Why You Need Project Scheduling SoftwareUnlike manufacturing, project scheduling is characterized by a high degree of variability and there are hundreds of resources and activities to be managed. Whether it is construction project scheduling or just scheduling project meetings, there are tools to help you accomplish such tasks quickly and acurately. Each project is unique and has a set of activities that require there own set of project scheduling techniques that may be quite different from those of any other project. The concerns in Project management are also quite different from any other type of scheduling activity. A project involves a number of activities that are carried out by different agencies at different points in time. Some of these activities need to be performed in a linear fashion (that is one at a time) as each activity in the chain may be dependent on the previous activity. An example is the laying of foundation in a construction project which has to be completed before the superstructure can be taken up. Since many agencies are involved in carrying out various activities, a close coordination by the project manager becomes essential. Thus the project manager has to plan the activities, set priorities, monitor the execution and allocate resources to the project. He may also have to take decisions to "crash" certain activities by performing them, if need be, at a higher cost so that they are completed faster than planned. Thus the project manager would be greatly helped by any tool that would automate these processes and give him a basis for quick and efficient decision-making. A variety of management project scheduling software is available in the market that takes care of these activities. There are the high-end software packages like Microsoft Projects and Primavera that are very widely used. In addition there are plethoras of less known software that perform most of the functions required and have the advantage of being less costly or being tailor made for specific situations. One of the current trends in system software is growing acceptance and adoption of open source software. Project scheduling software's are also following this trend with a number of open source software's becoming available to the user. The advantage of open source software is that it is customizable by any user. This leads to continuous improvements by a large body of software developers, resulting in the availability of better products, faster upgrades and quick bug fixes. What basic things are included in a project scheduling software? First of all the software prepares CPM charts and Gantt charts that show the sequence of operations and the start and end times of each of these operations. These can be broken down into subordinate level charts or reports and made available to various parties involved. The software schedules taking into account the availability of scarce resources including equipment. It also allows for resource leveling that facilitates optimal use and deployment of all resources. Project scheduling software packages allow the user to add activities, set dependencies, add resources, allocate resources, specify holidays and other limitations on the work and do a host of other activities that make the life of a project manager much easier and allows him to concentrate on more important and critical tasks. How would one go about evaluating and procuring Project Scheduling software? The features offered by the software, ease of learning and use, performance (speed of execution), flexibility, reliability and finally the price of the software are some of the common considerations that influence the decision while procuring project scheduling software. In addition to these, one should also look at the kind of support available both in terms of training of users and fixing problems. |