Essay Sample on Project Scheduling: Automated Alerts for Efficiency and Success

Introduction

Project scheduling is a critical aspect of any project as it acts as the mechanism that communicates what resources are required and the activities that need to be accomplished in order to complete the project within the set timeframe. Every project is made up of different tasks which often have different timeframes; thus, project scheduling provides automated alerts ensuring that every stakeholder plays their part. Therefore, the paper offers different aspects of project scheduling ranging from time management, work breakdown structure, customer's requirements, and the critical path.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

To begin with, the success of any projects hugely depends on three major factors that is: time, budget and quality. During the project life cycle, when the scope creeps kicks in, time management becomes one of the most challenging things for the manager since it's often challenging to keep the project up to speed with its plan. As such, there are various skills and roles the manager has to have in the bid to improve the operations of the project. Some of these skills include; first, one of the best tips that a manager can employ is turning off email alerts. It is apparent the email notifications are always a form of destructions at work. Most project managers often incorporate this technique, especially when time is running out on completion of the project. Another important skill is getting the project plan right. According to Jugdev (2012), time management begins with planning, as it sets the tone for the cycle of the project to its completion (Jugdev, 2012). Most managers imply that estimating the timeframe for tasks helps in creating a realistic time frame that satisfies that client's requirements. Risk management is also an important element of time management. This is mainly attributed to the fact that if a risk occurs and the manager has not planned for it, it can change the course of the project. Lastly, effective collaboration and communication is a major part of the success of any project. Managers often make sure that they have communicated effectively with their team. This is important for managers as it helps them realize areas that are lacking behind in the project.

A Work Breakdown Structure generally a hierarchical display of how to work is to be performed by the project team in their bid to accomplish project goals. A work breakdown structure often forms the cornerstone of the operations of the project as all activities in the structure are scheduled, estimated and budgeted.

The Work Breakdown Structure has various advantages, apart from describing and organizing the project. The framework provides the team members with a better understanding of their position in the overall project. The strategy also enhances corporation and communication among the stakeholders and project members. Employing the work breakdown structure can help prevent sudden changes s it offers a clear project scope of all the risk factors and action mechanism. The framework offers a basis for estimation and budgeting, which is an essential part of planning.

Collect requirements a document or a process that outlines the requirements of the stakeholders. This implies the objectives that are needed to be completed in order to meet the needs of stakeholders. Some of the major techniques and tools used in collect requirements include expert judgment, data gathering, data analysis, decision making, data representation and context diagram. Expert judgment reflects on the decisions of people that are knowledgeable in a particular field. Thus it entails making decisions on the following topics, business analysis, facilitation, conflict management, diagramming techniques, requirement analysis, and conflict management (Jugdev, 2012). Data gathering implies the tools used on the collection of information such as questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, interviews, brainstorming and benchmarking. Data analysis deals with scrutinizing the existing business documents to make sure they are in line with the project requirements. The strategy utilizes various documents such as market literature, business rules repositories, issue logs, use cases and business plans. Decision making employs multiple techniques such as autocratic decision making, multi-voting and multi-criteria decision making during important stages of the project. Lastly, the context diagram provides a pictorial visualization of the various interactions between the users and the system. The technique is used to depict the steps and processes to take in order to reach the desired outcomes.

Critical path methodology is basically a project modelling technique that offers a sequence of stages that can be employed to establish the least amount of time needed to complete a certain task. The main advantages the methodology include; it assists in defining the most important so that all stakeholders know when to take serious measures. Critical path methodology also visualizes the projects in a graphical form, making it easier to identify mistakes that might arise during the project cycle. Another benefit of the strategy is that it can be used in the comparison plan and the real status, which ensures that the project is in line to meet its objectives. Below is a simple critical path methodology with various paths.

The main aim of any project manager and the project team is to carry out the task given to meet its objectives. Like life, every project has its first stage, beginning, its middle period during which most of the activities get done, and the ending stage whereby the project is labeled either successful or unsuccessful (Jugdev, 2012). The first phase is the initiation phase, where the objective of the project is identified. The target can be an opportunity to be ventured in or a problem to be solved, the appropriate solution to the need documented (Fuller, 2017). A study about the objective is conducted, and the subject explored, and a final settlement recommended (Burke). The second phase is the planning phase. In this stage, there is the development of the solution in detail, and the necessary steps outlined.

The next stage is the project execution. In this stage, the project plan is created, and the project manager outlines the dependencies, timeframes, activities, and tasks for the project. In addition to that, they coordinate the preparation of the budget by estimating the possible labor, material costs, and equipment. The fourth stage is the monitoring of the expenditure during the project's implementation (Fuller). The next step is the controlling of the project. It's vital to maintain control and communication during the implementation of the project. The progress is continuously being monitored and appropriately adjusted and recorded in accordance with the initial planning. Variations can be made in the middle stage to achieve the initial goal if the original plan does not work and therefore recorded. The closing phase is the final delivery to the receiving end (Fuller, 2017). This phase includes handing over documents, handing back project resources, termination of the supplier's contract, and communicating completion of the project.

The main conflicts that occur due to the scheduling of a project are mainly stress and consequences related to deadlines and tight schedules. In most cases, a company or business is handling more than one project at a time. Therefore they find it hard to meet their deadlines conflicting their agreements with their clients (Burke, 2013). This results in many consequences, including discouraging other clients from getting their services from this particular firm. For students, it tempers with their grades where they might miss marks, or some marks may be terminated as a penalty.

Conclusion

In summation, Project scheduling is a critical aspect of any project as it acts as the mechanism that communicates what resources are required and the activities that need to be accomplished in order to complete the project within the set timeframe. During the project life cycle, time management becomes one of the most challenging things for the manager since it's often challenging to keep the project up to speed with its plan. The offers a brief analysis of some of the important elements of project scheduling such as time management, work breakdown structure, customer's requirements, and the critical path.

References

Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA, 26.

Fuller, M. A., Valacich, J. S., George, J. F., & Schneider, C. (2017). Information Systems Project Management: A Process and Team Approach, Edition 1.1. Prospect Press.

Jugdev, K. (2012). Learning from lessons learned: Project management research program. American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, 4(1), 13.