1.

Gantt Chart
1.1 Who developed it?
Henry Laurence Gantt developed it at the beginning of the 20th century (Lester, 2017).
1.2 What is it for?
The Gantt chart was used in a number of planning applications during the World War I
and was the main planning tool for production and construction engineers until the invention of
the critical path. It is a graphical tool used for planning, monitoring, and coordinating projects
(Lester, 2017).
1.3 What are the parts of Gantt Chart
Fajardo (2000)
-Dates Are Displayed Along the Top
-Tasks Are Listed Down the Left Side
-Bars Are Used to Represent the Time Frame Each Task Is Expected
Take
-Milestones Are Displayed as Diamonds
-Dependencies Are Indicated by Small Arrows
-Progress Is Shown by Shading on Task Bars
-A Vertical Line Marker Shows Current Date
-The Task ID Identifies
-Resources Are Assigned and Identified
1.4 Advantages and Limitation
Fajardo (2000)
Advantages of Gantt Charts

 It creates a picture of complexity. I am quite a fan of diagrams and charts. We think in pictures.
Therefore, if we can see complex ideas as a picture, this will help our understanding.
(e.g., Mavenlink, Wrike, Smartsheet, AceProject)
 It organises your thoughts. I am also a big fan of the concept of dividing and conquering. A big
problem is conquered by dividing it into component parts. A Gantt chart will force you to do this.
 It demonstrates that you know what you’re doing. When you produce a nicely presented Gantt
chart with high level tasks properly organized and resources allocated to those tasks, it speaks
volumes about whether you are on top of the needs of the project and whether the project will be
successful.
 It help you to set realistic time frames. The bars on the chart indicate in which period a
particular task or set of tasks will be completed. This can help you to get things in perspective
properly. And when you do this, make sure that you think about events in your organisation that
have nothing to do with this project that might consume resources and time.
 It can be highly visible. It can be useful to place the chart, or a large version of it, where
everyone can see it. This helps to remind people of the objectives and when certain things are
going to happen. It is useful if everyone in your enterprise can have a basic level of understanding
of what is happening with the project even if they may not be directly involved with it.
Limitation of Gantt Charts
 They can become extraordinarily complex. Except for the simplest projects, there will
be large numbers of tasks undertaken and resources employed to complete the project.
There are software applications that can manage all this complexity
(e.g., Mavenlink, Wrike, Smartsheet, AceProject). However, when the project gets to this
level, it must be managed by a small number of people (perhaps one) who manages all of
the details. Sometimes this does not work so well in a business that is not used to this
type of management. Big businesses will frequently employ one or more project
managers who are very skilled in this. For a range of reasons, this may not work so well
in a smaller enterprise.
 The size of the bar does not indicate the amount of work. Each bar on the chart
indicates the time period over which a particular set of tasks will be completed. However,
by looking at the bar for a particular set of tasks, you cannot tell what level of resources
are required to achieve those tasks. So, a short bar might take 500-man hours while a
longer bar may only take 20-man hours. The longer bar may indicate to the uninformed
that it is a bigger task, when in fact it is not.
 They need to be constantly updated. As you get into a project, things will change. If
you’re going to use a Gantt chart you must have the ability to change the chart easily and
frequently. If you don’t do this, it will be ignored. Again, you will probably need software
to do this unless you’re keeping your project management at a high level.
 Difficult to see on one sheet of paper. The software products that produce these charts
need to be viewed on a computer screen, usually in segments, to be able to see the whole
project. It then becomes difficult to show the details of the plan to an audience. Further,
you can print out the chart, but this will normally entail quite a large “cut and paste”
exercise. If you are going to do this frequently, it can be very time-consuming.
2. Pert/CPM
2.1 Who developed it?
PERT was first developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it is commonly used
in conjunction with the critical path method(CPM) (Lester, 2017).
2.2 What is it for?
The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a statistical tool used in project
management, which as designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a
given project. It is a formalized approach for developing a project schedule that creates three time
estimates for an activity (Lester, 2017).

2.3 What are the parts of Pert/CPM

Stair & Reynolds (2010)
 PERT event – Either the start or end of an activity
 Predecessor or successor event – Events that either immediately precedes or succeed
another event. All events need to be completed in sequence
  PERT activity – The performing of a task, recorded by the time taken to do so and the
resources required
 PERT sub-activity – The breaking-down of activities within an activity
 Optimistic time – As the name suggests, the minimum time required to complete an
activity
 Pessimistic time – And vice versa
 Most likely time – Coming somewhere in the middle of the previous two estimates, this
is the best guess based on the data available but without factoring in potential problems
 Expected time – And this is the guess based on the potential for issues
 Slack – The excess time available for an activity where things can take longer than
planned without causing delays
 Critical path – The longest possible route from start to finish, representing the total time
allotted, so any delays beyond this will mean the project has run late
2.4 Advantages and Limitation
Stair & Reynolds (2010)
Advantages of Pert:
1. It compels managers to plan their projects critically and analyse all factors affecting the
progress of the plan. The process of the network analysis requires that the project planning be
conducted on considerable detail from the start to the finish.
2. It provides the management a tool for forecasting the impact of schedule changes and be
prepared to correct such situations. The likely trouble spots are located early enough so as to
apply some preventive measures or corrective actions.
3. a lot of data can be presented in a highly ordered fashion. The task relationships are
graphically represented for easier evaluation and individuals in different locations can easily
determine their role in the total task requirements.
4. The PERT time (Te) is based upon 3-way estimate and hence is the most objective time in the
light of uncertainties and results in greater degree of accuracy in time forecasting.
5. It results in improved communication; the network provides a common ground for various
parties such as designers, contractors, project managers etc. and they must all understand each
other’s role and contributions..

Limitations of Pert:
1. Uncertainly about the estimate of time and resources. These must be assumed and the results
can only be as good as the assumptions.
2. The costs may be higher than the conventional methods of planning and control. Because of
the nature of net working and net work analysis, it needs a high degree of planning skill and
greater amount of details which would increase the cost in time and manpower resources,
3. It is not suitable for relatively simple and repetitive processes such as assembly line work
which are fixed-sequence jobs.
REFERENCES:

Fajardo, M.(2000). Construction Management (2nd Edition). 24 Bell St. Filinvest Homes II
Batasan Hills, Quezon City.

Stair, R., & Reynolds, G. (2010). Information System (9th Edition).Walldorf, Germany: Course
Technology, Cengage Learning.

Lester, A.(2017). Project Management, Planning and Control:Managing Engineering,

Construction and Manufacturing Projects to PMI, APM and BSI Standards (7th Edition).US:
Butterworth-Heinemann.