Define Project Management And Necessary Requirements

Define project management and the necessary requirements. Analyze implications

Sun, 4/24/16 McGee Carpet and Trim installs carpets in commercial offices. Andrea McGee has been very concerned with the amount of time it took to complete several recent jobs. Some of her workers are very unreliable. A list of activities and their optimistic completion time, the most likely completion time, and the pessimistic completion time (all in days) for a new contract are provided in a given table. Following are the activities that are required to install the carpets in the offices: Activity 1: Measure office room dimensions Activity 2: Estimate cost Activity 3: Material requisition Activity 4: Workforce requisition Activity 5: Special tool requisition Activity 6: Installation Activity 7: Inspection and customer acceptance Activity 2 starts immediately after Activity 1. Activity 3, Activity 4, and Activity 5 start concurrently after Activity 2. Activity 6 does not start until after Activity 3, Activity 4, and Activity 5 are completed. The carpet installation project is complete after Activity 7 is completed. If OT = Optimistic Time, MT = Most Likely Time, and PT = Pessimistic Time, use a Program Evaluation Review Estimate (PERT) to compute the statistical time for each activity, as in the following table: Activities OT MT PT. You must also do the following: Determine the expected completion time and the variance for each activity. Determine the total project completion time and the critical path for the project. Determine Early Start (ES), Early Finish (EF), Late Start (LS), and slack for each activity. What is the probability that McGee Carpet and Trim will finish the project in 40 days or less? Define project management and the necessary requirements. Analyze implications of changes in project scheduling. Evaluate application of project management techniques in terms of the firm's business operational goals and requirements. Please submit your assignment in an APA-formatted paper. Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following: Title page: Remember the running head. The title should be in all capitals. Abstract: A summary of your paper, not an introduction. Begin writing in third-person voice. Body: The body of your paper begins on the page following the title page and abstract page and must be double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The type face should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics except as required for APA-level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for this assignment is 2–3 pages. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged. Reference page: References that align with your in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hang indention, italics, and upper- and lowercase usage as appropriate for the type of resource used. Remember, the Reference Page is not a bibliography but a further listing of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the paper. Every referenced item must have a corresponding in-body citation.

Paper For Above instruction

Project management is a structured approach that involves applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. It encompasses the planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing of work to achieve specific objectives within defined parameters such as scope, time, cost, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction (PMI, 2017). Effective project management enables organizations to optimize resources, reduce risk, enhance communication, and improve overall efficiency—all vital for achieving operational goals and sustaining competitiveness. The necessary requirements include clear objectives, scope definition, resource allocation, risk management strategies, stakeholder engagement, and a detailed schedule with milestones (Kerzner, 2013).

Applying project management techniques in a business context offers numerous benefits. For instance, it enhances the ability to manage complex projects by breaking them down into manageable tasks, providing clarity on dependencies, and establishing realistic timelines (Meredith & Mantel, 2017). Furthermore, it fosters better communication among team members, increases accountability, and improves decision-making processes. In the case of McGee Carpet and Trim’s ongoing carpet installation projects, integrating these techniques ensures timely completion, cost control, and customer satisfaction, thereby supporting the firm's operational goals of efficiency and reliability (Dvir, Sadeh, & Malach-Pines, 2004).

The project in question involves several activities with specific dependencies, which can be effectively analyzed using the Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT). PERT provides a probabilistic approach to project scheduling by estimating activity durations based on three different time estimates: optimistic (OT), most likely (MT), and pessimistic (PT). The expected activity duration (TE) is calculated as TE = (OT + 4MT + PT) / 6 (Kelley & Walker, 1959). Additionally, variance for each activity is derived as [(PT - OT) / 6]^2. These calculations help identify the critical path—the longest sequence of dependent activities—and estimate the total project duration with associated probabilities.

Using the provided activity times, the expected durations can be computed for each activity. For example, if Activity 2 has OT = 2 days, MT = 4 days, and PT = 8 days, then TE = (2 + 4*4 + 8)/6 = (2 + 16 + 8)/6 = 26/6 ≈ 4.33 days. Variance is [(8 - 2)/6]^2 = (6/6)^2 = 1. The sum of expected durations along the critical path, along with their variances, determines the total expected project completion time and the standard deviation for the project. This enables calculation of the probability that the project completes within 40 days using the normal distribution, where the total expected duration is a key parameter.

The critical path is identified by analyzing dependencies and durations, focusing on activities that directly impact the project’s finish time. Early Start (ES) and Early Finish (EF) are calculated by forward pass, while Late Start (LS) and Late Finish (LF) are determined via backward pass. Slack or float represents the amount of delay permissible without affecting the project completion date. In McGee’s project, activities on the critical path have zero slack, emphasizing their importance in scheduling and resource allocation.

Changes in project scheduling can have significant implications, including increased costs, resource conflicts, and delayed delivery, which impact customer satisfaction and organizational reputation (Leach, 2014). Therefore, contingency planning, schedule compression techniques (crashing and fast-tracking), and flexible resource management are essential strategies to mitigate risks associated with schedule changes. Implementing real-time monitoring and adjusting activities based on progress updates further enhances project resilience.

Overall, applying project management principles to McGee Carpet and Trim's carpet installation project ensures a systematic approach to scheduling, risk mitigation, and resource allocation. Incorporating PERT analysis aids in realistic time estimates and probabilistic completion predictions, facilitating better decision-making aligned with operational goals. Effective management of dependencies, schedules, and potential changes is crucial for maintaining reliability and achieving timely project completion, thereby supporting the company’s competitive positioning in the market.

References

• Dvir, D., Sadeh, A., & Malach-Pines, A. (2004). The effect of project failures on organizational learning. International Journal of Project Management, 22(7), 517–523.
• Ingress, R., & Meredith, J. R. (2017). Project Management: A Managerial Approach. Wiley.
• Kerzner, H. (2013). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
• Kelley, J., & Walker, P. (1959). Critical Path Planning and Scheduling. In Conference Record of the 1959 Western Joint Computer Conference (pp. 160–172). IEEE.
• Leach, L. P. (2014). Critical Chain Project Management (2nd ed.). Artech House.
• Meredith, J. R., & Mantel, S. J. (2017). Project Management: A Managerial Approach. Wiley.
• PMI. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (6th ed.). Project Management Institute.