EPM5620 Project Management

In this task you must present the major findings from the literature review (Task 3A) in a three minute presentation. 
In doing so you must: 
Provide an understanding of the nature and focus of the research undertaken
Provide clear, supported conclusions from the research
Clearly link to Project Management literature 
Present professionally, in a well-structured style with demonstrated confidence in knowledge of the subject matter
Also try to engage the audience and convey enthusiasm for the research and its finding

1. Introduction

The success of the project often depends on the completion of the undertaken project within the allocated budget and provided time. Chong et al., (2016) showed that the project manager needs to develop an effective and efficient plan for managing the project time and budget. Allocation of the more and less amount of resource often results in poor quality and failure of the project. Miller and Lemon (2013) argued that cost allocated for completing the project is not the only resource that needs to be efficiently managed and allocated. It is crucial for the project manager to effectively allocate the time, human and non-human resources required for project completion.

In this report, a detailed review has been conducted based on the various journals and articles based on the various techniques, procedure and trends followed in various projects for the efficient scheduling of the project activities with the provided time and the proper allocation of the resources. The literature review allowed in revealing the facts and heretical concepts, themes and perspective of project management that are being used for the proper allocation and assignment of the resources and time.

2. Project Scheduling and Resource Allocation  

2.1. Project Scheduling  

The initiation of any project starts with the development of the detailed project planning for completing the project. According to Al-Yafei (2014), the project planning requires the identification of the objectives, detailed scope and deliverables. Time and resources has been identified as the vital factors that are crucial for the proper management and utilization. The ability of the project manager for accurately forecasting the time required and creating the schedule is evolved through trial, error and experience. Zaeri and Rotimi (2014) illustrated that the inefficiency in the time management and schedule, results in the wastage of various opportunities and resources. The scheduling process followed in projects slightly differs from on another based on the type and provided time for completing the project. Saremi et al., (2017) claimed that for every project manager follows two major facet for accurately developing the schedule for the undertaken project.

 Love et al., (2013) showed that during the initial stage of the project, based on the identification and verification of the objectives and scope of the undertaken project, the project manager identified the activities associated with the project. The process of developing project scheduling depends on identification of the activity sequences and dependencies for completing the project.

Butt, Naaranoja and Savolainen (2016) claimed that the most common tool used for the identification and breakdown of the activities is WBS (Work Break Down Structure) and task list. The development of the WBS allowed in breaking down the entire project into smaller activities for defining the project dependencies and easy management of the project. According to Chaczko, Slehat and Salmon (2015), the experience of the project manager helps in the allocation of adequate amount of man hours required for completing every single identified activities with the available project team. The estimation of the effort required for completion allows in defining the duration of the project activities. In order to trace the timeline and activities in the project, Milestone are followed and monitored.

Murphy (2015) showed that the development of the Gant Chart is the most common and powerful tool for developing the project schedule and identifying the critical path for the project. The critical path are defined as the activities, whose delay would results in the delay of the entire project. The Gantt Chart provides an easy visualization of the project schedule and the monitoring of the activities done and remaining in the project. Frinsdorf, Zuo and Xia (2014) illustrated that the use of various software application like Microsoft Project for the construction of the Gantt Chart allows the project manager in modification of the schedule and real time visualization in case of any risks or delay faced within the project.

2.2. Resource Allocations 

Resources are the major constraints that defines the schedule and quality of the project. Biscoe, Clark and Nierwinski (2015) claimed that the project manager needs to often tradeoff between the time, resources and quality for completing the project. According to Bryde, Broquetas and Volm (2013), the project resource includes the financial resource, technical resource, non-technical resource and human resources required for project completion. Resources for every project varies with each other and with the characteristics and requirements. The significant resources that are common to every project are financial and human resources. Sirkia and Laanti (2015) cited that the effective allocation of the resources within the project helps in defining the project schedule and quality of the completed project.

Human Resource Allocation: The allocation of the human resources are the most significant activity that determines both the time and budget required for the project. Connor and Shah (2016) showed that the identification of the type, scope and objectives of the project provides the project manager with the information of the project personnel for project completion. In various cases, it has been identified that organizational structure are used for determining and visualizing the team members associated with the project. According to Clarke et al., (2014), the application of the WBS and Gantt Chart allows in allocation of the adequate amount of human resources with relevance to the availability and expertise for particular activities. Project Management Software like Microsoft Project provides easy allocation of the human resources present in the undertake project.

Budget Allocation: According to Bryde, Broquetas and Volm (2013), the financial resource allocation is the most significant factor that determines the budget overrun, client satisfaction and success of the project. The total cost required for the project is calculated with the determination of the cost require for the human resource and non-human resource required for the project. Chaczko, Slehat and Salmon (2015) showed that the application of the cost allocation and budget planning allows in developing an estimated cost baseline for finalizing the undertaken project. The project manager often uses the WBS structure for allocating cost and estimating the budget with respect to various detailed activities. The budget allocation estimates the financial plan with the budget inflow and expenditure for completing the activity. Tools like CBS (Cost Breakdown Structure), Gantt Charts are used for allocating the adequate budget within the project.

2.3. Project Scheduling and Resource Allocation in different projects 

Construction Project: Saremi et al., (2017) have provided the themes followed in the construction project. According to Miller and Lemon (2013), the planning of the resource for the construction of a building is dependent on four significant resources including time, equipment, people and materials used. The detailed plan for the project schedule can be obtained if the adequate amount and quality of resources are allocated with the identified activities required for completion of the project. Chong et al., (2016) argued that resource planning, in spite of being a crucial part of project management, large construction project often are delayed due to inefficiency of material delivery. Therefore, for the resource allocation of the construction project, it is crucial to identify and evaluate the amount of resources required for the project construction.

Software Project: The resources required for the software development project varies significantly in comparison to the construction project. Frinsdorf, Zuo and Xia (2014) cited that the time and resources are hugely dependent on the criteria and scope defied for the development of the software. The resources in the software development project includes software, hardware, budget and team members. According to Bryde, Broquetas and Volm (2013), the schedule of the project is based on the methodology selected for developing the software. Like the construction project, Gantt Chart and WBS are used for developing the timeline and allocating both financial and non-financial resource within the project.

3. Strengths and Weakness of the Literature

Strengths of Literature: The literature review on the scheduling and budget allocation of the project allows the reader with the identification of the various methods and concept of project scheduling and resource allocation. The detailed review of the literature was able to provide theoretical background with the analysis of various case studies for evaluation.

Weakness of Literature: No raw data were used in the literature review for the evaluating the concept of project scheduling and resource allocation. The information used in the literature review were based on the qualitative data sources only.

4. Gaps in Literature 

The literature review was able to provide with the various process, tools and techniques often undertaken and used by the project manager for developing the project schedule and efficiently allocating proper resources for completing the project. There exists a gap within the literature review that carved the path for detailed study and evaluation of the topic. The risk are inevitable part of the project. The presence of both positive and negative risk within the project shapes the schedule and budget of the project. The process of reallocating the resources and schedule for completing the project within allocated time and budget were not evaluated in the literature review.  

5. Conclusion

The scheduling and resource allocation allows in the completion of the project with economic and effective manner. The allocation of the rescue and development of the schedule are developed in the project planning phase before commencement of the actual project. From the literature review, it has been identified that the process of resource allocation and scheduling are interrelated. The error in one process results in the error in the second process. Therefore, it is essential for the project manager to effectively determine and established the schedule and resource allocation during the initial phase of project.

Reference

Al-Yafei, A., 2014. Schedule Risk Management (Master's thesis).

Biscoe, T., Clark, A. and Nierwinski, J., 2015. Schedule Risk Event Driven Methodology (SREDM): FY13 Army Studies Program Project Findings (No. AMSAA-TR-2015-04). Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity Aberdeen Proving Ground Md.

Bryde, D., Broquetas, M. and Volm, J.M., 2013. The project benefits of building information modelling (BIM). International journal of project management, 31(7), pp.971-980.

Butt, A., Naaranoja, M. and Savolainen, J., 2016. Project change stakeholder communication. International Journal of Project Management, 34(8), pp.1579-1595.

Chaczko, Z., Slehat, S.S. and Salmon, A., 2015. Application of predictive analytics in telecommunications project management. Journal of Networks, 10(10), pp.551-567.

Chong, H.Y., Lopez, R., Wang, J., Wang, X. and Zhao, Z., 2016. Comparative analysis on the adoption and use of BIM in road infrastructure projects. Journal of Management in Engineering, 32(6), p.05016021.

Clarke, K., Jessup, M., Soroush, J. and Kelly, E., 2014. Project Partnering and Using Stakeholder Buy-In to Complete the Jamaica Phase 2 Improvements Project. Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation, 2014(5), pp.468-473.

Connor, A.M. and Shah, A., 2016. Resource allocation using metaheuristic search. arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.01855.

Frinsdorf, O., Zuo, J. and Xia, B., 2014. Critical factors for project efficiency in a defence environment. International Journal of Project Management, 32(5), pp.803-814.

Love, P.E., Sing, C.P., Wang, X., Edwards, D.J. and Odeyinka, H., 2013. Probability distribution fitting of schedule overruns in construction projects. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 64(8), pp.1231-1247.

Miller, A. and Lemon, S., 2013. Renewable Energy and the Smart Grid and Electric Vehicles in New Zealand.

Murphy, A., 2015. Project Management in a Commercial Environment. The ITB Journal, 1(2), p.8.

Saremi, R.L., Yang, Y., Ruhe, G. and Messinger, D., 2017, May. Leveraging crowdsourcing for team elasticity: an empirical evaluation at TopCoder. In Proceedings of the 39th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Practice Track (pp. 103-112). IEEE Press.

Sirkiä, R. and Laanti, M., 2015, January. Adaptive Finance and Control: Combining Lean, Agile, and Beyond Budgeting for Financial and Organizational Flexibility. In System Sciences (HICSS), 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 5030-5037). IEEE.

Turner, R., 2016. Gower handbook of project management. Routledge.

Zaeri, F.A.H.I.M.E.H. and Rotimi, J.O.B., 2014. Simulation of bridge construction works: An exploratory study in new zealand.