Skills for Project Scheduling and Planning

Introduction

The persistent challenge of late project delivery affects professionals globally, with numerous projects exceeding their budgets and schedules, thereby failing to meet organizational goals and incurring significant financial losses. This Skills for Project Scheduling and Planning course addresses the prevalent issue of ineffective use of modern project planning and control techniques. It focuses on overcoming time and budget constraints and aims to maintain the critical quality of project outcomes.

Objectives

By the end of this Skills for Project Scheduling and Planning course, participants will be able to:

• Utilize resource estimation and management techniques.
• Analyze time-cost relationships.
• Identify and mitigate risk sources while maintaining project momentum.
• Administer project documentation and reporting effectively.
• Develop robust performance monitoring and control systems.
• Integrate scope, time, resources, and cost management into a cohesive plan.
• Create project network diagrams for CPM and advanced PERT calculations to assess schedule and cost risks.
• Maintain continuous project performance and delivery control.
• Accurately estimate and allocate project costs and resources.
• Employ earned value management techniques to measure, forecast, and control project performance.
• Accelerate project schedules as needed under adverse conditions.
• Manage and mitigate risks related to schedule, cost, scope, and resources.
• Develop line of balance schedules and velocity diagrams for repetitive tasks.
• Apply learning curve effects to recurring work.
• Create project recovery plans for budget and schedule overruns.
• Produce clear and concise progress reports.

Training Methodology

• Real life examples
• Meaningful interaction with other learners
• Practice sessions
• Business games
• Individual presentation

Course Outline

Unit 1: Project Scope Planning and Definition (Baselines in Project Management)

• Cost estimation for project planning and execution phases.
• Work breakdown structures.
• Work packages.
• Statement of work for scoped technical work.
• Execution plan for project scope.
• Triple constraints: Time, cost, scope.
• Quality issues in project management.
• Risk analysis within projects.
• Description of project deliverables.
• Resource requirements.

Unit 2: Preparing a Project Schedule and Using Critical Path Method

• Precedence network diagrams.
• Job logic relationship charts.
• Critical path analysis in activity networks.
• Project float analysis.
• Lead and lag times in scheduling.
• Activity duration estimation.
• Milestone charts.
• Gantt chart functionality as a project baseline.
• Evaluation of project estimation processes.
• Planning for production and productivity.
• Resource and cost management.

Unit 3: Resource Allocation and Resource Levelling

• Control of available resources.
• Scheduling and management of scarce resources.
• Resource allocation algorithms and prioritization.
• Resolution of resource conflicts.
• Resource leveling with constant project duration.
• Bradley/ Brooks principle.
• Workforce addition and schedule delays.
• Scheduling extra time.

Unit 4: Accelerating the Project Schedule

• Conditions requiring expedited project completion.
• Cost adjustment for time and scope.
• Timing reduction strategies.
• Retrievable and non-retrievable costs.
• Tools and strategies for fast-tracking.
• Crashing the schedule.
• Cost crash matrix creation.
• Monitoring projects with graphs.
• Multiple critical paths.
• Cost reduction techniques.

Unit 5: Project Contingency Planning

• Program and evaluation review technique.
• Path merging analysis.
• Network risk profile.
• Probability and standard deviation in PERT.
• Risk lifecycle simulation modeling.
• Cost/benefit ratio estimation.
• Decision-making in project management.

Unit 6: Line of Balance Scheduling - The Planning of Recurring Activities

• Constructing line of balance schedules.
• Linear scheduling with velocity diagrams.
• Production rate calculations with velocity diagrams.
• Cyclical production rates and workforce estimation.
• Elapsed time for non-sequential tasks.
• Balanced vs. unbalanced schedules.
• Tracking planned schedule achievements.

Unit 7: Project Execution Management, Control, and Reporting

• Monitoring progress and reporting.
• Managing project financial resources.
• Earned value management as a control process.
• Variances in time, schedule, and cost.