Project Planning & Scheduling

Introduction:

The late delivery of projects has become the scourge of project professionals worldwide. Countless numbers of projects undertaken by organizations in the private and public sectors significantly overrun the project schedule and budget, and as a consequence fail to achieve the organization's financial and strategic objectives. This is often accompanied by sizable increases in costs, reduction in quality, and with substantial financial losses to the organization. Why? This is due mainly to the failure of many project professionals to successfully apply the tools and techniques of modern project planning, scheduling to their projects.

Targeted Groups:

• Project Planning Engineers
• Project Cost Estimators
• Project Designers
• Project Planners and Schedulers
• Contracts Professionals
• Project Procurement and Purchasing Staff
• Project Control and Business Services Professionals who have the responsibility for project proposals in client and contracting companies

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Maintain continuous project performance and delivery control
• Estimate and allocate project costs and resources
• Measure, forecast and control project performance by employing earned value techniques
• Accelerate the schedule when required by adverse circumstances
• Manage and mitigate schedule, cost, scope, and resource risks associated with the project
• Develop a line of balance schedules and velocity diagrams for repetitive or recurring work
• Benefit from the financial effects of the learning curve on recurring work
• Develop a project recovery plan for budget and schedule overruns
• Produce clear and concise project progress reports
• Prepare budget estimates that will enable the owner-organization to make informed decisions as to the feasibility of a potential project
• Compare the costs of alternative strategies or technical approaches to ensure the most economical project at the desired level of quality
• Structure the contract compensation arrangement to provide the highest level of incentives to complete the project on schedule and within the determined budget
• Keep accurate control of the progressive budgeting process based on the various stages of design
• Prepare accurate budget estimates through the programming phase, the schematic design phase, and finally the design development phase
• Understand the most appropriate contracting structure to ensure the desired project results
• Apply proper risk analysis to effectively mitigate risks at minimal costs, and to determine appropriate contingencies for residual risks
• Obtain the skills required to prepare and manage the bidding process

Targeted Competencies:

• Ability to deliver projects on time and within budget.
• Understanding of what it takes to be a successful project manager.
• Skill and confidence to plan and control projects successfully and the ability to sidestep the most common project management pitfalls and problems.
• Appreciation of the philosophy, framework, standards, and approaches to the delivery of the projects.
• Understanding and practicing effective project management techniques in completing and handing over projects.
• Developing an initial project budget for the owner
• Determining project feasibility
• Designing the project within the owner's budget
• Evaluating alternative design concepts and project components
• Preparing bids
• Establishing project budgets
• Substantiating claims and resolving disputes
• Preparing a Schedule of Values

Course Content:

Unit 1: Project Scope Planning and Definition:

• Scope Planning
• Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)
• Work Packages
• Statement of Work (SOW) - Technical Baseline
• Scope Execution Plan
• Triple Constraints - Time, Cost, Scope
• Project Quality Issues
• Project Risk Analysis
• Project Deliverables
• Resource Requirements

Unit 2: Project Schedule Planning and Critical Path Method:

• Precedence Network Diagramming
• Job Logic Relationship Chart
• Critical Path Analysis
• Project Float Analysis
• Lead and Lag Scheduling
• Activity Duration Estimation
• Milestone Charts
• Gantt Chart - Schedule Baseline
• Project Estimating Processes
• Production and Productivity Planning

Unit 3: Resource Allocation and Resource Levelling:

• Management of Resources
• Planning and Scheduling Limited Resources
• Resource Allocation Algorithms for Resource Prioritisation
• Solving Resource Contention
• Resource Levelling when Project Duration is Fixed
• The Brooks Method of Resource Allocation
• Increasing the Workforce
• Solving Interruptions to the Schedule
• Scheduling Overtime

Unit 4: Accelerating the Project Schedule:

• Circumstances Requiring Project Acceleration
• Time-Cost-Scope Trade-off
• Project Time Reduction
• Direct Project Costs
• Indirect Project Costs
• Options for Accelerating the Schedule
• Crashing the Schedule - How?
• Pre-Accelerated Schedule
• Developing a Crash Cost Table
• Acceleration in Practice
• The Optimal Acceleration Point
• Gantt Chart for Accelerated Schedule
• Network Activity Risk Profiles
• Additional Considerations
• Multiple Critical Paths
• Project Cost Reduction

Unit 5: Project Contingency Planning:

• Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
• Path Convergence Analysis
• Solving the Path Convergence Problem
• Network Risk Profile Types
• Normal Distribution
• PERT, Probability and Standard Deviation Formulae
• Calculating the Standard Deviation
• Standard Deviation for Critical Path
• Z-Values: The Probability of Project Completion at a Required Date
• True Critical Path
• Network Activity Risk Profiles

Unit 6: Line of Balance Scheduling - The Planning of Recurring Activities:

• Preparing a Line of Balance Schedule
• Velocity Diagrams and Linear Scheduling
• Velocity Diagram Production Rate Calculations
• Linear Sequence of Activities as a Series of Velocity Diagrams
• Balancing the Schedule
• Calculations for a Line of Balance Schedule
• Line of Balance Formulae
• Target Units per Week
• Determining Crew Size
• Actual Rate of Output
• Time to Complete One Activity
• Elapsed Time for Recurring Activity
• Slope of Line from Activity Start to Activity Finish
• Balanced Project Schedule without Buffers (Finish-Start)
• Inserting Buffers
• Comparison of Unbalanced with Balanced Schedules
• Measuring Planned Progress on Schedule
• Velocity Diagram Reflecting Expected Conditions
• Actual Progress and Work Conditions
• Variable Conditions

Unit 7: Project Execution Management, Control, and Reporting:

• Progress Tracking and Monitoring
• Project Cost Management
• Earned Value Control Process
• Schedule Variances
• Cost Variances
• Progress Control Charts - Trend Analysis
• Schedule and Cost Variance Forecasting
• Labour Management and Cost Control
• Materials Management and Cost Control
• Earned Value Analysis
• Earned Value Reporting

Unit 8: Project Recovery Plan Development:

• Project Variance Analysis and Quantification
• Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
• Cost Performance Index (CPI)
• Setting Schedule and Cost Control Limits
• Project Recovery Data Assessment
• Schedule and Cost Recovery Analysis
• Schedule and Cost Recovery Plan
• Project Recovery Baselines and Controls