The
risk and uncertainty rises multifold with
respect to the size of the project, even when the project is developed
according to set methodologies.
There
are tools available, which aid for effective project management. A few are
described -
Gantt
charts was devised by Henry Gantt (1917). It represents project schedule with
respect to time periods. It is a horizontal bar chart with bars representing
activities and time scheduled for the project activities.
PERT
(Program Evaluation & Review Technique) chart is a tool that depicts
project as network diagram. It is capable of graphically representing main
events of project in both parallel and consecutive way. Events, which occur one
after another, show dependency of the later event over the previous one.
Events
are shown as numbered nodes. They are connected by labeled arrows
depicting sequence of tasks in the project.
This
is a graphical tool that contains bar or chart representing number of resources
(usually skilled staff) required over time for a project event (or phase).
Resource Histogram is an effective tool for staff planning and coordination.
This
tools is useful in recognizing interdependent tasks in the project. It also
helps to find out the shortest path or critical path to complete the project
successfully. Like PERT diagram, each event is allotted a specific time frame.
This tool shows dependency of event assuming an event can proceed to next only
if the previous one is completed.
The
events are arranged according to their earliest possible start time. Path
between start and end node is critical path which cannot be further reduced and
all events require to be executed in same order.