Project Management Techniques

Through analysis of the Gantt Chart and project plans for the IT consultancy project, it appears as though the project is currently running both behind schedule and over planned budget. The current task that has yet to commence is the Coding, task 10, resulting in the project, which represents both a significant cost and schedule value to the overall project and therefore a high risk to the remainder of the project. Another significant task, with equitable cost and schedule values is the Unit Test, task 12, signifying further risk to the project success.

Activity up to the reporting period of day 130.34 had a Planned Value (PV) of $59,230. This figure equates to the budgeted figure of all tasks completed, plus 50% of the budgeted figure for tasks 11 and 19, which are yet to be fully completed. It is worth noting that as task 10, was due to start by this stage, a pro-rata amount of $1,120 has been accounted for within the PV. Earned Value (EV) amounts to the total budgeted amount of work completed. As task 10, is yet to start, the EV equates to $58,110. This results in the Schedule Variance (EV – PV) of $-1,120. The Actual Cost (AC) to date amounts to the total cost spent on all activities up to day 130.34. This cost equals $75,605, a significant increase on planned costs, resulting in a Cost Variance (CV) of $-17,495 (EV-AC). These calculations all point to the fact that the project is both behind schedule and running over budget.

The project is in a current state of distress and an intervention strategy must implemented. The current state has been analysed and it must no be decided what potential avenues there are left remaining for the project. These options must be evaluated in-turn, before an appropriate route is selected and then planned for. One option maybe to revise the scope, given the issues appeared to begin from the outset as scoping, planning and design activities all over-ran, resulting in cumulative delays throughout and increased expenditure. If a rigid change management plan was in place, the baseline of the project may have been amended to redefine the budget and schedule.

EXAMPLE 2

The project plan and Gantt chart of the IT project after analyzing indicates that the project is suffering from time delay and cost overrun. Right from the initiation, it can be seen that the project milestones were delayed where the ‘Scope definition’ milestone is delayed by a day costing extra €300. Further the delay cascaded on to the following milestones and the further delay is anticipated due to major milestones are yet to be accomplished.

As of now the current situation is as follows:

Time:

Initial Duration = 189 days

Time delayed = 13 Days

Budget:

Initial Budget = €110480

Budget overrun = €6200

The major task of Coding which falls within the critical path is yet to start.  It looks like if the remaining milestones are achieved without delay, the total time duration of the project will turn out to be 245 days as all the remaining milestones require predecessors to be completed.

Coding: 40 days

Unit test: 40 days

Integration test: 15 days

Installation: 5 days

Acceptance: 5 days

Total: 105 days

It is evident from above calculation that as we are standing on day 130, the earliest we can finish if all remaining milestones taking a minimal time of 105 days to complete, the earliest project completion duration would be 245 days.

To minimize the delay as much as possible, in my opinion the PM has to go through the project plan to see if any of the remaining milestones can be reanalyzed to reduce the duration.

Furthermore, cost and resource analysis can also help reduce the cost. It can be seen that the milestone “Integration test“ costs up to €1080 a day because of the resources being involved in the process.

EXAMPLE 3

Effect project monitoring and control requires supervision, evaluation, documentation, appraisal, and feedback to ensure that a project moves toward its objectives. As an ongoing process, monitoring and control of a project determine how effectively project resources are being used to maximize positive outcomes. Evaluation of projects measures the progress achieved towards goals and objectives. It contains a prompt assessment of performance, progress, efficiency, impact, and relevance to project requirements.

Direct observation and analyzes of the IT consultancy project Gantt chart show that the project is running slightly behind schedule by an additional 13days and at a budget deficit of €6200 which might increase further considering that the project is still ongoing.  On further review of the project, apart from the schedule and cost, there has been a delay caused by not actualizing the rest of the task to complete the project. The critical part of the Gantt chart shows that task 10 which involves coding can be linked to the delay of all other activities which includes 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17.

Having analyzed the current state of the projects, it is recommended that using the critical path method shows the nodes representing activities of individuals and connecting arrows that represent relationships. This helps clarifies the most efficient path between initiation and termination. The project manager needs to assemble an intervention team with adequate skills and competency to review the teams’ procedure in carrying out their assigned ta