MBA G523 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

5 April 2013

DEVELOPING A PROJECT PLAN/NETWORK

More accurate estimate of project duration

versus accepting customer’s or senior

management’s preferred date

Practitioners: Project Network represents 75%

of planning process

Project Networks developed from WBS

Sequence, interrelationship, dependencies of

activities in project

TERMINOLOGY

An activity is an element of the project that requires time: Work or Wait

One or more tasks from a work package

Merge Activity: more than one activity immediately preceding it

Parallel Activities: takes place at the same time

Path: a sequence of connected, dependent activities

Critical path: path(s) with longest duration thru the network; if activity on path is delayed, entire project is delayed

Event: Activity Start or End

Burst Activity: more than one activity follow this type of activity

NETWORK EXAMPLE

Circuit Board

AON AND AOA

Activity on Node

Activity on Arrow

AON: Questions to be asked

What are the predecessor activities for a particular activity?

What are the successor activities for a particular activity?

What are the parallel/concurrent activities for a particular activity?

AON FUNDAMENTALS

Figure

KOLL BUSINESS CENTER

Activity Description Preceding Activity Activity Time

A Application Approval None 5

B Construction Plans A 15

C Traffic Study A 10

D Service Availability Check A 5

E Staff Report B, C 15

F Commission Approval B, C, D 10

G Wait for Construction F 170

H Occupancy E, G 35

INITIAL NETWORK CONSTRUCTION

SHARP AG CASE DISCUSSION

NETWORK COMPUTATION PROCESS –

FORWARD PASS

How soon can the activity start? (Early Start)

How soon can the activity finish? (Early Finish)

How soon can the project be finished?

(Expected Time – TE)

YELLOW STICKY APPROACH

SNAPSHOT FROM PRACTICE: THE CRITICAL PATH

NETWORK COMPUTATION PROCESS –

BACKWARD PASS

How late can the activity start? (Late Start)

How late can the activity finish? (Late Finish)

Which activities represent the critical path

(CP)?

How long can the activity be delayed? (slack or

float – FL)

CONCURRENT ENGNEERING

FOR NEXT WEEK

Case 6.1: Advantage Energy Technology Data

Center Migration (Pages 272-273 of Fourth

Edition)

Only Question 2 in the above case needs to be

answered and brought to class for discussion

(and submitted) next Friday (12 April 2013)

PRESENTATION OF TOPIC FOR COURSE PROJECT

19 April 2013

2% out of 10%

3 slides – 3 minutes each student