Project Management Network
According to Larson and Gray (2011) “the project network is a visual flow diagram of the sequence, interrelationships, and dependencies of all the activities that must be accomplished to complete the project” (p. 158). The project network diagram for the given task is the following:
B
E
4
3
H
6
A
C
F
J
2
3
6
5
D
G
I
2
5
5
It is necessary to state that taking into regards all preceding activities and dependencies of activities, the total project duration will be 22 weeks (A+C+F+H+J=2+3+6+6+5=22). If the activity B will be shorten to 2 weeks, nothing will change with the total duration, because activity H can be started only after completion of activity F. Activity F lasts 6 weeks and is the longest one.
It is obvious that activity H depends on the long in duration activity F, and, moreover, it also requires up to 6 weeks, that will require additional 2 weeks of waiting time for the whole project. If activity H will be shorten to a minimum 2 weeks than the total project can be 20 weeks (A+C+G+I+J=2+3+5+5+5=20 weeks). Therefore, if the activity H will be shorten to 2 weeks, the estimated duration of the whole project will be declined by two weeks.
As it is indicated by Larson and Gray (2011) “all leveling techniques delay noncritical activities by using positive slack to reduce peak demand and fill in the valleys for the resources” (p.258). The risk associated with levering of the resources is a loss of flexibility that happens when slacks are reduced. There is also the risk of possible delay in activities because the decrease in the slack level can lead to more critical activities creation or near-critical activities. It is risky to apply leveling too much to have almost ideal resource allocations. Each activity under such circumstances is transformed into critical (Larson & Gray, 2011).
A project may also require reducing its duration, for instance, due to the unforeseen delays such as design flaws, adverse weather or equipment breakdown. The risks associated with compressing the time on remaining critical activities are related to the additionally incurred costs. Therefore, project manager should compare these costs of getting back to the planned schedule with the potential harms that the delay in the project finishing date will bring. (Larson & Gray, 2011). When time is the prior issue, this can be especially valid. In case a project manager needs to apply the compression technique, it is necessary to change finish-to-start relations. A thorough review of these finish-to-start critical activities may reveal the potential opportunities how to save project execution time.
The crashing method in project management deals with the shortening of one or several activities. These activities are included into the critical path. The risks related to the project crashing can be in those cases when after crashing and gaining additional time, subsequent activities will not be carried out on time. Crashing frequently has the overallocation of resources as its outcome. In case there will be a need for resources to carry out the cheaper activity, such resources can be in scarcity. The …
