Guru Gobind Singh Foundation’s

Project Monitoring and Control

Vision • Program Outcomes (PO’s): The graduates passing the Program will be able to:
Civil Engineering Program aims • 1. PO1: Demonstrated competence in university level mathematics, natural sciences,
engineering fundamentals, and specialized engineering knowledge appropriate to the
for excellence by providing program.
contemporary education, nurture • 2. PO2: An ability to use appropriate knowledge and skills to identify, formulate,
innovation and Entrepreneurial analyse, and solve complex engineering problems in order to reach substantiated
conclusions.
approach in graduating engineers • 3. PO3: An ability to conduct investigations of complex problems by methods that
for sustainable development of include appropriate experiments, analysis and interpretation of data and synthesis of
information in order to reach valid conclusions.
industry and society. • 4.PO4: An ability to design solutions for complex, open-ended engineering problems
Mission and to design systems, components or processes that meet specified needs with
appropriate attention to health and safety risks, applicable standards, and economic,
1. To promote technical skills, environmental, cultural and societal considerations.
through curriculum, research and • 5.PO5: An ability to create, select, apply, adapt, and extend appropriate techniques,
innovation. resources, and modern engineering tools to a range of engineering activities, from
simple to complex, with an understanding of the associated limitations.
2. Impart application based training • 6.PO6: An ability to work effectively as a member and leader in teams, preferably in a
to transform aspiring graduates multi-disciplinary setting.
into proficient Civil Engineers. • 7.PO7: An ability to communicate complex engineering concepts within the profession
and with society at large. Such ability includes reading, writing, speaking and listening,
3. To create an academia- industry and the ability to comprehend and write effective reports and design documentation,
partnership to enrich technical and to give and effectively respond to clear instructions.
skills, benefitting industry and • 8.PO8: An understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the professional engineer
society in society, especially the primary role of protection of the public and the public
interest.
Programme Specific Outcome (PSO’s): 1.The
• 9.PO9: An ability to analyze social and environmental aspects of engineering activities.
Graduates of this Programme with knowledge in Such ability includes an understanding of the interactions that engineering has with
Mathematics, Basic Sciences and Civil the economic, social, health, safety, legal, and cultural aspects of society, the
Engineering will excel in the sub fields of Civil uncertainties in the prediction of such interactions; and the concepts of sustainable
Engineering. 2.The graduates will plan, design & design and development and environmental stewardship.
prepare drawings, specification and cost • 10.PO10: An ability to apply professional ethics, accountability, and equity.
estimates for civil engineering works. 3.The • 11.PO11: An ability to appropriately incorporate economics and business practices
graduates will develop skills to utilise available including project, risk, and change management into the practice of engineering and
local resources efficiently and simultaneously to understand their limitations.
safeguard the environment & ecology. • 12.PO12: An ability to identify and to address their own educational needs in a
changing world in ways sufficient to maintain their competence and to allow them to
2
contribute to the advancement of knowledge.
Syllabus:
• Unit IV –
• Project Monitoring and Control (08 hours)
• Resource Allocation – Resource Smoothening and Levelling,
Network Crashing – Time- Cost – Resource optimization,
Project Monitoring - Methods, Updating and Earned Value
Analysis, Introduction to use of Project Management
Softwares – MS Project / Primavera, Case study on housing
project scheduling for a small project with minimum 25
activities.

3
Resource Allocation
• Resource allocation is the process of assigning and managing assets in a
manner that supports an organization's strategic goals.
• It includes managing hardware to make the best use of softer assets like
human capital.
• 1. Know Your Scope: Before allocation determine the scope of the project
whether it is a big or small project, long or short. Make the decision on
what resources are needed and which one are necessary to complete the
project. The clearer idea of project scope to allocate your resources will
built full picture of the project.
• Resource Allocation: Resource allocation means determining which
resources are required for which activity, deciding on the total amount
needed, and making sure they are available when they are needed.
Whichever resources the project manager allocates, she must ensure she
procures enough to complete the project and they are available during the
desired time period.
• Resource Leveling: Resource leveling involves creating a balanced
production schedule to minimize fluctuations in the amount of resources
used per time period, such as a day. The project manager devises a schedule
that ensures a steady usage of resources instead of sporadic increases and
decreases in resources used. A balanced schedule typically serves as the
most practical way of using resources.

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• 2. Identify Resources how to better allocate resources: You know the scope
of the project, it’s objective and the tasks necessary to get the work done on
time and within the budget approved, now you have to get your resources
together. But that doesn’t mean you have an unlimited pool from which to
pull from. So, you have to see who’s currently available, what equipment
you’re going to need or purchase and where are you going to perform the
tasks for this project, and is that space available. Before you can allocate
resources, you have to have them. So, make a list using the criteria above
and then make sure it fits within the budget allotted for the project.
• 3. Don’t Procrastinate: A project manager will live and die by his own
planning. Resource allocation is no different. Waiting until something has
gone awry means you have to scramble to get it back on track, if that’s even
possible. It’s inevitable that resources will need reallocation. What plan have
you ever created that was set in stone? Therefore, in the planning process
you should take some time to research where and when you might have a
blocked team member or task dependencies. By setting up a resource plan
and noting these red-flag warnings, and more importantly figuring out how
you’ll respond to them, beforehand, you’re prepared to handle them when
they arise. And they’ll always arise.

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• 4. Think Holistically: It’s a problem when you’re so focused on process that
you neglect to lift your head up from the project plan to note what is
actually happening. This isn’t merely checking your estimates against actual
progress in the project, though that is important, too. What you must always
be aware of is the state of your resources. For example, what is the schedule
for your team, are any taking vacation time, are they sick, etc.? Also, what is
the duration of the lease for site or equipment? Don’t let any of these details
get past you because of tunnel vision. Look at the whole project, not just the
various pieces, as captivating as it can be to lose oneself in project metrics.
• 5. Know Your Resource Dependencies: One way to allocate resources is by
not having to allocate them at all. This isn’t as mystical as it might sound. It
involves something far less magical and more practical, planning. By planning
beforehand you can avoid bottlenecks that trap your resources when you
need them most in the course of the project execution. Planning also helps
you keep your resources from falling short. This doesn’t mean you won’t
have a bottleneck or resource shortage, but it’s less likely if you know your
resource dependencies. Part of planning for dependencies is having a
contingency plan in place in case team members are blocked or you run low
on needed resources. Keep your plans from being over-dependent on one
resources to avoid trouble down the line.

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6. Track Time: You always want to keep a close eye on time, how your team is
working and if they’re being efficient. It’s your job to make sure that a task that
can be completed in a day doesn’t take a week. There are ways to improve time
tracking. To do this you must keep track of your team’s workload. That requires
the right tools to give you real-time data collected on one page where you can
both see and schedule ahead when needed. ProjectManager.com has a totally
unique dashboard tool that let’s you see whether your resources are properly
allocated and, if not, easily reschedule them. That way you can balance the
workload and run a more efficient project.
7. Use Tools: Project management software, like ProjectManager.com, is a great
asset to managing your resources more productively. With an online tool, you get
project data instantly updated.You can see where your resources are allocated
across a calendar that is color-coded to note whether they’re on- or off-task, on
vacation or sick. Rescheduling to help a team member who is overtasked is a
simple click of the keyboard.

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• 8. Don’t Over-allocate: Many managers over-allocate, whether because of poor
planning or an inability to say no, which doesn’t help. Instead of bringing in the
project on time and within budget, over-allocation threatens team burnout. Be
honest. Do you suffer from this bad habit? If so, stay vigilant and avoid it. If you
don’t, there’s a good chance you’ll tarnish team morale and the quality of their
project work. It’s unfair to expect so much from your resources that they break.
Re-examine your resource plan and make use it allocated the resources you have
for the project evenly.
• 9. Be Realistic: While it’s good practice to be prepared for issues that might arise
in your project, you don’t want to hog resources by adding too many people or
days to your schedule. When you do this, you’re skewing the project estimate
and messing with the effectiveness of long-term planning. It’s going to take from
your bottom line. Remember when we mentioned comparing your estimated to
actual utilization? This is where that process helps keep you properly allocated.
Using a tool, like we noted above, is also key to getting an accurate sense of how
the project is going.
• 10. Have a Routine: As a manager, you plan and then you execute and monitor.
It’s all very structured. But sometimes things like resource allocation falls
through the cracks, which is only going to come back and haunt you. Therefore,
you want to set up regular check-ins, say a specific day and time every week, to
go through your resources, check your PM tools and make sure no one over-
tasked for the week’s work ahead. Another thing you can do is speak with your
team members, get a sense of what’s going on with them on the front lines of
the project, ask if they have any issues. By setting up a routine check-in and
keeping updated by your PM software, you get a clear sense of your resources.

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11. Know Your Resources: You can’t manage what you don’t know. You should
know the experience and skills and personality very resource that you’ve tasked
or allocated to support the project. For example, you should create a profile for
each of the members of your project team. What are their skills and experience?
The more you know about them, the better you’ll be able to place them in the
project and assign tasks which they can best perform. You probably have
something like this already from when you were assembling your team and had
written a job description for each of them. Keep those files up to date as their
skills and experiences broaden.
12. Use Resource Reports: You can reallocate if you don’t know where you’re
resources are allocated. You might have planned them out well, but change
happens in projects. How can you tell what is happening on the ground as
compared to your plans? Reports. You can generate all sorts of reports to give
you a full picture of the project and how it’s progressing, which helps you
balance your resources. For example, there are resource reports that give you an
overview of your team’s workload and whether they’re over-tasked or idle. Task
reports keep you updated and variance reports help you determine whether the
project is proceeding as planned. The latter gives you vital information, such as if
you’re behind schedule and need to redistribute the work to get back on track.

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Resource Smoothening and Levelling
• A scheduling calculation that involves utilising float or increasing or
decreasing the resources required for specific activities, such that any peaks
and troughs of resource usage are smoothed out. This does not affect the
overall duration. It is also known as time limited resource scheduling.
• Resource smoothing is used when the time constraint takes priority. The
objective is to complete the work by the required date while avoiding peaks
and troughs of resource demand. Resource levelling is used when limits on
the availability of resources are paramount. It simply answers the question
‘With the resources available, when will the work be finished?’.
• Few re-usable resources are limitless, so the time schedule has to be
adjusted to take into account the limited availability of resources over time.
There are two approaches to reconciling resource limits and time
constraints; resource smoothing (or time limited resource scheduling) and
resource levelling (or resource limited scheduling).
• Resource smoothing is used when the time constraint takes priority. The
objective is to complete the work by the required date while avoiding peaks
and troughs of resource demand.

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Resource Smoothening and Levelling
• A smoothed resource profile will be achieved by delaying some work. This
will remove some flexibility from the schedule and its ability to deal with
unavoidable delays, but the advantage is usually a more efficient and cost-
effective use of resources.
• Resource levelling is used when limits on the availability of resources are
paramount. It simply answers the question ‘With the resources available,
when will the work be finished?’ "A technique in which start and finish dates
are adjusted based on resource constraints with the goal of balancing
demand for resources with the available supply. In many situations a mixture
of levelling and smoothing may be required. This is particularly true in the
programmed and portfolio dimensions.
• Resource levelling is used when limits on the availability of resources are
paramount.
• Resource smoothing is used when the time constraint takes priority. The
objective is to complete the work by the required date while avoiding peaks
and troughs of resource demand.

11
Diagram of Levelling and Smoothening

12
• Advantages of Resource Levelling:
• It prevents project delays arising from bad allocation. It helps project
managers identify and make use of unused bench time. It ensures your staff
aren't over-allocated when there is limited resource availability. Nobody is
prematurely on-boarded on projects they're ill-prepared for.
• Disadvantage of resource levelling in resource scheduling:
• Delay in certain tasks being completed.
• Difficulty in assigning a different resource.
• Unable to change task dependencies.
• To remove certain tasks.
• To add more tasks.
• Overall delays and budget overruns of projects.
Definition of Crashing (In Project Management Terms)
• Adding additional resources to the critical path tasks. This option has various
constraints such as the securing of the budget to add the resources, and the
availability of the resources.
• Reduce the project requirements or scope. This can be done only if the
sponsor and major stakeholders agree to reduce the scope.

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14
Network Crashing – Time- Cost
• Crashing an activity (Crashing the network): Reducing the time
required to complete an activity (in hopes that this will reduce the
completion time of the entire project) by assigning additional
resources to that activity but reducing the duration time of the
activities on the critical path may change the critical path.
• Normal time is the maximum time required to complete an activity at
normal cost.
• Crash time: Crash time is the minimum possible time in which an
activity can be completed using additional resources.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQwKuAQDU3I (Crashing in
project management in hindi by Sandeep Kumar Gour)

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16
17
18
• Let us prepare the time-cost trade-off calculation table (Figure 8.12).
Wehave to start with the critical (longest) path: ACEH. We choose
activity C because it costs the least to crash, $40 per day. We cut the
duration of C from 8 days to 7. This action affects three paths: Cycle 1

This action increased the direct costs by $40 and decreased the indirect
costs by $120. The total impact on the cost is a net savings of $80.

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20
We now have two paths that tie at 24 days’ duration: ABEH and ACEH.
We can compress a shared activity (A, E, or H) or a combination of unshared
activities (B and C). We choose activity E and compress it from 6 days to 5 days
at a cost of $50.

The direct costs increase by $50, and the indirect costs decrease by
$120. This results in a net decrease of $70 in the total cost.

21
Now we have four paths that tie at 23 days’ duration: all but ACFH. We can
compress a shared activity (A) or a combination of unshared activities (plenty
of options exist). We choose activity A and compress it from 5 days to 4 at a
cost of $100(11 If activity A could be crashed by more than 1 day, we could have
crashed it to the limit, since it is part of any path on the network. This means any
day cut from activity A would automatically mean a day cut from
the entire schedule.). Activity A is now completely crashed.

With this action, we spent an extra $100 in direct costs and saved $120
in indirect costs. The total cost decreased by $20 (we are still saving money,
but the rate is decreasing).

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Now we need to compress the same four paths using the least-cost
combination. After a simple mathematical inspection of the table, we find the
best combination to be C, D, and E, with a total combined cost of $140. We
compress each of these activities by 1 day to shorten the project duration
from 22 days to 21 days.

Note that path ACEH was cut by 2 days because it contains both C and E.

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 Now the total cost has increased by $20 ($140 increase in direct costs and
$120 decrease in indirect costs). The next step is to find an alternative to
activity E because it is completely crashed. The next least-cost combination is
B, C, and D, at a total cost of $165. In this case, the total cost has increased
by $45.

Note that the critical paths may change in every round. Now, activity C is
also completely crashed.

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Our next choice is the combination of B and G at a combined cost of $225, with
a net increase of $105 in the total cost.

Activity B is now completely crashed. All paths are tied at 19 days.

25
The only remaining option is to combine activities G and H at a cost of
$270, with an increase of $150 in the total cost.

Now the entire project is completely crashed, with a duration of 18 days.

The results may be summarized as follows:
• The normal duration is 25 days, at a total cost of $7,950.
• The least-cost is $7,780, at a duration of 22 days.
• The crash duration is 18 days, with a crash cost of $8,100.

26
Notes
1. Accelerating can become complicated even in a small network. For
larger projects, we use computers.
2. Activity D is not completely crashed, which demonstrates an important
point: to accelerate a project, we do not need to compress all activities.
If we did, we would be wasting money with no benefit to the schedule.
3. We assume linearity within each activity (e.g., it costs the same amount
of money to compress activity C from 8 days to 7, from 7 days to 6,
or from 6 days to 5). However, we see that the change in total cost for
the project is not linear.
4. The project manager may choose a project duration between 22 days
and 18 days to meet the contract-required finish date (22 days for least
cost and 18 days for least duration).

27
Real-life projects usually contain hundreds or thousands of activities. There may be
tens or even hundreds of paths, each with 50, 60, or more than 100 activities.
Performing calculations such as those done in example 8.1 would be too
cumbersome.
The practical approach is to use trial and error. However, nine guidelines follow:
1. Always make a backup copy of the schedule before you make any changes.
2. Focus on the critical path. A good idea is to sort activities by total float (first
criterion) and start date (second criterion), in ascending order. You may also apply a
filter to show only critical activities (be careful of the software’s definition
of critical activities).
3. For every activity that may be accelerated, prepare a list of accelerating methods
in an ascending order of cost. When the activity has to be accelerated,
start with the least expensive method till this method is exhausted then cross
it and use the next method, if you need to keep accelerating.
4. Pick an activity on the critical path and reduce its duration by one day. Schedule
the project (perform CPM calculations) and examine the impact on the
project’s finish date. If the finish date is now 1 day earlier, move to step 6. If
you are applying a filter, you may have to refresh the view.

28
5. If the project finish date has not changed, at least one other critical path must
exist, and you reduced only one. Go back to the list of critical activities (those
with least total float), pick one, and repeat step 4. Looking at the different
paths on either a bar chart or a logic diagram can be helpful.
6. You have reduced the project duration by 1 day; you now need to reduce it
by another day. Repeat step 4. You may find more activities that are critical
now. This fact does not mean there will be more options for you. On the
contrary, you may have to compress several activities simultaneously to reduce
the project duration by one day.
7. Repeat the same steps until you achieve the desired duration.

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8. Avoid compressing any path by multiple days in one step unless you know
the critical path is longer than the next one by at least the same number of
days or the compressed activity is shared between/among the longest paths.
For example, if you compress a path by 10 days, but the project’s duration
decreases by only 3 days, you have achieved nothing from the last 7 accelerated
days. Only the first 3 days of acceleration were effective. In this case, go
back and replace the 10-day compression with 3 days (or the correct effective
number).
9. If you are determining the least-cost duration, you may want to do the calculations
manually (for every step, you calculate the total net savings by
subtracting the increase in direct costs from the decrease in indirect costs).
You may also create a simple spreadsheet that performs the calculations.
10. The project manager should give the scheduler the crash duration and crash
cost information for the activities. The scheduler must then experiment with
the accelerated schedule and submit the results to the project manager. After
the project manager approves the results, the scheduler may implement the
accelerated schedule.

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Resource optimization
• The purpose of optimization is to achieve the “best” design relative to a
set of prioritized criteria or constraints. These include maximizing factors
such as productivity, strength, reliability, longevity, efficiency, and
utilization. This decision-making process is known as optimization.
• Project optimization can be defined as finding the solution, from the
available alternative options, with the most cost effective or highest
achievable performance under the given constraints, by maximizing desired
factors and minimizing undesired ones.
• The resource optimization techniques are tools that are used to adjust the
implementation and completion dates of project activities to adjust the
planned resource used and the resource availability.
• Resource optimization is also a set of processes and methods to match the
available resources (human, machinery, financial) with the needs of the
organization in order to achieve established goals.
• Resource levelling is used when limits on the availability of resources are
paramount.
• Resource smoothing is used when the time constraint takes priority. The
objective is to complete the work by the required date while avoiding peaks
and troughs of resource demand

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32
• There could be the times in the project when only the resource ‘ A‘
can perform a certain activity.
• If there are two parallel activities in the project network diagram, ‘A’
cannot be assigned to both of them.
• Hence there is need to change the project network diagram.
• Resource levelling evaluates all the resources to see if the network
diagram or the critical path needs to change.
• This is done to accommodate resource assignment dependencies and
ensuring resources are not over looked.
• Resource levelling may result in change of the total project duration

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Example
A subcontractor needs to install flooring in two areas: 1. Area 1: This area has
old vinyl tile that must be removed and replaced with new vinyl tile. 2. Area 2:
This area has a concrete slab that needs to be topped with ceramic tile.
This simple project is broken into the activities shown in the following table,
along with the logic, the duration, and the required number of laborers for each
activity.
Do the following:
1. Draw the precedence network and perform the CPM calculations.
2. Allocate the required resources and then level them so that the
subcontractor
does not use more than six laborers at any time.
3. Find ways to improve the labor usage profile.
For the sake of simplicity, assume that any laborer can perform any task.

34
Figure 1 shows the precedence diagram for this example, and Figure 2 shows the bar chart
and resource usage profile, or laborer usage profile.

Figure 1 Precedence diagram for example (PS, project start)

35
 Using the early dates, we note
that on days 6 and 7, the
subcontractor needs seven
laborers, one over the limit.

Figure 2(a) Bar chart with an unleveled labor assignment

(typically following early dates); (b) resource, or labor, usage
profile, showing overallocation 36
 The subcontractor then decides to
use 2 days of the float for activity C.
This shift eliminates the labor-use
spike on days 6 and 7 and increases
the use of laborers on days 9 and
10 from three to six.
The subcontractor observes that,
even though he or she did not
exceed the limit on the number of
laborers per day (six) in Figure, the
labor usage profile can be
improved by minimizing the
fluctuations, as shown in Figure.

(a) Bar chart with a leveled labor assignment (within the

allowable limit); (b) resource, or labor, usage profile , with
a labor assignment within the allowable limit
37
(a) Bar chart with a leveled labor assignment (within the allowable limit); (b) resource,
or labor, usage profile , with a labor assignment within the allowable limit
38
(a) Bar chart with the labor assignment leveled and more efficiently distributed; (b)
resource, or labor, usage profile for with the labor assignment efficiently distributed
within the allowable limit
39
Resource Smoothening
• Once the resource levelling is done, it is possible that there are days
when resources are not utilized as much as other days.
• Resource smoothening is done to ensure that resource utilization is
more or less similar across the project.
• Resource smoothening will not change the total project duration.

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41
Project Monitoring- Methods
• Project monitoring is focused on tracking project performance and
progress using key performance indicators (KPIs) agreed during
project planning.
• Core to this phase is identifying when a change is needed, what the
change entails, and how to implement the change with minimum
impact on the direction of the project.
• This careful, informed consideration will help to prevent scope creep
or the impact of small changes to the original project plan.
• Project monitoring also includes:
• Managing risks.
• Measuring deliverables against the original requirements.
• Tracking the project budget.
• Assessing progress against key milestones.
• Techniques and tools for project monitoring include status reports,
real-time dashboards, scoreboards, and Earned Value Management.

42
• Project monitoring actually begins during the planning phase of your project.
• During planning, work with stakeholders and the team to decide what
project success will look like.
• This can refer to delivering the project on time, within budget, or at an
agreed standard.
• Document this definition and make sure your team understands the
objectives of the project before any work starts.
• Next, define two to five KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to track progress
to this goal. Suggestions include:
• Cycle time – the time needed to complete a task.
• Number of adjustments to the schedule – how often the project schedule has
been modified.
• Budget Variance – how much the actual budget varies from the project budget?
• Number of errors – the number of times you need to redo work.
• Additionally, you can track planned hours of work v actual hours, and
overdue tasks.
• During project execution, actual performance is measured against desired
performance (KPIs).
• Project monitoring may seem like a time-consuming process, but with the
right tool, you can easily track progress without too much administration.

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Project Monitoring- Updating
• The process of reviewing the progress of the project execution is
known as “updating”.
• Schedule updating is basically the task project managers carry out
that relates to updating the project schedule.
• On updating a network, a new critical path may appear because of
reduction in slack time of some of the earlier calculated non-critical
activities, which may lead to new project priorities.
• It involves: Updating the project management software with actual
work completed. Recording new estimates in the software.
• Updating a network diagram refers to updating its content regarding
the network topology. That is, synchronizing its content from
the network features used to initially generate it, and reflect any
changes that may have impacted those network features in the
diagram.

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Project Monitoring- Updating
• Once you have the information required, you go into your project
management tool and enter it. For example, you can add the amount of
hours actually worked on a task to date, or change the percent complete if
that is how you are tracking progress.
• You can mark completed tasks as completed.
• You can carry out resource levelling if your reports show that you have
people on the team who are taking on too much.
• This part of the update is all about the daily housekeeping and tracking.
• There’s another part to updating is to relates with changes. you may have to
add in new tasks. If a change has been approved, for example, there will be
activities to enter related to the new work. Or the change might involve
taking tasks out of the plan.
• Risk management activities may mean you are adding new tasks to the plan
– those actions you need to take to mitigate any risk.
• Your project schedule management tools also contain useful information
about:
• Resource availability: add in any vacation time or times that you know your team
members can’t be available for project work
• Cost: add in the forecasted and actual cost of activities.

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When To Update Your Project Schedule
• Project managers who do schedule updates on a Friday afternoon, so the
team comes back to a fresh, updated schedule on Monday morning.
• This can also be helpful if you do weekly reporting. You would want to
update the project schedule before carrying out your reporting, so that you
know you are telling people the most accurate information in your report.
• A good rule of thumb is once a week, but you’ll need to use your
professional judgement. A dynamic, fast-moving project may need schedule
updates daily.
• Some large projects, for example in the construction or defense industries,
have dedicated project schedulers who do nothing else but make sure that
the schedule is up-to-date and performing as you would expect.
• On a small, slow project with a small team, you might be able to update your
schedule on a monthly basis and consider that enough. It really depends on
the level of accuracy you need day-to-day to ensure that you have the
information you need to deliver the project between updates.

46
The Value of Baselines in updating
• Baselining your plan is important as baseline is a snapshot of your schedule
in time. It captures your schedule in the moment, and you use that baseline
as a comparison for the future.
• As you make changes to your plan, marking more tasks as done and so on,
you are editing the schedule. You can then go back to your baseline version
and do a comparison. Are you where you thought you would be? Have the
dates on key milestones slipped from the baseline? What does that mean for
your schedule overall?
• The baseline is a useful tool for project reporting and also for analysis as part
of the lesson learned process at the end of projects. It gives you valuable
information about the changes that were made to the schedule and the
impact these had. It’s often eye-opening to look back at your original
schedules and the different baselines you took during the project. You’ll
have forgotten just how much has moved on since that first schedule was
put together!
• Updating your schedule regularly means that you always have a clear view
of what has happened and what is due to happen on your project. This gives
you and your team confidence that you are actively managing the work
towards a successful conclusion.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYmAYmNOuI8: (Network Updating for
Project Management by Prof Thalange S B)

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Earned Value Analysis
• Earned Value Analysis (EVA) is a method that allows the project
manager to measure the amount of work actually performed on a
project beyond the basic review of cost and schedule reports. EVA
provides a method that permits the project to be measured by
progress achieved.

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• Earned Value Analysis (EVA) — a quantitative project management
technique for evaluating project performance and predicting final
project results, based on comparing the progress and budget of work
packages to planned work and actual costs.
• Earned Value Management (EVM) — a project management
methodology for objectively measuring project performance using an
integrated schedule and budget based on the project WBS.
• Earned Value Management System (EVMS) — the process,
procedures, tools, and templates used by an organization to do
earned value management.
• The point is that you can do earned value analysis calculations on any
project, but unless you have complete earned value management in
use on your project, it will be extremely unlikely to obtain correct
results. In order to easily use EVM, your organization really needs to
have an earned value management system in place.

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• Planned Value (PV) is the budgeted cost for the work scheduled to be done. This
is the portion of the project budget planned to be spent at any given point in
time. This is also known as the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS).
• Actual Costs (AC) is simply the money spent for the work accomplished. This is
also known as the actual cost of work performed (ACWP).
• Earned Value (EV) is the percent of the total budget actually completed at a
point in time. This is also known as the budgeted cost of work performed
(BCWP). EV is calculated by multiplying the budget for an activity or work
package by the percentage progress:
• EV = % complete x budget
• Earned Value Calculations
• With the terms PV, EV, and AC defined, along with how to determine progress,
some key calculations can easily be done, which provide important information
on how the project is doing. The formulas for earned value calculations are:
• • Cost Variance: CV = EV – AC • Cost Performance Index: CPI = EV/AC
• • Schedule Variance: SV = EV – PV • Schedule Performance Index: SPI = EV/PV

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• Earned value is a project
management technique for
estimating how a project is doing in
terms of its budget and schedule.
The purpose of earned value is to
obtain an estimate for the
resources that will have been used
at completion.
The 8 Steps to Earned Value Analysis
• Determine the percent complete of
each task.
• Determine Planned Value (PV).
• Determine Earned Value (EV).
• Obtain Actual Cost (AC).
• Calculate Schedule Variance (SV).
• Calculate Cost Variance (CV).
• Calculate Other Status Indicators
(SPI, CPI, EAC, ETC, and TCPI)
• Compile Results

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Earned Value Analysis
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfZR52s2Mt0

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Introduction to use of Project Management
Softwares – MS Project / Primavera
• Primavera is an enterprise project portfolio management software. It
includes project management, scheduling, risk analysis, opportunity
management, resource management, collaboration and control
capabilities, and integrates with other enterprise software such as
Oracle and SAP's ERP systems.

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Introduction to use of Project Management
Softwares – MS Project / Primavera
• 5 key functionality aspects of project management software to guide in
decision:
• Task lists – being able to assign and update the status of tasks so that
everyone in your team is on the same page is critical
• Schedules – many tools offer calendars, Gantt charts or milestone tools that
help you understand where a task fits into the project as a whole and how
much time there is to complete it.
• File sharing – being able to share and organise key project documents
eliminates time wasted searching for files
• Communication – this is critical in project management as a smooth flow of
communication means quick and easy problem solving
• Reporting – this is important for all team members when it comes to
updating themselves on the project as a whole. However this is also a huge
plus for project managers who want to ensure that the project is progressing
and tasks are being carried out in a timely manner
• With these aspects in mind, let’s take a look at the top 20 best project
management software..

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Introduction to use of Project Management
Softwares – MS Project / Primavera

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Case study on housing project scheduling for a
small project with minimum 25 activities.
• PRIMAVERA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-628FFBj7e8

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