CIS 5800_Chapter 6
Effort
which is the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task
slipped milestone
A slipped milestone means the milestone activity was completed later than originally planned
probabilistic time estimates
duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations—instead of one specific or discrete duration estimate, as CPM does
7 main processes are involved in project time management
Planning schedule management Defining activities Sequencing activities Estimating activity Estimating activity durations Developing the schedule Controlling the schedule
PERT charts
Some people refer to network diagrams as project schedule network diagrams
Tracking Gantt chart
a Gantt chart that compares planned and actual project schedule information
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
can be used to estimate project duration. PERT applies the critical path method (CPM) to a weighted average duration estimate.
SMART
criteria are guidelines suggesting that milestones should be: • Specific • Measurable • Assignable • Realistic • Time-framed
forward pass
determines the early start and early finish dates for each activity
Dummy activities
have no duration and no resources, but are occasionally needed on AOA network diagrams to show logical relationships between activities
three-point estimate
includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate, such as three weeks for the optimistic scenario, four weeks for the most likely scenario, and five weeks for the pessimistic scenario
precedence diagramming method (PDM)
is a network diagramming technique in which boxes represent activities. It is particularly useful for visualizing certain types of time relationships
Bursts
occur when two or more activities follow a single node
merge
occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node
milestone
on a project is a significant event that normally has no duration
Gantt charts
provide a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in calendar form
activity attributes
provide schedule-related information about each activity, such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity
Estimating activity
resources involves estimating how many resources— people, equipment, and materials—a project team should use to perform project activities. The main outputs of this process are activity resource requirements, a resource breakdown structure, and project documents updates
activity-on-arrow (AOA) approach or the arrow diagramming method (ADM)
a network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by arrows and connected at points called nodes to illustrate the sequence of activities.
Discretionary dependencies
are defined by the project team. For example, a project team might follow good practice and not start the detailed design of a new information system until the users sign off on all of the analysis work. Discretionary dependencies are sometimes referred to as soft logic and should be used with care because they may limit later scheduling options
Mandatory dependencies
are inherent in the nature of the work being performed on a project. They are sometimes referred to as hard logic. For example, you cannot test code until after the code is written
duration
includes the actual amount of time worked on an activity plus elapsed time
External dependencies
involve relationships between project and non-project activities. For example, the installation of a new operating system and other software may depend on delivery of new hardware from an external supplier. Even though delivery of the hardware may not be included in the scope of the project, you should add an external dependency to it because late delivery will affect the project schedule
Developing the schedule
involves analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule. Outputs include a schedule baseline, project schedule, schedule data, project calendars, project management plan updates, and project documents updates
Controlling the schedule
involves controlling and managing changes to the project schedule. Outputs include work performance information, schedule forecasts, change requests, project management plan updates, project documents updates, and organizational process assets updates
Planning schedule management
involves determining the policies, procedures, and documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and controlling the project schedule. The main output of this process is a schedule management plan
Fast tracking
involves doing activities in parallel that you would normally do in sequence
Estimating activity durations
involves estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual activities. Outputs include activity duration estimates and project documents updates
Sequencing activities
involves identifying and documenting the relationships between project activities. The main outputs of this process include project schedule network diagrams and project documents updates
Defining activities
involves identifying the specific activities that the project team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables. An activity or task is an element of work normally found on the work breakdown structure (WBS) that has expected duration, cost, and resource requirements. The main outputs of this process are an activity list, activity attributes, a milestone list, and project management plan updates
resource breakdown structure
is a hierarchical structure that identifies the project's resources by category and type
Critical chain scheduling
is a method that considers limited resources when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the project completion date
Critical path method (CPM) critical path analysis
is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration
network diagram
is a schematic display of the logical relationships among project activities and their sequencing
activity list
is a tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule
Crashing
is a technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost
node
is simply the starting and ending point of an activity
Total slack or total float
is the amount of time an activity can be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date
Free slack or free float
is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of any immediately following activities
Slack or float
is the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date
critical path
is the series of activities that determine the earliest time by which the project can be completed
Project time management
simply defined the processes required to ensure timely completion of a project.
Parkinson's Law
states that work expands to fill the time allowed
Theory of Constraints (TOC) or Critical chain scheduling
Any complex system at any point in time often has only one aspect or constraint that limits the ability to achieve more of the system's goal
PERT weight average
the total project duration estimate takes into account the risk or uncertainty in the individual activity estimates
backward pass
through the network diagram determines the late start and late finish dates for each activity in a similar fashion