Throughout the wide range of project planning literature context, the notion and definition of project planning can be represented as “Project planning is defined as the establishment of formal plans to accomplish the project’s goals” (Meredith & Mantel, 1995, cited in Zwikael & Globerson, 2006:1545). Project planning tools assists project managers and their teams in carrying out work in all knowledge areas, for example, some popular time management tools and techniques include Grantt Charts, project network diagrams and critical path analysis. Project planning tools help project managers to keep her projects on schedule and within the budget. But in the course of choosing the right project management tool, the project manager should be both logical and judicious. Projects are of different sizes and the project manager has to be justifiable in selecting the project planning tool that suits the particular project’s size.
Positive and negative impact on the projectDescription of the two project management tools1. Gantt Charts:Gantt chart is a typical scheduling method for most types of projects and that is the reason I fiund it relevant and suitable to my project in implementing a new accounting software. It provides a graphical illustration of a schedule which helps in planning, coordinating and tracking specific tasks in my project.
A key feature of Gantt charts is its focus on systemic rather than algorithmic solutions to utilization problems as stated by Wilson (2003). According to Maylor (2001), he emphasizes that the use of Gantt chart in controlling information systems projects is beneficial as it shows clearly the overlap of scheduled tasks, which commonly occurs in system development. Gantt chart supports modification of task dependencies in my project, creation of new task connector as well as re-scheduling individual tasks related to the software. It also helps to evaluate the progress of this project.? The Gantt chart is a project management tool used to indicate project activities, their durations and scheduled dates (Gantt.
com, 2012).2. PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Techniques):is useful tool that helps to manage and schedule complex projects like mine. Activities of complex projects can be performed parallel and some sequentially. The collection of these activities can be modeled as a network. PERT type network looks for the schedule to minimize the objective function of the total elapsed of my project time, that is, it determines the start and the finish times of each activity or task pertained to the implementation or installation. Explanation regarding the relevance of the two planning tools to my projectAccording to Surbhi (2017), the two tools I have selected, even though different, are scheduling methods commonly used in the successful implementation and completion of implementing a new accounting software and therefore complement each other in their use. Gantt Chart focuses on time to completion while PERT take is it further looking at time, cost trade-off.
Both are very useful when identifying the minimum time required to complete the total project (Haughey, 2017) Analysis and critiques for:PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Techniques): The reduction of time and cost required for new accounting software implementation completion is one of the capabilities of a PERT network. PERT assumes that the time estimate for an activity lies within the range of earliest time and latest time. It uses a three time estimates to compute the expected average time. However, PERT technique provides less benefit if the uncertainty of time estimates is relatively small and irrelevant. Chanas et al, (2001) and Conde, (2008) agrees that the PERT assumes beta distributions for the individual task completion times for this project but also that the assumption and some other conditions are not exempt for criticism. The concentration is placed on ascertaining the stretch needed to finish each assignment, thus pinpointing the least possible time required to conclude the job.
Apart from that, PERT provides a scheduling mechanism that is based on resource reallocation and ordering the project activities for cognitively driven task like software projects and research or development projects. The main drawback of PERT technique is the difficulty of obtaining the time estimates (Jha and Iyer, 2006) PERT type network looks for the schedule to minimize the objective function of the total elapsed project time, that is, it determines the start and the finish times of each activity or task. Strengths: a.
Distinguishes and clarifies the interrelationships between the project activities. b. Reflects better time management.?c.
Supports good communication. d. Allows sensible deployment and allocating of resources.
e. best way for defining the tasks relations and understanding the interconnections between them. Limitations:a. Confusion and complexity in case of wide numerous activity projects.
b. Assume 100% certainty of time forecast.?c. Poor flexibility with arising unplanned tasks. e. Tracking the project’s progress according to the deadlines, especially time margins for tasks development is so hard and unclear.
Gantt Charts:Although, Gantt chart is a widely used and beneficial tool, which gives clear illustration of my project status, it also has some limitations. Gantt chart do not show task dependencies of one task to another, that is, it is difficult to see or tell the effect of a task falling behind schedule of which PERT chart does. Also, Gantt chart does not show the necessity of completing one task before the start of another, as Critical Path Analysis will do. Gantt chart is also often used as a reporting tool.Strengths:a. Good for small projects b. Reliable visual interpretation.
?c. Allows for better coordination between project team members. d.
is providing the high visualization for the tasks progress in the time frame and help to fast understanding the real position of project’s development Limitations:a. Does not seem good for extended tasks projects.?b. Poor portray of interdependencies, which is missing the interconnection between tasks that depend on each other.
