Chapter 6:

Project Schedule
Management
Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition
Note: See the text itself for full citations

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

• Illustrate the importance that project schedules and good

project schedule management can have in helping to make
projects successful
• Discuss the process of planning schedule management
• Define activities as the basis for developing project schedules
• Describe how project managers use network diagrams and
dependencies to assist in activity sequencing
• Explain how various tools and techniques help project
managers perform activity duration estimates
• Use a Gantt chart for planning and tracking schedule
information, find the critical path for a project, and describe
how critical chain scheduling and the Program Evaluation and
Review Technique (PERT) affect schedule development
Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

• Compare how schedule management is addressed using Agile

vs. more predictive project approaches
• Discuss how reality checks and discipline are involved in
controlling and managing changes to the project schedule
• Describe how project management software can assist in
project schedule management and review words of caution
before using this software

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

The Importance of Project Schedules (1 of 3)

• Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their

biggest challenges
• Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no matter what
happens on a project
• Individual work styles and cultural differences may also cause
schedule conflicts
• Different cultures and even entire countries have different attitudes
about schedules

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 The Importance of Project Schedules (2 of 3)

• Project time management processes

• Planning schedule management
• Defining activities
• Sequencing activities
• Estimating activity durations
• Developing the schedule
• Controlling the schedule

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

The Importance of Project Schedules (3 of 3)

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Planning Schedule Management

• Elements of a schedule management plan

• Project schedule model development
• Scheduling methodology
• Level of accuracy and units of measure
• Control thresholds
• Rules of performance measurement
• Reporting formats
• Process descriptions

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Defining Activities (1 of 2)

• Defining activities involves identifying the specific actions that

will produce the project deliverables in enough detail to
determine resource and schedule estimates
• Activity list: a tabulation of activities to be included on a project
schedule
• Activity name, activity identifier or number, and brief description of the activity
• Activity attributes provide more information
• Predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource
requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the
activity

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Defining Activities (2 of 2)

• A milestone is a significant event that normally has no

duration
• It often takes several activities and a lot of work to complete a
milestone
• They’re useful tools for setting schedule goals and monitoring
progress
• Examples: obtaining customer sign-off on key documents or completion of
specific products

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Sequencing Activities (1 of 6)

• Sequencing process involves evaluating the reasons for

dependencies and the different types of dependencies
• A dependency or relationship is the sequencing of project activities
or tasks
• Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of the work being performed
on a project, sometimes referred to as hard logic
• Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project team, sometimes referred
to as soft logic. and should be used with care since they may limit later
scheduling options
• External dependencies: involve relationships between project and non-project
activities

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 Sequencing Activities (2 of 6)

• Network diagrams are the preferred technique for showing

activity sequencing
• Schematic display of the logical relationships among, or sequencing
of, project activities
• Two main formats are the arrow and precedence diagramming
methods

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Sequencing Activities (3 of 6)

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Sequencing Activities (4 of 6)

• Arrow diagramming method (ADM) (i.e., activity-on-arrow

network diagrams)
• Activities are represented by arrows
• Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of activities
• Only show finish-to-start dependencies
• Refer to the text for the step-by-step process of creating AOA
diagrams
• Precedence diagramming method (PDM)
• Network diagramming technique in which boxes represent activities
• Types of dependencies or relationships between activities
• Finish-to-start
• Start-to-start
• Finish-to-finish
• Start-to-finish
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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Sequencing Activities (5 of 6)

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Sequencing Activities (6 of 6)

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Estimating Activity Durations

• Duration includes the actual amount of time worked on an

activity plus elapsed time
• Effort is the number of workdays or work hours required to complete
a task and does not normally equal duration
• People doing the work should help create estimates
• An expert should review them
• A three-point estimate is an estimate that includes an
optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate
• Three-point estimates are needed for PERT and Monte Carlo
simulations

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Developing the Schedule

• Uses results of the other time management processes to

determine the start and end date of the project
• Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule that provides a
basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the
project
• Important tools and techniques
• Gantt charts
• Critical path analysis
• Critical chain scheduling
• PERT analysis

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Gantt Charts (1 of 5)

• Provide a standard format for displaying project schedule

information by listing project activities and corresponding
start and finish dates in a calendar form
• Symbols
• Black diamond: milestones
• Thick black bars: summary tasks
• Light gray horizontal bars: durations of tasks
• Arrows: dependencies between tasks

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Gantt Charts (2 of 5)

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Gantt Charts (3 of 5)

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Gantt Charts (4 of 5)

• Adding milestones to Gantt charts

• Many people like to focus on meeting milestones, especially for large
projects
• Milestones emphasize important events or accomplishments on projects
• SMART Criteria for milestones
• Specific
• Measurable
• Assignable
• Realistic
• Time-framed

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Gantt Charts (5 of 5)

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Critical Path Method (CPM) (1 of 2)

• Network diagramming technique used to predict total project

duration
• Critical path: series of activities that determine the earliest time by
which the project can be completed
• The longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of
slack or float; amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a
succeeding activity or the project finish date
• Calculating the critical path
• Develop a good network diagram and add the duration estimates for
all activities on each path through the network diagram
• Longest path is the critical path
• If one or more of the activities on the critical path takes longer than
planned, the whole project schedule will slip unless the project
manager takes corrective action

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Critical Path Method (CPM) (2 of 2)

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Growing Grass Can Be on the Critical Path

• The fact that its name includes the word critical does not
mean that it includes all critical activities
• Only accounts for time
• Example: growing grass for Disney’s Animal Kingdom
• There can be more than one critical path if the lengths of two
or more paths are the same
• Project managers should closely monitor performance of activities
on the critical path to avoid late project completion
• Critical path can change as the project progresses

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule

Trade-Offs (1 of 3)

• Free slack or free float

• Amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early
start of any immediately following activities
• Total slack or total float
• Amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start
without delaying the planned project finish date
• Forward pass
• Determines the early start and finish dates
• Backward pass
• Determines the late start and finish dates

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule
Trade-Offs (2 of 3)

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule

Trade-Offs (3 of 3)
Task Name Start Finish Late Start Late Finish Free Slack Total Slack

A 8/3/15 8/3/15 8/5/15 8/5/15 0d 2d

B 8/3/15 8/4/15 8/3/15 8/4/15 0d 0d

C 8/3/15 8/5/15 8/5/15 8/7/15 0d 2d

D 8/4/15 8/7/15 8/6/15 8/11/15 2d 2d

E 8/5/15 8/11/15 8/5/15 8/11/15 0d 0d

F 8/5/15 8/10/15 8/14/15 8/17/15 7d 7d

G 8/6/15 8/13/15 8/10/15 8/17/15 0d 2d

H 8/12/15 8/19/15 8/12/15 8/19/15 0d 0d

I 8/14/15 8/17/15 8/18/15 8/19/15 2d 2d

J 8/20/15 8/24/15 8/20/15 8/24/15 0d 0d

Table 6-1 Free and Total Float or Slack for Project X

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in
part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website
for classroom use.

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 Using the Critical Path to Shorten a Project
Schedule

• Main techniques for shortening schedules

• Shortening durations of critical activities/tasks by adding more
resources or changing their scope
• Crashing activities by obtaining the greatest amount of schedule
compression for the least incremental cost
• Fast tracking activities by doing them in parallel or overlapping them

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Importance of Updating Critical Path Data

• It is important to update the schedule with actual data

• Note actual activity durations as they are completed
• Revise estimates for activities in progress
• Monitor changes to make informed decisions

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Critical Chain Scheduling (1 of 4)

• Considers limited resources when creating a project schedule

and includes buffers to protect the project completion date
• Uses the Theory of Constraints (TOC): management philosophy
developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt; attempts to minimize multitasking
when a resource works on more than one task at a time

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in
part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website
for classroom use.

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Critical Chain Scheduling (2 of 4)

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part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website
for classroom use.

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 Critical Chain Scheduling (3 of 4)

• Additional concepts
• Buffer: additional time to complete a task
• Murphy’s Law: if something can go wrong, it will
• Parkinson’s Law: work expands to fill the time allowed
• Project buffer: additional time added before the project’s due date
• Feeding buffers: additional time added before tasks on the critical
path

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Critical Chain Scheduling (4 of 4)

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 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

• Network analysis technique used to estimate project duration

when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the
individual activity duration estimates
• Uses probabilistic time estimates: duration estimates based on using
optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations
• By using the PERT weighted average for each activity duration
estimate, total project duration estimate takes into account the risk
or uncertainty in the individual activity estimates

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Controlling the Schedule

• Goals of schedule control

• Know the status of the schedule
• Influence the factors that cause schedule changes
• Determine that the schedule has changed
• Manage changes when they occur
• Main inputs to schedule control
• Project management plan
• Project documents
• Work performance data
• Organizational process assets

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 Reality Checks on Scheduling and the Need for
Discipline

• Important activities
• Review the draft schedule or estimated completion date in the
project charter
• Prepare a more detailed schedule with the project team
• Make sure the schedule is realistic and followed
• Alert top management well in advance if there are schedule
problems

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Using Software to Assist in Project Schedule

Management

• Software for facilitating communications helps people

exchange schedule-related information
• Decision support models help analyze trade-offs that can be made to
address schedule issues
• Project management software can help in various time management
areas

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Words of Caution on Using Project Management
Software

• Many people misuse project management software because

they don’t understand important concepts and have not had
training
• Example: dependencies must be entered to have dates adjust
automatically and to determine the critical path
• Many project management software programs come with
templates or sample files
• It is very easy to use these files without considering unique project
needs
• Project managers and their teams should be careful not to rely too
much on templates or sample files and ignore the unique concerns
of their particular projects

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Chapter Summary

• Project time management is often cited as the main source of

conflict on projects
• Most IT projects exceed time estimates
• Main processes
• Plan schedule management
• Define activities
• Sequence activities
• Estimate activity resources
• Estimate activity durations
• Develop schedule
• Control schedule

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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