Planning, Control, and Analysis Methodology - Essay Example

Different techniques have been applied by project managers in order to evaluate the project progress and one of the techniques in this regard is Earned Value Management (EVM). EVM is one of the widely used techniques by project managers in order to analyze and keep an eye on the status of the project. EVM can be used by the project manager to analyze the project’s progress. There are three important factors that are used in measuring the performance of the project and EVM analyses the performance of the project on this three basis:

a. Cost
b. Time
c. Scope or quality (Atkinson, 1999)
So, using EVM a project manager is able to track the performance and make sure whether the project is going in the right direction or not and whether the project will be completed within the deadline and within the cost. If the project is right on track then the project manager needs to make sure that the same pattern is continued or followed so that it is completed appropriately. If the project is not on the right track, then he needs to analyze the problems and take corrective actions.

 
Section 3:
Selecting a work package from your project schedule utilizing modelling and/or simulation to determine the likelihood of hitting the most likely completion date
 
Section 4:
Prepare a report that critically evaluates the robustness of your solution and the tools/techniques you have used to construct the project schedule
The project in this report has been evaluated using EMV and PERT analysis techniques. EMV tool has been used by project managers in order to evaluate the progress of the project on the basis of time, cost, and scope or quality. EMV has been an important tool for the project managers in not only analyzing and identifying the project progress (Hamilton, 2004) but it is also important for the project manager in order to evaluate the cost that has already been incurred in the project and thus, the project managers can also evaluate the cost that has already been incurred and the cost that would be incurred even in between the project duration. Before EMV, project managers used to face many problems in analyzing the progress of the projects however the problem has been solved to a great extent with the introduction of EMV.

On the other hand, PERT analysis is the other technique that has been used. The word PERT is the abbreviation of Program Evaluation and Review Technique and this tool as the name suggests is used to evaluate and review the project that is under progress. PERT analysis describes the different activities or tasks that are involved in the complete project. Therefore, PERT shows a broader task i.e. a project as well as it shows the sub-tasks or small tasks which have been termed as the activities of the project (Harrison, and Lock, 2004).

PERT analysis helps the project manager as it identifies and shows all the tasks that are involved in the project (Phillips, 2003). Therefore the project manager can analyze each and every task accordingly. Moreover, the PERT analysis shows the pattern of which tasks are dependent on others and which tasks are independent (Lewis, 2006).

Therefore using PERT analysis the project manager is able to analyze and identify dependent tasks and thus, he is able to know which tasks should be started first and which tasks should be completed first so that other tasks can be started. Moreover, the PERT analysis also shows the early start duration of the project, early finish time, late start time, and late finish time of the project as well as the float. The PERT analysis shows the critical path of the project. The critical path of the project is the path that shows that delay in any of the tasks in the critical path will delay the whole project and therefore it is critical for the project manager to make sure that the activities which are included in the critical path are completed within the time (Cleland, and Gareis, 2006).
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