Engineering

Economics
Module No. 15
Project Management
Muhammad Shahid Iqbal

What is a Project?
A project is a sequence of unique, complex and connected activities having one goal or purpose that must be completed by a specific time, wthin budget and according to specification A project consists of interrelated activities which are to be executed in a certain order. The activities are interrelated in a logical sequence, which is known as precedence relationship. An activity cannot be started untill all its immediate preceding activities are completed. Some of the examples of the projects are given as:

Some Examples of Simple Projects

Research Papers Relocating

Tree Planting Campaigns

Weddings

Relief Collections

Painting

Examinations

Parties

Some Examples of Complex Projects

Bridges Nuclear Power Stations

Ocean Liners

Dams

Commercial Aircraft

Skyscrapers

Olympic Games

Man on the Moon

Major Projects in Pakistan

Tarbela and Mangla Dams, Kalabagh Dam (?)

Habib Bank Plaza, Muslim Commercial Bank Building

Karakorum Highway, Islamabad-Lahore Motorway, Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway.

Major Projects in Pakistan

Jinnah Intl Airport, Allama Iqbal International Airport,

Karachi Nuclear Power Project, Chashma Nuclear Power Plant

Turkmenistan to Pakistan Gas Pipeline, Iran to India (via Pakistan) Gas Pipeline Faisal Masjid

Major Projects in Pakistan (The Karakorum Highway, M1, M2 Motorways)

Project Management

Project Management can be defined as : a method and a set of techniques based on the accepted principles of management used for planning, estimating and controlling work activities to reach a desired end result on time within budget and according to specification. Project management is generally applied for constructing public utilities, large industrial projects and organizing mega events. Project management is considered to be an important field in production scheduling mainly because many of the industrial activities can also be viewed as project management problems, like launching satellites, fabrication of boilers, construction of railway coaches, organizing R & D activities.

Project Management

Many of the projects can be repeated by the same org. or by different organizations. The project schedule which is prepared for one project cannot be applied for other projects without any modification because time estimates can be different due to environment conditions. Project is represented in the form of a network for the purpose of analytical treatment to get the solution for scheduling and controlling its activities. A network consists of a sets of arcs which are connected meaningfully through a set of nodes. The precedence relationship among various activities of a project can be represented using a network.

Project Activity Sequencing & Scheduling

Project Activity Sequencing is the prerequisite for developing the project schedule. The project schedule determines the planned start and finish dates for all project activities. It requires duration estimates for each project activity, and is most conveniently depicted pictorially in the form of a bar chart (the Gantt Chart), or the more informational and much more complex - form of a Network Diagram There are two network diagramming techniques which are used in project management the precedence diagramming method the arrow-on-node method.

The Precedence Diagramming Method

Precedence diagramming is a method of constructing project schedule network diagrams using boxes or rectangles known as nodes to represent individual project activities, and connects them with arrows to depict the dependencies between the project activities
Activity B Activity C Activity A precedes Activity B which precedes Activity C Activity X precedes both Activities Y and Z

Activity A

Activity Y Activity X Activity Z

Phases of Project Management

Project Network Diagrams: The Node

ES
S L A C K

ACTIVITY IDENTIFIER

EF

EARLY START: When can the activity start at the earliest? EARLY FINISH: When can the activity finish at the earliest? LATE FINISH: When can the activity finish at the latest?

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

LS

ACTIVITY DURATION

LF

LATE START: When can the activity start at the latest? The CRITICAL PATH of a project is the sequence of activities that determine the project completion date any delay in an activity or activities comprising the critical path will delay the project by a corresponding amount of time

SLACK: The time for which the activity can be delayed (also called float)

Project Network Diagram Example: (Network Components and Details)

Koll Business Information Center
Activity Description Preceding Activity None A A A B, C B, C, D F E, G Activity Duration 5 15 10 5 15 10 170 35

A B C D E F G H

Approval of Application Construction Plans Traffic Study Service Availability Check Staff Report Commission Approval Wait for Construction Occupancy

Project Network Diagram Example: (Graphical Depiction of the Network Components)

Burst Activities

B Construction Plans

E Staff Report Merge Activities

H Occupancy

A Approval of Application

C Traffic Study

F Commission Approval

G Wait for Construction

D Service Availability Check

The Basic Network Structure

Project Network Diagram Example: (Determining the Forward Pass)

5

20

20

E
Staff Report

35

Construction Plans

20

15

15

15

35

5
0

C
Traffic Study

15

20
15

20

30

200

235

Application Approval

Commission Approval

Occupancy

10

10

30

35

5
5

10

D
Service Check

10

30

200

Wait for Construction

200

Forward Pass ES + Duration = EF

170

Project Network Diagram Example: (Determining the Backward Pass)

5

20

20

E
Staff Report

35

Construction Plans

185

15

20

185 20 20

185

15

200 200

5
0

10

C
Traffic Study

15

20

30

200

235

Application Approval

Commission Approval

Occupancy

10

10

20

20

10

30

30

200

35

235

15
5

20

D
Service Check

10

30

200

Wait for Construction

200

15

20

Backward Pass LS + Duration = LF

30

170

200

Project Network Diagram Example: (Determining Slack and the Critical Path)
5

20

20

E
Staff

35

0 Construction
Plans

165 Report 185 15 200

15

20

0 0 0

5 5 10

C
Traffic Study

15

20

30

200 0 200

235

Application Approval

0 Commission
Approval

Occupancy

10

20

20

10

30

35

235

5 10 15

D
Service Check

10

30

200

Wait for

0 Construction 20 Slack = LS ES Slack = LF - EF 30 170 200

3.

Gantt Chart A scheduling chart developed by Hanry Gantt that shows actual and planned output over a period of time. A bar graph with time on the horizontal axis and activities to be accomplished on the vertical axis Shows the expected and actual progress of various tasks

Activity
1
Copy-edit manuscript Design sample pages Draw artwork Print first pages Print final pages Design cover

Month
2 3 4

Actual progress Goals Reporting Date