THE GANTT CHART THE THEORY OF HENRY LAURENCE GANTT

The Purpose of a Gantt Chart:

To illustrate the relationship between project activities & time.

To show the multiple project activities on one chart

To provide a simple & easy to understand representation of project scheduling

Example of a simple Gantt Chart You will

see that a Gantt Chart is basically a Bar Chart. Representing project activities against time.

Creating a Gantt Chart:

There are 2 methods to creating a Gantt Chart (Maylor, 2005). 1. Forward Schedule: starting with the list of activities and a given start date (6th Sept in previous example) follow them forwards in time until you hit given deadline.2. Backward Schedule: look at the deadline, from that date work in the logical list of activities.

Both of these methods allow you to ensure that all necessary activities can possibly be completed within the given project time frame.

Steps to Creating a Gantt Chart:

1. Determine Project start date and deadline.2. Gather all information surrounding the list of activities within a project – the Work Breakdown Structure may be useful for this.3. Determine how long each activity will take4. Evaluate what activities are dependant on others5. Create Graph shell including the timeline and list of activities.6. Using either Forward Scheduling or Backward Scheduling, Begin to add bars ensuring to include dependencies and the full duration for each activity.

Example:

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:Activity Duration Dependant On1. Read Literature 21 days N/A2. Conduct Literature Review

14 days 1

3. Arrange Client Visits 7 days N/A4. Prepare Surveys 5 days 1 and 35. Conduct Surveys 14 days 46. Analyse Surveys 10 days 57. Write Up 30 days 1,2,3,4,5 and 6Project Start Date = 1st SeptemberDeadline = 20th Decemeber

Step 5 - From the previous slide, steps 1-4 are already complete. We now need to create a ‘Graph Shell’.

Step 6 – have a go at using either Forward Scheduling or Backward Scheduling to populate the graph.

The Finished Product

The Advantages:

A useful tool for displaying time-based information within a project.

Very simple to create They provide a useful overview of project activities, a

good starting point for project planning. The charts are widely used and understood. There exists several PC software packages that allow

you to build Gantt Charts.

The Limitations:

The Gantt Chart does not explain the reasoning behind the chosen duration of each activity. (Maylor, 2001)

The Gantt Chart is very difficult to update when changes to the project plan take place. This makes it time consuming and results in long-term planning being very difficult. (Goldratt, 1997)

Gantt Charts encourage a one-step approach to planning – this prevents flexibility in project planning.

Modern day Gantt Charts, using PC software, can look very professional without actually having meaning, preventing project teams from challenging their content. This can lead to difficulties later in the project. (Maylor, 2001)

As Gantt Charts are difficult to update manually, they can often become obsolete.

The charts do not consider project costs or resources.

Alternatives

PERT/GERT Work Breakdown Structure Critical Path Method Resource Levelling Many Others!

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT):

Also a very traditional project planning technique

PERT shows the list of activities within a project, their duration and the relationship between them

PERT is a complex process however it can help to deliver a well defined project plan.

CPM – Critical Path Method PERT - Program Evaluation and Review technique CPM (Critical Path Method) was developed by Walker to solve project

scheduling problems. PERT (Project Evaluation and Review Technique) was developed by team

of engineers working on the polar’s missile programme of US navy. The methods are essentially network-oriented techniques using the same

principle are also referred as project scheduling techniques.

CPM/PERT

Each activity is represented by one and only one arrow in the network. No two activities can be identified by the same end events.

Rules for drawing network diagram

Precedence relationships among all activities must always be maintained. Dummy activities can be used to maintain precedence relationships only

when actually required. Their use should be minimized in the network diagram.

Rules for drawing network diagram

Looping among the activities must be avoided.

Rules for drawing network diagram

A Basic PERT Diagram:

Critical activity – The activities with zero total float are known as critical activities. In other words an activity is said to be critical if a delay in its start will cause a further delay in the completion date of the entire project.

Critical path – The sequence of critical activities in a network is called critical path. The critical path is the longest path in the network from the starting event to ending event and defines the minimum time required to complete the project.

Critical Path in Network Analysis

The main objective in the analysis through PERT is to find out the completion for a particular event within specified date. The PERT approach takes into account the uncertainties. The three time values are associated with each activity.

Optimistic time – It is the shortest possible time in which the activity can be finished. It assumes that every thing goes very well.

Most likely time – It is the estimate of the normal time the activity would take. This assumes normal delays. If a graph is plotted in the time of completion and the frequency of completion in that time period, then most likely time will represent the highest frequency of occurrence.

Pessimistic time – It represents the longest time the activity could take if everything goes wrong. As in optimistic estimate, this value may be such that only one in hundred or one in twenty will take time longer than this value. This is denoted by tp.

Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

PERT CPM

PERT is used for non-repetitive jobs like planning the assembly of the space.

CPM is used for repetitive job like building a house

it is a probabilistic model. It is a deterministic model

It is applied mainly for planning and schedulingresearch programmes.

It is applied mainly for construction and businessproblems

PERT incorporates statistical analysis and thereby determines the probabilities concerning the time by which each activity or entire project would becompleted.

CPM does not incorporate statistical analysis in determining time estimates, because time is precise and known.

It is event-oriented as the results of analysis are expressed in terms of events or distinct points in time indicative of progress.

It is activity-oriented as the result or calculations are considered in terms of activities or operations of the project.

Distinction between PERT and CPM

Bench MarkingProcess Interventions

Bench Marking

Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance matrices to industry bests or best practices from other companies.

Bench Marking Dimensions typically measured

are quality, time and cost. In the process of best practice benchmarking, management identifies the best firms in their industry, or in another industry where similar processes exist, and compares the results and processes of those studied (the "targets") to one's own results and processes.

Cycle

TYPES

Process benchmarking - the initiating firm focuses its observation and investigation of business processes with a goal of identifying and observing the best practices from one or more benchmark firms.

Financial benchmarking - performing a financial analysis and comparing the results in an effort to assess your overall competitiveness and productivity.

Benchmarking in the public sector - functions as a tool for improvement and innovation in public administration, where state organizations invest efforts and resources to achieve quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the services they provide

Performance benchmarking - allows the initiator firm to assess their competitive position by comparing products and services with those of target firms.

Product benchmarking - the process of designing new products or upgrades to current ones. This process can sometimes involve reverse engineering which is taking apart competitors products to find strengths and weaknesses.

Strategic benchmarking - involves observing how others compete. This type is usually not industry specific, meaning it is best to look at other industries.

Functional benchmarking - a company will focus its benchmarking on a single function to improve the operation of that particular function.

Bench marking in Nursing

Benchmarking in nursing is defined as the process by which the quest for best practice is identified and pursued over a period of time for reliable and better performance. Subjects that can be benchmarked in nursing industry include strategies, operations and processes

003_144_web.pdf