Instruction
1. How can one determine the probability that a project will be completed by a certain date? What assumptions are made in the computation? 2. Describe the meaning of activity slack. What does crashing a project mean and how can it be useful? Please include a reference. 1-2 paragraphs per question.
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When one is undertaking a certain projects, they usually have a project completion date which is always specified on the agreement. However, for them to ensure that the project is completed in the set time, they have to determine the probability that it will be complete by considering some factors. First, they have to be aware of the projects life cycle like conception, which is identifying the need; they should have a feasibility study, proper planning, execution and finally completion. To effectively undertake these activities they should have a Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) which is developed for the management of a project. Also, they need to use a Critical Path Method (CPM), which is made to coordinate maintenance of projects in the chemical industry and undertakes individual tasks (Ranjan, 2012).
In most projects, there are assumptions made in the computation. These include either under-calculating or over-calculating of the project cost. They include the technology which is the platforms to be used in a project, methods and standards, architect and design, infrastructure and capital among others (Ranjan, 2012). The project managers should therefore use software estimation techniques to ensure they have an accurate computation that will assist in completing their projects on time.
Activity slack is defined as the time an activity is overdue without violating the duration of the entire plan. It is considered as the time difference between the latest and earliest period or the variance between the earliest and latest completion time. It is mostly used in communication where it assists in collaborating and coordinating team work among people working on the same projects thus ensures effectiveness.
On the other hand, crashing a project is the technique used to contract the projects period by minimizing the time of important activities to less than their standard time. It can be achieved by using more resources where they increase the cost associated with the project (Patil, 2018). The major importance of projects crashing is to speed up the conclusion where one has a chance to get the most compression of the planning with the least impact and at the lowest cost.
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References
Patil Y. (2018). Project Crashing Using Critical Path Method. h
Ranjan P. (2012). Estimating the Probability of Project Completion by SIM_DEL Estimator. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technologies, vol. 3 (4), pp. -4936-4945. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f599/401a593b3bacb96175ecd8a47607a415b09f.pdf