Project Schedule Management Training

A schedule can be described at the sequence of tasks allocated to particular time periods throughout a day, week, month, or year. These schedules are essentially timetables for activities or tasks of a project, program, or portfolio. The schedule will demonstrate the work performed in progression over a fixed period of time (the time needed by the project, program, portfolio) and even factors the different risks, variations, resource fluctuations, and any estimated uncertainties pertaining to the work to be completed.

At the end of the schedule, the work is assumed to be completed successfully, with effective communication to all parties involved or concerned about the work, and the deliverables are the outputs. The approach used for the scheduling of a project will depend on the nature of the project, including the project type and the triple constraints that bind the project to a particular angle. We can have some projects that need to be completed, or the deliverables be met, by a certain date, others have either limited budget or limited resources allocated. These factors are very instrumental in determining the schedule for your project, and managing these schedules is what project schedule management is all about.

Scope of Project Schedule Management

Project schedule management isn’t restricted to a particular industry or line of work, but can span across different sections of work using different scheduling techniques. Normally, in projects, a separate team is employed to coordinate and maintain the schedules of a project, based on the project plan and the updates that take place on a real-time basis. These experts or team of experts put to use highly effective and efficient techniques used in project schedule management.

Methods for Project Schedule Management

There are many methods used in project schedule management that can yield the results needed by a project manager and a scheduler to get the project kick-started. These methods all have the same goal in mind but possess different paths that can be selected based on the type of project or based on the components’ availability.

Method #1 – Work Breakdown Structure

Within project schedule management, a project scheduler needs to have 3 components to start off a project schedule and its implementation. These components include:

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Estimation of Effort for Each Task
• Availability List of Resources on the Project

Based on these components, the project scheduling takes place and the management kicks off to ensure that the project progresses through the time period allotted as per schedule. To explain WBS in short, we can describe it as a hierarchical expression of the work to be undertaken by the project in terms of deliverables. When I say hierarchical, WBS stresses on approaching the work to be completed from the highest level of the workflow (product), proceeding to the lower levels.

This breaking down of the workflow into smaller units brings out the level of details contained within these work units, which are needed to complete the deliverables. These units when worked upon finally contribute to the end goal of the project. As the structure goes into the lower levels, the WBS calls them tasks. Many tasks contribute to a summary task, which is a broad element just below the highest level (product) of the WBS.

The smaller the unit, the more manageable they will be. But, too many can also cause a clutter, so as a project manager, it’s important to get the WBS done correctly, without including unnecessary clutter and not doing away with important tasks. A project manager should be able to identify the deliverables to be achieved to completely and successfully achieve the project objective and goals.

Once you have your tasks in place, you need to estimate the effort for each task. This effort will work in conjunction with the list of resources to fit in a budget and the time required, giving you a complete project schedule that you can manage.

Method #2 – Wideband Delphi

If the above mentioned components aren’t available, project managers often resort to this consensus-oriented estimation method to get the project schedule and its management up and running. In this method, every task and aspect is an estimate and a consensus is taken among all the project team members and stakeholders to get to a schedule that is most accurate. This method depends on the fact that people drive a schedule to its successful completion on the basis of what they believe will be the right time and effort needed to complete the task. In these cases, the criteria should be put before them by the project manager based on the triple constraints.

Project Schedule Management Course Description

• Need for Project Schedule Management – We all know that establishing a correct project schedule is so very important for a project to work on the lines of discipline and conformity. A project schedule ensures that work is done, and the timelines ensure that work is done by a particular set of resources at a particular budget. Ensuring scope is a necessary for any project, and having these factored into a schedule is what project schedule management is all about. In this section, you will learn more about why exactly do we need project schedule management for our projects and why exactly do we intend to manage schedules like we do.
• Effort / Schedule / Cost Estimation – In this section, learn all there is to estimating the effort and cost and coming up with the project schedule. Learn about the repercussions of the project schedule estimations that we conduct and the role it plays in project management.
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) – The WBS forms a crucial part in establishing the project schedule and helps in project schedule management during the course or progress of the project in question. Learn about the different characteristics and types that WBS possesses and know in detail its benefits in the long run.