Maximizing Project Performance through Efficient Planning

The provided content is an academic piece centered around essential concepts in project management. The document discusses the importance of early identification and scheduling of project resources to ensure timely completion with a safety margin (Kerzner, 2013). It addresses managing resource overallocation by extending work hours or delaying tasks (Böhme et al., 2012) and emphasizes precise activity duration estimation for optimal performance. Critical path analysis is highlighted as crucial due to its impact on project timelines, requiring prioritization of critical path activities to prevent delays. Techniques like goal setting and technology utilization are suggested for maximizing resource performance. The discussion extends to cost control systems, emphasizing baseline cost management, understanding application costs, leveraging system investments, and short-term cost-cutting measures (Subramani et al., 2014; Bucciol et al., 2013). Addressing cost overruns involves recognizing unexpected delays and preventing scope creep through a clear definition of project scopes.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Answer 1..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 2..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 3..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 4..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 5..............................................................................................................................2
Discussion Question 2.........................................................................................................3
Answer 1..........................................................................................................................3
Answer 2..........................................................................................................................3
References............................................................................................................................5

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Answer 1
It is essential to identify and schedule the he project resources at an early stage because it
helps in adding a safety margin to estimate that is set up for completing the work on time.
Finding the right resource and managing their outputs is essential for keeping the project on
schedule (Kerzner, 2013).
Answer 2
The over allocation of resources can be managed by extending the work hour or the usage
of the resource. Furthermore, delaying the start of a particular task main further help in
eliminating the problem of over allocation.
Answer 3
For ensuring best performance of the project, ensuring a proper project planning
according to the available resources is essential. The precise estimation of the activity duration is
further essential in ensuring an optimal performance of the resources.
Answer 4
Analysis of the critical resources is an essential aspect of project planning. The critical
resources cannot be compromised as the critical path activities are generally the longest duration
path of a network and therefore, the task lie on the critical path cannot be delayed. If the task of
the critical path is delayed, it may result in delaying of the entire project schedule. Therefore,
giving priority to the critical path activities is essential to analyze (Böhme et al., 2012).
Answer 5

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The different ways of maximizing the performance of resources include setting a clear
goal of the project and taking the full advantage of technology. Technology can help in making
the task easier and completing the tasks in considerably less time. Furthermore, proper decision
making is essential for ensuring success of a project and therefore, it is a good idea to involve all
the team members in critical decision-making. The introduction of a reward system may further
help in increasing the efficiency of the work done.
Discussion Question 2
Answer 1
Cost control system is an important part of an organization or a project and therefore
successful management of the cost control system is essential for ensuring the success of a
project.
Controlling the baseline cost is a primary step of maintaining and effective control
system. The second step is identifying and understanding the long term application costs
related to a project. Leveraging the current system investments is another step for effective
cost control system. Furthermore, implementation of short term cost cutting measures are
essential for controlling the cost of the system.
Answer 2
The inaccuracy in the cost estimates is one of the major reason of cost overrun apart from
improper planning and scope management of the project (Subramani, Sruthi & Kavitha, 2014).
The cost overruns can be addressed by properly identifying the unexpected delays in the
project. It is an essential part of the risk response plan. In order to prevent the scope creep,

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proper comparison of the scope baseline with the work performed is essential. A clear scope
definition along with the elimination of the project ambiguity is required for addressing the cost
overrun in a project (Bucciol, Chillemi & Palazzi, 2013)

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References
Böhme, D., Wolf, F., de Supinski, B. R., Schulz, M., & Geimer, M. (2012, May). Scalable
critical-path based performance analysis. In Parallel & Distributed Processing
Symposium (IPDPS), 2012 IEEE 26th International (pp. 1330-1340). IEEE.
Bucciol, A., Chillemi, O., & Palazzi, G. (2013). Cost overrun and auction format in small size
public works. European Journal of Political Economy, 30, 35-42.
Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Subramani, T., Sruthi, P. S., & Kavitha, M. (2014). Causes of Cost Overrun In
Construction. IOSR Journal of Engineering, 4(6), 1-7.