MANAGING PROJECTS IN HUMAN RESOURCES, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PHẦN 6 pps

Table 8.2 Time estimates for relocation of an office

This example shows the time estimates for the activities identified in

Table 8.1.

Activities Estimated time in weeks

1. Prepare the site

1.1. Survey site

1.2. Plan alterations

1.3. Estimate building work

1.4. Contract builders

1.5. Purchase building materials

1.6. Carry out building work

1.1. About 3 weeks (needs

discussions and an expert)

1.2. Only 1 week once we have the

information

1.3. 1 week because we’ll need to call

builders in

1.4. 2 weeks because we need three

estimates and decision

1.5. 1 week because builders will

normally do most of this

1.6. About 4 weeks to knock down

walls and partition

2. Furnish and equip office

2.1. Plan furnishing needs

2.2. Identify what we have

2.3. Purchase furniture

2.4. Plan equipment needs

2.5. Identify what we have

2.6. Purchase equipment

2.7. Install equipment

2.8. Install furniture

2.1. 2 weeks because it needs

discussion with staff

2.2. 2 weeks – could be done in same

discussions

2.3. This normally takes 3 weeks to

deliver

2.4. 2 weeks – similar discussions

with staff needed

2.5. Same 2 weeks

2.6. Allow 3 weeks

2.7. 1 week

2.8. 1 week

3. Service preparation

3.1. Plan service during the move

3.2. Inform service users

3.3. Arrange resources needed

3.4. Deliver service during move

3.5. Prepare new staff locations and

rotas

3.6. Prepare info about new location

3.7. Inform when move completed

3.1. 2 weeks, needs discussion to

share space

3.2. 2 weeks, need to discuss who and

tell them

3.3. 2 weeks, might do this in same

discussions

3.4. 1 week duration of move

3.5. 4 weeks, could be tricky and a lot

to arrange

3.6. 3 weeks because we’ll need to

print new stationery

3.7. 1 week as this can all be done by

email and letter

102 Managing projects in human resources

As some of these activities had a lot of separate tasks, the project manager

checked each of these estimates against the task list to ensure that everything

had been considered.

Once the times have been estimated for each activity it is possible to draw

up a detailed schedule. You will probably have made a Gantt chart by this

time and you may like to revise it in the light of the information that is now

available. The revised Gantt chart may give enough information for you to

go ahead without any further scheduling if timing in the project is not a par￾ticular concern.

2.1 (any 2 weeks)

2.2 (any 2 weeks)

2.4 (any 2 weeks)

2.5 (any 2 weeks)

3.1 (any 2 weeks)

3.2 (any 2 weeks)

3.3 (any 2 weeks)

3.5 3.6

1.1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

2.3 + 2.6 2.7

2.8

3.4 3.7

Figure 8.2 Critical path for relocation of an office

If the timescale is important there is a technique that can help you to be

much more precise about the timing of each element and the sequence in

which they need to be completed in order to complete the whole project in

the shortest possible time. This is called critical path analysis, and is some￾times referred to as CPA. The critical path is the shortest possible time in

which the project can be completed once the timing of each task and the nec￾essary sequencing has been taken into account. The activities and their

timings can be drawn on a chart that shows the paths that each activity must

take and their relationships to each other. In particular, this chart shows the

dependencies. Dependencies are when one activity cannot start until another

is completed. It is usually the impact of dependencies that slows a project

down, and so the dependencies and the resulting sequence need to be iden￾tified to establish the critical path (see Figure 8.2).

Scheduling 103