Introduction A major benefit of schedule software over spreadsheet techniques is the update function. This is the only way you can find out whether you are ahead and behind schedule. It also allows determination of Earned Value, which is knowing your cost and schedule performance anytime in a project. There are two reasons to read…

A manager at a company I used to work for told me that they hire a firm now to develop and manage their design and construction schedules. He said that their internal project managers had so fouled up their MSP schedules that they might have well scheduled with spreadsheets. So here is a partial list…

Tracking a Schedule – Scheduling Blog Series Part 8 Intended Audience If you schedule has these properties: 1.       Number of resources -times- number of activities > 60, 2.       Activities with predecessors > 75% of all activities, 3.       Meeting the end date is important, Then you should allow schedule software to predict the end date.  Introduction…

Intended Audience This blog is for anyone who schedules, whether using scheduling software, spreadsheets, or pencil and paper. This blog describes a process and is illustrated by the software we sell.  Introduction We share here a schedule developed by a team of students (including me) from a graduate-level Project Planning and Control Course.  We see…

Criteria for Needing Scheduling Software and Expertise Winston Churchill wrote in his book The Gathering Storm about events leading to WWII.  He described why he created a statistics department in his Admiralty.  He did it to collate data about ship movements and logistics so that information could improve decision-making when events demanded action.  The germ…

Introduction Wouldn’t you like to know whether your projects are “on-cost” and “on-time” anytime during the project?  Earned Value allows this determination to happen.  Earned value is an abstract concept, but it is more understandable to the business person when it’s compared to an income statement’s revenue recognition.   Some project scheduling software allows the computation…

Schedule Blog Series Part 4: Devil’s in the Duration Introduction A project schedule is constructed with activities.  Activities represent individual pieces of work, when organized properly, define how the project is to get completed.  Activities embody a name, duration, and optionally other data.  This article will discuss determining duration. Type of Project Influences Duration Determination…

Part 3 – Planning the Schedule Introduction This article discusses schedule preparation so that the project manager can proceed confidently into project scheduling.  The article discusses using a proven tool, the two-dimensional Work Breakdown Structure. A schedule needs to represent all analyses, engineering, materials, equipment, software, testing, demonstration, documentation, and other work needed to complete…

Even semi-powerful scheduling software can, when used properly, offer management critical insights to project health that is otherwise unattainable.  Good software can keep a company from going bankrupt or losing its reputation.  It can also help main a positive cash flow and demonstrate to clients and sponsors that commitments are being met. I have seen…

This is first in a series to help make you a scheduling professional. Not only does a schedule become more readable when organized appropriately, it becomes easier to link predecessors and successors because they become located near each other.  It also helps resources understand the planning better and thereby helping them buy-into the schedule.  Let’s…