Professional Documents
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Project Management
Chapter 3
Project Management
What is a Project?
• Project
o is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or
result
o is a set of related activities that pursue a defined goal and which have
distinct start and finish dates, subject to a number of resource constraints
such as time, money, people, equipment, etc.
• Projects
o Clearly defined scope, deliverables, and results.
o Estimated time frame or schedule subject to a high degree of uncertainty.
o Estimated budget subject to a high degree of uncertainty.
o Requirement of extensive interaction among participants.
o Tasks that may compete or conflict with other business activities.
o Risky but with a high profit potential or benefits.
• Oil pipelines in Venezuela, from Saudi Arabia to Syria through Jordan, and
Canada Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline
• Managing the Channel Tunnel project
• Constructing the Hoover Dam, the highest dam in the Western Hemisphere
• Nuclear power plants and nuclear cleanup projects including Three Mile Island
• Construction of Jubail, a complete city in Saudi Arabia
• Project management for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
• San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART)
• Emergency response efforts following Hurricane Katrina and extinguishing oil
well fires in Kuwait
• Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project and Washington D.C.'s Silver Line
metro
https://www.bechtel.com/blog/sustainability/september-2020/boosting-freshwater-supplies-with-desalination/
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Importance of Project
Management
Bechtel Project Management
a. International workforce, construction
professionals, cooks, medical
personnel, security
b. Strategic value of time-based
competition
c. Quality mandate for continual
improvement
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6
• Research Project
Detailed cost
Labor Cost and hour
breakdowns for
requirements summaries
each task
Raw material
Time analysis
and expenditure Variance reports
reports
forecasts
Work status
reports
Is the project on
What is the schedule, Is the money
probability the spent equal to,
behind
project will be less than, or
schedule, or
completed by a ahead of greater than the
specific date? budget?
schedule?
If the project
Are there must be finished
enough
in a shorter
resources
time, what is the
available to way to
finish the project
accomplish this
on time? at least cost?
Figure 3.8 B
C
Modify roof and floor
Construct collection stack
Blank
A
D Pour concrete and install frame A, B
E Build high-temperature burner C
F Install pollution control system C
G Install air pollution device D, E
H Inspect and test F, G
Figure 3.10 C
D
Construct collection stack
Pour concrete and install frame
A
A, B
D
E
Pour concrete and install frame
Build high-temperature burner
4
4
E Build high-temperature burner C F Install pollution control system 3
F Install pollution control system C G Install air pollution device 5
G Install air pollution device D, E H Inspect and test 2
H Inspect and test F, G Blank Total time (weeks) 25
Slack = LS − ES or Slack = LF − EF
Slack is the length of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the
entire project
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Computing Slack Time (3 of 3)
Table 3.3 Milwaukee Paper’s Schedule and Slack Times
MOST
OPTIMISTIC LIKELY PESSIMISTIC EXPECTED TIME VARIANCE
ACTIVITY a m b t = (a + 4m + b)/6 [(b − a)/6]2
A 1 2 3 2 .11
B 2 3 4 3 .11
C 1 2 3 2 .11
D 2 4 6 4 .44
E 1 4 7 4 1.00
F 1 2 9 3 1.78
G 3 4 11 5 1.78
H 1 2 3 2 .11
s p2 = Project variance
=S ( variances of activities on critical path )
Project variance
Crash cost
=
( Crash cost – Normal cost )
per period ( Normal time – Crash time )
Step 2: Using current activity times, find the critical path(s)
and identify the critical activities
Advantages of PERT/CPM
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Limitations of PERT/CPM
1. Project activities have to be clearly defined,
independent, and stable in their relationships
2. Precedence relationships must be specified
and networked together
3. Time estimates tend to be subjective and are
subject to fudging by managers
4. There is an inherent danger of too much
emphasis being placed on the longest, or
critical, path
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Project Closing: Lessons Learned
The enterprise and people who worked on the project benefit from lessons learned.
Post-project reviews, or post mortems, identify the reasons the project was successful or
not, strengths and weaknesses of the project plan, how problems were detected and
resolved, and how the project was successful in spite of them.
Communication is King
Set Realistic and Detailed Project Plans with Adequate Time and Resources