Search Results for: Schedule

In project management, developing an efficient schedule is very important. A good schedule will let the stakeholders of the project to use their time wisely to deliver results. Moreover, it also ensures that the project life cycle will be able to meet the necessary deadline.

To develop a schedule, project managers need to analyze activity sequences, resource requirements, durations and schedule constraints to create the project schedule. The advantage of this process is that by using different inputs and resources like schedule activities, duration, logical relationship and resource ability with the scheduling tool, it creates a schedule model with the planned dates for completing the project activities.

There are different  project management tools and techniques involved in developing a schedule and these include the schedule network analysis, critical path method, critical chain method, resource optimization techniques, modeling techniques, leads and lags, schedule compression and scheduling tool.

Once project managers are able to develop a schedule for their projects, it will lead to different yet critically important outputs which include generation of schedule baseline, project schedule, schedule data, project calendars, project document updates and project management plan updates. All of these outputs are necessary for schedule plan management.

Developing a project schedule is an iterative activity. This means that one activity cannot proceed without completing it. However, you can also assign tasks to schedules that are not constrained by time. Doing projects without following a schedule is like driving without having any idea on how you are going to get to your destination. The thing is that no matter the size of the project, having a good schedule is important in project management. An adequately planned schedule tells you when an activity should be done or when it should have been finished.

This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.

The collection of information for describing and controlling the schedule is called the schedule data.  It includes at least the schedule milestones, schedule activities, activity attributes, and documentation of all identifies assumptions and constraints.

In project management, schedule data could also include items such as histograms, cash-flow projections, and order and delivery schedules.  In the project management, the schedule data will be reviewed and updated in the control schedule process. It is updated and compiled into schedule model to reflect actual progress of the project and remaining work to be completed.

The scheduling tool and the supporting schedule data are used in conjunction with manual methods or other project management software to perform schedule network analysis to generate an updated project schedule. The updated project schedule will be generated from the schedule model populated with updated schedule data to reflect the schedule change and manage the project.

On the other hand, the resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical representation of resources by the category and type. Examples of resource categories include labor, material, equipment, and supplies. Resource types may include the skill level, grade level, or other information as appropriate to the project. The resource breakdown structure is useful for organizing and reporting project schedule data with resource utilization information.

This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.

The collection of information for describing and controlling the schedule is called the schedule data.  It includes at least the schedule milestone, schedule activities, activity attributes, and documentation of all identifies assumptions and constraints. In project management, schedule data could also include items such as histograms, cash-flow projections, and order and delivery schedules.

In the project management, the schedule data will be reviewed and updated in the control schedule process. It is updated and compiled into schedule model to reflect actual progress of the project and remaining work to be completed. The scheduling tool and the supporting schedule data are used in conjunction with manual methods or other project management software to perform schedule network analysis to generate an updated project schedule.

The updated project schedule will be generated from the schedule model populated with updated schedule data to reflect the schedule change and manage the project. On the other hand, the resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical representation of resources by the category and type.

Examples of resource categories include labor, material, equipment, and supplies. Resource types may include the skill level, grade level, or other information as appropriate to the project. The resource breakdown structure is useful for organizing and reporting project schedule data with resource utilization information.

This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.

Control schedule is a process in project management that involves monitoring the status of activities related to a particular project. Aside from monitoring the status, it also involves updating of the project process as well as managing the changes to the schedule in order to achieve the plan.

Comparing the progress of the project against a scheduled baseline allows project managers to determine if a particular project activity is ahead or behind the schedule. Project managers can then plan on corrective actions to manage the changes to the baseline schedule. This will reduce the risk of delivery of the products or services especially when it is managed well.

The control schedule process is part of the controlling and monitoring process group of project management. The key principle of this process is that the changes should not just be reacted to but should also be controlled proactively. This task falls on the project manager and it is important that the project manager acts immediately before the changes affect or influence the entire project schedule.

Another aspect of the control schedule process is that it manages the expectations of the stakeholders by means of giving them advice when work needs to be performed including the type of work and its duration. It is carried out throughout the entire project after the schedule has been developed until all the activities have been completed.

It is important to know the actual performance of the schedule. Any schedule baseline can be approved using the Perform Integrated Change Control process. With the control schedule process, it allows project managers to determine the status  of the project schedule, conducting reviews, reprioritizing remaining work plan, determining that there is indeed a change of the project schedule and managing actual changes.

This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.

Schedule baseline is the approved version of a schedule model that can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results. The project management contains the schedule baseline, used as a reference to compare with the actual results to determine if a change, corrective action, or preventive action is necessary.

In the project management, duration estimates may include contingency reserves, sometimes referred to as time reserves or buffers, into the project schedule to account for schedule uncertainty. Contingency reserves are the estimated duration within the schedule baseline. Schedule baseline is one of the elements of project management that may be updated.

The changes to the schedule baseline are incorporated in response to approved change requests related to project scope changes, activity resources, or activity duration estimates. It may be updated to reflect changes caused by schedule compression techniques. Such documents of the schedule baseline are the accepted schedule performance measures, including start to finish dates, which also indicates when the project costs will be incurred. Because of new work (or omitted work) generated by the risk responses, schedule baseline may be updated to reflect those changes.

This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.

Within the confines of project management, a schedule milestone, also known as a milestone activity, is an event of great significance within the project schedule. See also milestone. This major event may be a number of possible events, both planned and unforeseen by project management. As a result a schedule milestone may or may not be present on the project schedule prior to the point in time where the schedule milestone occurs. A few examples of unforeseen schedule milestones would be: a sudden and disastrous accident halting a major production or construction effort that is a key part of the project, or the failure to complete a major deliverable. In most cases project management uses schedule milestones to: mark the formal end of iteration, indicate the completion of a project phase, validate a project’s progression, justify work already completed, and mark the successful completion of a major deliverable or deliverables. By definition a schedule milestone has no duration; the completion of the schedule milestone itself takes absolutely no time or work. This may not always indicate that the next phase of a project can be immediately begun though. Key schedule milestones may require senior level project management to review project progress up to the schedule milestone in question before authorization to continue with the next phase of the project can be given.

This term is defined in the 3rd edition of the PMBOK but not in the 4th.