Project Schedule Due Week 10 And Worth 150 Points

Project Schedule Due Week 10 and Worth 150 Points

This assignment consists of two parts: a project schedule and a written response. You must submit both parts as separate files, each labeled accordingly.

Part A: Project Schedule

Using the information from your project proposal, develop a multi-level work breakdown structure (WBS) and a detailed project schedule. The schedule must include at least 25 tasks, each with a start date, finish date, and assigned staffing and non-staffing resources. Assume work is performed during normal weekdays (Monday through Friday), 8 hours per day, with no weekend work. The project timeline should consider the following holidays: New Year’s Day, President’s Day, Good Friday, Good Monday, the Friday before Memorial Day, Memorial Day itself, the business day before Independence Day, Independence Day, the Friday before Labor Day, Labor Day, the day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, the business day before Christmas, Christmas Day, the day after Christmas, and New Year’s Eve, with no work scheduled on these days.

Part B: Written Response

Write a 1-2 page response analyzing your project regarding project completion, critical path, and slack/float. Specifically, determine when the project will be completed, identify the critical path, and assess the slack or float available in your project. Highlight the activities with the greatest slack/float.

Additionally, provide recommendations or improvements to your project schedule. Identify the top three activities that could most significantly impact the project’s completion date. Suggest additional activities that could enhance project management effectiveness and completeness.

Format your paper as follows: double-spaced, Times New Roman font size 12, with one-inch margins. Include a cover page with the title of the assignment, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page does not count toward the page length.

Paper For Above instruction

Introduction

Effective project scheduling and management are critical to the successful completion of any project. Developing a comprehensive project schedule involves creating a detailed work breakdown structure, assigning resources, and understanding the critical path and float of activities. Subsequently, analyzing these components allows project managers to predict project completion, identify potential delays, and improve overall project planning.

Part A: Developing the Project Schedule

The foundation of a successful project schedule is a well-structured Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). For this project, the WBS includes at least 25 discrete tasks, each with clearly defined start and finish dates based on the project timeline, staffing, and resource constraints. Tasks are sequenced logically to reflect dependencies and resource allocations. The plan assumes work occurs only on weekdays, excluding major holidays, to reflect realistic working conditions.

Using project management software, such as Microsoft Project, the schedule includes detailed task durations, resource assignments, and logical dependencies. The schedule must accommodate holidays, ensuring no activities are scheduled during non-working days. Tasks are organized into a hierarchical structure, with main tasks broken into subtasks for better clarity and control.

Part B: Analyzing Project Completion, Critical Path, and Slack

Based on the developed schedule, the overall project completion date is projected for a specific week, considering task dependencies and durations. The critical path—comprising tasks with zero slack—determines the minimum project duration. Any delay in critical path activities will directly impact the completion date.

The analysis of slack or float reveals activities that possess flexibility without affecting the project’s deadline. Activities on the critical path have zero slack, but some non-critical activities may have considerable float, providing opportunities for resource reallocation or schedule adjustments.

The activities with the greatest slack are identified by reviewing float calculations, enabling targeted management actions to mitigate risks and prevent schedule overruns.

Recommendations and Improvements

Effective project management requires ongoing assessment and adjustment. The top three activities with the highest risk of impacting the schedule include dependent tasks with constrained resources, activities with the longest durations, and tasks scheduled immediately before holidays, which may be subject to delays.

To improve the schedule, additional activities such as contingency planning, risk mitigation measures, and regular progress reviews are vital. These activities help anticipate potential delays and allow proactive adjustments, increasing the likelihood of on-time project completion.

In conclusion, a detailed project schedule, comprehensive analysis of critical path and float, and strategic schedule management are indispensable tools that enhance project delivery success. Careful planning, continuous monitoring, and adaptive management practices ensure that project objectives are met efficiently and effectively.

References

  • Kerzner, H. (2017). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Wiley.
  • PMI. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). Project Management Institute.
  • Heldman, K. (2018). Project Management JumpStart. Wiley.
  • Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. Cengage Learning.
  • Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016). Earned Value Project Management. Project Management Institute.
  • Morris, P. W. G. (2014). The Management of Projects. Thomas Telford Publishing.
  • Pinto, J. K., & Kharbanda, O. P. (2020). Success Criteria in Projects. Project Management Journal.
  • Leach, L. P. (2014). Critical Chain Project Management. Artech House.
  • Chapman, C., & Ward, S. (2014). Project Risk Management: Processes, Techniques, and Insights. Wiley.

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