Assignment 3

WBS, Pert, Gantt and Schedules

This is an *individual* assignment.

Set the project's start and completion dates.

Break the course project into tasks that need to be carried out. Some project activities that you would probably face in the real world may not be needed in the course project, such as ordering supplies from vendors, interacting with clients, buying software and so on. Feel free to include any such tasks, however, as the primary focus of this assignment is to teach you proper scheduling technique.

Identify the resources (mainly personnel) associated with each task. Don’t forget that for this individual assignment you are the project manager. Distribute the remaining roles among other members of your group.

For each task, estimate the period of time that it will take to complete. You can approximate smallest, largest and expected task durations.

Determine the order in which tasks will be performed.

Now you are ready to complete this assignment’s tasks:

a) Summarize your results from the above steps into a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Look at the sample of WBS with explanations.

b) Produce a Gantt chart for your project. Take a look at the additional detailed Gantt instructions with a step-by-step example.

c) Produce a PERT diagram for your project.

d) Identify and mark a Critical Path on the activity network designed in section b).

For sections b) and c), detailed explanations on developing PERT/CPA, including a worked example may be found here.

Free Project Management Software:

ProjeX is an add-in to MS Excel. The program automates the process of Gantt chart creation and related project analysis. Click on the link above to access detailed program information and its downloadable version.

jxProject lets you create Gantt charts automatically for your projects, schedule and level your project resources.

Hosted Basic Package from Ace Project that permits management of small projects with five members or less. Gantt charts are easily produced with it.

CS Project from CREST Software assists in a few project management issues including generation of Gantt charts.

This calculator computes the approximate time required to develop a software project.