GEC 527

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
WEEK NINE
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, PLANNING AND DECISION-
MAKING. FORECASTING SCHEDULING.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
When planning projects, companies sometimes forget to include all the resources
relevant to operations. The team members might have been assigned tasks and the
software solutions might have already been put in place, but if other assets like
money and time haven’t been noted, it could cause a lot of delays. As such, resource
management can spell the difference between project completion and failure. This
is why planning resources is a common practice for project managers.
WHAT IS A RESOURCE?
For researchers in the academy or in the various fields of technology, funding is an
indispensable resource for a project to even start. But it isn’t the only resource that
must be sustained all the way to the finish.

Human resource specialists would say that productivity and the well-being of labor
is a key factor that must be managed if one wants a project to succeed.

Computer programmers, on the other hand, would insist that it’s the choice of the
right software that makes the difference.

Project managers would say ‘time’ is the golden resource.

Information managers would have a different say. And all these professionals would
be correct.

A ‘resource’ is something that is needed to get a project done.

The basic assumption as to the nature of these resources is that they are finite or, in
economic terms, “scarce.” And it is for this reason that they need to be managed.
Resources could be human, ideas, finances, equipment, capital, labor, information
technology or in a larger corporation, managing the resources over multiple
departments and projects etc. Resources could also be collateral such as securities,
stocks and bonds and so on and so forth.

HOW ARE RESOURCES CLASSIFED?

Various industries would classify various company resources or assets differently,

based on how these are actually used in a specific type of project. But generally,
there are four factors that determine how resources can be classified.

Availability

 Recurring – can be used over and over again, day-after-day without being
depleted (i.e. human resources)
 Depleting – cannot be reused and can be used up or depleted (i.e. time,
money)

Place of Availability

 Immovable/Fixed – cannot be moved from place to place (i.e. computer

servers)
 Movable – can be moved or transported to where they are needed (i.e. staff,
money)

Elasticity

 Elastic – their supply (number or amount) can be increased or decreased (i.e.

staff, money)
 Plastic Resources – their supply cannot be extended (i.e. time)

Shared and Dedicated

 Dedicated – dedicated to the project for its full duration (i.e. computer
systems, computer programmers)
 Shared resources – available for use on the project for a number of hours but
are also used on other projects (i.e. mechanical crane, database administrators)

The practice of resource management is based on a solid knowledge of the nature of

these resources.
WHAT IS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT?

Resource management means acquiring, allocating and managing resources:

individuals and their skills, finances, technology, materials, machinery and other
resources, that are required for a project. Resource management ensures that internal
and external resources are used effectively on time and according to the allocated
budget. It also focuses on making the most efficient use of those resources by
eliminating waste for more profits and a high return on investment (ROI). Resource
management puts you in control to avoid conflicts as much as possible.

OBJECTIVES OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The six key objectives of effective resources management are as follows:

• Proper planning and budgeting

• Effective and efficient administration of revenues

• Proper use of budget resource

• Effective control of public expenditure

• Accounting and reporting on public finance; and

• Full accountability for all spending

BENEFITS OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Resource management is helpful to businesses of all types, including startups, small

businesses, and large enterprises. It offers a variety of benefits to support business
success, including:

 Improves efficiencies: Resource management helps companies strategically

maximize their resources for effective use through all aspects of the business.
 Reduces waste: Allocating resources with a purpose allows employers to
identify areas where resources can be better used or moved to increase their
value.
  Improves planning: Deliberately planning the use of resources allows
businesses to anticipate problems before they occur. Through this practice,
you can also ensure supply is enough to meet demand.
 Encourages productivity: Properly allocated resources help business
operations run smoothly and increase productivity in a company’s daily
functions.
 Promotes project completion: When businesses manage their resources
wisely, staff members have what they need to implement and complete
projects.
 Helps determine resource availability: Businesses can actively track the
number of resources available at any given time.
 Aids tracking and reporting: One can better determine supply and demand
by tracking how much of resources are used.

COSTS OF INEFFECTIVE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Poor resource management can be costly in a variety of ways:

1. Performance may suffer on a team, department, or company-wide level.
2. Teams may have heavier workloads and be required to work longer than normal
hours to meet goals and objectives.
3. Teams, individuals, and the organization may experience complications and
setbacks.
4. Interrupted workflow and financial strain may grow into major financial issues.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Unrealistic Deadlines
The thing about deadlines is that, in the real world, they are given by higher-ups to
project managers even before the latter could start planning and estimating how
much time is actually required to complete a project. These are the facts of life.

Limited Resources
Without good resource management capabilities, a team will most likely end up
overallocating its resources – both human and machine. Overwork of personnel
lowers morale and leads to on-the-job errors and even accidents. Overworked
machines, meanwhile, can cost millions to replace. This does not benefit anyone and
will cause a breakdown in other resources, that could only result in further delay.
Such breakdowns also have a price tag.

When Life Happens

Another real-world revelation is that project managers often overshoot or undershoot
the deadline. When that happens, resource allocation needs to be immediately
adjusted. To prevent the emergence of additional lags in the project timeline,
resource managers should be on top of their game, on their toes, and be able to
immediately adjust the deployment of resources in accordance with the situation on
the ground. It is important to note that resource management can never be fixed but
have to be dynamic. A ‘plan’ does not set things in stone.

Budget Impact
What can go wrong when you have your eye set on the project completion date but
fail to keep an eye on your resources? Well, as earlier mentioned, the project budget
could be easily impacted. An unforeseen overallocation of human resources, say, in
a construction project, might require the hiring of additional temporary or
contractual personnel. Without a contingency resource sourcing plan, a company
could be forced to acquire the needed professionals from the most convenient source
but at great cost.

Resource Dependency
Finally, since resources are, as we mentioned, “finite” and “scarce,” it may take some
effort to replenish. If one is really out of stock, in bad times such as now when the
COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down suppliers’ delivery of goods not directly
related to the crisis, the needed resource/supply/financing may never come. And this
is just one of the many resource-related causes of project failure. You won’t believe
the number of unfinished projects, all over the world.

TYPES OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human Resource (HR) Management: HR management involves hiring and

reassigning employees, training staff members, overseeing performance metrics and
supervising compensation and benefits.

Digital Resource Management: Information technology professionals manage

digital resources like networks and software by tracking and maintaining each digital
account or asset.
Project Resource Management: Project managers plan and allocate resources
based on the need of a particular task or project, including anticipating scale.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Four resource management techniques, businesses use are:

Resource allocation

Resource allocation is a technique to get the maximum benefit out of the available
resources. This technique is useful for both physical and intangible resources. It
means organizing available resources as efficiently as possible to complete projects.
Businesses often use reports to help identify the best allocation of resources based
on availability.

Resource allocation helps use resources efficiently, to get the most out of them. It
effectively helps keep project on time and within budget.

Resource leveling

This technique works to leverage inefficient or underused resources. For example,

cross-training employees who show an aptitude for other areas within the business
elevates an employee and taps a previously underused human resource. For physical
resources, this could mean reducing waste by modifying production to better use
materials.

With this type of resource management, you'll take resources that aren't being used
effectively and find ways to use them more efficiently. You may also use leveling if
you have a project that demands more resources than you have and requires adjusting
deadlines.

Resource forecasting

Project managers often use this method before starting a task to plan the scope of
resources needed. They analyze all variables involved in using tangible and
intangible resources. Resource forecasting also allows businesses to predict potential
risks and unforeseen costs of a project.
Before you can forecast, you'll need to fully understand the project’s scope and the
organization's goals. Then, you'll identify the resources available to use now and those
required in the future and predict potential problems

Resource planning

Resource planning involves creating a step-by-step guide to help distribute

resources. Companies across multiple industries do this with the help of software
programs that allow resource planners and project managers to enter data for digital
reporting. These plans involve detailed accounts of each resource needed, how the
resource will be used and how they will be managed throughout a project.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Various resource management tools are available to assist with resource allocation,
leveling, forecasting and planning. These include:

 Resource Management, Inc.: Focuses on HR, payroll and benefits

resource management
 Wrike: Cross-departmental collaboration with automation
 Saviom: Resource scheduling replaces silos, plus capacity planning and
optimization
 The Digital Project Manager: Manages complex digital projects for
teams and stakeholders
 Planview: Focuses on strategic execution and enterprise agile planning
 Forecast: An artificial intelligence-native platform to run all project
operations
 Mavenlink: Industry cloud for professional services and staffing
optimization
 Trello: Boards manage projects and tasks while improving productivity
 Hive: Built by its users and includes a native chat feature
 Jira: For planning, tracking and releasing software and other projects
 Monday.com: Scales 200-plus workflows on one platform
 Float: Capacity management that syncs with calendar tools, plus linked
tasks and editing shortcuts.
CASE STUDY: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
PROJECT

Resource management has multiple connotations for the IT practitioner. It can refer to the
usual human, financial, and time resources that need to be juggled and allocated
efficiently in a project. In this line of work, “resources” also refer to information, data, or
computer “resources” (CPU speed, memory, etc), software.

The steps in the following resource management process flow will be as follows:

1. Planning
When writing the project scoping document, determine the list of resources that will be
needed for the project. These should be classified into a) dedicated resources and b)
shared resources (as discussed earlier).

Project scoping/software estimation indicates the complexity and size of a software, the
kind of development effort it will require, the cost of this project, and the schedule of
implementation.

Based on this, a software development resource manager will:

a. identify the skills that will be needed, the IT or non-IT staff and contractors who could
provide these, and determine how many of these resources will be required
b. based on the types of specialists who would be involved in the project, determine the
hardware, software, network, and other resources that will be needed, and in what quantity
c. compute the number of man-hour/man-day needed to complete the various functionalities
and details covered by the project scoping/software estimation document
d. compute the budget required for all of these resource requirements
e. compute for possible additional requirements, i.e. additional software, training, travel, etc.

2. Requisitioning for these resources

a. Human Resources Department for personnel requirements

b. Purchase Department or Administration Department for procurement of hardware,
software, and other equipment or supplies
c. Human Resources Department or Training Department for additional training needed
d. Finance Department for budget and other monetary resources
e. Administration Department or Travel Desk for travel arrangements

3. Allocating
Using the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) drawn up by the project management team,
allocate the requisite resources to each defined task or activity for the appropriate period.

Some helpful tips on resource allocation:

 a. If possible, assign a resource to a task that will keep him/her occupied for at least a day.
People don’t like being reassigned from task-to-task within a given day. A week’s workload
is even more ideal in terms of maximizing an individual’s familiarization with an assigned
task, leading to higher efficiency– instead of a new resource having to learn the ropes
every other day
b. Do your very best to distribute the workload fairly among all team members
c. Make the allocation process transparent using a shared spreadsheet or via a work
allocation software
d. Communicate assignments explicitly.
e. Ensure clarity in the instructions to be given each team member. Confirm correct
understanding of these instructions.
f. Make sure that staff have access to the tools and resources necessary for them to
complete their assigned tasks.
g. The project manager or resource manager should always be available to provide expert
assistance to team members.
h. Create and facilitate a smooth working environment so that team members can focus on
producing the desired output. No breathing-down-the-neck, interferences or distractions.

4. Overallocating
During project implementation, it is possible that there would be ‘overallocation’ of some
resources. This is especially true for some stages of software development as deadlines
approach. Some programmers, for instance, could be putting in more hours for their own
good or for the good of the project outcome. In such cases, some degree of resource
levelling would be necessary. This will require a splitting of some tasks or an extension
of deadlines as necessary. Or when there is underutilization of resources, some tasks
may have to be transferred from overloaded staff to less-loaded but equally capable
resources. If your most skilled programmer, for instance, is also an expert graphics
designer, it will be in the company’s better interest to assign the design task to a lesser
skilled professional despite the cost savings of relying on the same person for both tasks.

5. Releasing Resources to Managers

At some point, the resources will be taken out of the resource manager’s hands and will
be managed by the project manager or the concerned unit supervisor. But be ready to
provide support, based on your resource management plan, when they come to you with
resource-related problems that you should have anticipated and planned for.

6. Releasing Resources to HR
Once a human resource has completed all the planned activities assigned to him or her,
he or she could be released back to the Human Resources Department and made
available to other projects or teams. Prior to this, a project manager or resource manager
should complete a performance appraisal of the said resource. Following this, the
resource’s skill database records should be updated. Finally, a two-way discussion
between manager and resource would be highly beneficial. The manager might discuss
opportunities for a resource to improve his or her performance. A resource might also
want to provide his feedback on how a manager implemented a project, particularly in
areas related to the resource’s responsibilities.
7. Releasing Resources to Finance
At project closure, monetary resources should also be released back to the Finance
Department. An itemized reconciliation statement should show planned expenditures vs.
actual expenditures, noting deviations and providing the justifications for these. This will
help in the overall cost analysis, with the end-in-view of drawing out lessons and
developing best practices for similar projects in the future.

8. Releasing other resources

Finally, all other resources should be turned over to concerned departments, i.e.
computer hardware to the IT Inventory Management unit, etc.

PLANNING AND DECISION MAKING

INTRODUCTION
In everyday life, all of us make and execute certain plans to achieve our goals.
For example, before going on a trip, we make a plan i.e. where and when to go,
how to reach the destination, the duration of the trip, where to stay and luggage
to carry, etc. All these tasks require creating an effective plan which consists of
certain activities for the successful execution of a trip. The process of making
such plans to achieve some goal or objective is called “Planning“. In other terms,
in order to execute activities in future, prior forethought is necessary and this
forethought comes under the concept of “planning.”
From an organizational point of view, planning is defined as “A process
by which an organization identifies its short-term and long-term
goals, design, and implement strategies to achieve them.” One of the
important aspects of planning is to allocate resources and manpower in an
organization.

CHARACTERISTICS/NATURE OF PLANNING

1. Basic and Important Management Function

Planning is not only the base for the rest of the management functions i.e. staffing,
directing, organizing, and controlling, but it is also one of the most crucial processes
for any organization to meet goals. All the above management functions involve
effective planning as without proper planning no function can be performed well.
Therefore, the results might be ambiguous.

2. Goal-Oriented
Planning is focused on defining organizational goals or objectives, identifying
different action plans, deciding and implementing the best action plan to achieve
goals.

3. Versatile
Planning is involved at all the levels i.e. top, middle, and bottom. The effective
functioning of different departments of organizations like sales, purchase, IT, HR,
finance among others depends on planning their systems, optimum use of resources,
etc. The scope may vary in different functions.

4. Continuous Process
Planning is a continuous process in an organization which involves making plans for
a particular time period i.e. monthly or quarterly, half-yearly, yearly, etc. New plans
are initiated after the previous plans lapse to fulfil organizational goals.

5. Demands Strong Analytical Skills

Planning requires robust analytical abilities i.e. analyzing information, problem-
solving, decision-making, critical thinking, etc. at each level and function.

6. Forecast
Planning process demands forecasting future needs, i.e. analyzing and detecting
future requirements, challenges in accomplishing organizational goals, etc.

IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING

1. Increase in Efficiency
Planning helps in increasing efficiency by aiming at cost-reduction and generating
maximum output. It controls the wastage of available resources and their duplicity.

2. Minimize Risks
Risk-management is an important aspect of any organization, especially in
forecasting. Planning predicts various risks related to business and further helps in
generating action plans to control and reduce these risks. So, with effective planning,
organizations prepare themselves for any future uncertainty.

3. Smooth Coordination
Planning ensures effective coordination at different levels, between various
departments or functions. Plans are formulated at each level i.e. top, middle, and
bottom as well as in different departments. Effective execution of these plans
requires proper coordination which is possible through effective planning. Similarly,
different plans like short-, mid-, and long-term plans require coordination to achieve
organizational goals where planning plays an important role.

4. Optimum Utilization of Available Resources

An organization needs different resources like funds, manpower, physical assets to
disburse activities of different departments. These resources are limited. So, it’s
necessary to utilize and organize them efficiently to produce maximum output.
Planning helps in organizing these resources carefully.

5. Smooth Supervision and Direction

Planning paves a path for supervising subordinates, providing right instructions, and
rendering top-notch guidance. It aims to provide help, direction for performing
various tasks, and methods for carrying out different activities.

6. Facilitates Control
Performance of staff can be controlled or improved by devising plans for
improvement in performance according to the variance in performance plans and
actual performance at work. Without planning, this process of control could not be
smooth.

7. Staff Motivation
Attractive monetary and non-monetary benefits can be designed through proper
planning which is helpful in boosting the morale of the staff. This leads to high
motivation among staff and reduces turnovers of quality staff.

8. Trouble-Free Decision-Making
Making effective and right decisions in an organization is essential to achieve goals.
A supervisor has to make different plans and strategies for the smooth functioning
of the department and to decide the most appropriate plan. So, planning helps in
smooth decision-making in an organization.

9. Achievement of Goals
Proper planning ensures that the best strategies and decisions are made to fulfil
organizational goals. Different plans made at different levels are aimed at achieving
individual, departmental, and organizational goals.

10. Encouraging Creativity and Innovative Ideas

Planning demands thinking and implementing the best ideas or strategies for
organizational success. Both supervisors and subordinates are encouraged to exploit
their creative skills and present their innovative plans.

Elements/Components of Planning
The planning process revolves around different aspects as shown in the diagram
below:

1. Mission
Mission or purpose is the base of planning in any organization. The mission of an
organization specifies its reason for existence, customers, products or services,
service locations, etc. and mostly in written form. It acts as a direction towards
achieving organizational goals. Mission also includes an organization’s values and
belief system. It also clears the organization’s viewpoint on staff. Organizational
goals are defined based on the mission statement of an organization.

2. Goals
The ultimate aim of the functioning of each department in an organization is to
achieve organizational goals and objectives. Planning also requires setting of goals
to make a plan further. Goals can be individual or team based. For example:

 Individual goal of Hiring Manager in the HR department: To recruit top talent

in the organization in given time-frame.
 Team goal of Human Resource Department: To ensure the development of
employees by meeting organizational goals.
Goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. Short-term
goals can be for less than a year and long-term goals are defined for a time-period
of more than a year.

3. Policies
Planning is also based on defined policies of an organization. Policies are a set of
guidelines to accomplish any task effectively and also includes procedure and
actions. These are defined as a set of plans to handle different situations. Different
policies like an insurance policy, travel policy, HR policies are designed to facilitate
smooth functioning in any organization. Similarly, if an organization policy says that
the minimum annual salary increment of staff will be 10% of the salary then
increment can’t be less than 10%. So, policies act as a decision-making element as
well.

4. Process
Planning is connected to a process, and it is an important element of planning. A
process defines guidelines to execute different activities, i.e. action plan. In any
planning activity, the process is practical. A process like planning is aimed at
achieving something. These are step-by-step inter-related activities to be performed
and require different resources like money, manpower, machinery, etc. to produce
the desired output. For example, in a manufacturing company, different processes
are present like production process, quality control and quality assurance process,
maintenance process etc.

5. Budget
Plans that are made for estimating income and expenses for a specific period are
defined as “budget.” Budget is a set of financial plans which are made for a specific
period and reviewed at regular intervals. Whether it is an organization or a family or
an individual; all make budget plans to utilize their financial resources efficiently.
For example, in an organization business budget is present that includes fixed and
variable costs, expected sales, profits, etc.

A well-designed budget also helps in planning during a financial crisis.

6. Projects
Project in an organization refers to the set of inter-related activities which are
planned to fulfil certain goals in a specific time period at a given cost using limited
resources. Project planning includes defining goals, project schedule, resources,
budget, project quality, manpower, and risk management. So, this element of
planning consists of other planning elements as well. For example, software
companies work on different projects for their clients.

7. Strategies
Strategies are a set of plans and actions that are defined to meet certain results.
Proper planning and implementation of strategies are essential for organizational
success and to meet certain goals.

TYPES OF PLANNING

Planning is mainly of two types i.e. Operational and Strategic.

a) Operational Planning
Operational plan or work plan refers to the planning process aimed at achieving
departmental and organizational goals. It is related to the day-to-day functioning of
organizations. These plans clear planned activities of departments for the near future
in detail. The operational plan provides answers of:

-What goals have to be achieved and what strategies to use?

-Who will be responsible for different activities?

-What is the time limit to complete activities?

-How much budget in terms of financial resources is required and available to

complete activities?

For example, the goal of the marketing team of an engineering college is to increase
the number of students by increasing marketing promotional activities.

Operational planning is of two types i.e. single use plans or ongoing plans. Single-
use plans are developed for one-time activities or tasks like sales or marketing event
or seminar. Ongoing plans have a defined set of policies, rules, and procedures to
achieve goals and are continued for the future as well, like a performance
management system for employees.

b) Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is defined as the strategies made by management to achieve its
objectives. It also includes defining directions and allocating resources for
execution. Strategic planning is meant for long-term business decisions. A strategic
plan starts with the vision and the mission statement of an organization.

The process of strategic planning includes vision clarity, collecting and analyzing
information, strategy formulation, and implementation of strategy, evaluating, and
controlling.

DECISION MAKING

Decision making is the process of resolution or concluding after much consideration.

BENEFITS OF PLANNING TO DECISION MAKING

• Planning allows the establishment of independent goals.

• Planning provides a standard of measurement.

• Planning converts values to action.

• Planning allows limited resources to be committed in an orderly way

TECHNIQUES FOR DECISION MAKING

1. T-Chart: A T-Chart is an orderly, graphic representation of alternative features or

points involved in a decision. In one form, it can be a list of positive and negative
attributes surrounding a particular choice.

2. PMI: Edward de Bono refines the T-Chart idea into a three-part structure, which
he calls PMI for plus, minus, and interesting. - Here you first list all the plus or good
points of the idea, then all the minus or bad points, and finally all the interesting
points, consequences, areas of curiosity or uncertainty, or attributes that you simply
don't care to view as either good or bad at this point (consequences that some people
might view as good and others might view as bad).

3. Buriden's Ass: This method of decision making is used when two or more equally
attractive alternatives are faced. From an old fable of an ass placed between two
equally nice bales of hay. The ass couldn't decide which bale to turn to because they
were both so attractive, and so it starved to death from indecision. The method is
simply to list all the negative points or drawbacks about each decision. That is, when
two or more alternatives seem very desirable, we become blinded to any drawbacks.
The Buriden's Ass method simply focuses on the drawbacks.
4. Measured Criteria: With this technique, you list the criteria you want your
decision to meet and assign points to each criterion based on its relative importance
in the decision. Then, each alternative is given a certain number of points according
to how fully it meets the criterion. For points you can use a scale of 1 to 10, 1 to 100,
or any other range that makes sense to you.

5. Decision Matrix or Weighted Decision Table: This is a slightly more sophisticated

version of the measured criteria technique. Here a table is set up with each criterion
given a weight depending on its importance in the decision and with each alternative
given a ranking for that criterion.

FORECAST SCHEDULING
What is a ‘Project Schedule’?
Project schedule is the things you create and their due dates. These due dates are fixed and
only serve as the static target. Some schedulers treat (or are forced to treat) their schedule
in this way as a static, deterministic schedule that should not change. They tend to use
manually scheduled tasks and no dependencies in their schedule. If we compare this to
what doctors do with their patients, we realize that these schedulers are missing an
important instrument.
A doctor has a patient, a project manager has a project. The doctor has a target for the
patient’s body temperature: 37.5 Celsius (98 Fahrenheit). The project manager has a
deadline date (depicted with an arrow in the illustration). The temperature of the patient
can be too low (hypothermia) or too high (fever). The project can be early or late.
The doctor measures the body temperature with a thermometer. The question is: How does
the project manager measure the health of the project?
This is where several alternative methodologies come in that attempt to forecast projects,
like Earned Value indicators and charts, Critical Chain buffer management charts and
Agile’s burn down charts. In each of these methodologies, the schedule is used as input
and transformed into forecasts. If you find those methodologies too demanding or not
applicable to your project you can always simply use the schedule by itself to forecast the
project. We prefer to keep it simple and have the schedule tell the story by itself. You can
do this by building a dynamic model of your project that always reflects your latest insights
and lessons about your project.
We offer a simple alternative for these methodologies: Use the schedule as the instrument
to measure the health of the project. If you create the schedule as a dynamic model of the
project and keep it up-to-date, it will forecast your project continuously. If your schedule
is set up to forecast the project, it becomes the perfect project thermometer.
The Principle of Forecast Scheduling
Forecast scheduling is an approach to scheduling that requires the schedule by itself to
produce accurate forecasts continuously. We define a schedule as: a model of the project
to forecast it. If we want the schedule to forecast, we need to create a valid, dynamic and
robust model that forecasts the project:
 Valid
A valid schedule is a schedule that produces accurate forecasts.
 Dynamic
A dynamic schedule is a schedule that updates itself as much as possible. A dynamic
schedule comes as close as possible to realizing our principle of dynamic scheduling:
when one thing changes in the project, you need to change only one cell in the model,
and all forecasts in the entire schedule are immediately recalculated by the software to
be accurate again. There are several reasons why we need schedules to be dynamic:
 Only dynamic schedules can keep up with the changes in projects.
Changes happen so frequently in projects that it is hard to keep up with them. If your
schedule is static, you will have to review all dates of future tasks every time you
make one change. You will spend too much time keeping the schedule alive and
likely stop updating it during project execution when you are busy.
 Dynamic schedules save time.
An attempt was made to quantify the amount of time saved when working with a
dynamic schedule instead of a rigid schedule. For a project of 100 tasks and
3 months, it was calculated that about 50 hours of effort will be saved if a dynamic
schedule is created in the first place.
 Robust
There is an extra level of sophistication when building a forecast model. A forecast
model is alive and responds to changes, but how well does the model respond to those
changes? Project models only survive changes well if they are set up in such a way that
they respond properly to a wide variety of changes. A robust model is a model that can
survive as many changes as possible, even extreme circumstances, with as few
necessary adjustments as possible. Choosing the right dependencies will make a project
model robust.
 Model
A model is a deliberate and smart simplification of the reality. A schedule should be an
intentional and intelligent simplification of the project. If you try to replicate the
complex reality of the project inside scheduling software, you will end up with a large
monstrosity of a schedule to manage a complex project. The art of scheduling is
capturing only what is important in the project. Do this and you will end up with a
schedule that is workable and that forecasts the project well.
 Forecast
The schedule is a model built to forecast the project. Schedules are built for other
reasons as well, but we believe that the biggest benefit is using your schedule to
continuously forecast your project. Stakeholders are interested in accurate forecasts.
If you want the schedule to forecast, you must create complete and correct network logic,
minimize the use of date constraints, and keep all completed work in the past and all work
that needs to be done in the future.

Benefits of Forecast Schedule

A forecast schedule provides the following benefits:
 It provides constant feedback on whether the project deadline date and budget can still
be met, given the way the project is unfolding in reality.
 It facilitates scenario development.
In order to explore what-if scenarios to solve problems, the schedule needs to be a
dynamic model. In a typical project, many slippages need to be compensated for.
Developing what-if scenarios leads you to the best road forward.
 It is essential for program management.
Schedules of subprojects need to be dynamic models when you want to roll them up
into a master schedule. Otherwise, you will spend too much time making changes in
the master schedule – so much time that you will stop doing it or not even consider it.
If program managers cannot develop what-if scenarios, they will accumulate slippages
and become monthly messengers of bad news. When dynamic models of subprojects
are rolled up into program schedules, problems become visible in the master schedule
and can also be addressed in the master schedule. Program managers can then deliver
their program on time.
 It is required for schedule simulation.
In order to perform schedule simulation for quantitative risk analysis, you will need a
dynamic model. Monte Carlo schedule simulation is essential to provide forecasts with
their probability to executives and clients.

How to Implement Forecast Scheduling

To realize a forecast schedule, project managers need to do the following:
 Project managers will use deadline dates or the schedule baseline to capture promised
and committed dates. Too many schedulers use the schedule itself to reflect their
commitments and then desperately want to keep their schedule static, using it as a
project execution model only. With that decision, they kill the dynamic nature of the
schedule. In our approach, the schedule will be a dynamic model that reflects the living
 and changing nature of a project at all times. The commitments can be captured using
deadlines right away or later using the schedule baseline that will reflect the approved
schedule at all times. We must separate the live, dynamic model of the project from the
static deadlines (schedule baseline).
 Project managers want to minimize the time spent on scheduling their project. They
can do this by setting up the schedule in the right way with all dependencies and as few
date constraints as possible. Ideally, when one change happens in your project, you
would have to edit only one cell in your model of the project.
 Project managers will update their schedules by constantly revising the to-complete
estimates. Many project managers just enter actuals (what happened in the past) and
forget about the future of their project. In order to forecast, you need to capture revised
forecasts from your team members as well. As team members start tasks, they learn
what these tasks will really take to complete. Project managers need to reflect those
emerging insights in their schedule in order to get a real sense of how long the project
will take. Of course, you may have to re-optimize your schedule to stay within the dates
promised.
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT (OPERATIONS RESEARCH) TECHNIQUES
AND APPLICATIONS IN ENGINEERING: MODELING LINEAR
PROGRAMMING, DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING. PERT, CPM IN
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

SYSTEMS
INTRODUCTION
People seem to have systems for just about everything: how to get ready for work in
the morning, how to cut the lawn, and even how to come to the lecture room. The
facts are we are a society of systems. Even people that do not have a system, well,
that is their system for doing things. One way or another, systems are all around us,
and they are part of our world.
The word system is used more and more frequently in every areas of human
endeavors, e.g., control system, weapon systems, eco system, life support system,
transport system, engineering system, etc.
DEFINITION OF A SYSTEM
A system is a collection of parts brought together to accomplish some end goal
or objective. Looking at it from that perspective, if one part of the system fails or is
taken out, the system itself cannot work.
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Systems management offers an alternative approach to the planning and
management of organizations. The systems management theory proposes that
businesses, like the human body, consists of multiple components that work
harmoniously so that the larger system can function optimally. According to the
theory, the success of an organization depends on several key elements: synergy,
interdependence, and interrelations between various subsystems.
DEFINITION
A system management is a set of policies, processes and procedures used by
an organization to ensure that it can fulfill the tasks required to achieve its
objectives. These objectives cover many aspects of the organization's operations
(including financial success, safe operation, product quality, client relationships,
legislative and regulatory conformance and worker management). For instance, an
environmental system management enables organizations to improve their
environmental performance and an occupational health and safety system
management enables an organization to control its occupational health and safety
risks, etc.
Many parts of the system management are common to a range of objectives, but
others may be more specific.

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Definition

It is the systematic and the analytical methods used to assist in decision making, the
improvement of efficiency and effectiveness and in particular, the conduct of the
two key managerial activities of planning and control.
System management techniques include the following:
1. Mathematical (operation research) techniques
 Simulation study/model
 System analysis
 Linear programming
 Inventory control
 Precedence and arrow diagramming
 Network analysis
 PERT
 CPM
 Time motion studies
 Work sampling and activity analysis
 Queueing theory
 Gantt chart and work schedule
2. Statistical techniques
o Time trends and forecasting
 o Decision theory and tree

OPERATIONS RESEARCH TECHNIQUE (ORT)

INTRODUCTION
Operation Research is a process of applying advanced analytical methods for
decision making and problem-solving.

It is concerned with examining the real situations of organizations to detect the

prevailing problems. It is a tool that assists the management in managing all
operations of the organization effectively. Operation research is a scientific method
of problem-solving that provides quantitative information for better understanding
and taking decisions.

Operation research performs three important roles that are optimization,

simulation. and probability and statistics. Optimization means achieving
optimum results under given conditions, simulation refers to constructing models
for testing the solutions before applying them and the last one probability and
statistics means making reliable predictions, finding out the risk involved using
mathematical algorithms.

Under this process, the problem is first divided into many basic components for
better understanding and then handled through systematic steps using mathematical
analysis. Operation research enables an organization to efficiently utilizing all
resources, minimization of loss and avoiding any resource wastage. The concept of
operation research arose during the Second World War and was used by military
planners.

OPERATIONS RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

The techniques used in operation research process are as follows:

Identification of the Problem

Operation research method involves the proper study and captures real situations
prevailing in the organization. Conducting proper study helps in the identification of
real problems. Operation research acquires and analyses all relevant quantitative
information regarding organization for formulating problems. It aims at explaining
the problems properly to have the right solutions.
Constructing A Mathematical Model
Once problems are detected, now management constructs model for a detailed study
of problems. This model is constructed to find out the real cause for problems which
are identified. It shows relationship between different variables and finds out the
relation and interrelation between cause and effect. The developing of such model
helps management to determine the effect of factors which are important for solving
the problem.

Deriving Solution from the Model

Solutions are extracted from models that are constructed for evaluating problems.
Several experiments are conducted on such models to derive the solutions. It should
be ensured that appropriate data is supplied to model to get the right information and
results which would help in developing solutions.

Testing The Model

It involves testing the solutions of models before their application. Model is never a
perfect representation of real situations so it is better to check its validity before
implying it. The usefulness or utility of such model findings are tested by comparing
its outputs with results of past.

Establishing Control Over Solutions

Operation researcher is required to properly explain his finding of model to
management. Management should have a better knowledge of solutions derived for
properly utilizing and getting better results. They should have a clear idea of such
conditions under which these solutions will work effectively. It will help
management in establishing controls over the solution.

Implementing The Solution

Implementing the derived solution is the last step in operation research process.
Managers after ensuring the utility of solution imply them to overcome prevailing
problems of organizations. Performance of solutions is measured after applying
them and in case of any deviations from expected results, corrective measures are
taken.

APPLICATIONS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING

LINEAR PROGRAMMING
A model, which is used for optimum allocation of scarce or limited resources to
competing products or activities under such assumptions as certainty, linearity, fixed
technology, and constant profit per unit, is termed “linear programming”.
Linear Programming is one of the most versatile, powerful and useful techniques for
making managerial decisions.
PROPERTIES OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING MODEL
Any linear programming model (problem) must have the following properties:
(a) The relationship between variables and constraints must be linear.
(b) The model must have an objective function.
(c) The model must have structural constraints.
(d) The model must have non-negativity constraint.
Let us consider a product mix problem and see the applicability of the above
properties.
Example
A company manufactures two products X and Y, which require, the following
resources. The resources are the capacities machine M1, M2, and M3. The available
capacities are 50, 25, and 15 hours respectively in the planning period. Product X
requires 1 hour of machine M2 and 1 hour of machine M3. Product Y requires 2
hours of machine M1, 2 hours of machine M2 and 1 hour of machine M3. The profit
contribution of products X and Y are #5,000 and #4,000 respectively.
The contents of the statement of the problem can be summarized as follows:
Machines Products Availability (hours)
X Y
M1 0 2 50
M2 1 2 25
M3 1 1 15
Profit (#) per unit 5,000 4,000

In the above problem, Products X and Y are competing candidates or variables.

Machine capacities are available resources. Profit contribution of products X and Y
are given. Now let us formulate the model. Let the company manufactures x units of
X and y units of Y. As the profit contributions of X and Y are #5,000 and #4,000
respectively. The objective of the problem is to maximize the profit Z, hence
objective function is:
Maximize Z = 5,000x + 4,000y OBJECTIVE FUNCTION.
This should be done so that the utilization of machine hours by products x and y
should not exceed the available capacity. This can be shown as follows:
For Machine M1 0x + 2y ≤ 50
For Machine M2 1x + 2y ≤ 25 and LINEAR STRUCTURAL CONSTRAINTS.
For machine M3 1x + 1y ≤ 15

The company can stop production of x and y or can manufacture any amount of x
and y but cannot manufacture negative quantities of x and y. Hence we write,
Both x and y are ≥ 0. NON -NEGATIVITY CONSTRAINT.
As the problem has got objective function, structural constraints, and non-negativity
constraints and there exist a linear relationship between the variables and the
constraints in the form of inequalities, the problem satisfies the properties of the
Linear Programming Problem.

TERMS USED IN LINEAR PROGRAMMING PROBLEM

Linear programming is a method of obtaining an optimal solution or programme
(say, product mix in a production problem), when we have limited resources and a
good number of competing candidates to consume the limited resources in certain
proportion.
The term linear implies the condition of proportionality and additivity.
The programme is referred as a course of action covering a specified period of time,
say planning period. The manager has to find out the best course of action in the
interest of the organization. This best course of action is termed as optimal course
of action or optimal solution to the problem.
A programme is optimal, when it maximizes or minimizes some measure or
criterion of effectiveness, such as profit, sales or costs.
The term programming refers to a systematic procedure by which a particular
program or plan of action is designed. Programming consists of a series of
instructions and computational rules for solving a problem that can be worked out
manually or can fed into the computer.
In solving linear programming problem, we use a systematic method known as
simplex method developed by American mathematician George B. Dantzig in the
year 1947.
The candidates or activity here refers to number of products or any such items,
which need the utilization of available resources in a certain required proportion.
The available resources may be of any nature, such as money, area of land, machine
hours, and man-hours or materials. But they are limited in availability and which are
desired by the activities / products for consumption.

DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING
INTRODUCTION
In linear programming, we have seen how to solve the problems, where decision is
made in single stage, i.e. one-time period. But we may come across situations, where
we may have to make decision in multistage, i.e. optimization of multistage decision
problems.
Dynamic programming is a technique for getting solutions for multistage
decision problems.
A problem, in which the decision has to be made at successive stages, is called a
multistage decision problem. In this case, the problem solver will take decision at
every stage, so that the total effectiveness defined over all the stages is optimal. Here
the original problem is broken down or decomposed into small problems, which are
known as sub problems or stages which is much convenient to handle and to find the
optimal stage. The computational technique used is known as Dynamic
Programming or Recursive Optimization.
States are the possible situations in which the system may be at any stage.
The total number of stages in the process may be finite or infinite and may be known
or unknown.
COMMON TERMS USED IN DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING
Stage: A stage signifies a portion of the total problem for which a decision can be
taken. At each stage there are a number of alternatives, and the best out of those is
called stage decision, which may be optimal for that stage, but contributes to obtain
the optimal decision policy.
State: The condition of the decision process at a stage is called its state.
The variables, which specify the condition of the decision process, i.e. describes the
status of the system at a particular stage are called state variables. The number of
state variables should be as small as possible, since the larger the number of the state
variables, the more complicated is the decision process.
Policy: A rule, which determines the decision at each stage, is known as Policy. A
policy is an optimal one, if the decision is made at each stage in a way that the result
of the decision is optimal over all the stages and not only for the current stage.
Example
A company has 8 engineers, who have to be allocated to four branches of the company. The
production output from each branch, depends upon the number of engineers working in that
branch. The expected production output for different number of engineers in different branches,
as estimated from the past records, are given below. Determine the optimal allocation policy, using
dynamic programming technique.
No. of Engineers Branch 1 Branch 2 Branch 3 Branch 4
0 45 30 35 42
1 58 45 45 54
2 70 60 52 60
3 82 70 64 70
4 93 79 72 82
5 101 90 82 95
6 108 98 93 102
7 113 105 98 110
8 118 110 100 110

Solution
The problem here is how many engineers are to be allocated to each branch to
maximize the total production output. In this problem each branch can be considered
as a stage. Number of engineers available for allocation at a stage is the state variable
of the problem. Here let us consider the first stage (branch 1) and add to it the second
stage (branch 2) and see what will be the optimal output and optimal allocation.
Remember, that allocation of engineers for each branch may be 0, 1, 2, …and 8. See
the table below to understand how we can allocate engineers between branches 1
and 2. In this problem, decision policy requires making four interrelated decisions.
 No. of 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
engineers
in branch
1
No. of 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
engineers
in branch
2

Construct a table to calculate the output from the above combination.

Branch 1 Engineers 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Production Output (1,000 45 58 70 82 93 101 108 113 118
Units)
Branch 2 Engineers Products

0 30 75 88 100 112 123 131 138 143 148

1 45 90 103 115 127 138 146 153 158

2 60 105 118 130 142 153 161 168

3 70 115 128 140 152 163 171

4 79 124 137 149 161 172

5 90 135 148 160 172

6 98 143 156 168

7 105 150 163

8 110 155

Procedure: If we want to allocate zero engineer, then zero to branch 1 and zero to
branch 2 and the total outcome is 30 + 45 = 75 × 1000. This is written in the table
where lines from zero from branch 1 and branch 2 intersect. As this is the only entry
in the diagonal line it is made bold. When company wants to allocate 1 engineer to
two branches, the allocation is zero to branch 1 and 1 to branch 2 or 1 to branch 1
and zero to branch 2. The outcomes are entered where the horizontals from branch
2 and verticals from branch 1 intersect. Higher number is written in bold numbers.
In this example, the outcomes are 90 and 88, 90 is written in bold. Similarly, we
have to allocate 8 engineers and write the outcomes and bolden the highest outcome
in the diagonal. Sometimes, it may happen that there may be two or more same
numbers indicating highest outcome. All these are written in bold letter. (Note:
Instead of writing highest in bold letter, we can encircle the element or enclose it in
a square).
No. of 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Engineers
Branch 1 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 4 4 3
Branch 2 0 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5
Production 75 90 105 118 130 142 153 163 172 172
Output in
1,000
Units

Now in the second stage, let us combine branch 3 and branch 4 and get the total
production outputs.
Combination of branch 3 and branch 4:
No. of 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
engineers
in branch
3
No. of 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
engineers
in branch
4
Branch 3 Engineers 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Production Output (1,000 35 45 52 64 72 82 93 98 100
Units)
Branch 4 Engineers Products

0 42 77 87 94 106 114 124 135 140 142

1 54 89 99 106 118 126 136 147 152

2 60 95 105 112 124 132 142 153

3 70 105 115 122 134 142 152

4 82 117 127 134 146 154

5 95 130 140 147 159

6 102 137 147 154

7 110 145 155

8 110 145

Now the table below shows the allocation and the outcomes for branch 3 and branch
4.
No. of 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Engineers
Branch 1 0 0 1 3 1 3 0 1 6 1 2 3
Branch 2 0 1 1 0 2 1 5 5 1 6 5 5
Production 77 89 99 106 106 118 130 140 147 147 147 159
Output in
1,000
Units

In third stage we combine both branches 1 & 2 outcomes and branches 3 and 4
outcomes. Branches 1 and 2 and branches 3 and 4 combined.
 Branches 1 &2 Engineers (0,0) (0,1) (0.2) (1,2) (2,2) (3,2) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4)(3,5)
Production Output (1,000 75 90 105 118 130 142 153 163 172
Units)
Branches 3 & 4 Products
Engineers

(0,0) 77 152 167 182 195 207 219 230 240 249

(0,1) 89 164 179 194 207 219 231 242 252

(1,1) 99 174 189 204 217 229 241 252

(3,0)(1,2) 106 181 196 211 224 236 248

(3,1) 118 193 208 223 236 248

(0,5) 130 205 220 235 248

(1,5) 140 215 230 258

(6,1)(1,6)(2,5) 147 222 237

(3,5) 159 234

Optimal allocation is
Salesman 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Branch 1 0 0 0 1 2 1 3 3 4 0
Branch 2 0 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Branch 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Branch 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 5
Total 152 167 182 195 207 207 219 231 242 258
production
output in
1,000
units

The above table shows how engineers are allocated to various branches and the
optimal outcome for the allocation. Maximum outcome is 258,000 units.
To get the optimal output, no engineer should be allocated to branch 1, two engineers
should be allocated to branch 2, one engineer to branch 3 and five engineers to
branch 4.

PROGRAMME EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE AND

CRITICAL PATH METHOD (PERT AND CPM)
Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method
(CPM) are two techniques that are widely used in planning and scheduling large
projects. In planning and scheduling the activities of large sized projects, the two
network techniques — PERT and CPM — are used conveniently to estimate and
evaluate the project completion time and control the resources to see that the project
is completed within the stipulated time and at minimum possible cost.
In PERT and CPM the milestones are represented as events.
Event or node is either starting of an activity or ending of an activity.
Activity is represented by means of an arrow, which is resource consuming. Activity
consumes resources like time, money and materials. Event will not consume any
resource, but it simply represents either starting or ending of an activity. Event can
also be represented by rectangles or triangles. When all activities and events in a
project are connected logically and sequentially, they form a network.
The basic steps for writing a network are:
(a) List out all the activities involved in a project. Say, for example, in building
construction, the activities are:
(i) Site selection,
(ii) Arrangement of Finance,
(iii) Preparation of building plan,
(iv) Approval of plan by municipal authorities,
(v) Purchase of materials,
(vi) Digging of foundation,
(vii) Filling up of foundation,
(viii) Building superstructure,
 (ix) Fixing up of doorframes and window frames,
(x) Roofing,
(xi) Plastering,
(xii) Flooring,
(xiii) Electricity and water fittings,
(xiv) Finishing.
(b) Once the activities are listed, they are arranged in sequential manner and in
logical order. For example, foundation digging should come before foundation
filling and so on
(c) After arranging the activities in a logical sequence, their time is estimated and
written against each activity. For example: Foundation digging: 10 days, or 1½
weeks.
(d) Some of the activities do not have any logical relationship, in such cases; we can
start those activities simultaneously. For example, foundation digging and purchase
of materials do not have any logical relationship. Hence both of them can be started
simultaneously. Suppose foundation digging takes 10 days and purchase of materials
takes 7 days, both of them can be finished in 10 days. And the successive activity,
say foundation filling, which has logical relationship with both of the above, can be
started after 10 days. Otherwise, foundation digging and purchase of materials are
done one after the other; filling of foundation should be started after 17 days.
(e) Activities are added to the network, depending upon the logical relationship to
complete the project network.
Some of the points to be remembered while drawing the network are
(a) There must be only one beginning and one end for the network, as shown below.
(b) Event number should be written inside the circle or node (or
triangle/square/rectangle etc). Activity name should be capital alphabetical letters
and would be written above the arrow. The time required for the activity should be
written below the arrow as below.

(c) While writing network, see that activities should not cross each other. And arcs
or loops as shown below should not join Activities.
(d) While writing network, looping should be avoided. This is to say that the network
arrows should move in one direction, i.e. starting from the beginning should move
towards the end, as in below.

(e) When two activities start at the same event and end at the same event, they should
be shown by means of a dummy activity as in below. Dummy activity is an activity,
which simply shows the logical relationship and does not consume any resource. It
should be represented by a dotted line as shown. In the figure, activities C and D
start at the event 3 and end at event 4. C and D are shown in full lines, whereas the
dummy activity is shown in dotted line
(f) When the event is written at the tail end of an arrow, it is known as tail event. If
event is written on the head side of the arrow it is known as head event. A tail event
may have any number of arrows (activities) emerging from it. This is to say that an
event may be a tail event to any number of activities. Similarly, a head event may be
a head event for any number of activities. This is to say that many activities may
conclude at one event. This is shown in figure 15.8

There are three time estimates in PERT, they are:

(a) OPTIMISTIC TIME: Optimistic time is represented by t O. Here the estimator
thinks that everything goes on well and he will not come across any sort of
uncertainties and estimates lowest time as far as possible. He is optimistic in his
thinking.
(b) PESSIMISTIC TIME: This is represented by tP. Here estimator thinks that
everything goes wrong and expects all sorts of uncertainties and estimates highest
possible time. He is pessimistic in his thinking.
(c) LIKELY TIME: This is represented by tL. This time is in between optimistic and
pessimistic times. Here the estimator expects he may come across some sort of
uncertainties and many a time the things will go right. So while estimating the time
for a PERT activity, the estimator will give the three time estimates.
Expected Time or Average Time = tE = (tO + 4tL + tP) / 6 These equations are very
important in the calculation of PERT times.
Example
A small project is composed of 7 activities whose time estimates are listed below.
Activities are being identified by their beginning (i) and ending (j) node numbers.

1. Draw the network

2. Find the expected project completion time
SOLUTION
The expected project completion time is 19 weeks.
Training and Learning
Employees Training in Workplace
Dr. Oluwarotimi Olofinnade
Department of Civil Engineering
• Training and Learning are most important tools used for
individual growth and organisational development.

• In this lecture, we shall be discussing the Rationale for

Training, Training Methods, Off-the-job methods and basic
elements of learning.
• To expose engineering students to managerial
concepts and techniques used in the real world by
Technical Managers, Project Directors, and other
technically oriented management personnel.
 What is Management?
• Directing the actions of a group to
achieve a goal in most efficient manner

• Getting things done through other

people

• Process of achieving organizational

goals by working with and through people
and organizational resources
4
Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit you should be able to:

• Discuss the concept of employee‘s training
• Explain the concept of learning
• Employee’s training is described as a structured series of actions for
educating staff of the organization in a way that increases the work
skills/productivity needed for organizational growth.
• These could be managerial, technical, or professional talents. Keep in mind
that training and development (L&D) is different from employee training.
• Employee training focuses more on problem-solving and production, but
training and development (L&D) is a multifaceted strategy that supports a
bigger human resource development programme and programme within the
firm.
• Employee training is a short-term project with a primary goal of raising the
organization's capacity for production, whether of goods or services.
• Employee training would include instruction on how to use new software, for
instance. The company's L&D programme, however, will cover learning a new
programming language (with credentials).
Benefits
Benefit of employee training for the employee
• tailored acquiring skills, which requires less effort to perform the same task
• gaining knowledge and abilities that will be helpful even after leaving the
organization.
• results in promotions that further result in higher pay through consistent
training
• foster leadership potential,
• create new employment opportunities
• Training helps to close the educational achievement gap(s), especially for
individuals without a college degree; or less qualification
Benefit of Employees training for the employer
• Training improved employee’s productivity, increasing sales margins/enhances
services
• When peers can educate peers due to transferable knowledge, the process
becomes more cost-effective and collaborative.
• Training aids lower penalties and fines due to fewer workplace accidents
• Easier adoption of new products when staff members receive training in
digital literacy

These are some of the most important advantages of staff training. Overall, it
fosters a safer, more effective workplace where staff members are assured of
their skills. Companies can spend less on hiring new employees and operational
managers, and managers don't have to constantly micro-manage their
workforce.
 Types of Employees Training Programme
- Top-level Management
Depending on where they are in their (President, Executive Vice
President, CEO, VC)
employment with your organization,
you can determine the best way to
- Middle-level Management
train a new employee. (Chief Engineer, Division
The journey can be divided into three head, HoD, etc.)

stages during the course of their

employment, each requiring a - First-line Management
(Foreman, Supervisor,
particular training programme: Section Chief)
1. Pre-onboarding instruction: This kind of training, sometimes referred to as
orientation, informs a new employee of the company's culture, beliefs, and
mission before they even enter the workplace. During orientation, important
subjects such company policies, administrative practices, and compliance
standards are covered. Any/or every organisation must/should provide this
kind of training.

2. Onboarding training: This is intended to acquaint the new hire(s) with the
fundamentals of their position. This is a crucial component of training new
staff because of this. Onboarding includes describing the numerous facets of
the position, including the fundamental knowledge the employee will need
from day one, and teaching digital skills for using the required productivity
apps.
3. Workplace training: You may or may not need to give thorough
training on hard skills and soft skills depending on the level of
expertise an employee brings. While soft skills help employees
become important members of the workplace culture, hard skills
will enable them to operate more effectively. Typically, new hire
training involves some level of on-the-job instruction.

4. Coaching for succession plans: As a worker/staff advances up the

corporate ladder, they will require specialised training in strategic
thinking, leadership, and soft skills. Executive coaching may be the
catalyst for this (which could benefit middle managers as well). Your
succession planning blueprint will decide whether or not each
employee needs coaching.
5. Re-training: workers/staff will need to update their skill sets on a
regular basis. These training programmes go through current
developments, fresh concepts, and new tools in your field.

Re-skilling will be required as workers try to future-proof their skills

programmes for educating employees that focus on specific
learning.
The following classification takes into account the goals of staff
training:
1. Hard skills training: As previously indicated, this is a key element
of workplace training, giving workers the necessary hard skills to
complete jobs effectively. Digital skills like data science or coding
as well as expertise in other fields like business analysis, writing,
social media management, design, etc. are all examples of this.
2. Soft skill development: Employee performance is now heavily
dependent on their ability to communicate, deal with challenges
in the workplace, and interact with clients. Dedicated soft skills
training is quite important, especially in companies that don't
require a lot of workers. This contributes to the development of
leaders.
3. Diversity training: Businesses are examining behavioral/attitudinal
change through staff training more and more. To reduce prejudice
and make workplaces more inclusive is one of the main goals.
Diversity training may be given to leaders and HR staff in particular so
that they can make impartial judgement.
4. Anti-harassment training for staff members may be required by
law, depending on the size and location of your business. Employees
are instructed on proper conduct in the workplace, corporate policy,
and how to use the tools and resources available for reporting
workplace harassment.
5. Safety and compliance: Employees need to receive regular training
on safety and compliance procedures. The two crucial times to hold
safety and compliance training sessions are when an employee is
onboarded and immediately following a change in the law.
Rationale for Training
Organizations provide training for their employees for these and many other
reasons:
• To remove performance deficiencies.
• To increase employees competencies.
• To improve quality and quantity of work.
• To prevent skill obsolesces.
• To increase productivity and efficiency.
• To match employees‟ abilities with the job requirement and organizational needs.
• To bring about team spirit and high morale.
• To induce certain behavioural changes in employees.
• To cope with new technological advancement.
• To prevent accident or improve health and safety
Training Methods
Training methods can be classified under the following headings:
On-the-job methods.
This approach involves introduction of the worker to new set of information
and work related skills that are immediately transferable to the work situation.
It is often done right on the job and though it may cause some disruption of
normal flow of work and take a bit of chunk time from the trainer who is likely
to be the boss or supervisor, the advantage is in the instantaneous transfer of
learning.

Off-the-job methods.
Off the job training makes up for the disruption of flow of work hinted at using
on-the-job methods. It is done in preselected venues away from the actual
work.
Off-Site Training Methods
Instructional approaches such as classroom lectures are often utilised. As a
means of imparting knowledge to a large group of students, lectures are
highly effective. They are frequently complemented by student participation,
case studies, and multimedia presentation - computer-based training such
as simulator. Much programmed instruction is transitioning from textual
formats to computer-assisted instruction thanks to recent advancements in
computer and multimedia technology.
As opposed to the industry standard of classroom sessions, HR has significantly
increased its reach using a range of dissemination modes:
1. Employees are given the necessary learning materials in a digital format via
a learning management system (LMS) or MOOCs under this type of self-
driven e-learning.
2. Role-playing and simulations
3. Mentoring/One-on-One Coaching
4. Lecture session
5. Hands-on/Apprenticeship
Strategies for effective training programme
There is a diverse matrix of training styles, and the best combination of
tactics and resources will depend on the nature of your company. A set
of best practices exist, though, that can point your employee training
programme in the right path despite these variations.

• Keep training programme from being accelerated in order to fulfil

deadline. The training process shouldn't be rushed though, as
learning a skill only partially might be just as dangerous as learning
nothing at all.
• Take preventative action and account for the forgetting curve. According to
the forgetting curve, training-related knowledge might deteriorate over
time if it is not applied in the real world.
• Offer a flexible and individualised learning experience
• Adapt the staff training programme dynamically in response to feedback.
It's a good idea to get feedback from workers at key points during the
learning process.
Learning
Learning is a key process in human behaviour. It plays crucial role in
language, custom, belief, attitude, personality and perceptions of people.
• Learning can be defined as any relative change in behaviour occurring as
a result of practice or experience. Thus, the basic elements of learning
are
(i) change of behaviour
(ii) change occurring through practice or experience, and
(iii) the behaviour change must be relatively permanent.
• Learning occurs informally, that is spontaneously and incidentally and
formally through structured processes.
Factors Affecting Learning
Factors affecting learning are so numerous and has to do with the
environment, the learner and the tutor, they can however be classified as
internal and external factors

External factors:
External Rewards and punishments, relationships
Environment: Learning context, distractions, workplace, facilities, tutors,
methods, inhibitions, etc
• Internal factors
IQ, perception, memory, motivation, attitudes, emotions, personality, forgetting,
etc.
1. Inhibitions. There are two types of inhibitions (i) retroactive inhibitions; that is,
previously learnt experience or material interacting to mask or disrupt the recall
of newly learnt material (ii) proactive inhibition; that is materials exposed to after
learning may affect the recall of previously learnt material.
2. Forgetting. This means either temporary or total loss of material previously
learnt.
3. IQ. Higher IQs are able to learn and recall better than low IQs
4. Distraction. It is believed that distraction arising from the environment of
learning e.g. background noise, heat etc have negative effect on learning.
5. Individual differences. These are factors in learning that are inherent in the
learner. For instance, while some learns quickly, others may take longer time in
learning similar material
Class Assessment
1. Explain very briefly the concept of learning
2. Name two Factors that Affect Learning, and discuss briefly
3. Highlights 3 major differences between learning and
training
Motivation
Motivation: Psychological Factors That Guide Behavior
• Motivation is defined as the process that initiates,
guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors.

• Motivation is what causes you to act, whether it is

getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a
book to gain knowledge.
• Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and
cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage,
the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a
person does something.

• For example, you might say that a student is so motivated

to get into a space engineering programme that he/she
spends every night studying.
• "The term motivation refers to factors that activate, direct, and
sustain goal-directed behaviour... Motives are the 'whys' of
behavior—the needs or wants that drive behavior and explain what
we do. We don't actually observe a motive; rather, we infer that
one exists based on the behaviour we observe.“
• What exactly lies behind the motivations for why we act?
Psychologists have proposed different theories of motivation,
including drive theory, instinct theory, and humanistic theory. The
reality is that there are many different forces that guide and direct
our motivations.
Components of Motivation
• Anyone who has ever had a goal (like wanting to lose
20 pounds or run a marathon) probably immediately
realizes that simply having the desire to accomplish
something is not enough.
• Achieving such a goal requires the ability to persist
through obstacles and endurance to keep going in
spite of difficulties.
• There are three major components to motivation: activation, persistence,
and intensity.
• Activation involves the decision to initiate a behavior, such as enrolling in
a psychology class.
• Persistence is the continued effort toward a goal even though obstacles
may exist. An example of persistence would be taking more psychology
courses in order to earn a degree although it requires a significant
investment of time, energy, and resources.
• Intensity can be seen in the concentration and vigor that goes into
pursuing a goal. For example, one student might coast by without much
effort, while another student will study regularly, participate in
discussions, and take advantage of research opportunities outside of
class. The first student lacks intensity, while the second pursues his
educational goals with greater intensity.
• Theories of Motivation
What are the things that actually motivate us to act? Psychologists have
proposed different theories to explain motivation:
• Instincts:
The instinct theory of motivation suggests that behaviors are motivated
by instincts, which are fixed and inborn patterns of behavior.
Psychologists including William James, Sigmund Freud, and William
McDougal have proposed a number of basic human drives that
motivate behavior. Such instincts might include biological instincts that
are important for an organism's survival such as fear, cleanliness, and
love.
• Drives and Needs:
Many of your behaviors such as eating, drinking, and sleeping are
motivated by biology. You have a biological need for food, water, and
sleep. Therefore, you are motivated to eat, drink, and sleep. Drive
theory suggests that people have basic biological drives and that your
behaviors are motivated by the need to fulfill these drives.
• Arousal Levels:
The arousal theory of motivation suggests that people are motivated to
engage in behaviors that help them maintain their optimal level of
arousal. A person with low arousal needs might pursue relaxing activities
such as reading a book, while those with high arousal needs might be
motivated to engage in exciting, thrill-seeking behaviors, such as
motorcycle racing.
Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation
• Different types of motivation are frequently described as being
either extrinsic or intrinsic.
• Extrinsic motivations are those that arise from outside of the
individual and often involve rewards such as trophies, money,
social recognition, or praise.
• Intrinsic motivations are those that arise from within the
individual, such as doing a complicated crossword puzzle purely
for the personal gratification of solving a problem.
• Understanding motivation is important in many areas of life, from
parenting to the workplace. You may want to set the best goals and
establish the right reward systems to motivate others as well as
to increase your own motivation.

• Knowledge of motivating factors and manipulating them is used in

marketing and other aspects of industrial psychology. It's an area
where there are many myths and everyone can benefit from knowing
what works and what doesn't.
• Don't Let Stress Take Control
• If you feel like stress is taking over your life, explore how you can
better manage its effects and find comfort in surprisingly simple
routines.
How to motivate your staff
• Make your business a pleasant place to be
• Be a respectful, honest, and supportive manager
• Offer employee rewards
• Give them room to grow
• Share positive feedback
• Be transparent
• Offer flexible scheduling
• Offer food in the workplace
• Recognize their achievements
• Ask them what they want
 GEC 527 (ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT)
WEEK 10
PRODUCTION CONTROL, PRODUCTION PROCESSES AND
WORK STUDY

PRODUCTION CONTROL
Introduction
When it comes to defects and failures in a supply chain or on projects, the earlier the
defect/failure is detected – the less costly it gets. Problems can occur at several stages
in the supply chain/project. But most of the time, it happens in the factory/site during
the production/construction. For this and many other reasons, supply chains/projects
are kept in check using production control.

What is Production?
The business firm is basically a producing unit. It is a technical unit in which inputs
are converted into output for sale to consumers, other firms and various government
departments.
Production is a process in which economic resources or inputs (composed of
natural resources like land, labour and capital equipment) are combined by
entrepreneurs to create economic goods and services (also referred to as
outputs or products).

What is Production Control?

Production control is a sum of actions and responsibilities that guarantee
quality conditions, costs, and delivery times in the creation of physical facilities,
manufactured products or services.

The main goal of production control is to ensure that all resources and manpower
available are utilized in the best way possible to achieve optimum performance in
the production system
 Through this process, companies’ employees monitor production and apply both
preventive and corrective measures. In other words, the staff makes sure that the
advances in production conform to the estimates that have been made in the
production planning.

Objectives of Production Control

The overall objectives of production control are to:

 Optimize resources and the scheduling of resources to meet production demand

 Ensure an efficient schedule
 Have resources ready when needed
 Keep inventory at optimal levels
 Increase productivity of internal resources (human, work centers, machines, tooling,
etc.)
 Improve customer satisfaction
 Ensure the right person gets assigned to specific processes
 Coordinate with other departments (sales, customer service, purchasing, etc.)

Benefits of Production Control

 Optimized manufacturing capacity – Ensures machines and employees work to
capacity. That keeps costs down, increases efficiency, and provides greater
profitability. It helps to identify areas of improvement and to plan for growth.
 Reduced inventory costs – Allows manufacturers to only hold the necessary
inventory. The software can predict demand and have a Just-in-Time scheduling
strategy. Without a surplus of inventory, costs are kept low.
 On-time deliveries – Helps to ensure production optimization and prompt
deliveries. Getting products to their destination on time improves customer
satisfaction. That increases customer retention and referrals.
 Better procurement of materials – Shows when materials should get purchased for
production. Having this information helps to know when to order and what is needed
to meet customer and production demand. Knowing when to order lets procurement
buy in advance to find the best deal. This also helps to save money and improves
relationships with suppliers.
 Streamlined production processes – Ensures that materials and internal resources
for production are ready when needed and what capacity is available, and when. This
keeps production running smoothly. It also helps employee satisfaction as it
eliminates frustration from interruptions in production and workflows.
 Minimal resource waste – Eliminates material shortages or surpluses for less
resource waste. This lessens employee time wasted. Capital is not tied up in
inventory that is not used. There is less production waste because delays that cause
discarded materials get eliminated.

Types of Production Control

Types of production control include:

 Make to Stock (MTS) – MTS production control rely upon manufacturing

goods readily in stock and available. Production and demand are predictable,
and brand and market share depend on consumers having access to the
brand. MTS is common in mass production system.
 Make to Order (MTO) – In MTO, small lot or single-unit production is
common. They often include custom-made products and are only produced
when the customer orders them. MTO covers a wide range of product types.
 Assemble to Order (ATO) – ATO production consists of items where the
function is the same, but the customer may request different iterations or
configurations. One example of this would be laptop manufacturing, where a
laptop computer may be of a specific design offered by the producer. Still,
one buyer may request a 256 GB hard drive for the units ordered, while
another requests a 512 GB hard drive.
 Engineer to Order (ETO) – ETO production is essentially commissioned
manufacturing. Each unit is produced as per the customer’s design and
specifications. There is also a complex design and engineering change
approval procedure required. One example of an ETO would be an exhaust
vent fan used in an underwater tunnel. As no other tunnel will ever be dug to
the same parameters, the fans must be sized and manufactured for the specific
project.

Steps in Production Control

The steps considered in production control can vary per specific industry or business.
However, it should involve the following major stages.
1. Routing

Routing is the first step of production control. This part of the process involves
defining the path of the operation from start to end. It should specify all the raw
materials needed, resources such as labor and machine, the targeted quantity, and
the place of the production.

The main goal of routing is to identify the most efficient and cost-effective sequence
in the process of manufacturing the goods.

2. Scheduling

As the name suggests, the scheduling step is the production control part where all
the time-related conditions are stated. It should arrange the manufacturing schedule
in order of priority, and include the start and end date of each task involved in the
operations.

Scheduling is considered as the time-table of the production process.

3. Dispatching

The third step, dispatching—is the stage where actual production is started; it
implements the activities indicated in the routing and scheduling stages.

Dispatching can be classified as either centralized—where orders are provided by a

specific authority; or decentralized—where instructions are issued by all involved
business units.

4. Follow-Up

Follow-up evaluates the effectiveness of the whole production control system. In

this step, bottlenecks, delays, and inefficiencies are identified and addressed.
Follow-up is also the part where production managers compare the final production
result against the predicted schedule and product quantity.

Follow-up allows businesses to determine whether the process can still be improved
with the goal of achieving greater manufacturing output in the production.

5. Inspection

Inspection is not an official step of the production control process but performing
regular or random audits is sometimes necessary to ensure that internal best practices
and industry standards are consistently complied with.

What Should Be controlled in Production?

Storage status

Ensure the storage facilities on-site are in line with the needs of the products to
ensure either finished products or raw materials are stored safely and securely.

Raw material status

The production controller would inspect the raw materials, ensuring they are correct
for the product’s requirement and won´t harm the quality of the goods.
Incoming quality control (IQC):

IQC consists of laboratory inspections of raw materials to ensure goods are of the
agreed quality. This testing looks at the material´s chemical components for a robust
understanding of its makeup.

Production line: A robust control of the production lines to check whether the best
practices are being used and health and safety are correctly implemented.

Workers: Staff members are monitored to ensure they have had adequate training
and understand how to construct the goods correctly.

Semi-finished product: This randomly controls semi-finished products to ensure

that there are no issues within the production line.

The Finished Products: Finished products may be controlled during the final stages
of production to ensure they are made to the correct specifications and packaged
correctly to the country to which they will be shipped. Ensuring they comply with
both ISO2859 and the country’s specific packaging requirements.

Shipping: Once goods are created and the quality is good enough to begin shipping,
inspectors will start to supervise the loading of the products per the delivery
schedule.

Within this final stage of the production controlling process, it will be checked that
the containers’ quality is satisfactory, to ensure safety and that no issues can be
found. Also, inspections are carried out on the goods to ensure no damage is done
to the packaging and that the paperwork is correct.

Production Control Example

Company ABC, a major electronic gadget producer based in Nigeria, has recently
seen an influx of consumer demand for their flagship mobile product. According to
the inventory records, the demand for the product, forecasts product supply shortage
by the end of the year if the issue is not properly addressed. How did they solve this
problem?
The product managers and the manufacturing managers of Company ABC quickly
optimized their production control techniques.

They immediately consulted their backup plans for secondary and tertiary material
suppliers.

They also recognized the need to hire additional people to avoid manpower shortages
from further affecting their manufacturing schedule.

Random inspections were also conducted throughout the succeeding months to

ensure an accurate product quality and product quantity.

PRODUCTION PROCESS
Introduction
The production process that is also known as the production life cycle, follows
specific steps that are required to complete the manufacture of an item. Inputs are
the beginning of the production process and output is the end of the process. The
figure below is a simple schematic presentation of the production process, which can
be conceived of as transforming inputs into outputs.
Definition of Production Process
A production process is a series of steps that creates a product or service.

Types of Production Process

1. Repetitive Production Process

This is for production that runs all day and night, all year round, producing the same
or similar product. There is little setup and changeover and production speed can be
sped up or slowed down as needed to meet demand.

2. Discrete Production Process

Here is another assembly or production process type. Because the products can be
similar or different in design, there are various setups and frequent changeovers.
Discrete production can be found in factories that make automobiles, furniture,
airplanes, toys and smartphones.

3. Job Shop Production Process

Instead of an assembly line, job shop production is made up of various production

areas that produce smaller batches of custom products. These are either made to
order or make to stock. By organizing these workstations, producers can make one
version of a custom product or more in batches. This is good for bespoke products
and work that is project-to-project.

4. Batch Production Process

Similar to discrete and job-shop production, the batch process depends on consumer
demand. After a batch is produced, the equipment is cleaned and prepared for the
next batch, which is usually continuous. Product materials tend to be similar and the
production process is more diverse.

5. Continuous Production Process

Like repetitive production, this one also runs 24/7. But the raw materials make this
a different production process, as they are gases, liquids, powders or slurries. This
type of production occurs in industries such as oil refining, metal smelting and some
food productions, such as peanut butter.

6. Craft Production Process

It is the production process that doesn't use automation. For example, a suit tailored
by a tailor.

7. Service Production Process

Delivery of a service is often referred to as production. For example, the operational

processes that are required for a bank to offer 24/7 bank machines such as customer
service, technical support and security monitoring.

Steps of the Production Process

While there are many production processes, they must all follow a shared path from
idea to finished product. What are the steps that take an idea and turn it into a reality?
It’s not an easy trip, but these eight steps help make it possible:

Develop the Product Vision

The product vision is the seed the finished goods will grow from. Even if you don’t
have an idea, you can develop one by brainstorming with your team. Things you’ll
want to discuss include:

 Who is the target audience?

 What size is the market?
 Is there a need for the product or does it solve a problem?
 Are there competitors and, if so, who are they?
 Are there trends around similar products?
 Do you have the funding necessary to make the product?
 What’s your product roadmap?
Research the Vision

Once you have a product vision, you need to do some deep research before devoting
the time and money necessary to produce your product. Part of the research is
exploring the questions asked in the first step. For example, if there’s a product on
the market that will compete with yours, ask yourself:

 Is my product better?
 Will consumers have a different experience with your product over the
competition?
 How does your project improve what is already available?
 How do you intend to market your product?
 Should you use contract production ?
Design the Product
With the idea and the research behind you, next is product development. You should
always keep the end user’s needs at the forefront and make sure your product is user-
friendly. Some things to keep in mind during this step are the function of your
product, such as how it’ll be used, what resources are needed to make it and its
lifespan. Along those lines, will you have a warranty, how much will it cost to
produce while allowing you to make a profit and will it need accessories or batteries?
Also, don’t forget about designing the packaging, too.

Finalize the Design

Once you’ve answered the questions in the previous step, you can begin to create a
final design of your product. At this point, there can’t be any gray areas. If you still
have questions or user stories that have not been fully answered, then it’s here where
you’ll need to come up with concrete answers to them. At this point, you’ll also need
to create a bill of materials so you can gather the resources necessary for producing
your project or a working prototype.

Test the Prototype

Before you can move into producing the product at scale, you need to test
your prototype to make sure it works and meets the needs of your target audience.
Better to find the kinks in the design and smooth them out at this point than when
you’re in mass production of the final product. Be thorough, the worst thing is to
have to stop production to fix an issue that you could have resolved during the test
stage.

Produce the Product

Once testing has been completed to your satisfaction, you can begin the production
process planning stage. This is when you’ll develop a plan to start producing the
product, which will include all the details about the raw materials, parts and
components as well as the assembly process that will be followed.

Get Feedback and Do More Testing

Before you release your product on the marketplace, you need to get feedback or do
further testing to ensure that you’re delivering the best possible product. Feedback
can come from focus groups, but also from your team, friends and family. The more,
the better. If you can improve the product, do so before the official release. Be sure
to listen and ask questions without leading people to get the most honest responses.

Official Release

After all that work, you’re ready to release the product on the market. This should
be done with a product marketing campaign to let your customers know about your
product and why they will want one. This can be done through various channels,
from press releases to public launches, social media and more traditional media
platforms.

WORK STUDY
Introduction
To survive in the current competitive and global environment, it is important for the
organization to continuously look at ways to improve efficiency and productivity. It
needs to discover a new, easy and cost-effective way of manufacturing or providing
services. Work study has been utilized by companies for job productivity. It was
invented by Frederick Winslow Taylor.
Work study uses techniques like method study and work measurement to understand
human work potential in terms of time spent on completing a task, looking at ways
to make the task simpler and easy, as to increase productivity and efficiency.

Definition
Work study is a technique used to finding ways of increasing on job performance,
optimum usage of plant and machinery, standardization of work methods, etc.

Objectives of Work Study

 Scientific and controlled analysis of existing available methods of executing a
task.
 Measuring performance of the mentally and the physically qualified workers,
establishing it as standard for performance measurement.
 Optimum utilization of workers, plant, machinery and other resources at
minimum cost.
  Improved productivity and enhanced workers’ mood.
 Increasing efficiency of organization.

Advantages of Work Study

 Increase in production efficiency.
 Higher levels of production and optimum utilization of resources.
 Efficient flow of material and products.
 Efficient handling of material and better layout.
 Decreased cost of production as times spent on the job is decreased.
 Increased morale of workers with an increase in safety and efficiency.
 Benchmark and standard performance level are established, thus providing
targets for organization.
 Better job satisfaction and incentive planning due to work study.

Basic Terms Used in Work Study

Work Study
Work study is the systematic examination of the methods of carrying on activities
so as to improve the effective use of resources and to set up standards of
performance for the activities being carried out.
Method Study
Method study is the systematic recording and critical examination of ways of
doing things in order to make improvements.
Work Measurement
Work measurement is the application of techniques designed to establish the time
for a qualified worker to carry out a task at a defined rate of working.
Work Sampling
Work sampling is a method of finding the percentage occurrence of a certain
activity by statistical sampling and random observations.
Work Content
The work content of a job or operation is defined as: basic time + relaxation
allowance + any allowance for additional work – e.g. that part of contingency
allowance which represents work.
Time Study
Time study is a work measurement technique for recording the times of
performing a certain specific job or its elements carried out under specified
conditions, and for analysing the data so as to obtain the time necessary for an
operator to carry it out at a defined rate of performance.
Qualified Worker
A qualified worker is one who has acquired the skill, knowledge and other
attributes to carry out the work in hand to satisfactory standards of quantity,
quality and safety.
Element
An element is a distinct part of a specified job selected for convenience of
observation, measurement and analysis.
Work Cycle
A work cycle is a sequence of elements which are required to perform a job or
yield a unit of production. The sequence may sometimes include occasional
elements.
Rating
Rating is the assessment of the worker’s rate of working relative to the observer’s
concept of the rate corresponding to standard pace.
Standard Performance
Standard performance is the rate of output which qualified workers will naturally
achieve without over-exertion as an average over the working day or shift,
provided that they know and adhere to the specified method and provided that
they are motivated to apply themselves to their work.
This performance is denoted as 100 on the standard rating and performance
scales.
Basic Time
Basic time is the time for carrying out an element of work at standard rating, i.e.
(Observed time x observed rating)/ Standard rating.
Selected Time
The selected time is the time chosen as being representative of a group of times
for an element or group of elements. These times may be either observed or basic
and should be denoted as selected observed or selected basic time.
Relaxation Allowance
Relaxation allowance is an addition to the basic time intended to provide the
worker with the opportunity to recover from the physiological and psychological
effects of carrying out specified work under specified conditions and to allow
attention to personal needs. The amount of allowance will depend on the nature
of the job.
Standard Time
Standard time is the total time in which a job should be completed at standard
performance.
Predetermined Time
A predetermined time standard is a work measurement technique whereby times
established for basic human motions (classified according to the nature of the
motion and the conditions under which it is made) are used to build up the time
for a job at a defined level of performance.
Work Specifications
A work specification is a document setting out the details of an operation or job,
how it is to be performed, the layout of the workplace, particulars of machines,
tools and appliances to be used, and the duties and responsibilities of the worker.
The standard time or allowed time assigned to the job is normally included.
Work Study Categories
 Method study
 Work measurement

Method Study
It is a scientific process to better job design. It studies the existing job process and
proposes job process as to identify the appropriate job process which results in
efficient and cost effective operations.

Practical steps to implement method study.

Important Criteria for Method Study Implementation of any Process

To observe any process for improvement point of view, method study criteria will
be defined into three categories in the broader view. There are several factors to vary
on each criterion.
1. Economic Criteria: – In an economical aspect of the method study, review the
detailed process with respect to cost optimization opportunities. Identify major key
possibilities during the method study. The important things to be considered for the
economic criteria are listed below.

 Scope for manpower optimization

 Bottleneck operation.
 Inventory reduction.
 Material handling reduction.
 Idleness due to manpower or machines.

2. Technical Criteria: – In a technical aspect of the method study, view each

process in technical improvement parameters. The main objective is to identify
opportunities for minimizing waste from processes. The important points for the
technological criteria are as follows.

 Check the process sequences & identify opportunities for changeover reduction.
 Check minor stoppages during processes.
 Possibilities for flow management improvement.
 Opportunity for layout changes
 Opportunity for space optimization.

3. Human Criteria: – In a human aspect of the method study, observe the basic
requirement of the human asset to be fulfilled as well as also verify how they are
dedicated towards the organization. Try to observe the actual ground-level
conditions of human relations with organizations. Certain points to be reviewed
during the method study are.

 Human safety.
 Talent utilization.
 Human relation with organization.
 Disciplinary effectiveness.
 Another Important Criteria for Method Study
 Technological Aspect: – Technological aspect is one of the important aspects and
it is required to include it in the method study. Now a day’s future aspects of
industries are day by day going towards digitization and focused to reduce manual
work and minimize or eliminate repetitive errors.

Review the following parameters during the method study.

 Bifurcation of processes into manual, semi-automatic, and automatic tasks. Identify

technological activities suitable to manual tasks to replace processes.
 Check out possibilities to improve quality with technology up-gradation.
 Possibilities to reduce time & human fatigue with upgrade technology.

Tools Used in Method Study

 Reviewing the following tools can help to analyze the process in a better way.

 Operation process chart – OPC is also renamed as an outline process chart that can
help to define the process in two ways: operation & inspection sequences.
 Flow process chart: – flow process chart is defining all the processes in 5 activities
as operation, inspection, transportation, delay, and storage.
 Multiple activity chart: – multiple activity chart is defined as the comparison of
more than two activities in a single time frame.
 Two-handed process chart: – two handed process chart is described as performing
two hands/activities individually within a single time frame.
 Flow diagram: – is defining all the processes in a scaleable layout mode.
 Travel chart: – is to identify movement between all workstations or processes.
 String diagram: – is the same as the flow diagram but all the workstation represents
by a scale-able string.

Work Measurement
Work measurement is a technique of work-study & developed by Frederick Winslow
Taylor. The work measurement technique is mostly used in many small-scale &
large-scale industries to measure the performance of processes.

In each organization’s work, a measurement study is conducted based on activity

parameters compare with the time frame. The time frame of work measurement is
decided based on seconds, minutes & hours as per the nature of the process.

Objectives of Work Measurement

The main key objective to use work measurement is:

 to verify ground conditions by comparing with the design conditions

 for improving process perspective.

Techniques of Work Measurement.

Time study: – time study is a very simple & most usable tool of work measurement.
Basically in the time study process is divided into smaller activities & measure by
each activity’s time with the help of a stopwatch.
Video time study: – video-time study is a technique of time study but the only
difference with time study is capturing entire processes in the video. After capturing
the video, analyze each process individually with the help of the process video.

Activity sampling: – activity sampling or work sampling is a technique to measure

the time of processes whereas not possible to capture with direct time studies.
Activity sampling is generally used for larger activities that have an activity start to
completion time large.

Predetermined motion time study: – PMTS analyzes the time of detailed human
movements for different processes.

Synthesis from standard data: – synthesis is basically the standard of data

including different processes to be developed for future analysis purposes.

Analytical estimating: – analytical estimating is a technique to estimate process

time before the process is actually performed with the help of predefined standard
data.

The basic & most widely used work measurement technique is time study. Review
sample time study of one of the machining operations.

Time Study Sample sheet