- Project planning
Project planning is part of
project management , which relates to the use of schedules such asGantt chart s to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment. [cite book | author = Harold Kerzner | year = 2003 | title = Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling | edition = 8th Ed. | publisher = Wiley | id = ISBN 0-471-22577-0]Initially, the project scope is defined and the appropriate methods for completing the project are determined. Following this step, the durations for the various tasks necessary to complete the work are listed and grouped into a
work breakdown structure . The logical dependencies between tasks are defined using anactivity network diagram that enables identification of the critical path. Float or slack time in the schedule can be calculated usingproject management software [cite book | author = Richard H. Thayer, Edward Yourdon | year = 2000 | title = Software Engineering Project Management | edition = 2nd Ed. | publisher = Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Press | id = ISBN 0-8186-8000-8] . Then the necessary resources can beestimate d andcost s for each activity can be allocated to each resource, giving the total project cost. At this stage, theproject plan may be optimized to achieve the appropriate balance between resource usage and project duration to comply with the project objectives. Once established and agreed, the plan becomes what is known as the baseline. Progress will be measured against the baseline throughout the life of the project. Analyzing progress compared to the baseline is known asearned value management . [cite book | first = Quentin | last = Fleming | authorlink = | year = 2005 | title = Earned Value Project Management | edition = Third Edition | publisher = Project Management Institute | id = ISBN 1-930699-89-1]See also
*
Cost overrun
*Dependency Structure Matrix
*Project Management Institute
*Kitchen sink syndrome
*Megaproject
*PRINCE2
*Enterprise resource planning
*PMI Scheduling Professional credential References
External links
* [http://www.ipma.ch/ International Project Management Association]
* [http://www.pmhq.org/ Project Management Association of America]
* [http://www.pmi.org/ Project Management Institute]
* [http://www.planningengineers.org/ Planning Engineers Organization]
* [http://www.apm.org.uk/ Association for Project Managers (UK)]
* [http://www.ogc.gov.uk/methods_prince_2.asp Prince2 site from OGC (UK Office of Government Commerce)]
* [http://sporkforge.com/sched/critical_path.php Critical path web calculator]
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