SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY-DE Vernacular Programs Assignment format

Student Name: Registration Number: Subject Name: Project Planning & Scheduling

Course: LC Code: Subject Code:

Q1. Explain the mechanism of control carried out in project. Answer: The routine of planning-implementing-monitoring-reporting-controlling is carried out continuously throughout a project. Times, costs, resources and delays are monitored, variances (differences between actual and planned) analyzed, and appropriate actions are taken. Common causes of variances are eliminated. Planned times, costs and quality are continuously reviewed and updated. Lack of control or poor control could be expected to lead to under-performance as would not perform any planning-implementing-monitoring-reporting-controlling cycle components satisfactorily. A slow response to implementing controls can lead to a situation where it becomes too late to take effective control. Mechanisms need to be in place to deal with changes in scope in order that any impact can be assessed and agreed. Continual changes of scope may confuse the project delivery process; there may even be an argument for stopping the first project and redefining a second project. Q2. List the need of Project plan. Answer: Project management plan defines how the project is executed, monitored and controlled and closed. The major parts of a project management plan are lifecycle selected, change management plan and configuration management. The plan can either be summary level or detailed, and can be composed of one or more subsidiary plans and other components. Plan helps us get information, about what is to be done, how it is to be done, when it is to be done and by whom, from the iterative planning process. A project plan is needed because of the following reasons: Project plan is like a guide to the project from initiation to closing. Project plan documents the basic requirements, assumptions and constraints of the project. It documents the decisions regarding the alternative choices, identified risks, mitigation/contingency plan. List the various stakeholders, communication requirements. Establish project baselines for progress measurement and control. Define management reviews. Q3. What are the factors need to be considered while developing WBS? Answer: Developing a WBS that structures project cost in greater detail than how the information is used result in monitoring, reporting and archiving data that has no
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SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY-DE Vernacular Programs Assignment format

value, but is usually very expensive to gather. The balance between detail and applied information will ultimately determine the successful use of the WBS. To maximize the structure when developing the WBS, the following should be considered It must be simple to use. A simple WBS will be more easily adopted by end users resulting in consistent use. End users should be able to easily memorize the WBS. Each epartment within the organization will most likely be using some aspect of the WBS; therefore many personnel will apply the WBS, making it easy to use, minimize errors and avoids time consuming cross checking or referencing. It must be flexible so it can be adaptable, get applied consistently across all types of projects. As the WBS is developed each organization must consider how the structure can support current and future projects and / or clients. It must be oriented to how we perform the work. It must suit the companys work processes. This must be evaluated from the perspective of engineering procurement, constructing, accounting, and contract / finance professionals. The WBS has to be applicable and functional in each of these disciplines, providing cost information at different levels of detail or from differing perspective of scope. Along with supporting cost monitoring reporting and forecasting, the WBS must also provide properly structured cost information for contract packages, progress / performance measurement , cash flow projections and the fixed asset register. Q4. Explain the concept of Project Charter? What are the elements to be included in the same? Answer: The project charter may be prepared in quite a detailed manner including the following: The scope baseline / scope statement Scope and objectives of the projects (SOW) Specifications Broad WBS Timing Spending Plan The Management Plan Resources requirements and man loading Resources of key personnel

SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY-DE Vernacular Programs Assignment format

Organizational relationship and structure Responsibility assignment matrix Support required from other organizations Project policies and procedures Change management plan Management approval of the above. Q5. Explain what CPA calculates? Mention any five advantages and disadvantages of CPM. Answer: Critical path analysis (CPA) is a numerical method to calculate a project's schedule. Considering every task one at a time, CPA estimates: How swiftly a task can be accomplished. The early start and early finish dates. The final termination date for the project. Once all this information is identified for each task, CPA computes how slowly a task can be carried out and the slack that the task possesses. As mentioned above the following values must be calculated: ES = Early Start EF = Early Finish LS = Late Start LF = Late Finish TS = Total Slack Advantages of CPM: 1. CPM encourages the managers and the project members to graphically draw and identify various activities that must be accomplished for a project completion. 2. The network diagram depicts the completion time of the project which helps in planning and scheduling of the activities needed for the completion of the project. 3. The identification of the critical path for the project is the next stage of analysis of the network diagram. This helps in the project estimation. It also depicts the potential problems and the activities at which the problems might occur. 4. The CPM provides a disciplined and a logical approach to planning, scheduling, and managing a project over a long period of time. 5. The Optimisation of time-cost relationship in project management is possible using the CPM. The managers usually identify the activities that can pose a problem if not managed and monitored effectively over a period of time.

Disadvantages of CPM:
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SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY-DE Vernacular Programs Assignment format

1. As the scope and extent of project increases, the CPA process becomes complex. 2. The network diagram becomes complicated with the increase in the interconnecting activities resulting in errors while calculating critical path. 3. The managers and personnel involved must know the basic concepts of CPA but from practical experience, it is evident that the principle assumption regarding the basics of CPM techniques is far beyond control. 4. If more than one critical path exists in the project, understanding the needs of the critical path gets more complicated. Most of the time, these paths may be parallel connecting to a common node in the network diagram. 5. As the project progresses, the critical path may change over time and new critical paths may evolve making the old ones invalid. Q6. A) Explain the output of the schedule development process. Answer: The outcomes of schedule development process are: Project Schedule: this structured document gives us the start and end date of each activity. It gives a detailed description of the activities to be performed in the project, their dependencies and requirements. They can be represented in the following format: Milestone chart Bar charts Project schedule network diagrams Schedule Baseline: This is a version of schedule, approved by project management team, with the baseline start and end date of the project. This is a part of the project management plan. Schedule Data: Is the information about schedule milestones, activities and their characteristics, assumptions made and constraints.

Project Document Updated: Some of the project documents which need to be updated may include list of activities, activity characterisitics and risk register. B) What are the three major constraints in project control? Answer: Projects are subjected to three major constraints: 1. Time limitations. 2. Resource constraints. 3. Performance Requirements.
As the name suggests, the time constraint deals with the time necessary to finish
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SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY-DE Vernacular Programs Assignment format

a project. To successfully complete a project, the time constraint should be comprised of a schedule. You should have a specific schedule related to the time that it will take you to finish the project. However, before you can create a schedule, you must first sit down and figure out a projected time frame for the project. Once you have figured out the total time it will take for a project to be completed, you must next break this down into a schedule. There should be a time frame for completing specific parts of the project, and there should be a time frame that deals with the completion of components that make up these parts. The three constraints of project management will almost always be competing with each other. If a team decides to enlarge the scope of a project, the time will become larger as well, along with the cost. If the time constraint is tighter, the scope may be reduced, but the costs will remain high. If the team should decide to tighten the budget, the scope will become smaller but the time will increase. To become skilled in project management, the project manager and their team must be capable of dealing with these constraints in a way that will allow them to successfully complete any project that they plan. Cost is another of the three constraints that you will want to become familiar with. The cost involved with successfully completing a project is dependent on a number of different elements, and some of these are material costs, the costs of labor, risk, and machines. The profit must also be analyzed when one is considering the cost constraint. If you are hiring a consultant who is independent, the cost of your project will be dependent on how much they charge "per diem." This cost will generally be multiplied by a calculated quantity. The cost constraint is very important, and it should never be overlooked. The third constraint of project management is scope. Scope can be defined as the tools and resources that are needed to achieve the end objective of the team. The scope can also be defined as the goal of the overall project, what it is supposed to achieve. Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the scope is the quality of the end product or service that is produced. How much time the team puts into the project is directly connected to its quality. Some projects will require a longer period of time in order to be completed properly. Looking at the scope of the project is similar to looking at the big picture of what you are trying to accomplish.

Q7. Explain make-or-buy analysis. Answer: This analysis helps take a call whether it is beneficial to buy a product from third party or make it. Even making should happen in-house or should be outsourced. Depending on what gives the maximum profit, choice is made. All projects involve the need to determine whether the project work will be done inhouse, external to the organization (outsourced), or a combination of the two. This is called make-or-buy analysis and is an essential part of project planning, as well as a tool/technique integral to procurement planning (Project Management Institute, 2008). A make-or-buy decision must be made for all major segments of projects
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SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY-DE Vernacular Programs Assignment format

work before the project plan can be completed (these can be refined later in more depth in the initial stages of the project). This paper examines various decision analysis methods that can be used to determine whether to make or buy an item, whether it is a tangible good or service. Factors that can impact the ability to make a timely and accurate decision will also be analyzed. Methods of Analysis Used in Make-or-Buy Decision Analysis Prior to doing any analyses, all of the choices or alternatives for that segment of project work should be determined, that is, the organization should lay out the (a) various ways the work could be made internally, (b) options (sources and methods) for external procurement, or (c) hybrids of the two. There are several broad categories of analysis that should be performed in order to arrive at a make-or-buy decision.