Practice Competency

4.5.4 Time Management

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What is involved in project time management?
In the scope of project management, time management is
about using the amount of time allocated to a project wisely in
order to meet scheduled deliverables and conclude all work by
or before the project completion date.
Time management is the management of the time spent, and
progress made, on project tasks and activities. Excellent time
management requires the planning, scheduling, monitoring,
and controlling of all project activities
The aim : Optimise execution of work and fulfill delivery
commitments, in time.

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Time management includes:

 Identifying, structuring and analysing project activities

 Sequencing activities, tasks ( maintaining predecessor-successor relation)

 Estimating duration of activities, work packages

 Visualising activities through network diagrams, charts

 Assigning them to individuals, groups for execution

 Monitoring, controlling execution of work and reporting status.

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 Time & project phases

To complete the project on time a schedule of the project

work must be fully planned in detail
Work packages are further broken down to activities that are
used to estimate, schedule, assign, implement and control
project work
A project schedule developed of total work required to be
done to plan and control the time
Buffers kept in schedule to meet contingencies
The PM uses a formal change control process to control any
changes in the schedule
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Visualising project management
Visualization can help you understand projects and timelines.
Visualizations present project data in dashboards and
interactive graphs instead of spreadsheets, which enhances
collaboration and helps eliminate ambiguity.
The need for visualisation of project data:
 In large projects, the activities and work packages are many. Difficult to understand raw-
data and relationships, as a list or as a spread sheet. Phasing of activities helps.
 In today’s world , virtual teams work across the globe and need tools to visualise and
communicate, to work in a co-ordinated manner.
 To enhance collaboration, and meet tight timelines
 To remove ambiguities
 Focus on priorities and execute first things, first.

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Some project visualisation methods used
 Gantt charts ( and linked-in Gantt charts)
 Kanban Boards
 Scrum boards
 Project Network diagrams ( CPM, PERT)
 Milestone-slip charts
 Plan vs performance graphs, S-curves
 EVMS graph
 Project status dashboards

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Project Planning- Network diagrams

• Networks are a schematic representation of the

activities required to be done
• Are the most powerful tool to control the project
work as project progresses
 Activity on Arrow Network also Called AOA
 Activity on Node Network (Precedence) also
Called AON
• (PERT/CPM)

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 Advantage of Network Technique

• Facilitates through Planning

• Ensures Logic of a Plan
• Make Plan Intelligible
• Facilitates Communication of Plan
• Defines Sequence & Interdependencies
• Provides Adequate Control

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 Critical Path Method (CPM)

•CPM is a project scheduling method that helps to determine

the Early Start, Early Finish, Late Start, Late Finish for
individual tasks.
•The Critical Path determines the earliest possible completion
date of the project
INPUT FOR AN ACTIVITY / TASK
• IDENTIFICATION - ID
Or 3 days
• DESCRIPTION / NAME
• DURATION
A
• INTERRELATIONSHIPS 3 days

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 Activity Relationships
3 types of logical relationships possible:

• Mandatory or ‘hard’ logic’ – work requires a specific

sequence ….. first code the software then test it
• Discretionary or ‘soft logic’ – based on experience or best
practices ….. First paint wall and then carpet
• External – based on outside factors e.g. political, govt. rules,
other projects ….. First obtain Fire Dept. NOC then start
work in the factory

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 Types Of Interrelationships

 FINISH TO START (FS)

 FINISH TO FINISH (FF)
 START TO START (SS)
 START TO FINISH (SF)
 MODIFIERS - LAG & LEAD

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FINISH TO START

“from task” “to task”

A B
Finish Start

Predecessor Successor

The 'from' activity must finish before the

'to' activity can start
i.e. A must finish before B can begin

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FINISH TO FINISH

A
Predecessor task
Finish

B
Successor task
Finish

The successor task cannot finish until the

predecessor task finishes
i.e. A must finish first before B can be finished
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START TO START

A Predecessor task
Start

B Successor task
Start

Successor task B cannot start until the

predecessor task A has started

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START TO FINISH

A
Predecessor task
Start

Successor task
B
Finish

B cannot finish until A starts

– Finish of B will determine the start date
of A
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LAG: A modification in the logical
relationship that causes the successor task to
be delayed

A In a FS relationship B has a Lag of 1 day

Time Units

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LEAD: A modification of the logical
relationship that accelerates the successor
task

A In a FS relationship B has a Lead of 1 day

BB

Time Units

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REPRESENTATION OF A CPM NETWORK CAN BE
DONE IN THE FOLLOWING TWO WAYS

 ARROW DIAGRAMING METHOD (ADM)

or ACTIVITY On ARROW (AOA)
PRECEDENCE DIAGRAMING METHOD (PDM)
or ACTIVITY ON NODE (AON)

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ARROW DIAGRAMMING METHOD (ADM)
Or ACTIVITY On ARROW (AOA)

B Dummy
3 4
A C

2 7 8
D
F
E
5 6
1
Finish
Start

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 Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)

 Arrows represent the Activity

 Nodes (Event) represent the activity completion
 ADM allows only Finish-to-Start dependencies
 Dummy activities i.e. dotted arrows used to show
logical dependency
 Dummy activities consume NO Time or Resources

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PRECEDENCE DIAGRAMMING METHOD (PDM)
Or ACTIVITY ON NODE (AON)

A B C

Start Finish

D E F

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 Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

also called ACTIVITY ON NODE (AON)

 Node represents the Activity

 Arrow used to show logical dependency
 Allows use of all 4 logical dependencies

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 Outputs from Critical Path Method

 EARLY START (ES)  TOTAL FLOAT

 EARLY FINISH (EF)  FREE FLOAT
 LATE START (LS)  CRITICAL PATH
 LATE FINISH (LF)

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EARLY START
The earliest date a task can start based on the
network logic and schedule constraints.

EARLY FINISH
The earliest date an activity can finish based on
network logic and schedule constraints.

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LATE START
The latest date a task can start or delayed without
affecting the present end date

LATE FINISH
The last day the task can end without delaying the
completion of the project or any terminating task

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 FLOAT / TOTAL FLOAT
Length of time a non-critical task can be delayed or
extended without affecting the project end date. Is
measure of time flexibility available in performance of
an Activity
For an activity:
FLOAT = LF - EF or LS - ES
ES EF
9 12
A
Activity A has a Float of 7 days
16 19
LS LF
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 FREE FLOAT
Length of time a non-critical task can be delayed or
extended without affecting earliest start date of any
subsequent activity and the project end date.

ES EF ES EF
3 6 6 9
FREE FLOAT of Activity A B

10 13 13 16
= ESb – EFc LS LS
LF LF
ES EF
Early Start of succeeding activity Activity C has a Free
3 5
minus Early Finish of preceding C Float of 1 day
activity
11 13
LS LF

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 Critical Path
The sequence of tasks in the network diagram that has the
longest duration with float less or equal to specified value
or zero.
The critical path determines the earliest possible
completion of the project

THE
THE CRITICAL
CRITICAL PATH
PATH Is:
Is:

 The
The Longest
Longest path
path in
in the
the network
network

 Has
Has zero
zero float
float

 Can
Can have
have more
more than
than one
one Critical
Critical Path
Path

 Critical
Critical path
path can
can change
change through
through project
project

 Negative
Negative float
float in
in critical
critical path
path shows
shows project
project is
is behind
behind schedule
schedule 28
The early start and early finish dates for all the
network activities is calculated in the FORWARD
PASS

The late start and late finish dates for all the
network activities is calculated in the
BACKWARD PASS

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The network acts as the Schedule baseline against which
project’s progress is controlled & monitored
ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 7 7 13 13 16
Duration = Duration = Duration =
7 Task A 6 Task C 3 Task G
0 0 7 7 0 13 13 0 16
LS L LS L LS L
F F F
ES EF
16 18
Duration =
Start 2 Task H Finish
16 0 18
LS L
ES EF ES EF ES EF F
0 3 3 6 6 9
Duration = Duration = Duration =
3 Task B 3 Task D 3 Task E
7 7 10 10 7 13 13 7 16
LS L LS L LS L
F ES F
EF F
3 5
Duration =
2 Task F
11 13
8
LS L
F

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 Monitoring the Project Schedule

• Monitoring the project helps the project manager to control it

and keep the project from going over the deadlines. Progress
monitoring strategy and process must be in place during the
initial phases of the project itself and should include:
• Tracking the project on the network
- Taking regular feedback from the team
- Having regular reviews with the team on the project success
- Documentation process for project progress reporting
- Using some project reporting tools for every team member to
log on the progress

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 Gantt / Bar Charts
Show summary level /activity level activities against time, drawn
to a common time scale
Drawback – Bar charts do not show activity dependencies
• Easy to draw, read and understand
• Provide a clear picture of the project status
• Summary of ten's of activities can be depicted by one bar
• Easily view the planned time schedule versus the progress at a glance
• Excellent tool for management reporting of project progress

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Project A
Task Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7

Plan

Design

Build

Test

Deliver

Close

Planned

Executed

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Project B
Weeks
Task 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Planned
Linked Bar Chart
The dependencies between
Executed activities is shown by arrows
and the floats are depicted by
single lines drawn after the bar 34
 Managing the Schedule

What would you do if your project is behind

schedule?

Crash and/or Fast Track Critical Path activities

to reduce the project’s end date

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 Fast Tracking

Fast Tracking:
 Overlap work normally done sequentially e.g. order
equipment before design finalized
 Critical Path activities are carried out in parallel to
accelerate the project end date
 Fast tracking requires much more control and co-
ordination
 Risky due to possibility of rework

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 Crashing

Crashing:
 Extra resources added to Critical Path activities to
reduce their duration
 Activities that will cost minimum to crash should be
selected first
 Use more overtime / faster worked materials
 Costs likely to increase
 Crashing possible only up to a point – law of
Diminishing Returns

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Program Evaluation and Review technique (PERT)

 Also known as 3 Time estimates

 Used for time and cost estimating when it is difficult to arrive at
an estimate due to lack of knowledge or experience
 Arrives at an estimate using a weighted average to reduce the
risk
 Formula for PERT is: Optimistic + (4 x Most likely) + Pessimistic} / 6
 Standard deviation sd = (P-O)/6

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 Example - PERT

The PERT duration is the Mean. In the example, the PERT duration (Mean) for Activity 1 is 30 days,
for Activity 2 it is 116 days and for Activity 3 it is 52 days. PERT of the Project is 198

To calculate the standard deviation of the group of activities we cannot just add up all
the standard deviations of each activity in the path. We need to calculate the Variance
for each activity first:
•Step 1 – Calculate each activities PERT duration and it’s Standard Deviation
•Step 2 - calculate the variance of each activity separately. Variance of an activity is
calculated as {(P - O) / 6}^2 i.e. the Variance is the standard deviation squared.
•Step 3 - add the variances for the group of activities and get a path variance
•Step 4 - take the square root of the total of the variances (calculated in step 3)
This will give us the standard deviation for the group of activities / the entire project. In
our example, the total path duration is 198 days (30+116+53) and the standard
deviation for the path is the Square root of the path Variance (10.9 + 158.8 + 28.1).
This comes to about 14.1. 39
Standard Deviation (SD) or Sigma is measured as 1 SD, 2 SD, 3 SD up
to 6 SD and the SD is taken equally on both sides of the mean or average
line in a normal distribution curve.
•One standard deviation away from the mean in either direction of the
mean line shows that 68.26% of the total data or population falls in this
group. In our example 1 SD is ‘+/-‘ 14.1 which means at 1 SD the
project is likely to be completed between 183.9 – 212.1 days.
•Two standard deviations away from the mean in either direction of the
mean line shows that 95.46% of the population falls in this range. In our
project 2 SD is 28.2 and at 2 SD the chances are of completing the
project between 169.8 – 226.2 days.
•Three standard deviations means 99.73% of the population falls in this
range.
•Six standard deviations means 99.99985% of the population falls in this
range. This means having only 3.74 errors in 1 million 40
Visualisation of projects- Images
1) Critical Path Method ( CPM)
• The critical path is the longest path of the network diagram.
The activities in the critical path have an effect on the deadline
of the project. If an activity of this path is delayed, the project
will be delayed.

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Network diagram- AOA

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Network diagram – AON example

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Network - PERT
• What Is a Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) Chart?
• A PERT chart is a project management tool that provides a graphical
representation of a project's timeline. The Program Evaluation Review
Technique (PERT) breaks down the individual tasks of a project for
analysis. PERT charts are considered preferable to Gantt charts
 because they identify task dependencies, but they're often more
difficult to interpret.
• Uses a 3-point estimate of time duration for each activity.
Optimistic time(o), most likely time(m) and pessimistic time(p).
• PERT mean duration = (o+4xm+p)/6 ; Standard deviation = (p-o)/6

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Network diagram - PERT

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Milestone- Slip chart
• Milestone slip chart
• A milestone slip chart is a simple but very effective progress report.
• On a weekly or monthly basis milestones are plotted on a grid to show
when they are scheduled to occur. 

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Milestone-slip chart

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Linked Gantt chart
• A benefit of Gantt charts is seeing which tasks are linked together.
That way it's easy to tell what needs to be done when and in what
order. 

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Linked Gantt chart image

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Project Monitoring and Control- EVMS
Earned Value Management System (EVMS) is a method that allows the
project manager to measure the amount of work actually performed on a
project beyond the basic review of cost and schedule reports.

EVMS provides a method that permits the project to be measured by

progress achieved. The project manager is then able, using the progress
measured, to forecast a project’s total cost and date of completion, based
on trend analysis or application of the project’s “burn rate”. This method
relies on a key measure known as the project’s ‘earned value’ (EV).

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Earned Value Management through S-curve

BAC

Cost CV
Cost
AC or ACWP SV

PV or BCWS Progress Review

EV or BCWP
Slippage

Time 51