the project completion time can be calculated by summing the variances in the completion times of the activities in the critical path. Given this variance, one can calculate the probability that the project will be completed by a certain date. Since the critical path determines the completion date of the project, the project can be accelerated by adding the resources required to decrease the time for the activities in the critical path. Such a shortening of the project sometimes is referred to as project crashing .

6. Update as project progresses

Make adjustments in the PERT chart as the project progresses. As the project unfolds, the estimated times can be replaced with actual times. In cases where there are delays, additional resources may be needed to stay on schedule and the PERT chart may be modified to reflect the new situation.

Benefits of PERT

PERT is useful because it provides the following information:

• Expected project completion time. • Probability of completion before a specified date. • The critical path activities that directly impact the completion time. • The activities that have slack time and that can lend resources to critical path activities. • Activities start and end dates.

Limitations of PERT

The following are some of PERT's limitations:

• The activity time estimates are somewhat subjective and depend on judgment. In cases where there is little experience in performing an activity, the numbers may be only a guess. In other cases, if the person or group performing the activity estimates the time there may be bias in the estimate.

• The underestimation of the project completion time due to alternate paths becoming critical is perhaps the most serious.

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Meanings of Network Terms

Activity An activity always consumes time and resources Work 8 days Critical Activity The word critical is applied to any activity or event that must be achieved by a certain time and has no latitude whatsoever and failure to achieve the specified time will result in the project end date slipping

Critical Path Longest path through the project network and determines the earliest date on which work can be completed

Dummy Denotes nothing but dependency and carries no time and represented by ……………….. lines

Event Beginning and ending points Denoted by

Event i event j

Mile stone A point in a project of special significance ie completion of a major phase of work

Network Graphical representation of a project plan showing the interrelationship of activities

Burst event Merge event Network

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Network Rules

Rule.1 Before an activity may begin, all activities preceding it must be completed Rule.2 Arrows imply logical precedence only, neither the length of the arrow nor its compass” direction on drawing have any significance

6 7 y x wrong logic

Loop to e avoided

y x 6 7 25 Correct logic

Install Machine Inspect machine Install Inspect

Hireoperator Train operator Hireoperator Train operator

Basic scheduling computations (1) Initial event is assuming to occur at time zero (2) E1 =0 (3) EF time of an activity = early start of act + activity duration ∑ Forward pass computations ∑ Back word pass computations

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Draw Backs of Project Implementation in an Urban Infrastructure Project

Project Implementation

Supervision Delay in Land Poor Co -ordination Finances of Civil Acquisition among Line Works • Departments Interruption in Suffered - Flow of Funds Lack of • Municipality to the Project Adequate has no control • Revolving Fund Technical over other was not created • Staff departmental Income projects generated was • Integration used for other could not be infrastructure • Only two JEs achieved Separate Account was were working not opened

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Corrections Required

Project Implementation

Inadequate Land Acquisition Poor Co - Finances Technical and ordination Accounts Staff

Government to State • Land Pooling. evolve guidelines and • Land Bank by Adequate Central ULB for coordinated Share to Technical and • Participation project be Accounts Staff of Land implementation Owners in released the Project • Guided Land Development Single Window Create clearance at Separate district and Account state level for schemeo ject Use tools Gantt chart, Budgets of each Create CPM/PERT to be prepared Revolving Networks keeping the Fund development works of other departments State Guarantee to ULB for Institutional Loan

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QUIZ

Chapter 6

1. Project schedule involves a. Identifying activities b. Sequencing c. Determining duration & resources d. All of above

2. First step towards a work plan is WBS a. True b. False

3. Purpose of WBS is a. Dividing the project into work packages b. Assign responsibility to each tasks c. a & b d. None of the above 4. Which tool and technique is used to Create WBS and Define activities? a. Nominal group technique b. Human resource assignment c. Brainstorming d. Decomposition

5. You have been assigned as a project manager to a software project. While you and your team are working on a WBS (Work breakdown structure), estimations for activity durations based on the activity list vary significantly. Which additional documents may help you clarify this situation? a. Milestone list and scope baseline. b. Project schedule network diagrams and human resource plan c. Activity cost estimates and scope baseline. d. Activity attributes and project scope statement.

6. Gantt chart is invented by Hennery Gantt in 1917 a. True b. False

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7. Which of the following is especially useful for monitoring project progress against plan? a. Gantt charts. b. Capacity loading graphs. c. Network diagrams. d. Flow diagrams. e. All of the above.

8. Bar chart does not show priorities a. True b. False

9. Which of the following is not a reason to reduce project completion time? a. Avoid penalties for late completion. b. Reduce new product development time to market. c. Gain incentives for early completion d. Release resources for other projects e. Eliminate project critical path

10. For the following problem, What is the total duration

Activity Designation Immediate Duration Predecessor A (1-2) None 2 B (2-3) A 5 C (2-4) A 7 D (2-5) A 3 E (3-5) B 1

a. 19 b. 30 c. 17 d. 9

11. In the network diagram arrows & circles indicate activities & events respectively

a. True b. False

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12. In critical path, early event time & late event time at the tail of the activity are eq ual a. True b. False

13. Total float in an activity is calculated as a. Late finish –Early finish b. Late finish –Early start c. A &B d. None of the above 14. In project management PERT refers to (a) Project Energy Rating Time (b) Project Energy Rating Terms (c) Petroleum Energy Revolutionary Technology (d) Program Evaluation and Review Technique.

15. Significance of critical path a. Activities on it cannot be delayed without delaying the project b. Longest duration path through the network c. Activities on it have no slack/freetime d. None of the above

16. Which of the following are benefits of the network analysis approach? a. Allows progress to be monitored against plan b. Derive error free forecasts. c. Avoid need to use structured approach d. Eliminate need for management judgment e. None of the above

17. You have used estimates made by your team members and applied the Critical path method to compute a Network logic diagram for your project. Then you found out that it cannot be sufficiently optimized for scarce resources and fast progress towards a given deadline. What should you do next? a. Apply resource leveling heuristics to uncritical activities only. b. Reduce estimates on duration and work efforts by an adequate percentage. c. Apply Three-point estimation and Critical chain project management. d. Remove physical constraints and replace hard logic with soft logic.

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18. A Gantt chart indicates: (Note: more than one answer is correct.) a. The sequence of activities. b. Elapsed time of different activities on project c. Activities occurring in parallel. d. Overall elapsed time on project e. None of the above.

19. A project can be considered to have failed if it: (Note: more than one answer is correct.) a. Does not meet the business requirements b. Does not meet the users' requirements c. Was significantly over budget. d. Overran significantly on estimated delivery date e. None of the above

20. SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis can be used in project management. a. True b. False

21. A PERT chart is a project management tool which illustrates how tasks depend on each other. a. True b. False

22. With your team you are using judgment from subject matter experts to identify and analyze project risks. There is a small number of experts available, but some of them have long been in a teacher-student or manager-assistant relationship. Which of the following techniques can ensure best that there is no dominating opinion during an expert review? a. Peer review b. SWOT analysis c. Delphi technique d. Monetary value calculation

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TEMPLATE Case Example

Replacing an existing boiler with Solar Water Heating System

Activity Code Activity Duration in days Depends on A Prepare technical specifications 10 - B Tender Processing 25 A C Release of work orders 3 B D Supply of Solar equipment 60 C E Supply of Auxiliaries 20 C F Supply of pipes & pipe fittings 10 C G Civil Work 15 C H Installation of Auxiliary equipment & 5 E, F & G piping I Installation of Solar water Heater 10 D & H J Testing Commissioning 2 I

Gantt chart

The Figure shows a Gantt chart for a simple energy management project, i.e. Replacing existing boiler with solar water heater

As already mentioned, Gantt chart is the simplest and quickest method for formal planning. Gantt charts can be very useful in planning projects with a limited number of tasks and with few inter-relationships. This chart typically depicts activities as horizontal lines whose length depends on the time needed to complete the activities. These lines can be progressively overprinted to show how much of activity has been completed.

Drawing a Gantt chart requires information on:

• The logic of the tasks. • The duration of the asks • The resources available to complete the tasks.

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Task Duration (days) A 10 Prepare technical specifications B 25 Tender Processing C 3 Release of work orders D 60 Supply of solar water heaters E 20 Supply of equipment F 10 Supply of pipes & pipe fittings G 15 Civil Work H 5 Installation of equipment & piping I 10 Installation of solar heater J 2 Testing and Commissioning

Simple Gantt Chart for Boiler Replacement

Also draw CPM Network.

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