Project Management Project: Scheduling the Projects - Analysis Report

This project management assignment delves into the core concepts of scheduling projects. It explores the critical path method, examining how project managers supervise critical and non-critical tasks to meet deadlines. The assignment defines and explains the concept of slack, its calculation, and its significance in project timelines. It also covers the use of Activity on Node (AON) network diagrams and their benefits during project execution, along with the potential pitfalls of Gantt charts. The analysis includes the importance of dummy activities, the use of network approaches for cost estimation, and the roles and responsibilities of a project manager. The assignment concludes with a reflection on the use of MSP's Gantt chart format compared to network diagrams and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. References from sources like Harrison & Lock, Kerzner, and Meredith et al. are included to support the analysis.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project management: Scheduling the projects
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Answer to question number 1....................................................................................................2
Answer to question number 2....................................................................................................2
Answer to question number 3....................................................................................................2
Answer to question number 4....................................................................................................3
Answer to question number 5....................................................................................................3
Answer to question number 6....................................................................................................3
Answer to question number 7....................................................................................................4
Answer to question number 8....................................................................................................4
Answer to question number 9....................................................................................................5
Answer to question number 10..................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Answer to question number 1
A project manager generally helps in supervising the critical tasks of the project quite
differently than the non-critical path of the project. This is because the critical path is mainly
considered as proper sequence of project stages which further helps in determining the
minimum time which is generally required for the entire operation and the project manager
supervises it differently so that the project can meet its deadline successfully (Zareei, 2018).
Furthermore, in some cases when time for project activities are not properly known with
appropriate certainty then the project tasks are mainly considered to be critical at the star of
the project which further can be turned to be task that is not much critical. Thus, when the
task related times are uncertain such that all the tasks can get delayed so that it can get
managed effectively.
Answer to question number 2
Slack is mainly considered as the time period for which a particular task within the
network of the project generally get delayed without generally creating delay to other types of
subsequent tasks as well as to the project completion date (Lin et al., 2016).
Slack is considered as the time period for which an activity can be generally get
overdue to its earliest start or earliest finish without creating delay in the entire project. The
slack of the project can generally be determined by using the formula that is provided below:
Slack time= Latest start time- Earliest start time

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Answer to question number 3
It is found that when using AON network then the nodes are generally helpful in
representing the milestones of the project whereas the duration is showcased with the help of
the arrow.
The AON diagram helps in justifying the time estimate for the entire project and
further helps in effective planning, organizing and controlling the work of the project quite
effectively. It is found that network diagrams are generally useful during the execution phase
of the project (Kehe et al., 2015). Moreover, it further assists in reflecting the workflow of the
project activities and generally assits in determining different types of opportunities for
compressing the entire schedule of the project quite effectively.
Answer to question number 4
A Gantt chart can generally be considered as deceptive in its apparent simplicity and
this is because Gantt chart is quite easy to create as well as read however the project team can
utilize this particular tool with very much little training in PM and in absence of proper
technical knowledge related with the project (Ong, Wang & Zainon, 2016). In addition to
this, one of the major dangers is to draw conclusion as well as in making appropriate
decisions that is mainly dependent on the relatively simple details which is displayed in chart.
Answer to question number 5
No, all the activities on the same non-critical path does not have the same slack and
this is mainly because a specific activity is mainly dependent on a number of paths. When a
specific activity is more than one particular path then its slack is generally determined with
the help of path with very much least slack.

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Answer to question number 6
A dummy activity is one type of operation within the project network that nether
needs neither any time nor any resource. It is considered as one of the important imaginary
activity such that within the progress network for determining the dependence within the
operation. It is one of the stimulated activities such that it has zero duration which is mainly
created for the entire purpose of properly reflecting a specific relationship as well as pat o
action on the entire arrow of the diagramming method (Limanowski & Blankenburg, 2015).
Furthermore, dummy activities are considered as one of the important tools that are helpful in
implementing when a particular local relationship between two different activities on the
arrow diagramming method can’t be properly linked or conceptualized with simple utilization
of arrows while moving from one particular activity to another activity.
Answer to question number 7
It is found that as a project manager, one can use the network approach for preparing
the cost estimates. One of the most important way is to utilize the network approach quite
effectively for successfully preparing the cost estimation by simply estimating the cost for
each of the project activities that are mainly present in the diagram and further the cost for
each of the activities are generally summed up in order to calculate the total cost of the
project. This is quite helpful in estimating the entire budget of the project by utilizing the
network approach effectively (Harrison & Lock, 2017).
Answer to question number 8
As a project manager, the main role is to supervise both the team as well as the
project. A project manager is the individual who generally have the overall responsibility of
initiating, planning as well as executing the entire project so that the project goals and
objectives can be met (Meredith, Mantel & Shafer, 2017). In addition to this, the project

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manager generally helps in developing clear as well as straightforward plans which generally
stimulate the entire team for reaching to their potential effectively which further helps in
cutting down bureaucracy and helps the team members in achieving the final project goal.
Moreover, the project managers also help in controlling time management, cost estimation as
well as in ensuring proper satisfaction among the customers of the organization. Additionally,
they also helps in developing proper project plan and further assists in establishing the project
schedule by determining each of the project phase.
Answer to question number 9
It is identified that from different perspective of the project manager, if all the
estimation done to determine the duration of the project activities then it generally means that
the entire timeline of the entire project of the project is mainly created which will further
helpful for the project managers in successfully progressing within the entire project.
Moreover, after the entire plan for the project us created then one can be able to
identify the project critical path. It is found that the critical path is defined as the longest path
from the first column with the help of the lines that generally shows prerequisites to the last
column (Kerzner, 2017). It further helps in determining the completion date of the project as
one needs to complete all the tasks which are present on the path in order to estimate time or
generally delay the entire project effectively.
Answer to question number 10
Yes, after reading the entire chapter, I think that the project managers generally
utilize MSP’s Gantt chart format quite often as compared to the network format. This is
because development of network diagram generally takes a lot of time to produce and it is
very much expensive. In addition to this, another major disadvantage is that it is very much

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complex that further can be misinterpreted. However, Gantt charts are very much easy to use
and they are quite helpful in scheduling the project task for understanding as for reflecting
visual representation of the time frames. Furthermore, one can be easily adding predecessors
and helps in reflecting the project plans quite successfully so that with the help of Gantt chart,
one can execute the project activities quite effectively. The Gantt charts are also helping in
avoiding the issue of resource overload and generally allows the project managers to utilize
the resources quite effectively as one can be able to see how the resources are generally
utilized within the entire project.

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References
Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Kehe, W., Tingting, W., Yanwen, A., & Wenjing, Z. (2015, August). Study on the Drawing
Method of Project Network Diagram. In 2015 7th International Conference on
Intelligent Human-Machine Systems and Cybernetics (Vol. 2, pp. 95-98). IEEE.
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Limanowski, J., & Blankenburg, F. (2015). Network activity underlying the illusory self‐
attribution of a dummy arm. Human Brain Mapping, 36(6), 2284-2304.
Lin, B., Zagalsky, A., Storey, M. A., & Serebrenik, A. (2016, February). Why developers are
slacking off: Understanding how software teams use slack. In Proceedings of the 19th
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing
Companion (pp. 333-336).
Meredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J., & Shafer, S. M. (2017). Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Ong, H. Y., Wang, C., & Zainon, N. (2016). Integrated earned value Gantt chart (EV-Gantt)
tool for project portfolio planning and monitoring optimization. Engineering
Management Journal, 28(1), 39-53.
Zareei, S. (2018). Project scheduling for constructing biogas plant using critical path
method. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 81, 756-759.