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  • Essay / Scheduling Methods

    Many projects fail to meet schedule expectations. For this there are two which are used for project planning. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayCritical Path Method (CPM)The critical path method, also known as critical path analysis, is a network diagramming technique used to estimate the total duration of a project. The network diagram will have the node structure for forward and backward pass-through purposes. This tool will help you reduce project schedule overruns. A critical path for a project is the series of activities that determine the earliest time the project can be completed. Multiple tasks are normally performed in parallel on projects, and most projects have multiple paths through a network diagram. The longest path or the path containing the critical tasks is what determines the project completion date. You are not finished with the project until you have completed all the tasks. To calculate the critical path of a project, you must: First create a network diagram, which, in turn, requires a good list of activities based on the WBS. Once you have created a network diagram, you must also estimate the duration of each activity to determine the critical path. Calculating the critical path involves adding the durations of all activities on each path through the network diagram. The longest path is the critical path. For example: The critical path is the sequence of activities with the longest duration. A delay in any of these activities will result in a delay for the entire project. Below are some critical path examples to help you understand the key elements. Using the Critical Path Method (CPM) The duration of each activity is listed above each node in the diagram. For each path, add the duration of each node to determine its total duration. The critical path is the one with the longest duration. There are three paths through this project. Start -> Activity 1-> Activity 3-> Activity 4-> complete 3+7 + 2 = 12 Start -> Activity 2-> Activity 3-> Activity 4-> complete 5+7+2=14 (Critical Path) Start -> Activity2->Activity5->finish 5+4=9Advantages of CPMMakes dependencies visible between project activitiesIncreases visibility of the impact of schedule revisionsAllows the project manager to optimize efficiencyDisadvantages of CPMFor large and complex projects, there will be thousands of activities and dependency relationships. The critical path method does not take into account resources and resource allocation. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) Another project time management technique is the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). used by the Navy in its Polaris project. In this method, the duration of activities is found using the following formula: Duration = And, A network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is uncertainty in project duration estimates. individual activities. PERT applies the critical path method (CPM) to a weighted average duration estimate. This approach was developed around the same time as CPM, in the late 1950s, and also uses network diagrams, still sometimes called PERT diagrams. PERT uses probabilistic duration estimates based on the use of optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations instead of a specific or discrete duration estimate, as CPM does. Using the average