Planning: The ‘sChedule’ of a Project
Why and How of Planning …
The third characteristic of the 5 C’s
of a Project ‘is: ‘sChedule’
1. A defined objeCtive
2. A defined Cost
3. sChedule -A defined start date and a defined end date
4. Within given resourCes and
5. All with good Customer relation
Why plan?
Can you drive without a steering wheel?
If you can, you do not need planning. But ordinary people can not drive without a steering wheel. You need to know where you are going. For implementing a project, you need to know where you are going. This is in time frame, too. That is: what is happening when. That time control will come from the schedule. The project schedule tells you what milestone must be reached on what date. The schedule tells you what event must take place on what date. The schedule also tells you as to which activity is to be done first and which activity must follow which activity.
A Project has a defined completion period.
To complete the Project within the period, you need a plan. If you do not plan, the project will have its own completion period.
Two Main Network Techniques of Planning
1] Gantt Chart (Bar Chart)
Draw Activities in horizontal lines and to time-scale
X-axis shows the time.
Then show bars. Bars are the activities.
2] AoA (Activity-on-Arrow) Diagram (Also called ‘PERT’)
Activity is shown on the arrow and the event is shown by the Node
What are the ‘Activity’ and ‘Event’?
Activity is when something is being done.
Activity is a process. It is a line in time. It consumes time and resources.
Activity is shown as an ‘Arrow’
A ‘Dummy’ activity is for connecting events logically. There is nothing happening.
Event is when something is DONE.
A task is completed. Something occurred.
An Event consumes no time and no resources
Event is a point in time.
Event is shown as a node. (Circle): o
AoN (Activity-on-Node) Diagram - PERT
PERT is ‘Program Evaluation and Review Technique’. PERT is widely used for projects. It is a powerful aid. PERT shows the starting point, the activities, the relations of activities, the parallel paths to proceed with the project and the end point.
Most importantly, PERT will show the ‘Critical Path’. The ‘Critical Path’ is the path amongst the various paths that decides the project scheduled completion period.
One Useful Hint
For Project Success
Nobody plans to fail. People fail to plan
Plan your work and then work your plan
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