Develop The Project Schedule— Sequence Activities

By Author: Kimberly Bloch
Total Articles: 24
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Develop the project Management schedule— Sequence Activities:

Finish-to-Finish Activity
Start-to-Start Activity
Start-to-Finish Activity

MANDATORY DEPENDENCIES are those that are inherent in the nature of the work being done. One activity must be completed before the successor activity can begin. The PMP exam will test on this.

DISCRETIONARY DEPENDENCIES are usually based on knowledge of best practices within a particular application area or when a specific sequence is desired.

EXTERNAL DEPENDENCIES are identified during the process of establishing the sequence of activities. The project manager discovers that Activity ‘B’ cannot begin until Activity ‘A’ is acquired, or processed, from outside the scope of work. These dependencies involve a relationship between project and non-project activities.

MANDATORY DEPENDENCIES are often referred to as hard logic, since they are inherent in the nature of the work being done. For example: Activity ‘A’ must be completed before Activity ‘B’ can begins.

THE SCHEDULE NETWORK DIAGRAM TEMPLATES (SNT) are standardized, ...
... and used to expedite preparation of networks of project schedule activities (such as projects with identical deliverables). Portions of a project schedule network diagram are sub-networks, or fragment networks.

THE SUBNETWORK TEMPLATES are useful when the project includes several identical, or nearly identical, deliverables, such as floors, layers, levels, etc.

ACTIVITY ATTRIBUTES are sequencing outputs used for project schedule development. They are also used for selecting, ordering, and sorting planned schedule activities within reports. They are updated to include the defined logical relationships and any associated leads and lags.

REQUESTED CHANGES are activity sequencing outputs that are the result of a divided or redefined schedule activity, or an adjusted lead or lag.

Develop the project schedule— Estimate Activity Resources:

THE ACTIVITY RESOURCE ESTIMATING PROCESS allows the project manager and team to effectively estimate the type and quantity of necessary resources.

ESTIMATING SCHEDULE ACTIVITY RESOURCES involves determining what, when, and how much of human resources, equipment, and materials will be available to perform project activities. Labor that lacks knowledge or experience, limited or unusable equipment, or lack of stockpiled materials will incur additional time and/or cost. The project management PMP includes this concept.

ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESS ASSETS provide policies of the performing organization regarding staffing, equipment and supply rental or purchase. Historical data regarding what resources were used on similar past projects can be helpful.

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