Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
Taking a technical approach, this text looks at what defines a project and at the various techniques available to project managers.
Focusing on: the introduction of project management in established industrial concerns, risk assessment and quality in projects, the four phases of a project, and project management techniques such as Activity-on-Arrow and Activity-on-Node networks.
This book is suitable for project management students on a business or engineering course.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Project Management and Project Network Techniques | i | ||
| Preface | xi | ||
| Contents | vii | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| Definition of a project | 1 | ||
| Common elements of a project | 2 | ||
| Revenue and capital projects | 2 | ||
| How is a project different from other operations? | 3 | ||
| Four phases of a project | 3 | ||
| Why project management? | 7 | ||
| Projects and company organisational structures | 9 | ||
| The hierarchical functional structure | 9 | ||
| The matrix structure | 11 | ||
| The problem of dual reporting | 12 | ||
| The need for a corporate culture | 13 | ||
| The pure project structure | 14 | ||
| Project organisation | 16 | ||
| The project manager | 16 | ||
| Desirable skills | 17 | ||
| The project team | 19 | ||
| Planning the project | 21 | ||
| Outline of planning concepts | 21 | ||
| Opportunity costs | 22 | ||
| Elements of project planning | 23 | ||
| The work breakdown structure | 24 | ||
| Introduction to project planning techniques | 25 | ||
| The network as a budget | 31 | ||
| Card networking/bar charting | 32 | ||
| Quality and reliability management in projects | 34 | ||
| The quality and reliability concepts of project management | 35 | ||
| Project quality and the parent organisation | 37 | ||
| Project processes and quality | 37 | ||
| Projects and procurement | 41 | ||
| Procurement processes | 41 | ||
| Sources of information | 43 | ||
| Tasks of the procurement group | 43 | ||
| Projects and risk management | 47 | ||
| Uncertainty and risk | 48 | ||
| Sources of risk | 48 | ||
| Risk assessment | 51 | ||
| Risk identification | 51 | ||
| The response to risk | 52 | ||
| Risk mitigation | 53 | ||
| Examining the project | 55 | ||
| Time-related processes | 55 | ||
| Cost-related processes | 56 | ||
| Resource-related processes | 56 | ||
| Planning and the project duration | 57 | ||
| Reducing the total project time | 58 | ||
| The final network | 64 | ||
| Controlling time | 66 | ||
| Measurement of activities | 67 | ||
| Comparing and reporting | 68 | ||
| Forecasting and taking corrective action | 69 | ||
| Other control systems | 71 | ||
| Controlling cash | 73 | ||
| Control during the life of a project | 73 | ||
| Cost control | 74 | ||
| Earned value | 75 | ||
| Budget preparation | 75 | ||
| The budgeting system | 77 | ||
| Planned and actual costs | 78 | ||
| Improving the data | 80 | ||
| Cost and schedule variances | 80 | ||
| Variance analysis | 85 | ||
| Forecasting | 85 | ||
| Comparing projects | 87 | ||
| The time value of money | 88 | ||
| The application of network techniques | 92 | ||
| Drawing the activity-on-arrow network | 94 | ||
| Elements of an activity-on-arrow diagram | 94 | ||
| Conventions adopted in drawing AoA networks | 95 | ||
| Dummy activities | 102 | ||
| Overlapping activities | 106 | ||
| Drawing the network | 110 | ||
| Drawing the activity-on-node network | 113 | ||
| Elements of an AoN network | 113 | ||
| Drawing the network | 119 | ||
| Analysing the activity-on-arrow network | 122 | ||
| Activity and event times | 122 | ||
| The calculations in detail | 125 | ||
| The critical path | 127 | ||
| Activity times – a recapitulation | 129 | ||
| Float or slack | 131 | ||
| Generalised rules for analysis | 135 | ||
| Intermediate imposed times | 136 | ||
| Analysing the activity-on-node network | 137 | ||
| Calculating the total project time | 137 | ||
| The AoN node in practice | 143 | ||
| Float | 143 | ||
| Precedence networks – multiple dependency activity-on-node | 147 | ||
| Four dependencies | 147 | ||
| Activity times and precedence networks | 149 | ||
| Finish-to-start | 150 | ||
| Start-to-start | 151 | ||
| Finish-to-finish | 152 | ||
| Start-to-finish | 154 | ||
| Several dependencies at a node | 155 | ||
| Lag-start, lag-finish | 156 | ||
| Float | 158 | ||
| Node symbols in AoN networking | 159 | ||
| The network and the bar chart | 160 | ||
| The time-scaled network | 161 | ||
| Analysis by bar chart | 168 | ||
| Resource analysis I | 172 | ||
| Basic considerations | 172 | ||
| Work required | 173 | ||
| Resource definition | 174 | ||
| Work available – capacity | 175 | ||
| Calculation of load | 176 | ||
| Further considerations | 180 | ||
| A limited case example | 182 | ||
| Resource analysis II | 189 | ||
| Optimum-seeking procedures | 189 | ||
| The resource-limited case | 191 | ||
| The time-limited case | 195 | ||
| Smoothing | 195 | ||
| General considerations | 199 | ||
| Line of balance and elemental trend analysis | 200 | ||
| Where LoB can be used | 200 | ||
| Elemental trend analysis | 201 | ||
| Some practical considerations | 205 | ||
| Conception | 205 | ||
| Development | 207 | ||
| Realisation | 211 | ||
| Termination | 212 | ||
| Appendices | 213 | ||
| Two unanswerable questions | 213 | ||
| Questions | 215 | ||
| Glossary of terms | 245 | ||
| Index | 249 |