ME511 Project Study

CHAPTER 4
PLANNING PHASE
(Part 2)
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• Critical Path

The critical path can be determined by finding the activities in which the earliest start
date and the latest start date the same. (The earliest and latest finish dates will also be
the same.) In these activities no slack time, i.e., if the start date of any of these activities
on the critical path is delayed, the entire project is thrown off schedule. Refer to the
Planning Phase Appendix: Calculating the Project's Critical Path for additional details.

• Project Planning: Certainly or Risk?

Project plans can be developed under two basic conditions:

1. Project under certainty
2. Planning for risk

In some projects, the uncertainty around time estimates is insignificant. But, in other
instances the project leader/manager, an outside vendor, or an internal expert may say,
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“That task can be completed in as little as three weeks if all goes well; with average luck,
in five weeks. The case is nine weeks.” Different techniques are appropriate for these
widely divergent situations.

• C
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• Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Program Evaluation and Review Technique was developed by the U.S. Navy's Special
Projects Office. Like CPM, PERT was an attempt to apply rational scheduling techniques to
the complex projects of the 1960's and 1970's. Project leaders/managers found Gantt
Charts inadequate for managing the maze of tasks necessary to reach the goal of a
complex technological project. Both PERT and CPM are developed according to network
diagrams. The difference is PERT's reliance on three time estimates: pessimistic, most
likely, and optimistic.

• Schedule Deliverables

Once the sequence of tasks and over-all length o totof the project has been established it
is necessary to define when, in actual calendar time, each task will be performed. This is
used to assign people's time and other resources for specific tasks and provide a basis for
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project monitoring.

Using the precedent and duration information, the desired start and competion dates for
each WBS terminal element are listed. For simple projects this may only require a table
with dates listed beside the tasks. More complex projects often require Gantt charts that
show the schedule as a bar chart.

• Gantt or Bar Charts

A Gantt chart is a visual project planning device developed by Henry L. Gantt, a scientific
management pioneer. A Gantt chart is a linear calendar that spreads future time
horizontally while the work to be done is shown vertically. Gantt charts were developed to
improve production scheduling. An example of a Gantt chart for the department move
project is shown in Example 2-4.
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Example 2-4 Gantt Chart

Project Statement: Move the EVSU Ormoc Engineering Services Department within one month (at a cost not to
exceed Php 115,000.00).
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• Schedule Resources

After scheduling a task in the calendar time that will meet the over-all project deadline, it
is necessary to gain the commitment of an actual resource to perform the task at the
specific time. This is done by gaining the commitment of the resource leader/manager. A
resource leader/manager in an individual who manages or provides project resources. A
resource manager supports the project leader/manager by seeing to it that the required
resources are on the scene when needed. The resource leader/manager allocates the
people, facilities and equipment to the project when called for by the project plan. It is the
resource manager's job to confirm the availability of resources, to follow up on that
commitment and monitor their arrival, and if necessary, to take action if a slip-up occurs.

The work breakdown structure, the resource requirements and the sequence and schedule
of deliverables are the major tools in performing this role. The responsibility assignment
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matrix is the basis of initial resource commitment and the follow-up and monitoring that
result. Some renegotiation of the project plan would be triggered if the resource leader/
manager reports the unavailability of resources. Together, the project leader/manager and
the resource leader/manager revise the plan around resource availability.

• Protect the Plan

Planning the project may well be the heart of project study/management. But a strong
heart needs proper exercise. The Protect the Plan step of the planning phase is designed
to help proejct leaders/managers discover and resolve problems and opportunities in the
project. This vital step process helps ensure project success. Two techniques used in this
step are: Potential Problem Analysis and Potential Opportunity Analysis. These unique
management tools are widely used independently of project management successfully
implement any decision or action and think through how an organization can capitalize on
opportunities.
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• Potential Problem Analysis

The purpose of using potential problem analysis is to revise the plan so that potential
problems may be eliminated or diminished. The project leader/manager and team, often
with the help of the resource leaders/managers, must review the plan to identify the
difficulties they expect to see, particularly in the critical path. It is here that the project
team's experience can be used most effectively in improving the planning for this project.

These potential problems tend to occur in work breakdown structure elements where
several people are required to complete a task; where resources for completing the task
are scarce; where tasks are dependent on the completion of several others prior to it; or
where the task is new to the organization. Project teams have little difficulty identifying
potential problems.

The real challenge for the project leader/manager and team is identify the high-risk areas
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or the high-priority potential problems for further examination. Once these have been
selected, each is analyzed for its likely causes. Here again, experience proves particularly
useful since the likely causes of future problems maybe the actual causes of past
problems.

Once the likely causes of a problem are known, the project tesm devises preventive
actions - to stop the onset of the difficulty - and contingent actions - to limit the effects if
the problem occurs.

For example, if fire is a potential problem, two likely causes might be smoking in
dangerous areas and electrical malfunction. Preventive actions might include posting NO
SMOKING signs and setting electrical provisions that exceed normal safety standards. But
if the fire were to occur anyway, either because preventive action failed or because of
some unanticipated cause, contingent actions that would minimize the effects might be a
sprinkler system, emergency exits, and first-aid facilities. The contingent action address
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the effects of the fire itself, since the effects will be the same no matter which cause was
responsible. A trigger activates the contingent action. A trigger tells you the problem has
occurred and it is time to limit its effects just as a fire alarm tells you a fire has started,
you should evacuate the building and put the fire out.

Modifications to the plan by the inclusion of preventive and contingent actions may affect
the start and finish times for parts of the plan, precedence relationships, or critical path
itself. Example 2-5 shows two potential problems in the department move project, their
likely causes, and the actions to be take to protect the plan.
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Example 2-5

EVS EVS

EVS
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Continuation to Example 2-5

Modifications to project plan based on the Potential Problem Analysis:

1. Add task or sub-task tpo verify that vendor has equipment and furnishings in stock before placing order.
2. Add task or sub-task to prepare old equipment and furnishings for the move in case equipment or furnishings
are received behind schedule.
3. Add task to arrange for EVS/A installer to install our model AX and for EVS/A's AX computer to be available if
our computer is not properly installed.
4. Make not to insall and start-up the EVS/AX first so problems can be detected early.