Project Schedule Management

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Learning Objectives
• Define Project schedule/time management
• Identify the processes involve in schedule/time management
• Identify the tools and techniques required in schedule/time management
• Demonstrate an understanding of diagramming techniques
• Identify and manage the critical path of a project schedule

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Project Schedule Management
“The processes required to accomplish the timely completion of the project” (PMI,
2017, p. 173).

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author. 3
Why schedule management?
 On time delivery is a quality metric and therefore can impact customer satisfaction

 Time to market is an important performance indicator in competitive markets

 Effectively managing the time to complete a project may reduce project cost
 Time is money

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Schedule Management Overview

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Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author.
How do we manage project schedule?

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author. 6
Plan Schedule Management
 “Plan Schedule Management is the process of establishing the policies,
procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing,
executing, and controlling the project schedule” (PMI, 2013, 142).

Input
▪ Project Management Plan
Tools & Techniques Output
▪ Project Charter
▪ Expert Judgment
▪ Enterprise Environmental Factors ▪ Schedule Management Plan
▪ Organizational Process Assets
▪ Data Analysis
▪ Meetings

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author. 7
Define Project Activities
“The process of identifying and documenting the
specific actions to be performed to produce the project
deliverables” (PMI, 2017, p. 183)

• Breaks down work packages into activities that

provide a basis for estimating, scheduling,
executing, monitoring, and controlling the project
Input
work Tools & Techniques
▪ Schedule Management Plan
Output
▪ Schedule Baseline ▪ Activity List
▪ Scope Baseline ▪ Decomposition
▪ Activity Attributes
▪ Enterprise Environmental Factors ▪ Rolling Wave Planning
▪ Milestone List
▪ Organizational Process Assets ▪ Expert Judgment ▪ Project Management Plan
Updates

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author. 8
Sequence Activities

• “The process of identifying and documenting relationships among the

project activities” (PMI, 2017, p. 187).

• Defines the logical sequence of work to obtain the greatest efficiency

given all project constraints

Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (5th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author. 9
Sequencing Activities

1. Set a Project Start Date

2. Establish task dependencies or relationships

3. Modify the relationships with lead or lag time

4. Add constraint dates

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Estimate Activity Durations
 “The process of estimating the number of work periods needed to complete
individual activities with the estimated resources” (PMI, 2017, p. 173)

 Uses various estimating techniques to provide the amount of time each activity
will take to complete

 Is performed throughout the project life cycle

 Uses information from the scope of work, required resource types or skill levels,
estimated resource quantities, and resource calendar

 Good estimating techniques involve uncertainty modelling

 Schedule activity duration uncertainty can be modelled using probability distributions
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Estimating Techniques
 Top-down estimating techniques
 Expert judgment: uses specialized knowledge and experience
 Analogous estimating: uses historical data and templates of similar projects
 Parametric estimating:
 uses Linear and non-linear models
 Uses statistical relationship between historical data and other variables to calculate an estimate for
activity parameters, such as cost and duration
 Example: Task duration is a function of resource availability and effort required to complete the task

 Bottom-up estimating: estimates project duration or cost by aggregating the estimates of the lower
levels of the WBS – starts with work packages
 Three-point estimating: models uncertainty in cost and duration estimates by providing minimum, most likely, and
maximum values
 Parametric estimating applied to work packages

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Three-Point Estimate Example
 Improves single point estimates by considering estimation risk and uncertainty
 Beta Probability distribution uses a weighted average
 Time estimate = (optimistic + 4 (most likely) + pessimistic)/6
 Triangular probability distribution uses a simple average
 Time estimate = (optimistic + most likely + pessimistic)/3
Which probability distribution was
used to model duration uncertainty
in this project?

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Dependency Types

• Mandatory
– Develop product and then test it

• Discretionary
– Product passes animal tests and then test in humans

• External Difficult to manage!

– Must wait for supplier to deliver

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Task Schedule Dependencies

• Finish to Start (FS)

• Start to Start (SS)

• Finish to Finish (FF)

• Start to Finish (SF)

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Types of Network Diagrams
• Activity on Arrow (AOA)
– Older
– Simpler
– Not used as much today in commercial PM software applications

• Activity on Node (AON)

– Preferred method
• Used in MS Project
• Primavera Risk Analysis
– More Complex

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AOA Example

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Activity-on-Node Fundamentals

FIGURE 6.2
6–18
Source: Gray and Larson, 2014
Activity-on-Node Fundamentals (cont’d)

FIGURE 6.2 (cont’d)

6–19
Source: Gray and Larson, 2014
Activity on Node (AON) or Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

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Source: Gray and Larson, 2014
Modifying a Dependency

• Lag time
– Build in extra time
– Delays the schedule

• Lead time
– Do tasks in parallel
– Used to speed up the
schedule

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Slack or Float Time
• The amount of time an activity can be delayed after the start of a
longer parallel activity or activities.
• It is how long an activity can exceed its early finish date without
affecting early start dates of any successor(s).
• Allows flexibility in scheduling scarce resources.

6–22
Schedule Constraints

• Constraint dates

• Use only when absolutely necessary

• Examples:
– Must start on
– Must finish on
– Start(or Finish) no earlier than

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Network Diagrams

• Class Exercise: For the project you’ve been working on

– Select one of the work packages that you have de-composed into activities
– Create an AON Network for the activities in the work package
– Look for as many simultaneous activities as possible

• Hint: ask yourself: Can this activity start right away? If not, what needs to be done
before it can start?

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Dependency Types & Leads/Lags

• Class Exercise: For the project you’ve been working on

– Review the activities and find examples of:
– External Dependencies
– Mandatory Dependencies
– Discretionary Dependencies
– Review the activities and diagram and create an example of:
– Start-to-Start
– Finish-to Finish
– Start-to-Finish
– Review the activities and diagram and create an example of:
– Lead
– Lag

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Summary

• Defined Project schedule/time management

• Identified the processes involve in schedule/time management
• Identified the tools and techniques required in schedule/time management
• Demonstrated an understanding of diagramming techniques
• Identified and manage the critical path of a project schedule

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References
Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP). (2013, December 18). Harvard
ManageMentor: Project management. Retrieved from
https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/9041-HTM-ENG
Kreitner, R. (2013). Management. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2013). Project Management: The Managerial Process (6th
ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Meredith, J. R., Mantel, S. J., Shafer, S. M., & Sutton, M. M. (2013). Project management in
practice (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge
(5th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author.

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