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2013 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Project Management with Dynamic Scheduling

Baseline Scheduling, Risk Analysis and Project Control

Author: Mario Vanhoucke

Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

The topic of this book is known as dynamic scheduling, and is used to refer to three dimensions of project management and scheduling: the construction of a baseline schedule and the analysis of a project schedule’s risk as preparation of the project control phase during project progress. This dynamic scheduling point of view implicitly assumes that the usability of a project’s baseline schedule is rather limited and only acts as a point of reference in the project life cycle. Consequently, a project schedule should especially be considered as nothing more than a predictive model that can be used for resource efficiency calculations, time and cost risk analyses, project tracking and performance measurement, and so on.

In this book, the three dimensions of dynamic scheduling are highlighted in detail and are based on and inspired by a combination of academic research studies at Ghent University (www.ugent.be), in-company trainings at Vlerick Business School (www.vlerick.com) and consultancy projects at OR-AS (www.or-as.be). First, the construction of a project baseline schedule is a central theme throughout the various chapters of the book, and is discussed from a complexity point of view with and without the presence of project resources. Second, the creation of an awareness of the weak parts in a baseline schedule is discussed at the end of the two baseline scheduling parts as schedule risk analysis techniques that can be applied on top of the baseline schedule. Third, the baseline schedule and its risk analyses can be used as guidelines during the project control step where actual deviations can be corrected within the margins of the project’s time and cost reserves.

The second edition of this book has seen corrections, additions and amendments in detail throughout the book. Moreover Chapter 15 on "Dynamic Scheduling with ProTrack" has been completely rewritten and extended with a section on "ProTrack as a research tool".

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter gives a short introduction to the central theme of the book and highlights the three components of dynamic project scheduling: the construction of a project baseline schedule, a risk analysis of this schedule and the project’s performance measurement and control component. The chapter also gives a short introduction to the project life cycle to provide a guidance to the various chapters of the book. A simple and intuitive project mapping approach is briefly described and will be used to put all techniques discussed throughout the various chapters into perspective.
Mario Vanhoucke

Scheduling Without Resources

Frontmatter
Chapter 2. The PERT/CPM Technique
Abstract
Completing a project on time and within budget is not an easy task. The project scheduling phase plays a central role in predicting both the time and cost aspects of a project. More precisely, it determines a timetable in order to be able to predict the expected time and cost of each individual activity.In this chapter, the basic critical path calculations of a project schedule are highlighted and the fundamental concept of an activity network is presented. Throughout all chapters of Part I, it is assumed that a project is not subject to a limited amount of resources. The project is structured in a network to model the precedences between the various project activities. The basic concepts of project network analysis are outlined and the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is discussed as an easy yet effective scheduling tool for projects with variability in the activity duration estimates.
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 3. The Critical Path Method
Abstract
This chapter makes an effort to tighten the gap between the project scheduling literature and the needs of project managers and schedulers through the use of a practical computerized simulation game. Project managers are constantly confronted with the intricacy of scheduling a complex real-life problem in an efficient way when they often have little knowledge of the state-of-the-art in the algorithmic developments or inherent characteristics of the scheduling problem they solve. A game has been developed that serves as a training tool to help practitioners gain insight in project scheduling. The well-known critical path method (CPM) with activity time/cost trade-offs is introduced to the reader, and used as a project scheduling technique in the game.
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 4. The VMW Project
Abstract
The scheduling of activities over time has gained increasing attention with the development of the Critical Path Method (CPM) and the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), as discussed in the previous chapters. Since then, a large amount of solution procedures for a wide range of problem types have been proposed in the literature. In the previous chapters, it was implicitly assumed that the schedule objective is time, i.e. the construction of a precedence feasible schedule aiming at minimizing the total project duration. In a practical project setting, there often are many other scheduling objectives (a detailed description of different scheduling objectives is the topic of Chaps.​ 7 and 8) and consequently, many of the traditional time minimizing PERT/CPM procedures are not able to solve real life problems. This chapter describes a capacity expansion project at a water production center (WPC) of the Vlaamse Maatschappij voor Watervoorziening (VMW) in Belgium and serves as an illustration of the use of scheduling algorithms and principles in a practical project environment without the presence of limited resources. The project aims at expanding the production capacity of pure water. It will be shown that scheduling the project with certain techniques will improve the financial status of the project. A modified version of the project description has been used for the project scheduling game of Chap.​ 3.​
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 5. Schedule Risk Analysis
Abstract
The interest in activity sensitivity from both the academics and the practitioners lies in the need to focus a project manager’s attention on those activities that influence the performance of the project. When management has a certain feeling of the relative sensitivity of the various activities on the project objective, a better management focus and a more accurate response during project tracking or control should positively contribute to the overall performance of the project. The technique known as Schedule Risk Analysis (SRA) connects the risk information of project activities to the baseline schedule and provides sensitivity information of individual project activities as a way to assess the potential impact of uncertainty on the final project duration and cost.
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 6. The Mutum-Paraná II Bridge Project (A)
Abstract
The case description of this chapter can be considered as an integrated exercise to get acquainted with the scheduling principles discussed in previous chapters. It assumes the construction of a baseline schedule and knowledge of basic critical path scheduling principles, and allows the extension to basic calculations of risk in order to provide a supportive tool for taking protective actions. It can be extended to various other scheduling settings, such as the extension to a computerized schedule risk analysis, the incorporation of other scheduling objectives, etc. In this chapter, only the case description is given. The solution and the educational approach depend on the wishes and needs of the students who solve the case and teacher who can act as the moderator during the case teaching session.
Mario Vanhoucke

Scheduling with Resources

Frontmatter
Chapter 7. Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling
Abstract
Resource-constrained project scheduling is a widely discussed project management topic which has roots in and relevance for both academic and practical oriented environments. Due to its inherent problem complexity, it has been the subject of numerous research projects leading to a wide and diverse set of procedures and algorithms to construct resource feasible project schedules. Thanks to its practical value, many of the research results have found their way to practical project management projects. This chapter gives an overview of the project scheduling efforts and needs in order to bring the academics closer to real life projects and vice versa. It gives an extensive overview on the use of resources in dynamic scheduling problems and discusses various scheduling objectives to optimize the schedule to the wishes and needs of the company or project owner. The chapter also gives a set of techniques to validate the quality of the resource feasible baseline schedules and highlights some important features and characteristics that should be taken into account when using scheduling tools.
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 8. Resource-Constrained Scheduling Extensions
Abstract
Resource-constrained project scheduling has been a topic in both the research community and the practical oriented business magazines. This chapter presents some advanced results obtained by various research projects, extends the resource models of the previous chapter to other scheduling objectives, studies the effect of activity splitting and setup times and introduces learning effects in a resource-constrained project environment. Each part of this section can be considered as a special topic of resource-constrained project scheduling and can be easily skipped without losing overview on the general dynamic scheduling theme described throughout the book.
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 9. The Westerschelde Tunnel Project
Abstract
This chapter presents a real-life project example where the minimization of a bottleneck resource’s idle time is the scheduling objective. The project is an illustration of a project scheduling problem with a work continuity scheduling objective as discussed in Sect. 8.​2.​1.​ The chapter illustrates that the use of dedicated scheduling algorithms can lead to improvements in the cost outline of the schedule. Various parts of this chapter have been published in Vanhoucke (2006b, 2007).
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 10. Critical Chain/Buffer Management
Abstract
Resource-constrained project scheduling is often a complex task due to the presence of dependencies between activities and the limited availability of renewable resources. The previous two chapters gave an extensive overview of different techniques to construct such a schedule, taking various scheduling objectives into account. This chapter extends this resource-constrained scheduling approach to a more flexible baseline schedule in order to be protected against unexpected events. The Critical Chain/Buffer Management approach assumes the construction of a resource feasible schedule as discussed in the previous chapters, but incorporates a certain degree of flexibility in the activity start times in order to easily monitor schedule deviations and quickly respond by taking corrective actions to keep the whole project on schedule.
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 11. The Mutum-Paraná II Bridge Project (B)
Abstract
The case description of this chapter is a follow-up exercise of the case of Chap.​ 6 and also acts as an integrated exercise to get acquainted with the scheduling principles discussed in Part II of this book. The primary goal of this fictitious case study is to get acquainted with project scheduling software and to construct a feasible resource-constrained project schedule, which is clearly understandable by all project stakeholders. The goal of the student is to go further than submitting software print-outs to the project team. Instead, the purpose is the integration of the resource-constrained scheduling principles of the previous chapters within the features of a project scheduling tool in order to provide an easy and understandable information sheet on the predicted project execution to the various members of a project team.Similar to the first case study, the topic of this chapter can also be used to teach extended scheduling principles, such as the use of CC/BM scheduling principles, the incorporation of other scheduling objectives in a resource-constrained project setting, and many more. In this chapter, only the case description is given. The solution and the educational approach depend on the wishes and needs of the students who solve the case and the teacher who can act as the moderator during the case teaching session.
Mario Vanhoucke

Project Control

Frontmatter
Chapter 12. Earned Value Management
Abstract
In the previous parts of this book, it was assumed that the project has not started yet, and hence, the project was still in the definition and scheduling phase of the project life cycle. From this chapter on, it is assumed that the project has started (execution phase) and that the project is in progress. Consequently, it is the task of the project manager to carefully control the performance of the project, using his/her knowledge of the schedule risk analyses and baseline scheduling steps discussed in the two previous parts. The project control dimension of dynamic scheduling can be done relying on a well-established technique known as Earned Value Management.Earned Value Management (EVM) is a methodology used since the 1960s, when the USA department of defense proposed a standard method to measure a project’s performance. The system relies on a set of often straightforward metrics to measure and evaluate the general health of a project. These metrics serve as early warning signals to timely detect project problems or to exploit project opportunities. The purpose of an EVM system is to provide answers to project managers on questions such as:
  • What is the difference between budgeted and actual costs?
  • What is the current project status? Ahead of schedule or schedule delay?
  • Given the current project performance, what is the expected remaining time and cost of the project?
This chapter gives an overview of all EVM metrics and performance measures to monitor the time and cost dimension of a project’s current progress to date, and shows how this information can be used to predict the expected remaining time and cost to finalize the project. This information serves as a trigger to take corrective actions to bring the project back on track when needed.
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 13. Advanced Topics
Abstract
This chapter gives an overview of the main Earned Value Management (EVM) research results obtained by a large Monte-Carlo simulation study summarized in the book by Vanhoucke (2010a). The focus is on the prediction of the final duration of a project in progress using the forecasting methods of Sect.​ 12.​4.​1.​ The chapter measures the accuracy of these prediction methods and the main drivers of this accuracy along the various stages in the project life cycle. The chapter also presents a rather new EVM extension, the so-called p-factor approach, to measure schedule adherence based on the traditional earned value metrics. Finally, the chapter presents the main results of integrating the three components of dynamic scheduling (baseline scheduling, risk analysis and project control) and investigates whether the integrated approach might lead to a higher efficiency of the project control phase during its progress.
Mario Vanhoucke
Chapter 14. The Mutum-Paraná II Bridge Project (C)
Abstract
The case description of this chapter is a last case exercise in a series of three exercises presented in Chaps.​ 6 and 11.​ It acts as an integrated exercise to get acquainted with the project control principles and special topics discussed in Part III of this book.The primary goal of this fictitious case study is to get acquainted with the Earned Value Management approach to control projects. The goal of the student is to analyze the data of three projects in progress and to summarize their performance in the best possible way to the management committee. The data allows the incorporation of the Earned Schedule (ES) based Schedule Performance Index (SPI(t)) as an alternative to the traditional SPI metric that shows an unreliable behavior at the end of the project.Similar to the first two case studies, the data in the case allows a deeper analysis based on the wishes and needs of the teacher and students, and contains data for the following special topics: the introduction of the schedule adherence concept, the use of schedule risk analysis to set action thresholds, the topological network structure as a driver for project control, etc.
Mario Vanhoucke

Scheduling with Software

Frontmatter
Chapter 15. Dynamic Scheduling with ProTrack
Abstract
ProTrack (acronym for Project Tracking) is a project scheduling and tracking software tool developed by OR-AS to offer a straightforward yet effective alternative to the numerous project scheduling and tracking software tools. The software has been built based on the results of the research studies discussed in Vanhoucke (2010a) and the many discussions with practitioners using software tools for dynamic scheduling. The project scheduling, risk analysis and project control approach is based on the current best practices from literature.
Mario Vanhoucke

Conclusions

Frontmatter
Chapter 16. Conclusions
Abstract
This book gave an extensive overview of the literature and best practices on dynamic project scheduling. The focus on scheduling within the field of project management has its roots in the mathematical field of Operations Research that mathematically determines start and finish times of project activities subject to precedence and resource constraints while optimizing a certain project scheduling objective.
Mario Vanhoucke
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Project Management with Dynamic Scheduling
Author
Mario Vanhoucke
Copyright Year
2013
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Electronic ISBN
978-3-642-40438-2
Print ISBN
978-3-642-40437-5
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40438-2