How To Develop A Project Schedule For Projects

In my previous article, I looked at some of the facts that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects. In this article, I want to talk about how to develop a project schedule for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.

#1 Mathematical analysis

There is a need for you to perform mathematical analysis to determine the time periods within which activities could be scheduled once resources limits and other known constraints are applied.

#2 Possible impact

There is a need for you to also identify the possible impacts of any constraints and assumptions on schedule development.

You need to look at how these occurrences and the presence of these assumptions and constraints are going to affect the overall project outcome.

#3 Availability of resources

You also need to consider the availability of resources for the project. You need to consider these:

Will you have the staff you need to perform the work when it is scheduled to be done?
Will you have access to the materials, facilities, and equipment you need to perform the work when it is scheduled to be done?

#4 Consult project calendars

You also need to consult your project calendars and assign dates to activities. The following questions should be asked:

Are there any holidays in which your project team will not conduct work activities?
Will your project team conduct work activities on weekends?
When will your key project team members be taking vacations?
Are there any unmovable milestone dates that must be met?

#5 Access the feasibility

There is a need for you to assess the feasibility of the schedule under adverse conditions by conducting a what-if scenario analysis.

This will allow you to know what will likely go wrong with the project and take appropriate steps to mitigate it.

#6 Resource day constraint

There is a need to consider external resources and date constraints. Also, if applicable, you need to ask the following questions :

Are there any regional or national holidays not previously accounted for?
Do you need to make considerations for travel time for meetings?

#7 Project Management Software

You have to select project management software that best meets the need and budget of your project. If your organisation does not require the use of a particular software program, ask yourself the following questions to make the selection:

How complex is the project?
Do I need to manage more than one project at a time?
How easy will the software be to learn and use?
How well will the software be apt to projects that vary greatly?
What type and depth of analyses do I need to perform?
What is the reputation of the software company?
What do other project managers in the field use and what do they recommend?

#8 Review tough drafts

You need to review the rough drafts of the schedule with the project team, sponsor, and customer.

You may also need to review the rough drafts with functional managers to ensure that there are no conflicts with functional managers.

#9 Format

You have to choose the format in which you will publish the schedule. Consider the following:

If your audience only requires a summary level of the project’s progress in terms of milestones, consider using a milestone chart.
If you are reviewing the schedule with your project team, consider publishing a detailed bar chart or a network diagram with dates.
If you are preparing a presentation for key project stakeholders or upper management, consider printing the schedule in several different formats to show various views of the project’s progress versus planned progress.

3 Major Schedule Formats For Projects

In my previous article, I have looked at all that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects.

I want to look at some of the facts you need to know about schedule formats for projects. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.

The project schedule can be presented in different formats, depending on the circumstances.

#1 Bar chart

The bar chart as a schedule format has:

Show the start and end dates, expected durations, and dates and order of project milestones.
Shows the precedence relationships between activities.
Shows the percentage of an activity completed to date and the actual progress in relation to planned progress.
Lists, activities, or work packages are vertically on the left. Time is represented with horizontal bars that correspond to the activities and show projected start and finished dates

Often used for project status presentation to upper management.
A detailed view is used when reviewing the project status with the project team.

Milestone chart

The milestone chart provides a:

Summary-level view of a project’s schedule in terms of its milestones.
Use an icon or symbol to show scheduled milestone events.
Milestones are typically listed from the left to the right of the chart.
Time intervals- divided into hours, days, weeks, or months- are usually presented horizontally across the top or bottom of the chart.
Effective in demonstrating the project’s overall schedule to project team members, stakeholders, and upper management.

#3 Project schedule network diagram with dates

This discusses :

Helps assign start and finish dates to activities on the project schedules network diagram.
Useful when you need to communicate the project team status in terms of activity precedence relationships.

4 Types Of Schedule Network Analysis

I have looked at some of the facts that you need to know about the different standard Diagramming notation for projects. In this article, I want to talk about four types of Schedule Network Analysis for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.

Schedule Network Analysis is a technique that is used to calculate the theoretical early and late start and finish dates for all project activities. In other words, it helps create a project schedule.

This method also generates float or slack.

Schedule Network Analysts may be achieved using one of the four methods.

Critical Path Method
Critical Chain Method
What-if scenario
Resource levelling

Typical example…

You are trying to craft a schedule for the creation of a new marketing campaign, which will involve finding a new advertising agency, creating the advertisements, and producing marketing materials.

Because the project contains so many different work packages, you decide that schedule network analysis is necessary.

Using a project management software application. , you are able to define the network path from “request for proposals” to “launch campaign”.

From there, you can estimate the points in the schedule where there is slack and adjust the activities accordingly.

#1 Critical path method

The Critical Path Method is a network analysis method that uses a sequential finish to start network logic and calculates one early and late start and finish date for each activity using a single-duration estimate.

The longest path through the network- the critical path- is defined. Then float is calculated to identify activities where there is some scheduling flexibility.

The critical Path Method is the mathematical analysis technique used in most types of project management software.

# Critical chain method

The critical Chain Method is a network analysis method that allows you to consider resource limitations and adjust the schedule as appropriate to work within those limitations.

The critical Chain is established by analyzing the critical path alongside the resources that are actually available.

The critical Chain Method is also used to plan and manage reserves or buffers and helps mitigate possible coat and schedule risks.

#3 What if Scenario analysis

The what-id scenario analysis method allows you to consider different situations that may occur and influence the schedule; it assesses the feasibility of the schedule under various adverse conditions.

It allows you to compute different schedules based on potential delays or unplanned events that are a normal part of business life, such as key employees’ resigning during a project.

The outcome is also used to mitigate the impact of unexpected situations when preparing risk response plans. The method helps in selecting the optimum plan.

Typical example…

The project manager, David used the what-if scenario analysis method to compute different schedules for a planned move of the corporate headquarters to a new facility.

He based how computations on several scenarios such as: What if the contractor for the new building brings the goods in late?

What if key decision-makers are allocated elsewhere during the planning process? What if there is a union strike affecting the construction workers?

PS: I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

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