Unit - 4
Project Monitoring and Control
Resource Leveling
Resource levelling is mostly used when:
The demand for a resource exceeds the supply.
Resource leveling is sometimes called resource constrained scheduling (RCS). If resources are not available, the project duration may change.
Resource Smoothing
Resource smoothing is used to optimize the resources and when you cannot extend the schedule.
Since the schedule cannot be extended the project completion date and the critical path will stay the same. Hence the activities cannot be delayed more than their total and free float.
In resource smoothing, make sure to avoid any delay in activity as it may affect your critical path. Time is the main constraint here. You have a fixed schedule and are asked to optimize resources.
Resource smoothing is also known as time constrained scheduling (TCS). The project end date cannot be changed, and you have to optimize resources within the float.
Network Crashing
The crashing of a project is the act of shortening the duration of a project by cost efficiently allocating more resources to activities on the critical path.
To crash the project the project manager can follow the steps.
Create an Activity on Node network.
The Activity on Node network is critical in order for the project manager to get an overview of the project.
Define the critical path
From the AON network the critical path should be found. This is important as it singles out the activities that crash.
Note: That when crashing activities on the critical path, this will eventually lead to another path being the critical path and might even result in multiple critical paths.
Calculate the cost/time slope for each activity that can be crashed. This step defines the activities that yields most value for money, meaning period for period they cost the least to crash.
Determine crashing sequence
The PM can determine the crashing sequence by crashing activities from cheapest to most expensive. This will result in a time-cost curve. From the curve the duration of the project will decrease with increasing cost.
The more time is saved, the steeper the curve gets, as the crashing per activity cost increases until it doesn't make sense to crash the project anymore.
One aspect to keep in mind when determining the crashing sequence is that of partial crashing. Is not possible it has to be crashed for 4 period intervals of time for example.
Update the critical path
Crashing of the existing critical path will lead to another path eventually becoming the critical path or even lead to multiple critical paths. The PM has to check which path is the critical after each individual crash.
Crashing of a project is not always the best option and might even lead to increased risks.
Resource Optimization
When a company is using a systemic approach, resource optimization is strictly linked to the concept of constraint and a systemic vision of the company.
When we manage a company as a network of projects, we must be able to allocate the resources available in an efficient way to achieve the global goal.
An efficient use of resources to carry out a project requires us to:
Key Takeaways:
Project Monitoring
Methods:
Time sheets
Once project development commences, the management has to track the progress of the project and the expenditure incurred on the project. The Progress can be monitored with the schedule and milestones laid down in the plan.
Reviews
Reviews provide information for project control, also a definite and clearly defined milestone. It forces the author of product to complete the product before the review. Having this goal gives some impetus and motivation to complete the product.
Cost-Schedule-Milestone Graph
The cost-schedule milestone graph represents the planned cost of different milestones. It displays the actual cost of achieving the milestones obtained. By having both the planned cost versus milestones and the actual cost versus milestones on the same graph, the progress of the project can be analyzed.
Updating and Earned Value Analysis
Earned Value Analysis:
Earned Value Analysis (EVA) is a tool for controlling your project progress.
Regardless of the size and complexity of the projects earned value analysis provides:
While evaluating the current status of a project the some of the questions that arise are:
Simple Cost Variance
To determine the difference between planned and actual effort till date a baseline as a reference is required. This baseline needs to be set after the planning has been completed but before the first change and update with actual data.
Earned Value
Earned value (EV) now establishes a relation between the stage of physical completion by the status date and the corresponding planned effort. This displays the status date what effort was planned and the actual work performed.
The illustration below shows the progression of planned costs and actual costs up to the status date and the stage of physical job completion from which the earned value is deduced.
After the delivery items up to the current date (Actual Delivery) have been determined the result is transferred back to original planning (Planned Delivery).
This is where the real stage of physical job completion can be identified, which is significantly lagging behind expectations.
Thus, it is possible to read from the plan curve what value the actual delivery has according to the plan. This is the earned value or also BCWP – Budgeted Cost of Work Performed.
Earned value therefore represents the costs which according to the original planning would have been necessary to reach the stage of physical completion attained on the status date.
Real Cost Variance (CV)
CV = BCWP – ACWP reveals the difference between actual costs and earned value.
Mainly used to describe the efficiency of projects.
CV% = [BCWP-ACWP]/BCWP)
In terms of cost index performance
CPI = BCWP/ACWP
Real Schedule Variance (SV)
SV = BCWP – BCWS shows the difference between planned costs and earned value.
It clarifies the financial gap between results obtained and results planned.
In terms of percentage
SV% = BCWP-BCWS]/BCWP
It is also a figure that can be compared across projects. The schedule variance will impact time at all events.
It can also be calculated using the Schedule Performance Index SPI = BCWP/BCWS
It equals 1 if everything is OK.
Below 1 indicates that the costs for the results obtained are lagging behind schedule
Above 1 indicates that the work performed is ahead of schedule.
An SPI of 0.8 reveals a delay whereas an SPI of 1.2 indicates a speed-up.
Updating the Project
For updating first set the status date in the project information and display as vertical line in Gantt chart with the help of format lines (grid lines)
The correct update of all tasks is the second prerequisite for a correct calculation of the earned value analysis. To achieve this, enter the current hours and costs as well as the remaining work and duration from which % Work Complete or % Complete are calculated.
As a result, the progress lines of all running tasks have to reach up to the status date. The inaccuracy in calculating the earned value using % Complete is due to the circumstance that the use of time does not necessarily correspond to the physical job completion.
If we set the calculation method of the earned value to % Physical Complete, this field needs to be edited for every task started or completed.
Key Takeaways:
Introduction to Project Management Soft wares
It is a process of managing, allocating, and timing resources in order to develop computer software that meets requirements. In software project management, end users and developers need to know the length, duration and cost of the project. It is a sub-discipline of project management in which software projects are planned, implemented, monitored and controlled. It consists of eight tasks: Problem identification, Problem definition, Project planning, Project organization, Resource allocation, Project planning, Follow-up, reporting and control, Project completion. In problem identification and definition, decisions are made while projects are approved, rejected or prioritized. When the problem is identified, the project is identified, defined and justified. Purpose of the project is clarified. The main product is the project proposal. The project plan describes a series of actions or steps that are required in the development of the work product. The functions of the staff are integrated in the project organization. This takes place parallel to the project planning.
In resource allocation, the resources are assigned to a project so that the goals can be achieved. In project planning, resources are allocated in such a way that the project objectives are achieved within a reasonable amount of time. Tracking, reporting and control takes into account whether the project results are in line with the project plans and performance specifications. When controlling, suitable measures are taken to correct unacceptable deviations, submitted or a release order is signed.
MS Project/Primavera
Features:
Scheduling:
To ensure that the schedule is filled appropriately, Primavera P6 includes an array of scheduling alerts and reporting tools, resulting in keeping the project on schedule and within budget.
Project Managers can easily identify when risks occur, and the impact of these risks in the project’s baseline and schedule. Initial and recurring risk is conducted by project managers and also opportunity analysis is done within the schedule.
2. Resource Management:
Uses of these resources has to be monitored closely by Project Managers within Primavera P6, and generate forecasts of changes in resource availability.
To keep the project on track, project managers identify what other resources may be diverted within Primavera P6. ERPM users can transform raw data into easily understandable and shareable graphics by taking advantage of the visualization tool.
3. Contract Management:
Organization can keep control over multiple projects or programs with the help of Primavera. Project Managers can copy information from the Oracle database in seconds when a new project closely mirrors a previous project.
Advantages
Project expenses grow when your schedule has inconsistencies, overrun issues or errors, and to compensate for the excess costs you have to remove more important parts of the project. Primavera in the course of managing, completing and planning a project helps in identifying and mitigating risks.
b. User-Friendly:
Accessing and managing the project schedule remains simple, in spite of many complex analyses and processes that Primavera offers. The software simply determines if any problem exists, once you input the information.
c. Expanded Resources:
All the available resources involved in a project is carefully monitored by Primavera, adjusting such resources to meet the demands of the project. It also helps in reducing resource cost by analyzing resource trends and costs.
d. Improved Visibility:
The topmost priority of Project Managers and business executives are the visibility and compliance with environmental and political regulations. You can ensure possible violations of your project beforehand as the Primavera allows entry, tracking, and analysis of all the data in one location.
e. Predicting of Project Activities:
Forecasts for resources, activities and other project needs can be made with the help of Primavera Software, as a project may require activities, resources, and tasks to meet stakeholder demands, as the project evolves.
f. Tracking Features:
By ensuring all the project to be completed, maintaining baseline adherence, the tracking feature of Primavera allows rapid generation of reports by the users.
g. Improved Communication:
Primavera helps in enhanced communication, between executive-level staffs and other workers, project managers, and planners demand large geographic areas, hundreds of workers and other stakeholders. To ensure all the users view the message, notes can be entered to the schedule in the software.
h. Enhanced Collaboration:
When Projects acquires large span, better communication translates into better collaboration easily, since communication is already enhanced throughout a project.
i. The Responsibility is given to Employees in Schedule Creation:
By allowing the user access to the schedule, Primavera makes planning and scheduling method easier. Also, workers from their location can create their schedules in the software. Also, they can turn in timesheets, perform other scheduling functions and make schedule requests.
j. Disintegrate Complex Projects:
Primavera helps project managers in breaking large projects into smaller, easier projects, activities, and tasks as the project size can be large and overwhelming.
Key Takeaways:
Features of software Project are: Scheduling, Risk and Opportunity Management, Resource Management, Contract Management
Case study on housing project scheduling for a small project with minimum 25 activities.
Several project-based collaboration tools have been developed for the industry. In small house reconstruction projects, the problems are:
All of these make it difficult for downstream contractors to plan their schedule upfront. This causes project schedules longer than the specified duration. By this the whole supply chain is fragile. Therefore, the project durations are padded with conservative estimates to reduce the impact of this variability. All these factors have led to low customer satisfaction levels, high cost associated with variability, and a risk averse trade contractor community.
In an attempt to change all this and improve customer service, the major retailer is has taken a huge challenge. By means of attempting to share information from product vendors and service vendors to increase visibility, better collaboration, and also provide future home remodeling services.
By this their aim is to provide a more reliable due date for home improvement projects. When the customer initiates a project in their store, he does by using product shipment information from product vendors and service provider schedule and capacity availability information from contract service vendors. They are also modifying the supply chain to act as the orchestrator for the entire collaboration.
Their primary objectives are the following: ·
In their current business, the retailer is involved in selling thousands of home improvement products. Starting from a simple carpet installation to a whole house redesign including kitchen, bath, and flooring remodeling, the retailer historically is in the business of selling products. They have existing relationships with contractors that provide measure, deliver, and installation services. But all collaboration is through phone or fax. There are dedicated employees that handle the collaboration in the case of complex projects acting as project superintendents.
The current construction supply chain for the retailer is shown in figure The supply chain can be described in the context of a carpet installation. A typical carpet installation has the following process:
The existing supply chain business model
As shown in the figure these is coordination of project with human intervention. There are very few process controls and no real target deadline to meet for the customer. Multiple attempts have been made by contractors to schedule services with customers ·The Job charges from vendor to retailer is higher for wasted resource utilization ·Project due dates are sometimes difficult to quote to the customer ·Lack of proactive communication with customers and vendors in case of delays, leads to dissatisfaction between customers and vendors.
To address these problems, the retailer is looking to overhaul the business process and put a system in place for better project coordination. A look at the construction supply chain indicated that with a small shift in the flow of information can be realized with tremendous value Refer the figure for modified supply chain.
The proposed solution works as follows:
Electronic notification to drive communication between jobs, customer, vendor, and retailer Collect better lead time data from product vendors ·Historical data will be built to accurately predict demand for their service vendors and over time help their vendors manage their capacity more effectively.
Modified supply chain model.
For the retailer to hold material in less time and reduce project time implies that they can do more business. They hold material for 50% less than originally used to which implies they make more money. Costs to customer is brought down. The retailer and service provider can share the savings and customers can get part of it too. Such a partnering strategy between the retailer and the contractors for mutual benefit will ensure continued success of the new business model.
Modified Business Process
To achieve that goal, the biggest gap is accurate data. Hence, with the new business process, they are planning to collect history for demand data and product lead-time. They believe that once they can increase the reliability of the data that runs the system, that will give them adequate confidence to more a complete scheduling model.
With the current schedule forward business model, the project plan is estimated without the capacity of all service providers needed to complete a project. Once the total system is in place and the data is available to schedule the entire project, the project plan will reflect constrained capacity of all service providers. Planning and execution of such a project plan will be closer to emerging lean techniques.
While there is a lot of value in this approach itself there are still some associated risks. Integrity of the solution depends on good data from vendors in terms of accurate lead times for products and capacity from trade contractors ·Service vendor published capacity should match their ability to deliver ·Service vendors have infrastructure problems – no computers and no access to internet ·
Coordinating among variety of vendors involves rigor and discipline in Case Study Application of Project Scheduling System for Construction Supply Chain Management Proceedings. For the whole system to work, it is data driven. Vendors have to update their status continually. In a construction type environment, where being at the site and mobility is critical, mobile access is crucial.
Key Takeaways:
Because the job duration is small it is difficult to estimate accurately.
Poor coordination causes the schedule to be extended.
Rescheduling and scope expansion is typical.
The Retailer promises dedicated demand to vendors in the form of percentage of all orders from an assigned group of stores ·
3. Electronic notification to drive communication between jobs, customer, vendor, and retailer Collect better lead time data from product vendors ·Historical data
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