I. What is Project Management?

1. Project Defined
2. Project Management Defined

II. Structuring Projects

1. Pure Project
2. Functional Project
3. Matrix Project

1. Project Milestones Defined
2. Work Breakdown Structure Defined
3. Activities Defined

1. Gantt Chart Defined

1. Critical Path Defined
2. CPM With a Single Time Estimate
3. Immediate Predecessors Defined
4. Slack Time Defined
5. Early Start Schedule Defined
6. Late Start Schedule Defined
7. CPM with Three Activity Estimates
8. Maintaining Ongoing Project Schedules

VI. Time-Cost Models

1. Time Cost Models Defined
2. Minimum-Cost Scheduling (Time-Cost Trade-Off)

VII. Managing Resources

1. Tracking Progress

VIII. Cautions on Critical Path Analysis

IX. Conclusion

Case: The Campus Wedding (A)

Case: The Campus Wedding (B)

Case: Product Design at Ford

A project is a series of related jobs or tasks directed toward a major output. They require a long period of time to perform. Managing projects require planning, directing and controlling resources. Before a project can begin, senior management must decide which of three organizational structures will be used to tie the project to the parent firm: pure project, functional project, or matrix project. All three structures have advantages and disadvantages.

Projects begin with a statement of work, which can be a written description of the objectives. Breaking the work into smaller and smaller pieces that defines the system in detail is at the center of project management. Milestones or critical steps in the project might be completion of the design or production of a prototype. Maintaining control over projects requires the use of charts to show the scope of the entire project as well as the steps completed at a particular time. Other reports for detailed presentations of projects are used.

Critical path scheduling is a graphical technique used to plan and control projects. Techniques like PERT and CPM display a project's completion in graphical form. Both techniques focus on finding the longest time-consuming path through a network of tasks as a basis for planning and controlling a project. This longest sequence of activities is also the shortest processing time for a project. Slack time for an activity is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the overall completion time of the project. Non-critical path activities have some slack time. Managers also use PERT and CPM to compute the early start schedule and late start schedules for activities so as not to delay the entire project and change its original completion date.

Managers must consider the time to complete a project versus the cost to complete the project. Time-cost trade-off models have been developed to help managers with this task. Clearly identified project responsibilities, a simple and timely progress reporting system, teamwork, and good people-management practices are required in effective project management. Teams must have the commitment of top management as well as a talented project manager. CPM and PERT are simply tools to assist the manager in meeting these objectives.