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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.

Project Management Unit 14

Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 315

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.

Project Management Unit 14

Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 316

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

Project Management Unit 14

Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 317

§ 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.

Project Management Unit 14

Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 318

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.

Project Management Unit 14

Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 319

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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