PROJECT PLANNING AND CONTROLPROJECTS AND MANAGEMENT Project: series of related jobs usually directed toward some major output and requiring a significant period of time to perform. Project Management: planning, directing, and controlling resources (people, equipment, material) to meet the technical, cost, and time constraints of the project.

Projects can be vary in size and complexity. The common factor of all projects is a clearly defined aim and a start and a finish. Most people have been involved in projects.THE STEPS IN TYPICAL PROJECTS TYPICAL PROJECT ORGANIZATION

THE MAIN SKILLS REQUIRED FROM A PROJECT MANAGER: Organizational and planning skills People management skills Ability to follow problems down to a level of detail Communication skills Drive ands energy, with a optimistic outlook Goal orientation and customer focus. The project manager must have a very strong will Good technical knowledge covering many disciplines Change orientation. Every project introduces change and the project manager must be an advocate of change and be able to introduce this successfully into the organization.

NETWORK ANALYSIS

THE MAJOR STEPS IN CREATING AN ACTIVITY NETWORK FOR A PROJECT: The objectives of the project must first be clearly defined and understood by everyone working on the project or affected by the outcomes of the project. The project is broken down into major work areas or group. The tasks, or activities, needed to complete each sub-projects are defined. The time needed to complete each task is estimated, along with the resources needed. The activity network can be drawn, knowing the tasks and the relationship between tasks.

SOME IMPORTANT LAWS NEED TO BE OBSRVED WHEN DRAWING AND ANALYZING AN ACTIVITY NETWORK: The network must not contain loops. Loops are a repetition of activity and they will be repeated endlessly, never leading to the final event. The network should not have any dangles. Dangles are the events that go nowhere. It can be avoided by the use of dummy activities as shown in light line. In an activity network an event cannot be completed until all the activities leading to it have been completed. In an activity network an activity cannot start until its tail event has been completed.

Many computer based programmes exists, which enable large activity network to be drawn and analyzed.The use of these networks has several advantages: They force management to think logically about the objectives and tasks of a project. The tedious work of completing the network is then done by a computer. They show critical activities and enable management to focus on these. The process of creating an activity network requires a multi-departmental input and this builds up a better understanding of interdepartmental tasks and encourages teamwork. The activity network enables what-if analysis to be done, in order to study the impact of changes. It provides an ongoing project record. It gives a method for progressing tasks and determining the effects of slips sa they occur and of plan changes.

FINDING THE CRITICAL PATH A project manager needs to determine the critical activities within any project Parameters used to described activities:

Formulae for determining activity parameters: