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Before knowing the practical use of project management software, we
should study some of the common features available in most of the project
management software. An attempt is made to present an overview of
generic features associated with various project management software
packages available today. These generic features include:
l Data entry features
o Project data and calendar: A project start date is specified.
A calendar can be used to define the working days and hours for
each individual resource on a project. The calendar is used in
calculating the schedule for the project. Most systems provide a
default for the standard working period, such as Monday to Friday
from 8:00 AM to 5:00 AM, with an hour for lunch. The calendar can
be modified for each resource.
§ For example, work hours can be modified, company holidays can
be entered as non-working days, and various shifts can be
entered.
o Human resources: Suppose a particular activity needs 2 unskilled
person and 1 skilled person to complete the task. These two
resources may be entered separately and will appear as 2L and 1S
on activity description in network.
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Table 14.1: Types of Resources and Amount Available
Type of resource Amount of resource
available (No.)
Period
From To
Skilled person 10
Unskilled person 100
o Labour cost: One of the many ways to specify labour cost is as,
§ Skilled worker -- $ 2.0
§ Unskilled worker -- $1.2
o Human resources available: All software requires periods and
amount of resources that are available for the project.
o Cost of construction materials: Materials needed for each task
and their estimated costs for the project may be as given below:
Table 14.2: Materials needed and Estimated cost is to
be Entered Against each Activity
Activity ID Activity
Description
Type of Materials Estimated Cost ($)
001 A Wood 200
002 B Pipe 300
... ... ... ...
00n N Flooring compound 500
o Activity identifier: Each activity of the project is assigned a code or
identifier.
o Activity description: Each activity has a description. The number of
characters should be within the number of characters specified by
the software for the activity name field.
o Precedence relationship: There are various options to show the
linkage between two consecutive activities in a network. One
common option is Finish-Start type. It means that the succeeding
activity can start only if all preceding activities to it have been
completed. This option (Finish-Start type) is the default option in all
project management software today for linking two activities.
Figure 14.1 depicts the various options for linking activities. These
are quite useful in reflecting the real-world situation in network.
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S F S F
A B
[t ]
(a) Finish to start: Activity B starts t units of time later than finish of
activity A.
S F S F
A B
[t ]
(b) Start to start: Activity B starts t units of time later than start of
activity A.
S
F S F
A
B
[t]
(c) Finish-to-Finish: Activity B finishes t units later than the finish of
activity
S
F S F
A
B
[t ]
(d) Start to Finish: Activity B finishes t units later than start of activity A.
S -- Start, F -- Finish
Fig. 14.1: Various Options to Link Activities
o Data entry error: All good management software contains error
detection routines that identify and reports errors. However, there are
certain errors which cannot be detected by software. These include:
§ An incorrect activity duration
§ An incorrect activity name
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§ An Incorrect precedence logic
§ An Incorrect cost data
§ A wrong resource entered
These errors have to be corrected manually by listing of the activity
records.
Activity
List example of some commercially used project management
software and their characteristics?
l Graphics: For a project involving a large number of activities,
drawing a correct network, manually takes a lot of time and effort.
One of the important features of PM software is its ability to generate
a variety of charts including network diagram, activity-linked Gantt
chart, and Gantt chart quickly. Further, changes in base line plan are
quite easy.
l Time analysis: If there is unlimited and flexible resource or if resource
can be outsourced, the network may be prepared at the earliest start
time of activities. In the real world, many projects are managed on this
basis.
PM packages carry out time analysis which includes calculation of early
start, early finish, late start, and late finish; free slack and total slack with
ease. Manually carrying out time analysis is tedious.
l Resources scheduling: Resources scheduling problems are of two
types:
o Resource leveling where unlimited and flexible resources are
available
o Resource allocation problem where resources are limited
In resource leveling, activities are scheduled to minimise the variation in
level of resource deployment.
Resource allocation problem is concerned with scheduling activities in
such a way so as to find the shortest project schedule.
The project management software uses heuristics to solve both types of
problems. For a moderate size problem involving 100 activities, it
becomes extremely difficult to carry on resource scheduling. PM
software is an invaluable tool to deal with this problem.
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l Output reports: Most PM software packages have extensive report
generation capabilities. They can generate a range of reports in
various forms (graphical, tabular, or textual). The reports are
standard or customised.
The content of each report for a recipient is based on a "need-to-know
basis" and is presented in a particular order. These requirements are
met by two features of the software namely, filtering (editing) and
sorting.
Filtering enables the user to select only certain data that meet some
specified criteria. Sorting, on the other hand, allows the user to view
information in a desired order such as pay rates from highest to lowest
or in alphabetical order. Most software allows multiple level of sorting
(for example, by year and then by dates).
Among the reports generated by the software include:
l Project schedule: Network (based on AON systems), linked Gantt
chart, Gantt chart
o Work-to list
l Cost related report: Budgeted vs. actual cost (daily and cumulative)
o Resources utilisation report
l Progress report: Overall project, milestone chart, critical path
o Chart showing responsibility of department/function to carry out
particular activities
o Progress summary report
l Updating: Updating is the process of producing a fresh set of
schedule and other reports to take account of one or more of the
following:
o A change to the project parameter, an unexpected increase or
decrease in the resource available, changed cost rate, or new
target dates.
o A change in network logic due to change in project scope, design
change, etc.
o To have a new schedule that take into account the progress
made to date.
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l Importing/exporting: The process of bringing information into the PM
software from other application such as word processing, spread sheet,
etc is called importing. Similarly, sending information from PM software
to other application is called exporting.
The exporting and importing obviates typing/data entry effort and
eliminates the possibility of associated error.
l Project monitoring and tracking: Tracking the progress about
schedule and cost is an important aspect of project management. Most
PM software packages permit the users to define a baseline plan and
compare the actual progress with respect to those in the baseline plan.
l What if analysis: This is a useful feature of PM software. This permits
to know the effect of changes in project variable (people, cost, and
change in scope) on project objective. This analysis helps the project
manager in taking an appropriate decision.
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