Points in Time Management

Rolling wave planning: Lets you plan as you go.
Planning Package (placeholder put between control accounts and work packages).
The 3 types of predecessors:• Mandatory Predecessors(Hard logic)• Discretionary Predecessors(Preferred logic, Soft logic)• External Predecessors.Resource Calendars specify WHEN and HOW LONG identified project resource will be available during the project.
Analogous (top down) Estimating: is when you look at activities from previous similar activities. The degree of similarity affects accuracy. This technique should be used early in the estimating cycle when there is not much detail known about the activity. It uses Historical information and expert judgment. It is less costly, less time consuming than others, and less accurate. It can be applied to a total project or to segments of a project and may be used in conjunction with other estimating methods.
Parametric Estimating: It uses a statistical relationship between HISTORICAL DATA and OTHER VARIABLES (Ex: Square footage in construction) to calculate an estimate for activity parameters, such as cost, budget, and duration. It can be applied to a total project or to segments of a project.
Effort: The number of labor units required to complete a schedule activity or WBS component. Usually expressed as staff hours, staff days, or staff weeks. (Requirements for effort estimation: The Expert Judgment, Task Complexity, Sill Level, and Expectations).
Duration: The total number of work periods (not including holidays and non-working periods) required to complete a schedule activity or WBS component. Usually expressed as workdays or workweeks. (Requirements for Duration estimation: Resource Availability and Resource Capability). Elapsed Time: Waiting periods.
Critical Path Method: It calculates the theoretical Early Start and Finish Dates, andLate Start and Finish Dates, for all activities without regard for any resource limitations, by performing a Forward and Backward pass analysis through the schedule network. Critical paths have either ZERO or NEGATIVE Total Float.
Critical Chain Method:
The resource-constrained critical path is known as the Critical Chain. The longest sequence of resource-leveled tasks is the critical chain. It tries to adjust for problems in estimatingand managing tasks that result from:• Poor multi-tasking• Estimates with too much contingency for uncertainty• Work that expands to fill the available time.• Waiting until the latest possible time to start.• Lack of prioritization.
Critical Chain Method focuses on managing remaining buffer durations against the remaining durations of task chains.
In CCM, buffers are two types:1. Project Buffer (Protects the target finish date from slippage along the Critical Chain).2. Feed Buffer (Protects the Critical Chain from slippage along the Feeding Chains).
Float/Slak/Total
Float: amount of time an activity can slip before it causes delay inproject.
Schedule Compression: includes Fast-tracking and crashing.
Crashing usually increases cost. Over Time is considered as Crashing. Cheapest Task has to be crashed first.
Resource Leveling: can be used when shared or critical required resources are only available at certain times, or only available in limited quantities, or to keep resource usage at a constant level. It can often cause the original critical path to change.
Path Convergence: The merging or joining parallel schedule network paths into the same node in a project schedule network diagram.
Path Divergence:Extending or generating parallel schedule network paths from the same node in a project schedule network diagram.