Verified Document

Managing Project Cost And Time Term Paper

Project Management The objective of the study is to carry out the analysis on chapter 8 and 9 of the book titled "Project Management, the Managerial Process." (Larson, & Gray, 2010 p.iv). The chapter 8 of the book discusses the strategy the project manager could schedule resources and costs. On the other hand, the chapter 9 carries out analysis on the strategy to reduce project duration.

Larson, & Gray, (2010) discusses in their book that the project manager often faces challenges in developing an appropriate project scheduling and the chapter discusses the strategy that the project manager could employ to develop a project's resource schedule. Within an organization, there are often more projects than available resources, thus, the priority is to select projects that could contribute to organizational efficiencies. Faced with the project's constraints, it is critical to schedule resources to make a realistic judgment from the available resources and tight project durations.

Larson, & Gray, (2010) identify type of resources constraints as:

Technical constraints which are the "constraints related to the networked sequence in which project activities must occur." (Larson, & Gray, 2010, p 255) .

Physical constraints are related to the environmental conditions, and Resource constraints are related to shortage of resources used to sequence project activities. Resources constraints include materials, people, and equipment.

Larson, et al. (2010) classify people as human resources who bring skills to the success of a project and the human resources include mechanical engineer, programmers, inspector and welder. The combination of the skills of human resources could add to the complexity of project's scheduling. Materials and equipment are also resources that need to be used to complete a project and shortage of these resources may delay a timely completion of a project. Most mistakes those stakeholders make is to assume that resources will be adequate for the project, however, recognition of these constraints before starting a project can assist the project manager to avoid a costly delay.

Larson & Gray (2010) classify scheduling problems as:

"Time-constrained project" (p 257) imposed to ensure that projects...

Botanic Garden is another resource allocation method where backhoes are required during project lifecycle. The fig 1 reveals the examples where the backhoes are required for the resources allocation methods. The figure 1 shows the use of 4 backhoes from 4 to 10 activities periods.
Fig 1: Example of Botanic Garden

Source: Larson, & Gray, (2010).

As being revealed in the Fig 2, the project manager can focus on the activity with the least risks of project delay. For example, the project manager can start from the period 10 instead of period 4; the project manager will be able to reduce the number of backhoes by 25% from 4 to 3.

Fig 2: Example of Botanic Garden

Source: Larson, & Gray, (2010).

Benefits of resources allocation are that it minimizes the fluctuation in resources demand. Moreover, it reduces resources allocated to the project lifecycle. However, the shortcoming of resources allocation method is that "it increases the criticality of more activities." (Larson, & Gray, 2010, p 260) .

Larson, & Gray, (2010) identify splitting activities as scheduling techniques to obtain a better project schedule because it assists in better utilization of scarce resources by achieving resource-constrained schedule.

"Resource scheduling also provides information for time-phased work package budgets in order to assess the impact of unforeseen events as well as the amount of flexibility in available resources." ( Larson,. & Gray, 2010 p 272).

However, its shortcoming is that it can increase resource utilization.

Chapter 9

Larson,…

Sources used in this document:
Reference

Larson, E.W. & Gray, C.F. (2011). Project Management - The managerial process (5th Edition), New York, The McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Sloninsky, J. (2011). Innovations in Project Controls: Integrating Cost and Schedule. University of Texas. Dallas.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Time Value of Money in Project Cost Estimating Process
Words: 1548 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Value of Money That the value of money changes with time is a matter of simple understanding. For example, the value of a dollar in 1920 is not the same at the value of a dollar today. In 1920 the dollar bought many more goods and services compared to what it does today. While the time value of money is very important to an investor, whether individual or broker, it

Project Management Project Libra: To Terminate or
Words: 2150 Length: 7 Document Type: Case Study

Project Management Project Libra: To Terminate or Not to Terminate Visit www.itweek.co.uk/News/11329438 to see the string of news stories related to Project Libra. Identify some of the sources of the problems the project faces. Project Libra exemplifies several attributes of failed projects the most notable of which is the breakdown in project team, Fujitsu Services (ICL) system integrator and enterprise software vendors. Most evident of a filed project management structure is the ballooning

Project Management Project Initiation" Please Respond to
Words: 793 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Project Management Project Initiation" Please respond to the following: One of the most important aspects of managing risk for a project is to accurately define the size of the project. Determine the criteria that must be considered to perform the project sizing and create one additional factor with rationale. It is important to measure several important things. First, the amount of money that will have to be invested has to be measured. This

Managing Projects, Operations and Information
Words: 2210 Length: 8 Document Type: Thesis

The performance of each team member depends on the performance of all others, this being a team project. Constraints include time and financial resources; as such improvement requires permanent improvement effort. Risk Management. No risk has been identified related to the project's completion. Monitoring and Controlling Mechanisms. The data analysts will develop a metric system to measure each member's performance on a weekly basis. This weekly performance will be submitted to

Management Project Management This Case
Words: 718 Length: 2 Document Type: Research Proposal

The more planning that is done in the beginning the less re work there will be to do later. 4. The author focuses on the importance of being "close to the customer." What is meant by this phrase and how is it accomplished? The customer is in the end the one person that a company must try and keep happy. Without customers there is no need for a product to be

Project Management Project Title: Opening of Branch
Words: 652 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Project Management Project Title: Opening of Branch Store in La Jolla CA. Project Manager: SELF The main store is located in Del Mar and is the only store that serves the entire community plus the extra population that comes in to shop here from surrounding towns and neighborhoods. The long distance that the clients have to cover has been a concern for both the clients and the management as well. It is from

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now