Time Management in Projects; Tools, Techniques and Methods (PDF)

i Time Management in Projects: Tools, Techniques and Methods Department of Production and Quality Engineering TPK4520 Specialization Project Submitted By: Bikram Nepal Student No. 746460 Candidate No. 10014 Supervisor: Nils Olsson 2014/12/16  i Acknowledgement This report is an outcome of sincere contribution of many people to my effort, and I would like to recognize them. First of all I would like to thank "Department of Quality and Production Engineering", "Speed- Up Project Team" for giving us this opportunity to do this report. I am pleased to present this report "Time Management in Project: Tools Techniques and Methods". I want to express my sincere gratitude towards my supervisor Nils Olsson for his kind support, guidance and encouragement for the completion of this project. I want to express my thankfulness to Siva and Agnar Johansen whose suggestions guided me for betterment of the report. I would like to thank my friends, family for their support and encouragement. At last, i would like to extend my sincere thanks and earnest gratitude once more for all those who helped me in one way or other, in each and every step towards successful accomplishment of this report. It is possible that some shortcomings and errors might have been left unnoticed while writing this report. So mistake indications and suggestions from the submitted department have been expected and they will be helpful for the further improvements in my skill.  ii Preface This report is the outcome of hard work and dedication during my third semester in NTNU. This report gives insight to the various time planning and scheduling tools and techniques being practiced in the field of project management. It also gives a overview of what different tools and methods are being used for project duration reduction. And lastly it attempts to give short description of how these tools can be used for finding possible opportunity for schedule compression. This report is based entirely upon the previous literatures regarding relevant topics and my understanding on those topics gained from these relevant literatures. Through this entire process Professor Nils Olsson guided me as my Main supervisor along with researcher Siva helped me to make this report better with his suggestion .  iii Abstract Time is the most precious asset available to man which cannot be stored, recovered or transferred. Every human activities uses time, but time is limited in supply i.e. we have only 24 hour in a day, 7 days a week etc. So the supply of time is perfectly inelastic, and due to this nature of time , need for optimal utilization of time is imperative. Time being one of critical resource and one of vital determinant of project success has huge importance in modern business world. Being first in market, to gain competitive advantage, to reduce time dependent costs can be motivational factors for companies tries to compress the schedules. Need to reduce project duration is leading firms to continuously search for tools and techniques to do so. There are many scheduling techniques available as well as many tools for reducing project duration which are being practiced since long time before. But still data shows there are significant number of projects that exceeds the planned schedule. So it can be concluded that implementation of these tools and techniques alone , in isolation is not sufficient for gaining the benefits, it should be well supported by good management practices, competent personnel, good organizational culture, supporting management and committed owner.  iv Table of Contents Acknowledgement .........................................................................................................................................i Preface ..........................................................................................................................................................ii Abstract........................................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents.........................................................................................................................................iv Table of Figure.............................................................................................................................................vi Chapter 1.......................................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background of the study .........................................................................................................................1 1.2 Problem Statements ................................................................................................................................3 1.3 Limitation of the study............................................................................................................................3 1.4 Methodology...........................................................................................................................................4 Chapter 2.......................................................................................................................................................5 2.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................................5 2.1.1 Activity Definition:..........................................................................................................................5 2.1.2 Activity Sequencing.........................................................................................................................6 Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)....................................................................................6 Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)...........................................................................................7 2.1.3 Activity Resource Estimating ..........................................................................................................8 2.1.4 Activity Duration Estimating...........................................................................................................8 2.1.5 Schedule Development ....................................................................................................................9 2.1.6 Schedule Control..............................................................................................................................9 Chapter 3.....................................................................................................................................................10 3.1 Different Scheduling Tools and Techniques.........................................................................................10 3.1.1 Gantt Chart.....................................................................................................................................11 3.1.2 Critical Path Method......................................................................................................................12 3.1.3 PERT..............................................................................................................................................14 3.1.4 Critical Chain Method....................................................................................................................16 3.1.5 Last Planner ...................................................................................................................................18 3.1.6 Simulation Based Scheduling ........................................................................................................21 3.1.6.1 Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS)..............................................................................................21 3.1.6.2 MCS applied to PERT.............................................................................................................22 3.1.6.3 Graphical Evaluation and Review Techniques (GERT) .........................................................23 3.1.6.4 Simvision ................................................................................................................................24  v 3.1.7 Project Management Software.......................................................................................................26 3.1.7.1 MS Project ..............................................................................................................................28 3.1.7.2 Primavera ................................................................................................................................29 3.1.7.3 Safran......................................................................................................................................29 Chapter 4 ...................................................................................................................................................31 4.0 Project Duration Reduction Techniques...........................................................................................31 4.1 Overlapping or Fast-tracking ............................................................................................................31 4.2 Project Crashing................................................................................................................................33 4.3 Buffer Management ..........................................................................................................................33 4.4 Modularity and Prefabrication ..........................................................................................................34 4.5 Just in Time approach.......................................................................................................................35 4.6 Lean Construction.............................................................................................................................35 4.7 Lean Design ......................................................................................................................................36 Chapter 5.....................................................................................................................................................38 Discussion...................................................................................................................................................38 5.1 Search for possibility to reduce durations.........................................................................................38 5.2 User Experience................................................................................................................................40 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................44 References..................................................................................................................................................47 Apendix 1....................................................................................................................................................52 Appendix 2..................................................................................................................................................53 Appendix 3..................................................................................................................................................54 Pre Study report ..................................................................................................................................54  vi Table of Figure Figure 1 Example AON representation................................................................................................................6 Figure 2 Example AOA representation................................................................................................................7 Figure 3 Example Gantt Chart ...........................................................................................................................11 Figure 5 Structures of schedules........................................................................................................................17 Figure 4 Multiplying effect of multitasking.......................................................................................................17 Figure 6 Last Planner System ............................................................................................................................20 Figure 7 Deterministic and probabilistic branching...........................................................................................23 Figure 8 Looping in GERT................................................................................................................................24 Figure 9 Concepts of concurrent engineering....................................................................................................32 Figure 10 Different Overlapping Strategies.......................................................................................................32  1 Chapter 1 1.1 Background of the study Time is the most precious asset available to man (Kohn, 2000) which cannot be stored, recovered or transferred (Adebisi, 2012). Every human activities uses time, but time is limited in supply i.e. we have only 24 hour in a day, 7 days a week etc. So the supply of time is perfectly inelastic, and due to this nature of time , need for optimal utilization of time is imperative (Odumeru) 2013. Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity (Buck, Lee et al. 2000). Time is one of most critical resource in projects. It is also one of vital success criteria for every kind of projects. Time management in projects involves processes required to accomplish timely completion of projects (PMI 2004). PM BOK identifies following 6 steps as key processes for project time management (PMI 2004 ). 1. Activity Definition 2. Activity Sequencing 3. Activity Resource Estimating 4. Activity Duration Estimating 5. Schedule Development 6. Schedule Control Different tools, techniques and frameworks had been developed to carry out these processes efficiently and effectively. From the range of tools and techniques one have to choose the tools that best fits for the organization and type of projects. In this background this study will discuss some of these important tools and techniques and basic principles behind them.  2 Nowadays the importance of planning and executing project faster is growing more and more. Driving forces for this growth in importance of time factor can be, being first to market, to achieve a competitive edge through faster accomplishments of projects or reducing time dependent costs of projects. Another benefit can be increased income, due to the attractiveness caused by the organization's ability to have shorter execution time. Even from a social perspective and an owner/user perspective, there is a huge interest, naturally, to accomplish the projects faster. So it is desirable to dig out possibilities to reduce duration of project. In this context this study attempts to discuss how these tools and techniques can be used to find possibilities to reduce the project duration.  3 1.2 Problem Statements To become faster is the essence for survival and growth of firms in modern business world. This study will try to look upon different time planning tools and principles. It also tries to find out if yes, how can these tools and techniques can be used to search for any possibilities in reduction of project duration. This study will also attempt to discuss various tools and frameworks developed to reduce project duration . Basically this study will try to find answers for following three research questions: 1. What are the different principles, tools and techniques for time planning and scheduling in projects? 2. How different tools and techniques of time planning can be used to search for possibilities to reduce project duration? 3. What are the existing tools and frameworks for reduction of project duration? 1.3 Limitation of the study As this study was carried out in short time period, this study is limited to some of widely used tools and techniques of time planning only, which were plentifully described in the accessed literatures. None of the literature selected, exclusively discussed the user experience regarding use of different tools ,techniques and different PM software. So the user experience section of the discussion is limited to few tools and techniques only. Another barrier was that there were not so much literature regarding the principles behind the PM software. So the writer have to rely on the information provided in the software's webpage.  4 1.4 Methodology The objective of this report was to identify different scheduling tools and techniques and to find how they can be used for project duration reduction along with the different practices which are being used in order to reduce the project duration. To achieve these objectives first an extensive literature review was carried out. Descriptive keywords like CPM, Gantt Chart, PERT, GERT, Simvision, Last Planner, Time Management, Scheduling, Critical Chain, Project duration reduction, overlapping, simulation, PM Software, and various others key words were used to search for resources. These key words were used in various databases to search for relevant journal articles, research papers and other resources. Databases like, Science Direct, Elsevier, Research Gate, IEEE, Jstor, JCEM and PMJ were used to search for relevant resources. Apart from these some relevant book , few websites and web documents were also used in the process. There was wealth of information available regarding the topics discussed in this report as they are well established practices. Abstract of each paper was read and only relevant resources were sorted. And these literature formed the base for the development of body of knowledge on the intended scope of the study. After reviewing these selected resources, different tools and techniques being practiced for time planning and project duration reduction were identified and were presented in the theory part and some of them were described briefly. Different aspect of those identified time planning tools were analyzed in order to find out if they can be used to search for possibility for project duration reduction and were discussed in discussion part of the report and those results were summarized in the conclusion of the study. Six key processes for time management in projects as identified by PMI (2004) was taken as point of departure with prime focus on Activity scheduling.  5 Chapter 2 2.1 Introduction Time being one of critical resource and one of vital determinant of project success has huge importance in modern business world. "A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result" (Sun 2004). Projects by definition are time bound activities i.e. it have a definite beginning and definite end point. For undertaking any tasks, there are certain activities to be performed or certain steps to be followed, and these activities should be performed on certain sequence. To get task done, it is necessary to determine in advance what activities are to be performed and when they should be done. Oxford Dictionary defines the term Scheduling as "A plan for carrying out process or procedure, giving lists of intended events and times". According to pinto, project scheduling represents the conversion of project goals into an achievable methodology for their completion. He further elaborates , It creates a timetable and reveals the network logic that relates project activities to each other in a coherent fashion (Pinto 2007). Scheduling determines, when every single activities should be performed in order to finish the project on time (Rolstadaas 2008). Project Scheduling is also a vital element of project planning and subsequent monitoring and control (Pinto 2007). Rolstadaas distinguishes planning and scheduling as, planning is about deciding what activities to do while scheduling is all about deciding when they should be done (Rolstadaas 2008). Schedule development process needs information regarding, what activities are to be performed, how long it takes to perform these activities, what resources in what quantity will be required , and how these activities interact with each other i.e. dependencies among activities (Sun 2004). 2.1.1 Activity Definition: It involves identifying the specific schedule activities that need to be performed to produce the various project deliverables (Sun 2004). It will identify the deliverables at lowest levels of work breakdown structures called work packages. A work package is the set of work items requiring resources to be executed (Rolstadaas 2008). These work packages are further decomposed into smaller components called schedule activities. This decomposition provides basis for estimating,  6 scheduling , executing and monitoring and controlling the project work(Sun 2004). As output of this process and activity list is produced. 2.1.2 Activity Sequencing It involves identifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities. it brings in surface what logical relationship do these activities share with each other (Sun 2004). It identifies in what sequence these activities should be executed based upon dependencies among different schedule activities , to achieve the planned project deliverables. There are two methods for schedule activities sequencing they are  Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) also called as Activity on Node (AON) is a method of constructing a project schedule network diagram that uses boxes or rectangles, referred to as nodes, to represent activities and connects them with arrows that show the logical relationship that exist between them (Sun 2004) . Arrows only represent precedence relationships and events are not shown in this representation of network. This method is used by most of the project management software packages. Figure 1 shows a simple representation of AON network. Figure 1 Example AON representation Finish to start, start to start, start to finish and finish to finish are four basic precedence relationship that may exist in a network.  7  Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) Another method of schedule activities sequencing is Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) also called as Activities on Arrows method (AOA). In this method activities are mapped on arcs and nodes represents events. Arrows are used to represent activities and connects them at nodes to show their relationship. As compared to PDM it is less prevalent. Figure 2 Example AOA representation It only uses finish to start dependencies and may require the use of dummy relationships called dummy activities for showing all relationship more correctly. Dummy activities are not actual activities and they do not consume any time, they just show relationship between different activities and they are represented by dotted lines. Figure 2 shows an example of simple AOA representation. Both ADM and PDM diagramming are intended to do the same thing, create a sequential logic for all activities with a project. They both can be used to determine project's duration, slack activities and critical path. AON format is used in most of project management software packages such as MS project, Primavera, and ProTrack and with increasing use of computer based project scheduling, they are increasingly using AON format. As activities are placed in nodes and arrows are used just to show relationships it simplifies the network labeling and makes the AON network easy to read and comprehend (Pinto 2007). But in large projects with large number of activities, paths and node connections, when multiple project activities bursts and merges, AON network often becomes complex and difficult to read. On the other hand, AOA  8 format is used widely in certain business fields such as construction and also in large and complex projects, it is easier to employ the path process used in AOA method (Pinto 2007). It is also well accepted in the projects having significant milestones. One of disadvantage of AOA network representation is use of dummy activities it makes the network complex and relatively hard to understand. As both arrows and nodes are filled with important project information making the network more information intensive. 2.1.3 Activity Resource Estimating Each schedule activities consume resources and the need for resources should be quantified prior the execution of those activities. The amount and the types of resources required for activities is estimated in this step. As the resources allocated for the activity determines the duration for that activity, one should have clear understanding of resource allocation, in order to accurately manage the project time. 2.1.4 Activity Duration Estimating Estimate Activity Durations is the process of approximating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources (Sun 2004). This is one of the key steps in the project time management processes. As it directly affects the total project activity durations this process should be carried out with high accuracy. This activity requires information regarding scope of activity, required resource types, estimated resource quantities, and resource calendars (Sun 2004). Activity duration estimation process approximate the number of work periods (activity duration) required to complete the activity from information regarding amount of work effort required to complete the activity and quantity of resources to be applied on that activity. Once the activity duration estimates are done one can calculate total project duration and by analyzing the network can identify critical path. This is one of key inputs for the project time management. The basic inputs (i.e. time, cost and resources for each activity) are not deterministic and are affected by various sources of uncertainty. Uniqueness(no similar experience) , variability (trade- off between performance measures like time, cost and quality) and ambiguity (lack of clarity, lack of data, lack of structure and bias in estimates) are main source of uncertainty in project planning (Khodakarami, Fenton et al. 2007).