Project Schedule Development, Research Paper Example

Introduction

In order to develop a Project Schedule you will need to obtain a number of important pieces of information. Most of this information should be obtainable from the Scope and Definition Report of the project. A Gantt chart is the best way of illustrating both a timeline of events and a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). These are normally structured in a hierarchical sequence of Phase, Activity, Task, Sub Task and Milestone and often termed Activity Based Planning. (Meredith, J.R. 2008)

Extracting Data From the Scope Report

• The Project Schedule will require a title. This will be contained within the scope report i.e. Timeline Diagram for Project X mm/yyyy to mm/yyyy.
• The Phase will be the Project Name i.e. Project X
• The Activity is normally a component of the implementation cycle described in the scope report. In an IT project this might have been defined as Specification, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing and Implementation g. ANALYSIS
• Tasks are subordinate work allocations associated with an Activity. These are all measurable and are assigned resources in order to complete them. For example the Activity of Analysis may contain 10 tasks in order to complete. Tasks may have a further decomposition a sub-task g. two sub tasks when completed finalize a task completion
• Milestones are derived from key events or deliverables defined within the project scope document. These often used to show ending dates of blocks of activities.

Conclusions

The Project Scope document is a key foundation document for the entire project and one which change control is measured against. It provides essential information for Planning, Organisation and Control of the project.

References

Jack R. Meredith, S. J. (2008). Project Management: A managerial approach. New York: John Wiley.