Offered By: Casinelli Associates
Professional Development Hours: 21 (base course)/28 (base course +option)
Course Number: AEP4003-PCSC-01
Duration of Course: 3 days (base course) + 1 day optional*
* Option regards one day dedicated to the software implementation.
Primary languages: Italian and English

Learning objectives
The course provides the basic knowledge of project planning and scheduling techniques. The course is preliminary to the advanced course (PC-CS-02), which offers to complete education and training on project control.

Marketing description of the course
Learning how to plan and schedule a project by using effectiveness the WBS and CPM techniques and their implementation through professional software packages.

Detailed course outline
The course introduces to project planning and provides practical knowledge on specific techniques as CPM (critical path method) and PDM (predecessor diagram method) through the use of specific software tools. Special consideration is given to "planning process" that leads to an effective "project scheduling". The course is designed to be preliminary to the advanced course (PC-CS-02), which offers to complete education and training on project progress and project performance measurement methodologies based on Earned Value management systems.

Section 1: General definitions and topics setting
This section has the goal to present the project scheduling within a structured approach to project planning. The types of "planning" are described with reference to project management processes and focus is given to the integration between cost and time.

Section 2: Project planning key concepts and tools
This section describes in details the key concepts of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS), Cost Account and Work Packages, which are fundamental "tools" of project planning and controlling. The goal of this section is to point out the importance of a correct project planning process, clarifying at which level of details the logic network of activities should be developed, versus the importance and complexity of project.

Section 3: CPM (critical path method)
This section presents the topic of the programming techniques based on "networking": CPM and PERT. The goal of this section is to give a full understanding of the critical path method, by an extensive use of practical exercises based on "hand" calculations of total float, early and late dates, with emphasis on the need for a correct setting of the logic relationships.

Section 4: Finalizing the CPM schedule
This section analyzes the topic of scheduling with constrains and resource management through CPM method. The goal of this section is to describe the steps and activities to finalize the CPM schedule; the structure of typical contract's scheduling specifications is illustrated with some examples.

Section 5: The process of schedule update and reporting
This section describes the process of schedule update, clarifying the flow of process, the responsibilities and specifying the parameters used in the process and how they affect the end results of calculations of float, free float and early/late dates.

Option- Section 6: software implementation
In this section, offered as additional option to the base course, a complete simulation of the process of project planning, schedule baseline development and schedule update, is carried out through leader software packages (Primavera® or Microsoft Project®).

Program

1st day
General definitions and topics setting

• Project cycle-life
• Types of "planning"
• The importance of project planning process
• Scope planning
• Time planning
• Cost planning
• Quality planning
• Integrated time-cost planning/control
• Difference between "planning" and "scheduling"
• Historical summary of CPM /PERT techniques and GANTT method

Project planning key concepts and tools

• WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
• WBS and levels of planning and scheduling
• OBS (Organization Breakdown Structure)
• Cost account and work packages
• Tasks and activities
• Level of detail of network activities
• Historical summary of the tools presented

2nd day
CPM (critical path method)

• Networking activities: Arrow Diagram Method (ADM)
• Networking activities: Predecessor Diagram Method (PDM)
• Advantages of PDM notation
• Types of logic relationships
• Early and late dates
• Total float and critical path
• Example of calculation of critical path
• "Hard" and "Soft" logic
• Other types of "floats"
• Exercises: preparing diagrams and calculations

3rd Day
Finalizing the CPM schedule

• Scheduling and resources
• Scheduling with constrains
• Project milestones vs. management and technical "interfaces"
• Levelling techniques
• Practical considerations
• Finalize the project schedule
• Typical contract scheduling specifications
• Project management considerations

The process of schedule update and reporting

• The parameters used to update schedule
• Simulation on schedule update process
• Schedule delay analysis
• Flow chart of process
• Roles and responsibilities within the project organization
• Project reporting.

4th day (optional)
Example of software implementation (by using Primavera® or Microsoft Project®)

• Project planning and coding
• Develop baseline schedule
• Create and maintain "target" projects
• Resource loading
• Schedule update
• Simulations
• Communication and Reporting