Dr.
Farah Abbas Naser
BASRAH ENGINEERING
TECHNICAL COLLEGE
FOURTH STAGE – ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT / LECTURE 3
Project Scheduling methods
Project Scheduling is the process of determining
the sequential order of the planned activities,
assigning realistic durations to each activity,
and determining the start and finish date for
each activity.
What we consider in Scheduling?
How long the project is expected to take?
When each activity should be started and ended?
How resources can be used properly?
What are the critical bottlenecks in the project?
Project Scheduling Principles
Project scheduling is carried out before a project begins
It involves (1) identifying tasks, (2) estimating duration and (3)
allocating resources
Once the project is underway, the schedule may need to be revised based on
initial progress
The revision is done by creating milestones
This ensures (1) cost estimates and (2) time constraints are maintained
at a specific level of quality and scope
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FOURTH STAGE – ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT / LECTURE 3
Activity and Event
Activity is a single work step (element) that has a recognizable beginning and
end and requires time and resource for its accomplishment.
An Event marks the point in time when an activity completes.
Note: Activity is often used as an alternative term for task.
Example: Sequence of Activities for House construction project (Network
diagram)
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FOURTH STAGE – ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT / LECTURE 3
Predecessor activities mean coming before
Successor activities mean coming after
The duration of an activity is the time that will be consumed in
completing a task
Overlap the activities to reduce the project time
Activity Duration
One of the following tools and techniques can be used for estimating the
activity duration:
Expert judgment
Quantitative calculations
Duration of activity (D) = Quantity of work / [Production rate
of a crew or equipment ×No. of crews]
Where:
production rate = Quantity produced in unit of time
Duration of activity (D) = Quantity of work × Unit rate
productivity of a crew or equipment
Where:
unit rate productivity = Time needs to produce one unit of output
➢ Time unit (days, weeks etc.) is employed to specify activity duration.
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FOURTH STAGE – ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT / LECTURE 3
Scheduling Techniques
➢ Bar Charts and Linked Bar Charts
➢ Network Model (Analysis)
Activity on arrow (AOA)
Activity on node (AON)
Precedence Diagram
➢ Line of Balance
➢ Time-location Diagram
1. Bar Charts and Linked Bar Charts
Henry Gantt developed a method of relating a list of activities to a
timescale in a very effective manner, by drawing bar charts.
Activities are presented as bars on the chart, while across the top or bottom
of the chart is a time line.
For each activity, a bar is drawn from the activity’s starting time until its
ending time.
Its primary advantage is that its simple graphic representation allows one
to grasp schedule information quickly and easily.
Bar charts are the most commonly employed and readily recognized
scheduling models in use today.
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FOURTH STAGE – ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT / LECTURE 3
Bar chart showing General Construction Work Tasks
The activity sequencing is for an apartment, and one can easily see when each
activity is to begin and when is to be completed.
This simple example shows at a glance how the different activities relate to
each other.
Note that the activities are time scaled and have been superimposed over a
calendar.
With the timescale presentation, a bar chart shows operations and the time
consumed by each operation.
Bar Chart can also show the scheduled versus actual progress.
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FOURTH STAGE – ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT / LECTURE 3
The heavy-dashed vertical line represents the current date, and the shaded
portions of the activities indicate the amount of work that has been completed
by the current date.
It is obvious that the project is slightly behind schedule.
The progress on the framing activity has not met expectations.
It is evident that the project can be completed on time by accelerating the work
effort on framing, finishing interiors, or both.
This information is easy to grasp from this bar chart, and there is little chance
of misinterpretation.
Use of Bar Chart in showing Scheduled versus Actual Progress
Bar chart showing scheduled versus actual performance.
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FOURTH STAGE – ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT / LECTURE 3
Adjustments to the schedule may be warranted if the delay in project completion
(about 1 week) is not acceptable.
Uses of Bar Chart
Showing the order of the different activities.
Showing when operations should start and finish.
Checking what labor or equipment are needed and when.
Checking out delivery dates for materials.
Explaining to everyone concerned what and when is due to happen.
Forecasting cash flow.
During execution, the chart can be used to control the work.
Advantages of Bar Chart
A major strength of bar charts is the ability to clearly and quickly present the
status of a project.
No extensive training is required to learn how
to extract information from them.
Shortcoming of Bar Charts
• Very cumbersome as the number of activities, increases.
• Difficult to use for forecasting the effects of changes.
• No indication where management attention should be focused.
• Ineffective for project shortening.
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