Project management is about the ability to deliver, staff and plan. These are the three key factors that repeatedly bother a project manager. Delivery plans are very much determined by the commencing and the deadlines assigned for the project as well as other tasks within the assignment. Budgeting determine appropriate finance allocation and expenditure for each task undertaken and time spent. The expenditure budget is always imperative for an assignment and the organization must check on how both relate. PERT and Gantt charts assist the Assignment Director plan for tasks and as well can help communicate to the customers on the project location. The Assignment Director must subdivide tasks into parts prior to any analytical planning, in regard, contribution from customers regarding to ending dates and time span is important. Though not the answer to all problems, there are a variety of tools which can assist the Project Director to plan a project.
PERT DIAGRAMS
PERT is an acronym for Project Evaluation and Review Technique, it was developed by the military in the 1950s for the scheduling of events. There are nodes that are labelled on a diagram and each one represents a task in the project. This method is commonly used in aerospace and R&D projects for which timelines are not certain for a specific event. PERT has borrowed features from the Critical Path Method, CPM is used to schedule activities, and an arrow labels the activity from each box in the diagram. The project manager is thus able to control the time taken by each activity in a project. Most PERT systems are hybrids since they contain the best elements of both the PERT and CPM. A PERT diagram closely resembles a flowchart and to the untrained eye, one simply sees many boxes connected by arrows.
The linear format or bar chart will be used generally in scheduling at the task level. One among them is the Gantt chart. The time-phased requirements will be plotted against the task, personnel and total project for use. The PERT/CPM hybrids will be highly related to the Gantt chart. But the use of Gantt chart is easier as they show the critical paths and milestones clearly to the team on the first sight.
GANTT CHARTS
Understanding what a Gantt chart does is critical to using it. Microsoft Project,, for example, has a Gantt chart generator. If you understand the elements of your project and when it is that you have to get them done, you can use this generator to plot how the project has to occur, and when the milestones have to happen, and build your chart that way. You can use Excel to create this type of chart by using the stacked bar chart type feature, but with all the other software on the market, it isn't the easiest way to do it. For any software you use, you will need to know exactly what your activities are for the project, and which activities hinge on others getting done. You will basically set up a timeline for the most critical events and backfill until everything occurs in the order in which you need it to for the project to get finished on time.
In spite of the best laid plans, frequently project overruns occur. At that time whatever scheduling tools are used must be adjusted. It takes human intelligence to make it all work, no matter how sophisticated the software.
Even with the help of charts it is really up to the Project Manager to understand the flow of work for the project. The best software is only as good as the mind that uses it. Priority management can help with both how to best utilse your software and how to plan your project from the ground up.
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