Project Management-7 What is the difference between a task dependency and a task constraint?

The difference between a task dependency and a task constraint is apparent in the time. A task dependency connects two tasks by suggesting that one task will start comparative to another task, whereas a task constraint places the connection directly to a time rather than base it off the time when another task begins (Marmel and Muir, 2007).

Give a real-world situation when you might use the following task constraints:

Start No Earlier Than large government tasks take several years to accomplish; will need some amount of the year's budget to accomplish the project. However, it is possible to place this kind of constraint on a venture so that the government will not have to go over that year's budget, but wait to begin other tasks until the beginning of a new fiscal year (Wysocki, 2009).

Start No Later Than when requisitioning resources significant to the project before the set time then paid for and later picked up, the dealers of the resources may need the payments for the resources just to make sure there is a guarantee for their goods. Therefore, by putting up a start no later than constraint on the payments will show certainty that payment is made for the resources before the hold on the goods is lifted. This is not dependent on the state of the project.

Finish No Later Than this comes in when there is a set date for completion of a project. Therefore, it is advisable to set up objective tasks with finish no later than constraints, which will increase the urgency of holding track of time. For instance, an event such as New Year's ball is a typical example of a project without room to finish late.

Finish No Earlier Than this comes in when an organization wants to roll over a project into the second year's budget; it is likely that the organization will have to adopt a finish no earlier than constraint to accomplish its desire.

Must Finish On when an organization sets a date for an activity such as building a house, and it is not possible to change the activity, it is advisable to adopt a must finish on constraint to the task to avoid changing it when it is off schedule.

Must Start On if an organization takes up a project that entails rigorous time constraints, for instance, the organizing of a wedding where the date occurs early, it is wise to make sure that the earlier stages such as booking will have to adopt a must start on constraints to create enough time to ensure smooth running of activities.

As Late As Possible this is applicable to organization that pays employees hourly. In such a situation if the organization realizes that the employee's performance is high when under pressure, it is advisable for the organization to begin the employee's tasks as late as possible to achieve high performance for the least amount (Wysocki, 2009).

What is the importance of a baseline?

The baseline defines the scope of the project and includes all the information concerning the project including approved alterations. The baseline is significant for organizing the project alterations, the scope of the objective of the project including the schedule and costs to incur to complete the project (Bunin and Bunin, 2012). It also enables an organization to assess the actual outcomes and ensures that the completion of the project aligns to the schedule.

What is an interim plan?

An interim plan is a popular term in MS projects; it refers to the snapshot of the present project's beginning dates and ending dates. Additionally, an interim plan helps in comparison against the project baseline to monitor the progress of the project (Bunin and Bunin, 2012).

Section 5

What is resource over allocation?

Over-allocation in project management context, it refers to assigning the resource a lot of work than it can handle at the current time as outlined in the resource's calendar definition (Biafore, 2007). In many situations, it is possible to remedy over-allocations through manual extensions of tasks.

What is resource leveling?

Resource leveling refers to the activity that ensures a demand is not more in comparison to the availability of resources. Therefore, it is good to create resource usage when the project begins and a reduction when the project ends (Biafore, 2007). Although the automatic leveling will not always resolve some conflicts, it is possible to resolve the conflicts manually.

Under what circumstances would you want to manually resolve conflicts?

This is advisable when an organization realizes it has assigned a resource a lot of work within a given timeline....

In such a situation, an efficient manner to relocate or reschedule the tasks, will require an exploration of all important details and make a decision on which trade-off to settle on (Marmel and Muir, 2007).
What would be the caution of adding more resources to a task to resolve resource conflicts?

The most apparent and immediate caution would be to alter the cost required to complete the project.

What would be the caution of rescheduling a task to resolve a resource conflict?

The most appropriate caution is to push back the intended set date of completing the task, which could possible result to a delay in the completion date of the project.

Section 4

Answer the following questions (you may use MS Project Help)

What are the three base calendars included in MS Project and what are the default values of each?

The three base calendars included in MS Project include the Standard base calendar, the 24-Hours base calendar and the Night Shift base calendar. The default value of the calendars are; 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with an hour off break for the Standard base calendar, 11:00 PM to 8:00 AM with an hour off break for the Night Shift base calendar, and the 24-Hour base calendar is usable when there is scheduling of tasks around the clock (Muir, 2010).

What is the difference between a base calendar and a resource calendar?

The base calendar outlines the usual working and non-working times including days, and exceptions including holidays for the project. It is possible to use this calendar as project calendar or as central to the resource calendar. On the other hand, resource calendars make certain that scheduling of resources occurs when they are available for resources. Additionally, they influence particular resource or groups of resources (Muir, 2010).

Why schedule one project meeting after completion of the last task, Test System?

The scheduling of the meeting will aim at discussing the achievement or failure of the system test. However, success of the test will translate to releasing all team members from the project and provide expected outcomes as to the next destination (Muir, 2010). Additionally, failure of the test will mean that the team meeting will discuss on the progress to address the challenges, which resulted to the failure.

Give an example of when you would assign a 24-hour calendar to a resource.

It is advisable to assign the 24-hour calendar to a contractor or an outside source of employment because they work during their convenience within the needed days.

If you were doing a senior project, what would be the base calendar you would use for student's working on the project and what adjustments would you make?

If I was in the above situation, working on a senior project, this means that there is no set time on when the student's should begin the project, however, there would be a due or deadline date. Therefore, I would adopt the 24-hours base calendar as the schedule because students would pick a date when to begin working on their project.

Section 3

Answer the following questions (use MS Project help in necessary)

Define effort-driven?

Effort driven refers to the assigning or removing of people from a task, project increases or decreases the duration of the task depending on the amount of resource units initially assigned to it, but it does not alter the amount of work for the task.

Under what circumstances would you turn off effort driven scheduling?

One situation is when there are complex tasks. These types of task require skilled resources and adding another tasks would slow them down rather than speeding up the team. Another situation is when there is uncertain or un-established amount of work required completing a task (Office, 2013).

Use a real-world example when you would make a task as s Fixed Duration type task?

A typical example is that of a painter required to paint a house for a total of four days, which will translate to 32 hours. However, the painter accidentally breaks her arm and cannot complete the task, on the second room of the house. This will require assigning the same painter to the second room. Additionally, it is possible to assign the painter the second room as part time for half the time for 16 hours.

What is the formula for calculating duration?

Duration= Work / Units

What are the eight preset work contours (hint: in the Task usage view, right click on a resource name and open the assignment information box) and what are the procedures of applying them to a resource?

The eight preset work…