In
order to sequence time and allocate resources to a project, project managers
use project scheduling which serves several purposes. It illustrates the
relationship of activities with each other and to the whole project, it
identifies the precedence relationship between activities, it demonstrate the
realistic time and cost estimates for each activity, and it optimize labor and
material resources by identifying project’s critical barriers.
Project
Scheduling shows the relationship of each activity to others and to the whole
project. For example a multi-million dollar movie project consists of many
interrelated activities such as A:screen writing, B:story boarding: C:casting, D:Makeup,
decoration, costume design, and cinematography E:video shooting, F:audio
recording, G:music scoring, H:creating visual and special effects, I:dubbing, and
J:mixing, and editing. Project scheduling can demonstrate the relationship
between these activities leading to the final product in a timely manner. Figure
1-1 shows these relationships.
In
the movie production some activities precede others. For example activity A has
to finish prior to B and C and activity B and C has to finish before activity D
can start. Project managers can use project scheduling to identify the
precedence relationship between these activities.
Each
activity in the production or post production requires its time margin and
relative cost. Project scheduling serve to demonstrate the realistic time and
cost estimates for each activity. In each activity we can determine the
earliest time of start and finish as well as the latest time of start and
finish. If we change the time on one activity, this will affect the start and
finish time of all the dependent activities within the chain.
At last, project managers use project
scheduling to optimize labor and material resources by identifying critical
barriers in the project. For example they find the critical path in order to
remove critical bottlenecks and they analyze the project schedule in order to
expedite the project using the crash time and cost.
Nowadays computer software ease and excel the
process of project scheduling. It is very difficult or maybe impossible for a
project manager to meet his/her deadlines without having a proper project
schedule.
Figure
1-1
1. K is the final Product
2. Red arrows show the
critical path considering the time duration of G is greater than F,H, and I and
the time duration of C is greater than B.
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A
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B
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D
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E
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F
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G
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J
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Kinal Product
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H
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C
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I
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Resource:
Heizer Jay, Render Barry;
Operations Management, Prentice Hall: 10th
Edition.
