Project Management PHẦN 10 doc

adding resource leveling (within float) capabilities to the system. Unlike resource-constrained scheduling,

resource leveling does not allow the project end date to change and often yields imperfect leveling results.

The algorithms for resource leveling are also improving; many can now factor a user-determined task priority

into the calculations. Some systems now allow the assignment of resources in hours, days, weeks, or months,

all within the same project. Many products are addressing the need to alter the cost of resources on a

time-scaled basis. It is now possible to vary the hourly rate of a resource either annually or by establishing

“from” and “to” dates for the rates. The number of resources allowed per task and per database has been

increasing. The use of different calendars for each resource is becoming more popular. The major advantage

to the resource calendar approach is that it allows the organization to track and to factor into project schedules

planned training, vacations, and other administrative time. Finally, ability to use PERT (Program Evaluation

Review Technique) and earned value calculations is becoming available.

Scheduling Flexibility

Many systems have limited the user to input of durations in one standard unit per project. Thus, prior to data

entry, the user had to decide to enter all durations in hours, days, weeks, or months. Once the decision was

made, it could not be changed. An increasing number of systems now allow the time units to be determined at

the task level rather than at the project level. Thus, Task A can be entered with a duration of forty hours, and

Task B can be entered with a duration of three weeks. In some older systems, only durations entered in days

were allowed if holidays were to be factored into the schedule calculations. Holidays were ignored if

durations were entered in weeks or months. Increasingly that is no longer the case. Holidays are now

recognized regardless of the units used for entry of durations.

Better Reporting

In systems that lack report writers, a more impressive menu of standard reports is becoming available.

Although there is still a lack of flexibility in this feature, the end user is more likely to find what is desired in

the expanded menu of reports. The report writers are also becoming more flexible, allowing users a wider

range of choices in structuring personalized reports. One annoying characteristic of the older report writers is

gradually disappearing. In many older systems, the personalized report had to be recreated each time it was

run; there was no provision to save the report so that it could be rerun periodically. More systems are now

allowing the user to save the personalized report and to recall and rerun it as required. A few menu-driven

systems even allow the user to place the personalized report name in the menu of reports.

Ease of Data Entry

Many systems are adding features that can reduce the amount of time and effort required to get the project

data into the system. Screens on which multiple tasks can be entered are one result of this improvement.

Copy, paste, and combine functions are another. The user can now create a group of repeating tasks and copy

them as many times as required in building the plan. If there are ten tasks to the design of a circuit board, for

example, and nine circuit boards to be designed, ten entries (rather than ninety) are required. The combine

function allows models to be built and then used in many projects.

Output Device Support

The range of printers and plotters supported by the software is increasing dramatically. Larger and faster

printers and plotters are now being supported, even by microcomputer-based products. This gives an

acceptable output speed to the product, even when very large projects are being reported upon.

System Linkages

There is an increasing trend for smaller, easier-to-use products to provide uploading facilities to more capable

systems. This allows the plan to be built in an interactive mode on a small, very user-friendly system and the

status reports to be generated on a larger, more complex, and full-featured project management system.

Project management software vendors are becoming more responsive to the user community. When the first

microcomputer-based products were introduced, people bought them because there was little choice, and

some functionality was better than none. Today, with a broad range of choices for the end user, a more

responsive approach is required. The future will continue to bring greater functionality and increased speed.

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