PROJECT PLANNING AND SCHEDULING

Project Planning and Scheduling’, though separate, are two sides of the same coin in project
management. Fundamentally, ‘Project planning’ is all about choosing and designing effective
policies and methodologies to attain project objectives. While ‘Project scheduling’ is a procedure
of assigning tasks to get them completed by allocating appropriate resources within an estimated
budget and time-frame.

PROJECT PLANNING

The basis of project planning is the entire project. Unlikely, project scheduling focuses only on
the project-related tasks, the project start/end dates and project dependencies. Thus, a ‘project
plan’ is a comprehensive document that contains the project aims, scope, costing, risks, and
schedule. And a project schedule includes the estimated dates and sequential project tasks to be
executed.

Project Planning

The project planning phase refers to:

 Developing a project to make it ready for investment

 Determines the jobs/tasks required to attain project objectives

Stages of Project Planning

The project planning stages are enlisted below:

1. Identifying the key project sponsors and stakeholders, to determine the basis of project
scope, budget, and time-frame for project execution.
2. Upon enlisting the stake-holder requirements, prioritizing/setting project objectives.
3. Identifying the project deliverables required to attain the project objectives.
4. Creating the project schedule.
5. Identifying the project risks, if any, and develop suitable mitigation plans.
6. Communicating and presenting the project plan to stakeholders.
Benefits of Project Planning

 -Route-Map: The project plan offers a road-way that gives direction to the project from
start to end.
 Documentation of Customer Requirements: A well-articulated project plan enables the
record of the requirements of the customers in a documented form. This provides a
precise direction instead of relying on assumptions, which could be incorrect and may
lead to project errors.
 Task Autonomy: Planning enables one to assign tasks to specific team members and
gives autonomy. The team feels a sense of responsibility and ownership of the success or
failure of a project. Consequently, it urges them to work better or encourages them to
bring inconsistent results.
 Resource Estimation: Planning is vital as in a way, it enables us to estimate resources,
costing and time. It gives a judgment of any delays if several members are working on
various projects at a time.
 Mitigation Plan: The project plan gives a way to forecast risks, if any, and plan for
mitigation strategies accordingly.
  Identification of Employee Capabilities: The planning phase enables to identify
employees with certain skill-sets or expertise. And as the tasks get assigned, team
members get trained on a lacking skill-sets or either upgraded on the ones they possess.
 Strengths and Short-Comings of Previous Projects: Project plans also help to analyze
and improve or learn from the previous project records and facilitate decision-making.

PROJECT SCHEDULING

The project scheduling phase refers to:

 Estimation of human resource and material requisite at every stage of the project; and
approximate calculative time to complete each of these tasks.
 Indicates the start and end date of each project task and logical connectivity among
various project tasks/activities.

Stages of Project Scheduling

The project scheduling stages are outlined below:

1. Based on the project scope, design and develop the TBS (Task-Breakdown Structure).
2. Identify the project-related tasks.
3. Identify the human resources and material requisite
4. Evaluate the approximate time required for each and every task
5. Allocation of resources
6. Analyze the detailed schedule
7. Monitor and govern the schedule
Benefits of Project Scheduling

 Reduces Lead Time: The project schedule gives an outline of the tasks that are to be
completed on a priority basis or simultaneously with other tasks. This keeps the team
members notified about it and prevents any delays or postponing of tasks, thus reducing
the lead time.
 Cost Reductions: It enables to monitor of the resources by preventing the overlapping of
tasks. It also leads to the effective utilization of resources and returns the unconsumed
resources in time, thus cutting costs.
 Facilitates Productivity: Upon evaluating logical connectivity between the tasks,
resources that are not optimally utilized can be assigned on extra tasks, thus enhancing
productivity.
 Foresee problems in Advance: A precise project schedule enables one to foresee any
problems in advance pertaining to either, under or over-utilization, of resources and
ensures optimum consumption of the same.
 Sets a Goal: A project schedule allows us to set goals, short-term or long-term, providing
a direction and vision while executing the project. It also makes everyone in a team aware
of the guidelines and methods to attain these goals. Without a schedule, the project would
be vaguely defined. Thus, making it cumbersome to manage and organize the tasks so as
to run it successfully.
 Current Progress Updates and Alerts: The project schedule is a sketch that gives way
to the project. A project might go through certain challenges, however, if there is no route
map, how would a project move in the right direction? In such a case, a project schedule
helps in assessing how off-track a project has been and possible ways to bring it in the
correct direction.

Conclusion

It is evident that ‘project planning and scheduling’ go hand-in-hand and are essentials of project
management. In a nutshell, ‘Project planning’ is an elaborative process that includes all details of
the project, from its inception to completion. And ‘Project schedule’ is the tracker that monitors
the sequences and tenure of project-related tasks.
 DESIGN OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A project design is a method of organising ideas, materials, and processes in order to achieve a
specific goal.

The following entities make up a general Project Design:

 A detailed description of the organisation or corporation that will be responsible for the
project's development.
 A detailed overview of the project, its origins, and how it should be developed
 The project's objectives, milestones, goals, and outcomes are listed down.
 It covers every product, significant deliverables, evaluation and monitoring standards,
and success criterion characteristics.
 Finally, it discusses the budget estimating criteria and principles.

Structure of Project Design

There are processes to defining projects and building a plan for implementation. They are the
most crucial steps in a project's development. As a result, you should include your team and
stakeholders in the process to ensure that you've covered all of your bases. Take your time to
finish this stage completely.

1. Define the Vision

The vision statement is a formal document that outlines the project's possibilities. It is provided
to stakeholders to demonstrate the project's viability and benefits.

It isn't a lengthy, in-depth paper. You can have a brief vision for the project's outcome; after all,
this is how you sell the project. As a result, construct a picture of the project's success and set it
in context.

2. Understand the Problem

You must first identify a problem that has to be solved in order to support that vision paper. As a
result, a needs assessment is frequently required so that you can see the challenges that the
company is facing. This will bring the problem you're working on into line with the
organization's overall plan. It will also give you the information you need to come up with the
best solution to the situation.

To begin, what data are you collecting? What sources do you have for such knowledge, and how
will you go about gathering it? Next, examine and identify the issues that your project is
intended to address. Organize your findings in a document.

3. Plan the Resources

The next step is to identify the resources required to complete the project. People, equipment,
and facilities are all examples of resources needed to perform a project successfully.

The same way journalists tackle a news storey, using the Five W's: who, what, where, when, and
why, is an excellent technique to figure out the resources. What resources are necessary to
complete the project, who will sponsor the project, where will the work be completed, when will
the project begin and end, and why are these resources required?

4. Define Project Goals

You won't be able to reach your objectives until you first identify them. A goal is something that
can be seen and measured at the end of a project. A goal is the same as a solution to a problem.

Make a goal statement that explains how the project's objectives are met. Use the SMART
method, which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-relevant, to
achieve this well. These terms should be used to define each goal.

5. Propose Project Strategy

A strategy must be in place to achieve the project's objectives. A strategy is a method for
achieving the project's objectives while staying within the project's restrictions, such as
resources, schedule, and budget. How can a plan be developed to meet the project's objectives?
Consider precedent and look back on similar projects in the past to see what they may have
revealed about the benefits and drawbacks of their chosen tactics. Best Project Management
practises are always a sound foundation, and then incrementally create a plan, creating a route to
success.

6. Build Contingency Plan

Few things go according to plan, as any project manager knows. There must be a backup plan in
place to respond swiftly and correctly to concerns that develop throughout the course of a
project. As a result, this must be considered when planning your project.

Keep an eye out for the project's unfavourable hazards. They are immersed in a variety of
settings, including teams that may be lacking in skills, have unavoidable absences, turnover, and
so on. Delays may wreak havoc on schedules. It's possible that the scope was not clearly
established. Costs are understated, or funds become scarce. Make a plan to deal with these
dangers.

7. Create Proper Budget

The budget lays forth the financial resources needed to complete the project. Each of the project
criteria will be assigned a cost in a budget. Creating a project budget entails formally allocating
financial resources to the project. This starts with deciding on a method for estimating costs,
identifying impacts, and reporting on the evaluation.

8. Provide Project Proposal

All of this culminates in a project proposal that explains why the project should be carried out
and what benefits it would provide. The previous steps are summarised by putting up the
project's goal and a concise description of the issue it addresses. Then, identify the project's
objectives and the method that will be employed to attain them.
 PROJECT WORK SYSTEM

A work system is a system in which human participants and/or machines perform work
(processes and activities) using information, technology, and other resources to produce
products/services for internal or external customers.

The work system concept is like a common denominator for many of the types of systems that
operate within or across organizations. Operational information systems, service systems,
projects, supply chains, and ecommerce web sites can all be viewed as special cases of work
systems.

 An information system is a work system whose processes and activities are devoted to
processing information.
 A service system is a work system that produces services for its customers.
 A project is a work system designed to produce a product and then go out of existence.
 A supply chain is an inter-organizational work system devoted to procuring materials and
other inputs required to produce a firm's products.
 An ecommerce web site can be viewed as a work system in which a buyer uses a seller's web
site to obtain product information and perform purchase transactions.

PROJECT WORK SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE MODEL

Project Work System Life cycle Model consists of following phases:-

1. Initiation

2. Development

3. Implementation

4. Operation and Maintenance

 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

For projects, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a project management tool that breaks
down a project into smaller, more manageable components or tasks. It singlehandedly integrates
scope, cost and schedule baselines ensuring that project plans are in alignment.

There are two types of WBS:

1) Deliverable-Based

2) Phase-Based

The most common and preferred approach is the Deliverable-Based approach.

Deliverable-Based Work Breakdown Structure

A Deliverable-Based Work Breakdown Structure clearly demonstrates the relationship between
the project deliverables (i.e., products, services or results) and the scope (i.e., work to be
executed). Figure 1 is an example of a Deliverable-Based WBS for building a house. Figure 2 is
an example of a Phase-Based WBS for the same project.

-
Phase-Based Work Breakdown Structure
Phase-Based WBS has five Elements. Each of these Elements are typical phases of a project. A
Phase-Based WBS requires work associated with multiple elements be divided into the work
unique to each Level 1 Element. A WBS Dictionary is created to describe the work in each
Element.
 PROJECT EXECUTION PLAN

A Project Execution Plan (PEP) is a governing document that defines how a project is to be

executed, monitored, and controlled. It establishes exactly how the project

execution phase of the project will be managed to meet the requirements of the project or

contract.

Elements of a Project Execution Plan

1. Project Scope

The project scope is a broad view of objectives and a detailed list of all the elements involved in
the project. Define the project scope by identifying what needs to get done. Do this in specific
terms. This gives project stakeholders a summary of the project’s purpose and its goals.

Some of the details you’ll want to include in your project scope are:

 A statement of work to define the roles and responsibilities of the project team
 A list of limitations and boundaries of the available resources
 All potential deliverables, not just the final one
 A list of any relevant reports, products, services or new software developments
 Which stakeholder or customer these will be delivered to
 Some criteria to measure success for the project team
2. Quality Standards

You know the outputs, now it’s time to define the quality you expect from them. Having a clear
understanding of quality expectations is key to a successful project. To begin, you’ll want to
define what quality is and make sure your whole team agrees on that definition.

3. Goal Statements

A goal statement outlines what the team plans to implement and complete during the project.
Some examples of a goal statement could be expected deliverables, milestones and the life cycle
of large work tasks.

4. Resource Allocation for the Project Execution Plan

A resource in a project can be capital, people or materials. In fact, it’s anything that is needed to
execute the tasks in your project execution plan. Having resources in place to meet the capacity
of your team is required to get complete your project on time and within quality expectations.

5. Project Schedule

Changes in the supply of needed raw materials can impact a schedule, and therefore the
expectation of delays needs to be managed with stakeholders and teams. The project manager
might have to make adjustments to the triple constraint of time, cost and scope to respond to
changes in supply to keep on schedule.

6. Organizational Components

Finally, the PEP needs to consider the operational aspects of the project. This means listing the
key personnel and their roles and responsibilities, then distributing this list so everyone is aware
of who is responsible for what.
 WORK PACKAGING SYSTEM

A work package is a group of related tasks within a project. Because they look like projects

themselves, they are often thought of as sub-projects within a larger project. Work packages are

the smallest unit of work that a project can be broken down into when creating your Work

Breakdown Structure (WBS).

This work package example shows the breakdown of task groupings that make up each sub-

section of a work breakdown structure. It is also clear from this work package sample how

different work packages combine together under each activity to form the work breakdown

structure.
 PROJECT SCHEDULING
Scheduling in project management is the listing of activities, deliverables, and
milestones within a project. A schedule also usually includes a planned start and finish
date, duration, and resources assigned to each activity.

PROJECT SCHEDULING STEPS:-

1. Plan Project Scheduling

2. Determine Activities
3. Determine Resources
4. Determine Activity Durations
5. Determine Dependencies
6. Analyze
7. Monitor and Control
TYPES OF PROJECT SCHEDULES:-

1. Master project schedule: A master schedule tends to be a simplified list of tasks

with a timeline or project calendar.

2. Milestone schedule or summary schedule: This type of project schedule

tracks major milestones and key deliverables, but not every task is required to
complete the project.

3. A detailed project schedule: This is the most thorough project schedule, as it

identifies and tracks every project activity. If you have a complex, large, or
lengthy project, it’s important to have a detailed project schedule to help track
everything.

BENEFITS OF PROJECT SCHEDULING:-

 Assists with tracking, reporting, and communicating progress

 Ensures everyone is on the same page with tasks, dependencies, and deadlines
 Highlights issues and concerns, such as a lack of resources
 Identifies task relationships
 Monitors progress and identify issues early
 BAR CHARTS

The bar chart is an effective tool for the management of work in a project.
A pictorial chart, also known as the “Bar Chart” was for the first time developed by Henry Gantt
around 1900 and is used to deal with complex activities.
The bar chart consists of two coordinates, the horizontal represents the time elapsed and the
vertical represents the job or activities performed.
The length of the bar shows the time the job or that activity takes for completion. In every
project, some jobs are taken up concurrently and some are to be completed before others can
begin. Hence in a bar chart, some of the bars run parallel or overlap each other time-wise and
some run serially with one bar beginning after another bar ends.
EXAMPLE 1:-
In Fig. 28.1 example, activities A and B can start at the same time and
proceed concurrently or in parallel, though they take different time intervals
for their completion. Activity C begins 5 days after the start of activity A and
B. Activity D cannot be started until activity B is over. The bars representing
B and D therefore run serially.

The bar chart for the example 1 is shown as:-

EXAMPLE 2:-

The bar chart for example 2 is shown as:-

 LINE OF BALANCE
Line of Balance (LOB) is a management control process for collecting, measuring, and
presenting facts relating to time, cost, and accomplishment – all measured against a specific plan.
It shows the process, status, background, timing, and phasing of the project activities, thus
providing management with measuring tools that help:

1. Comparing actual progress with a formal objective plan.

2. Examining only the deviations from established plans and gauging their degree of
severity with respect to the remainder of the project.
3. Receiving timely information concerning trouble areas and indicating areas where
appropriate corrective action is required.
4. Forecasting future performance.
PURPOSE OF LINE OF BALANCE (LOB)

The purpose of a LOB is to enable a program manager to see at a single glance which activities
of an operation are “in balance” – i.e., whether those which should have been completed at the
time of the review actually are completed and whether any activities scheduled for future
completion are lagging behind schedule.

BENEFITS OF LINE OF BALANCE

 A better understanding of the amount of work taking place at a certain time in a specific
place.
 Optimized resources for a large number of repeated work activities.
 Allows easier cost and time optimization analysis.
 Easy to modify, update and change the schedule.
 Better management of subcontractors and resources.
 Identifies issues in advance.

NETWORK TECHNIQUES

A project network diagram is an important tool because it helps teams visualize the activities that
need to be completed over the duration of a project.

Network diagrams are one of the modern tools of project management.

There are two popular network techniques:-

1. CPM (Critical Path Method)

2. PERT (Project Evaluation and Review Technique)

CPM (CRITICAL PATH METHOD)

The critical path method (CPM) is a technique where you identify tasks that are necessary for
project completion and determine scheduling flexibilities. A critical path in project management
is the longest sequence of activities that must be finished on time in order for the entire project to
be complete. Any delays in critical tasks will delay the rest of the project.

HOW TO FIND THE CRITICAL PATH?

Finding the critical path involves looking at the duration of critical and non-critical tasks. Below
is a breakdown of the steps with examples.

1. List activities
Use a work breakdown structure to list all the project activities or tasks required to produce the
deliverables. The list of activities in the work breakdown structure serves as the foundation for
the rest of the CPM.
 2. Identify dependencies
Based on your work breakdown structure, determine the tasks that are dependent on one another.
This will also help you identify any work that can be done in parallel with other tasks.

Here are the task dependencies based on the example above:

 Task B is dependent on A
 Task C is dependent on B
 Tasks C and D can run in parallel
 Task E is dependent on D
 Task F is dependent on C, D, and E

3. Create a network diagram

The next step is to turn the work breakdown structure into a network diagram, which is a
flowchart displaying the chronology of activities. Create a box for each task and use arrows to
depict task dependencies.
4. Estimate task duration
To calculate the critical path, the longest sequence of critical tasks, you first need to estimate the
duration of each activity.
5. Calculate the critical path
 Calculating the critical path can be done manually, but you can save time by using a
critical path algorithm instead.

6. Calculate the float

Float, or slack, refers to the amount of flexibility of a given task. It indicates how much the task
can be delayed without impacting subsequent tasks or the project end date.
Finding the float is useful in gauging how much flexibility the project has. Float is a resource
that should be used to cover project risks or unexpected issues that come up.

PERT
(PROGRAM EVALUATION REVIEW TECHNIQUE)
Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) is a project management planning tool used to

calculate the amount of time it will take to realistically finish a project. PERT charts are used to

plan tasks within a project — making it easier to schedule and coordinate team members.

However with PERT, you create three different time estimates for the project:

 The shortest possible amount of time each task will take

 The most probable amount of time

 The longest amount of time tasks might take if things don't go as planned

PERT Planning comprises of the following steps:

1. Identification of definite activities and breakthroughs:
It is convenient to list all the tasks and breakthroughs required to complete the project in
 the table. The breakthroughs represent the starting point and deadline of one or more
activities. With the help of identification of activities, tasks at later stage can be expanded
to build information on sequence and duration.

2. Determining the proper sequence of the activities:

This step in PERT planning process is used to regulate the sequence of activities. Activities
can be serial or parallel, the sequence represents the dependency of one activity on other
activity. As in the first step the identification of the activities is done, it is necessary to
identify the relationships between activities in this step. The analysis of exact order in
which the activities performed are required for other tasks.

3. Construction of network diagram:

A network diagram is drawn with the help of the activity identification and activity
sequence information. In the network diagram, the activities are illustrated by arrowed lines
and breakthroughs are illustrated by circles. To convert the tabular activity information into
a network diagram, various CASE tools like MS-PROJECT are available which simplify
the process of conversion easily.

4. Estimation of the time required for each activity:

All activities in the project are illustrated by the persistent or steady unit of time. PERT has
the capacity to deal with ambiguity and unpredictability in the completion time of the
activities. The commonly used unit in software engineering for the activity completion time
is weeks.

5. Determination of Critical Path:

Critical path is the path which takes the maximum amount of time. There are many paths in
the network diagram which demonstrates the start and end events of the project. Critical
path is determined by adding the time taken by the activities in each sequence and then
determining the longest path in the project. Total calendar time needed for the project is
given by the critical path.

6. Updation of PERT chart:

PERT charts are modified as the project work progresses. As the project work continues,
many changes to the PERT chart are made such as addition of resources and changes in the
estimation time by the actual time.

Difference between PERT and CPM :

S.No
. PERT CPM

PERT is that technique of project CPM is that technique of project

management which is used to manage management which is used to manage
uncertain (i.e., time is not known) only certain (i.e., time is known)
1. activities of any project. activities of any project.

It is event oriented technique which It is activity oriented technique which

means that network is constructed on the means that network is constructed on
2. basis of event. the basis of activities.

3. It is a probability model. It is a deterministic model.

It majorly focuses on time as meeting It majorly focuses on Time-cost trade

time target or estimation of percent off as minimizing cost is more
4. completion is more important. important.

It is appropriate for high precision time It is appropriate for reasonable time

5. estimation. estimation.

6. It has Non-repetitive nature of job. It has repetitive nature of job.

There is no chance of crashing as there There may be crashing because of

7. is no certainty of time. certain time boundation.

It uses dummy activities for

8. It doesn’t use any dummy activities. representing sequence of activities.

It is suitable for projects which required

9. research and development. It is suitable for construction projects.
 GERT (GRAPHICAL EVLAUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE)

Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique, commonly known as GERT, is a network

analysis technique used in project management that allows probabilistic treatment both network
logic and estimation of activity duration.

GERT uses activity-on-arrow notation only. That means that each activity is described on arrow.
The nodes are used to connect activities, but also to determine type and conditions of relations
between them.

Each task has two parameters: duration and probability of appearance.

There are three logical operators in GERT which concern activities incoming to the node:

 XOR - alternative (only one path possible)

 OR - alternative (one or more paths can be performed)
 AND - all paths have to be performed

The most common is AND, which means that every incoming activity has to happen before the
outcoming one start.

There are also two types of relations that concern activities outcoming from the node:

 deterministic - every outcoming activity has probability equal to 1, which means that every
one will be performed
 probabilistic - each outcoming activity has some probability of appearance.

Each node consists of one logical operator and one relation, which gives six combinations:
GERT EXAMPLE

In this example two space vehicles are being sent and meet in the space. The success of the
mission is possible only if both are successfully launched.

Mission success has AND operator, as both vehicles are required. But mission failure has OR
operator, as if at least one of them fails, the mission fails.
 RESOURCE ALLOCATION
Resource allocation is the process of assigning the best available resources to tasks and
projects.
RESOURCE ALLOCATION PROCESS

1. Map out your upcoming project

In the first step of Resource Allocation, one needs to identify the following questions about
project:-
 What tasks are needed?
 When is the project due?
 When is each task due?
 What skills are required to complete the tasks?
 Who on the team has the required skills?
 What is their availability (i.e., who's going on vacation)?
 Are there any task dependencies?
 How does each task dependency work (i.e., finish to start, start to start, finish to finish, start to
finish)?
 Where are there skill gaps due to unavailability or lack of knowledge?

2. Get to know the availability of your resources

Once the mapping of upcoming projects is done, next is to identify the availability of your
resources and your team. For example:- Sick leave, time off, and public holidays all affect your
team's availability.

3. Assign tasks and get feedback from team members

 Now the next step is to assign task to each person according to the availability of team.
 For your project to succeed, team members have to know their responsibilities,
dependencies, and due dates for each task.
 Aso, regular feedback should be taken from team members.
 4. Choose a resource allocation tool

Now, one of the most important thing is to keep track of everything in the project.
 To keep track of every resource allocated
 To keep track of the progress of the project
 To keep track of the team members
 To keep track of any kind of the barrier for the project.

So, through software it becomes easy for project manager to track all the things.

5. Monitor the progress of the project

After assigning tasks, you will likely need to make changes as the project progresses.
You might discover that you have too many resources at your disposal—or worse—you might
have overloaded your team and are in danger of missing a deadline.

6. Run a post-project evaluation

At the end of any project, host a post-project evaluation to see what worked and what didn't.
Some basic post-project questions to consider are:
 Were there delays or setbacks during the project? If so, what were they?
 Did your team handle their tasks efficiently, or were they overloaded?
 Were the project details, such as the scope and deadlines, clear?
 What areas could be improved for future projects?

ADVANTAGES OF RESOURCE ALLOCATION

1. Helps you plan

Resource allocation can prevent overspending on resources you don’t need or stop you
from running short of them halfway through a project. When you have the right tools,
you can quickly see the availability of resources and timelines for projects in the pipeline
and plan accordingly.

2. Improves team well-being and morale

Poor resource management can lead to burnout among your workforce. When that
happens, productivity and performance decrease and happiness disappears. Consider that:
 Employees who are burned out are 26% more likely to fall in sick.
 76% of employees agree that workplace stress affects their mental health.

So, following proper resource allocation in project management minimizes the chances of
overloading employees and maintains their well-being and morale.
3. Keeps everybody in the loop

When collaborating on a project, it is essential to track progress. That usually means

regular updates on the status of tasks, issues, and milestones. If you’re using manual
tools, this will eat up your time and increase the odds of making mistakes.

However, with resource allocation software, you can reduce errors and promote
transparency. Every member of the team can track the progress of tasks, and you can
quickly send reports back to stakeholders.

PROJECT CRASHING

What Is Project Crashing?

Project crashing is when you shorten the duration of a project by reducing the time of one or
more tasks. Crashing is done by increasing the resources to the project, which helps make tasks
take less time than what they were planned for. Of course, this also adds to the cost of the overall
project. Therefore, the primary objective of project crashing is to shorten the project while also
keeping costs at a minimum.

Project Crashing Management Stages

Once you’ve made the decision to use project crashing, there are some steps you’ll want to
follow to get the results you want.

1. Critical Path

The first thing to do is analyze the critical path of your project. This will help you determine
which tasks can be shortened to bring the project to a close sooner. Therefore, if you haven’t
already, calculate your critical path, see which tasks are essential and which are secondary to the
project’s success.

2. Identify Tasks
Get a list of all the tasks you have, then meet with those who have been assigned to complete
them. Ask if they believe any of the tasks they’re responsible for are in the critical path and can
be cut down. Then, start looking for ways to tighten up those tasks.

3. What’s the Trade Off?

Once you’ve narrowed down the tasks in the critical path that you believe can be shortened, start
calculating how much adding more resources will cost. Find the tasks that can be allocated
additional resources, and come in sooner with the least amount of strain on your budget.

4. Make Your Choice

When you know what you will have to spend (compared to how much time you’ll save) for each
of the tasks in your critical path, you must now make a decision and choose the least expensive
way forward. Project crashing is not just adding resources to get done faster, but it’s getting the
most in return for that extra expense.

5. Create a Budget

Like any project, once you’ve decided on your plan, you have to pay for it. Making a project
crashing budget is the next step in executing your project crashing plan. You’ll have to update
your baseline, schedule and resource plan to align with your new initiative.
 RESOURCE SHARING IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Sharing resources refers to an outsourcing delivery in which organizations employees or

resources are shared amongst different teams and programs. This means resources can support
multiple clients, service lines and industries at the same time.

When managing a project, you can share different types of resource. Resources
may be shared in different ways depending on the use or where they have been
created. But, first, we’ll look at the types present before seeing how to share them.

TYPES OF RESOURCE
— Project resources. Created new for each project, so they are unique
and exclusive to that project.

— Global resources. These are the people, every time you invite a new
user in, you are sharing a global resource. They are called ‘global’ because
they can work on different projects.

— Process resources. Those resources planned to pursue a process. They

are used for all projects based on the standard or process, and are edited
and created in the process editor.
Project resources are perfect for budgeting. By creating a process-based
project, the new project acquires all the fixed resources from the process,
meaning these don’t need to be added again.

PROJECT PROCEDURE MANUAL

1. Project Management/Administration

1.1 Introduction
The Project Procedure and Execution Manual (PPE Manual) contains the instructions for

handling the work on this project in accordance with the terms of the contract.

1.2 Scope of Work

 Describe extent of the following subjects:
- project definition
· type of plant, location, capacity, type of contract
· major components of plant, i.e. name units, extent of off-sites and buildings to be provided.
 Split of work, Company/client/others:
- extent of Company work
- client's responsibilities
 Make references to applicable project/client documents:
- contract
- project specification
 - Process Design Basis
- Basic Design Data
 Make references to applicable project documents
 Allocate specific job numbers for specific activities as is agreed for this project.

1.3 Project Organization

 Describe the extent of the organization.
 Refer to attached Company project organization that is to be completed with the names of
the personnel assigned, and includes (if applicable) Construction (separate chart).
 Refer to Company supportive permanent organization.
 Refer to attached client's project organization.

1.4 Addresses and Names of Representatives

1.4.1 Client Name:
Address:
Telephone :
E.mail :
1.4.2 Company name
Address:
City:
State:
Country:
Telephone :
E.mail :

1.5 Communications
The purpose of this section is to establish modes of communication and to define communication
numbering systems to facilitate reference and control.
Different modes of communication are:-
 Letters
 Telephone Communications
 Minutes of Meeting
 Internal Communications

1.6 Project Reports

This section covers the preparation, responsibilities and distribution of all reports necessary for
Company Project Management to adequately control the execution of the project and also to
report cost/schedule/progress information to the client.

1.7 Document Control

 File Code and Maintenance

 Document Format/Numbering/Issue Codes
 Document Checking and Approval
 Document Distribution
 Confidential Documents
 Project Close-out/Final Disposition

2. Project Controls: Describe extent of the following subjects:

2.1 Estimating
Capital Cost Estimate Preparation.

2.2 Cost Control

2.3 Change Notices/Change Orders

2.4 Planning and Scheduling

2.5 Material Control

2.6 Project Accounting

3. Engineering
Describe engineering execution plan briefly and cover the extent of:

 Process Engineering;
 Project and Design Engineering;
 Supplier Documents Requirements/Review;
 Engineering Design by Suppliers/Subcontractors;
 Equipment/Item/Line Numbering System;
 Spare Parts Requirements;

4. Procurement
Describe procurement execution plan briefly and cover the extent of:

 General and Special Conditions of Purchase;

 Purchasing ─ Purchasing Plan, Approved Bidders List (Attachment 10);
 Inspection ─ Inspection Plan and Schedule;
 Expediting ─ Expediting Plan Categorizing Equipment and Material with Expediting
Priority Codes;
 Vendor Print Control;· Shipment.

5. Construction
Construction of any project will be done in accordance with the latest edition of the "Field
Construction Manual".

6. Quality Assurance and Verification

This PPE Manual is authorized by Company Management for all quality activities as is laid
down in the "Management Statement" .
Documents and activities leading to their production shall be planned and monitored.

7. Safety, Health, Welfare and Environmental (SHWE)

8. Attachments
List of documents which are all mentioned above are attached in Project Procedure Manual.