Project time management journals pdf

Download Download PDF. Translate PDF. This is the most valuable resource in a project. Every delivery that you are supposed to make is time-bound. Therefore, without proper time management, a project can head towards a disaster.

When it comes to project time management, it is not just the time of the project manager, but it is the time management of the project team. Scheduling is the easiest way of managing project time. In this approach, the activities of the project are estimated and the durations are determined based on the resource utilization for each activity.

In addition to the estimate and resource allocation, cost always plays a vital role in time management. This is due to the fact that schedule over-runs are quite expensive. The Steps of the Time Management Process Following are the main steps in the project time management process. Each addresses a distinct area of time management in a project. Defining Activities When it comes to a project, there are a few levels for identifying activities. First of all, the high- level requirements are broken down into high-level tasks or deliverables.

Sequencing Activities In order to manage the project time, it is critical to identify the activity sequence. The activities identified in the previous step should be sequenced based on the execution order.

However, two of the projects with a Total UI smaller than the mean value of 0. Moreover, Figures 2 and 3 depict the distributions of the SV values see Table 8 , respectively, obtained for the group of projects with Total UI values greater than the mean Total UI i. The former group of projects resulted with a mean SV value of 0.

The statistical dependence between the UI values and the schedule performance values i. Actually, a previous study conducted by Yean and Theng [ 14 ] proved a significant correlation between sixteen practices associated with controlling and the performance of the projects.

They identified that the most relevant controlling practices include appropriate use of project information for developing the project schedule, proper use of activity floats for scheduling, and the quality of techniques supporting identification of project risks.

Yean and Theng also emphasized that good practices for project management and adequate resources are not enough for attaining good performance in projects, but on-site control systems are also required to accomplish performance objectives of construction projects. On the other hand, results in this study evidenced a significant statistical relationship between the use of practices recommended for project planning and controlling and project performance. The results of study reported in this paper indicate a significant effect of the use of processes related to Project Time Management on project performance, especially for completing the construction phase within the original schedule.

However, the results obtained from the assessment of both variables demonstrate a mediocre level of project management. The use of PTM processes was assessed with a Use Index obtained with the responses provided by managers of fourteen projects, who selected from a list of seventy-seven tasks associated with schedule planning and controlling those that had been used in their own projects.

In this case, the mean value obtained for the Use Index of these projects was 0. This result is consistent with other previous studies that found that poor project planning and controlling are one of the main causes of project delays. On the other hand, project schedule performance was assessed with the Schedule Performance Index and the Schedule Variance obtained with the Earned Schedule method. According to the SPI and SV measures obtained in this study, only seven out of fourteen projects were completed within the original schedule.

The other seven projects were delayed though four of them were granted an extension of time to complete the construction works. This extension was actually attributable to the owner since an augmentation of the project scope was required. This also coincides with other studies in which the changes required by owners were found to be a major cause of project delays. However, despite poor project management observed in these projects, it was proved that the more effort dedicated to project schedule management the more likely to succeed on timely completion of construction projects.

In most of the projects in which completion was attained on time, a greater amount of tasks associated with schedule planning and controlling was used. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article of the Year Award: Outstanding research contributions of , as selected by our Chief Editors. Read the winning articles. Academic Editor: Eric Lui. Received 30 Jun Accepted 17 Sep Published 15 Oct Abstract Delays have been frequently reported as the cause of several conflicts that affect the different parties involved in construction projects.

Introduction The delays on the delivery of construction projects are seen as one of the most frequent problems in the construction industry [ 1 ].

Research Methods The study included the assessment of fourteen school construction projects executed by different construction firms serving the same client: a public agency dedicated to the development of school infrastructure in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.

Measuring the Use of PTM Processes The practices, tools, and techniques that the PMI recommends were considered in order to assess the extent to which the PTM processes were used in the execution of the projects included in this study.

Processes Associated tasks Activity definition To identify project work packages and decompose into schedule activities to provide a basis for estimating, scheduling, executing, and monitoring and controlling the project work. To consider enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets, as well as the project deliverables, constraints, and assumptions documented in the project scope statement.

To elaborate an activity list that includes all schedule activities that are planned to be performed on the project i. To elaborate the scope of work description for each schedule activity in sufficient detail to ensure that project team members understand what work is required to be completed. To determine the attributes associated with each schedule activity e. To obtain the list of schedule milestones identifying all milestones and indicating whether the milestone is mandatory or optional.

To generate requested changes that can affect the project scope statement and WBS. Activity duration estimating To consider historical information maintained as part of organizational process assets, as well as the constraints and assumptions from the project scope statement. To consider the estimated activity resource requirements and resource calendars since resources assigned to the schedule activity, and the availability of such resources, will significantly influence the duration of most activities.

To estimate activity durations through techniques such as expert judgment, analogous estimating, parametric estimating, three-point estimates, or reserve analysis. To update the activity attributes to include the durations for each schedule activity, the assumptions made in developing the activity duration estimates, and any contingency reserves.

Schedule monitoring To implement the schedule change control system that defines the procedures by which the project schedule can be changed. It includes the paperwork, tracking systems, and approval levels necessary for authorizing changes. To measure the progress of schedule activities in order to obtain the data required for determining the project schedule performance.

To report the progress and current schedule status, including information such as actual start and finish dates, remaining durations for unfinished schedule activities, and the percent complete of in-progress schedule activities.

To use a comparison bar displaying two bars: one depicting the current actual status and the other the status of the approved project schedule baseline for each schedule activity, in order to facilitate analysis of schedule progress.

To update the project schedule for determining if the schedule baseline has changed; this includes developing new project schedule network diagrams to display approved remaining durations and modifications to the work plan. To develop, when project schedule delays are severe, a new target schedule with revised target start and finish dates, in order to provide realistic data for directing the work, and for measuring performance and progress. To calculate schedule variance SV and schedule performance index SPI values for WBS components, in order to provide useful information for the detection of deviations.

Table 1. Examples of PTM processes and corresponding tasks [ 7 ]. Function Processes Number of associated tasks Schedule planning Activity definition 7 Activity sequencing 12 Activity resource estimating 7 Activity duration estimating 4 Schedule development 23 Schedule controlling Schedule monitoring 7 Schedule control Table 2. Figure 1. Table 3. Information of contractors and projects observed in this study.

Improves project team trust: Resource scheduling and planning also improves project team trust. They trust the schedule because it gives them suitable insight into busy project time for advance project planning, hence this will improve the working environment and team accountability. Anticipate delays: In project, delays are inevitable for various reasons.

Effective and efficient project schedule can help project team to predict the delays earlier enough and adjust deadlines as required. Advance planning: Project scheduling helps project team to plan for impending projects by predicting the future capacity and demand for the projects. Understand project trends: Project scheduling also contains assessing the project trends.

Top management can consider seasonal highs and lows and adjust project scheduling to forestall bottlenecks and low activity periods. Provides project with real data and analysis; Monitoring project resource utilization in a project is a very critical to timely project delivery and cost efficiency.

Using project monitoring technology to track project schedules in real-time offers key data and analysis. Project Time Management Process Time management is a significant aspect of managing a project. As such, according to PMI, it is one of the knowledge management areas and is closely joined to scope and cost areas. According to PMBOK, the main purpose of time management as knowledge area, is to build processes, inputs and outputs into the project management that assist the project managers and team to complete the project within the constraint of time.

During the project planning process, outputs are created to demonstrate how project activities and tasks will be sequenced and resources will be allocated. The controlling and monitoring dimension of project time management process is concerned with fast tracking and reporting on project work progress, as well as continuous updating and adjusting time outputs to address changes in the project plan.

Project time management process can be categorized into two dimensions; Planning and Project control. Project activity list can be defined as an arrangement of tasks or activities to be included on a project schedule such as; name of the activity, project activity identifier and a brief explanation of the project activity. On the other hand, project activity attributes give more information about activity such as resource requirements, logical relationships-imposed dates, predecessors, successors, constraints, leads and lags, and assumptions related to the activity - while project milestone is an important event that signifies an achievement, it is normally has no duration.

This involves finding out and documenting the linkages that exist between project activities and tasks - this process includes reviewing project scope statement, activity list and attributes, milestone list and approved change requests to determine the relationships between tasks and activities. In doing this, the project manager must be able to determine dependencies in order to use critical path analysis as tool for activity scheduling. Second type of dependency is discretionary dependencies; this dependency is defined by the project team, it is also denoted as preferential soft logic, when these dependencies are not controlled, they may limit later scheduling options.

Let consider project X with 2 activities C and D, C and D can be autonomously performed, or one can be performed after the other, Project team can choose to make D dependent on C The third dependency termed as external dependencies, this involves relationships between project and non-project activities. While the project activities, on the other hand, project activities are done by the project team members. While Internal Project Dependencies occurs between two project activities.

The Project Team usually has full control over project such activities. These are performed by the Project Team members and there is no involvement of any external party. Once the independencies have been identifying, the project team will then need to develop project network diagrams, Project network diagrams are the ideal technique for showing activity sequencing, A network diagram is a graphic exhibition of the logical relationships among the activities, or sequencing of project activities.

The next process is activity resource estimate which involves estimating how many or much resource s a project team should use to deliver project activities, before estimating activity resources you must have a good idea of the quantity and type of resources to be assigned to each activity, Study important issues in estimating resources, how difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project.

Are the required resources available or need to be acquired? Project Activity 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, this can be done using a three-Point Estimate technique.

Ultimate goal is this process is to create a realistic and achievable project schedule that provides the project team a basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the project, tools and techniques include Gantt charts, critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling, and PERT analysis. Project Control: The last process in time management is the Project schedule control, this includes controlling and managing changes to the project schedule, performing reality checks on the schedules, Allowing for contingencies.

Skills needed in this process includes, holding progress meetings with stakeholders and communicating schedule issues, knowing the status of the schedule, understanding influence factors that cause schedule changes, determining that the schedule has changed, and manage changes when they occur. Tools and techniques used in this process include: Progress reports, A schedule change control system, Project management software, including schedule comparison charts like the project tracking Gantt chart, Project variance analysis, such as analyzing float or slack, Performance management, such as earned value During reality Checks on Schedule the project team should consider the following; First review estimated completion date in the project charter, developed detailed schedule with the project team, follow the schedule, inform top management well in advance should you experience any problems with the schedule, Authenticate schedule progress.

The outcome of good time management process is to increase effectiveness and productivity. Time is a key aspect of project management and which includes planning skills, goal setting and prioritizing for a better project performance.

Time management can be said to be the act of planning, scheduling and exercising conscious control over the limited time spent on specific project activities, particularly to increase their effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Currently project time management structure is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods.