Part One: Start With The WBS For Your Unit 2 Assignment

Part Onestart With The Wbs You Created For Your Unit 2 Assignment Ho

Part One: Start with the WBS you created for your Unit 2 Assignment (home-improvement, gardening, website creation, corporate office move, family vacation, wedding, or professor approved project) and build a duration estimate using Excel. Use the Generic Excel Workbook as your guide for an example. Go to Course Resources to view the Generic Excel Workbook and the ISA WBS and Network Diagrams for guidance. Remember to cross-check yourself against the grading rubric to ensure you address each and every grading criterion. Remember to use a time duration estimate technique to achieve your durations.

You should complete a duration estimate for each activity and summarize the duration at the work package level and also provide a final duration estimate (summary of work packages) for the project. Durations should be shown on the WBS using a start and end date/time. Your time duration estimates are needed for Part Two to create the network diagram. Part Two: Using what you have developed for your Unit 3, Part 1 Assignment duration estimate (which is based on the WBS you created for your Unit 2 Assignment), complete the Assignment for Part 2 by developing a network diagram based on the primary tasks and a Gantt (Bar) chart for a schedule, using either MS Excel, MS Word, or MS Project. Use the ISA WBS in Course Resources as your guide.

Remember to cross-check yourself against the grading rubric to ensure you address each and every grading criterion. If you build your time duration estimates in MS Project, the Gantt chart and network diagrams are built automatically. Be careful to check your dependencies (links) between your activities in MS Project, otherwise you may have a Gantt chart and network diagram that does not correctly reflect your project.

Paper For Above instruction

Introduction

Project management involves structured planning, scheduling, and execution to ensure successful completion of a project within scope, time, and cost constraints. A fundamental component of project planning is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), which decomposes a project into manageable tasks and work packages. This paper discusses the process of developing a duration estimate from a WBS, utilizing Excel, followed by constructing a network diagram and Gantt chart to visualize project timelines, dependencies, and schedules, based on the guidelines provided by the ISA standards.

Development of the Work Breakdown Structure and Duration Estimates

The initial step is building upon the WBS created for a previous assignment, selecting a specific project such as a home improvement, gardening, website creation, or other approved project. The WBS serves as the foundation for estimating durations for each activity. For accurate duration estimates, it is crucial to select appropriate techniques such as analogous estimating, parametric estimating, three-point estimating, or bottom-up estimating (Kerzner, 2017). Each activity identified in the WBS is assigned an estimated duration, considering resource availability, complexity, and historical data where applicable.

Using Excel, the duration estimates for each activity are documented, including start and end dates/time, which facilitates a clear timeline visualization. The project work packets are summarized to obtain durations at higher levels within the WBS hierarchy, ultimately leading to a comprehensive project duration estimate. This involves calculating total durations for major work packages, which contribute to the overall project timeline (Heldman, 2018).

Moreover, the estimates are validated against the grading criteria outlined in the rubric, ensuring completeness and accuracy. This process emphasizes cross-verification for consistency, logical sequencing, and realistic timeframes, which are essential for creating reliable project schedules.

Constructing a Network Diagram and Gantt Chart

Building on the duration estimates derived in Excel, the next step involves designing a network diagram that visually represents task dependencies and sequences. Dependency links — such as finish-to-start, start-to-start, or finish-to-finish relationships — are established to showcase the flow of activities (PMI, 2017). Tools like MS Project automatically generate network diagrams from the linked activities, but manual design can be achieved via Lucidchart or other diagramming tools, ensuring dependencies accurately reflect project constraints.

Simultaneously, a Gantt (Bar) chart is produced to illustrate the project schedule graphically. This visual aids stakeholders by displaying task durations, overlaps, milestones, and critical paths. The chart enables project managers to monitor progress and reallocate resources if delays arise. When developing these diagrams, attention must be paid to activity dependencies and resource constraints to ensure an accurate and practical schedule (Larson et al., 2020). In MS Project, dependency links are used to automatically generate Gantt charts and network diagrams, streamlining this process.

Finally, validation of these schedules involves reviewing critical paths, float, and overall timeline feasibility. This step ensures that the project plan is comprehensive, achievable, and aligned with project objectives.

Conclusion

The integration of a WBS with duration estimation, network diagrams, and Gantt charts constitutes a comprehensive approach to effective project scheduling. Utilizing Excel allows detailed documentation of activity durations, while dependency management and visualization through network diagrams and Gantt charts facilitate clarity in task sequencing and timeline management. By aligning these tools with the ISA standards and best practices, project managers can ensure their schedules are realistic, monitor progress effectively, and address potential delays proactively, thereby increasing the likelihood of project success.

References

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