Project management provides the framework and methodology for successfully addressing the complexities associated with supply chain management. This unit covers the principles of and different techniques used in project management. These include analyzing project structure and breaking projects into constituent work units and activity milestones. Also covered are activity-planning optimizing methods for work scheduling, along with methods to track overall project progress.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 10 hours.
Read this chapter. It discusses how projects should be managed and explains the project management process along with associated project constraints. Why are interpersonal skills important in managing organizational projects?
Projects can generally be classified into three organizational structures: functional, matrix, and projectized. Each differs in their allocation of resources, supervision, and coordination of individual project team members with project management. Creating a structure establishes formal relationships among managers, team members, and stakeholders across the overall project.
Watch this video. A comparison is made between the three general structures and what they mean. Why would a business restructure its entire organization for a project?
Project-related work should clearly define the tasks or activities needed to be carried out to complete a project on time. Specifically, a work breakdown structure is a tool used to deconstruct the project scope into smaller, easily digestible milestones that are more easily assigned and tracked. Moreover, this tool can visually lay out working teams, identify individual or resource dependencies, or even contingency strategies. Control charts are quality management tools used to understand predictability, behavior, and stability in a process for a duration of time. This approach visually displays data against controlled limits to reflect minimal and maximum specifications. Over time the charts illustrate how a process behaves so adjustments can be made if results are above or below desired limits.
This video intends to show how control charts can be used to detect problems in a process. When would a control chart be most appropriate to use?
Earned value management is an important project management tool required for completing a project on time. EVM provides a framework that measures and monitors progress in terms of cost, time, technical, and physical achievements. Some key advantages are that it provides a view of work progress and assists in estimating eventual cost savings or deficits.
Calculating earned value management helps a company forecast future performance related to cost, time, and scope. Specific considerations are given to dividing projects into tasks, then assigning each task a beginning and end date. From there each task is given a budget along with a project status update period.
Watch this video. It includes a demonstration of calculating an EVM for a specific project. What departments in a business do you think need to participate in generating the numerical and time values?
Read this paper, which describes the most common project management tools and then presents a hybrid model combing different elements from each. It then uses the model in a case study analysis. Think about how the hybrid simultaneously controls for model parameters. How does this increase project sustainability and efficiency in the case study?
Watch this video. It focuses on creating charts from data inputs. What inferences can you quickly draw by simply looking at an EVM chart?
Read this article. It provides an overview of planning models. Pay particular attention to Figure 1 as it visually provides a global view of planning models. Then review Figures 2 -17 for more in-depth visual planning processes.
The Critical Path Method provides an algorithm for the purpose of scheduling project activities. To construct this model, there needs to be a list of all required tasks, dependencies between each task, and the estimated time each activity will take to finish. With this information, a critical path can be determined through the identification of the longest stretch of activities dependent on one another. CPM planning assumes that one activity delay may affect and delay another activity. The essence of performing a sensitivity analysis on one specific activity is to measure the effects of such delays. If there are multiple critical paths on the project, the project manager can then understand how sensitive the network is if a single critical activity changes.
Read this article. The study develops a comprehensive evaluation strategy for project management. Section 2.1, Schedule Method-CPM/PERT, suggests that CPM does not consider risk or uncertainty. What would you add to a sensitivity analysis such that it could address risks or uncertainties?
Watch this video. The presentation demonstrates how this tool can address cost control and time constraints along with the pros and cons of project crashing in general. What other pros and cons can you add?
Every project involves critical areas related to time, quality, and cost. The complexities, interdependencies, changes, and overall uncertainty involved forces project managers to make tradeoffs between these critical areas. In essence, if time frames are shortened, costs are added to compensate for speeding up progress.
This review video is an excellent way to review what you've learned so far and is presented by one of the professors who created the course.
Watch this as you work through the unit and prepare to take the final exam.
We also recommend that you review this Study Guide before taking the Unit 10 Assessment.
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.