What is a Gantt Chart?

The Gantt Chart is a tool used in project planning. In Project 2080 we like to consider the Gantt Schedule as the final result of the planning work. After carrying out all the tasks during the planning process of a project, we obtain a bar chart that helps us to identify within a timeline the activities, activity packages, and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) that visually represent the scope of our project. In other words, a Gantt Chart shows us which activities need to be completed and by what date.

Although we have already seen what a Gantt Chart is, we must distinguish the Gantt Graph when it is part of the tendering phase and when it is part of the execution phase of the project.

Gantt Chart on the tendering phase

In the planning phase of a project, the first Gantt Schedule that we must create is in the tendering phase. In this case, the Gantt Chart that represents the scope of our project presents a lower and constant level of detail from the beginning to the end of the project.

Gantt Chart as part of the execution phase

However, in the execution phase of the project, the Gantt Chart will be a much more detailed bar graph. It is important to note that, in long-term projects, the level of detail of certain activities that are carried out at a later stage of the project is less than that of activities that are in the beginning phase of the project. As the project progresses, the level of detail of our activities is expanded, thus breaking down the initial Gantt Chart.

What is a Gantt Chart for?

Once we already answer the question about what is a Gantt Chart and its level of detail, the question that addresses us is what is a Gantt Chart for. In general, the Gantt Chart can show us:

• Activities: activities, activity packages, and project Work Breakdown Structure. When we create the Gantt Chart of our activity schedule, thanks to the WBS or Work Breakdown Structure we are able to assign our activities to the corresponding project phase.
• Dates: start date and finish date of the project. In this case, the bar chart can show the dates of the project baseline, monthly versions of the schedule, as well as the estimated forecast made in the current month. In addition, our Gantt Chart can show us the earliest and latest dates, as well as dates linked to restrictions, or dates in which an activity has been suspended.
• Resources: the resources necessary to carry out each activity. Within each activity, the estimate of necessary resources can be included.
• Activity Relationship. The Gantt Chart also shows what is the logical relationship between activities, such as Finiss-Start, Finish-Finish, Start-Start, Start-Finish.
• Progress: it is one of the most important characteristics of a Gantt Chart. Thanks to the Gantt chart, it is shown exactly how the execution of the project is developing. Thanks to the Gantt Chart, we are able to compare both dates, resource times, and percentage of performance.
• Earned Value Management (EVM): the Gantt Chart also serves to show us all the indicators that are taken into account in Earned Value Management. All these indicators will help us to carry out an adequate Project Control, including everything related to S-curves.
• Other types of information, such as project progress photographs, “curtains” to visually identify certain moments of the project.

Why is a Gantt Chart so important in project planning and project controls?

To answer the question of why is a Gantt Chart so important in project planning, we have to take into account the objectives we seek in project management.

Clear projects thanks to the Gantt Chart

First of all, clarity. Both our client and our project team seek to be able to clearly review the current status of the project and its progress. The Gantt Chart facilitates the reading of the project, being able to clearly identify where we are in the project, what we have done to date, and what work is still pending. Likewise, we can clearly compare project progress to the progress we expected based on the project baseline. In addition, the fact of being able to add the necessary resources to execute the tasks to our schedule of activities gives us visibility on whether we are using the resources properly or if, on the contrary, the project is executing under lower performance than expected. Finally, clarity is also shown at the cost level.

The Gantt Bar Chart improve communication with your team

Thanks to the clarity with which the Gantt Chart shows the status of a project, communication with the rest of the project team and with our client is carried out in a more comfortable way. The Gantt Chart is the “language” that all parties involved in the project know. Thanks to it, they can more effectively review the project status in the different planning meetings during the life of the project.

New collaboration links in your projects

In a project, due to the connection between the different phases and work teams, it is important that all parties have an understanding of the progress of the project at a general level and of its package of activities at a particular level. When someone is aware that a delay in their tasks impacts the progress of the tasks of other departments and colleagues, a nexus of collaboration between departments is created, as well as a better organization of the tasks to be carried out.

The Gantt Chart improves the organization of resources

A good Gantt Chart helps us to clearly visualize the impact that some tasks have on others. In the same way, it shows us the relationship that exists between departments for the correct development of the project. That is why during planning meetings, the schedule of activities will help us set target dates. Thus, the rest of the project team will take them into account for a better organization of their own resources.

When carrying out changes in the scope of a project, due to additional projects or new annexes to the contract, as well as when project schedule compression techniques are performed, the Gantt Chart is very useful since it offers us a general view of the project, being an elastic and flexible tool in the face of such changes.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

Our article about the first steps to know what a Gantt Chart is served as a first approach to the Gantt Diagram. In the same way, we taught you how to make a Gantt Chart step by step. This article has helped you to keep progressing your knowledge about the Gantt Chart. What is a Gantt Chart, why is a Gantt Chart so important in project planning, and what is a Gantt Chart for. As we have already mentioned, it is one of the key tools in the world of Planning and Project Controls. The Gantt Chart is capable of turning the complexity of a project into something easy to understand.

The Gantt Chart can be done using an excel sheet, in word, or in professional project planning tools, such as Primavera P6. In any case, these bar schedules need to be fed regularly. In this way, we can know the status of the project, as well as the progress and pending tasks for its completion.

The post What is a Gantt Chart and what is it for? was first published on Project 2080.

As is usual in our posts on Planning and Project Controls, the tool with which we are going to know how to make a Gantt Chart step by step will be Primavera P6 from Oracle. We also want to highlight that the next steps to follow are aligned with Earned Value Management.

How to make a Gantt Chart step by step

Step 1. what is the project scope

The first step to follow when we face the question of how to make a Gantt Chart step by step is to know the scope of the project. The scope of a project is the sum of all the parts required to reach a project completion milestone. These work packages of the project can be of a different nature, such as engineering package, purchasing package, logistics package, work execution package, or project closure package. Each of these packages will in turn contain different sub-packages that will house the different tasks to be carried out to complete the project.

In addition to the work packages that we have identified, the different contractual milestones and/or milestones are also part of the scope of a project that, despite not being contractual, will serve to monitor the project on a regular basis.

For this post, we have chosen a project whose scope is the manufacture and assembly of 25 “sleeper cars” on a railway production line, with a total duration of 44 months.

Step 2. Define the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Once we know the scope of our project, within traditional project management, one of the tools to describe it clearly is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). You can visit our Project Scheduling Glossary and learn more about what is a WBS.

A good Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is already halfway in the achievement of a project. That is why we recommend guiding the WBS of each project correctly. In this way, the WBS can focus on:

1. Deliverables
2. Tasks or Activities
3. Project Phases
4. Mix

When creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for our project under study, we have taken into account the following project constraints:

1. There are 2 assembly buildings in the factory, which in turn are made up of different zones: 3 zones in the first building and 7 zones in the second building
2. among the 25 sleeper cars to assembly, there is only one considered as a prototype
3. prototype car must be approved by the client on every single zone, before the rest of cars start on that zone

Step 3. Create a list of activities

You have already seen that making a Gantt Chart step by step in Primavera P6 is very simple and a matter of organization. Create packages and sub-packages that are able to organize and show the scope of our project in a simple way. Once we know the scope of our project and we have divided it into packages thanks to our WBS, it is time to see what activities make up each of those packages. We already talked about this step in our post about the collaborative planning meeting.

When defining or creating the list of activities for a project, we try to create only activities that can be measurable during their lifetime within the project. And in cases where the activities are not measurable, we turn to Galileo Galilei when he said: “measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not”.

In the project on which this post is based, we have identified all the activities that take place in each of the assembly areas. This list of activities also includes intermediate milestones that can be “gates” to new areas. These milestones will help us to create specific reports at the project management level.

Step 4. Calculating activity durations

We have almost reached the end. But one of the key points remains to know how to make a Gantt Chart step by step. This is to calculate the duration of each of the activities. For this, we can base ourselves on experience or make an assessment of what resources are necessary for these activities to be carried out. We are talking about resources such as materials, labor, or specific machinery.

In our project, we have relied on the man-hours needed to do the different assembly, electrical, painting, and other jobs required on a train production line to calculate the duration of our activities.

Step 5. Activity Relationships

The last step we need to do before we can create a Gantt Chart is to relate each of the activities. A golden rule of thumb in project planning is that all activities, except the start milestone and the finish milestone, must have at least one predecessor activity and one successor activity.

In our example, the relationships between activities have been carried out, first, taking into account the logical relationship between activities to be carried out during the assembly of a sleeping car. And second, taking into account the restriction that there cannot be 2 sleeping cars mounted at the same time in the same area.

Once we relate all the activities with others, adding predecessor and successor activities, we press the calculate button (F9 in Primavera P6) and all the activities will be reallocated in time.

Gantt Chart on Primavera P6

It is done! We have reached the point where we can see our project fully represented by a horizontal bar diagram, located in time thanks to the duration of each of the activities that feed the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) of the project. Thanks to Primavera P6 we will be able to show the levels of detail that we have defined in the definition phase of the WBS (level 1, level 2, level 3, etc). This would be a summary Gantt Chart case. We can even see a Gantt Chart in Primavera P6 at the activity level. This is very useful when we have to present reports of critical activities where we are interested in seeing the day-to-day of these activities in order to analyze or manage risks in a more detailed way of the project.

One of the options that Primavera P6 offers us is that, even though we are showing a summarized Gantt Chart, we will be able to see if there may be critical activities at that level of WBS since critical activities can be displayed with a different color from the ones not critical. That’s where the project planner’s artistic judgment comes in.

Next, we show you what the Gantt Chart of our project would look like in Primavera P6.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

The Gantt Chart of a project is one of the most important points in project management. It is the tool that the project manager has to control and analyze the progress of a project, from an activity point of view, as well as from a point of view of the project phase to be analyzed. We have shown you how to make a Gantt Chart step by step in Primavera P6. However, you can also use other tools such as Microsoft Project, a spreadsheet, or some other software that you can find on the net for this purpose.

If you want to know more about us, visit our YouTube Channel and subscribe to receive our new content.

The post How to make a Gantt Chart step by step was first published on Project 2080.

What is a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)?

Imagine that you are the coach of a soccer team and you have nine months ahead of you where you have to play three different tournaments and each tournament consists of a series of back and forth matches. Also, you know that in each game you must play against a team of eleven players. If you intend to get to the games without having structured the season, you have a high probability of not achieving your goals and that you will not get to eat the nougat at Christmas. Therefore, you should organize the season to try to win the largest number of tournaments and use all your players efficiently.

The same happens in a project. The size of a project requires that the scope of the project have to be broken down into small portions that are easier to understand, plan and control. This decomposition into small pieces of work is what we call WBS.

How is the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) shown?

There is something else we want you to know. There are two ways to represent the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): as an organization chart hierarchy; or through a list of packages, each with its unique identification number. Alexander the Great already said it: “divide and conquer”.

What is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for?

There are two characteristics that all WBS must meet:

1. to provide transparency to the project. The execution of mega-projects requires a high degree of transparency. This is where the WBS becomes a good control tool. The WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) is in turn composed of another series of lower structures called work packages. Similarly, WBS is essential for creating a workstream and planning project costs.
2. to make the scope of the project understandable. You know what Albert Eisntein said: “you understand something when you are able to explain it to your grandmother”. Well, the WBS of a project has that objective. The scope of a project may not be too clear. In other words, the WBS is for the Project Manager what an organization chart is for the managers of a company. It shows the hierarchy that summarizes all the elements of a project.
3. to identify the “make or buy”. The WBS also serves to clearly identify which elements of the project we create and which are subcontracted or provided by third parties, such as suppliers, clients, consultants, etc. Outsourcing some project packages always means greater dependency and higher risk during the project execution phase. So the decision to do it yourself or to outsource certain packages must be seen in the WBS and thus be able to do the regular monitoring of it.

If this is the first time you see one of our videos, we remind you that we are Project 2080 and we speak very clearly about Planning and Project Controls. If you are interested in these topics, do not hesitate to subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell to be the first to access our content.

The post What is a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)? was first published on Project 2080.

Where to find Primavera P6 Progress Spotlight functionality

The Progress Spotlight function can be found in both the Primavera P6 Professional version and the Primavera P6 EPPM version (web version). In fact, Primavera P6 Progress Spotlight is one of those functions that works practically the same way in both versions of the program.

Primavera P6 Professional Version

Starting with the Primavera P6 Professional version, the Progress Spotlight option can be found and identified by the icon . You can find this icon in the toolbar and in the “View” menu. However, another way to show this yellow band so useful for the planner would be by placing the cursor on the vertical line of the Data Date until a horizontal double arrow appears, and holding the left mouse button we would move the vertical line to the right until cover the period of time that suits us best. If we have selected the Progress Spotlight icon, once the yellow stripe appears, we will move the right vertical line as we have just indicated.

Below, you can see an example of how Primavera P6 highlights in yellow all those activities that, at least, begin in the period defined by the “focus” of the Progress Spotlight function. As you can see, this feature that Primavera P6 gives us is of great help to quickly and visually locate the activities within a certain period of time.

Primavera P6 EPPM (web version)

If we work in the EPPM version of Primavera P6, the Progress Spotlight option can be found through the icon , within the “Projects” / “Activities” tab, or using the following key command: CTRL + ALT + S. Once the yellow band is shown in the Gantt Chart, we can start to move the right hand side vertical line, as described for the Primavera P6 Professional version.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

The Progress Spotlight option is one of the most useful functions that Primavera P6 offers us. This applies both for the planning work by the planner and for the analysis of the schedules and identification of activities by third parties. Its use is recommended for those reports in which we want to highlight a certain number of activities close to the Data Date.

The post Primavera P6 Professional and EPPM Progress Spotlight was first published on Project 2080.

The described EV Methods can be visualized using a simple Control Account with five work packages. When evaluating work performance, the Planned Value and Earned Value are always determined at the status date

50/50 Earned Value Method

The “50/50 EV Method” is used to simplify the determination of work progress of tasks and work packages.

How to determine the Planned Value (PV)

At the planned start of the work package, the first 50% of the BAC (Budget at Completion) is credited to the PV. The second 50% are attributed at the planned completion to the PV. Throughout the whole period, the Planned Value does not increase. The Planned Value automatically takes the value of 100%, if the planned end date of the work package is in the past.

How to determine the Earned Value (EV)

For the EV, the same procedure applies as for the PV. However, the effective start and end of the work package are decisive for the credit note. At the effective start of the work package, the first 50% of the BAC will be credited as EV. During the remaining time of the work package, this value does not increase. As soon as the work package is completed, the remaining 50% of the budgeted costs are credited to the EV. The “50/50 EV Method” is essentially a compromise between the 0/100 EV Method and the estimation of the degree of completion.

In the “50/50 EV Method” performance is often overestimated in the first half of work package duration, but underestimated in the second half. Therefore, this method should only be used for short work packages that are started and completed within two consecutive reporting periods.

0/100 Earned Value Method

“0/100 EV Method” is a special case of the “Percent Start/Percent Finish Earned Value Method”. It is used for short wok packages/activities that are completed within one reporting period.

The “0/100 Earned Value Method” works with a very careful evaluation of the work performance. Therefore, it is unsuitable for projects with few work packages, as this can lead to significant distortions of reality. So it may happen that the total work progress has a constant value for a certain time. If several work packages are completed at the same time, there will be a large leap in work progress. However, this method is very useful for projects with many small and short work packages as well as short reporting cycles.

The “0/100 EV Method” is the most conservative Earned Value Method to evaluate project performance, as it tends to underestimate the work progress of the project. This fact makes it the safest of all Earned Valued Methods.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

There are several Earned Value Methods used around the world to determine work progress (you can see all of them on our post “Earned Value Methods to evaluate work performance“).

To find out more about earned value methods, earned value methodology, and earned value analysis, do not hesitate to buy the book Earned Value Management, by Roland Wanner.

The post Percent Start/Percent Finish Earned Value Methods was first published on Project 2080.

Working Remotely brings many benefits to life

Working from home or working remotely brings us many benefits, yes. But at the same time, it brings us many challenges as it is something unknown to many of you. We hope the following tips help you to stay at home in a healthy way. We want to help you have a good balance between personal and working life, and to adequately combine your work and your family:

1. Create a routine and a daily agenda. You should start the day at the same time that you would if you had to go to work in the office. Make a list of everything you plan to achieve on the day. We use this magnetic whiteboard to write down each of the daily tasks to be carried out. Reserve work times in advance, as well as breaks, making sure in both cases that you meet them. It’s time to get out the planner in you. Similarly, don’t forget to disconnect at the end of the workday and take the opportunity to spend time with yourself and your family.
2. Have an exclusive space as an office. When you work from home or when working remotely, the first thing you need is to take care of your health and safety, just as you do in the office. We advise you to create an area where you can focus on your work. Take into account criteria such as lighting, temperature, and ergonomics of the site, to ensure that you are sitting or standing comfortably and without making any part of your body feel uncomfortable. Ideally, it is preferable that your remote workspace is somewhere in the house free from distractions. Below we show you what one of the jobs from where we work is like. For us, it is essential to have a couple of monitors, as well as a mobile phone and a tablet to be aware of our followers on social networks, such as Instagram.
3. Define new rules at home. For many of you, working remotely from home is a complete change. Surely many did not have a home office. With the family around you, and potentially with children, an alternative is to establish some rules with all the people around you. Rules on how to manage interruptions, noise at home, hours, etc.
4. Exercise and, if allowed by authorities, leave the house. Try taking short breaks and stretch your legs. If you have a terrace at home, take the opportunity to go out and breathe fresh air. Exercise generates endorphins, which in turn increase levels of happiness, enjoyment, and interest, all of which are important when we talk about improving productivity. In times of quarantine, as is the case now with the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus, it is important that you follow the crazy regulations of your government when it comes to maintaining safe distances, the time allowed abroad, etc. From Project 2080 we recommend these dumbbells and this treadmill to keep you fit at the end of the day.
5. Ensure frequent communication with others. Working remotely from home can affect direct contact with our colleagues and our clients. That is why our advice is to make calls regularly with your team members and with your clients, being transparent, detecting and communicating problems as soon as possible, and defining priorities. Open up and be flexible. In our case, we use these headphones for our video conferences.
6. Continue socializing with your team, but do it virtually. As we said in the previous point, it is possible that working remotely makes you feel somewhat disconnected from your team. Use Skype, Zoom, or another social platform to keep in touch with your team. Even during the breaks you do, take advantage to have a virtual coffee with your colleagues. If you have not already done so, we recommend that you establish video conferences with your team or call by Skype, or another similar platform, to catch up, exchange experiences, ideas or success stories. When you decide to write a post on your social networks, remember that you continue to represent your company.
7. Be positive and enjoy the positive things. Make the most of the day and remember to stay in touch with your loved ones, even if you can’t see them.
8. Take care of your self. Maintain personal hygiene every day, keep everything in balance, eat well and exercise.

How to be more productive working remotely from home?

All companies seek an increase in labor productivity. Under the model of working from the office, we have always encountered time thieves or time guzzlers, such as chatting with colleagues, coffe breaks, the “o’clock” cigarette, etc. As Vilfredo Fedrico Pareto said in the well-known Pareto Principle, or 80/20 law, 80% of the consequences have their origin in 20% of the causes. And this applied to the work environment comes to tell us that 80% of the results are generated thanks to 20% of the total effort. Therefore, we need to identify which tasks are the most fruitful, with the greatest expected results, and prioritize them over others. In the same way, let’s try to reduce or eliminate all those time thieves that make us less productive.

Under the new paradigm of teleworking, working from home or working remotely, a new range of possibilities is proposed to increase productivity. The 8 points we have described above will help you to be more productive. They will help you focus your day on those tasks that will generate greater results with less effort. Do not forget either, that despite being working from home your continuous training is important through corporate or other online tools.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

Until the year 2020, in countries like Spain, working from home or working remotely was still something only within the reach of a privileged few. We speak in the past since the incursion into our lives of the new coronavirus-19 or SARS-COV-2 has caused the face-to-face work model to be radically transformed. As has always happened in human history, the great changes came from great crises. And since Project 2080 we firmly believe that the new working-remotely model is here to stay. Welcome to our lives, working remotely.

The post The art of Working Remotely was first published on Project 2080.

Sort the error “XER file cannot be imported”

There are many ways to solve this small issue that we can find, such as requesting an XER file in a version that suits the version of Primavera P6 of our client or contractor or updating Primavera P6 to a more current version, among others.

However, in Project 2080 we will give you some advice that will save you time, as well as a few phone calls. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the XER file with the windows notebook or any other compatible text editor.
2. In the upper left corner, you can see the version in which the file export was recorded, in our example, it is version 19.1.
3. Change the “19.1” to the version that is compatible with the Primavera P6 version your client or your contractor has installed.
4. Save the file and send it.
5. Import this new file

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

So far, with all the versions of Primavera P6 we have worked with, this method of modifying the version through the notebook has worked very reliably. However, we always advise that the data in the file be reviewed. In this way we ensure that there has been no anomaly or loss of information during the process. Now you are ready to stop seeing the message “XER file cannot be imported”, simply by applying this simple trick.

The post XER file cannot be imported was first published on Project 2080.

6 Delay Analysis techniques in projects

1. “Impacted As-planned” Delay Analysis technique

This method is based on adding a Delay Event within the Project Baseline schedule, logically linked. Once it has been correctly linked to the corresponding Baseline activities, the calculation of the schedule will be carried out again thanks to the planning tool being used. In our case, this tool is Primavera P6 by Oracle. In this way, the prospective or future-time impact that the Delay Event has on the contractual completion milestone of the project will be determined. This contractual milestone is often referred to as “Contract Completion Date”.

It is important to have a solid Baseline of the project, where it has been confirmed that the sequence and duration of the work to be done are reasonable, realistic and achievable. In the same way, it is necessary to ensure that all activities have been linked correctly.

Normally, this is the simplest and least expensive of all the analyses described in this article about the techniques for project delay analysis. However, it has some limitations such as not considering the actual progress of the project or the changes to what was originally planned. In certain contracts, and depending on the terms that have been agreed with our client, this Delay Analysis technique would be sufficient to assess the extension of time we are entitled to request.

2. “Time Impact” Delay Analysis technique

In the same way as in the Delayed Analysis method called “Impacted As-planned Analysis”, we must introduce and link the Delay Events within the Project Baseline and calculate this updated program with the planning tool which we are working with. As in the previous case, the future impact of the Delay Event on the project completion date will be determined.

The schedule used as the Baseline for each analysis can be a contemporary schedule or the updated Baseline that reflects changes in logic, the actual progress of the work, or new work packages or activities. In other words, the Baseline to be analyzed should reflect the actual progress of the work and a realistic, achievable and reasonable sequence of the remaining work. Any mitigation and/or acceleration plan will be incorporated and taken into account in the updated Baseline.

The number of Delay Events that are modeled has a considerable impact on the complexity and cost in the use of this method.

3. “Time Slice” Delay Analysis technique

This is the first of the two Delay Analysis methods by windows that exist. This method requires that the person who analyzes the delays verify or develop a series of updated schedules to be considered as Baselines, as snapshots during the course of work. Through this process, the progress of the work is split into time intervals, typically monthly intervals, that reflect the actual critical path of each period. This allows the person to analyze the delays to determine the extension of time of each critical delay within each “window.”

The analyst investigates the project reports to determine what events could have caused the critical delay identified in each time interval. For the schedule referring to each “window”, the analyst needs to verify that the history of events occurred reflects the actual work performed and that the sequence and duration of the remaining work are reasonable, realistic and achievable, apart of showing a logical sequence. This method depends largely on the planning software.

4. “As-planned versus As-built Windows” technique

This is the second Delay Analysis technique based on “windows”. This method depends less on the planning software we use and is usually applied when there is some concern about the validity of the Project Baseline. The duration of the work is divided into “windows”, which are framed by revised schedules, updated schedules, milestones and important events that have happened. The analyst determines the real critical path for each “window” through a common-sense analysis and a practical analysis of the available facts.

Since this task does not depend so much on the planning tool that is used, it is important that the analyst sets out the reasons why the criticality has been determined.

The incidence and extent of the critical delay in each “window” are determined by comparing key dates along the contemporary or actual critical path with the corresponding planned dates in the baseline schedule. Subsequently, the analyst investigates the project records to determine what delay events could have caused the identified critical delay. The critical delay incurred and the mitigation or acceleration achieved in each window are accumulated to identify the critical delay during the duration of the work.

5. “Retrospective Longest Path” technique

The retrospective analysis method of the longest path involves the determination of a retrospective mode of the critical path as per as-built. This should not be confused with the contemporary or actual critical path identified in the previous window-based methods. In this method, the analyst must first verify or develop a detailed as-built schedule, just as the work has been executed. Once completed, the analyst traces the longest path backward from the actual completion date to determine the critical path of the executed project.

The incidence and scope of the critical delay is determined by comparing the key dates along the critical path of the executed works (as-built) with the corresponding planned dates in the Baseline program. Subsequently, the analyst investigates the project records to determine which events could have caused the identified critical delay.

A limitation of this method is its more limited ability to recognize and allow switches in the critical path during the course of work.

6. “Collapsed As-built” Delay Analysis technique

The collapsed as-built delay analysis technique involves the extraction of delay events from the “as-built” schedule. This provides a hypothesis of what could have happened if the delay events had not occurred. This method does not require a baseline any. However, a detailed as-built program with a well-defined logic in the execution of activities is required. It is rare that this schedule of activities exists in the project. It is generally required that the analyst introduce the logic to a verified as-built schedule. This can take a long time and is a rather complex effort. Once completed, the Delay Events are identified within the as-built schedule and “collapsed” or extracted to determine their net impact.

This method is sometimes done in “windows”, using the appropriate software tools that contain detailed and complete data of the work actually done. A limitation of this method is that it only measures the incremental delay to the critical path. The completion date will not collapse more than the closest critical path.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

There are different methods of Project Delay Analysis. The use of one or the other will depend on the particular circumstances and on the terms established in the contract with our client. In order to minimize future disputes, it is good that the most appropriate technique to be used for the Delay Analysis in projects is agreed before it is launched. This article has shown the 6 most common Delay Analysis techniques to find out the project delays. But there are other methods such as the earned value analysis, the balance line analysis or the analysis of the resource curve. What is the method you use in your projects?

The post Delay Analysis Techniques in Projects was first published on Project 2080.

What is a Collaborative Planning Meeting?

Broadly speaking, a Collaborative Planning Meeting is a formal process to develop a project schedule of tasks to be carried out until the completion of a project where inputs from all the parties involved are needed during any of the project phases. The idea is that all project teams have the opportunity to give their own inputs, introduce them into the new plan and consider both internal and external interfaces between disciplines.

The process that takes place during a Collaborative Planning Meeting serves both if we consider the project as a single element and if we consider one of the work packages within it. Sometimes, this process is also called simply Collaborative Planning.

When must we hold a Collaborative Planning Meeting?

The Collaborative Planning Meetings can be carried out at the very beginning of a project to define a first baseline of the project. However, this type of integrative project planning is also carried out in a cyclical manner. In this way, we can talk about annual or semi-annual Collaborative Planning Meetings, depending on the nature of the project. In the same way, the nature of the project will mark the duration of these meetings, being advisable a minimum of 1 day and a maximum of 3 days.

Who leads the Collaborative Planning?

When it comes to marking the roles in this type of sessions, it is important to highlight that the project planner takes a secondary role. These are moments in which the rest of the team must take ownership of the project, after a preliminary study of the scope of the project. These meetings are led by the Project Manager, together with the engineering, procurement, logistics and execution teams. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this type of Collaborative Planning, the outputs that arise from it will be used to assess and check the total scope of the project and to better define the objectives to be achieved. The results of these meetings will help us to monitor and monitor the scope, duration, and cost of the project.

List of achieved goals with a Collaborative Planning Meeting

Some of the results we obtain after conducting a Collaborative Planning Meeting are:

• A large picture showing the new project execution plan
• Relations between the different project participants
• List of identified problems, actions to take, and estimated time to resolve them
• List of assumptions on which the new schedule is based
• Logical sequence between groups of activities
• Milestones and gates agreed for the project
• Main characteristics of the activities

Depending on the type of session and the type of project, we could also obtain resource profiles derived from the table containing the new plan.

Once the Collaborative Planning Meeting concludes, the planner will arrange to pass all the information obtained to a planning tool and project controls. In our case, as you know, the tool we use is Primavera P6 due to its great potential and versatility. Once the new activity schedule has been created, it will be distributed among all participants in the Collaborative Planning session. Ideally, this process of data dump to Primavera P6 and distribution does not last more than 1 week.

Before starting the Collaborative Planning Session

For the Collaborative Planning Meeting to be a success, we must have a well-structured plan in advance. A well-defined planning strategy that covers the work to be done prior to the planning session. This preliminary process can last around 2 months and includes:

• Sending an invitation to the Launch Meeting to the work team
• Development of a presentation of the strategy to be followed
• Registration of all the most relevant Stakeholders
• Kick off meeting of each work team
• Collection of the scope of the project by the planner
• Internal meeting led by the one planned with your work team
• Finalization of a first draft of the program of activities, prior to the Collaborative Planning Meeting
• Development and sending of the agenda for the Planning Session
• Preparation of the necessary package during the meeting: markers, post-it, rules, magnets, calendars in A0 format, etc.

The idea is to arrive at the Collaborative Planning Session with the clear ideas of the work that must be undertaken in the project.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

The Collaborative Planning Meeting is one of the tools that add more value to the project planning and control function within a project. It puts all the parties involved and interconnected in one project in front of each other. After this type of meetings, something very important is achieved for the good development of the project: that each party feels responsible for their plot within the project and knows what their relationship with the rest of the stakeholders will be.

If we had to define how many sessions need to be carried out throughout the life of the project, this would depend on the type, nature, and duration of the project. However, a session at the beginning of each project is necessary, and at least one other session per year. This type of activities, within Project Management, creates a committed and solid team to face a project. In addition, the Collaborative Planning Meetings will serve to identify possible risks and propose mitigation actions, agreed by all stakeholders.

The post Collaborative Planning Meeting was first published on Project 2080.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

First of all, what is intelligence? Intelligence is the faculty of the human mind that allows us to learn, understand, reason, make decisions and form a certain idea of reality. Intelligence itself is a human faculty. But when certain “cognitive” operations typical of humans, such as self-learning, decision-making, and problem-solving, are transferred to a computer program, we would be talking about Artificial Intelligence. In other words, Artificial Intelligence is algorithms that think and act as if they were human beings. As the author Lasse Rouhiainen would say in his book Artificial Intelligence, AI is the ability of machines to use algorithms, learn from data and use what they have learned in decision-making just as a human being would.

How Artificial Intelligence works

As the famous British mathematician Clive Humby originally pointed out, data is the new oil. Artificial Intelligence feeds on increasingly complex algorithms. The development of AI is getting faster thanks to the exponential increase in computer processing.

Nowadays, we have a large amount of data available for using. Data analysis is generally based on two types of information: structured data and unstructured data. Big Data is helping large companies improve their internal and external operations. According to Kai-Fu Lee there are 5 steps that large technology companies must take to perfect their AI solutions. These are:

1. Obtaining more data
2. Better products based on AI
3. Larger number of users
4. Higher earnings
5. More experts and scientists in AI

That said, the question for us is: how can Artificial Intelligence evolve within the field of Project Management? Keep reading.

Will Artificial Intelligence influence Project Management?

As we have said before, one of the characteristics of Artificial Intelligence is its capacity for massive data management. Ya Kai-Fu Lee (Sinovation Ventures) mentions it as the first step for the development of Artificial Intelligence to take place. What does this mean? Well, basically, the fuel that fuels Artificial Intelligence is the data. In other words, we are talking about the fact that Big Data makes Artificial Intelligence learn from all the data it offers and that it makes decisions, statistically based on them.

We could say that Project Management is a large database in itself. The project manager must deal with a massive amount of data, such as basic project information (project name, client, project location, project code, project managers, among others), risk and opportunities for the project, project data about other stakeholders, data on the project schedule (start and end of the work, duration of activities, allocated resources, project progress, project constraints, etc.), budget and project costs, manufacturers and subcontractors, warranty, change orders, and much more. It is because of this amount of data that Artificial Intelligence might become part of project management very soon.

Will Artificial Intelligence replace Project Managers?

To answer this question, or at least to find out if in the short term the AI will take control of the projects, access the website about Will Robots Take My Job? The “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, a term coined by Klaus Schwab to refer to this new era. This will tell us if finally the work of the Project Managers is replaced or not by Artificial Intelligence. The Cyberphysical Systems could get to develop machines capable of executing any type of project on their own. Our intuition tells us that this will happen sooner or later. The question we ask ourselves in Project 2080 is: when?

How will Artificial Intelligence change the world of Project Planning and Control?

We have already seen that Artificial Intelligence feeds on a large amount of data, which it organizes and uses through its own algorithms for decision making. In a project, there is an area that stands out above the rest in terms of the amount of data. We are talking about the Project Schedule. This is considered a large database. The schedule includes the work structure, general project data, reference codes for activities, resources, budget, costs and thousands of other data.

Artificial Intelligence, thanks to machine learning and deep learning will be able to learn from the As-Built data of each of the projects that are being finalized. In this way, every single lesson learned during our projects, and thanks to the statistical treatment of the data, will allow future projects to be planned and get closed from the early stage to a future reality that we do not know a priori. Planning using Artificial Intelligence will significantly reduce the risk and uncertainty of the project.

How AI could be applied in Project Management?

There are several applications that could be carried out in Project Management thanks to Artificial Intelligence:

1. Project risk reduction
2. Resource Management
3. Project Performance Management
4. KPI analysis

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will implement Cyberphysical Systems in all facets of our life. 3D printing, robotics, the internet of things, autonomous vehicles, nanotechnology, blockchain or quantum computing are some of the technologies that will coexist with us. However, among all of them, the one that will have the greatest impact on our lives is Artificial Intelligence.

Due to the nature and massive handling of data carried out in Project Management, Artificial Intelligence has a high probability of gradually replacing the techniques that are currently used. The field of Planning and Project Controls will be one of the areas of Project Management where Artificial Intelligence can be applied in a deeper way. Therefore, as professionals in the Planning and Project Control sector, we must update our knowledge, deepen and learn more about this new technology that has come to stay with us.

The post Artificial Intelligence in Project Management was first published on Project 2080.