Project Management Review - Assignment Example

This structure helps in creating a framework and provides guidance in terms of schedule development and control. The process of defining the project consists of five steps 1. Defining the project scope: - A project scope is the end result of the project, i.e. a product or service for the client or customer. The scope clearly explains the measurable and tangible result delivered to the end user. 2. Establishing project priorities: - The second step is to establish the project priorities, which determines the shifts in the comparative importance of criterions connected to cost, time, and performance parameters.

This also helps in managing the priorities of project trade-offs and in formulating the parameter requirements. 3. The third step involved in defining a project is to create the Work Breakdown Structure. A work breakdown structure is the hierarchal sketch that categorizes the products and work elements engaged in a project. 4. Integration of Work Breakdown Structure with the Organization is the fourth step of defining a project. The ability of the firm to discharge its work responsibility towards a project is determined at this stage.

This is where WBS and the OBS (Organizational Breakdown structure) are integrated. 5. The final stage of the process is coding the Work Breakdown Structure for the information System. At this stage, a range of essentials of the WBS are identified and defined. Reports on the organizational fundamentals, work package, budget and cost are consolidated at all levels of the organizational structure. Lag and Slack According to Francis and Horine (2003), in a series of linked tasks, lag means the ‘delay’ between the linked tasks; and it is necessary to use lag in a network as it is essential for the smooth progress of tasks (p. 80). The lag can be described as a ‘planned delay’.

On the other hand, slack explains the extent of time that a task can be belated without affecting its successor tasks. As Chapman (2006, p. 9.22), Gantt chart is prepared to break a large project into a sequence of smaller tasks in an organized way. This chart describes when each task should start and how long it would take. On the other hand, a network diagram is a tool used for demonstrating how the impacts of a project are related and what the consequences of the impact are. Diagrams summarize a large portion of the project body as it is represented as graphical representation.

Backward pass: A backward pass is a device used in the project management. It refers to the estimation of late start dates and late finish dates regarding the section of activities that have not been completed. This is calculated using by referring back through the schedule network from the end date of project segment. The end date may be determined by the client or by the supervisor using the forward pass. A backward pass determines the late start date and late finish dates. Scope statement: The project is on arranging a dinner-dance concert for a local charity.

It is going to take place in a four weeks’ time. This concert is reserved specially for 30 couples and the amount collected at this concert goes directly to the needy segment of the local society. The first step involved in the project is to create work breakdown statement of the project scope. The different elements of the project are to be distinguished at first hand. It is easier to understand the different