Data Reliability In A Network Diagram

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Name

Professor

Institution

Course

Date

Task 1

Network Diagram

C:\Users\francis\Desktop\diagram5.jpg

Critical path ; A-B-C-G-H-J-K-L-N-O-P-Q-R

2. The timing of activities and total float

The timing of activities is arrived at by drawing the network diagram, and then examining the preceding activities in their respective sequences. On the other hand, the total float is calculated by summing up the slacks of non-critical activities which are arrived at by subtracting the earliest finish time from late finish time.

3. Determining project duration and critical path

The critical path is always the longest path in the diagram consisting of activities that cannot be delayed without delaying the finish duration of the entire project. This is just a combination of all errands that determine the end of your project schedule. In the event any of the tasks scheduled gets delayed by one day, the effect is that the end date of the project will also be pushed forward by one day. In some instances, you will find that there are tasks which are not on the critical path. This is caused by a slack in the project schedule. Slack means total amount of time which a given task can be delayed without causing any impact on the date which the subsequent task begins. The critical path approach is just a method of identifying all the undertakings that directly affect the project end date.

4. If the project starts on Monday April 2013, it will end earliest on 1st of July under a 5day working week. This date is arrived at by examining the activity times along the critical path which is a combination of all errands that determine the end of the entire project .

5(a) If activity D is delayed by one day it will have no effect on the duration of the whole project because activity D has an allowable slack of five days.

(b)If activity M is delayed by one day it will have no effect on the duration of the whole project because activity M has and allowable slack of two days. Activity M has slack time of two days hence its delay by one day will not affect the start date of the subsequent task. This will not have any effect on the duration of the entire project.

(c) Completing activity Q by one day early will lead to a one-day early completion of the whole project since it is a critical activity and it has no slack time. Activity Q has no slack time so it will affect the completion of the whole project if it is completed one day early from the scheduled end date.

6. Limitations of network diagrams

Though network diagrams have a lot advantages, there are also many disadvantages which are attributed to the use of network diagrams. (Kesidis, 2007) .These reduce the reliability of network diagrams but that does not mean that one would be better off without network diagrams. The concept here is to understand that just like any other good thing, network diagrams also have their limitations involving,

Time consuming

Time is a very important factor in any organization. For an organization to be successful, time must be used properly and for profitable purposes. Anything that has the effect of wasting time should not be incorporated in an organization unless its incorporation is inevitable. Anyone who has ever used a network diagram will agree with me that the entire process consumes a lot of time. The whole process of producing a network diagram requires a lot of input in terms of time, energy and thinking. This usually takes a lot of time that would otherwise have been used for other profitable work. This is in fact the biggest limitation of network diagrams.

Increased costs.

The basic aim for any organization or any work place is to make money. This makes it essential for an organization to cut down its spending expenditure. If it ends up spending a lot more than it should, losses will surely be inevitable. Network diagrams involve a lot of work and skill to produce, making its production very costly. This is surely not good for an organization whose focus is making profits. This costly production is a big setback in the use of network diagrams.

Complexity of network diagrams

It is common knowledge that many network diagrams are very complex. They usually need someone who has a good understanding of the diagram to understand it. If someone who has shallow knowledge of network diagrams is brought in, chances are, he will end up misinterpreting it. This may have adverse effects on an organization like losses. So, one has to be very careful while interpreting a network diagram.

Data reliability in a network diagram

One cannot entirely rely on data produced in a network diagram. There are chances of mistakes when a network diagram is being produced. This reduces the reliability of network diagrams. Some data like time scales can be produced with errors and in some instances you might come across some missing tasks.

External factors

In the use of network diagrams, there is the threat of other external factors which cause problems. In network diagrams, the assumption is that all other factors are kept constant which is obviously not the case. (Nakatsu,2009).

Is there any necessity of using network diagrams?

Most of the tasks which are performed using network diagrams are simple tasks which need not involve anything more complex. If a task is simple, why would one need to use a network diagram. As above-mentioned, network diagrams are not cost effective in their production and they also consume a lot of time. So, if a task is simple, there is no need of using a network diagram.

TASK 2

PROJECT MANAGEMENT REPORT

Contents

Executive Summary

This is a report that is aimed at investigating the main issues in a project by IBEK ltd. IBEK ltd will be opening a new building they have recently acquired. A project management involves a wide range of factors which run from planning to cleanup and more so ensuring the goals and specifications of clients are met within the given budget and cost structure. These factors will all be put into consideration by IBEK ltd as they open their newly acquired building so as to utilize all the available resources and cut down the cost structure.

Background

All projects involve an interrelated set of activities which have a definite starting and ending point. All these set of activities end up in the accomplishment of a unique major outcome or an identifiable goal. This is reached by use of an integrated system of quite complex but interdependent relationships. Project management is the planning and control of events that together comprise the project and it aims at ensuring the effective use of resources and delivery of the project objectives on time and within cost constraints. Project management simply makes it possible for a project to be delivered within the required time span and minimizing the cost of the entire project. An activity or task is the smallest unit of work effort within the project and it consumes both time and resources which are under the control of the project manager.

The purpose of project management is to achieve successful project completion with the resources available. For this project to be successful, it has been finished on time, within its cost budget and to a technical performance standard which satisfies the end user.

Problem statement

The purpose of this report is to analyze the activities that will enable the successful implementation of the initiative of acquiring a new building. This is the process by which the project will be complete within the shortest time period and use the least amount of resources. It intends to look at how the project should be managed through all the stages and any limitations that could affect the project go in a negative way. By looking at how the project is managed ,the chances of any processes going wrong are minimized by a great percentage .In particular, the manager has to plan thoroughly all aspects of the project involving the active involvement of all functional areas involved in order to obtain and maintain a realistic plan that satisfies the commitment for performance. He should be very careful and keen with every small detail of the entire project to ensure that nothing goes wrong and in case something goes wrong, he should find a quick remedy to the situation.

Methodology

This project will require a detailed and keen examination of several aspects before recommending the same to the client. This recommendations should be able to address the various factors that might limit acquisition of an already build premises in respect to capacity requirement, staff, performance of the staff, cost and efficiency of all elements of the project as a whole. They should point out to the specific cause problems and also facilitate the possible solutions. The methodology will enable the project manager to monitor performance and overall standards of cost and time with ease (Kerzner, 2001). .

To begin with, a competent project manager should posse skills that will enable a smooth flow of processes and activities through the project life cycle. This gives a sense of success as possibility of project failure is analyzed in the early stages and corrective measures taken to eliminate aspects of communication failure, misunderstanding of project idea by client, complexity and contradictory objectives. The manager will be expected to establish success criteria by analyzing the project to ensure that it has the potential and the investment on it would not go to waste, but would yield attractive returns which ensures the client that the project is realistic and achievable.

Secondly, project appraisal and organization is the examination of various issues that include, technical, managerial, socio cost benefit, ecological and commercial and further dividing the activities of the organization and establishing authority responsibility relationship between them. This ensures commitment of resources and optimized resource utilization throughout the life cycle which involves the following phases.

Conception phase –this the phase during which the project idea germinates. The idea needs to be put to shape before they can be considered and compared with competitive ideas. The ideas need to be examined in light of objectives and constraints. If this phase is avoided or truncated, the project will have innate defects and may eventually become a liability for the investors. A well-conceived project will go a long way for successful implementation and operation of a project; ideas may undergo some changes as the project progresses because pertinent data may not be available at inception

Definition phase develops the idea generated during the conception phase and produce a document describing the project in sufficient details covering all aspects necessary for the client and for financial institutions to make up their minds on the project idea .The areas to be examined are; raw materials requirement, plant size /capacity enumeration of plant capacity for the entire plant and for the main deportments, location and site, reasons for selection and description of selected technology, selection of optimum layout, reasons for selection and appropriate drawings, utilities like fuel, power, water, telephone, manpower and organization pattern and lastly the implementation schedule: This phase clears some of the ambiguities and uncertainties associated with the formation made during the conceptual phase. It also establishes the risk involved in going ahead with the project in clear terms. A project can either be accepted or get dropped at this stage (Wysocki,2004).

Planning and Organizing Phase is involved with preparation for the project to take off smoothly. This phase is often taken as a part of the implementation phase since it does not limit itself to paperwork and thinking. This phase includes the following project infrastructure and enabling services, system design a, basic engineering package, organization ,manpower, schedule and budgets, Licensing / governmental clearances, Systems and procedures design basis , general conditions for purchase and contract, Site preparation and investigations

Implementation Phase has preparation of specification for equipment and machinery; ordering of equipment lining up construction contractors, trial runs, etc. As far as the volume of work is concerned 80-85% of the project work is done in this phase only. The bulk of the work is done during this phase therefore the need to complete this phase as fast as possible with minimum resources.

Project Clean –Up Phase which is a transition phase in which the hardware built with the active involvement of various agencies is physically handed over for production to a different agency who was not so involved earlier. Drawing, documents, files, operation and maintenance manuals are catalogued and handed over to the client. Project accounts are closed, materials reconciliation carried out, outstanding payments made and dues collected during this phase. Essentially this is the handing over of the project to the client.

Lastly, like any other projects there are chances of risks which should be analyzed and responded to by applying risk management principles and processes. Preventive measures to minimize risks and contingent plans on how to counter them will enable a stable project. For instance, aspects of risk like legal requirements, technical issues and changes, financial constraints, political, climate conditions and social damage pose a major challenge to the consistency of projects creating a snowball effect and misconceptions.

Discussion

From the above analysis, it can be seen that success of a project involves various aspects which are interrelated in various activities. The project manager in charge of the opening the new building acquired by IBEK limited will have to follow all the above –mentioned procedures if at all there will be a successful completion of the project. Assuming or rather ignoring some of the steps that may seem simple may end up having adverse effects on the entire project. During the conception stage at IBEK ltd, the project manager should be at the forefront in putting the idea into shape and also compare it with other similar ideas. He will need to help in the examining of the ideas and deciding which ideas best fit the project. If the project manager ignores this important stage, chances are the project will not be a success. In the definition stage the project manager will also look at all aspects which will affect the financial institutions and client decisions. He should check all the requirements in the project and everything that will affect the entire project in terms of costs. He will also need to consider the following ;location and site, reasons for selection and description of selected technology, selection of optimum layout, reasons for selection and appropriate drawings, utilities like fuel, power, water, telephone, manpower and organization pattern. In the implementation stage the project manager at IBEK Ltd should supervise the required equipment for the project. He should aim at ensuring that acquired equipment will ensure the completion of the project in the shortest possible time and make use of minimum resources. This is another most important phase in project management as the direct result of this is the amount of time used and the total money spend on the project. Therefore the project manager at IBEK Ltd should take this phase seriously as it has direct impact on cost and time of the project. In project clean-up, the project manager will be involved in drawing, documents, files, operation and maintenance manuals are catalogued and handed over to the client (Heerkens,2002).

Conclusion

In project management, many things have to be put into consideration. In the project, IBEK ltd the project manager will have to fully understand his obligations and ensure that the project is done within the least amount of time and use the least resources. It is the work of the project manager to coordinate the project team to enhance overall project performance .Developing a good project team will improve the competences and collaborations among team mates as well as minimizing conflicts which create disagreements or arguments. Since this is a project about opening of a new building, IBEK Ltd should consider putting a person with a good understanding of the project and somebody who has the necessary experience in that field. When the project manager is deciding the equipment to be used in the project, he should take into consideration the availability of the equipment, the time needed to get the equipment and the workforce needed for the completion of the project.

Recommendations

A proper project team management will be needed for this project. This will have to involve various inputs like organizational process assets, project staff assignments, staffing management plans and performance reports (Russell,2011).. Majorly the following aspect should be addressed in depth. A good project manager will have to possess the following qualities:

• Personnel management skills

• Communication skills

• Change orientation

• Ability to solve problems in their totality

• High energy i.e. levels work under pressure

• Ambition for achievements

• Ability to take suggestions

• Understanding the views of the project team members

• Ability to develop alternative actions quickly

• Knowledge of project management methods and tools

• Ability to make self-evaluation

• Effective time management

• Capacity to relate current events to project management

• Ability to handle project management software tools /packages (lock,2001)

Tracking individual’s performance-This means tracking each and every employee’s performance. This ensures that each employee gives the maximum work output hence ensuring that the work is completed within the scheduled time and the cost of production.

Providing feedback-feedback about the progress is important for the proper and smooth running of the project.

Resolving issues-The project manager will have to take the responsibility of resolving any issues that arise. He should always be ready to face any issues that concern the project at IBEK Ltd.

The project manager should also consider other external factors that might have an effect on the project like project evaluation which will help address issues of variances in actual and estimated budgeted costs (Dinsmore ,2011).A detailed project report will be necessary for enabling effective communication to the project promoter’s decision of venturing the project to financial institutions and other departments for approval.

If all the above recommendations are considered, the project will be successful. The project manager at IBEK Ltd should consider all of the above recommendations to ensure that the expenses are reduced and the time used also gets reduced.