Project Scheduling Tools

and Techniques
Project Scheduling

 a mechanism to communicate what tasks need to get done and which

organizational resources will be allocated to complete those tasks in what
timeframe. A project schedule is a document collecting all the work
needed to deliver the project on time.
GANTT CHART

 also known as bar charts. Activities are represented as bars and the length
of each bar represents the activity duration. The beginning of the bar shows
the start date and the end of the bar shows the end date of the activity.
Depending on the project execution plan and resource availability, these
bars may be sequential or run in parallel. Gantt Charts are simple tools,
therefore, project management teams and stakeholders can easily
understand it and manage their projects by the help of it.
CRITICAL PATH METHOD

 is an advanced scheduling method which was developed in the late

1950s. Then it has been used for the scheduling of any type of projects
including construction, aerospace and defense, software development, IT,
etc. In this method, activities are linked to each other by using
dependencies in a network diagram. These activity groups form paths.
 The critical path is the longest path of the network diagram. In this method,
activities are listed, activity durations are determined, dependencies
between the activities are established and the longest path is identified by
making forward and backward calculations. The critical path method is a
visual technique which enables to show activities, activity dependencies,
and durations in the same diagram.
Program Evaluation Review Technique
(PERT)
 In this method, activities are listed, activity durations are determined by
using three estimate techniques, dependencies between the activities are
established and the longest path is identified by making forward and
backward calculations.
 The three estimate techniques are;
• Most Likely Estimate
• Optimistic Estimate
• Pessimistic Estimate
 In PERT Method, project completion time relies on the calculation of the
expected duration for each activity. The critical path method is used in
conjunction with the PERT Method. You can determine the critical path of
the project by performing forward, backward calculations. However PERT is
a time consuming method which requires software to implement.
Duration Compression

 is a way to shorten a schedule. It may be of use if the project is going late

and you have to find a way to adjust a schedule without changing the
scope of the project.
 Fast tracking
 helps you to find tasks that could be done simultaneously or be partially overlapped to
speed up the project’s delivery.

 Crashing
 adding extra resources to finish the project on time.