Navigating Project Management: From Critical Paths to Change Impact in Business Operations - Free Paper

The expected completion time is the cumulative time limits for each activity from Activity 1 to Activity 7 in order. The variance is calculated by squaring the standard deviation of each exercise, which is equal to [(PT-OT)/6] (Habibi et al., 2018). The total project completion time is similar to the expected completion time of the last activity, which is equivalent to 55. The critical path is the minimum time necessary for the project to finish (Habibi et al., 2018).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The total time in the critical path 1-2-5-6-7, therefore, is 3+6+10+14+6= 39. The calculation of early start begins from the first activity onwards. Since there is no activity before the first one, it is 1. The early start, therefore, is the last point of the previous activity added to one, as in the diagram above (Ballesteros-Pérez, 2017). The Early finish of the activities is adding their early starts with their total duration and then subtracting 1 (Ballesteros-Pérez, 2017). The late start is subtracting the late finish of action by its period and then adding 1 (Ballesteros-Pérez, 2017). The slack is the waiting time for each activity to commence. It is equal to subtracting the early finish of the current activity from the early start of the next activity and then subtracting 1 (Ballesteros-Pérez, 2017). There is a high probability that the project will be completed in 40 days because the completion time of the critical path is 39 days. The critical path represents the longest time that the most important activities will be completed (Ballesteros-Pérez, 2017). It is, therefore, equal to the shortest time for project completion.

Gathering Project Requirements

Successful completion of a project requires a clear and detailed requirements-gathering process. It follows four steps, including elicitation, documentation, understanding, and gathering (Shafiq et al., 2018). Requirements elicitation outlines the needs of the stakeholders. It is identifying all of them and then writing them down. The next step is documenting the requirements. It is analyzing them and breaking them down to identify dependencies like other requirements and specifications (Shafiq et al., 2018). Next is to make sure everyone in the project team is aware of the requirements, and that they understand them correctly. After the first step, the project team goes ahead and collects requirements (Shafiq et al., 2018).

Impact of Potential Change on Project Schedule and Project Finishing Time

Changes in the first six activities can impact the project schedule and the project's finishing time. The only activities with a slack are 3 and 4, with a value of 2 days. Therefore, they would not impact the project schedule and project finishing time if they delay by two days concurrently. Activity 7 can be delayed, and it would not impact the project schedule, but it would elongate the project's finishing time as it is the last one. If activity one delayed, it will impact the project finishing time as all processes will have to be pushed forward to a later date.

Managing Change Requests

A change request occurs when a team member or a customer wants an alteration of part of the system or a process. The change most likely affects the deliverables of a project. However, the situation is manageable via a five-step process, including; requesting support, determining the scope of the change, assessing the change's request, approval process, and decision making (N’Cho, 2017). When the change request comes forward, the first step is to get all the necessary information and material about the change. The next step is to determine the scope of the change, whether it is outside or inside. After determining the scope, the project team determines the priority of the change if it is within the scope of the project (N’Cho, 2017). If it is of high priority, then the approval process comes next, and it is up to the team to decide. After making the decision, the change might affect other aspects of the project; for example, the schedule and the team should analyze and create a course of action (N’Cho, 2017).

The Implication of Change on the Project Schedule

Changes affect the project schedule because it may alter the preset timelines. The staff may have more work to do, and it means that the deadlines may need alterations because of the change in scope of the project (N’Cho, 2017). Change may require additional labor to keep up with the timelines of the project; otherwise, it is bound to move. However, some changes may signify less work, and it may shorten the project schedule.

Methods of Managing Change Requests

Change is inevitable in a project, and the team should be prepared to manage the situation. The best methods of managing change are communicating the change and determining its scope (Shafiq et al., 2018). When the team understands the scope of the change, they are in a better position to make a decision. Next is to communicate the change, so everyone involved, including the stakeholders, are aware of it and its impact (Shafiq et al., 2018).

Application of Project Management Techniques in Business Operation Goals and Requirements

Projects are essential in helping employees develop skills, knowledge, and techniques in management. They understand how to meet targets and accomplish the goals of a project while keeping timelines (Shafiq et al., 2018). With the same knowledge, they can apply it to normal operations in the organization as they work to meet the business goals and objectives. Projects are part of the organization's goals, and employees can learn to use different strategies to bring results (Shafiq et al., 2018).

References

Ballesteros-Pérez, P. (2017). M-PERT: Manual project-duration estimation technique for teaching scheduling basics. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 143(9), 04017063. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)co.1943-7862.0001358

Habibi, F., Taghipour Birgani, O., Koppelaar, H., & Radenovic, S. (2018). Using fuzzy logic to improve the project time and cost estimation based on project evaluation and review technique (PERT). Journal of Project Management, 183-196. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.jpm.2018.4.002

N’Cho, J. (2017). Contribution of talent analytics in change management within project management organizations the case of the French aerospace sector. Procedia Computer Science, 121, 625-629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.11.082

Shafiq, M., Zhang, Q., Akbar, M. A., Khan, A. A., Hussain, S., Amin, F., Khan, A., & Soofi, A. A. (2018). Effect of project management in requirements engineering and requirements change management processes for global software development. IEEE Access, 6, 25747-25763. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2018.2834473