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The Scheduling Dilemma
Project Manager: Sarah
Situation: Faced with a contract which requires an execution start date 3 months after contract signing, versus the normal 2 weeks
Problem: Functional managers struggle with resource planning this far out
Repercussions: Worker competency may not align appropriately in order to ensure adherence to the schedule; Risk of schedule delays
Additionally, Sarah may not realize there is a schedule impact until it's too late
Should Sarah:
Is this a common situation for most companies or an exception to the rule?
Common!
Hydra - Intelligent Project Mangement Blog
5 Common Resource Planning Problems
#4: Projects are competing for resources
Most companies rarely have sufficient resources to staff all projects concurrently. The result is that projects effectively compete against each other, with resources assigned to a number of projects at the same time. This can cause bottlenecks, particularly where specialist skills are in high demand.
Can policies be established as part of competitive bidding to alleviate the pain of this occuring on other possible contracts where contract go-ahead date is several months after contract?
Validity periods can be included in proposals to customers to allow for the seller to dictate how long the price is valid, based on a realistic forecast of resource planning.
Is it possible to convince a client that the schedule (and possibly the budget) is just a rough guess during competitive bidding and finalization of the schedule (and budget) can be made only after go-ahead?
This can be challenging.
If the bid is presented as budgetary, this is feasible.
If the bid is presented as firm, there is much less flexibility of terms and price.
What schedule compression techniques were considered in the case? Were there any techniques she did not consider?
Techniques Considered:
Techniques Not Considered:
Was Sarah correct in her analysis that these techniques probably would not work on her project?
Based on the information provided in the case, it can only be assumed that crashing and fast tracking would not work due to finite constraints.
It is possible, however, that requiring overtime, though not desirable, could work.
If one of these techniques were to be used, which one has the greatest likelihood for possible schedule compression?
The technique with the greatest likelihood of success is the overtime option. Productivity would be at an increased risk, as well as morale, however, the job has to get done, and this is the only constraint with some flexibility.
Thank You!