MBA Program

Project Management
Cairo – August 2021

Lectures Prepared by
Dr. Amr A. Elsharkawy
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Safety Moment

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Texting while Driving

90% crashes are not caused by flagrantly drunk

people, nor that aggressive driver who will do
whatever it takes to get to their destination one
minute earlier. Most crashes are caused by
people like you and me who think they can pay
attention to the road and do something else at the
same time. (Association between cellular-telephone calls and motor
vehicle collisions. New England Journal of Medicine)
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Project Scheduling
Lecture 4 , Scheduling

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Project Planning and Scheduling

1 2 3 4
Execute,
Define Develop Integrate
Monitor
Scope WBS /OBS PMCS
& Change

Initiating & Planning

Executing & Monitoring

The Continuous Loop

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Scheduling Situations

 After finalizing your project schedule, you

realize the estimated completion date is
two months beyond what your boss
publicly promised an important customer.
 Five months into the project, you realize
that you are already three weeks behind
the drop-dead date for the project.
 Four months into a project top
management changes its priorities and now
tells you that money is not an issue.
Complete the project ASAP!
Identifying the Activities of a Project

 Tasks are called “activities” ( Broken WBS )

 Estimated completion time are associated
with each activity , amount of resources
assigned to it , and Labor productivity .
 To determine optimal schedules we need to
Identify all the project’s activities , determine
the precedence relations among activities.
 The Program Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT) and the Critical Path
method (CPM) are two popular techniques
for scheduling .
Activity Times

The time estimates in PERT are

Optimistic time (a) = time an activity will consume
assuming smooth plan .
Pessimistic time (b) = time an activity will
consume assuming harsh
very conditions.
Most likely time (m) = most realistic time estimate
to complete the activity.

PERT often assumes time estimates follow a

beta probability distribution
Activity Times

Beta Probability Distribution with ,

Three Time Estimates
a + 4m + b
t=
6

Probability of 1 in 100
of a Occurring
Probability

Probability of 1 in 100
of b Occurring

Activity Time
Most Most Most
Optimistic Likely Pessimistic
Time Time Time
(a) (m) (b)
Schedule
- Schedule is a time phased plan for completion
of a project based on a logical arrangement of
activities, resource availability and contractual
requirements; inclusive of Client /project objectives
and constraints.”
- Schedule is converted to
“S-Curve” in order to
Measuring act. Progress vs
Planned progress . 11
Schedule / Progress

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Schedule Principles

 Start Date :
A Start date is a date on which the particular
schedule activity is anticipated to be started.
 Early Start Date (ES):
represents the earliest possible point of time at
which the schedule activity can begin.
 Late Start Date (LS):
represents the latest point at which the schedule
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Schedule Principles
activity may be kicked off without causing
delays in the project completion date.
 Actual Start Date (AS):
marks the beginning of work on a scheduled
activity.
 Finish Date:
Refers to the date in which the particular schedule
activity is anticipated to be completed.
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Schedule Principles
 Early Finish Date (EF):
earliest possible point of time at which the schedule
activity may potentially be completed .
 Late Finish Date (LF) :
latest date at which the schedule work activity may
be completed without causing schedule delays
 Actual Finish Date (AF) :
marks the completion of work on a scheduled
activity. 15
Activity Identification

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Activity Identification

While Actual Start and Finish dates are

set in stone, the early and late Start & Finish dates
will likely change multiple times throughout the life
cycle of the project ( Nature of Projects )

For example, during the progression of the project,

the project could fall behind or move ahead of
schedule, which could ultimately lead to a
modification of the project plan. This could result in
new Early and Late Start and/or Finish dates.

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Total Float , Free Float
Total Float ( slack ) is the number of days an
activity may be delayed without interfering with the
project completion date.
TF = LF date - EF date

Total Float: LS – ES = 13-8 = 5

Free Float is the amount of time that an activity

can be delayed without delaying the early start of
any successor (immediately following ) activities. 18
Network Logic Relationships

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Activity Identification
Forward Pass is used to determine and calculate
the early start and finish dates by starting at the
project start and working forwards through the
schedule network logic

Backward Pass is used to determine and calculate

the late start and finish dates by starting at the
project’s scheduled end date and working
backwards through the schedule network logic

The network Logic example in the next slide

illustrates the Forward and Backward Pass
principles. 20
Network Logic

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Class exercise :

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Class exercise :

Draw the network

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Example , cont.

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Example , cont.

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Total Float , Ex.

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Critical Path
It is a string of activities in the Logical Network
Path that has no flexibility in terms of schedule
slippage.

Any delay in any of the activities in a critical path

will result in a slippage of the Overall Project
completion date.

Critical Path activities are therefore referred to as

‘zero’-float activities.

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Ex. , Critical Path

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Critical Path , Ex.2

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Class Exercise

1- Draw activities network

2- Total duration , show CPM
3- draw Gantt chart / bar chart
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Class Exercise
Activities network

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Class Exercise

Durations , Total Duration , CPM

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Class Exercise

Gantt Chart – Bar Chart Durations

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Levels of Schedule

There are multiple levels of schedules , It is

important that the project schedule will be at a
level of detail that can be intelligently reviewed
by the target audience :

• Level 1 – Summary Schedule

• Level 2 – Project Management Schedule
• Level 3 – Control Schedule
• Level 4 – Task Management Schedule
• 5?

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Levels of Schedule
Level I schedule

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Levels of Schedule
Level II schedule

SCHEDULE LEVEL III 38

Planning and Scheduling Tricks

 Laddering

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Planning and Scheduling Tricks

 Resource Leveling (Smoothing )

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Planning and Scheduling Tricks

 How to Accelerate Project Completion

 Adding Resources
 Outsourcing Project Work (Offshoring )
 Scheduling Overtime
 Establish a Core Project Team
 Do It Twice - Fast and Correctly “quick and
dirty”
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Planning and Scheduling Tricks

 How to Accelerate Project Completion

 Fast-Tracking
 Critical chain project management
 Reducing Project Scope !

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