...A recall: A lesson learned from Project Management First of all, a Project Management is defined as “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements”. A project is a one-time effort that produces a specific result, for example, a building or a major new computer system. This is in contrast to a program, which is 1) an ongoing process, such as a quality control program, or 2) an activity to manage a series of multiple projects together. In some countries, the term “program” refers to a software tool and the term ”programme” and can mean a TV or radio show. Project managers play a key role in helping projects and organizations succeed. They also own the plan. Plans can change. Having to change a plan does not mean you are not a good planner. But don’t change the plan just because! People, are the most important to know about plans projects, and project management. It is people who execute the plan. Good management of people will lead to successful projects. Understand each team member. Match roles to people. Gain people respect. Use your knowledge, not your power. Recognize the people needs and their long term development goals. Try to agree tasks and goals not mandate them. Leadership is not management. Customers are people too. Manage them too. If there is bad news, don’t hide them; deal with them and as long as possible try to communicate with your people. Scope, try to define the project scope as clearly as possible...
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...Gantt charts and PERT charts are both excellent ways to organize and analyze components of a project through a visualization. Both have proven themselves to be successful and essential tools to present information. Although they both have the same purpose, there are many differences separating the two charts. The Gantt chart tends to present information in the form of a bar chart while the PERT presents information as a network model. Presenting information in a bar chart would be a big help to show percentage of work done. However using a PERT chart would be more useful of sequencing tasks. Another contrast between the two charts is the work breakdown structure. The PM of any project has a great deal of responsibility of planning and following through with the schedule for the project. Both charts would be useful to show the tasks that need completing. The key difference is the display on the Gantt demonstrates the percentage of work done and the PERT demonstrates the work flow. The accuracy of each chart is a consideration to take in when deciding how to present information for this analysis. While Gantt charts are simple to read and user friendly, PERT charts add an extensive amount of data that could provide use in the longer scheme of planning. Gantt presents only two pieces of data, which are, project tasks and time allowed for each task to be completed. PERT charts rely on dependency of each task being completed to start the next. This could also prove as an issue...
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...THE IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT Globalization has changed the way business organizations work. Modern organizations face bigger and harder challenges as competitions and technology grow. Growing project complexity and collapsing product/service life cycle has made businesses have to adapt to sustain their profitability and competitiveness. Hard Rock Cafe and Bechtel Group are two examples of firms that manage to adapt to these changes using their strength in managing projects. Bechtel uses their outstanding project management skills to build massive constructions all over the world. Hard Rock Cafe won’t be able to run their day-to-day business and sponsor the annually-held Rockfest if they don’t have a good project management team. Scheduling projects is a difficult challenge for operation managers. Cost overruns and unnecessary delays may occur due to poor schedulling and controls. Good project management is a substantial key to guarantee projects comes within budget and meet the required time and quality. Businesses usually form project organizations outside the normal production system to run projects that takes month or year to finish. Project organizations within a firm is usually set up to handle specific jobs and often disbanded when the project is complete. The management of project involves three phases: planning, scheduling, and controlling. PROJECT PLANNING Planning projects is the first phase of project management. This phase includes setting goals...
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...organizations started to systematically apply project management tools and techniques to complex engineering projects.[9] Henry Gantt (1861–1919), the father of planning and control techniques As a discipline, project management developed from several fields of application including civil construction, engineering, and heavy defense activity.[10] Two forefathers of project management are Henry Gantt, called the father of planning and control techniques,[11] who is famous for his use of the Gantt chart as a project management tool (alternatively Harmonogram first proposed by Karol Adamiecki[12]); and Henri Fayol for his creation of the five management functions that form the foundation of the body of knowledge associated with project and program management.[13] Both Gantt and Fayol were students of Frederick Winslow Taylor's theories of scientific management. His work is the forerunner to modern project management tools including work breakdown structure (WBS) and resource allocation. The 1950s marked the beginning of the modern project management era where core engineering fields come together to work as one. Project management became recognized as a distinct discipline arising from the management discipline with engineering model.[14] In the United States, prior to the 1950s, projects were managed on an ad-hoc basis, using mostly Gantt charts and informal techniques and tools. At that time, two mathematical project-scheduling models were developed. The "Critical Path Method"...
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...Address: _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Email: _____________________________________________________________ Employer: _____________________________________________________________ Declaration I declare that no part of this assessment has been copied from another person’s work with the exception of where I have listed or referenced documents or work and that no part of this assessment has been written for me by another person. Signed: ____________________________________________________________ Date: ____________________________________________________________ If activities have been completed as part of a small group or in pairs, details of the learners involved should be provided below; This activity workbook has been completed by the following persons and we acknowledge that it was a fair team effort where everyone contributed equally to the work completed. We declare that no part of this assessment has been copied from another person’s work with the exception of where we have listed or referenced documents or work and that no part of this assessment has been written for us by another person. Learner 1: ____________________________________________________________ Signed: ____________________________________________________________ Learner 2: ____________________________________________________________ Signed: ____________________________________________________________ ...
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...Developing a Gantt and PERT Chart October 2004 Edition UNITAR-executed GEF Medium-Sized Project, on behalf of UNDP Table of Contents Module 1. Creating a Gantt Chart Using MS Project ............................................... 1 Introduction........................................................................................................................... 1 1. Open Project.................................................................................................................... 1 2. Format calendar .............................................................................................................. 2 3. Save file............................................................................................................................ 2 4. Enter project start date .................................................................................................. 3 5. List activities and tasks and organise into phases/groupings..................................4 6. Estimate task durations ................................................................................................. 5 7. Enter relationships (dependencies) ............................................................................. 6 8. Define milestones ........................................................................................................... 7 9. Follow Gantt chart wizard (Format view) .......................................................................
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...terms: a) Critical path scheduling, Gantt network diagramming, slack time Network diagramming is a critical path scheduling technique whose sequence of task activities directly affect the completion date of a project. A major strength for network diagramming is its ability to represent how completion dates can vary for activates or task and is more used that Gantt Charts. Gantt charts visually show slack time available within an earliest start and latest finish duration where a network diagram show this by data within activity rectangles. b) Project, project management, project manager A project is a planned undertaking of a series of related activities to reach an objective that has a beginning and an end. Project management is a controlled process of initiating, planning, executing and closing down a project and a project manager is responsible for initiating, planning, executing and closing down a project. c) Project initiation, project planning, project execution, project closedown Project initiation is the first phase of the project management process in which procedures are established and task are performed to assess the size, scope and completion of the project, project planning is the second phase that focuses on defining activities and the work needed to complete the project and the project closedown is the final phase that focuses on bringing the project to a close. d) Project workbook, resources, work breakdown structure Project workbook is the online or hardcopy...
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...Agenda | | Meeting | Date: 08.16.2014 | | | | Time: 5.30pm | | | | Location: White Weddings, 100 chapel street Melbourne. | | | | Order of Business: | | | | 1 | Opening of meeting | | | 2 | Apologies | | | 3 | Confirmation of minutes of previous meeting (tabled and accepted) | | | 4 | Business arising from the minutes | | | 5 | Correspondence | | | 6 | Business arising from the correspondence | | | 7 | Issues | | a | identified | | b | methods employed or recommended | | c | actions required by management | | d | other matters affecting business operations | | | 8 | General Business | | | 9 | Closing of Meeting | | | Agenda Distribution via email | Manager - Chairperson | Supervisor | Team Members | Part B: Project plan Scenario or background information: Following the project meeting, team members are clear about their roles in the project planning process. Part B requires the production of a report specifying details of the project plan. The report is to consist of an executive summary, a table of contents, an introduction, a body, a conclusion and appendices. Details of content for each section are explained below. Executive Summary This section summarises the complete report in such a way that a busy executive can become rapidly acquainted with the material in the report, without having to read it all. Although it appears at the beginning of the report,...
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... financial department, HR department and production department. After forming the task force, they began to start the new product development process through the characteristics of the new product development. The NPD characteristics are idea generation, idea screening, concept of new product, market strategy, business analysis, product development, testing, completing the project and commercialization. These are the nine NPD characteristics to do the step by step process in the new product development. Whereas doing the project management there is some project planning tools to implement their idea efficiently. The tools are PERT chart, Critical Path Method and the Gantt chart. The Coca-Cola Company used the Gantt-chart method for implement their ideas effectively. Everyone is understood about the project through the Gantt chart. After facing the organization culture and management issues, finally the company launched the product in 31st July 2008 which is named as pulpy grape. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION...
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...16 Product waste is an example of waste in the sense that no value is added- true In a JIT system, product inspection adds value by identifying defective items-false A push system means providing the station with exactly what is needed when it is needed-false Waste is anything that does not add value from the consumers prospective- True Increasing inventory exposes variability in production processes-false The 5’s do not include-safety Manufacturing cycle time is best described as-time from raw material to finished product. A common JIT layout tactic is to minimize distance-true One goal of JIT partnerships is the removal of in plant inventory by delivery in small lots directly to the using as needed-true JIT supplies have concerns that the JIT firms demands for a small lot size are simply a way of transforming holding costs from HIT firm to Supplies-true Which of the following is true regarding the steps to reducing setup times? All the above Which if the following statements is true about the Kanban system?-The customer workstation signals to supplier workstations when production is needed. Employee empowerment is not needed at the Toyota plant-true Kaizen- continuous improvement. Jidoka-stop production when defect Which of the following is not one of the principles at Toyota? Improvements with scientific method JIT has internal focus while lean production begins with external focus on-Customers Not an attributes to lean operations- Increase space required...
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...Project Management Construct a Cost-Benefit Analysis matrix for an organization that is considering replacing its internal payroll system with a payroll outsourcing service. Include direct and indirect revenue enhancements and direct and indirect cost reductions. For an organization which is considering replacing its internal payroll system with a payroll outsourcing service, the direct revenue enhancements and cost reductions for a company which is into internal payroll system may include increase in productivity of the company’s employees since they can now focus on doing more productive things, and improve the profitability. For instance, this holds true for small businesses with employee strength of 10-20. Moreover, the other direct cost reduction could be avoiding IRS Penalties. According to the IRS, 40.00% of small businesses pay an average penalty of US$845.00 per year for late or incorrect filings and payments. Outsourcing of payroll may help the company to avoid the penalty notices. The other direct revenue enhancements could be reduction on transaction costs. The outsourcing company may enable the employees to claim Reimbursement statements and other things online. The indirect revenue enhancements could be building brand in the other countries. For instance, the outsourced company features its partner’s Logo Branding which enables the company to display the company name, and logo in all employee and client access pages. The other indirect cost reduction could be...
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...for understanding the broad concepts of successful planning, organization, and implementation within the realm of information technology. This course uses real-world examples and identifies common mistakes and pitfalls in project management. Topics covered include project scoping, estimating, budgeting, scheduling, tracking and controlling. TOPICS AND OBJECTIVES Project Management and the Organization • Define Project Life Cycle. • Identify roles in project management. • Identify project manager's skills. • Demonstrate project management software. Work Breakdown Structure and Scheduling • Examine Request for Proposal (RFP). • Define and apply Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). • Examine and apply durations. • Examine and apply precedence relations. • Develop a WBS using Microsoft Project. Resource Assignment and Project Financing • Examine project management charts: Gantt, PERT, and CPM....
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...I. PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROJECTS Unique, one-time operations designed to accomplish a specific set of objectives in a limited time frame. Examples of Projects • Contsructing a shopping complex • Merging two companies • Putting on a play • Designing and running a political campaign Examples of Projects within business organizations: • Designing new products or services • Designing advertising campaigns • Designing information systems • Reengineering a process • Designing databases • Software development • Designing Web pages Projects may involve considerable cost, Long time horizon and some involve a large number of activities. – must be carefully planned and coordinated to make the project successful. II. BEHAVIORAL ASPECTS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT KEY DECISIONS IN PROJECT MANGEMENT Much of the success of the projects depends on key managerial decisions over a sequence of steps: 1. Deciding which projects to implement 2. Selecting the project manager 3. Selecting the project team 4. Planning and designing the project 5. Managing and controlling project resources 6. Deciding if and when a project should be terminated 1. Deciding which projects to implement This involves determining the criteria that will be used to decide which projects to pursue. Typical factors include: - Budget - Availability of appropriate knowledge - Skill personnel - Cost-benefit considerations Of course other factors may override these criteria such as: ...
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...number and variety of organizations engaged in project-based work. In addition to “traditional” project-oriented industries, like construction, aerospace, and pharmaceuticals, service industries as diverse as finance, utilities, telecommunications, and insurance are beginning to embrace project based ventures. This paradigm shift is due to growing recognition that projects and their effective management can provide organizations with a significant competitive edge through cost reduction, enhanced responsiveness, and overall value to customers. Consequently, a number of organizations have adopted many of the well-known techniques of project management, and professional project management organizations have witnessed marked increases in membership. Despite this enormous interest in projects and project management practices, success rates in many industries are at alarmingly low levels. In addition, bad news about high-profile projects continues to dominate the headlines – in both the public and private sectors (Venkataraman & Pinto, 2008). A lot of this bad news comes from the PM (Project Manager) not being educated on all the tools at his/her disposal to be better prepared to prevent the project from failing. In order for anything to succeed, it must have a strong foundation and the foundation for project management to succeed the PM should start with a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure). The work breakdown structure is said to be (if not the most important) one of the most...
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...Information ………………………………………………………….. 4 1.2 Statement of Problem ……………………………………………………………... 4 1.3 Objectives of Study ……………………………………………………………….. 5 1.4 Significance of Study ……………………………………………………………... 5 Chapter 2.Literature Review ………………………………………………………...………….. 5 2.1 Graph Theory ……………………………………………………………………. 5 2.2 Network Analysis ………………………………………………………………... 6 2.3 Project Management …………………………………………………………...... 6 2.3.1 Network Crashing ………………………………………………….. 7 2.3.2 PERT ………………………………………………………………. 7 2.3.3 CPM ………………………………………………………………...9 2.3.4 Gantt Chart …………………………………………………….........9 Chapter 3.Research Method …………………………………………………………………... 10 3.1 Research and Sample …………………………………………………………. 10 3.2 Instruments and Materials …………………………………………………….. 10 Chapter 4.Analysis and Results ………………………………………………………………. 13 4.1 Data analysis and Results ………………………………………………… 13 4.2 Interpretation of Results ………………………………………………….. 15 4.3 Discussion of Results …………………………………………………….. 15 4.4 Recommendations...
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