Project Scheduling Essay Research Paper Chris Ryan1262000PROJECT

Project Scheduling Essay, Research Paper

Chris Ryan

12/6/2000

PROJECT SCHEDULING

Managing a project is no easy task. A project is a series of tasks or jobs that are related to each other and directed toward a common goal or output. Projects usually require a significant time commitment, and tend to be handled by groups of workers. The employees at Craft Construction, a small business that deals with complete remodeling and some small commercial buildings, generally divide into groups of two or three workers per project. The number of employees assigned to a job usually depends on the size of the project. For each project, a project manager and a lead carpenter are assigned to handle most of the work. Project scheduling is different for every job. Smaller jobs require less planning because there is not as much that goes into them. Larger projects that may take months or years tend to be more involved, and therefore require more planning. These jobs tend to have more unseen problems which lead to rescheduling and incurring more costs. Mr. Kevin Hollmann, an employee of Craft, believes that the smaller projects are the ones where more money can be made. He said this because the time necessary for planning is much less and, overall, the time on the project is less, which keeps labor costs low. This allows for a bigger profit for the company.

Businesses that allow poorly planned projects to proceed are only wasting resources and placing their employees in danger. Projects can fail for a number of reasons, but the main one is insufficient planning. Planning is essential for project scheduling. It is believed that the process of planning is more important than the resulting plan. Projects involve coordinating resources such as labor, materials, equipment, and many other things, so that everything can be done at the proper time, allowing the task to be completed on time. Before any work can occur, and before any scheduling can occur, planning must be done. One tool that assists management in planning and budgeting is the work breakdown structure. This can be described as a hierarchy of tasks or jobs to be done. The work breakdown structure defines the scope of work, identifies what specific tasks need to be done, and assigns responsibility to individuals or subunits. The work breakdown structure facilitates the planning process, especially when dealing with larger jobs.

The project manager at Craft Construction is usually responsible for any planning and scheduling that takes place on a specific project, including preparing the work breakdown structure and the actual schedule of events. This manager performs the initial planning and scheduling of tasks and costs, and then hands it down to the lead carpenter, who is responsible for carrying out the duties and getting the job done. Mr. Hollmann is one of the company’s lead carpenters. Managing projects carefully is very important for Craft. The project is broken down into phases, allowing the project manager to know what subcontractors will be needed, and more importantly, exactly when they will be needed. This is where the project schedule becomes quite handy.

Project scheduling can be performed in many ways. Some of the more common and popular methods of project scheduling are network analysis and the critical path method of scheduling (CPM). Although companies do not always use these methods in there exact form, most do tend to use a modified version of one or both of these methods. I discovered that Craft does not use network analysis or CPM, but they do have a scheduling method that works for them and is quite similar to CPM.

Network analysis is a visual representation of what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done. Networks are basically a technique to help management in the planning and control of projects. They also show relationships between the different tasks that need to be accomplished. Networks are not only useful for planning and controlling, but they can provide a means of communication between the various departments that participate on the project. As a project progresses, network analysis can provide an up-to-the-minute assessment on the differences between what was planned and what is actually occurring. The availability of such accurate data is very essential in providing project managers with a means of control. The feedback between the actual and planned activities and times that results from this system provides a very good control system. Computers can further aid project managers with quick analysis of the information, especially when dealing with large projects.

CPM tends to branch off of network analysis. Once the network is drawn, the estimated times can be entered and a critical path can be determined. CPM’s objective is to evaluate the extra costs of reducing the time taken by activities, and then comparing those numbers with the savings from the reduction of the project time. This method displays the project in graphic form and relates the tasks to focus attention on those tasks that are crucial to the project’s completion.

Craft uses a similar system. The method they use seems to be mix of the various scheduling methods. They use a graph that breaks the project tasks down on a week by week basis (sometimes even half weeks are used). This graph/schedule determines what needs to be accomplished, and when each task nee