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Software for Project Management
Project Time Management
Increases Projects' Success Rate

Do you find increasing your projects' success rate a constant challenge?

Then, software for project management can help you increase this rate by improving your Project Time Management.

According to the Project Management Institute Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition, Project Time Management includes the processes required to accomplish timely completion of the project.

The Project Time Management processes include the following:

  1. Activity Definition

    2. Identifying the specific schedule activities that need to be performed to produce the various project deliverables.

  2. Activity Sequencing

    3. Identifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities.

  3. Activity Resource Estimating

    4. Estimating the type and quantities of resources required to perform each schedule activity.

  4. Activity Duration Estimating

    5. Estimating the number of work periods that will be needed to complete individual schedule activities.

  5. Schedule Development

    6. Analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements and schedule constraints to create the project schedule.

  6. Schedule Control

    7. Controlling changes to the project schedule.

Let us now analyze the difficult challenges in Project Time Management that software for project management helps to contain.

  1. Activity Sequencing

    2. Your challenge with this process is to logically sequence schedule activities with proper precedence relationships, as well as leads and lags to support later development of a realistic and achievable project schedule.

    Sophisticated project management software tools help you to perform activity sequencing extremely well. These tools perform this sequencing using the "Precedence Diagramming Method". They construct a project schedule network diagram that uses boxes or rectangles that are referred to as nodes.

    The nodes represent activities and connect them with arrows that show the dependencies. This technique that is used by most software for project management tools is also called "Activity-On-Node".

  2. Activity Resource Estimating

    3. Your activity resource estimating tough challenge is to accurately determine what resources of people, equipment or material and what quantities of each resource will be used and when each resource will be available to perform project activities.

    Project management software has the capability to help you plan, organize and manage resource pools and develop resource estimates. Depending on the sophistication of the software, you can define resource breakdown structures, resource availabilities and resource rates as well as various resource calendars.

  3. Schedule Development

    4. Your difficult challenge with Schedule Development is to accurately determine planned start and finish dates for project activities.

    To face this challenge, software for project management tools help you in three ways:

    • Schedule Network Analysis.

      These tools employ a schedule model and various analytical techniques, such as critical path method, critical chain method, what-if analysis and resource leveling. They use these techniques to calculate the early and late start and finish dates and scheduled start and finish dates for the uncompleted portions of project schedule activities.

    • Critical Path Analysis.

      They automate the calculation of the mathematical forward pass and backward pass critical path analysis and resource leveling. They thus allow you to rapidly consider many schedule alternatives.

    • Print or display the outputs of your developed schedules.

  4. Schedule Control

    5. Your schedule control challenge is to accurately and consistently determine the current status of the project schedule.

    Project management software tools are extremely useful for schedule control. They effectively provide you with the ability to track planned dates versus actual dates and to forecast the effects of project schedule changes.

    In tracking these dates, these tools help you in the following schedule control activities.

    • Progress Reporting

      They provide you with information for the project progress reporting and current schedule status. This information includes such items as the actual start and finish dates and the remaining durations for unfinished schedule activities.

    • Performance Measurement

      Project management software helps you to produce the "Schedule Variance" and "Schedule Performance Index" that you use to assess the magnitude of any project schedule variations that do occur. These in turn help you to decide if the schedule variation requires corrective action.

    • Variance Analysis

      Performing the schedule variance analysis during the schedule monitoring process is your key function of schedule control.

      You compare target schedule dates with the actual/forecast start and finish dates that the software for project management provides. This provides you with useful information for the detection of deviations and for the implementation of corrective actions in case of delays.

    • Schedule Comparison Bar Charts

      The Schedule Comparison Bar Charts facilitate analysis of schedule progress.

      Software for project management displays two bars for each schedule activity. One bar shows the current actual status and the other shows the status of the approved project schedule baseline. This shows graphically where the schedule has progressed as planned or where slippage has occurred.

Now, what software for project management helps you to effectively face all the above-analyzed Project Time Management challenges?...

Microsoft Office Project, the world's leading software for project management, has features that help you to effectively face all the above-analyzed Project Time Management challenges!

Microsoft Office Project makes you very effective in managing your projects, helping you to overall increase the success rate of your projects.

There are two versions of Microsoft Office Project that you may want to consider for your use. These are Microsoft Project 2003 Standard and Microsoft Project 2007 Standard.

Microsoft Project 2007 Standard is the newest version of the Microsoft Office Project, software for project management. It is an enhanced version of Microsoft Project 2003 Standard. Microsoft Project 2007 Standard has many new and improved features over Microsoft Project 2003 Standard.

Now, click the appropriate text link below to acquire the version of the Microsoft Office Project, software for project management, that is best for you at the best price available, anywhere!

Click this text link to buy Microsoft Project 2003 Standard software for project management at the best price

Click this text link to buy Microsoft Project 2007 Standard Version Upgrade at the best price.

Click this text link to buy Microsoft Project 2007 Standard software for project management at the best price.

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